Jian

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Jian is also the title of a large novel by Eric Van Lustbader concerning three men at the center of an international conflict.

Jian is a double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China.

Historical one-handed versions have blades varying from 0.45 to 0.8 meter (17.7 to 31.5 inches) in length. The weight of an average sword of 0.7 meter (28 inch) blade-length would be in a range of approximately 700 to 900 g (1.5 to 2 pounds). There are also larger two-handed versions used for training by many styles of Chinese martial arts.

The jian is very often the weapon of the hero in Chinese wuxia or martial arts movies. For example, the possession and use of a specific fictional jian, the Green Destiny, played a major role in the popular movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In folklore, it is known as "The Gentleman of Weapons" and is considered one of the four major weapons, along with the staff, saber, and the spear.

Contents 1 Parts of the Jiàn 2 Materials 3 Use 3.1 Uses in fiction 4 References 5 See also

[edit] Parts of the Jiàn

A guard or hilt protects the hand from an opposing blade. The shape of the guard can be described as short wings pointing either forward or backward depending on the era and region of manufacture. A minority of jiàn featured the disc-shaped guards associated with dao. A handle behind the guard can accommodate the grip of both hands or one hand plus two or three fingers of the other hand. Two-handed jiàn of up to 1.6 meters (65") in length, known as shuangshou jian, existed but were not as common as the one-handed version. The longer two-handed handle could be used as a lever to lock the opponent's arm if necessary. Grips are usually of fluted wood or covered in rayskin, with a minority being wrapped with cord.

The end of the handle was finished with a pommel for balance, to prevent the handle from sliding through the hand if the hand's grip should be loosened, and for striking or trapping the opponent as opportunity required—such as in "withdrawing" techniques. The pommel was historically peened onto the tang of the blade; thereby holding together as one solid unit the blade, guard, handle, and pommel. Most jiàn of the last century or so are assembled with a threaded tang onto which the pommel or pommel-nut is screwed.

Sometimes a tassel is attached to the hilt. During the Ming Dynasty these were usually passed through an openwork pommel, and in the Qing through a hole in the grip itself; modern swords usually attach the tassel to the end of the pommel. Historically these were likely used as lanyards, allowing the wielder to retain the sword in combat. There are some sword forms which utilize the tassel as an integral part of their swordsmanship style (sometimes offensively), while other schools dispense with sword tassels entirely. The movement of the tassel may have served to distract opponents, and some schools further claim that metal wires were once worked into the tassels for impairing vision and causing bleeding when swept across the face. The tassel's use now is primarily decorative.

The blade itself is customarily divided into three sections for leverage in different offensive and defensive techniques. The tip of the blade is the jiànfeng, meant for stabbing, slashing, and quick percussive cuts. The jiànfeng typically curves smoothly to a point, though in the Ming period sharply angled points were common. Some antiques have rounded points, though these are likely the result of wear. The middle section is the zhongren or middle edge, and is used for a variety of offensive and defensive actions: cleaving cuts, draw cuts, and deflections. The section of blade closest to the guard is called the jiàngen or root, and is mainly used for defensive actions; on some late period jiàn, the base of the blade was made into an unsharpened ricasso. These sections are not necessarily of the same length, with the jiànfeng being only three or four inches long.

Jiàn blades generally feature subtle profile taper (decreasing width), but often have considerable distal taper (decreasing thickness), with blade thickness near the tip being only half the thickness of the root's base. Jiàn may also feature differential sharpening, where the blade is made progressively sharper towards the tip, usually corresponding to the three sections of the blade. The cross-section of the blade is typically that of a flattened diamond with a visible central ridge, though some are lenticular (eye-shaped) instead; ancient bronze jiàn sometimes have a hexagonal cross-section.

[edit] Materials

Jiàn were originally made from bronze, then steel as metal technology advanced. There are some, perhaps ceremonial, jian which are carved from a single solid piece of jade.

Traditional jiàn blades are usually of sanmei (three plate) construction, which involved sandwiching a core of hard steel between two plates of softer steel. The central plate protrudes slightly from its surrounding pieces, allowing for a sharp edge, while the softer spine protects the brittle core. Some blades had wumei or five plate construction, with two more soft plates being used at the central ridge. Bronze jiàn were often made in a somewhat similar manner: in this case an alloy with a high copper content would be used to make a resilient core and spine, while the edge would be made from a high tin-content alloy for sharpness and welded on to the rest of the blade.

The sword smiths of China are often credited with the forging technologies that traveled to Korea and Japan to allow sword smiths there to create such weapons as the katana. These technologies include folding, inserted alloys, and differential hardening of the edge. While the Japanese would be more influenced by the Chinese dāo (single-edged swords of various forms), the early Japanese swords known as ken are often based on jiàn. The Korean version of the jiàn is known as the geom or gum, and these swords often preserve features found in Ming-era jian, such as openwork pommels and sharply angled tips.

In martial art schools wooden swords are used for training, so most martial arts students' first experience with a jiàn in modern times is with one of those weapons. In some religious Taoist sects, those wooden practice swords have come to have an esoteric ritual purpose, claimed by some to metaphorically represent the discipline of an accomplished student.

Contemporary jiàn versions are often forged (shaped with heat and hammer) and assembled by mostly traditional methods for training of practitioners of Chinese martial arts around the world. These jiàn vary greatly in quality and historical accuracy.

Contemporary jiàn are also sometimes forged (artificially aged and misrepresented as original antiques) for sale to tourists and collectors who cannot distinguish them from true antiques.

[edit] Use

Most Chinese martial arts, such as Taijiquan for one well-known example, still train extensively with jiàn, and expertise in its technique is said by many of them to be the highest physical expression of their martial skills.

[edit] Uses in fiction

• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - A specific jiàn, the Green Destiny, is one of the plot elements of the movie.
• Seven Swords - The film follows the story of seven swordsmen and their unique swords.
• The Twelve Kingdoms - The main protagonist and several other characters wield jiàn-type swords, though somewhat heavier in appearance than a real jiàn.
• Soul Calibur - The spirit sword and polar opposite of Soul Edge is most often seen as a Jiàn-Type weapon. In addition, the character Chai Xianghua uses a jiàn in battle.
• Mortal Kombat - Character Shang Tsung uses Jian as his weapon style in MKDA and MKA, and many others such Kung Lao has seen use Jian in intro movies or other medias.
• Jade Empire - The main character has the option of choosing a Jian as a weapon style at the beginning of the game.
• In the Judge Dee novels by Robert van Gulik, Judge Dee is portrayed as expert enough with a jiàn to be a challenging opponent to an experienced fencer. His own jiàn, "Rain Dragon," is eventually buried with his loyal assistant, Chiao Tai, after it was used to murder him by an enemy of Judge Dee.
• A pair of blue-colored jiàn are used as weapons by the vampire Caerula Sanguis in the popular manga GUNNM: Last Order Last Order Volume 6 by Yukito Kishiro. Also, in Volume 8 of Last Order, Caerula is seen wielding a single standard jiàn.

[edit] References

• Chen Fangmei (1995). Illustrated Catalogue of Ancient Bronze Weaponry in the National Palace Museum. National Palace Museum. ISBN 957-562-199-9. 
• Scott M. Rodell (2003). Chinese Swordsmanship: The Yang Family Taiji Jian Tradition. Seven Stars Books and Video. ISBN 0-9743999-0-6. 
• Tetsutaka Sugawara, Lujian Xing, Mark B. Jones (1998). Aikido and Chinese Martial Arts, Volume 2: Aikido and Weapons Training. Sugawara Martial Arts Institute. ISBN 0-87040-963-8. 
• Zhang Yun (1998). The Art of Chinese Swordsmanship. Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0412-3. 

[edit] See also

• Sword of Gou Jian
• Taijijian
• Wudang Mountains
• Wushu (sport)
• Zhang Sanfeng

Contemporary Wushu v • d • e
Main Taolu Events	Sparring
Changquan • Dao • Qiang • Jian • Gun	Sanda
Nanquan • Nandao • Nangun	Related
Taijiquan • Taijijian	International Wushu Federation
	World Wushu Championships