If you are using a Chinese Kung Fu Broadsword, can you make contact with another blade?

I practice Tien Shan Pai Kung Fu, and I am currently a green sash. My Sifu told me I'll be taking my test in a few weeks for my blue sash, and I think that is where I will start using the broadsword. (wooden of course) If not, I start when I earn the sash after the next. (purple) So, was the chinese broadsword used to just "slice and dice" or could it make contact with another blade? Could my Sifu and I do drills with it? Like we do with short-staffs ? By the design of it, it doesn't look like it should. It looks like it was just made to "slice and dice". I think the straight swords can be used to make contact.|||While a staff can cause injuries, a sword even without an edge can still sever a limb and kill if it cuts an artery, not to mention poking out eyes. A heavy weighted sword such as a Da-Dao or broadsword are not practiced in contact. You start with learning the forms and then proceed to two person sets which are practiced in pairs BUT for safety reasons no contact is made and the distances between you and your partner are longer than the actual real world range of a sword fight.



If you know anything about other sword arts such as Japanese koryu's where they also have two person sets/kata, you can see their swords do not make contact and they move slow and stay apart at a safe distance. This is unlike sport fencing and kendo where the "sword" is really an approximation of a real one and both participants where protective armor so it is relatively safe to close the distance and make actual contact. But even then, there are incidences where a malfunction/accident gets someone killed.



One last point. Whenever you strike metal against metal, microscopic metal shards fly out in all directions. Some of this will embed in your skin and even your eyes. In most cases, you will not noticed this, but the metal shards will be there and if you ever have to get a MRI, the powerful magnetic field will polarize the metal andl cause tears in your eyes. If you and a friend plan to mess around and start hitting each other's sword, wear eye protection at the very least. Better, yet, don't mess with swords.|||well it could(wushu type swords are NOT designed like the real thing) though most swordplay styles would have you deflecting and parrying which is honestly much better for the blade





I just checked and some schools do teach blocking http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/swo鈥?/a>|||It depends on how ur Sifu teaches. Most likely ull have to first complete learning the Doa forms so u have a good foundation before u train with any contact. That would make sense. Like i said just ask him.