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Image:Jian.jpg A modern jian with its scabbard.
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.
Parts of the JiànA 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.
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. MaterialsJiàn 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. UseImage:10th all china games Jian pair 406.jpg A jiàn pair event at the 10th All China games 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. Uses in fiction
References
See also
de:Jian es:Jian it:Jian fi:Jian vi:Kiếm zh:剑
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