White Crane Martial Arts

18/06/2026

17/06/2026

17/06/2026

The Dao is the curved, single edged sword. (As opposed to the Jian, which is the straight, double edged sword.)
The three major types of Dao I teach at WCMA are:

The DAO: This is the basic Kung Fu sword, known as the Chinese broadsword, or sabre. It is a fast, light, one-handed sword.

The DA DAO. (Literally: "Big Knife".) This is a big, heavy, two handed sword, like a cleaver or machete. These swords were used as recently as the 40's, in the China/Japan war.

The MIAO DAO. This means "Corn Leaf Sabre" as it's long, slim profile resembles a corn leaf bending in the wind. It is very similar in shape to the Japanese Katana, although it tends to be a bit longer.

As I have been saying a lot recently, it is not a good idea to train outside with metal weapons unless you want to get arrested, so I am in the process of making wooden versions of all my weapons for training purposes. (May take a while!)

These are my set of three Dao I have just finished.

I wanted to make them look like a nice set, so I decorated them all the same way.

I think they came out quite nice & I'm having a lot of fun swinging them around!

15/06/2026

It was our 25th wedding anniversary recently & I wanted to make something special for Shafi, so I made her a personalized Shuang Shou Jian (2 handed straight sword.) Designed for her specifications. (Sword length, weight, etc.) It is a wooden training sword, but I wanted to give it an antiqued metallic "silvery" finish, so I spent a lot of time spraying & weathering it to get the look just right. The sword is decorated with 25 lucky Feng Shui Chinese coins. I also found some very nice material that I was able to use to make into a sword bag to present the sword in.
I was quite pleased with the final result! 🙂

13/06/2026

We had great fun at the East Preston Carnival Parade today. Our Chinese Lion was very well received! Kirsty and Robert did a great job- in the costume for over an hour! Quite a workout! Well done, guys!

13/06/2026

It can be very rewarding being a Tai Chi instructor. Yesterday two of my students, Michael & Laura presented me with this beautiful hand painted Chinese Fan. (Thanks!) Then later today we are off to East Preston where our Chinese Lion is taking part in their annual parade!
I do love my job...!😁