What are Butterfly Swords?

Warrior Women Month:

I’m kicking off Warrior Women month with a quick tutorial on butterfly swords. Also tomorrow,ย  I have an interview with Mandy Sayah, Wing Chun instructor.

Blog Tour:

Blogging about how I came to write historical romance at The Minding Spot. The blog is doing their own giveaway of a copy of the Taming of Mei Lin.

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The Taming of Mei Lin and Butterfly Swords both feature sword fights involving butterfly swords. I’ve received many curious inquiries about both the weapons and the fighting style, so I thought I’d showcase them today.

I chose butterfly swords for my heroine because:

1) I had some experience with them

2) They could be hidden easily and carried around with her various outfits

3) The techniques areย  fast and exciting to describe

4) The swords were distinctive and feminine, in contrast to the swords used by the hero and the villain

In this video, Grandmaster William Cheung demonstrates the butterfly swords form. The narration is Sifu Eric Oram.

This demonstration shows several techniques for butterfly swords against a broadsword. The key techniques are redirecting and controlling the opponent’s blade with the butterfly swords, and counterattacking immediately after a block.

And finally, the swords featured in the grand prize giveaway aren’t technically butterfly swords as they don’t have the handguard. They’re steel and sharpened and STILL pretty cool.

Join the Launch Celebration by tweeting, blogging, and getting the word out and you’ll be eligible to win. Details here.

4 Comments

  1. limecello
    Sep 07, 2010 @ 06:04:51

    Oooo fun! ๐Ÿ˜€ I want – also those would so top the switchblade I was never allowed to have… *angelface*
    But also – Shaolin monks were/are so badass. Love it!

  2. Jeannie Lin
    Sep 07, 2010 @ 06:22:42

    Uh oh…these are peaceful weapons…though that’s kind of an oxymoron, isn’t it? The shaolin had some pretty awesome weapons for a peaceful group–as we know from watching Deadliest Warrior ๐Ÿ˜‰

  3. Megan Kelly
    Sep 07, 2010 @ 15:47:27

    I just watched a rerun of Criminal Minds where the “bad guy” goes after rapists and killers. If you’ve seen it, can you tell if he’s using the butterfly swords? They are short and deadly. I thought it was so cool after watching one of your demo vid links to see this on TV.

  4. Jeannie Lin
    Sep 07, 2010 @ 22:56:23

    Hmm…I haven’t seen Criminal Minds, but now I’ll have to look for that. They’re actually quite popular. They have a bit of a rebel element since they can be more easily concealed than a sword.