HELD IT DOWN IN CHINATOWN!
Last weekend, Sifu Kisu brought the Chinese Jiàn to New York City and the community showed up exactly the way this art deserves.
For those who don’t know: Sifu Kisu is a 5th-generation Bak Siu Lum Pai Northern Shaolin disciple with 50 years of practice under Master Kenneth Hui, whose lineage traces directly to Iron Palm master Ku Yu Cheung. He was the martial arts consultant, choreographer, and the inspiration behind Master Piandao in Avatar: The Last Airbender. When he teaches the sword, he is not performing. He is transmitting.
New York Jianghu Gear handled the logistics. NYC Parks went above and beyond to secure the permits. Kung fu had space in Chinatown. Dedicated practitioners came from near and far. And Sifu Kisu trusted us with something he doesn’t offer lightly.
Thank you to everyone who came out. Thank you to @sifu_kisu_northern_shaolin for your patience and generosity. Thank you to @nycparks for making sure this art had its place in this city. And thank you to every practitioner who understands what it means to learn something real from someone who truly carries it.
Part two coming soon. Watch this space.
Reviews of last weekend’s Sword workshop:
Day 1 and 2 of a 10,000 day journey to becoming a swordsman. If the broadsword is like a butcher's cleaver, the straightsword is like a surgeon's scalpel. @sifu_kisu_northern_shaolim has always been, in my eyes, an exceptional teacher and progenitor of the Northern Shaolin style. His transmission was poetic, precise, fluid, and structured. His expertise and our unskillfulness was evident from the start. But with passion and patience, we soldiered on through 7+ hours a day in the intense June heat, and seemed to discover the sword together. This workshop was truly one of the best! Grateful to form new friendships through a shared passion for martial arts and can't wait for the rest of this series. Thank you @newyorkjianghu for organizing this event.
Technical mastery alone has never been enough for me.
Plenty of skilled people exist, I think that's fair to say.
What stands out to me most about Sifu Kisu is congruence.
The best teachers I've encountered are not simply capable of performing their discipline, they strive to embody it.
I've personally observed that Kisu is someone making a genuine effort to carry what he teaches beyond the mat and into the way he moves through everyday life.
That matters to me, because transmitting an art is one thing. Living it is another. The thing is, martial arts is not just about a single event, it is about striving toward self-mastery in this life.
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https://www.nyjianghugear.com/group-events
I was impacted by the innovative use of every part of the sword, from the tip of the blade to the tassels and pommel. The Secret Sword for jabbing into soft parts of the face was also incredibly intriguing - I've always seen that hand position in movies, images, and demonstrations, but never knew it's significance.
I would love to deepen my practice through flexibility and balance drills - mostly strengthening my ma bu and core. If there are shoulder exercises that can help protect them as we advance and practice, I'd love to start conditioning those, too.
The most challenging part as of now is remembering it all and putting it all together. I would love if someone could post the full routine so far, so that we can practice on our own.
Finally, I love the history of it all - If there are resources we can read (translated, please!) about this style, I'd love to check those out!
Having been a student of the martial arts for some time, I’ve experienced many different instructors and teaching styles, as well as levels of skill. I feel very fortunate to now have a Sifu who displays high levels of teaching and martial skill.
In the Dragon Walking Swordmanship workshop, I got to see how good my Sifu is with the sword. Every move looked effortless, and he was able to explain things in simple terms that everyone could grasp. I’ve learned sword movements from instructors before, but Sifu Kisu embodies the true spirit of a swordsman, being both capable and knowledgeable with and about swords.
A transformative experience. There was a certain level of precision and sophistication that elevated the use of the sword above what is typically perceived. Making use of each of the sword's attributes, even those that can easily be mistaken as purely decorative/ cosmetic (the tassel, pommel, etc.) raises it from a single use weapon to a multipurpose tool. Physically, all of these varied uses demand greater body awareness and focus for proper handling. Intellectually, they challenge the practitioner to view other things outside of swordplay from a different perspective to see what is easily missed on the surface.
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