Martial Arts Videos

The Japanese Nodachi was the hardest to make friends with, but is now my favorite two handed weapon of all. The quality and sharpness of the Cold Steel Nodachi is unmatched, and the feeling of how it moves once you understand it is unparalleled. This Nodachi teaches respect, focus of mind and ‘centeredness’. This is wielding a real battlefield war weapon designed for real use.

Cold Steel sells the Nodachi for $800 on their site. We sell it at a 30% discount and offer free shipping. While this is the most expensive weapon ATS is carrying, it is by far the best. Not all Cold Steel products are worth owning, but their Japanese line of swords is outstanding, and this is the must have for YSB large saber practitioners.

The Cold Steel Japanese Nodachi at ATS: $560

for a full description, weapon size & pricing, click here

The Grosse Messier is known as the Big Knife in German, though obviously much smaller (and sharper) than our YSB ‘Big Knife’ practice blade. Its lightness takes a bit of adjustment, but then you discover it is much more agile and quick than the practice saber. It is also of a much more realistic size if you are looking to train with something you would actually use in a fight.

Cold Steel sells the Grosse Messier for $300 on their site. We it sell at a 25% discount and offer free shipping. This is the most affordable of the Cold Steel swords ATS is carrying, priced to help inexperienced practitioners begin their training with live blades or real quality. Easy to make friends with and easy to adapt to this or any saber form, the Grosse Messier is an excellent weapon for the YSB saber practitioner to own.

The Cold Steel German Grosse Messier at ATS

for a full description, weapon size & pricing, click here

The Chinese War Sword is is small and light compared to the practice saber, but is the actual model of the Da Dao used by the famous 29th Army, the garrison that protected Beijing. Known as the Da Dao Dui, or Big Saber Brigade, these were the famous soldiers who trained rope climbing, Chinese Wrestling and this war sword to be the best close quarters hand to hand combat army soldiers in China. It has an incredible feel in the hands, and as this is a real sword, I have taken through training sessions in bamboo forests as well as hacking through pine trees.

Cold Steel sells the Chinese War Sword for $500 on their site. We it sell at a 25% discount and offer free shipping. This is the only actual Chinese saber style weapon they make, which means as a Chinese martial practitioner, sooner or later you must own one.

The Cold Steel Chinese War Sword at ATS

for a full description, weapon size & pricing, click here

I switched to training with live blades several years ago, using the YSB heavy practice blade only for strength and coordination. Training with a live blade has made a tremendous difference in my own practice and removed any bad habits (at the cost of several scars) that came from a form designed and performed with a dull blade. In the end, YSB practice is about real use, so the final extension of weapons training is using real weapons.

The form is my variation of He Jinbao’s Rolling Hand Saber form as he taught it between 1999-2001. I removed the Shaolin straight line influences, placing it into an octogon and matching each section to an animal in the original order of Men Baozhen’s book. A DVD is in production detailing this method with the original YSB saber, along with a history and explanation of the form’s evolution.

The change in the form and the variation of weapons within reflect Dr. Xie’s belief that the weapon follows the hand, and any weapon is a Yin Style Bagua weapon if practiced by a Yin Style Bagua practitioner.

A special thank you to the people at Yatahai Garden in Colorado for providing the incredible backdrop to the form. Their help and support of ATS for over 3 years has been unwaivering.

be sure to scroll down to the bottom to see all three videos

Andrew Nugent-Head, President, ATS

January 2010

Cold Steel Blades in Action

The YSB Large Saber Form Using Real Weapons with Live Blades