Grandmaster Tse’s Chùn Yuén Diaries 俊元日記 22

Normally a sword will only have a short tassel attached to the end. Some swords will have a ring at the end of the handle which is designed to tie a short tassel to it, the sword with the ring and the tassel look very nice. However, if we practise a lot, the tassel will fall off the ring or the string on the tassel will break. To stop this happening some people will put some tape around the string close to the ring and this stops the string fraying against the metal. Sometimes the bolt holding the ring on the end of the handle will become loose and this can fall off, so we need to keep an eye on it and tighten it from time to time. My Sīfú 師父, Grandmaster Wu Chun Yuen 武俊元, would often tighten the screw on the end of his sword in order to maintain a firm hold on the tassel. However, over a long period of time, the tassel will eventually break and then we will need to fix it or replace it. When we get a new tassel we should find one that is not too long, as this will affect how we use the sword. Therefore, we need to test whether the tassel will affect any of the movements in the form. Once you find one that does not, then this is the right length of the tassel.