Song Gengping - Sword Method Illustrated (1896-1929)
When I investigated the sword methods of Wu Tunan’s sword book Taiji Sword (1936), I found out that Wu Tunan copied large part of his chapter 3, where he discusses the sword methods, from an earlier book by 宋賡平 Song Gengping. The first edition of this book was written in 1898 and probably published in 1897. There are other revised versions from 1908, 1912, 1920 and 1929.
To the best of my knowledge the names of the editions are as follows:
- 1897: 劍學圖說 jiàn xué tú shuō
- 1908: 劍學法要新編 jiàn xué fǎ yào xīn biān
- 1912: 劍法真傳 jiàn fǎ zhēn chuán
- 1920: 劍法圖說 jiàn fǎ tú shuō
- 1929: 劍法圖解 jiàn fǎ tú jiě
According to the book Song Gengping was part of a sword lineage going back to the early 1800s, and some of his students were involved in the revised editions of this book. It seems however that the lineage died out at the very latest during the Second Sino-Japanese War (WWII).
It is a very interesting book with lots of details, covering everything from a Nei Gong system to forms, strategy and a detailed explanation regarding the 8 sword methods. This book contains much more detail than Wu Tunan’s book.
A scan of the 1908 edition can be found on Lionbooks. I believe it is incorrectly specified as the 1897 edition, and since both the prefaces and the postface are dated 1897 it seems reasonable, but the last part of the book ends with another dating that talks about the years 1907 and 1908, so I think it is lightly that it is a repackaged version of the 1897 editon with the addition of the last part.
Scans of the 1920 and 1929 edition can be found in various locations but the best ones that I have been able to find are these: