Posts Tagged ‘Kung Fu’
Shaolin Tiger Kung Fu Mysteries Revealed
So I have been a huge Kung Fu fan forever. You know that crazy martial arts stuff you see on the movies? Punch, kick, pow! I love it. Love it all and always have. One of my favorite forms of fighting is called Shaolin Tiger Kung Fu. Why is it one of my favorites? Let me tell you why.
Now, you may think you have seen this kind of fighting before, but I assure you that you have not. Shaolin Tiger Kung Fu is different from a lot of the others. This is a more acrobatic style of fighting, stuff I really like because it is fast and very fun to watch. There are also a lot of jump kicks that lend themselves very well to this kind of style. I can not get enough of the stuff.
They use weapons as well, fighting with such lightning speed, it makes my head spin. There is also the regular empty hand style familiar to most people who watch martial arts being performed, specifically a kind of boxing style that is very devastating in the right hands. All of it is spectacular.
One of the most popular weapons, at least one of my favorites, is the long spear. This thing scares the heck out of me, that is for sure! I have seen some of these guys use this weapon as easy as using a spoon to mop up some soup. At one time, this simple weapon was the most feared of all weapons in the world. I can see why since its incredible length can stop anybody from doing anything. I’ve seen opponents get so frustrated because they can not get inside the spear welder’s defenses to attack. These things are long and mean and Shaolin Tiger practices some pretty awesome techniques using them.
I learned a bit about the history of Shaolin Tiger Kung Fu, too, and it was interesting, to say the least. It seems this monk from way back in the day, got together what he thought were the best fighters. He watched them all fight and then put together all the best techniques and fighting moves from their actions. No wonder I like this style so much. It is the best of the best.
Because of this beginning, because Shaolin Tiger Kung Fu incorporates all the best moves from a lot of different sources, it has become the foundation of martial arts today. I can see why, since I watch so many other kung fu styles and I see the Shaolin teachings there, as well. So, whenever I watch other guys doing all their stuff, I can’t help but think of how important Shaolin Tiger Kung Fu was to the development of all the things I love about kung fu in general.
Knowing the Difference Between Kung Fu and Karate
It’s a strange thing that we would think in terms of differences when we consider and compare kung fu and karate, for there are a lot of similarities. They are both martial disciplines, after all, and karate is actually grown from kung fu. To really see the differences, however, one needs to look at the arts as a complete picture, and determine exactly how they evolved.
In the beginning, those beautiful, refined kung fu patterns were most likely constructed by peasant conscripts who were given swords and the order to fight or die. Training methods eventually made their appearance, and eventually workable routines were taught. Is it too much to consider that some of the soldiers, weary and tired of battle, would find their way to the Shaolin monastery, where art as art blossomed?
From the Shaolin Temple the arts exploded, spreading across China, and growing into concepts and taking on different forms. This was the beginning of such styles as wing chun (vin tsung) kung fu, Long Fist (Choy Lee Fut, Hung Gar, and so on), and the various animal methods (mantis, monkey, dog fist, five animal, and so on). And, of course, Shaolin styles most likely grew into soft style arts as Pa Kua Chang and Tai Chi Chuan.
This being the basic history of the matter, we can see a certain evolution of art. Hard, practical tricks tend to become softer, more flowing, and people come to understand that one’s art can be workable without too much reliance on strength kung fu. Thus, the arts change from hard fists to guiding and sliding palms and turning and flowing whole body motions.
Oh, sure, every once in a while you will see a resurgence of old, hard style kung fu. You will have Chinese boxers, full of vim and vigor, wanting to return to the good, old punch in the face philosophy. For the most part, however, the people who espouse such a return are young and don’t know better, are half trained and overwhelmed by data from other systems, or otherwise guilty of youthful exuberance.
On the whole, however, you will see techniques become more polished and, eventually, making a translation to a softer, easier to work method. Thus, hard style karate, even such bulls as shotokan or kyokushinkai, will become smoother, require less effort and require more intelligence. It is an interesting concept, that the die hard karate of today will transmogrify into the liquid style of shaolin kung fu in the future.
Or, and here’s a kicker, that the extreme combat karate style of today will become combat wudan style of tomorrow. Could that bassai dai and bassai sho form of today eventually translate into the bassai tai chi of tomorrow? Could those young men doing their makiwara training eventually become like the old men of Chen village tai chi chuan, doing their shuto uke and mae geri as if they are being filmed in slow motion?
This writer believes it is so, and it is inevitable. The effects of age slow men down, and the effects of wisdom make men look, and it is this combination of factors that will translate the hard into the soft, the karate into the kung fu, and the overzealous into the temperate. Now, if you’ll pardon me, I have to go practice my sochin kata slow style.