Wen Hsiu Quan

Hello again, everyone. Today's move actually pretty much speaks for itself. Still- it helps o look a bit at its finer details. I have never seen any kata or form that shows any of the defensive footwork that we find in sports martial arts. In competitions we often see fighters retreating while they block or parry and shifting forward again to counterattack. Still- we don't see this happen in our katas. Well- in Kungfu's taolu- as they call their katas we do find moves for withdrawing and sidestepping as well as for advancing. Still- the majority of moves in these forms are advancing moves. Moving forwards into an attack looks like suicide most of the time. Still- almost all of the forms we see seem to prescribe it. Why would anyone want to do it? Well- here is my answer. Take it or leave it. Sure- it is probably the safest to first evade your opponent's attack before attacking, but you practice martial arts on a regular basis, right? ...

Hello, everyone and welcome back! Today we are at this sequence in the form: The sequence started from drawing in the left leg from the last Horse Stance while shooting out the Phoenix Eye Fist. That high guard at the beginning is a dead giveaway that I am ducking a face punch while countering with that blow. Then of course- we see the last two blows following shortly afterward. For those of you who has not yet seen a Phoenix Eye Fist- this is what it looks like: As you can see, my index finger is curled up, but made to have the first joint from my knuckle portrude to give it a hard point with which to hit soft or sensitive targets. I have been practicing this particular kind of blow against a heavy bag for some time now, so you can see some callousing on the impact point. Now- blocking works and learning to block is a good way to develop defense, but it is not necessarily the most efficient way to take control of a fight. The thing that m...

Hello, everyone and welcome back! Today we are looking at the first movement that features in the Defense Form. The nice thing about blocking and striking moves in forms is that they are at least obvious. You can easily see what they were meant to do and are not really open to other possible interpretations. Well- at least here you are getting the discussion from the creator of this form, so you really don't need to exert yourself trying to guess what I was doing. I'll tell you.  When I first took up Karate I have, like many white belts, learnt to block a punch and then to counterattack. That was basic practice and prearranged sparring drills for you. Later on I found out the hard way that landing a block did not always put you in the clear. In free sparring situations your opponent does not come at you with just one punch. In fact, he does more than just punch then... As I always did back then, I went and done some research. It was a while until...

Hello, everyone and welcome back.  Today I introduce you to the form that appears in my book on Defense. If you have read the book before you may find it familiar. If not- it is still a good time to join us since I have begun posting breakdowns of the forms and their applications. Although it is called the "Defense Form" for ease of reference the form does contain attacks. Every block or sidestep here is shown with an attack that immediately follows it.  When I decided to document Wenhsiuquan techniques I have especially paid attention to this book, because much of the difference between Wenhsiuquan and its sources lies with defense. Wenhsiuquan drew upon Karate, Kung Fu and Jujutsu. Jujutsu does have blocks and parries, although it is more known as a grappling art. Of these 3 martial arts Karate has the most blocks and parries that I know. I have not yet seen any Kung Fu forms, for instance that contain a rising forearm block ( age uke ). Su...

Hello, everyone! Today's post is the last part of my breakdown of Wenhsiuquan's First Grappling Form. In the form the movement is done once to the right, then to the left. The photos below is what you got in the book. At first glance the photos seem to either show a double block/ stopping fist, but if you have read the text you would have found that it actually shows grabbing hold of an opponent;s arm and twisting it. What I had in mind at the time looks something like this... Yes. I know just grabbing an opponent's arm and twisting him around does not do much, but it can turn the tide of a fight.  In a sport like boxing, grabbing an opponent's arm is not allowed at all. Sure! You are allowed to block, but both sides are allowed to keep their hands free so that both sides have a sporting chance of landing blows on one another. That is all good for sport. If you actually have to defend yourself against society's less u...

Hello again, everyone and welcome back to my breakdown of this form. Today's movement from this form I got from Taijiquan, which, by the way, has really awesome grappling moves. In the book the movement is shown like this: In Taijiquan this move is known as "Snake Creeps Down. I found a demonstration of the movement on Youtube to show you how it looks in most Taijiquan forms. The application of this movement is really awesome and very simple to pull off once you have figured out the mechanics thereof. For me- just knowing the taught application of a movement is not enough. I have to know how I would use it in a fight as it is a given that you have to make any technique you learn your own in order for it to work under pressure. The simplest application I got was against a straight reverse punch.  With this response I do not start by moving into the opponent, but rather turn my body as I guide the punching hand past me and firm...

Hello, everyone! I apologise for this post being late. Being able to blog like this means I often have nice quiet weekends, but every now and then I get reminded of what life would be like if I had people to spoend time with. Still, better late than never, I say. When I had the photos of this form taken for the book this was the view you would get of this movement from the book.  I realise that this probably does not tell you much and we know how hard it is for some of us to form a mental picture from written words, so- I have made this short video clip specially for you if you are among those who need it. This movement is all too familiar to Taijiquan students and I dare say that every known style of Taijiquan features it somewhere in their forms. As the above video shows, you breathe in as you prepare to sweep outwards with your lead hand, then, moving weight forward, you breathe out and sweep outward in a wide arc. Then, breathing in a...