Wen Hsiu Quan

Hi, everyone! :) It is said that a picture is better than a thousand words. I think that one thing which is better than a picture is a moving picture. Like I have said earlier- the striking form is pretty much straightforward where its applications are concerned. That is the thing about striking moves in forms- you can easily see what they are meant to represent. The openings for interpretation usually lie with blocks, parries and grappling moves. Oh! And then you do get that bunkai researcher/ analyst that will give you some non-striking applications for apparent striking moves...   Well- none of that stuff is going to happen over here. This the creator of this kata speaking and he knows very well what he had intended when he put these movements together. First thing that I want to say about this form before I get on to discuss today's movement is: The first 3 knife hand blocks in the form were only meant to place you in a kamae or ready position from which

Hello again, everyone! This video shows the form that I had created for my book on striking. It is actually very straightforward and basic, so I did not really see the need to explain its applications at first.  Later on I decided to break this form down in later posts anyway because: 1. Along with the movements in any form comes the principles on which those moves are based- and knowing those principles are actually more important than knowing the moves themselves; 2. I have so much fun making those shadow-clone gifs anyway. Where the previous form was made to give you the feel of different ways of defending against attacks, this form is meant to give you an idea of the different ways in which you can attack with strikes, punches and kicks. In the application of these movements it is not necessary for the opponent to be attacking at all. From a moral point of view we can assume that the opponent has threatened to attack or is about to attack. Th

Hello, everyone. We have arrived at the last movement in this kata. I don't remember seeing a knife hand strike in any katas of Okinawan Karate, but I know of 3 katas in Shotokan that feature this inward knife hand strike. Kung Fu practitioners know about the knife hand strike, but I have not seen it used, except by Wing Chun exponents. I have always loved knife hand strikes and started breaking wooden boards out of my own at an early age although neither of the two dojos at which I have studied taught breaking techniques. For me it just felt like the right thing to do. If you are a Karate student, you must have a karate chop. There was no two ways about it for me... :D If you train mainly in competition sparring with the focus on long and medium range fighting this inward knife hand strike would feel too awkward, too slow and just plain too impractical to incorporate into your arsenal. If you understand the setting up and timing of this strike, however, it can serve y

I could probably have called the movement "Tiger Bares Teeth and Black Tiger Steals Heart" because that is more or less what Kung Fu students would call it. Still- the stances featured in this movement and the techniques used are common to both Karate and Kung Fu. They can be found in Korean Arts like Taekwondo as well. The block itself here does not use the tiger claw hand form that is seen in Shaolin Kung Fu. If you want to use it, however, I really have no objection. To me the fingers spread apart like in the tiger claw form indicates a readiness to grab the opponent's wrist upon blocking it. In Kung Fu the tiger claw can also be used to dig into the punching arm's bicep, disabling that arm from further use in the fight. What I have done here, however, is a simple block and a punch. Really straightforward, actually. The stuff one teaches white belts... Nonetheless- I thought it a good idea to summon a shadow clone to show you some of the applications to th

Hello, everyone and welcome back. I am sure that many of you who do Karate, Tang Soo Do, Taekwondo, Wing Chun- or any kind of Asian striking martial art that has forms- would find a move that looks like this in one of their forms. During the early stages of my Karate training I was told that this is two blocks, executed simultaneously. As I progressed, however, our Sensei began teaching us how either the low parry could be a midsection punch while the other arm is blocking or that the high forearm block was either a vertical backfist strike or an upperut while the other arm was actually executing a lower parry. In my form it is either a lower parry combined with an uppercut or a lower parry combined with an upside down fist punch to the midsection. The very first application that came to my mind, which is not shown in any of the gifs here, is attacking a stationary opponent that was standing in a typical kamae. An example of Ken No Sen  as described in the Book of Five Rings