kung fu styles that specialize on _a_ weapon

[Falcor]

Are there any kung fu styles that is _really_ known for its proficiency in a particular weapon? I remember reading an article by Robert CHu (wing chun teacher in CA) where he talked about a rare are that was ALL staff work. I also recall in some history book that I browsed through where they mentioned certain sects among the Boxers that focused on the sword or the spear (of course endowing mystical mumbo jumbo to it). I realize most if not all kung fu has a mixed curriculum of weapons, but I was curious if CMA had any known styles/arts that was all about one weapon.

[norther practitioner]

Shaolin has been very well known for there cudgel play.

Wudan martial arts for there straight sword play.

[Liokault]

I think that historidaly CMA would have been much more about weapons than we see today.

But with the decline of weapons, hand to hand took over.

[Ray Pina]

Here's that article by Mr. Chu: http://www.chusaulei.com/martial/articles/articles_feilungfumun.html

He mentions my master, Master David Bong "Bond" Chan who was his senior and the actual inheritor of this pole system.

[Xebsball]

i dont know styles to info you man

but
if you wanna be really seriously good with a weapon, train just that weapon, or only one speciffic weapon group (swords group, staffs group, chains group)

some cma style will have numbers and numbers of forms with several different weapons... what for? in truth youre not really learning how to properly use any of them.

pratical example:
its the kind of thing that for me asnwer the question: who would win today, on a sword fight, a typical todays cma praticioner or a kendo or fencing praticioner?
well the kendo and the fencing guy is training 100% of the time with a sword like object
the cma guy... maybe spends 10% of his time with sword like objects and most probably only does forms with that

[Ray Pina]

on how you train. At our school we have no form. We train an idea. We take an idea, the strong shape that goes with it and then train it and test it and pick up the intensity.

Same with weapons: Train the idea of a short weapon (knife), middle-lenght (stick, pipe, sword) and a long weapon (pole, pool cue, ect.)

My master holds seperate classes strictly for weapons and hosts an annual tournament with competitors coming from all over. we have traditional fencers and well as kendo guys train with us.

Check the website below for more info and come visit. The enthusiams my training brothers have forn weapons is amazing. They train it hard and all out. Visit http://swordforum.com/ and its forum for more info. One of my master's disciples is a regular there and takes the sword seriously.

I want to learn but keep coming upon new empty hand technology I can't live without.

I know it sounds funny: We pride ourselves in our striking game and weapons but can play on the ground as well. But my master is in his mid-sixties and has been training since he was five ... you can learn a lot in 60 years. He flew Grand Master Wong in from China and hosted him for several years specifically to learn Ba Gua. I feel extremely fortunate for the learning opportunity I have.

[neit]

interesting, i was actually going to make a thread with a similar topic. i was wanted to know if it was frowned upon to specialize in particular cma weapon rather than empty hand?

i was thinking about taking private lessons geared toward "dao". it makes sense to me that one could learn basic footwork, stances, and movements and then specialize in one particular weapon. the only problem is that i would guess you would need to be taught privatly since the rest of the class would be studying a different curriculum. the way i see it specialization is fine as long as you learn the foundations of the system, which are usually spread throughout the entire curriculum.

[Stranger]

on how you train. At our school we have no form. We train an idea. We take an idea, the strong shape that goes with it and then train it and test it and pick up the intensity.

This sounds really interesting. Can you describe how this is achieved in class? Maybe some more concrete examples?

Apparently the pole system is s different art, is the two-handed saber technique a part of the hsing-i, bagua, taichi, e-chuan, or something totally different like the pole system?

[Ray Pina]

Weapons classes are seperate from hand-to-hand classes. From what I have seen his weapons are the same as his hands that they are the cummilitive knowledge of grandmaster Lui's pole, grandmaster Wong's Ba Gua and grandmaster Sau's Hsing-I, plus all the other styles he studied as a kid and young man .... everything.

In the hands, the structure is very Hsing-I influenced with a lot of Ba Gua theory in there. However, his tiger-tail punching and kicking is unique. I have the punching but still tinkering with the kicking.

An example of an intro class:

Hold your hands up in front of you similiar to a kung fu salute wearing 12 oz. gloves.

Let me beat that shape with my 12 oz gloves to you see that you are well shielded and have a strong structure.

He'll yell at you for swiping out side to side with your hands and tell you your hands stay at your chin/mouth/knose level ... the elbows fan out to cover the hooks if needed while stepping in.

Now you have learned the theory of shielding and testing its basic structure. Then you'll show you a Hsing-I principle like Swallow Tail (one of my favorites) or Tiger Head/Hands (my favorite).

The elemnts are not used for fighting like many think. Drill fist is not so much an upper cut (boxing's version is MUCH MORE powerful) as an idea in how to use the shoulder/back to pick someone up ... as in Wing Chun's Fuk Sau. I can throw out a jab setting up the Wing Chun guy to Fuk Sau, step in with drill fist and now I am inside with a strong shape that can not be collapsed.

While he fuk sua's I throw out the other hand just to make him busy and block .... if he doesn't block .... but it's the initial hand that's the set up.

That's how we train and how we think.

[BlueTravesty]

I know its not technically Kung fu, but there's this (http://www.geocities.com/glendoyle/bata/index.html)

Uisce Beatha Bata Rince (pronounced Ish-Kay Ba-Ha Ba-Ta Ring-Kay) is Gaelic for Whiskey Stick Dancing. However, Uisce Beatha Bata Rince isn't a form of Irish dance, it's a Doyle Clan's style of Irish stick fighting -- the martial art most Irishmen used to settle their disputes in the 18th and 19th centuries -- so the only dancing you will be doing will be at the party after the brawl.

:confused: What... dancing? party? will someone please explain what's going on??

[Stacey]

I don't believe it. The Bata Whiskey style. Kung Fu is popular in Canada...plus, I could make a more plausable "Irish" martial arts system if given an afternoon.

[David Jamieson]

bt, what's to explain.

Glen teaches Hung ga for the jing mo kwoon in T.O.

cheers

[Stacey]

and maybe his uncles hit people with stick like they were boxing. But any actual techniques probably came from kung fu.

If you ask me this is niche marketing.

I think that any true traditional Irish stickfighting probably exists in Japan....brough over wtih the catch wrestlers and other white trash fighting systems around the 1920's

[David Jamieson]

a stick is a stick and the human body is the human body.
most of it's been figured out, I would agree in a general sense with stacey in this regards.

could just as easily be damo cane techniques given an irish name, but locks and whacks can be done without calling anything anything. :)

cheers

[Tiger_Yin]

In Ba Fan Shan they only use the dao and qing because theyre the most simplistic weapon to take out someone with

[Stranger]

ttt

[C Liu]

EvolutionFist, please check your PM.