How many different types of Gar/Ga are there?

[Erasmus Mingatt]

Just curious brothers and sisters..

So far I have counted: Hung Ga, Choy Ga, Mok Ga, Lau Ga, Li Ga, Jow(Chow?) Ga, Hop Ga(I am not sure if this is the same as the Tibetan Lama system), and Fut Ga.

Are there any others? If so..please explain.

Best,
EM

[MasterKiller]

Ga just means family in Cantonese.

Lots of styles. Lots.

[HungKuenPride]

Gar/Jia (家) means "household/family."

If you're referring to the Five Southern Families, they're:
Hung Gar (洪家)
Lau Gar (劉家)
Mok Gar (莫家)
Lee Gar (李家)
Choy Gar (蔡家)

Also, particular branches of schools sometimes also include "家" in their name.

[Mulong]

As many as you want... Just like Ryu in Japanese...

[B-Rad]

HungKuenPride gave you the 5 most famous, of course like the others said, there's a lot more.

[GeneChing]

China is really a collection of clans. A huge collection. Clans is another translation of gar/jia. Take a look at China's national totem, the dragon. It's really an amalgamation of several different totems, each representing an ancient clan.

This is one reason why CMA isn't as militant as KMA or JMA. We call our teachers sifu, which implies 'father'. There are countless gar/jia. We're more than sand on the seashore. We're more than numbers.

[Erasmus Mingatt]

Thank you for all your responses.

But to reiterate my original question..what OTHER ones besides the ones I listed are there?

Saying "there are lots" doesn't really answer the question.

Thank you.

EM

[Mulong]

EM,

Honestly, you aren't getting it (not trying to be disrespectful); they are to numerous to count. Indeed, you mention a few that are popular, but there are so many, which aren't popular at all; only known by the practitioner of that particular discipline.

For example, Yang shi taijiquan (Willow style extreme extremities boxing), can be refer to as Yangjitaijiquan (Yang family extreme extremities boxing); however, (off the cuff) it seems that use of jia/ga isn't the norm in Northern styles (beishi), but more common in Southern style (nanshi).

I do hope this help.

[B-Rad]

Willow style? :confused:

[Mulong]

Yang: Willow
Shi: Style
Tai: Extreme
Ji: Extremities
Quan: Boxing

Therefore, Yang style taiji, can be refer to as Willow, i.e., translation of their surname.

[David Jamieson]

How many surnames in China?

Of those, who has their own family style?

Find that out and you will know how many kungfu Gars there are.

Gar is meaning "family"

so hung ga = Hung family, Li Ga is Li Family and so on and so on.

Hung, Mok, Li, Lau and Choy are the primary 5 of southern kungfu, or so they are recognized as such for the most part. there is also other families that have kungfu.

Wu, Ho, Chen, Yeung etc etc etc. They do not also call themselves a family style though for varying reasons. One of them being a dialectic and cultural thing.

Ga and Ryu are not really the same. Ryu is more equated to "Pai" or to be even more fair, it is closer to Kuen or Chuan where those are meaning fist method. Pai is clan as well, but it can also mean school or style. Kuen and chuan mean fist law or fist method and so are more similar to ryu in that sense.

gar is really specific to the whole family thing though. with pai being inclusive of extended family.

as mentioned here, the heirarchical structure of kungfu schools is based quite a lot in the confucian ideal of filial piety where you have grandad and dad and big brother, little brother, dads wife, sister and so on.

In Northern strains you get this as well, but the southern styles really emphasize this a lot.

[B-Rad]

Thank you for all your responses.

But to reiterate my original question..what OTHER ones besides the ones I listed are there?

Saying "there are lots" doesn't really answer the question.

Thank you.

EM
Well, the question isn't very good and doesn't lend itself to any kind of concrete answer. If someone has their own family/clan style, and speaks Cantonese, they might call their martial art "Insert Name" Gar Kuen. Some of these might have another name too, something more discriptive (like crane, tiger, etc.). Also, sometimes people with the same family name (or very close family names) might come up with two different styles independently. Any reason your asking? Because if you're looking for real info, I think you might need to rethink your question.

[Erasmus Mingatt]

Well..ok..I concede that the number of Ga are probably too numerous to list.

All I am really asking is..can someone please list some of the more WELL KNOWN of them...just a few..maybe 5-6 other ones that are a little more obscure but still in the kf community.

I don't mean can someone please list 1,000 more Ga names.

[B-Rad]

As far as more well known southern family styles, I think you pretty much named all of them already except Chow Ga (a southern mantis branch).

Chow Gar video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXFFitr1OkM

[B-Rad]

And Chu Gar (another southern mantis branch).

[B-Rad]

And how about "Ng Gar" (five family)

[ngokfei]

Kan Jia (a series of sets at the shaolin temple)

Gao Jia (mostly known for their Bagua)

as for taiji you've got the other families

Chen Jia
Sun Jia
Wu Jia
Woo Jia
Hao Jia
Zhao Bao (i don't remember if it is family or village?)

oh and Fu Jia (family styled taiji bagua and xingyi(?)