Songshan qimeigun aka eyebrow-height staff

[GeneChing]

BSL (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19371)has an eyebrow-height staff, but I'm referring to the Songshan Shaolin version. Does anyone here practice it? I learned it about a month ago from Shi Yantuo. It's not quite working for me so I'm looking for some insights.

Here's a rather modern version, not at all like what I'm doing in tone, but it follows the same pattern more or less. Actually, less...
shaolin qi mei gun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BflyORlyuI4)
I'll have to snoop around for a version that's closer to what I do, or what I'm trying to do...

[Xian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15z6Ui95Fg8

How about this one ?

Or maybe you can get a hold of the full video of this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6CW9GEkJNo

I believe you see parts of the form in this.


Kind Regards,
Xian

[sha0lin1]

BSL (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19371)has an eyebrow-height staff, but I'm referring to the Songshan Shaolin version. Does anyone here practice it? I learned it about a month ago from Shi Yantuo. It's not quite working for me so I'm looking for some insights.

Here's a rather modern version, not at all like what I'm doing in tone, but it follows the same pattern more or less. Actually, less...
shaolin qi mei gun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BflyORlyuI4)
I'll have to snoop around for a version that's closer to what I do, or what I'm trying to do...

Hey Gene,

I practice something called Duan Gun. Not sure if that is the right spelling but it is called Shaolin Short Staff. Not at all like Qi Mei Gun, but the staff is the same height. Don't have any videos of it though.

[GeneChing]

..not quite the same though. He does an extra figure-8 in the 2nd 7-star stance. But close enough, I suppose. Thanks Xian!

BTW, anyone know where Guosong is now? I've lost track.

Duan is the correct pinyin for short. I think it's this character: 短

[Xian]

..not quite the same though. He does an extra figure-8 in the 2nd 7-star stance. But close enough, I suppose. Thanks Xian!

BTW, anyone know where Guosong is now? I've lost track.

Duan is the correct pinyin for short. I think it's this character: 短


I had a short email contact with him about an student who translated to English for me, because I cant speak Chinese. This was about 7-8 months ago. There he was in Canada. I believe I read somewhere in youtube that he was or is about to go back to the states to his pupils( I dont know if this is the right English word) But I have no clarification about that.


Kind Regards,
Xian

[GeneChing]

He was at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center for a while. Then I know he went to Canada. I heard he came back but never validated that. I've only met him in passing - mostly through his work with Alonzo King (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53744).

Anyway, back OT. My issue with qimeigun is the flow of it. I just can't get the qi out. It's such a simple form, just a two basic techniques repeated a lot, with different transition turns. It lacks that juice I expect from Shaolin forms, especially when you compare it with yinshougun (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48637). I think I'm just missing it. Anyone else here working on it? I'm looking for some insight.

[RenDaHai]

少林齐眉棍

Qimeigun is a type of staff rather than a specific form. Although there IS one famous version around shaolin but it has so many variations i don't think i have ever seen the same one twice. Plus Yinshougun is frequently referred to as QImei gun by many schools, which makes things confusing.

My favourate version would be the 'Shi Ba Dian Mei Qi Gun' of the Wugulun Pai. (18 point eyebrow height staff).

I've looked on the Chinese video sites and there isn't a good version. I saw it done extremely well once in a competition by TAGOU. Because the form is simple and repetitive one only has to really master two short sequences. The 'figure of 8' is best done flowing and slow with exagerated waist movement and the striking sequence with the eye poke is best done with EXTREME power. But broken, so each individual move is really fast and hard but the continuation is not too fast. Thats how it was done in the competition anyway.... and it won. Really boring form but done with extreme explosive power. I let the staff fall back and touch the waist and then use that contact to fling it with power.

[GeneChing]

qimeigun means eyebrow-height staff, so yes, it describes a staff that's a particular height - eyebrow-height. However, it's such a common term in CMA that it is used as the name of many forms too. Beyond the Songshan Shaolin qimeigun, the basic BSL staff form is also called qimeigun (although transliterated from Cantonese, it's chaimeiguan). (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13315) Tai Shing Pek Kwar (Chan Sau Chung's version) has the same form, but they only call it Nine Province staff. Also, I believe White Crane has a qimeigun.

[RenDaHai]

I know, as i said...



Although there IS one famous version around shaolin...

The problem is that Shaolin itself has so many versions that it is not a useful name. Names Like 'Mogou Pai Qi Mei Gun' or 'Shi Ba dian Qi Mei Gun' (two distinct versions) are more specific.

I do know the one you mean though, and speed and power is the only way to make this form work. Thankfully its mercifully short and you can go full throttle without getting too tired.

[GeneChing]

What I like about qimeigun is that it's more like quarterstaff or bo (http://www.martialartsmart.com/weapons-staffs-batons-staffs.html), in that you generally hold the staff in the middle and fight with both ends. Yinshougun is more like spear. In fact, it works best with a tapered staff.

What I don't like about qimeigun is there isn't that much to it. It's more like jibengong drills.

[RenDaHai]

You hit the nail on the head there Gene...

Shaolin staff is 7/10 spear as the old sayings go. But Qimei gun really is just gun. Its a primative form which is basically the line drills merged into a sequence.

But its a great test. Because the form itself looks Pants, if you do it badly it will look appaling. But because it has no flashy moves it really gives you a chance to showcase your explosive power. If you can wow the crowd with Qimeigun then you really do have some skill....

[GeneChing]

Here's another Shaolin staff called qimeigun that I've been meaning to post here for a few weeks now. It's by Shi Yantuo, who taught me qimengun (which I've since forgotten). Ironically, he taught me the other version, the one I was discussing last year. What I like about this rendition is that Yantuo uses a big fat staff. It's like 2 inches thick. He was very proud of finding that staff.

Shaolin Staff from USKFT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDcBsFdV8kU)

[r.(shaolin)]

What I like about qimeigun is that it's more like quarterstaff or bo (http://www.martialartsmart.com/weapons-staffs-batons-staffs.html), in that you generally hold the staff in the middle and fight with both ends. Yinshougun is more like spear. In fact, it works best with a tapered staff.

What I don't like about qimeigun is there isn't that much to it. It's more like jibengong drills.

In the tradition of Songshan Shaolin I practice, Qi Mei Gun is not a tapered weapon but one with a uniform thickness, its length measured to the users eyebrow, thus the name, 齊眉棍, with one end called the ‘head’ the other the ‘tail’, is mostly gripped with both hands pointing forward toward the head of the weapon. Generally the ‘southern’ Shaolin version of Qi Mei Gun is a true ‘double headed staff’ which is gripped both hands, thumb to thumb, palms down, used like the quarter staff of the west, with an emphasis on static strikes, is unlike the northern Shaolin version of the weapon. The eight single sets plus staff vs staff, staff vs other weapons and barehand vs staff sets with Qi Mei Gun passed down in our tradition, a northern lineage, mostly follows this method.
The way the weapon is held and used, creates a dynamic force in striking, generated by the front hand sliding so that the weapon length is increased, generating speed and power not unlike sliding down an axe handle toward the other hand as the swing is executed. This maintains control and delivers a faster, more powerful blow without redirecting the force back into the arms of the person wielding the weapon when the opponent is struck or the strike is blocked. In Shaolin this method is call the 'live pole'. This grip is extremely versatile, enabling 'deflect and thrust' techniques, movements found in the northern spear, where the rear hand holds the tail and generates a deeper seamless deflection and thrust, allowing for strikes and thrusts with the tail, allowing for seamless and lightening quick thrusts or strikes from spinning figure 8 deflections, which the weapon's length so nicely facilitates. Yes Qi Mei Gun is an innocuous looking weapon, but at Shaolin in Henan the Qi Mei Gun was developed into the most lethal and sophisticated of blunt weapons.
r.