Chanyu The Female Warrior 鄧嬋玉

[Tainan Mantis]

I will be teaching a seminar on double saber and am in the process of preparing some interesting stories. This is from a Ming Era novel called Feng Shen Yanyi 封神演義.
It is about a woman warrior named Deng Chanyu that fights with a pair of double sabers.

Nezha was a warrior with supernatural powers. He travelled on wind-fire wheels and fought with a fire lance.

Deng Jiugong was a fierce warrior who brought a great halberd to battle Nezha. As the two warriors approached each other two armies stood in ready formation. What iogong didn’t know is that Nezha had a magic weapon called the Universal Ring 乾坤圈. They battled for over thirty rounds and Nezha’s fire spear still couldn’t defeat Jiugong’s halberd. Nezha stealthily pulled out his ring and threw it at Jiugong. The Universal Ring smashed into Jiugong and broke his arm. Nezha’s army attacked and Jiugong barely escaped with his life.

Jiugong sat in pain all night. His daughter Chanyu was furious at Nezha and vowed revenge. The next morning she galloped forth on her horse and demanded battle with Nezha. When Nexha came out and saw a young girl he said, “Female general slow down!”

“Who are you?” asked Chanyu.

“I’m Nezha, You are just a little girl, what are you doing here? Run home and send out a real fighter.”

In great anger she charged forward, “Take my sabers!”

They fought on horseback, her pair of sabers vs. his fire-tipped spear for just a few rounds before Chanyu shouted out, “I’m no match for you,” and quickly turned to escape.

Nezha thought, “She’s just a woman and can’t take this heavy fighting,” and he chased in close pursuit.

Chanyu reached into a bag and pulled out a five colored stone. She hurled the stone at Nezha and before he could dodge out of the way he was hit on the nose. She galloped back to her camp in triumph. Nezha raced back to his camp and described what happened to the prime minister.

Nezha’s fellow warrior Tianhua said, “How were you beaten by a little girl? Don’t you know that in battle your eyes must look to the four sides and your ears must listen to the eight directions? Your nose represents Saturn. Now that it is broken you are sure to be plagued by bad luck.”

Nezha could say nothing and walked away angry.

The next day Chanyu came out and issued another challenge and Tianhua came to meet her.

“Who is that general coming?” She asked.

“I’m Tianhua. Yesterday you hurt my brother and today I’ll make you pay!"

Stay tuned for the results of the next battle...
Two person saber form I teach (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4RR8IvdyvM)

[GeneChing]

See Out of the Mouth of Babes in our SEP+OCT 2013 issue (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1113).

[SPJ]

As far as weapon goes, me like spear and staff.

double sable, double hammer, double dear hook etc

are considered as short to mid distance weapon.

Nuo Za or ne za is very good at spear.

Monkey king or Sun Wu Kong is a good at staff.

They tie in fights.

They become good friends.

So the legend continues.

:cool:

[Tainan Mantis]

Three images of Nezha, both modern, one good for tattoo, and a sculpture

[Tainan Mantis]

Here are two images of Chanyu. The ancient one from an old book of Feng Shen Yanyi and a more modern one with a variation on her sword and armor.

[ghostexorcist]

Here are two images of Chanyu. The ancient one from an old book of Feng Shen Yanyi and a more modern one with a variation on her sword and armor.

I believe the Investiture of the Gods is younger than the Water Margin. I wonder if Chan Yu is based on the popular double sword wielding heroine Hu Sanniang, a.k.a. "Ten Feet of Blue"?

[Tainan Mantis]

I believe the Investiture of the Gods is younger than the Water Margin. I wonder if Chan Yu is based on the popular double sword wielding heroine Hu Sanniang, a.k.a. "Ten Feet of Blue"?
Thanks for bringing that up. I believe unrelated, mostly they share the use of Double Sabers only. But for some reason, female warriors are often depicted with a pair of swords.

[Tainan Mantis]

Chanyu Battles Tianhua. Here he is with his pair of hammers.
7952
As I was saying The next day Chanyu came out and issued another challenge and Tianhua came to meet her.

“Who is that general coming?” She asked.

“I’m Tianhua. Yesterday you hurt my brother and today I’ll make you pay!"

He struck at Chanyu with his pair of hammers and Chanyu’s sabers countered with dancing chops to his face. Hammers and sabers clanged and banged, beating and blocking. After a few rounds Chanyu shouted in a high pitched voice, “Tianhua do you dare chase me?”

Tianhua thought, “If I don’t chase her Nezha is sure to ridicule me .” As Tianhua approached from the rear she turned and threw her five colored stone and hit Tianhua sending him back to his camp with blood pouring from his face.

Nezha said, “Don’t you know you have to look to four sides and listen to eight directions? Look at your face. Now you will have bad luck for one hundred years.”

“How can you be so petty?” Tianhua shouted.
“Why did you insult me yesterday?” Nezha retorted. The two fell to arguing like a couple of children and the prime minister sent them away.

Two supernatural warriors, Yang Jian with his faithful dog, Sky-Barking Hound, and Dragon-Beard Tiger, a one legged master, approached the Prime Minister.

Yang Jian said to Dragon-Beard Tiger, “She throws stones as you do, you are the one to deal with her.” Though Dragon-Beard Tiger had only one leg he had the super natural ability to shoot rocks from his hands.

The Prime Minister agreed, “Dragon-Beard Tiger will go and battle Chanyu and Yang Jian will give support.

The next day Chanyu raced out to do battle and said, "Who are you?"
"I'm Dragon-Beard Tiger and I'm here to defeat you." Dragon-Beard Tiger opened his palms and rocks big and small came at her like a swarm of locusts accompanied by the deafening peals of thunder and lightening.

Chanyu turned to flee the storm of stones with Dragon-Beard Tiger in close pursuit.

[Tainan Mantis]

If you look closely you will notice that Tian Hua's horse is not horse at all. It is called Qilin, one of a number of mythical Chinese creatures.

I have been saving this picture for an article about the real life character Han Tong (?-960 AD). He was famous during the Ming Dynasty as the foil for Zhao Kuangyin. Military manuals of that era record his martial art as part of then current military curriculums


I am Han Tong of Shandong's Muling Pass. Since I was young I have beat others in fighting and wrestling. My pair of fists can overthrow a ferocious tiger and my feet can knock down a qilin. If I am angry I can push over the three peaks of Mount Hua. I've competed across the four great provinces. At my home I keep over 100 strong braves including ten famous disciples. Whether the prefect is large or small, who is not afraid of me? Throughout the four seas there isn't one who dares contend with me.

[Tainan Mantis]

I believe the Investiture of the Gods is younger than the Water Margin. I wonder if Chan Yu is based on the popular double sword wielding heroine Hu Sanniang, a.k.a. "Ten Feet of Blue"?

Let me re-answer this as I believe it is a really important point.
There are certain themes that the oral story teller had at their disposal that date back prior to the Ming era. Story tellers were required to memorize what we we call entire full length novels, and there were quite a few of them.
The different stories were gathered around different thematic points and followed specific cliches and outlines.
Later these were put together and arranged into novels such as Shui Hu Zhuan, Xi You Ji etc.

So, I think that it is fair to say there was a general storyline that went something like;
Female warrior defeats a dwarf (In both Shui Hu and Feng Shen the double saber wielding woman warrior marries a dwarf)
Female defeated.
Dwarf marries female.

There has been a tremendous amount of study on this subject for Shui Hu as well as Xi You Ji, both in finding the original stories before they entered their final Ming era form as well as seeking out the commonalities of different stories that would have made them easier to recall before a live audience.

I will go back and look up Ten Feet of Blue and see if she is included in this research.

[Kellen Bassette]

I want a cool name like Dragon-Beard Tiger. :(

[ghostexorcist]

Let me re-answer this as I believe it is a really important point.
There are certain themes that the oral story teller had at their disposal that date back prior to the Ming era. Story tellers were required to memorize what we we call entire full length novels, and there were quite a few of them.
The different stories were gathered around different thematic points and followed specific cliches and outlines.
Later these were put together and arranged into novels such as Shui Hu Zhuan, Xi You Ji etc.

So, I think that it is fair to say there was a general storyline that went something like;
Female warrior defeats a dwarf (In both Shui Hu and Feng Shen the double saber wielding woman warrior marries a dwarf)
Female defeated.
Dwarf marries female.

There has been a tremendous amount of study on this subject for Shui Hu as well as Xi You Ji, both in finding the original stories before they entered their final Ming era form as well as seeking out the commonalities of different stories that would have made them easier to recall before a live audience.

I will go back and look up Ten Feet of Blue and see if she is included in this research.

Awesome. Please keep us informed.

[Tainan Mantis]

As we were saying;

Chanyu turned to flee the storm of stones with Dragon-Beard Tiger in close pursuit.
As she escaped she reached into her bag and threw a five colored stone at Dragon-Beard Tiger hitting him in the face. She took the chance to hit him with another stone in the leg and knocked him down. As Chanyu rushed up to chop off his head Yang Jian suddenly appeared, "Don't cut off his head!" As he shouted his Sky-Barking Hound leaped on Chanyu and bit a chunk of meat off her neck.

She galloped away barely excaping with her life. When she returned to camp super natural master Earth-Traveller Sun cured her wound.
Sometime later these two got married and became a two person fighting team.

Below are two illustrations of Yang Jian. One old and one from a modern site on Asian Tattoo.

[Tainan Mantis]

Awesome. Please keep us informed.

There is a generic outline of a story where a female general defeats a male general and then is later tamed by that male in the bedroom.
In the above story Chanyu is tamed by Earth Traveler Sun. Like in Shui Hu Zhuan the male general that finally succeeds in taming the female warrior is uses a staff and is short and 'stumpy.'

Side note relating to Creation of the Gods:
This weekend we went to see 47 Ronin. The Fox Spirit idea controlling the king is directly based on Daji who controls the king in Creation of the Gods.

[GeneChing]

This weekend we went to see 47 Ronin. Well then, review it here (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?52762-47-Ronin).

[ghostexorcist]

There is a generic outline of a story where a female general defeats a male general and then is later tamed by that male in the bedroom.
In the above story Chanyu is tamed by Earth Traveler Sun. Like in Shui Hu Zhuan the male general that finally succeeds in taming the female warrior is uses a staff and is short and 'stumpy.'

Side note relating to Creation of the Gods:
This weekend we went to see 47 Ronin. The Fox Spirit idea controlling the king is directly based on Daji who controls the king in Creation of the Gods.

Thanks for sharing. I've read Shui Hu Zhuan, but I haven't yet read Fengshen Yanyi. It's interesting to know that a common motif appears in both works.

[David Jamieson]

Having read through Gene's (and Gigi's) article about the fusion of Chinese martial arts with it's fantasy stories, culturally I can see merit in this.

But also, I see drawbacks.

Consider this, if any regular boxing club was to advertise "Batman style boxing" their reputation would likely be shot.

I don't throw the baby out with the bathwater and there is plenty of material in the Kung Fu I have learned that doesn't readily appear to be applicable in a worthwhile and effective way. But I've always taken into consideration that perhaps someday, someone will find a use for it, so it stays. It just doesn't get dusted off a lot. :)

[GeneChing]

Consider this, if any regular boxing club was to advertise "Batman style boxing" their reputation would likely be shot Isn't that what Keysi is? :p

[mawali]

Isn't that what Keysi is? :p

The originator of Keysi Method was able to portray the system through the Batman movies as it was a great concept tool in martial choreography.
In one of the dignitary protection courses I attended, the Keysi system was taught as it applied to 'cover and evacuate the principal'. Counter offensive duties relied on Keysi System Management (my words here) personnel to neutralize the threat. I only took part of the curriculum and it is a positive tool for the process. Easy to learn and integrate and even be part of your traditional MA conditioning.

[SPJ]

Three images of Nezha, both modern, one good for tattoo, and a sculpture

They are just legends or myths.

However, I like the idea of weapons protrayed.

1 A double head spear.

2 A metal ring.

Using a line and a circle to solve your fighting problems.

3 Double swords

Using 2 lines to cover a circle or sphere around you to solve fighting problems.

Two lines against one.

etc