Ku Yu Cheung and Bak Sing Choy Li Fut

[mickey]

Greetings,

I did not know whether to post this in the Shaolin or the Southern style forum. So, I put this thread here.

A few weeks ago, I posted up a link to some martial arts demonstrations that took place in Venezuela that featured many performances from the Wutan school of Liu Yun Chiao. Well, at some point during the viewing, I zoned out. When I came back to viewing one of the demos, which happened to be one of Baji, I though I was looking at Bak Sing Choy Lay Fut. It was a strange moment. Is there any evidence that Ku Yu Cheung studied Baji? Is there any evidence to suggest that he transmitted any of that to the Bak Sing Choy Li Fut tradition?


mickey

[Jimbo]

mickey,

At what point in the vid is that? It's possible the demonstrator was actually performing Pigua. My second Mantis teacher in Taiwan actually started out under Liu Yun-qiao at the Wutan school before studying Mantis. Wutan taught other styles besides Baji, and if I recall correctly, Pigua was one of them. In fact, I believe Baji and Pigua were taught together because each one complemented the other. If it's the guy in the white long-sleeved shirt in the vid, I believe that's Pigua, not Baji. My teacher taught arm-swinging exercises taken from Pigua as a general "relaxed whipping" warmup for northern style practice. In some cases, SOME Pigua movements might be construed as resembling CLF (Buk Sing or otherwise).

I had a thread up recently, called 'Interesting Pigua Quan Documentary'.

[mickey]

Hi Jimbo,

I don't remember the particular point off the top of my head. It definitely wasn't pigua. It could have been more of a perceptual thing than an actual thing. i really don't want to go back to that demo. :D (I will check) While BSCLF has certain forms, there are also drills that are aggressive and throw the body behind the strike. I rarely see this now days. I had a very small taste of BSCLF a long time ago from one of my early instructors who took a short trip to HK with his master. He was the guest of a BSCLF practitioner who sold snakes for a living. After business hours the punch bags were dropped and the training would begin.

mickey

[mickey]

Hi Jimbo

It is at 40:30. Will check again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNULkvRqCnM


mickey

[mickey]

Hi Jimbo

EDIT It is at 41:06. Will check again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNULkvRqCnM


mickey

[mickey]

Please note edit in previous post.

mickey

[Jimbo]

OK. I checked at 41:06, and I believe that is a basic Baji movement (with the caveat that, although I've seen plenty of Baji and even sparred some Baji guys, I've never studied it myself).

The Pigua I was referring to begins at 42:00.

[mickey]

Greetings Jimbo

That Pigua demo was the standout performance of the entire montage for me.

I did check out the documentary on Pigua that you posted and It had me wondering if Tongbei was it's mother because of the heaviness. Overall, one word came to mind: Shaolin.


mickey

[David Jamieson]

Pigua (Pi Gua) and Pek Gwar are the same thing.
Northern Shaolin of Ku Yu Cheung has Pek Gwar in it.
As I understand it, the weapons and particularly the broadsword is pek gwar.

[mickey]

Greetings,

The article contained in the linked ezine mentions Ku Yu Cheung (Gu Ruzhang) having studied Baji.

http://www.martialmindfulness.nl/downloads/meibukanmagazineno7.pdf

mickey