"Tiger" symbolism in Kung Fu

[cruxshadow9]

Hi Everyone,

One thing I hear about a lot when studying Kung Fu is the use of animal symbolism when training. Some styles have Tiger, Snake, Crane, and Monkey forms.

I am especially curious about the use of tiger symbolism. What does the tiger stand for? How is a tiger mimicked in actual forms?

Very curious!

[Tigerstyle]

As far as I know from what (little) I've learned, the animal symbolism is usually a focus on a certain attitude/personality and a reflection of what attributes you develop/emphasise.

In the case of the tiger, the attitude is usually offensively aggressive as opposed to , say a crane attitude, which is defensively aggressive. Offensively aggressive meaning usually taking the initiative or bringing the fight to the opponent, whereas defensively aggressive would be more like blasting an opponent that enters your zone. Also, Aggressive doesn't necessarily(sp?) mean angry, but determined or committed.

As far as attributes for a tiger, I was taught that it was to develop strength in the bones. I guess that would mean bone density, but I'm still new to this stuff so don't quote me on that. Maybe someone here could add a bit more insight.

A lot of people think "using the animal spirit" in the form means to change the fist to a tiger claw, leopard fist, etc. but it's actually more than that (actually it's usually something different entirely). You don't need to use a "tiger claw" to move with a tiger spirit. Using tiger symbolism in your forms would be mostly in the attitude, but there are also different techniques you could emphasise. In the case of the tiger, you could use a "tiger claw" (IMHO, I think the name is a bit misleading, because some of the techniques I learned involved grasping, holding and ripping. That would be more of a "tiger jaw" :) ) as an alteration to a technique where appropriate. (NOTE: Changing the technique like that could totally change the intent of its application in the form, so be aware.)

I hope that helps. Maybe someone with more knowledge could chime in here, too.