Does Function Preclude Form?
"pre·clude
To make impossible, as by action taken in advance; prevent. See Synonyms at prevent.
To exclude or prevent (someone) from a given condition or activity: Modesty precludes me from accepting the honor. "
These days there is much talk about training reality. It almost looks like forms and chi sau are out. These are just things to quickly get over with so one can get on with the real business of fighting.
So I was thinking does form preclude fighting? Does fighting have to look look like sh** to be effective. Of course it can look like sh** and be effective. If one were in the middle of a survival war then all would agree who cares. If it works that’s great. But some people are not in a war and so have extra time on their hands to sit and ponder, train and ponder, train and look in the mirror every once in awhile to admire or be disgusted at our form.
I always liked Chinese Kung Fu because there was some beauty to it that plain old brawling just didn’t have. I saw a fighting art could be both effective and beautiful at the same time. So that appealed to me. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder however. At one time I thought Karate was beautiful but then my tastes Changed for Southern Chinese Kung Fu. Later I saw a beauty in Aikido and even more so in the arts of Tai Chi and Ba Gua. This beauty went beyond structure and form into the realm of dance and energy. Form in motion and intense energy, total relaxation (not total limpness) and the sudden changes between shapes and energies. All this is difficult to describe very much appealed to my mind.
In the early 1980’s my teacher berated me for spoiling my students by concentrating too much on fighting without first having mastered the proper feeling and the proper form. But our stuff worked. Of course worked against who? In class I was better at fighting than one of my training partners. Yet there was something about his form that was better than mine. He paid attention to little details, which made so much difference to the look. To me, he was the better man. Eventually his attention to detail would pay off.
I remember once Sifu Chung Kwok Chow from New York said that he had been teaching a long long time and no matter what he did his students just didn’t have the look of his Hong Kong classmates. He couldn't put his finger on what it was? The other day I talked with a Chinese from the Hung style. He said he didn’t know what it was either but most Caucasian Kung Fu artists just didn’t have the right Kung Fu look. He said he only met one guy who did. I suppose it's the same as a white guy doing a black man's music or dance. The culture has to be absorbed to do it right.
When I learned Hung style the teacher said you need to learn about 10 years of form and then you went out to fight to learn how to apply the art in a fight. He said starting to fight too early in that art just didn’t produce a Hung style fighter. Instead he said it always resulted in another form of ugly kickboxing fighting. In his day it was form, form and more form. Then it was fight, fight and fight some more.
Because I developed an eye for beautiful Kung Fu, Chuck Norris movies just don’t do it for me in the same way that Jet Li movies do. Chinese Kung Fu to me has to have an art aspect. I think you can definitely have both fighting effectiveness and beauty hand in hand.
Cars are beautiful and they work. Food can taste good, look beautiful and be nutritious all at the same time. You might counter that both a handsome and ugly husband can earn a living and take out the garbage and so looks don't matter.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so there is not one standard. But I think William Cheung’s waterfront demo looks very good. Augustine Fong’s Windy city demo looks very good. I think Kenneth Chung’s totally relaxed method in fighting and form looks very good. I think Gary Lam has function and good form. So different lineages all have examples of good function combined with good form.
I think the good form comes from doing lots of form. Good form cannot come from rushing through the forms quickly so we can get on to kickboxing type of reality training. Good structure takes time to develop and to ingrain into the body so that it doesn't fall apart under stress. Some good boxers also have good form. I usde to think Olympic Judo looks like garbage however I have seen some recent matches that also displayed very good technique and form.
I think good form is a prerequisite to efficient body mechanics, rootedness and powerful force delivery. It doesn’t take away from effectiveness. Relaxed functional form takes much longer to train than hard style functional form.
Again this is all open to interpretation. There is a book about Karate by Egami. In my mind I had some ideal notions about what perfect Karate form should be like. But in the book the Karate to me looked like garbage but when explained by Egami it was much more effective so the forms were deceptive. Good function meant the forms had to change. It looked to me that the new Karate was on the Tai Chi path and towards the end of that path there is again very good form.
In the 1980’s I collected every tape on Wing Chun and martial art that there was. Many Wing Chun tapes were just plain ugly. Sometimes the teacher would wobble too and fro, up and down, and call it Wing Chun. No doubt he could fight but something was missing. Form was discounted in favor of function. Form just wasn’t considered important. Maybe the art of it was missing. Maybe they weren’t really effective?
For many I know this is of no importance. One lady from China said “why does everybody in the USA dress like pigs?” To her beauty is important but here functionality in terms of comfort and warmth is much more important than looks. She said why can’t you have both?
To develop the real ART of it, a lot of attention has to be brought onto the finest of details of the art. These things take time and come through the form combined with the sticking hands. I think maximum effectiveness in fighting also comes from this detailed attention to feeling and form.
About Egami and about thinking too much about copying exact traditional Karate Form:
http://www.shotokai.com/ingles/history/style.html
http://www.shotokai.com/ingles/history/worries.html
The Heart of Karate-Do
by Shigeru Egami
Ray
Re: Does Function Preclude Form?
Quote:
Originally posted by YongChun
I remember once Sifu Chung Kwok Chow from New York said that he had been teaching a long long time and no matter what he did his students just didn’t have the look of his Hong Kong classmates. He couldn't put his finger on what it was? The other day I talked with a Chinese from the Hung style. He said he didn’t know what it was either but most Caucasian Kung Fu artists just didn’t have the right Kung Fu look.
LOL! One of Ken Chung's old students once told me over drinks that to do Wing Chun, you had to look Chinese. Not be Chinese, just look it. Maybe he was on to something. I certainly don't look Chinese, and my Wing Chun could stand improvement. :D
Regards,