Northern Five Animals

[constant bear]

I enjoy your posts on the Southern Five Animals kungfu style but isn't there a Northern version as well? I've heard about it but have not really read anything about its similarity/ difference to the southern animals. Does anyone know enough about this to start a discussion here or point me in the direction of a book and/or web site for further research? Which came first? Does "southern hands, northern feet" still apply? I've posted a similar question on the Northern Chinese Kungfu page. Thanks.

[extrajoseph]

Both the northern and the southern five-animals kung fu have their origin in the “Siu Lam Ng Kuen” (The Five Fists of Shaolin) as passed down by Monk Chao Yu (Monk Autumn Moon), also known as Bak Yuk-Fung. He wrote a book called the “The Essential Requirements of the Five Fists” (Ng Kuen Jing Yao) and described in details the characteristics of the five animals. This classic became the “bible’ for the five-animal kung fu both in the north and the south of China.

Together with Monk Gurk Yuen and Lee Song and Lee’s son, the four of them went back to the Songshan Shaolin Temple and revitalized the Shaolin martial arts during the Jin and early Yuen Dynasty (Shaolin Temple recorded showed the years 1224 – 1232 being the crucial period when the four of them came together).

The five animals kung fu reached its peak in the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) and spread to the south when the southern Shaolin temple was built in Fujian province during that period. Choy Lee Fut, with its southern hands and northern feet, can trace its animal forms along this lineage back to Bak Yuk-Fung and his Ng Kuen in the northern Shaolin Temple.

The northern version has Ng Kuen (Five Fists), Loong Ying (Dragon), Fu Ying (Tiger), Pow Ying (Leopard) and Hok Ying (Crane), whereas CLF has 12 sets for ten animals, so obviously there is an elaboration of the old to the new, from the north to the south.

[EAZ]

Extrajoseph, thank you for this complement of information.

Are you aware of any publications of the texts/books you mention in your post? Are they lost ?

[extrajoseph]

The source of my information came from history of Shaolin Temple and history of Choy Lee Fut. They are in Chinese (not lost but hard to get) and I find them support each other quite well in terms of the time and people involved. Looking at the kuen-po from both sources, the northern Shaolin animal forms are quite short and succinct, whereas the CLF animal forms are quite long and intricate. This fits well with the development of a martial art system, it has a tendency to expand and to embellish from the original.

JosephX

[N5Animals]

I enjoy your posts on the Southern Five Animals kungfu style but isn't there a Northern version as well? I've heard about it but have not really read anything about its similarity/ difference to the southern animals. Does anyone know enough about this to start a discussion here or point me in the direction of a book and/or web site for further research? Which came first? Does "southern hands, northern feet" still apply? I've posted a similar question on the Northern Chinese Kungfu page. Thanks.

There are few masters who are still practicing northern five animals. It is different (less than 30% similarity) to southern sets.