CLF Tiger's Tail Broadsword - is it really Southern?

[yutyeesam]

Hey LKH lineage folks, what is with our Fu Mei Don Do? These northern guys' Shaolin Broadsword form is remarkably similar:

http://www.chinahand.com/Fun%20Stuff..._bs_caoyue.mpg

Is this a northern form originally that's been adapted into our curric?

-123

[CLFNole]

I have seen a variety of styles do the form with slight differences including:

Buk Siu Lum, Jow Gar and Hung Gar.

What its origin is I don't know, but weapons are weapons and styles have shared forms and altered them over the years.

Just my take.

[TenTigers]

I asked Bow Sim Mark the origin of the form as she does a similar set to the one I learned. (basically the same, but differs in some direction changes and some extra moves) She said Tiger Tail is the most famous and widely practiced set,which is why it was chosen for the standardized wu-shu broadsword form.- but one, there are many sets called Tiger Tail, and two, there are many names for the same set, so that solves...um, nothing?

[Shaolin Dude]

I know this form too.

[David Jamieson]

i learned a 'tiger tail' broadsword form. it was nothing like that wushu one you just posted. it is similar to hung ga broadsword forms i've seen.

[Invisible-fist]

As far as I know, Hung Ga has no broadsword of its own . Hung schools usually import either the tiger tail, or the Pek Kwa broadsword.

[Mulong]

That is sei duan daoshu (four section knife skill) or also known as 32 broadsword (san shi er dao)

[Ben Gash]

Most Hung schools I know do Mui Fah Don Do, which as far as I can tell is a Hung form.

[Mulong]

Curious, which one? I asked, because I have studied with two reknown Shifu in hongquan, and we don't do huweidandao.

[Lohanhero]

Hung is from Shaolin, wouldnt it have a shaolin sword form?

[Eddie]

that form is actually a standard broadsword form and is used by many schools, nothern and southern. LKH form has a typical LKH opening, which makes it slightly different, but the rest of the form is pretty much all the same.

As far as I know, there is no real Southern Broadsword (Nan Dao), but there was a post about this here long time ago.

[TenTigers]

There is an expression in Hung=Ga, which I don;t recall, but basically states that the pillar forms are shared y all, but each sifu provides the weapons.

[David Jamieson]

bladed weapons are a realtively new thing to buddhist martial arts.

the primary weapons of the shaolin were much less offensive than swords and such and there is even documented evidence that supports the shaolin for the longest time did not use swordplay at all or even other bladed weapons. THey are siad to have knocked the tops off of spears and to only use the staff as a defensive weapon.

It was in the last 300 years with the whole ching/ming thing where weapons became a factor in shaloing kungfu. This is likely because buddhist temples harboured anti government rebels. Shaolin being one of those temples. Other temples as well hid soldiers or even just people moving away from the fighting or in transit.

There were regiments in the kmt that carried broadswords of the variety we use in kungfu practice.

[Eddie]

david,
could you please state your reference sources to that post? Sure Shaolin used staffs, but there were other development in Chinese Martial Arts apart from Shaolin. The use of broadswords in Chinese Martial Arts defiantly pre dates 300 years.

[Invisible-fist]

"There is an expression in Hung=Ga, which I don;t recall, but basically states that the pillar forms are shared y all, but each sifu provides the weapons."


That sounds about right. The supplementary forms vary considerably as well.

I'd say that Hung's signature weapons are the monkey king staff, the 8 trigram pole, and the mother/son butterfly knives.