Guan Yu

[-disciple-]

I love the dynasty warriors series, and have tried doing some research on Guan Yu. He is my favorite character, and i was wondering if he left any sort of martial arts legacy behind him. I love the kwan dao, it is one of my favorite weapons. Did he leave behind a form for that weapon, or if anyone knows the form he used? what are some forms for the kwan dao, and what disciplines teach them? Any historical background on him and his martial training would be helpful

[Shaolinlueb]

i met this kid from philly 1 year at wong 2004. he said his kwan doa form was from guan yu. i dont remember what style he was. i might even have it on tape somewhere.

as for leaving a form behind or anything, i dont think he did. every martial art style attributes their guan dao form to him. he is the father of it (essentially making it famous) and martial arts some say, even the god of war. he has many names him and his 2 brothers liu bei and zhang fei. they are very famous in china. as for leaving a direct martial arts behind that he studied, i never found any reference to it other then he trianed martial arts.

its like the double short axes, they are associated with Li Kui "The Black Whirlwind" from the water margin (108 outlaws of the marsh). he might not have left a form behind, the guy was a murdered and later tamed by the group. but we all know him for his great skill with those weapons.

[doug maverick]

i thought considering his whole family was killed. and even his adopted students as well. most people will associate there form with kwan yu to give it notoriety. but in reality it doesn;t come from him. also all of kwna yu forms were made for horse back not on foot. so even if it was a form that existed you would probably need a horse to do them.

[golden arhat]

hung gar has some guan gung inspired moves (same guy but he's just generally called guan gung more than guan yu so it might be more helpful if in your search u asked for guan gung)

but yeah the guan dao is actually called aq guan dao because it was the knife (dao) of general guan so pretty much all guan dao forms have a link to him


especcially in hung gar where such moves as stroking your long beard (as he would have done) are included


hope that helps

[ghostexorcist]

I don't know how accurate it is or not, but wikipedia's article on the Kwan Dao says the following:

However, historically speaking it is likely that Guan Yu most likely would not have used a dagger-axe (ji) . While the famous novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong describes him as wielding the guan dao, this description might be an anachronistic one, as there is no illustration to show that it was ever used prior to the 7th cent. Tang dynasty or the Song dynasty when it was first illustrated in the military manual Wujing Zongyao. The guan dao, therefore, was likely neither invented nor ever used by Guan Yu, meaning that it is somewhat of a pop culture-derived misnomer. However, some historians believe that the guan dao was simply an uncommon, rare weapon prior to the Song dynasty and was thus not illustrated before then.

IF that is true, than he didn't leave any martial lineage involving the weapon at all.

but yeah the guan dao is actually called aq guan dao because it was the knife (dao) of general guan so pretty much all guan dao forms have a link to him.

It's actually called a Yan Yue Dao (偃月刀), which can be translated as "reclining moon knife". (I make no claim of being a linguist.)

[Shaolinlueb]

I don't know how accurate it is or not, but wikipedia's article on the Kwan Dao says the following:



IF that is true, than he didn't leave any martial lineage involving the weapon at all.



It's actually called a Yan Yue Dao (偃月刀), which can be translated as "reclining moon knife". (I make no claim of being a linguist.)

exaclty, but we still associate it with him.

in reality, he would have used a halberb, spear, bow, or sword of some sort.

zhang fei was famous for his spear work. they say snake head spear but who know's if that is true. this is the problem with history during that time. they never wrote down anything. if they did the next dynasty probably got rid of it all.

[-disciple-]

thanks for the info guys. As for Guan Yu, does anyone know of his date of birth and death? And other than Hung Gar, what other styles use the kwan dao?
dumb question<< are there any shaolin forms that use it? ( purely because my imagination always brings to mind a shaolin monk when thinking of a martial artist)

and as for the no historic illustrations of the kwan dao, are there no paintings or statues of Guan Yu wielding a kwan dao from that time?