Alternate Five Animal System in California?

[MFQ]

The Southern Five Animal system most of us are familiar with utilizes the dragon, tiger, snake, leopard, and crane. However, has anyone heard of a Five Animal system that uses a dragon, snake, wolf, monkey, and bat?

I have a vague memory of seeing a "five animals kung fu" belt buckle advertised in the April 1982 issue of Inside Kung Fu (Paulie Zink on the cover). It was a rectangular Western-style stamped metal buckle and appeared to depict a dragon in the center, and what looked like a monkey in the upper-left corner, what looked like a wolf or dog in the lower-left, a snake in the lower-right, and what looked like a bat in the upper-right (keep in mind I'm going on 28 years worth of memory here!)

Any idea what this "five animals" style might have been? It's possible the "wolf" and "bat" were simply a poorly-illustrated tiger and crane. I recall the seller was in Paramount, California, or one of the surrounding neighborhoods, and I know the Southern Five Animal style was well represented in that region of Los Angeles due to Ark Wong. By any chance could someone scan a photo of this ad? I believe it was located towards the center of the magazine on a left-facing page.

Thanks in advance!

[David Jamieson]

dude, are you high? Inside Kung Fu magazine is over there. >>>>>

wolf and bat indeed! lol that's awesome.

[cerebus]

It's possible the "wolf" and "bat" were simply a poorly-illustrated tiger and crane.

Yup. That's my guess.

[MFQ]

Yup. That's my guess.

But there's still the issue of a monkey in the mix, so clearly we're talking a different system here -- if it was an actual system being depicted, that is. I was kind of hinting for other members to dig out their back issues -- I thought this WAS the Inside Kung Fu Forum (it was the first listing that turned-up when I Googled both terms). BTW, I do not like a Canuck asking me if I'm "high", lol (BC bud, anyone?).

I am fairly certain it WAS a bat illustrated. I've heard of several forms (as opposed to an actual bat style) depicting bat movements that generally hold limbs close to the body (in the manner of a crouching bat), with emphasis on double blocks & strikes. I have read of a wolf style online, but I think this may have been contrived by gamers. Canines basically just bite & run, and can't really be patterned in the manner of a cat, with stalking, circling, leaping, swatting & tearing. The only dog style I've ever heard of seems to be mostly for clowning, with "barks" and lots of ground-based postures. I don't even think there is a Chinese word to differentiate "wolf" from "dog" -- generally looked down upon in Asian culture.

[cerebus]

Well, the other point is that, it was just a belt buckle, probably designed by someone with minimal martial arts knowledge, who asked his former high school buddy (who once took Tae Kwon Do) what the 5 animals of Shaolin were and received that strange melange as an answer. Wolf, bat and monkey are not part of any 5 animals system I've ever heard of in my life, and I've been studying everything that I can about Kung Fu since the 1970s. But that's just my take on it.

[NGKSMM]

I think the belt buckle you saw in the ad is this one. Actually it is a 5 animal (dragon, snake, tiger, leopard and crane) buckle. The buckle design was inspired by Ark Wong’s ng ying kuen. Perhaps the ad wasn’t clear, at a glance the crane does looks like a bat, the leopard like a monkey and the tiger looks like a wolf or dog.

[MFQ]

Holy cow, THAT IS IT!!! Thank you so much, you're amazing! Yes, the ad was merely a small B & W photo with far less detail visible than the scan you provided. That crane sure does look like a bat though, due to the wingspan, with the twisted neck only visible on close examination. After starting this thread, I did take a look though some issues of Black Belt from 1982 on Google Book Search (which BTW, has all issues archived free of charge) and did not find it there, so this must not have been a hot seller. Hang on to it, or better yet, drop me a line should you decide to part with it! It's really a rather handsome item, in a delightfully-kitschy sort of way.

My original interpretation would have made for an interesting system though. I should clarify that I did not mean to suggest it might have been a classical form, but rather it did seem like something that, for example, Chicago's Green Dragon Society might have conjured up (I do recall a listing in Inside Kung Fu's school directory around that time for a "bat-style spider kung fu" in Colorado, I believe).

Anyhow, I apologize for posting such an off-the-wall question in this forum, but now at least my quarter-century's worth of curiosity has been answered!

[Jimbo]

Actually, "wolf" in Mandarin is 'lang' (pronounced similar to the word 'long'), and "dog" is 'gou'.

[TenTigers]

yer freakin' high. The images are clearly Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Leopard, Crane.
I'm an artist, have a very vivid imagination, but I don't see any way you could have mistaken them for a monkey, bat, and wolf.
Put the pipe down. Drugs are bad.

[taai gihk yahn]

now at least my quarter-century's worth of curiosity has been answered!

life will seem awfully empty for you now...

[Dragonzbane76]

pretty much the basic animals of most systems... never heard of wolf or bat.... but hell that one dude on here professes squirrel kung fu so what ever floats your boat.

[chasincharpchui]

I don't even think there is a Chinese word to differentiate "wolf" from "dog" -- generally looked down upon in Asian culture.

are you kidding me? in the thousands of years our people have existed, you don't think we had a word to differentiate a wolf from a dog, so we just went about calling everything that looks like a wolf, a dog?

we have a word for everything, and even more than the english language.

if anything, the english language is fcuked

[Drake]

if anything, the english language is fcuked

That is actually quite true.

[YouKnowWho]

I don't even think there is a Chinese word to differentiate "wolf" from "dog" -- generally looked down upon in Asian culture.

Have you heard about an old Chinese saying said, "Wolf walk 1,000 miles and eat meat. Dog walk 1,000 miles and eat sh!t"? There is a big difference between wolf and dog in Chinese point of view.

[LaterthanNever]

good lord think of all the possibilities..

How about a 5 animal style consisting of: tadpole, porcupine, slug, ladybug and sea anemonae?