Page 7 of 7 FirstFirst ... 567
Results 91 to 93 of 93

Thread: Where are all the Complete Monkey Style systems?

  1. #91
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    DengFeng
    Posts
    1,469
    In looking for monkey styles one will also want to look at strategies like 'YeXing Quan' (fist of the nightwalkers) and 'TanMaQuan' (Scouting fist, or Spying fist). These are strategies that are common to many major styles.

    For example, I know the 'Monkey' forms in SongShan often have other names as well, as in their name is not actually monkey style, they are just called that because they look very slightly like a monkey. Scouting fist contains all sorts of footwork where you walk on the balls of your feet, which looks a little like a monkey like so its also called monkey fist, it is really just to manouvere quickly, the double empty stance. Nightwalking has strange footwork where you step on your hands or walk on all fours, actually the purpose of this is to walk around at night to avoid detection, walking behind low walls, hedges etc and hoping to be mistaken for an animal if just your silhouette is seen in the dark, hoping to be silent. In times before electricity this was a useful skill if infiltrating at night. This is also nicknamed monkey fist because of the footwork. Then there is RuanJiaChui, Soft frame hammer, this just uses a monkey paw like strike, even though it doens't look particularly monkey-like because of the hand it is also nicknamed monkey fist. None of these imitate monkey, rather monkey is a nickname applied afterwards because of a slight resemblance, but certainly in terms of technique there is a lot of crossover with the specifically monkey styles.
    問「武」。曰:「克。」未達。曰:「勝己之私之謂克。」

  2. #92
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Cincinnat, OH, USA
    Posts
    595
    I just posted this article to my research blog. It explores the association between primates and martial arts in Chinese history.

    https://journeytothewestresearch.wor...-martial-arts/

    Comments are welcome.

  3. #93
    Hi, I'm part of the Lau Kar Leung's lineage in hung gar, however we also have a monkey system in our family... I simply know the style as Hou Kuen, & don't know the names of any specific sets despite having learnt two of them from my si sook...

    I have not been able to establish where the style came from, & have not been able to find any other lineages practicing with similar focus on some of the main moves; specifically the signature move of our Hou Kuen style which is the "yat jeung sei sik" otherwise known as the one palm four styles which can be seen prominently in the films of Lau Kar Leung, specifically "Mad Monkey Kung Fu" & "Drunken Monkey"...

    You can see the yat jeung sei sik trained a minute into this clip: https://youtu.be/GOns3dtTEdA?t=57

    The forms I have been taught are not exact the same as presented in the movies, & are not acrobatic, bar a roll or so, but have the same tenets when it comes to hand styles & basic stances & of course the one palm four styles...

    Another clip is here at approx 2 mins in: https://youtu.be/8q7ekwHl1ZA?t=130 however this is much adapted & performed way more theatrically than I was taught it as a set of more straight forward techniques...

    I know that Lau Kar Leung's nephew Lau Kar Yung has been teaching the style at seminars & the like as can be evidenced in this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=451dJJ-TBdo


    The best I have established is being told second hand that Lau Kar Leung was taught by a practitioner in Macau when he was a young man, but am unable to properly clarify this... I'm wondering if it may even have been his own invention in part... Whilst I'm part of the family in learning the styles I've not been close enough to establish any source...

    Love that yat jeung sei sik though & it inexplicably legitimises the technique further for me having it in the dictionary of a set out form rather than just as isolated technique...
    Last edited by A Joyful Proces; 06-22-2019 at 03:23 AM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •