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Thread: Shaolin Mei Hua Dan Dao

  1. #1

    Shaolin Mei Hua Dan Dao

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK2SMpXPV3A

    Did I see it correctly that he uses a "One finger Zen " like those used in Hung Gar for example ?


    Kind Regards,
    Xian

  2. #2
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    Looks just so, Xian

    I play that as a willow palm. I think most do so. How do you perform it?

    I'm surprised we don't already have a meihua dao thread here. I did a cursory search but couldn't find one. If memory serves, we were just discussing this somewhere in some other thread. Good on you, Xian, for getting one started.

    Here's some plum flower sword resources.
    Shaolin Trips: The First World Traditional Wushu Festival has Shi Decheng demonstrating meihua dao, but this is the alternate form, the one that was popular back in the '90s, quite different than the one now.

    Shaolin Demonstration at the Welcoming Banquet at Luminarias Restaurant Meihuadao at 1:20

    Shaolin Special 2011: Shaolin Plum Blossom Broadsword By Shi Yanguang, with Zhao Xiaohu. Complete form in photos.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

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    Its not so clear in the video, but it is common to use ErLongJian (sword fingers) even with Sabre forms, so its probably that. Otherwise I would say its a personal affectation. The HungGar like 1 finger hand rarely appears. Note with sword fingers you don't have to link the 3rd finger and thumb in a cricle, it is just as common not to in traditional styles so the hand looks a bit like the hung gar one but with two fingers extended.

    MeiHuaDao has many variations and roads in SongShan but they all use techniques from the same pool. In northern China MeiHuaDao is a very popular name. There must have been a whole body of technique called that a long time ago as it appears in all kinds of kung fu styles. I have seen countless varieties, but all have a few things in common.

    I think the use of the sabre is quite uniform across the different MenPai of Chinese kung fu. More so than any other weapon or fist. So I'm not sure we would have any luck identifying what set of technique is quintessentially MeiHua Dao. Perhaps it was once a type of sabre construction?


    MeiHua is a name I don't really get in Shaolin. There are two major fist forms, Meihua Ditang Quan which is a good set, but doesn't seem to contain anything to explain its name (The Meihua bit, the ditang is obvious). Then Da Meihua Quan which is a very basic set, with no particularly special techniques, all quite large frame.

    As to the Sabre, What makes it MeiHua as opposed to QiXing? Or WuHuQunYang? Or HeiHu? or YanQing? or LiuXing? I really couldn't say.....
    Last edited by RenDaHai; 03-07-2012 at 04:38 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by RenDaHai View Post
    MeiHua is a name I don't really get in Shaolin. There are two major fist forms, Meihua Ditang Quan which is a good set, but doesn't seem to contain anything to explain its name (The Meihua bit, the ditang is obvious). Then Da Meihua Quan which is a very basic set, with no particularly special techniques, all quite large frame.

    As to the Sabre, What makes it MeiHua as opposed to QiXing? Or WuHuQunYang? Or HeiHu? or YanQing? or LiuXing? I really couldn't say.....
    We've covered a bit of this before, that the Ditang Meihuaquan set runs the same sequence as Xiaomeihuaquan. They are really the same set, although done a bit differently. And that Dameihuaquan was modernly created by Shi Henglin in the early 1900's, based in part on the ancient Song Dynasty Xiaomeihuaquan set.

    The Shaolin Encyclopedia tells the story of the creation and naming of Xiaomeihuaquan, originally called Meihuaquan as a 96 posture set before its abbreviation into the small 29 posture set we have today. It is an agglomeration of classic Songshan subsystems, which is clearly shown even in the small set, and surely was much more so in the original.

    But it doesn't appear to have relation to any particular weapon sets which bear the name, nor do they (spear, broadsword, etc) seem related. Unless only in that the weapon sets' naming follows in suit by calling conglomerate systems "Meihua".

    So what makes Meihuadao "Meihua" as opposed to Qixing, Wuhuqunyang, Heihu, Yanqing, etc. could be that it is "D - all of the above".

    I've never really taken an interest in bladed weapons though, so I'm not familiar enough to do a comparative study of it like that.

    But the set shown as Meihuadao in the Shaolin Encyclopedia comes from Song Dynasty Abbot Fuyu and his Shidi, monk Fuhu, but is not like the common set done today. It's quite a bit different and its description says it was named Meihua because the up and down circular shape of the line of its course is like the shape of the meihua.

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    Quote Originally Posted by LFJ View Post
    We've covered a bit of this before, that the Ditang Meihuaquan set runs the same sequence as Xiaomeihuaquan. They are really the same set, although done a bit differently. And that Dameihuaquan was modernly created by Shi Henglin in the early 1900's, based in part on the ancient Song Dynasty Xiaomeihuaquan set.

    But the set shown as Meihuadao in the Shaolin Encyclopedia comes from Song Dynasty Abbot Fuyu and his Shidi, monk Fuhu, but is not like the common set done today. It's quite a bit different and its description says it was named Meihua because the up and down circular shape of the line of its course is like the shape of the meihua.
    Thats it, I remember know. The modern creation of Meihua quan would explain some of its unorthodox transitions. I remember about XiaoMeiHua. I call it Meihua Ditang, but my version is quite different from the standard. Overall contains the same techniques though.

    Its the naming I'm interested in. It is such a common name in Kung Fu... MeiHua. There must be some characteristic of this flower that makes it relevant to Kung Fu above say any other flower. I know MeiHua Qiang is another famous set. I like that about the line of its course, but that could be said of any other. There must be a distinguishing feature of the technique that makes it meihua and differs from the application of any other type of sabre....

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    I play that as a willow palm. I think most do so. How do you perform it?
    I am still a beginner to the Northern Shaolin Quan. But as I found this video his hand technique caught my eye, directly. In other words, I dont practice this form.

    @Mei Hua meaning

    I am basical not from the Northern school, but I believe my style has a strong relation to Shaolin in history. So in our Siu Lam Weng Chun we have a form called Fa Kuen/Flower Fist or Chan/Zen Fist. It is not like Moi Fa Kuen from Hung Gar.
    Anyway our Sigung taught us that we resemble the plum blosson while we are doing this form. This stands for our body and all our limbs and through devopling every flower pedal open our body gates and devolp an enonormous power from it.

    Maybe this Meihua has a simmilar meaning to it.Just guessing.


    Kind Regards,
    Xian

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    Mei hua was a symbol of a unified China for some, representing five ethic groups. Also the five colors and five "elements." I also see it as four cardial points plus center. In any case the meaning is solidarity or combination.
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