Wu Xing Ba Fa

[Kellen Bassette]

I learned a form from my Shifu, he only called it "Tiger"...I never thought to ask him the Chinese name; now I've been out of contact with him for several years.

The form seems to be a modern Songshan form. I found some versions on youtube, it is usually called Wu Xing Ba Fa. I wonder if there isn't another name for the form, because Wu Xing Ba Fa (5 animals, 8 methods), doesn't make sense. It is all based on Tiger.

Also the form is the same as the Songshan Wu Xing Ba Fa, except instead of the 5 animal hand techniques it only uses Tiger techniques, besides that the structure is basically identical.

So that makes me wonder, did someone just take the 5 animals version of WXBF and change it all to Tiger Claws to have a "Tiger" form? Or was this the original form and the other 4 animals added to create a 5 animals form?

Does the Tiger version have a poem? I remember Shifu referring to one move as "Tiger breaks ropes," but I don't know if there is a proper poem. Do any of you guys know this form? What's the reason for WXBF and an identical form with just Tiger?

There are several versions of both forms on youtube. There used to be a clip of Shi De Cheng doing the Tiger version, but that got taken down. This video has someone doing the form, along with a little video of Shi De Cheng doing it in the corner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaGFy8MBaDY

This is very close to the version I learned, but we did a few extra moves at the end, finishing in "Hero in a Horse Stance."

Enlighten me.

[pazman]

Wuxing Bafa as done at Shaolin is an incredibly shortened form of a traditional Wuxing Bafa. I have no idea on its relation to Shaolin or why it's practiced at Shaolin. The traditional Wuxing Bafa is a long taolu and is a complete system unto itself.

Here is a version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THUl6...eature=related

[Kellen Bassette]

Wuxing Bafa as done at Shaolin is an incredibly shortened form of a traditional Wuxing Bafa. I have no idea on its relation to Shaolin or why it's practiced at Shaolin. The traditional Wuxing Bafa is a long taolu and is a complete system unto itself.

Here is a version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THUl6...eature=related

Your right, very easy to see how Shaolin WXBF was taken from this and condensed.
I like the long version...

[GeneChing]

We published a photo essay of the modern form in our Shaolin Special 2007: Shaolin 5 Animals Demonstrated by Shaolin Monk Shi Decheng. Most sources feel that this is a modern form, but it's still amusing. I learned it back then when I wrote that article, but I let it go. The quanpu are published in that article in English and Chinese. Here is the English, which I can retrieve easily from the original article draft. The Chinese is too troublesome to get because that was in the layout. If you want that, you'll just have to get the issue.

1. Stand Upright, Salute
2. Two Tigers Fight Mightily
3. Leopard Checks the Path
4. Black Tiger Snatches the Heart
5. Fierce Tiger Shoves the Mountain
6. Foot Stomps like a Hammer
7. Fierce Tiger Stands Mightily
8. Gold Dragon Spreads its Claws
9. Black Dragon Shakes its Tail
10. Two Dragons Tease the Pearl
11. Black Tiger Flies Through the Forest
12. Sparrow Turns its Body
13. Five Claws Check from Above
14. White Snake Checks the Path
15. White Snake Single Flight
16. Two Dragons Emerge from the Sea
17. Gold Leopard Beats the Stone
18. Leopard Flies Through the Forest
19. Two Brothers Carry the Mountain
20. Fierce Tiger Turns its Head Backwards
21. White Crane Searches for Food
22. Sit on the Mountain, Watch the Battlefield
23. Stand Upright, Salute
24. Ending Posture

[Kellen Bassette]

We published a photo essay of the modern form in our Shaolin Special 2007: Shaolin 5 Animals Demonstrated by Shaolin Monk Shi Decheng. Most sources feel that this is a modern form, but it's still amusing. I learned it back then when I wrote that article, but I let it go. The quanpu are published in that article in English and Chinese. Here is the English, which I can retrieve easily from the original article draft. The Chinese is too troublesome to get because that was in the layout. If you want that, you'll just have to get the issue.

Thanks a lot Gene! I really appreciate it!

[pazman]

I would be very surprised if the Wuxingbafa practiced in Dengfeng now had been a part of traditional Shaolin. If I'm not mistaken, there was a Five Animals style practiced in Ming Dynasty, but that is either lost to history or integrated somehow into the forms we have now. That might be what you are referring to, Shemmati. I learned Shi Decheng's Wuxingbafa in an afternoon and spent the next few days doing partner drills from it. It's a cool little form that I think would be fun for kids but doesn't really fit in with the other things you learn in traditional Songshan Shaolin.

[SevenStar]

Wuxing Bafa as done at Shaolin is an incredibly shortened form of a traditional Wuxing Bafa. I have no idea on its relation to Shaolin or why it's practiced at Shaolin. The traditional Wuxing Bafa is a long taolu and is a complete system unto itself.

Here is a version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THUl6...eature=related

This is the one. Learning it sucked...

[RenDaHai]

Interestingly this form also has a 108 move version.

Much longer than the long version even. The one he does in his instructional vcd, there is a longer one still. Has many more repeated movements and a better symmetry, though I suspect it is a little too long to be 'performed', I would kind of like to know this version for completeion;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIJ3ovaZnr4

The performance is somewhere. It looks about the same but if you concentrate you can see it is a much longer version than his later Vcd.

[RITTERKING1]

My Shaolin Kung Fu master in Greece is a Shaolin Monk from Dengfeng.His Name is Shi Miao Dian.He is a student of Shi Heng Jun.He told me that there are 18 different Wuxing Bafa forms existing.I know 3 different forms.One is the common form that knows everyone, the second is a form that shows Shi de Yang at the end of a Dvd from him with his students.I think it is the Basics of Shaolin Dvd.This form is called Nanyuan Wuxing Bafa and includes Crane, Tiger, Leopard, Snake and representative for the Dragon are Mantis and Eagle together.There is no real Dragon existing.But this 2 Animals represent the Dragon because the Dragon is a philosophical Animal and not a true Animal.And the 3rd form that i know is that form that you have posted here with a link from youtube with the Name Wuxing Quan.The Dragon begins the Movements.But there are also Mantis and Eagle incoporated.

[Scythefall]

Historical accuracy on these kinds of things is pretty much a pipe dream. WuXingQuan as I learned is one of the original two systems taught at Shaolin and it's roots are about 1500 years old. That's as much history as I've ever gotten from a monk. It's always surprising when I see people posting these long factoids about this stuff.

WuXingBaFa that DeCheng is doing is the demo version and represents about the first half of the form I learned.

As ever, each monk teaching it will change moves as he sees fit but you can almost always recognize the form. I learned it one way and then a year down the line my teacher changed a couple of the moves. I assume it was to look better. Also, if you demonstrate good skill with the form, he would do things like replace the low sweep kick with a three kick combo- spinning sweep kick, spinning hook kick, jump spin hook-kick. It's at that halfway point so the cardio requirements for the form jump up dramatically.

I was fortunate enough to be able to learn/afford the form privately so I learned all of the applications for the moves. It's worth investing in.

If your teacher is incorporating Mantis and Eagle it's definitely for modern flavor but that's ok, because who doesn't want to learn those styles? heheh

[SevenStar]

I learned a form from my Shifu, he only called it "Tiger"...I never thought to ask him the Chinese name; now I've been out of contact with him for several years.

The form seems to be a modern Songshan form. I found some versions on youtube, it is usually called Wu Xing Ba Fa. I wonder if there isn't another name for the form, because Wu Xing Ba Fa (5 animals, 8 methods), doesn't make sense. It is all based on Tiger.

Also the form is the same as the Songshan Wu Xing Ba Fa, except instead of the 5 animal hand techniques it only uses Tiger techniques, besides that the structure is basically identical.

So that makes me wonder, did someone just take the 5 animals version of WXBF and change it all to Tiger Claws to have a "Tiger" form? Or was this the original form and the other 4 animals added to create a 5 animals form?

Does the Tiger version have a poem? I remember Shifu referring to one move as "Tiger breaks ropes," but I don't know if there is a proper poem. Do any of you guys know this form? What's the reason for WXBF and an identical form with just Tiger?

There are several versions of both forms on youtube. There used to be a clip of Shi De Cheng doing the Tiger version, but that got taken down. This video has someone doing the form, along with a little video of Shi De Cheng doing it in the corner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaGFy8MBaDY

This is very close to the version I learned, but we did a few extra moves at the end, finishing in "Hero in a Horse Stance."

Enlighten me.

This looks like the beginning of the form I learned. The version I was taught is over 3 mins long.