Why do...

[MightyB]

Why do Northern Stylists hold their long weapons left hand forward while Southern stylists hold theirs right hand forward?

Just curious.

[bawang]

main reasons are southerners don't switch grip, and physical weakness.

[Lucas]

you can tell that bawang has great love for southerners

[David Jamieson]

Are you talking specifically about thrusting position?

[Kellen Bassette]

you can tell that bawang has great love for southerners

He thinks the Cantonese are just one step above the filthy Gwai Lo...

[lkfmdc]

it really depends which hand you jerk with

[ngokfei]

hard to say. Primarily Southern Stylists Spear usually are quite similiar to how they do their Staff/Pole Sets.

I can remember doing a tournament in the hey day of Chinese martial arts. One thing being done was to see the 1st 3 competitors, have a judges gathering to get a census on where to place them to set a reasonable scoring range. 2 competitors were northern and and the 3rd a southern. the other 2 judges beside myself was 2 well known Sifu. One a CLF and the other a MJLH. Anyow the northern judge made a statement that the southern competitor didn't know how to use a spear. It turned out to a student of the CLF judge. Of all things I voiced my opinion (after only studying southern for 2 years) about the differences between southern and northern spear, etc. etc. After the division the CLF teacher came over and thanked me, quite flattered as he is such a well known teacher and I consider very senior to me in years and experience.

so back to this.

Now getting beyond David's Jerking off reference (which he has multiple rankings in and a large scrap book of, his teacher CTS was famous for his staff and spear skills especially since he had strong southern and northern backgroound, so if David can remember any of it from him it could be informative

[MightyB]

hard to say. Primarily Southern Stylists Spear usually are quite similiar to how they do their Staff/Pole Sets.

I've never had a good answer to this question. I think it lends some proof that the Southern and Northern arts were developed indigenously. There's a good blog that I came across that the author has some interesting theories on the development of the Hung and Hakka arts (posted it in the Bak Mei thread). Wing Chun is an anomaly to him.

Anyway, not sure why I'm thinking about this - I guess it stems from the Shaolin thread I was trolling and thinking about common ancestry... but, looking at characteristics of the styles and reading different sources - things get muddy. Southern arts claim a southern Shaolin temple burning that probably didn't happen and they don't really do Shaolin which is northern kung fu...

And seriously - how did Yue Fei have so much time to develop so many styles? He didn't exactly live a peaceful life of rest and leisure and he certainly didn't live to a ripe old age to ponder much...

Look at the Guan Dao. No one "rides a horse" in the North. So did the South take a literary inspiration in the development of that form???

I guess this thread is more of a "things that make me go hmmmm" thread.

[ngokfei]

in the end its truly MMA world wide.

So much blending over the years, especially in the larger systems.

Yue Fei is the equivalent of George Washington. Historically some truth may exist as many of the styles/systems/methods are attributed to his soldiers who have been shown in other instances to bring back whatever they might have learned home with them when they retired, etc.

[bawang]

I've never had a good answer to this question.

do you have a cactus stuck to your face. I just answered your dam question.

Look at the Guan Dao. No one "rides a horse" in the North.

da dao is a cavalry weapon.

[SoCo KungFu]

Why do Northern Stylists hold their long weapons left hand forward while Southern stylists hold theirs right hand forward?

Just curious.

I've seen northern sets with right hand forward. It depends on the weapon and intent in the attack. Instead of differentiating it by north and south, I think its more accurate to say that methods favoring thrusts place right hand rear and methods favoring striking place right hand forward. And if it seems like a north vs south thing then its a byproduct of the difference in usage above. Basically playing on the right arm being the "strong" arm.

Or its which ever hand you jerk with...what do I know?

[MightyB]

da dao is a cavalry weapon.

I'm talking strictly about the routines. Southern styles have a section where they mimic riding a horse. You don't see that in Northern routines.

[SoCo KungFu]

I'm talking strictly about the routines. Southern styles have a section where they mimic riding a horse. You don't see that in Northern routines.

That's because we mimic skipping across a battlefield instead.

[MightyB]

That's because we mimic skipping across a battlefield instead.

LOL

True Dat!

[David Jamieson]

I'm talking strictly about the routines. Southern styles have a section where they mimic riding a horse. You don't see that in Northern routines.

yeah...I've seen this. Not a fan.
Waste of energy and brings nothing to the efficacy of the weapon...

Mind you...there are a lot of superfluous moves in weapons forms. Even when you come to understand them, you realize and say to yourself, why the heck was that put in there. Utter bollocks...etc.