Nightwalkers!

[RenDaHai]

Has anyone ever heard of the Nightwalkers?

YeXingXia, (Night, form/walking, Knights), kind of like the Chinese equivalent of a ninja, but good as well as bad.

Far from being just a figment of WuXia literature, many Kung fu styles contain a series of techniques specifically for use at night. The skill of night walking is a famous method in Shaolin and amongst other styles where one walks in super low profile, at high speed and silently.

Even within living memory large parts of China were without electricity. At night in the countryside it gets very very dark. If you were going to get into fight, there is a good chance that it would be at night. Especially home invasions while people are sleeping. So it stands to reason one would need a set of special techniques specific to this purpose, to fight in complete darkness, or vague moonlight.

Many styles do, but they have fallen into disuse now for obvious reasons. Techniques are characterised by large sweeping movements to find the opponent and form a bridge, then attack while maintaining contact. Footwork that strokes the floor and feels its way along, and some tumbling techniques. During the day the spear is the king of weapons, but at night it is of little use. The weapon of choice for a night style is the double sabre. Not used so often during the day, it is the perfect weapon at night since both hands can search for contact.

Night walking styles look very different to the standard ChangQuan strategy, or even to the DuanDa or TieShenKao strategies.


So, does your style have a Night-form fist? (YeXingQuan) Or maybe a night-form sabre (YeXingDao, DanPingDao)? Has this practice survived in any well known lineages?

I know it is of little practical use these days, but I still find it interesting.

[Kellen Bassette]

In Okinawan Karate styles that employ circle stepping, some people claim that this was practiced because the Japanese banned martial arts and Karate was practiced at night. The circle steps in the kata ensured safe footing in the dark.

I doubt this though, since circle stepping was inherited from older southern gong fu systems.

Also Kusanku, a famous Okinawan kata, supposedly brought directly from China, is nicknamed "night fighting kata" by some. In certain styles' version of this kata there are techniques where you are supposedly dropping out of your opponents sight.

[RenDaHai]

Thanks!

Just watched it.

Yeah, if you performed this Kata in a straight line with Shaolin flavour it would be indistinguishable from Many Central China forms. Most techniques are familiar. Nice set.

I could kinda see how it might be a night set. The Circle stepping follows old principles and is common to all, but there is some reaching out common to night styles, Scorpion position and lots of low steps. If it is pitch dark height makes a big difference. People will be using sweeping horizontal moves to find you so ducking a lot would be essential.

If you think about it, a lot of the time you would expect to fight hand to hand would be at night, and it would be very dark in the days before electricity so I would expect many older styles to have some night form techniques.

[X_plosion]

In relation to what has been shared above, I once read a karate book, "Shotokan's Secret" or something like that, wherein the author theorized that the circular techniques of Naha Te were used for night fights, especially on the Naha Docks.

[Lucas]

I kneew this nightwalker once, she had the tightest....wait this thread isnt about prostitutes? Aww bust!

I work graveyard now days. What with the living in perpetual darkness i do find myself operating a bit differently. Skirting corners and alley mouths and cubby holes wider. Depending on where im leaving ill close one eye to have full dilation in an eye from the start, not using headphones, etc. Just a lot of preventative thoughts.

But as far as a night form/style i have nothing. Except a really sharp knife. But now you have piqued my interest...I'll keep an eye here and if i come across anything worth noting i will post it here.