Tracing Oblique Step Through History 拗不入

[Tainan Mantis]

Tracing Oblique Step Through History 拗不入

The first manual of Praying Mantis Fist has a section called Seven Long. Seven Long are the techniques that define Praying Mantis techniques, or the techniques that Mantis can’t be without. They are the six techniques of Zhao Kuangyin and Han Tong. The second is called ‘au step entering hand.’

As for shaking step entering hand; the front leg swings out and the rear stays on the center road. The front hand seals and protects. The rear hand attacks. Twist the body and enter.
搖步入手著。前腿外擺後腿中路。前手封護。後手前出。扭身以入也。

The first appearance of au in modern Praying Mantis is in the First Essentials. The name ‘essentials’ meaning the techniques that are essential to the style. Two important masters who used this name in First Zhai Yao are Li Kunshan and Cui Shoushan, students of Jiang Hualong and Song Zide respectively, who wrote au step entering hand as either 搖步入 or 拗步入.

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The au step has a long history first appearing in the military manual Wu Bian (circa 1560) three times; 1. A list of Longfist techniques. 2. Explanation of a longfist technique. 3. A follow up to ‘patting horse.’

1. A list of Longfist techniques.

There is the four-level maneuver, the jin-lan four-level maneuver, high pat on horse, point to the groin maneuver, single whip maneuver, seven star maneuver, ride the tiger maneuver, earth-dragon maneuver, single let-go maneuver, au step maneuver.
一勢四平勢、井闌四平勢、高探馬、指襠勢、一條鞭勢、七星勢、騎虎勢、地龍勢、一撒步勢、拗步 勢。

2. Explanation of a Longfist technique.

The banner and drum fist uses dodging sideways and the au step. The advancing foot fears 'yellow oriole.' Double slapping hands fear a groin kick to the bottom. Leg riding fist leans in close and tight and chases. When releasing the hands move diagonally to the side and vie for a side.
旂（旗）鼓拳閃橫拗步，腳上前高怕黃鶯，雙拍手低怕撩陰。跨襠拳挨靠緊追，休脫手會使斜橫﹐搶 半邊。

3. A follow up to ‘patting horse.’

Longfist traveling-moves and the common striking methods of traveling-moves often start with patting horse and follow with ‘running tiger.’ The striking methods are three; striking left and right, seven star, and au step. 長拳行著﹐凡打法行著，多從探馬起直行虎，打法三著，打左右七星拗步。

Au is a maneuver or shi which the author defines;

Longfist transforms the maneuvers, short strikes doesn't change them. Close in using short-strikes, use longfist if distant and open. First know traveling-techniques, then add short strikes. When it comes to traveling-techniques short is not as good as long. 長拳變勢，短打不變勢，逼近用短打，若遠開則用長拳。行著既曉，短打復會，行著短不及長矣。

We can conclude four things; 1. Longfist is long range, 2. The student should master Longfist before mastering short strikes. 3. Long range doesn’t use short strikes. 4. au step maneuver is a follow up to 'patting horse.'

The significance of 'patting horse' becomes clear when looking at New Book on Effective Training Methods.

[Tainan Mantis]

The most well known example of ao step is ‘ao step single whip’ in the Chen Family lineage of Taiji Quan and ‘brush knee ao step’ in other branches of Taiji. These families themselves attribute their techniques to the military method of the Ming Dynasty outlined in the thirty-two boxing illustrations of New Book on Effective Training Methods（circa 1562), so it is worth taking a look at the original quote.

4. Ao single whip presses like yellow wood-sorrel flowers, He'll find it hard to defend left and right when you open and lift the leg, force in your step and connect the cleaving and lifting fists, Chen Xiang's maneuver pushes over Mount Tai.
拗單鞭黃花緊進， 披挑腿左右難防， 搶步上拳連劈揭， 沉香勢推倒太山。

What is more interesting to students of Praying Mantis is the tendency to juxtapose ‘ao step’ with ‘following step’ within the old manuals themselves. It first appears in the Ming and continues within our own first manual of Praying Mantis. In the first Praying Mantis manual the Seven Long section has;
‘1. following step asking hand’
‘2. ao step entering hand’

Within Effective Training Methods we have 29. ‘ao luan elbow’ and 31. ‘following luan elbow’, allowing us to make a clear distinction between 'ao' and 'following', one with the striking hand in front and one with the striking hand in the rear.

29. The ao luan elbow attacks the step with bumping and cutting, move your palm down pluck and strike the heart, the grasping eagle captures the rabbit and forcefully open the bow. The hands and feet work together.
拗鸞肘出步顛剁， 搬下掌摘打其心，拏鷹捉兔硬開弓。 手腳必須相應。

31. Following luan elbow moves him with leaning, Quickly strike and roll and it is difficult for him to stop, repeatedly twist to the outside and brush with a return of fastening, attach to his belly for the fall, Who dares contend?
順鸞肘靠身搬，打滾快他難遮攔，復外絞刷回拴，肚搭一跌，誰敢爭先。

This idea of juxtaposing the ao step with the following step is common both to boxing and weapons of this manual as well as within the first manual of Praying Mantis, but perhaps the most interesting can be found in Exposition of the Original Shaolin Staff Method (circa 1614-1621)

[Tainan Mantis]

Patting horse on the right side, ao step single whip on the left

[Tainan Mantis]

Illustrations of ao luan elbow and following step luan elbow.

As Robert Hui (Mantis 108) once informed, Luan is a bird similar to the phoenix. Why name a potentially deadly elbow strike after a bird not known for fierceness? I believe it has to do with the way one holds his hands when performing this posture. Luan is an epithet of rooster or cock. A bent elbow looks like the folded wings of the rooster and they are used more or less in the manner of the rooster in cock fights. In China cock fights have been very popular since ancient times. This is why the rooster's claws, beak, wings and their movements are often used to describe attributes of a martial arts techniques.

[Tainan Mantis]

Exposition of the Original Shaolin Staff Method (c. 1614-1621) is the fruit of ten years study under the tutelage of several monks of Shaolin near the end of the Ming dynasty. The fame of Shaolin’s stick fighting is evidenced by its inclusion in several military manuals of the time and recruitment of monks for several of the last dynasty ending battles of the Ming. Unfortunately they lost in the end and a huge blow was dealt to the transmission of their art form.
This is a brief look at one of their staff techniques that juxtaposes ‘ao’ with ‘following.’ The author’s illustration looks like au step and he insists that it is not following step.

Riding Horse Maneuver
Riding horse is not following step, push open and advance the right foot, though 'pass through the sleeve' can na, yet it is not as fast as 'subdue the tiger.'
騎馬勢
騎馬非順步推開上右足穿袖雖可拿不如伏虎速

In this example Na 拿 is to rotate the tip of the stick in a clockwise circle with the force of your technique reaching maximum power on the downward motion thus forcing the opponent's weapon to the ground. It is the same meaning as used in Praying Mantis empty hand techniques.

There are many more examples of ao and following from the Ming but the meaning is obvious without going into all of them. What they show is that striking with the lead hand is following and striking with the rear hand is ao.