Differences
Not that I have seen many of the different variations of mantis...but in comparison to those that I have seen... I think Seven Star appears to be more direct and straight to the point. In my obervations, the circular movements tend to be smaller movements, not as flamboyant as some of the other sytems. tend to be more control oriented, controlling the opponent from the moment of encounter to the takedown, break or throw. I think there is less wasted movement.
From my little research and from the information I have obtained from different mantis practitioners... I dont think the original form of mantis that Wong Long discovered and further developed with the other monks was called Seven Star, Mei H, 8 Step or anything else. Probably just Tong Long. I dont know I wasn't there and not many people, if any really know.
We do know that the first known practictioner of Seven Star was Li San Jian or "Fast Hand Li" he taught Wang Yun Sheng sometime between 18454-1926, because this is the lifetime of Wang.
It makes perfectly sense that people learned the mantis that was taught at the temple where Wong Long discovered and developed it and moved on to maybe mix it with there own styles or other styles they had learned in order to perfect their own techniques as they came across different opponents or other styles.
Last edited by KickingMantis; 01-13-2003 at 05:05 PM.
"The key is to begin at the beginning;high level short cuts can only lead to dead end."