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Original Source: www.historyextra.co |
Hung Gar Kung Fu was one of the
mainstays of the old Shaw Brothers Kung Fu movies of the 60s and 70s. Along
with Choy Li Fut.
The
techniques were open and expressive and heroic. At the time, Hung was a big and
popular system. It traced its lineage back to the Southern Shaolin Temple. Later
on, anti-Ching dynasty movements, especially the Hung Mun, included a healthy
participation from members of the Hung Gar clans. And the system could boast of
plenty of Hung Gar folk heroes, chief among them Wong Fei Hung. The famous actor
Kwan Tak-Hing starred in at least 77 movies playing Wong Fei Hung. All in all,
the system is deep and rich in traditions and repertoire.
With
deep respect, I’d like to use Hung Gar as a way to illustrate many common
factors shared across different traditional systems.
First
of all, the idea of a system...
I
was told early on in my training that a system of martial arts tries to be as
complete as possible. A system would arm its followers with enough information
and skill to enable to survive a myriad number of combative situations. So, for
example, a system such as Hung Gar will contain –
1. Single and multiple opponent fighting
techniques, standing or on the ground
2. Single and multiple weapons (short, medium and
long range, single and double, flexible and projectile)
3. Various set forms, empty hand or with
weapons, solo or with a partner
4. Methods of bridging with a partner such as
sticky hands
5. Traditional medical practises – bone setting,
massage, herbs, acupuncture, etc. plus herbal ointments to protect the
practitioner during training
6. A variety of training devices – wooden dummies,
special heavy rings, etc.
7. Body conditioning to withstand blows
8. Special methods of breathing and Chi Kung for
power, health and longevity
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Kwan Tak-Hing Source: www.kungfucinema.com |
9. Various methods of issuing power
10.
Training formulae, sayings, poems or songs, etc. that help pass strategies onto
the practitioners of the system
Every
last item that has happened in the past or could happen in the future is taken
into account with tons of war strategies derived from experience and
continually adjusted for present situations.
This
takes time, of course. And the Chinese martial arts have enjoyed plenty of
time. Yet still, the martial course for each art was never straight,
considering the amount of upheavals China has experienced in the past. At
times, these arts – and their practitioners – had to adapt quickly to change.
The work of Ip Man comes to mind. But within that block of time in the 20th
Century, there were many like Ip Man who adapted their arts while surviving
both war and famine.
(Read
the history of my Sifu’s teacher, Yip Ye Teng…war lords, the military, the
invasion by Japan, the revolution…he was a part of the group that made history
as well as apart of those who flowed along with its major events).
His
My Jong Law Horn is a system that
tries to be as complete as it can be. It’s known to have borrowed from many
other fighting systems.
But
let’s return to Hung Gar and examine what this system has in common with other
martial traditions.
LEGENDARY ORIGINS
Hung
Gar traces its beginnings back to the southern Shaolin Monastery. Deep roots
create deeply rooted training. If I’m a beginner, standing in the sei ping mah horse stance in every class
for the next six months or so, I take solace in knowing that the roots of this
stance – and the pain suffered – goes back through the lineage masters whose
portraits hang above the altar of the kwoon
all the way back to an important shrine in the development of the fist.
No
one can really tell for sure the exact beginning of a typical long term Chinese
martial art. Either an art is attributed to a particular founder, as is the
case with Wing Chun or the origins of Tai Chi Chuan, or the art goes back to an
important master, as is the case with BaGua, and beyond that, everything
becomes hazy and circumstantial.
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Source: www.kungfulibrary.com |
This is part of the attraction
of the arts – the mystery. If I’m building a deep root in Hung Gar Kung Fu, I
know as I’m sweating through the horse stance, that no one
knows exactly when the tree was planted but I know – and feel – that the roots
are strong. And healthy.
Karate,
Taekwondo, Jiu Jitsu systems can trace their roots back to important figures.
But they too, like Hung Gar, will experience difficulties returning to the
origins of the origin.
So
if I’m training the Sanchin Kata, I can feel my bloodlines going all the way
back to Miyagi and his teacher, Higaonna. I might also have some idea of
Sanchin’s roots in China. But beyond that?
LINEAGE(S)
Hung
Gar again is typical of well-entrenched systems in that it enjoys a strong
lineage. Perhaps, a long time ago, the system started off as one clan. But this
is the exciting part – the clan developed branches, many branches. We find that
Hung Gar did not necessarily trace back solely to the teacher of Wing Fei
Hung’s father. There are a number of Hung Gar lineages. And as with Wing Chun,
Chow Gar, Hsing I…students became instructors, starting their own sub-strata.
Although
Hung Gar is considered a “southern” Chinese system, there are Hung fist systems
in the north with no connection to their southern counterparts. We, in North
America, were heavily influenced by the Wong Fei Hung – Lam Sai Wing – Lam Jo
lineage due to the immigration of Cantonese speaking practitioners. This is a
strong lineage – and has done much to spread Hung Gar teachings not just in
North America but throughout Europe as well.
I
believe everyone connected with Hung Gar should celebrate both the diversity
and the cohesiveness. I don’t like to hear about the rivalry among the Wing
Chun clans. That spoils the richness. Yes, families have bickering but in the
end they’re still family.
Associations
within the world of Japanese Karate have splintered, as has Taekwondo. It
happens.
Again,
Hung Gar is representative of so many traditional Chinese arts in that the
various lineages are built on a family model. Your teacher is your
mother/father; his/her teacher is your grandfather/grandmother. You have uncles
and aunts, older brothers and sisters, etc., depending on your place in the
structure.
KNOWLEDGE
The
Wong Fei Hung tradition of Hung Gar I believe started with four main sets. But
this is what I find so cool in the world of the Chinese Martial Arts – (and in
Okinwan Karate as well), knowledge quickly becomes an accumulative, living
entity.
I
saw this in Toronto. People would just hang out and trade sets. So I can pick
up a Hung Gar empty hand set or a butterfly knives set. In Kung Fu, a lot of
people trade sets with friends from other systems. Wong Fei Hung had friends
from other systems. And guess what? Hung Gar became the richer for it.
At
bottom this learning beyond the core curriculum is central to Chinese martial
arts systems. In fact, many teachers have trained not just in sets from other
systems but the systems themselves.
So,
in Hung Gar, we find main sets and sub-sets that have been drawn in from other
sources. In fact, the techniques of the crane were brought into the system
after the marriage between a Hung Gar master and his White Crane bride. That’s
life in the martial world.
In
the old days, it was also a vital strategy. Again, when I started training, I
was told to keep an open mind because you
never know who’ll come in through that door to challenge you. OK, that was
Toronto. In Hong Kong, or back on the mainland, that open mind might stave off
defeat. Challenge matches were rampant. Sometimes, they involved the use of
weapons.
Yet
there is also another reason. In the early part of the 20th Century,
practitioners of the big three internal martial arts – Tai Chi, Hsing I and
BaGua – often trained with each other. To be able to see your own art from the
viewpoint of another martial art, just adds to your own depth.
I have to force a partition
between what I’ve written so far and the rest of the perspective otherwise this
post will turn out to be too long. There is so much to Hung Gar – and by
comparison to the other Chinese martial arts. I’ll continue in the next post.
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