# han fo wa?  Bill Shaw?



## progressivetactics (Jul 19, 2003)

Has anyone ever heard of Han Fo Wa?

I have a video tape (3 actually) I got along time ago that has a guy who seems very talented and covers multiple martial art aspects including trapping, locks, throws, striking, kicking, weapons, and more.  His name is Bill Shaw.

Although some of the tape seems like a basement dojo, he does seem to deliver some decent demonstrations, and ability.  

His system is called Han Fo Wa.  I quickly associated this guy as probably having a bit of an ego, and thought he was probably just calling his art (hand and foot way)  Han Fo Wa.  Don't know.

Has anyone seen these tapes or this guy?


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## arnisador (Aug 29, 2003)

I've heard of it but don't know anything about it!


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## pknox (Aug 29, 2003)

Take a look at your old copies of Black Belt.  This is the guy with the 1/2 page "Deadly Leg Attacks!" ad that had a whole ton of testimonials.  It had his picture, as well, if I remember correctly.  He ran the ad for quite a few years - I don't know anything else about him.


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## twinkletoes (Aug 30, 2003)

I've seen the ads for years but have no idea if he is legit.  I believe that there is a review of one of his videos at the Martial Arts Video Review Project.

~TT


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## M F (Aug 30, 2003)

I think I have the same three tape set you have.  It has a big mix of techniques from different video series.  He seems very knowledgeable and able to pass his knowledge on well.  The format of the videos I have seems very abbreviated and lacks depth concerning the techniques shown, but still has a lot of useful stuff.  I really liked his section on leg attacks, but I haven't seen any full length videos.  So it's hard to speak on overall quality of his tapes.


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## Touch Of Death (Aug 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by progressivetactics _
> *Has anyone ever heard of Han Fo Wa?
> 
> I have a video tape (3 actually) I got along time ago that has a guy who seems very talented and covers multiple martial art aspects including trapping, locks, throws, striking, kicking, weapons, and more.  His name is Bill Shaw.
> ...


Yes, thats hand foot way without the final letters to make it sound more asian. We have snickered about that for years. Other than the fact that Bill Shaw used to have a school here in Spokane WA, I know very little about the art itself. One of his students opened a school with Aaron Wheeler (of Ikka fame) as a Mixed Martial arts school here a few years ago and they lasted about six months. Thats the last I have heard.
Sean


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## shihansmurf (Dec 11, 2007)

Wow my first post here and I am commiting an act of serious thread necromancy. Sorry about that.

I found this thread when I googled for Bill Shaw. One of my students ran across a couple of his tapes at a garage sale and as I was a Han Foo Wa student many years ago....

I was wondering if there are any other Han Foo Wa folks out there. I enjoyed the school while I was studying, well until a personal conflict arose with the instructor. It is mostly JKD with a bit more Danzanryu and a belt system added to it.
Good stuff, though.

Mark


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## wade (Dec 12, 2007)

We are still laughing about it. Years ago a young man showed up at a tournament in Portland, Or. that was being put on by "Super" Dan Anderson. He had about 8 stripes on his belt. Of course we all wanted to know what his style was and how he got to be such a high ranking master at such a young age. He informed us he was a black belt in multiple systems and had decided to start his own. He took the the words Hand Foot Way and dropped the last letter to become Han foo Wa. He then added up all his BB's in the different systems together to determine his rank. IE: a 1st Dan in Karate and a 2nd Dan in Kung Fu equals a 3rd Dan in Han Foo Wa, get it? He had studied quite a few styles and had a BB in all of them. A very talanted young man, eh? Anyway, there was a really big argument that day on who would get to fight him first because none of us had ever fought some one of his caliber before. Unfortunately, once he found out what we were arguing about he left and no one ever did get a chance to find out how good this Grand Master really was. Never did see him again, damn!


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## Cirdan (Dec 12, 2007)

:lfao: Now that`s some funny _Bul Shi_


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## shihansmurf (Dec 18, 2007)

I trained with him is Wyoming back in the 80's. I hadn't realized that he had set up shop in Washington.

I watched the videos with my student and most of the material is pretty solid. The system had an emphasis on practicality and strong basics. We sparred each class, as I recal. That being said I found a few of the techs better suited to tourney fights that real application.

It was a "blast from the past" for me. My student, however, happily pointed out all the mullets and helmet head haircuts. Ah, the late 80's and early 90's. Cool music, bad hair.

Mark


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## Bill Shaw (Mar 24, 2012)

Hey Folks,

Im new to this forum thing and I just came across this thread.  I realize these are old postings but since its about ME And, there are some nice things said, I thought I would respond in general.    
ALSO, I see that some dude named Wade took it upon himself to spread a load of LIES about me, so I guess Im compelled to respond to those.   Because, the Truth is the Truth!

First Re: WADES Comments : 


wade said:


> We are still laughing about it. Years ago a young man showed up at a tournament in Portland, Or. that was being put on by "Super" Dan Anderson. He had about 8 stripes on his belt. Of course we all wanted to know what his style was and how he got to be such a high ranking master at such a young age. He informed us he was a black belt in multiple systems and had decided to start his own. He took the the words Hand Foot Way and dropped the last letter to become Han foo Wa. He then added up all his BB's in the different systems together to determine his rank. IE: a 1st Dan in Karate and a 2nd Dan in Kung Fu equals a 3rd Dan in Han Foo Wa, get it? He had studied quite a few styles and had a BB in all of them. A very talanted young man, eh? Anyway, there was a really big argument that day on who would get to fight him first because none of us had ever fought some one of his caliber before. Unfortunately, once he found out what we were arguing about he left and no one ever did get a chance to find out how good this Grand Master really was. Never did see him again, damn!



Id like to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, but  His lies are just too blatant.   If he thinks Im all wet, thats fine, just say so.  But dont make up such false and libelously assertions.  Heres the rundown:   
- NO! I never had that kind of conversation with anyone!
- NO! Ive never given myself a rank in my own style  really, how dumb would that be? 
- NO! Ive been a Black Belt since 1971 and never wore stripes.   
- TRUST ME, From as far back as 1980, Ive won my share of tournaments.
- PROOF : http://www.Hi-Impact.com/ratings

Heres the thing... I'm guessiing he won't, but if Wade wants to post his apology here, I supposed Id look pretty bad if I didnt accept. But STILL, Dude!  Really?

NOW the POSITIVE more plesent responses:
YES, that was me with the Video Tapes in the magazines.  They did very well and Im still getting thank you messages from instructors for setting them off in a good direction. After all, that was the idea!

Yes, HanFooWA stands for Hand Foot Way.  In 1980, I wrote a Black Belt magazine article (issue date Feb 1981) on Combining Martial Arts.  In it I dealt with the whole "Name Game" thing. Basically, as far as a name goes, with decades of  training & multiple black belts... if you teach a blend of your total knowledge - what do you call it? 

YES, Ive got an ego, and its full of confidence!  No apology for that!  In fact, I encourage you to get one as well.  I doubt Id have achieved half as much without it.  Mike Stone used to do a whole seminar on this topic.   However, if youre talking about being obnoxious, pretentious, or condescending  thats a different matter and I certainly hope I havent ever come across that way to any of my students or customers.

Finally a small clarification, Re: Shihansmurffs post.  He and I have never had any conflicts, personal or otherwise, He is speaking of an instructor other than myself  when I was no longer at that school.  Hey Mark, hows the knee these days?

Thank you for the indulgence, my new friends. :asian:

Bill


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## shihansmurf (Mar 27, 2012)

I hadn't realized that that read that way. 

I have never had a conflict with Mr. Shaw of any nature. As he stated, the issue was with another instructor and had nothing to do with the martial arts. 

The knee is doing better. I am almost done with the video, in fact I will be finishing it tonight. I know I have said that before, but I am a mildly OCD and I keep fiddling with it. My wife is rather tolerant but I suspect that she is very close to the "Knock it off and send it already or I'll do so for you" territory. She and Lee have been remarkable helpfull and patient with my mild neurosis during this product.

As an aside, I'm not sure that Wade was referring to you. I've ran into a couple of "Han Foo Wa" black belts over the years at tournaments that did exactly what he was describing. None declaring quite that amount of rank as in his account but none of them knew who you were. Struck me as funny that they held rank in a system that didn't have large numbers of students(compared to different flavors of TKD or Kenpo) and didn't recognize your name or any of the Black Belts from Casper or in Washington.

Mark


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## ELW237 (Sep 16, 2022)

Came across this page when looking for what happened to everyone.  Mark, were you a blue belt instructor at the Spokane location?  Anyone know what happened to Jay?  I remember he opened up a new school called hanatsudo....or something like that.


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## Dirty Dog (Sep 16, 2022)

ELW237 said:


> Came across this page when looking for what happened to everyone.  Mark, were you a blue belt instructor at the Spokane location?  Anyone know what happened to Jay?  I remember he opened up a new school called hanatsudo....or something like that.


Given that the last post in this thread was ten years ago, I wouldn't hold my breath hoping for a response...


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## ELW237 (Sep 16, 2022)

Dirty Dog said:


> Given that the last post in this thread was ten years ago, I wouldn't hold my breath hoping for a response...


For sure....but there was a 5 year gap earlier


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## geezer (Sep 16, 2022)

ELW237 said:


> For sure....but there was a 5 year gap earlier


Mark, aka "Shihansmurf" last posted on this forum just last June and may still be checking in from time to time, so why don't you send him a PM?


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