Animal kung fu

[ninhito]

Okay i have 3 questions. WHat are the animal kung fu besides mantis? WHat is the difference in the south and the north styles of the same animal? How much difficulty and how flashy is each animal art?

 

[clfsean]

Okay i have 3 questions. WHat are the animal kung fu besides mantis? WHat is the difference in the south and the north styles of the same animal? How much difficulty and how flashy is each animal art?

1) Lots... common examples... The famous 5 animals: Tiger, Crane, Leopard, Dragon, Snake. Other equally as famous: Eagle, Monkey, Elephant. Lesser known but inherent as subsystems of others: Phoenix, Bear, Horse, Tai Bird, Lion. Obscure animals: Dog, Mandarin duck, crab, deer, bird, turtle, etc....

2) Lots. Southern gung fu is famous for animals... CLF, Hung Ga both share the "Famous Five Animals of Shaolin". Hung Fut uses eagle. White Crane & Dragon are stand alone systems in the south. Northern systems (wide brushing strokes here) tend to be big long & slightly flashy compared to the southern systems who tend (wide brushing strokes) tend to get to business with little flourish.

3) Difficulty & "flashy-ness" of an animal depends on what it is, what it's doing & your athletic ability. For me, the CLF animals are straight forward & little muss & fuss. Big circles & lines, but straight to the point.

This is all my opinion & exposure. From person to person, it'll vary with mileage & exposure.

 

[sifu Adams]

clfsean is right on their are many differnt anamials within kung fu. Many styles branched from each other and have different throys as well as purpose. example is the tiger I have heard of a white, Black, Mountan, leaopard, panther, ect. the moves are all from the cat flamily but if you ask they are all differant in how the are done. as for the North and South. I have been told that the northern styles are more open. they would reseible more the Karate open body movements. Let me put it this way. a northern style could fight in a large field but would have trouble in a small area. southern style could fight in the smallest of area but would have trouble if the opponet had a big space to move around-- not that they could not fight in those areas it just the southern would be chasing you to get in tight and the northern would be cramped if in a small place. Hopfuly I did confuse you.

 

[ninhito]

OOOOO i see. There are soo many so mantis is not one of the five uuum favorite ones that are taught? Okay so the north is alot more flashy and the south is street, do what you need to do. hmmm so uuum okay i cant balance that well and since my balance is pretty bad would kung fu be bad for me?

 

[RHD]

OOOOO i see. There are soo many so mantis is not one of the five uuum favorite ones that are taught? Okay so the north is alot more flashy and the south is street, do what you need to do. hmmm so uuum okay i cant balance that well and since my balance is pretty bad would kung fu be bad for me?

Kung fu can be interpreted as "hard work" or "time and energy". Do some kung fu on your balance and it'll get better.

Oh...and I'm willing to bet you'll spend a lot less time hopping around on one leg in Chinese martial arts than in other Asian systems.

Mike

 

[clfsean]

OOOOO i see. There are soo many so mantis is not one of the five uuum favorite ones that are taught? Okay so the north is alot more flashy and the south is street, do what you need to do. hmmm so uuum okay i cant balance that well and since my balance is pretty bad would kung fu be bad for me?

Yes there are several versions of both Northern & Southern Mantis. No I didn't say it wasn't a "favorite ones". It's very popular, but it's not one of the "Famous Five Animals of Shaolin". There's a difference.

The northern styles are very street worthy, but I feel in my experience that the southern styles are better equipped for modern usage, application & time to be proficient.

Like RHD said...

Kung fu can be interpreted as "hard work" or "time and energy". Do some kung fu on your balance and it'll get better.

I spend very little time on one leg. My feet are generally planted to the floor & moving to much to bother lifting up to Hok Ma (Crane Stance/Single Leg Stance) unless I'm kicking.