Stepping with Right or Left Foot

[isshinryuronin]

In Chinese culture/MA, I read that is bad luck to start with the left foot. This may affect how forms may begin. Anyone out there that can comment on this from a cultural point of view?

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

In Chinese culture/MA, I read that is bad luck to start with the left foot. This may affect how forms may begin. Anyone out there that can comment on this from a cultural point of view?

I’m not Chinese, but I’ve never heard that before. Interesting.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

In Chinese culture/MA, I read that is bad luck to start with the left foot. This may affect how forms may begin. Anyone out there that can comment on this from a cultural point of view?

A: Dear judge! What crime have I committed to deserve 10 year in prison?
B: You stepped in this courtroom with left foot first.

This form starts with left foot first. This is the only left hand form in the long fist system. There are more left side forward than right side forward.

 

[Flying Crane]

The first step taken in our fundamental form is with the left foot.

My first sifu is left handed. He told me there is tremendous pressure for people to NOT be left handed, so when he was young he was forced to do things right handed. I’m not sure what the source or reasoning behind this is, but I vaguely recall it having to do with left being regarded as evil/bad or some such.

He is Chinese-American but his parents were immigrants.

 

[Haruhiko]

In Chinese culture/MA, I read that is bad luck to start with the left foot. This may affect how forms may begin. Anyone out there that can comment on this from a cultural point of view?

It's related to yin-yang. Depending on the form, stepping with the left/yin leg is a defensive and stable or "inwards" martial philosophy, and wouldn't be interpreted or received as "outwards" or aggressive enough. That's from what I recall.

Ironically, Musashi talks about this in Go Rin no Sho (this is a paraphrased quote):
["When you move forward, use the principle of in-yo, and when retreating, also use the principle of in-yo. The body should move as one with the feet, and the timing of stepping is vital in determining advantage or disadvantage. The foot that moves and the foot that stays reflect the alternation of yin and yang."]