What is an Animal Style?

[Xue Sheng]

Dragon: Without types copious amounts that do not really get into the origin of Dragon or why it is called dragon lets jsut say it appears Dragon is based on the mythological chracteristics of a Dragon, Aggressive and able appear and dissapear as well as change the size of the body at will, it is said to be very aggressive and similar to white eyebrow.

Monkey is allegedly from a guy named Kao Tze who, while in prison, watched monkeys that were at the gates of prison fight and he broke thier styles down into 5 types
1) Drunken
2) Stone
3) Lost
4) tanding
5) Wooden

So Monkey, unlike Dragon, may actually be based on a long study of the actual animal and how monkeys fight

But never forget we are takling China and Chinese martial arts history and it is rather hard sometimes to track down the real origin of anything.

 

[Flying Crane]

Dragon: Without types copious amounts that do not really get into the origin of Dragon or why it is called dragon lets jsut say it appears Dragon is based on the mythological chracteristics of a Dragon, Aggressive and able appear and dissapear as well as change the size of the body at will, it is said to be very aggressive and similar to white eyebrow.

Monkey is allegedly from a guy named Kao Tze who, while in prison, watched monkeys that were at the gates of prison fight and he broke thier styles down into 5 types
1) Drunken
2) Stone
3) Lost
4) tanding
5) Wooden

So Monkey, unlike Dragon, may actually be based on a long study of the actual animal and how monkeys fight

But never forget we are takling China and Chinese martial arts history and it is rather hard sometimes to track down the real origin of anything.

I've seen reference to a "coiling step" in dragon, I suppose it is in recognition of the dragon's long, serpentine body that coils and turns endlessly.

 

[ilhe4e12345]

i guess ill throw mine in here....im not familiar with many "animal" stlyes accept for mantis and very little tiger....and from what I gather mantis style is very very similar to eagle claw. Similar techniques with slightly different names and different hand positioning (eagle claw uses a lot of throat grabs and claw hand shapes) while 7 star mantis is more hook and control (not really a claw type of style, our "hook" is more of an open type were we dont really grab we pluck, pull and catch"

The ways they are trained is different as well.....while some of the principles are similar the styles each offer something the other doesnt. Even if that means just a different way of training a punch, it can be different (although a punch is a bad example) or training how to do a round house kick or a stomp kick

my knowledge of tiger is very little....lots of "raking" actions, low powerful stances..thats about all i got lol

 

[Jin Gang]

In one sense, I would say there is nothing different about "animal styles" that would place them in a separate category from all other Chinese styles. There are styles that are named after certain animals, but their content is generally not all that different from similar styles that aren't named after animals, and some styles named after the same animal have extremely different methods (Crane is one of those, look at how different Tibetan/bak hok pai is from Fujian white crane). To put it another way, there is only one "animal style", and that is human style.

Why styles, forms, and postures are named after animals is another matter. Clearly, some imaginative people noted the similarity between some aspect of their practice and certain animals, such as hand shapes, ways of moving or standing, or overall fighting strategies. I don't really believe the stories; that someone went out and watched a wild animal and was inspired to create something totally new. The legends are fun to tell, and have a good message of remembering to be open to inspiration from the natural world, but I still think they are only stories. I believe the fighting style existed first, in most cases, and was named after an animal later, after looking for a creative or memorable way to describe the fighting style.
On the other hand, I believe some animal mimicing techniques have roots in ancient shamanic practices, which evolved into qigong/daoyin practices, which blended with fighting styles to create the type of Chinese martial arts we are familiar with today. In these techniques or practices, the goal is to mimic the animal's shape, channel its spirit, experience harmony with nature, build and replenish essence and qi, and receive insights from the Universe. Current Chinese martial arts styles still have traces of these practices, some more than others, and it could be argued that the animal techniques or forms could be put to dual use, practiced one way for fighting/self defense, and alternatively practiced as qigong/shamanic ritual.

 

[ggg214]

i believe those names are trying to help the practitioners to better understanding the mental respect of the style. and it should be also taken into account that the sub-names for each movement is the same important as the style name. for example, the horse running in the dark（夜马蹿道）under horse style in Xinyiliuhe. it requires fast moving and flexibly changing directions, as well as hard strike to break anything infront. it will be useful to understand this movement and do it right in practition.