my Sifu who teaches Shadow Black Fist kung Fu also said that Kung Fu came out of Tibetan Yoga, then introduced into China and then Japan. He once showed us how some of the movements in White Crane also relate to the spiritual dances in Asia
Phalanx style formations and practicing wrist locks are really two separate things, (battlefield vs. personal or client protection.) You touched on it with the mention of Cavalry and archery. It would be interesting and useful to see this idea explored more for research purposes. I understand the crossover, e.g. combat veterans returning from overseas engagements and working as body guards, etc., but it would be interesting to find source materials or modern links demonstrating ancient troop training, like group spear exercises, for example.
I believe J G Frazer's Totemism and Exogamy, if applied to the Chinese animal systems, could reveal that animal martial art systems didn't emerge from warfare, but were rather clan totems that regulated marriage and featured elaborate dance ceremonies done in the spirit of the animal for various sacred functions like new moon festivals, mitigating plagues, etc. Native Americans, Africans, and Aboriginal Australians had these same systems with their various local animals, and initiates (usually by birth) within their societies learned the dances and could propose their own dances in an American Idol-like audition system. The dances couldn't be done outside of the secret societies, and they signaled one's membership, so you could visit a lodge and perform a bear dance, for example, and demonstrate that you were a brother and could then receive shelter, a woman for the night, etc. They might perform these animal dances at the fight line during tribal wars, but when conflict began they would start swinging hatchets, throwing spears, etc. Nobody would ever be so stupid to try and fight like a kangaroo in an inter-tribal war. You had a stone or iron tool for that. Whereas European colonialism cut those animal totem systems short by rapidly introducing firearms into the equation, in China I believe they developed into highly encoded "martial arts" with esoteric movements that, on the outside, gave them the appearance of being non-threatening to the Qing. But internally they were filled with political dissidents. So a high ranking mantis instructor would say, "Of course praying mantis works in real life," which might mean that, if you messed with him or his brothers, they'd come and cut you apart. All of this is speculation on my part, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the further north you go, towards the capital, the more encoded the systems become, until they're merely disciplinary drills, since the adherents are close enough to the capital to rely on the government for protection, and forming a militia would get you in hot water quickly. Wushu as a result is what it is because China's got nukes. Further south, you rely more on your brothers and secret dances, so you get less encoded systems. Some good cross-reading is Chesneaux's Secret Societies book and JJM De Groot's Sectarian and Religious Persecution in China. De Groot's book is great because he appears ignorant of the martial claims of the secret societies and only approaches them as persecuted religious minorities.
Riley Jo's Chinese Theater book is excellent to and shows a close connection between aesthetic, theatrical movement with mysticism and proximity to the capital.
I have never heard of Bodhidharma knowing Kalaripayattu. This is a large discovery you have made here. Please provide evidence to support it, or else you will be the one who is not taken seriously.
@@kde439 It did but it's undeniable there was an Indian influence over their martial art. Doesn't change the fact Chinese made more additions to it and developed it further. Not trying to take credit from them. India's influence back then was huge all over Asia. It went as far as to Japan.
Boxing, wrestling, and wweapons of war predated any kung fu. Warm-up exercises for battle, sword dances for entertainment, and early Daoist moving meditation affected the cultural scene from 200 BC to 200 AD. It is my belief that Wudang predated Shaolin. Daoist practices and combative arts were well established by the time Indian Buddhists brought kalarippayatu and yoga influence in 495 AD. Shaolin Steele is from around 700 AD. Some of the earliest forms still practiced in the Shaolin system at the temple today are from the Middle Ages. It is my belief that kung fu came TO Shaolin and developed there, and left to further develop in the population and vice versa over 1,500 years. At the height of the Shaolin Order there were 5 temples and 20,000 monks. There is a 4,000 page Shaolin Encyclopedia available in Chinese only.
Good afternoon very interesting indeed, but I wonder if you have ever heard of Georgian martial art-Khridoli, it'd be interesting/exotic from you to review martial arts which don't have direct origins from Asia.
