What is Kung Fu? | ART OF ONE DOJO 

I've been training in Chinese martial arts for a really long time now. The best description I've seen of Kung Fu on film was in the Netflix Marco Polo where his fighting instructor, Hundred Eyes once told him the meaning of Kung Fu.

Great summary! I studied both Chinese and Japanese systems and since I understand both languages, I want to shed light on some of the commonly used terms. “Wu” (武) in Mandarin Chinese = Martial (Japanese = Bu) Jishu (Mandarin Chinese) = Skill (Japanese = Jutsu) Therefore Wushu = Martial Skills Wushu in Japanese is Bujutsu, aka Budo or Martial Way “Do” (道) in Japanese and Cantonese = The Way (Mandarin Chinese) = Dao “Do” is a Daoism (Taoism) centric word that was first used in the Tao Te Ching (pathway to morality and virtues) which is why Do is associated with many martial art systems. (功夫) Gongfu is a generic term to describe “Skill through experience and hard work” (武功) Wugong is more historically accurate to describe Martial Art then Gongfu. This is why you will see the Chinese character 武 in many traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean martial art schools. Lastly, I want to point out that Okinawa Karate and Wing Chun are both descendent art of Fujian White Crane. In fact, Fujian White Crane traces its history to Yongchun County, Fujian. What’s more interesting is Yongchun is the Mandarin pronunciation of Wing Chun. Wing Chun was made popular by Ip Man who's is a Cantonese speaker from Foshan prefecture, Guangdong.

Damn you did your research well.

Thanks for this episode on Kung Fu. I have been training in Kung Fu (Huan Shou Jia Gong Fu) for 20 years and nobody talks about anything styles our history.

When someone tells me "I train Kung Fu", I usually ask "which one?" (Choy Lay Fut? Wing Chun? Fei Hok Phai?). It's a little funny because it's like if you say "I train japanese martial arts", but which one exactly? Karate? Aikido? Bujinkan? Also, have you considered making a video with your thoughts on the concept of "traditional" in martial arts? It is an interesting discussion in my opinion. For example, Aikido and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the two arts were founded in the mid-twentieth century, and one is considered traditional and the other modern, for many reasons. Another example is Bujinkan, founded in the 1970s and considered an extremely traditionalist martial art, While Muay Thai has literally centuries of existence, it is considered a modern martial art. I think that it is a very funny topic about martial arts.

Thank you. I'm so glad there are still intelligent martial artists out there. For all the people making rude comments... you will understand after a couple decades of training.

The question remains, where does the panda fit in to all this?

Another great video man. Very well researched

I think that Tai Chi should be included in this list of Chinese arts. Not the hocus pocus stuff where people are throwing their chi across the room, but the slow moving forms that you often see older people practicing in the park here in the states. Love the channel and I am looking forward to what you put together.

I love Chinese martial arts. Some of my best experiences in martial training were my time in Chan Family Choy Lee Fut. I still incorporate many elements from that style to this day.

Many Chinese schools are going with colored sashes now. I have a friend who has been studying her Kung fu style for about 20 years and thought that all Chinese arts use colored sashes, as she has always used them. Though her teacher was Chinese, he was very influenced by western culture and may very well be one of the first Chinese stylists that adopted a colored belt/sash system.

The amount of detail you pack into one of these things is intense. And the level of respect you put forth into talking about all of these arts is incredible, I would almost think that you have studied all if I didn't already know that you did not.

Those flexible staff and spear are for wushu tournament and the real practical one are hard stiff staff.

Great video. I hope you go more in depth. I've been taking Kung Fu for almost three years. It's a northern long fist style called Huaquan, and it's also probably the best decision I've made in years. It's a Daoist style, with a lot of cool forms, weapons, and great applications. On top of that, it's a great way to stay fit. Additionally, I started taking Tai Chi at the beginning of the year. So now I'm almost a year deep in Yang style Tai chi. If you're interested in Tai Chi, but looking for sparring and something more challenging, a good Tai Chi teacher will know the practical applications of the moves. Push hands is a great way to test out some applications. Though, as the video says, it is somewhat compliant, so you're not necessarily getting the full benefit of practicing the moves. I can't recommend these martial arts enough. I got into them because I wasn't exercising or socializing at all. I work from home and I'm in my mid 30s. I needed to do something with myself. 90s Jet Li and Jackie Chan movies were the reason I chose the art that I did, but I don't regret using movies as my basis at all. Are you going to become an MMA champion learning a traditional Kung Fu style? Nah. But it will definitely have significant benefits. Kung Fu, even if you're not trying to be a fighter, is sick. That's the bottom line. It looks awesome. It's fun to do. It makes you feel good about yourself. And it gives you a sense of accomplishment as you learn and get better. And if you must fight, find a Sanda and/or Shuai Jiao school. There's your striking and grappling skills. As the video states, all Kung Fu has a deep cultural history. Huaquan is one of the oldest styles, and is deep as hell. I would like to branch out and check out some other martial arts at some point, but I could definitely see sticking with this one style for the rest of my life. If you're into traditional martial arts, and you don't give Kung Fu a shot (there's definitely a school near you), you're doing yourself a real disservice.

The was an excellent introduction to Kung Fu! As a Tiger Claw practitioner for almost 30 years, I am very impressed by this presentation. Please note though that Bodhidharma has nothing to do with Kung Fu, Qigong or the martial arts whatsoever. There many scholarly researched studies on the life of Bodhidharma and many scholars are able to read text from scrolls of the time of Bodhidharma and their is absolutely no evidence that he knew or taught any type of movement exercise. The idea of Bodhidharma teaching Kung Fu came from a story in a forward of a Qigong Manuel written during the Ming Dynasty. In the story it said that Shaolin monks found a scroll written by Bodhidharma of said Qigong exercise. The problem was that this story contained fictional characters that were from other Kung Fu novels of the time, so it proved the story as a marketing gimmick to sell the manual and not an historical document.

Thanks for sharing! Have an awesome day!

As a Buk Sing Choy Li Fut student thank u for this video

This was an awesome video with accurate and detailed info. I practice contemporary wushu and chinese kenpo and have rarely seen Chinese arts explained so precisely and correctly. Thanks for this video.

Thanks for a great series to come

That's so cool. My system of Kajukenbo is martial ethics method. I'm so thankful for this video. Thank you

Awesome episode, it never ceases to amaze me how much historical information there is in each separate culture, of martial arts. I'm glad that you haven't mentioned any like ...in the next episode, we will be testing your retention of the information presented in the previous episode of our show, which will be titled "the Chinese test of the 10,000 questions". I think you have the makings of a college level course with all the information you present on your channel! Great episode, and great job Dan. Keep up the great work. 😊👍

I have studied the arts for over 20 years most of the time had been in the Chinese arts wing chun, chin na, some praying mantis, and shaolin kempo which incorporates karate and ju jutsu in the beginning then transitions in to 5 animal Kung fu in the later belt ranks. Now Vadha kempo which I am currently training in now has arts from Tibet but leans more towards the Japanese arts that has go ju, judo, akido, and some taekwon do in it. I also have been training in traditional Japanese ju jutsu. I am not bias toward any martial arts and would like to be well rounded in many arts as possible I would like to dabble in hapkido, Silat and tai chi some day.

I was impressed by the level of research you put into your discussion on kung fu. A few points I wanted to share. I’ve been training for going on 35 years now. My root style is actually tai chi chaun which I studied exclusively for the first 9 months of my training. I then branched out learning from both of my instructors and moulding those teachings into an eclectic style. One of my sifus taught Shaolin Long Fist, the other taught Tien Shen Pai. So I don’t have a pure lineage per se. When I started training in 1987 there were not a lot of large scale kung fu tournaments. Generally speaking if we wanted to compete our options were to compete in karate tournaments using karate rules. Most of those tournaments divided divisions by belt ranking. Coming from a Chinese system we had no belts so figuring out what division to compete in was a bit tricky. To make it easier our school adopted coloured sashes to approximate the divisions we should compete in. But these were just approximations. We only had four colours: green, brown, red, and black. Green approximated to the first three belts in the karate styles. Brown approximated to the next couple belt ranks. Red was roughly equivalent to a 1st level black belt, and black sash was roughly placed between a 2nd and 3rd Dan. But these are rough equivalences not hard fast rules. My sifus actually favoured a different 4 tiered ranking system. Those were boxer, student, disciple, and Sifu. I reached Sifu after about 8 years of training. In that time I competed often in karate and kung fu tournaments, got to do San shou fighting as well as point sparring. Now there are actual kung fu tournaments which I think is better. Not that anything is wrong with karate. It’s just different. The different makes it hard for practitioners of one to judge the other fairly because they have no idea what they are looking at. This is very apparent with forms competition especially. I’ve seen karate forms, but I’ve never studied a day in a karate school, so I have no idea if it’s being done right. And the same is true with karate guys. If they haven’t trained in any kung fu, most really don’t know what they’re seeing. Sparring is different though I do prefer the continuous sparring rules over the point style. But generally a punch is a punch and a kick is a kick when you put the gloves and foot gear on.

This was an amazing explanation of what Kung fu is! I'll have to see more of your videos!

I started off doing Tai Chi for physiotherapy, must be more than 15 years ago now, and I have been doing it ever since - I was learning while I was in so much pain I could barely walk, so it was natural for me to learn the slow methodology and meditative focus. And I just went from there, learning Wing Chun and basic Shaolin and Choy Li Fut and Xing Yi and Ba Gua... Even got into Drunken. My favourites these days are Tai Chi and Wing Chun and also Xing Yi. I just practice the forms mainly.

Hi. I practice Xingyiquan. When you talked about taiji and bagua, you missed wuxing. Taiji is taichichuan, wuxing is Xingyiquan and bagua is baguazhang, although all three concepts are present in all three martial arts. But Xingyiquan is more than wuxing of course. There is 12 animals, 8 words, weapons, traditional taolu like bashiquan, bazigong, 12 crossing fists, and secret weapons. Looking forward to your video on Xingyiquan. Sucribed because of it.

Id love to see more of this series! Touching on a multitude of martial arts! I.E. Muay Thai, Judo, Boxing, Wrestling, HEMA, Lua :D

Fantastic video. Been looking forward to episodes covering the Chinese martial arts. I'm interested in all of them, but I'm hoping you'll do an episode on Shaolin Kung Fu

Sometimes it’s good to be still Still standing, still strong, still here, still caring

Wow surprised you tackled this one so quickly! I'll be honest I am not as well versed in Chinese martial arts despite dabbling in 7 Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu for a few months 20 years ago. But my Shifu (he spells it Sifu) told us that he's technically teaching Wushu because that phrase means Martial Art in Chinese. I took Mandarin when I first went to college and my teacher confirmed that Wushu meant Martial Art. I am looking forward to seeing you dive into the Chinese arts more.

For clarity - Modern sport Wushu is divided into two division: Taolu- exhibition forms and Sanda - Full Contact Freestyle Kickboxing. People often refer to Taolu as Wushu but this is incorrect as Wushu is the umbrella term for the sport.

this video is very interesting , especially for me because i don't know that much about the Chinese arts .

I was really excited to see this video and I hope you continue to post more videos on the different styles of Chinese Martial Arts. I actually train/teach Choy Li Fut and your description of what "Kung Fu" actually means what spot on.

Wonderfully done. I learned a lot.

Excellent contribution to the field of Martial Arts. Thank you.

Excellent video Sensei Dan. I always learn so much from your videos. Thank you so much Sensei.

It's the predecessor of Okinawan karate. If you look at Shorin Ryu and Shorei Ryu closely, you can see the influence. In fact, Shorin is the Japanese pronunciation of Shaolin. Excellent video!

Great video, very educational! Thank you for sharing! :)

Thank you for making this video this is possible the best video explanation of what kung fu is

Excellent video. I like your style, you are humble, but certainly very very well informed. Thanks a lot.

I love your history videos so much! They are so well done!

Great video. I understand that it’s a general sweep of a lot of things but it was well explained nevertheless. Look forward to the next one

Great description and over view of the Chinese arts.

I'm a student in kung fu. Thanks for this video.

Wow mind blown. Job well done explaining all of this!

Very good start on the subject. It's good to note that the dialect you are refer is Mandarin. Many of the kung fu practitioners do speak Cantonese and it's a very different tonal quality. I would suggest reaching out to Grand Master Take Wah Eng in NYC to find out about more history. His is a master of Fu Jow Pai and most likely he would have his top student Paul Log talk to you. Thank you for the interest in kung if history and have a great day

My school trains in Long Fist, Shaolin, and Eagle Claw style so I'd love to hear your breakdown of any of these. I appreciated the history you provided.

What a great video, it’s so simple and very meaningful

Thorough clear concise and accurate. OSU and respect.🐯

Awesome video. Thank you

If you REALLY wanna go back far for the origin of several martial arts, especially kung fu, we should note the Indian one at about the 3rd century BCE - Kalaripayattu - a lot of this was disseminated to China and a lot went into Indonesia and other South Pacific places, which also had a heavy influence on the now famous Filipino martial art, Kali - which takes its name from that particular vicious Indian goddess. So cool how martial arts disseminate and evolve.

Very good video and accurate info.

xie xie-(thank you), Art of One Dojo this video is great and it is a wonderful breakdown of the history and differences between Kung Fu and Karate..keep up the great work.

Great video!!

Dan Sensei..I have been practicing Chinese martial arts for 48 years (Northern Shaolin System, Hung Gar, Seven Star Preying Mantis, Shuai Chiao, Ba Gua Zhang) and I have watched your videos and you did this Kung Fu video extremely well. Thanks!

Years ago I trained under the twin cats style (Chuan Fa/Chinese Kempo & Fu Jow Pai/tiger) the place I trained wasn't public though, but what I learned really helped me in violent encounters - it was really good stuff and it still influences me even today. I trained in Tang Soo Do for a while (made it to 1st dan) I noticed a lot of northern chinese influence in it despite being a korean art. Nowadays I'm learning Kung Fu San Soo 👊🥋☯️

You gave me as much knowledge in less than 30 minutes than I gained in 30 years of study. For the general public, you cleared up a lot misconceptions, l'm sure. The definition of Kung Fu was right on. Peace.

Another great job!

Cool work sir 👍👏

Taijiquan is the Yin Yang in human form. The study and practice gets the player closer to the Natural or Primordial state of being. Become one with nature and see through the illusion of separation. You could easily do an entire video on Taiji. In fact, I will!

Superb knowledge. Great presentation.

Excellent video.

I’m here cause I’m trying to decide what martial arts to go for after nearly 2 and a half years on bjj

I've been practising the Shaolin arts for over 20 years and I have to say that this was a particularly good introduction to Chinese Kung Fu. Well done.

I studied muay thai and I was always told that kempo was the most respected of the kung fu styles around us the muay thai guys. Also the krav Maga guys say that they measure a style by kempo kung fu you have to have a style as good as that one or you will get beat. You have to beat boxing wich beats almost everything. In the seventies the African American boxers during the karate kung fu craze laughed at them all except kempo it got their respect on the street kung fu is excellent. Thank you and please have a good day 😊.

Excellent video

Also Chinese people have created sanda martial art. I think that the Chinese military uses it to. Not sure

A really god video. You did your research.

Very useful thanks!

Great video

Really good info, almost what my Sifu taught me. The Dao sword is like a tiger claw, the Juan is like a snakes tongue. You hit alot of it correct but please understand, Shalion Kung Fu (Skills Learned over Time) has 5 families, Yang, Wing Chun, Wushu, etc, please check it out. The kung fu history has been desteoyed many times when ppl have attacked the Shalion Temples, so much knowledge lost. Another thing your correct on, Chinese kung fu is mixed in many stills, monks would learn from ppl that were passing through, take whats effective and leave the rest. One thing that does amaze me is the flow needed to do the forms. Sil Kim Kung Hi and Tai Chi both got my health better, amazed ppl seeing me doing forms after all my medical problems.

I cannot wait for the Xing yi episode

Chuan-Fa in it's hey-day was also military based given that it is a blend of various Chinese martial arts used for combative purpose.

Another thing I would add. At this point I teach only tai chi. I teach in a tae kwon do school. Out of respect to the school I don’t use my title. I do get asked about the differences sometimes. The way I explain the difference is really about how power is generated. In general kung fu generates power from speed and circular movement, where karate generates power from linear movement and muscle power. Neither is wrong, and it’s good to know how to use both.

I am highly impressed

There is so much overlap within styles. I practice Tien Shan Pai Kung Fu and am loving it. Tai Chi pops up from time to time in some of the forms. I like the fluidity and for guys like me, large and older, most of the moves are pretty achievable. I have found it to be effective for self defense as well. My sparring has improved and I'm more aware of my movements and the movements of my opponent. If nothing else, that is a huge advantage in a fight. It's all impressive. Nice video!

The Chinese sword Miao Dao looks similar to the Japanese Katana sword, but the blade is a few inches longer.

Wow very interesting sir thanks for the history

Very informative and thorough. Consider covering the Hung Ga style!

excellent video, very informative and enjoyable, shame Sanda wasn't mentioned

I don’t know if there is a comment this particular style but I’m gonna ask. Speaking of Kung Fu styles. Will you do a deep dive on Kung Fu San Soo? I know some people in my life who’ve trained in this style most known taught by Jimmy H Woo down to his students who are now masters like Bill Huxley and Raul Ries ( who is a pastor ) actor and Martial Artist Gerald Okamura. ... I believe would be a great video or 2pt video. Just like the Lima Lama and Polynesian Martial Arts 👍🏼

Wonderful video and amazingly well researched. As a member of the Leung Sheung Wing Chun family, I can say you hit the nail on the head when discussing Kung Fu overall. I've come across some of your videos before, but this one definitely earned you a sub from me :) When it comes time to do a Wing Chun video, I'd be happy to provide any insights I can on how the different lineages operate, the different stories on the art's formation, and the verifiable Lineage going back to Leung Jan. As my Sifu says, "A Kung Fu Life is a long life indeed". I'd also love to help with clarity on certain Cantonese terms and pronunciation, which is quite important in Wing Chun (at least when learning from an old man that spent most of his life in Hong Kong or Foshan).

This was a very good explanation of Kung Fu. you have a lot of the facts right. Oh and I train in Tang Lang(Northern Praying Mantis) and Shuai Jiao

Very interesting!

I used to live in HK from 1996-1997 within a span of a year. They have numerous Wing Chun schools around the territory, mainly around Mong Kok. I actually enrolled in the one by GM Leung Ting. While I highly respect his school and Wing Chun, I spend the whole time doing the “little ideas” form and decided that this is not for me. So I eventually trained in Kyokushin Karate upon returning to The Philippines and became my martial art of choice up to today.

As with Karate, the original Okinawan system of Shuri-Te and Naha-Te had circular movements as it had Chinese origins. But when it was introduced in Japan, the system was modified to adapt with their style of fighting thus became “linear”.

This was really good being a Kung Fu guy. It will be really awesome to do a history of Wing Chun the difference lineages of the system. If you need any help I got you :-)

very good video

Could you please start with Southern Styles like Jow Ga, Hung Gar, Choy Li Faat, Fu Jiao Pai (or Black Tiger Claw). I would also be interested in Shuai Jiao please.

Most excellent.

There’s a style I would like to hear and watch you explain, Drunken Fist. Please do a video on that for this playlist

The IWUF RU-vid channel should be the go to for people interest in Wushu Taolu and Wushu Sanda (the World Wushu championships take place later this year )

Every ones who's ever played shenmue definitely got to the part were you mentioned the wude and went oh wow I can tell ya all about that lol actualy shenmue would be something cool to talk about that game touches on a ton of real martial arts topics

From my learning and understanding Kung Fu is anything done with hard work and training

Great video! I practice a northern praying mantis style (meihua tanglong quan), and I think I may have heard you explain the differences between Chinese power generation and Japanese power generation backwards. In my style at least, we’re taught to use our waist, not our hips, to generate power. I’ve even learned the same in tai chi quan. I also have a black belt in TaeKwonDo, but I was taught to use my hips in that style. I may have misheard that part of the video though, I’ll have to watch again to be sure

I'm learning Wing Chun. Just like to add ShiFu is Chinese SiFu is Cantonese and in the family the older brother (or sister) isn't gauged by age but by seniority (grade or when they started) So although I'm older than most of my Wing Chun family, I'm little sister as I've just passed my grade2, but I'm big sister to those who started after me Brilliant video, thank you

Great Dan! the philosophy of Wuji sits above Taiji and Gong has 2 connotations Strong or Health is the other; Tongsau

Please talk about Hung gar Kung Fu. That´s the style I'm practicing.

Heres a question for everyone I've been practicing to master level three arts. Muay thai tai chi and traditional jujitsu im also buddhit and made it too zen master now so you know all this took close to thirty years. Im no slouch. I studied tai chi at wudang and fit in fine. So here's my question if you're Christian Jewish etc how do you reconcile your religion with Eastern philosophy anyone can answer im very curious

Great video! I know I asked once before but Speaking of kung fu can you do a video on the kung fu style of the 2010 karate kid remake?