The Fluid Motion of the Snake Lends Itself Well to Kung Fu
The Fluid Motion of the Snake Lends Itself Well to the Art of Kung Fu
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If youve read my articles, you know I have two passions: Learning various Kung Fu styles and seeing them performed on television.
Ive been doing snake style Kung Fu for almost eight years. Once I moved into Kung Fu styles, snake was the first one I learned, because it had a lot of similarities to jiu jitsu. Like jiu jitsu, snake style kung fu is all about transmitting core body strength from the abdomen to the arms, and uses a lot of joint locks and grappling moves. Unlike jiu jitsu, it uses a more open stance, and tries for greater flow in motion, with more arm strikes and kicks. Particularly, it incorporates several weapon elements, including techniques applicable to sword use. It contrasts with a lot of contemporary styles from China, in the focus on blocks, throws and hitting from weird angles.
Martial arts with applicability to swords are totally cool. Before we get to the sharp, pointy things, lets talk about snakes. The reasoning behind snake style kung fu, as was taught to me, is that from the fluid motions of snakes, you can learn a lot about balance, body motions and striking power. Some people focus on the cobra strikes, trying to emulate the lightning quick attack of a cobra with an open palmed strike. Others focus on the nature of the python, which draws in to joint locks and throws and immobilizations. All of them focus on feints you learn not just the strikes, but the techniques to mask which strike youre throwing, or which joint lock youre throwing. Snake style is sort of like a cross between poker and chess. Not that youre going slowly enough to think while youre doing it since its all learned at the muscle memory level, but that youve got moves, counter moves and bluffs, all running at once.
Snake style kung fu isnt the most effective on defensive blocks. The blocks, parries and lateral motions are fundamental at best. Snake is a more offensive style, in the Northern version, which is what I learned. (Northern snake style is largely what got used for the cinematography for Sir Tes style the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.) Wudang Mountain, the superb school in the film, is renowned for producing great Snake Style Kung Fu artists.
Southern snake style is a much more recent variation, and dates back to the late 1800s. Its a mixture of classic Shao Lin forms, with harder, direct punches mixed with Wing Chun movements for a bit of fluidity. You can tell the practitioners apart, because the Southern stylists have a much more open and upright stance, and focus more on a variety of punches instead of a balanced set routine of punches, joint locks and holds. I won’t get into the discussion about which one is superior, since Im obviously biased having gone for the more traditional form of the art. Both styles are satisfying and will train you in solid martial arts techniques.
Yoshi F Kundagawa is a freelance journalist. He covers the
mixed martial arts industry. For a free report on Southern Boxing: Nan Quan Kung Fu DVD visit his blog.
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