perjantai 10. huhtikuuta 2015

To strike at the serpent



Sunzi said: ”If you attack its head, its tail strikes; if you attack its tail, its head strikes; if you attack its middle, both its head and tail strike.”

One peculiar feature in catch-as-catch-can is that when observed in a superficial manner it appears as an art most “external” so to speak; a battle of superior power rather than a quest for sophisticated skill and sensitivity. On the other hand, once we begin to truly understand the techniques and the tactics we come to realize how “internal” it is indeed. We use the spiral movement as they do in Baquazhang, we use grabbing the opponent’s fingers for leverage as they do in Aikido, we use attacks on the nerve pressure points and so on. That combined with the strength and speed essential for athletic prowess makes catch-as-catch-can-wrestling a weapon of destruction whereas many a rival style can merely be regarded as another method with certain emphasis.

In catch-wrestling one must constantly think in terms of turning every part of the body into an instrument of making the opponent suffer: the sharp part of the radius driven across tissues, the shin that’ll work as a cutting tool, the tip of the chin for creating extreme pressure, the crest of the skull in one’s forehead, just to mention a few of the possibilities. On the ground of course such floating upon the target is relatively easy, for gravity will not be your enemy but an ally instead. After this has been learned, go seek applying the principle to striking, in other words fighting while standing in an upright position. Always remember as a student of martial arts that there is a reason for everything. Find the challenge, then become the shuai-ran snake of Mount Chang spoken of in The Art of War.

Watch the clip of Professor Huang Kang-Hui performing a series of Tai Chi moves. To many people it may at first seem like a pile of formal nonsense, but having trained with this man as my instructor I can guarantee he’d be able to crush human bones in an instant with what he does. More so, the flow taken to that extent the opponent will never know what comes next.

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