Monkey kung fu

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The monkey kung fu ( Chinese  猴拳 , pinyin hou quan  - "monkey fist"; also called Tai Shing Pek Kwar , Tai Sheng Men , Tai Sing Pop Gar Mun or monkey boxing ) is a series of Chinese martial arts that have in common is the imitation of various movement patterns of monkeys . Naturally, the focus was primarily on fighting and threatening behavior, but also on playful or deceptive behavior patterns.

History of style

The original form of the style is attributed to Qi Jiguang (1528 to 1588): His original style inspired the development of many other monkey styles, which differentiated over time. The Shaolin monkey style Dasheng Piguamen from Fujian Province is considered the most common today.

The monkey styles

  • Houquan from Master Xiao Ying Peng
  • Tai Sheng Men (alternatively: Dashengquan ) from Kao Si (also: Kao Sze, Kau Sze, Kao Tsu). Kao Si refused to be drafted into the army by killing an officer and was subsequently captured. He watched monkeys from his prison cell and came up with the idea for his style. This contains five forms: the great ape , the lost ape , the drunken ape , the wooden ape, and the stone ape . As in all ape styles, only the stick is used as a weapon.
  • Tai Shing Pek Kwar (Chinese: 大聖 劈掛 門): This style is composed of the monkey style and the ax-fist style. The founder was Kan Tak Hoi. Based on the Tai Sheng Men, there are also different forms here: Drunk monkey , stone monkey , lost monkey , standing monkey (also: big monkey ), cunning monkey and wooden monkey .
  • Pek Kwar . A former military style, with a special focus on the upper body and powerful punches. Translated roughly: ax-fist.

Acrobatics and technique

The styles are generally above average acrobatic: The movements contain many elements of falling, grasping, tumbling and jumping. As a weapon, the stick partially plays a central role, which is used for attack and defense and can also be climbed to gain a height advantage in combat. The techniques are very demanding. It takes years to develop good elasticity and resilience of the joints in order to master roles, rollover and jumping techniques. The distinguishing feature of monkey kung fu is the lightning-fast attack and evasion.

Monkey kung fu in martial arts films and other media

Because of the very noticeable and sometimes weird movements of the monkey styles, they are a popular theme in many Hong Kong action films . Examples:

Video

literature

  • Frank Paetzold: Wu Shu: Fascination China and Asian martial arts . 2003, ISBN 3-8330-0182-8 .
  • Werner Lind : The dictionary of martial arts. Sportverlag, ISBN 3-328-00838-1 .
  • Xi Yuntai, Li Gaozhong: The Monkey Style. Chinese kung fu.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Tai Shing Pek Kwar Moon @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kungfuwebmag.de
  2. ↑ Monkey Kung Fu
  3. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0198546/ Monkey's Fist
  4. ↑ http://www.allmovie.com/work/303223 Knockabout