Inner martial arts
The term internal martial arts ( Chinese 內 家 拳術 / 内 家 拳术 , Pinyin Nèijiā quánshù , short 內 家 拳 / 内 家 拳 , Nèijiāquán , or 內 家 / 内 家 , Nèijiā ) describes some styles of the Chinese martial arts , the Legend has it that they come from the Wudang Mountains and are based on a common style of origin. The term is used to these styles from the external styles ( 外家拳 , Wàijiāquán shortly 外家 , Waijia ) to distinguish by the Shaolin Kung Fu to be descended.
According to legend, the original style of Neijiaquan was developed by the Daoist immortal Zhang Sanfeng in the Wudang Mountains ( Wudang Shan ) while he was watching the fight between a snake and a crane . The snake avoided the crane again and again until the crane had to give up, exhausted.
Historically, the term Neijiaquan and its connection to Zhang Sanfeng can be traced for the first time in the funeral oration written in 1669 for Wang Zhengnan by Huang Zongxi (1610–95). There "the Daoist Immortal Zhang Sanfeng from Mount Wudang Shan, founder of the inner school of struggle" is mentioned.
A group of martial artists around Huo Yuanjia and Sun Lutang in Beijing then dealt with the history of Chinese martial arts as a Chinese cultural asset at the beginning of the 20th century. They identified the martial arts Taijiquan , Baguazhang and Xingyiquan as descendants of the original style of Zhang Sanfeng, and referred to them with the term Neijia Quanfǎ ( 內 家 拳法 / 内 家 拳法 - "Martial Arts of the Inner School") or Neijia Quanshù . In contrast, they used the term Wàijiā Quánfǎ ( 外家 拳法 - "Martial Arts of the Outer School") or Wàijiā Quánshù ( 外家 拳術 / 外家 拳术 ) to denote the styles that are said to be derived from Shaolin Kung Fu. In the course of the 20th century this division into "inner" and "outer" martial arts became very popular.
