So budo is all marital arts whereas Kung Fu is all Chinese martial arts? For some reason that didn’t sound right to me, but one second thought I couldn’t think of a single other Chinese martial art. Thanks for bringing the glaringly obvious to my attention.
That said, I do love the fluidity of aikido, the reason I’m interested in cross training is for diversity and to temper what I’m already learning with new and different experience. When doing random searches for Kung Fu, the major listings tend to be Wushu and Shaolin. Since you like Shoalin could you tell me a bit about it (and what’s the difference between northern and the other cardinal point)? Is white crane similar to aikido?
I’ve been doing Shaolin 5-Animal kung fu for going on 5 years now. To help a little with Nen’s question…
Wushu usually refers to the nationalist performance-oriented martial art of China. Shaolin refers to those arts specific to the buddhist Shaolin temples. Both are a small part of the many Chinese arts that fall under the term “kung fu”. China is a massive place when compared to other countries with a history much larger than others, so many diverse arts have developed it is really impossible to point to any one art as an example of what kung fu forms should look like. It is best to ask more specific, for example Tai Chi Chuan, Hung Gar, White Crane, Wing Chun, etc.
But in an attempt to generalize, northern styles are typically characterized by longer lower stances and larger circular movements. Souther styles tend to have narrower stances and more linear movements. This is a broad generalization however with many exceptions.
Yeah, what GargoyleWB said. To elaborate a little, I don’t know that wushu is really considered a true martial art. It is derived from shaolin, but I am under the impression that it is purely a demonstration sport. I mean no disrespect to its practitioners, but I hold it in the same regard as gymnastics: Impressive, but with no practical use. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
This is my school. It has some pictures and history of northern shaolin:
My brothers school. Located in the UK. This a useful resource for those interested in white crane (a southern style): http://www.kungfu-taichi.com/
An informative but difficult to navigate site. This link bypasses the splash page. Has a little TMI about the webmaster: http://www.russbo.com/start.htm
Please note- Information about the history of the different styles is often slanted to make whatever school/individual that is reporting look good. I have no way of verifying the info on most of these sites, so take everything with a grain of salt.
There were plenty of folks of your build in Shotokan. I think there is an International Shotokan Karate Federation dojo in Chicago somewhere. They can be a little underground and hard to find sometimes. My wife is still an active member and if you’d like I can send you some info. Email me though because I’m going out of town for a few days.
If you like sword fighting look into the SCA groups and light weapons fighting. Kendo is very cool, but you have to be insane. Not that the art is terribly dangerous, it just seems insainty is a common trait among those I knew who were in it. It might be because it’s an incredibly disciplined art. (Like any good martial art, expect lots of repetition.) Everything is very ritualized. You only get a few moments to get your aggression out in one sudden burst of energy.
If you’re in Chicago, you’ll have access to just about every known martial art on the planet. You can afford to be choosey. Look for something that you’ll have fun in.
Kung-Fu, literally translated, means something along the lines of skill, experience, or hard work. So, just as Karate means empty-hand, you can call every martial art Kung-Fu and almost every martial art Karate.
If you do this, though, you’ll likely get a lot people telling you off because they don’t want to be associated with Kung-Fu or Karate.
Sometimes it’s because they have a low opinion of those two arts, sometimes just because they want to promote their art. I don’t know, even though I’m one of these people.
It sounds like the arts you’re looking for – grace, co-ordination, balance, etc. – are the softer, traditional arts. The best one I can personally recommend is Flowery Hands Kung-Fu. I didn’t like it because it wasn’t combat oriented, but it was very relaxing, very difficult, and somehow very enjoyable. Flowery Hands, or the northern styles, might be something for you to look into. Some excellent links were posted, check them out.
I used to do kickboxing, but quit after about 6 months because the focus seemed to only be on kicking the crap out of people (at least at the gym I was going to) - Hap Ki Do is a little more balanced.
Hi Nen and everyone. I am fretburner’s brother and have been persuaded to join this discussion. I studied Aikido for many years in the states and joined a school in London when I moved here. The instructor showed superhuman martial skill, but I found the classes totally unenjoyable and so switched to Fujian White Crane (http://www.kungfu-taichi.com).
The White Crane system was developed by a woman in the city of Yongquan in Fujian province in the late 18th century. This style, like many chinese styles, emulates animal movements and, in particular, the eponymous crane. The style encompasses both hard kung fu (strikes, blocks, kicks, locks), soft tai chi (circular defenses and attacks)as well as hard and soft qi gong. White Crane is, in fact, the ancestor of many Okinawan and Japanese styles. The age old feud between Chinese and Japanese martial artists leaves that point in doubt, but I can certainly say that I can see many of the movements I learned in Aikido in our tai chi form.
You know how agrivating it is to not be able to find an Indian martial arts school in the US? Its an art disapearing, and it is very interesting. More like Bruce Lee’s idea of not using a stance, its a style that your contstantly moving…lot of jumping. really hard to get hit with it. You have to be a LOT more limber than in chinese martial arts. I’m looking specificly for training with Katar, which just are awesome by the way…
