Tang Shou Tao
Encyclopedia
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
internal martial arts
Neijia
Nèijiā is a term in Chinese martial arts, grouping those styles that practice nèijìng , usually translated as internal martial arts, occupied with spiritual, mental or qi-related aspects, as opposed to an "external" approach focused on physiological aspects...
training founded in the 1950s and 1960s by Hung I-Hsiang
Hung I-Hsiang
Hung I-Hsiang or Hong Yixiang was a Taiwanese martial artist who specialized in the internal Chinese styles of xingyiquan, baguazhang and taijiquan....
(洪懿祥, Hanyu Pinyin: Hong Yixiang), a well-known Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
ese internal martial artist. The system was further modified by Hung's student, Hsu Hung-Chi
Hsu Hung-Chi
Hsu Hung-Chi or Xu Hongji was a Taiwanese martial artist who specialized in the internal Chinese arts of xingyiquan, baguazhang and taijiquan....
(許鴻基, Hanyu Pinyin: Xu Hongji) under the name Shen Long Tang Shou Tao (神龍唐手道; lit. "Spirit Dragon Chinese Hand Way").
Tang Shou Tao is not a separate style of martial art, but rather a practical, step-by-step, systematic approach to learning internal martial arts and developing highly refined levels of skill. It incorporates elements of all three of the major Chinese internal arts (xingyiquan
Xingyiquan
Xingyiquan is one of the major "internal" or Wudang styles of Chinese martial arts. The word translates approximately to "Form/Intention Boxing", or "Shape/Will Boxing", and is characterized by aggressive, seemingly linear movements and explosive power...
, baguazhang
Baguazhang
Bāguàzhǎng is one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the Wudang school, the other two being Taijiquan and Xingyiquan. It is more broadly grouped as an internal practice...
, and taijiquan) as well as Shaolin kung fu
Shaolin kung fu
Shaolin Kung Fu refers to a collection of Chinese martial arts that claim affiliation with the Shaolin Monastery.Of the multitude styles of kung fu and wushu, only some are actually related to Shaolin...
and qigong
Qigong
Qigong or chi kung is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation...
. However, the emphasis of this system is on xingyi and bagua. Although the system itself was formed and founded by Hung I-Hsiang
Hung I-Hsiang
Hung I-Hsiang or Hong Yixiang was a Taiwanese martial artist who specialized in the internal Chinese styles of xingyiquan, baguazhang and taijiquan....
during the 1950s and 1960s, the roots of using the commonalities of bagua and xingyi in practice and application can easily be traced back through Hung's teacher Chang Chun-Feng
Chang Chun-Feng
Chang Chun-Feng, or Zhang Junfeng was a well-known Chinese martial artist who specialized in the internal styles of baguazhang, xingyiquan and taijiquan....
(張俊峰) to his teachers, Li Cunyi (李存義) and Gao Yisheng
Gao Yisheng
Gao Yisheng was the creator of the Gao style of the Chinese Internal Martial Art of Baguazhang. His life bridged the second generation and third generation of Bagua practitioners into the 20th century. He was one of the few third generation Bagua practitioners to live beyond the 1940s...
(高義盛).
When Hung I-Hsiang took a trip to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, he was very impressed with the way martial arts instruction was organized there. He liked the uniforms, the belt system, and the systematic approach to training. Subsequently, he adopted many of the Japanese style martial arts school characteristics when he opened his own school. The students had belt ranks, wore Japanese style uniforms, and Hung devised a more systematic approach to martial arts instruction than what was typical of most Chinese style schools.
Hung felt that before a student was ready to learn xingyiquan or any of the other internal arts, he first had to acquire body strength and basic martial arts skill. The beginning student in Hung's Tang Shou Tao system executes many basic exercises which develop body strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance at the rudimentary level. Many of these exercises were taken from Japanese styles such as Judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
. The basic curriculum also included simple forms which Hung had put together by combining Shaolin with basic xingyi and bagua movements and techniques. Hung wanted students to have a basic understanding of blocking, kicking, punching, and throwing before they began to study the more refined internal arts.
Link to Tang Shou Tao Israel
- www.abimoriya.co.il Website of Abi Moriya- student of Hong Yixiang, Yizong Tang Shou Federation, Israel
External links
BBC documentary on Hung I-Hsiang and Tang Shou Tao: Part 1,Part 2, Part 3, Part 4Links to Tang Shou Tao schools in North America
- Hsing-I Martial Arts Institute (Mike Patterson)
- Little Nine Heaven Kung Fu School (James McNeil)
- New York Internal Arts (Tom Bisio)
- American Tang Shou Tao Association (Dale Shigenaga)
- North American Tang Shou Tao Association (Vince Black)
- The Sin Lung Kwoon (Mike Bingo)