Five-animal kungfu

[fast_fist]

Anyone in here know how many Five-animal kungfu style are there???
PLEASE HELPPPP!!!! :confused: :eek: :confused:

[YODA]

Errrrrrr.............. 5?

[Mo Lung]

Good guess, but not really what he's getting at I think.

There are five animals in just about every system that derives in full or part from Shaolin roots. This means a sh!tload of styles.

What exactly are you after, fast_fist?

[YODA]

Good guess, but not really what he's getting at I think.

Sorry - my vain attempt at wit - it's too early I guess :D

Yes - A big heap-o-styles is the answer

A more important question may be - Why do you want to fight like an animal?

[Mo Lung]

An even better question would be, what do the animals actually represent?

;)

[YODA]

Exactly!

...... and just how DOES a Dragon fight anyway? Anone seen one down the pub having it out over a spilt pint recently?

[kobudo_tob]

and just how DOES a Dragon fight anyway?

I'll watch my mother :D

[fast_fist]

The five-animal kungfu I was talking about is the Dragon, tiger, leopard, snake, and crane.
So every kungfu style have there own Five-animal kungfu? I know that in Hung ga style have, but what are the other?
ANY ONE KNOW???

[PantherFist]

Not all kung fu styles contain all five of the traditional animals, some are made up of only one like fu jow pai(tiger), hop gar(crane) etc. Wing Chun for example is supposed to be a combination of crane and snake styles, so some traditions say.

My own style of Choy Lee Fut contains a five animal form, as well as a ten animal form and various single animal forms. We also have a number of two man fighting animal forms.

Hung Fut is another style that contains a five animal form, and I beleve (could be wrong) a ten animal form and various single animal forms.

[johndoch]

What about monkey style, mantis style, eagle style and panda style. ok maybe not Panda style but who knows there might even be a doggy style;)

I think there are probably styles for every animal in china it just that we only know the most famous ones.

[PeeJ]

Originally posted by Mo Lung
An even better question would be, what do the animals actually represent?

I'm new but hey, I think I can help with this one.....

Tiger: Courage and Strength
Crane: Patience and Understanding
Leopard: Speed and quick footwork
Snake: Agility
Dragon: Strength of Character and Wisdom.

Like I said, I THINK:p

[Wong Fei Hung]

How many animals are there in the kung Fu system?

I only 10 diffferent animals of Kung Fu.

[SoKKlab]

More Chinese Systems: These are real.

Ape (White Ape)
Dog Boxing (It's RRRUUUFFF!)
Golden Dragon

Alot of Martial arts have techniques based on Animals,

Bando (Burmese system) has 12 animals in total

Muay Thai has techniques based on the actions of
Hanuman the Monkey King from The Hindu/Buddhist epics,
Including
Hanuman Offers the Ring (Double Uppercut)
Hanuman Bursts the Bubble (Knee strike thru the guard) etc

Silat has it's Harimau (Tiger) style

But out the Animal styles I prefer the Footbal Hooligan style.
Now that's a real animal...

[Wong Fei Hung]

They also have a cat !

[SoKKlab]

Yeah but that cat is a total pussy in a fight...

[wayofthedragon]

Originally posted by Wong Fei Hung
How many animals are there in the kung Fu system?

I only 10 diffferent animals of Kung Fu.

tiger
crane
snake
leapard
dragon
those are the basic five....but heck...there's also:
duck
dog
horse
unicorn
elephant
lion
butterfly
eagle
mantis
monkie
centipede
pheonix
panther
(okay, I'm tired now....but the list doesn't stop for awhile....but how many animals in all....hmmmm....that's a good question:confused: )

[SoKKlab]

Duck Fu?
Isn't that a dyslexic insult?

[Wong Fei Hung]

I like the Unicorn and did you know there are much more but some of the Kung Fu styles never made it out in public or the world.

[Yin and Yang]

Some kung fu styles I know of...
Tai Chi, which has many different styles in itself,
Shaolin,
White Crane,
Wing Chun,
Hung Gar Ch'uan
Monkey Style,
Choy Lee Fut,
Fu Chen, which I study,
And Drunken Style.

To wayofthedragon:
Bruce Lee is one of my all time idols, my father actually knew him very well, and his wife Linda, However I was not able to meet him before his tragic death. :(

[Wong Fei Hung]

To bad you couldn't met him.

What was your bruce Lee to your father?

[wayofthedragon]

Originally posted by Wong Fei Hung
I like the Unicorn and did you know there are much more but some of the Kung Fu styles never made it out in public or the world.

An instructor of mine trained directly under one of bruce's students. Isn't that Ironic to say I'm a big fan of Bruce:D

And yes....I realize that...A lot of them became....well extinct:(
including the unicorn, though you can still find some traces of the unicorn tho'. Hard to come around tho'

[Sub zero]

Off the top of my head , Lau Gar uses:
The five traditional animals
Unicorn(but hardly ever)
Eagle
Pheonix
Butterfly (again only once reallY in a form)

And chaz.Is it true that Choy lee fut has hundreds of forms?

[SoKKlab]

Butterfly?
Hardly an inspiring animal to copy. They just waft about a bit and then kark it....I mean how many raging full-on butterfly scraps were witnessed in Ancient China? Look out for that Killer Butterfly!

What next: Moth Fu?

Unicorn-A totally Mythical animal, wow now I see the connection between it and ahum, the system in question....allegedly.

Apparently there is a Platypus (sp?) style. Which is a great line to say in a fight; 'I'm gonna Platypus your arse'....

[Sub zero]

The butter fly move is only designed for exercise reaons.Not for combat.
The unicorn step is very similar to what bruce lee did quite slot.A sort of step through side kick.
I think that's it's obvious that the mytholgical creature styles are based on more there significane to a culture in terms ofwhat ait means to them.Rather than observation.

[SoKKlab]

I think that's it's obvious that the mytholgical creature styles are based on more there significane to a culture in terms ofwhat ait means to them.Rather than observation.
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Er, no it's not that obvious, because of all the famous stories about so and so Master observed a Praying Mantis against a Cicada, or observed a Crane versus a Snake etc. These are all histories based on Observations of how the Animal Fought and then the movements have been interpreted into a fighting style by the observer.

There must also be a Certain Amount of Significance within Certain Animals in regards to Certain Cultures :

IE Dragon style-a Mythical animal revered by Oriental, particularly Chinese Culture.

But far from every Animal in every system has a deep cultural meaning, some do some don't. Some are purely observations of animals that showed fighting promise and some have a deeper Cultural significance. A bit of Both then.

[Sub zero]

Yes.
I was trying to say that it would be impossible for that fighting of a dragon to be oberved.So it could possibly be for another reason.

[stump]

I think butterflies are best left for swimming away from potential attackers...

I believe the only Unicorm in Lau Gar is the Unicorn step. Purely a name and no attempt to imitate the animal.

The animal element of kung fu I believe is supposed to develop certain mentalities such as the tiger (agression), crane (evasiveness) and the dragon (undefeatable spirit).

Again though it comes back to Yodas question - why would anyone want to fight like any animal (except man)?

[SoKKlab]

The Convo has gone way beyond:
'why would anyone want to fight like any animal (except man)?'

We're just talking about systems that employ Animal-orientated influences, like Burmese Bando, Harimau Silat, Muay Thai (The Hanuman Monkey techniques) etc. Not the why...

[Sub zero]

oh.......................
Sorry:)

[PantherFist]

Sub zero,
You asked if it was true that Choy Lee Fut had hundreds of forms.
The answer is it really depends on what branch and lineage of Choy Lee Fut you belong too.

There are three main branches of Choy Lee Fut, you have the Hung Sing branch(which I belong to)which is regarded by most as the original style and has well over 150 hand, weapon, two-man and dummy forms.
You have the Fut San(Hung Sing) branch which is an off shoot of the original style(Some of this branch beleve its the original, Won't go into the messy politics) has over hundred forms.
And finally you have the Bak Sing branch, the youngest of the three, an off shoot of the Fut San which has only three original hand forms and only one weapon form. More emphasis is placed on actual fighting than learning forms with this branch

My lineage of the Hung Sing branch does not have all the forms of the system, very few lineages do. The Chan Family lineage of the Hung Sing branch which Mo Lung belongs too, does I beleve have access to all the forms.

Unlike most kung fu styles, you do not have too learn all the forms of the Choy Lee Fut system, to to say you have learn't the style. Indeed it would be impracticle as well as nearly impossible especially if you came from Mo Lung's lineage. All you really have to learn is some core forms, to get the structure of the style, you then learn forms that suit you and ones that you can try and specialise in. for example Drunken forms, 10 different animal forms, forms designed for small/large people etc. Plus you have all the different weapons you can learn at least 30 different weapons(there is a least 10 staff forms)

[white_sash]

Originally posted by johndoch
What about monkey style, mantis style, eagle style and panda style. ok maybe not Panda style but who knows there might even be a doggy style;)

i almost fell off my chair laughing at that .......:D :D :D

[imperial_guardz]

too make this short...there are infinite numbers of animal styles...many of them were in close doors systems...but basically any animal that was seen by a Kung Fu master...became a style...however most are just not known of...

As for the 5 animals system...they're are many different sub divisions as well...They are found in soo many styles

Northern and Souther Shaolin...(which itself is already GENERALIZED)
Choy Li Fut
Hung Gar
and soo many others....

http://www.aei.ca/~straycat/kungfu/images/whitecrane2c.gif

[RubyMoon]

My previous style, Shaolin Chuan, was based upon the five animal forms of leopard, dragon, tiger, snake, and crane. Additionally, certain other individual techniques were named for various animals, i.e., monkey block, mantis hand strikes, eye of the phoenix, and so forth. These weren't really taken from our animal forms, just individual techniques with colorful names.