Monkey in Praying Mantis I don't know any purely monkey forms, although they do exist, but there are also several Northern Praying Mantis forms with names like "White Monkey Steals Peaches," which have a strong monkey influence. (Northern Praying Mantis is actually a hybrid style with elements of at least 18 other primarily Shaolin styles.) The stances in the monkey forms are different, usually with the legs bent and closer together. The monkey empty stance, for example, turns the extend foot very far inward. Also the monkey styles are intended to mimic what the creators perceived as the "mindset" of monkeys, not necessarily their physical movements. This includes deceptively low, weak looking positions that suddenly break into powerful combination attacks. Also, I believe the movement of the head is very important in monkey style. The monkey practitioner will, for example, look to one side while simultaneously striking straight ahead, thereby confusing the opponent. Anyway, that's about all I know about monkey style. I personally have only practiced the Praying Mantis form "White Monkey Exits the Cave," so I'm certainly not an expert by any means. I believe another common "monkey-inspired" style is "Bai-yuan Tong-bei Quan," a style that imitates a monkey with unusually long arms with lots of swinging and whipping movements facilitated by very loose shoulders. Does anyone here practice monkey outside of the context of Northern Praying Mantis?
Only thing I know about Praying Mantis is that it borrows footwork from the monkey. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Monkey is also very gymnastic. Handstands, headstands, rolls, tumbles, flips, jumps. Kinda comical to look at if you don't know what the artist is doing, but like Drunken, if you uinderstand the philosophy behind the style, makes a whole lot of sense.
Monkey in 5 ancestor fist There is an element of monkey in 5 ancestor fist. We get our footwork from monkey - all stances have feet close together, as low as possible, fast foot motions. There are a few sets in my system that have a big influence from monkey. There are no strict monkey forms in it that I know of. One aspect of monkey styles in 5 ancestor fist is phoenix eye. That is the hand position that is associated with monkey-ish movements. I have heard it referred to as "monkey fingers" by axelb.
There are some monkey open-hand and weapons forms (mainly staff, IIRC). Pretty obscure stuff, to be honest. We only have Sifu who knows it; it's upper level stuff (we're talking 2nd/3rd degree black sash in my system).
wasn't it invented to throw guards, off-guard? i remeber watching a documentry of some prisoners that used it to escape from a chinese prison and trick the guards into thinking they were going crazy or monkyish, then they used it to woop them. i think acting like a monkey is a form of protection (throws attacker off guard) but also helps you act like a monkey, which might be handy if you think fighting like that is for you lol.
monkey fu There's various different monkey influences around. A lot of people may have seen the WuShu monkey forms around, which very much looks like someone immitating a monkey. Like Yohan said, the monkey influence in 5 ancestors is more of a mindset. The monkey is light and agile, so darts in strikes and then out before the attacker can counter. Footwork plays a big part in this, and also you carry yourself as very unpredictable as you are moving about. Some might say that boxers look a bit like this as they are fighting. Monkey blocks are very strong blocks used with relaxed wrists so that you can grab straight after blocking. Monkey fingers can be used for more concetrated attacks and for hooking
thanks everyone, youve been a lot of help. but has anyone got a link to somewhere that shows techniques. please,please,please.
Great responses everyone. In the "fully" monkey system there are five subsystems, each with their own aspects, techniques, and attitudes: 1. Tall Monkey 2. Wood Money 3. Stone Monkey 4. Lost Monkey 5. Drunken Monkey I need to dig through my paperwork and mental reserves before I can define all of them more fully, but here's which ones immediately come to mind: Wood monkey is the trickster and the most acrobatic. Lost monkey is the "smallest" monkey and is always "surprised" by attacks. It's a reactive system. I believe Tall is the "strongest" monkey (though that honor might go to stone) Drunken is, well, drunken. Also make sure NOT to mistake monkey for ape or gorilla which are separate systems/subsystems in their own right. - Matt
When I first entered my Kwoon, I had wanted to learn something unique from the 5 animals. My Sifu offered to teach me Monkey Fist for awhile and the training was HARD AS HELL (but I've kept the flexibility before eventually switching to Dragon). Funny thing is, with Tai Shing Pek Kwar, it just fell right in place along with the original five animals. Small- self explanitory; is the most agile style and more than often is involved in groundfighting (not grappling), tackling manuevers and uses the opponent's body to run up on/stand on. High pitched screams and shooting back n' forth in fighting range, whilst slapping the ground chaotically go along with it. Believe me, with enough training, it WORKS. Tall- long ranged fist; slightly similar to Small, but uses takedowns and long ranged attacks. Lost- the most peculiar and fun of the five; the persona is to feign as if you're lost. Picking bugs out of your hair, looking around everywhere BUT where your opponent is standing and just generally not giving a damn for what they're doing. Once they're puzzled enough, attacking violently and quickly is in order and then back to acting like you're lost. Very confusing, frustrating and unnerving. Stone- more like a gorilla, Stone Monkey usually absorbs the attacks of the opponent and much like Tiger, drives the enemy into the ground with setups and attacks akin to a spike. Very brutish, rude and strength based. Drunken- an unorthodox (though none of the others are orthodox anyhow) mish-mash of the other 4, only with concepts of Joy Kune as the basis. Also agile and with it's own personality, very annoying, until a random blow occurs with a seemingly overly drunk monkey. The fist incorporates a hand movement (Pek Kwar), the Axe Fist. Used mostly for ripping at vital areas. Also, the Monkey's Claw is used for ripping/scratching and for some Chin Na movements.....that is, if the practitioner stays still enough to apply. Monkey Fist also has weapons training and in my opinion, the best staff work in all of martial arts. The most effective, the most adaptive, the most creative and extremely powerful. It's the primary weapon, also referencing from the "Journey to the West" Chinese Folk tales of Son Wu Kong and his magical staff. Monkey Fist also uses a Willow Leaf Broadsword and the Chain Whip. Best master around, in my opinion: Paulie Zink Paulie Zink info link
You know there are so many different (and weird, I might add) styles of Kung Fu around that it just makes me want to learn all of them. I mean, I'm starting White Crane (which is pretty rare in America, if you think about it), but I still feel like I if I had to choose to learn between Monkey, Dog, Dragon, Tiger, Eagle Claw, Drunken, etc, I still wouldn't be able to. There's so much variety and so many of the styles seem so interesting. Does anyone else agree with me or am I the only one that feels this way?
Based on Shen's break out, what I've understood to be "Wood" Monkey fits under "small" monkey. I think both may be applicable names as the two seem to fall under the five phase theory (wood) and one fits uner the "tall"/"small" dichotomy. Regardless, monkey is fun. - Matt
Our Sifu does a Monkey Form. Most of the horses in that form are pretty much in every kung fu system. I'd name them if I could. Sorry
I' ve got a book in my hands called "the complete guide to kung fu fighting styles" & it states That a mad man called Kao tze was locked in jail for whatever reason. But he noticed that the one of the exits was guarded by angry monkeys, and when ever a prisoner tried to escape by this path the monkeys would savge them and the prisoners recollected. Kao tze noticed that each monkey had its own style which made it impossible to defend against the group. He was so impressed that he broke the styles down to five basics and when his prison term ended he developed the tai sing form of kung fu. Monkey form. Maybe look up a bloke called Chan sun chung apparently he's the monkey king of hong kong. Hope I helped.
Yeah, I've read the same story over the years. The Fist itself is extremely unorthodox, but I've found it to be very effective as well. The training is hard is HELL, just to let you all know.
Thats a great story! My association used to teach Monkey as one of its main styles but it isn't practiced as much any more. Theres so much to learn and the physical conditioning and co-ordination required def make it a style for advanced students only! The only thing I've seen is the staff form which was superb and included the guy balancing on the top of the staff for a second! Great stuff. Would I be right in saying its primerally a style for people with a smaller build? Its focus on speed and agility would perhaps seem to suggest this and the people at my school who have trained in it are all fairly slightly built.
If Paulie Zink is the best you've seen, then you really haven't seen much!!! Zink is a fraud when it comes to his Tai Shing Pek Kwar (Monkey Style), and if you know anything about kung fu and applications, it's plain to see. While he is very flexiable, his Monkey applications are pretty much flawed. Here's a short clip of one of my old sifu doing a southern monkey form, it's not Tai Shing Pek Kwar. It's from Sung Style Southern LongfistSouthern Monkey jeff
