Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone here (which I'm sure there will be) have any information on the differences of various northern mantis styles. I would like to know these differences with respect to training principles, differences in forms (empty hand and weapons, single and partners), philosophy, etc. In particular, I'm interested in Seven star, with comparison of Tai Ji Mantis, and Plum Flower (Mei Hua), as well as Tai Ji Mei Hua Mantis. Any other info would be an appreciated bonus. Thanks in advance, Imperial Guardz
hey you sound like me! I guess you can find some of the differences between Seven Star and Eight Step in the thread down below... its a bit neglected but still there
That sight had some info...but still was too vague to define the differences to me. If anyone has more, it would be appreciated. that thread, on the other hand, was a big debate on the relation of NPM and SPM, then moved on to MMA (just like every other thread)...
yeah I have a site my Shifu directed me to called The Mantis Cave about the lineages of northern style mantis... also my shifu showed me Mantis Quarterly which is more directed at Shifus and teachers but is good for learning some cool things... they are supposed to have quarterly articles and will later expose mantis more to the outside world... oh thanks, but I hoped you at least appreciate the info you could get from it... geez... people people... always pointing out what they feel is bad and not really caring for the good
Mantis Quarterly! Thats run by my kwoon. Its a damn good website regarding everything Tang Lang.. If you don't have an account, open one up
yes, it is very good and on their forums I noticed a few people I have acually heard of... so cool cool, you say your kwoon... can you tell me the name?
hahaha this was the same information posted on a different site...hahaha hahaha, No intentions on hurting anyone's feelings...my apologies if any taken, but a busy man trying to squeeze in alittle time for extra knowledge sometimes becomes to direct and straight to the point. I guess that's only good in sparring...hahaha
cool.... Ah, well sometimes you can be sorta indirect when you spar... no, not my intentions hurt... I'm a busy guy too, and when you busy you react fast to things so you were reacting to the fact the threads weren't exactly what it was about and I was reacting to that, no problem, its all understandable
Visage, the info. on both of those pages is not good. I'm not very knowledgable, but I can get a little more accurate than that. For one thing, Taiji Mantis has nothing to do with Taiji-quan. It is the name people within the Meihua Mantis lineage use for their own lineage. In other words Taiji Mantis=Meihua Mantis. Taiji-Meihua Mantis is a seperate branch of off Meihua, also known as Hao Family Mantis. Guangban (bare board) was supposedly named as such because they would practice on a flat, wet board to work on stability. Liuhe Mantis is the most different of the three major branches, because it developed in a more rural, isolated setting. I think it is softer, with a lot of emphasis on jiben-gong, horizontally circling and x-type arm techniques and a lot of throwing applications. I think the striking is actually kind of similar to Xingyi. I've only just started Meihua/Taiji Mantis, but if I were to compare it to my 7* I'd say it does have somewhat more closed-fist techniques, with a lot of focus on shorter combinations. The Meihua/Taiji Mantis lineage was apparently the first to create "zhaiyao" (summary) forms. The footwork is a little different, like instead of tiger-straddling stance they use the "cold rooster stance." The body seems to be held more erect, gaining reach more by turning the waist side-to-side, while 7* has a significant forward lean. I might venture to say Meihua/Taiji has a more purely "Mantisy" feel while 7* feels a bit more "Longfist"ish, but that might just be the fact that my 7* teacher also does Longfist. Also, 7* is older, so it might be a little closer to its Longfist roots.
I just meant that while 7* Mantis feels a little closer to Longfist, Meihua is a like a little more away from the Longfist elements with heavier emphasis on the Mantis elements. Like somewhat more frequent use of stances like gao dengshan/ruhuan. This was just a gut impression of mine--don't put too much stock in it. You should definitely check out MQ--there's a number of people there who could give much more detailed descriptions of the various branches than I.
It could be just myself, as Mei Hua Tang Lang is the primary Mantis style I have exposure to, but it shares the Internal principles that Tai Chi uses with the External principles that it's Mantis side uses...
haha I'd like to think I understand but I keep having this feeling that I don't totally get it.. probably cause I'm just starting the simple forms like Gongli Quan and not actually doing the Tang Lang Quan yet... so I don't have the personal experience to relate. Thanks guys, I will ask my Shifu... who happens to alos have an account on MantisQuarterly it's so funny... once he talked to me and I realized he had read some of my posts on this forum... I was like "haha you know everything I say!"
All styles of Mantis have internal principles. That doesn't mean they're related to Taiji. Various Mantis lineages have both Buddhist and Daoist systems of qigong associated with them. Also unrelated to Taiji. Yang Luchan is known to be the first person to bring Taiji out of Chen village and into the public eye in Beijing during the 1850s. Liang Xuexiang, considered the pioneer of the Taiji/Meihua lineage was born in 1810 and lived most of his life in Shandong. There's no record of him coming into contact with YLC or Taiji-quan. In other words, Taiji/Meihua Tanglang has nothing to do with Taiji-quan! They're just both named after the same Daoist concept.
