After I had introduced myselfe, I realized that many of you do not know my style of Kung Fu. In order to change that, I can give you some information about it. First of all, I´ve heared that Hung Kuen is comparable to the Hung Gar Kung Fu or nearly the same (but I did not ever see the Hung Gar, so I can´t tell). It is a southern style, which was founded by Si Jo Hung Hay Kwun (thats why it is called Hung Kuen). His style contains 5 animal styles: Dragon (the one I do), Tiger, snake, Leopard and Storch (these two I do not know in English). Additional to that we have several weapon Forms to be learned. I choosed the chinese sword as my weapon. My Sifu went to china to study in a shaolin monastry for a couple of years with the grandmaster Si Tai Gung Yuen Yik Kai. Then he went back to Germany and opened his own privat school. Hope I´ve answered to those who´ve asked
Thanks for the information Jessy So why did you decide to choose the dragon? What are the dragons charactoristics? In the style I do (Seven Star Praying Mantis) we have no choice of animals just the mantis but it suits my body type anyway and is quite adaptable. I have just started to learn the Broadsword is this the type of swoard you are learning? Mmmmm my last question is, where about in Gemany do you live? If you are interested in the art I study then check out my posting in this forum & feel free to ask any questions! Cheers Keef
Hey Keef, well I decided to choose the dragon style because it seems to me as if it would fit best to my type of body and my idea of moving. The dragon symbolises the inner strenth. It extends the ability to clearly see movments (nearly before they are made) and strengthens the ability to concentrate. The Dragon technique is kind of special because it contains aspects of both: Hard and soft style. My "Sihing" (elder student) told me once, that the Seven Star Praying Mantis would be quiet similar to the snake form of of Hung Kuen. I thought of learning this style as well when I begin to study at university. But the presence of (Kung Fu)schools in Germany is not so strong. The Broadsword is very similar to the Chien, but a bit larger. The Chien is a swordtype mainly used in the Tai Chi. After I mastered the singel sword technique I will go over to use one Chien and another Broadsword : ) The region I live in Germany is called Nordrheinwestfalen. It lies in the nordwest of Germany, near to the Dutch border. Cities near my hometown are Kolone, Bonn, Essen. The Area is called the Ruhrgebiet and my hometown is Wesel.
I've heard of that style of kung fu, but don't know much about it, sounds like 5 styles in one? Are some styles hard and some soft? I'd imagine its worth learning all as they'd compliment each other. How long have you been training JessyBlue?
Hey jessey, your english is great, my german is very poor. The dragon sounds similar to the mantis style in the sense that it has both hard & soft. I think similarities can be found in the majority of kung fu styles. I used to live near Munchengladbach (dont know if i have spelt it correct) and have friends in Dusseldorf. I want to visit Köln sometime! Where is the university that you are going to visit? There is a strong hold of mantis in germany if you cant find a kung fu group there of your style. check out www.seven-star.de Keef
Hm, this kind Kung Fu is not nescesarily ment to learn all of the 5 animals but of course they every style has his pros and contras. The snake and the Storch are inner (-soft) styles. Leopard and tiger are hard ones. Dragon - as I told - is both. I´m learning Kung Fu since 13 month, but I visit the school every day, because at the moment I have enough time. Additional to that the school i may visit is a very hard one, so for me it is that I learn much more. Before that I learned 5 years Judo and 1 year selfe defense. So I learn very fast. Hey Keef, I have added you to my buddy list. When I am at home (at the moment I am "working") I will give you my ICQ number. When you are in my region ,and we can arrange it, we will have a sparring next time you come here.
Sounds like you've picked the best style to start off with. Once your happy with it, its probably worth training 1 hard and 1 soft style. They should be very different, but in a way that compliments each other, making you a better all round fighter IMO
Thank you for your advice, that is the way I wanted to choose anyway but it is good to hear a kind of confirmation. Oh and pgm316... greetings to Ikari : )
sounds great. i'm doing Li Gar...one of the other five Gar styles. maybe they are comparable? i would be interested to know.
Know nothing about that, but I think I´ve read that they are kind of familiar. Do you have animal-styles in Li Gar?
