What Are Wing Chun’s Core Principles?

June 9, 2022 by lvshaolin

What are Wing Chun’s Core Principles?

1.) Attack along the center line - defend your own center line

The centerline is a straight line drawn from the center of the Wing Chun student to the center of their opponent's body. An imaginary line running down the middle of the body called the center line is the basis of Wing Chun fighting theory. The path of the center line is determined by crossing the wrists while extending the arms first down then up this movement is found at the beginning of all three Wing Chun forms.

All of Wing Chun's offensive techniques, in particular, the straight punch (Chung Choi) which is the style's major weapon begin from the center line. Attacking either to the left or right of his center line your force will be dissipated and not cause major damage to the opponent.

Furthermore, most of the body's vital organs are located along a vertical line that runs down the center of the body. For example, targets such as the throat, solar plexus, and groin are all located along the center line of the body.

Defensively Wing Chun stresses the instinctive protection of one’s own center line.

Wing Chun uses a tight on-guard arm position. Many Chinese martial arts use body parts as units of measure to keep techniques consistent among practitioners. In this case, Wing Chun will use the width of your own fist to determine the position of your arms in the on-guard position. The elbow of your lead arm is always a fist distance from the center line never is the elbow out since you are left exposed.

There are 10 core principles that define Wing Chun Kung Fu.

1
Attack along the center line, defend your own center line.
2
Use economy of motion to compact and speed up both blocks and strikes
3
Simultaneously attack your opponent while defending incoming strikes
4
Use tactile sensitivity to feel where your opponent will move next
5
.Eliminate decision-making and instead rely on trained reactions.
6
Use structural skeletal alignment to generate power rather than muscular strength.
7
Immobilize your opponent's weapons by trapping and tying up their arms.
8
Adaptation and flow - have the ability to launch a variety of attacks.
9
Forward Intention - Seek to pressure your opponent to create openings.
10
Simplicity - Simple techniques tend to work in real world self-defense.

2.) Use economy of motion to compact and speed up both blocks and strikes.

Wing Chun has a scientific approach to combat. The theory of economy of motion or conservation of energy states that strikes down the center line are faster than strikes that curve or deviate from the center line as it has less distance to travel. This is both the shortest and most direct path along which to attack.

Wing Chun punching is always direct since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Your fist originates at your center line and is delivered directly to his center line in general your opponent's nose is the target.

In fact, all techniques are designed to be structurally faster than other fighting methods as well as more efficient. Regardless of whether it is a block or a strike this fact remains true: the smaller the movement is the quicker the movement is. Wing Chun will distill all movements into moving the least amount possible to achieve the desired result.

In many instances, when the attacking hand fails to reach its intended target, it draws backward minimally. Instead of drawing back and resetting your guard the Wing Chun practitioner will stay fluid and use their extended hand position to create a new opening or hand immobilization opportunity.

3.) Simultaneously attack your opponent while defending incoming strikes.

Wing Chun is structurally faster than many other styles of martial arts because it employs simultaneous offense and defense. Blocking and striking are not separated into two separate motions. Wing Chun attacks use deflection and counterattack all within the same movement.

Wing Chun's defensive system trains you to move your arms in unison both defending incoming strikes while simultaneously striking yourself. This is referred to as intercepting an attack. Punches themselves can effectively become blocks

4.) Use tactile sensitivity to feel where your opponent will move next.

Wing Chun uses soft techniques to overcome hard strikes. It's designed to fight against someone who is bigger and stronger than you. If you were to try and use your muscles to resist an incoming force, your become tense and cannot initiate an attack until you relax. Therefore, Wing Chun likes to keep the muscles in a relaxed state at all times.

The more relaxed you are while fighting, the better you will be able to fight. The more relaxed you are the faster you can react to threats.

The practice of Sticky Hands (Chi Sau) is unique to the style of Wing Chun Kung fu. Chi Sau is the drill for developing tactile sensitivity. Tactile sensitivity is the ability to feel what your opponent's movements are through a physical connection (touching your opponent's arms)

Wing Chun ultimately seeks to be a close-quarter fighting system. It stays in a pocket that is relatively closer to the opponent than other systems of self-defense. Therefore, a Wing Chun practitioner intentionally puts himself in a potentially dangerous range.

This only makes sense if the Wing Chun student has an advantage at this range. So how does Wing Chun stay safe in this pocket?

Wing Chun will use “sticky energy” to feel where the opponent will move next. This need to stay safe while staying in the pocket is trained by performing a drill unique to Wing Chun called “Chi Sau”

This drill can best be described as two people who keep their forearms attached (sticking) to each other while simultaneously trying to strike and not get hit. The goal is to control your opponent by creating different shapes using your forearms to prevent your opponent from freely striking at you, then you can counter accordingly. It is a semi-competitive drill intended to increase your awareness and sensitivity to movements and intentions. Skillful Chi Sau students can even force the opponent to attack the way in which you want them to attack.

Eventually, you will learn to both predict where attacks are coming from next and then nullify that attack just through feeling, without the use of vision. The most impressive iteration of this drill is when both practitioners perform it while blindfolded.

5.) Eliminate decision-making and instead rely on trained reactions

Can you imagine having to decide whether to block a punch with your left hand or your right hand in the very instance a punch is thrown at you? Now, let’s make it even more complex by deciding what block to do if the opponent throws a left punch or a right. Now, let’s add even more complexity to our decision making by assuming the opponent may also kick.

In real world self defense it is almost impossible to think clearly. Relying on your brain to make decisions in real-time is a recipe for failure. What you really need is a way for you to fight without thinking. You need a system that allows you to just “react”.

Everyone has an instinctual response to threats. Some people will duck down, others will flinch, while others still might scream.

The goal of Wing Chun Kung Fu is to replace these instinctual responses with conditioned or trained responses. A correct response to the threat is a technique that is the best choice to counter the threat.

This trained response is a learned response, taught specifically to optimally defend against a given attack.

Reaction time when fighting is instantaneous compared to decision making. The ideal situation would be one in which you perform without thought. A situation where you just acted and defended yourself successfully.

There is only one way to accomplish this. It is through extreme numbers of continuous repetition. You need to drill correctly responding to threats with the best counter technique thousands and thousands of times.

With repetitive training, all of your Wing Chun techniques will eventually become second nature.

6.) Use structural skeletal alignment to generate power rather than muscular strength.

Wing Chun emphasizes technique over brute force. Therefore, Wing Chun employs shifting at angles to allow your body to rotate on its center line axis. This gives you the ability to deflect or redirect force to the side.

Shifting also creates various angles for attacking. Attacking at angles allows you to penetrate an opponent's defenses easily. Shifting at angles also increases your reach, and increase your punching power. This kind of rotational power is found in almost all martial arts. Tremendous force is generated from a sudden torquing of the waist and hips.

When attacking, Wing Chun does not telegraph its strikes. Of course, winding up before striking gives you power but also gives away your intent. Any kind of wind-up can be seen by your opponent and therefore more easily countered. So the idea is for you to not wind up at all.

So, Wing Chun tries to generate punching power through skeletal alignment. What this means is that there is a connection between the striking object (your fist) and the ground that you stand on. Imagine someone standing in front of you. Throw a punch and hold it there. Now have your friend push your fist toward you. If you have skeletal alignment you will not budge. Your Skelton will be able to hold back their push without you having to exert muscular strength.

Now if you have a solidity to your stance any punch you throw will incorporate that stability and transform it into power or force.

Of course, it takes a good understanding of how to apply skeletal structure in order to make these movements deliver strong shocking power in such a short distance.

Bruce Lee was famous for many things but his one-inch punch was legendary. He would hit his opponent through some kind of pad or even a phone book, from just one inch away. Almost everyone went flying backward and fell to their backs

7.) Immobilize your opponent's weapons by trapping and tying up their arms.

Trapping is the most unique aspect of the art of Wing Chun.

Trapping in Wing Chun is where you use your blocks and striking techniques to set up a situation in which your opponent is vulnerable to grabbing, pinning, or immobilizing their arms. This allows you to gain control and prevent him from attacking. The ability to cross over your opponent's arms is essential to learning this style.

Trapping takes a high degree of skill since you are manipulating the arms of the person attacking you.

The first techniques you learn in Wing Chun trapping are Lop Sau (pulling hand) and Pak Sau (slapping hand)

8.) Adaptation and flow - have the ability to launch a variety of attacks.

Wing Chun in ancient times would have been tested against other forms of Kung Fu. Today it is mostly tested against MMA and Boxing. There is no way for you to know the skills of the person who is randomly attacking or mugging you. So, Wing Chun needs to be adaptable.

Wing Chun treats all threats similarly. In other words, there are a finite number of ways someone can attack you. Once you have dealt with that initial threat, Wing Chun has many follow-ups that flow seamlessly from one target to another.

9.) Forward Intention

If the way is clear move forward. In Wing Chun, there is constant forward pressure. The reason for this is to both off-balance the opponent and pressure them so as to create openings in their defense.

Wing Chun hand techniques are delivered in a bursting series of straight rapid-fire attacks. This keeps your opponent too defensively minded to launch their own offensive. If you are constantly blocking you are doing Wing Chun wrong.

Putting your opponent on defense is a sure-fire strategy to win most fights.

10.) Simplicity

The most important principle in Wing Chun Kung Fu is the idea of simplicity. This is the idea that complex movements and techniques are both inefficient and impractical. Thus, there are no movements within the system of Wing Chun that are complicated and flowery. Every strike, every block is reduced to its simplest form. Through continuous training, these economic movements will come naturally like a reflex.

If any movement feels unnatural to perform then you will not be able to execute it under pressure. The less complicated the technique the easier it is to learn and execute.

Wing Chun is not a system that should take 20 years to learn. In most cases, someone can develop real skills in Wing Chun in just a few years. This is meant by design. Real self-defense means being ready to fight quickly. Any system that takes 20 years to get proficient in is a useless system because the average person will never be able to define themselves when they need to.

Does Kung Fu Have Power?

June 7, 2022 by lvshaolin

Does Kung Fu Have Power?

Yes, Kung Fu has extremely powerful striking techniques. Kung Fu uses 3 concepts to generate power: first, punches must have velocity or speed, second, striking past the intended target or follow through, and third, aligning the your skeletal structure so that no force is lost.

There are few things as intimidating as a true power puncher. This is the fighter that seemingly has the inhuman ability to put down their opponent with just a single punch.

Is it something that you're born with? Or is this something that can be learned and cultivated with training?

So often when people think about improving their speed and power and explosiveness they'll be looking at quite surface-level things in order to improve so they will look at things like exercises or strengthening techniques to work on the individual muscles of the body.

Often students will ask me “How do I you know get my hands faster” or “How do I become more explosive”. I often tell them the same thing, which is before you even start to think about that stuff you need ensure that your technique is perfected. Think about it, adding extra strength and power onto poor technique is essentially like building a house upon shaky foundations.

Three Principles Of Power

Imagine if you had a car that was to come at you for a low speed like five kilometers an hour and it were to hit you the impact it wouldn't be that great even though the car is very big. You would be unharmed probably.

However if the same car came at you at 100 kilometers an hour you would be pulverized.

I want you to think about your fist as the car.

Let's start with some basic physics now i am far from a physicist not even close. Anyway, a couple of hundred years ago this guy named Sir Isaac Newton came up with the second law of motion. It basically means that the momentum of an object is that the acceleration that is it's proportional to the forces that is applied to it.

So obviously you would want to apply quite a bit of force to whatever object you are striking with. For example if you are going to punch someone in the face you need to apply force to your fist using your shoulder muscles, your arm muscles and your back muscles.

1.Your hand speed can be developed.

What if I told you that there is a specific kind of muscles that are capable of applying more force and generate more velocity for all of your striking?

This type of muscle is know as fast twitch fibers. Imagine two athletes. One of them is a marathon runner, the other is a NFL receiver. Both atheltes train in running however, if you were to compare the types of muscle fibers found in their legs you would find very different kinds of tissues.

This is because of their methods of training. One is training for endurance while the other is training for explosiveness.

For the art of Kung Fu you want the explosive type of muscle fibers.

What does this mean? In reality, if you want to increase your speed and explosiveness, heavy weight training is the opposite of what you want to do.

To develop speed it is much better to shadowbox with no weights in your hands. I’m talking about thousands of reps by the way. This way your muscles are able to snap. Your muscles get used to moving a high speeds.

The Towel Concept

When I was younger I would we a towel then twist it up so that it would essentially become a bullwhip. I would then go around torturing my younger brother by whipping him on his butt. Don’t worry he has since forgiven me.

But what I want you to imagine is that your striking is like the towel whip. Your arm and limbs move in sections rather then as a whole. Image the towel vs. the stick. The towel is flexible and the stick is rigid.

Striking in Kung Fu is much more like the towel than the stick.

Isn't that weird? Something so soft and weak like a towel, can actually hurt somebody, which is why many of the old masters said that, even if you're frail or small or weak, you can overcome a bigger opponent by understanding the bio mechanics of power generation.

And the key of course is relaxation. The secret, is to use your body like a towel, like a whip, or a chain, by dropping your center of gravity through intramuscular relaxation, and then using the ground reaction force accelerating that through your "hips and your center, and then letting your fist or your leg shoot out into a punch, or strike, or kick, or whatever you do.

2. Follow Through Or Striking Past the Intended Target

For you to cause damage to a target you need to move your body weight into that target. I real life self defense you need to finish off an opponent as fast as possible. Remember, his buddy could be right sound the corner with a baseball bat ready to hit you in the back of your head.

So if youcan move your body weight through the target then you have a much better chance at finishing the fight quickly. You want to move into and through the attacker. A good rule of thumb to see if you are moving through an attacker is to see where you are in relation to where you started.

Here’s what I mean, imagine yourself and your attacker standing on marks on the floor. After striking your opponent you should now be standing on his mark. He should be off of his mark hopefully thrown backward by the force of your attack.

In other words taking up the space he formerly occupied. Keep moving forward until that guy's incapacitated or unconscious.

Following through on your strikes gives you much more power because you are utilizing momentum to your advantage. The average person relies on strength alone to generate power, while the Kung Fu practioionner relies on momentum for power.

3. Structural Alignment Of Your Skeleton

This concept can also bve called kinetic linking. In the Chinese martial arts their is a concept know as grounding or rooting. This is where your stance has a solidity about it, where it is as if you were literally connected to the ground. Imagine if your feet grew tree like roots into the ground evertime you initiated a strike. Your power would literally double. This is because your power doesn’t “leak” out.

Often times your power is killed by some part of your body being out of alignment. Imagine this as leaning backward while trying to throw a punch. Even if you had very fast punches, you would not be able to generate any kind of power.

A good way to illustrate this structural alignment ins to stand perpendicular to a solid wll in your house. Get in close enough so the you can place your palm against the wall. Now push really hard against the wall. Hold this push while lifting one of your feet in to air.

You will definitely feel the alignment of your skeleton pushing against the wall while having to use very little physical strength.

If you could align yor skelton at the perfect time in a fight, every one of your strike would have devastating power. Remember you only have to align yourself for a split second at the end of each punch.

So what does all of this tell us? Basically, you need to use our whole body mass to generate power. Mass pluss velocity will increase the impact of your striking.

Kung Fu vs Other Styles

So what separates Kung Fu from other styles? The answer is: nothing. Kung Fu and boxing use the same concepts for generating power. Muay Thai uses the same concepts. Every style that has any significant striking techniques will generate power in the same way. The concepts are universal.

Kung Fu can have devastating power in it’s striking techniques if performed correctly. The key is to relax and not tense up. Use your entire body to hit rather than just arm strength and you can have this type of power too.

Can I teach myself martial arts?

June 6, 2022 by lvshaolin

Can I teach myself martial arts?

Yes, you can absolutely teach yourself martial arts at home.

However, how well you can learn from books and youtube will depend on your innate abilities. For example, your ability to grasp abstract concepts, your awareness of details, your ability to memorize, and your experience level all play a role in how much you can learn without an actual teacher.

Someone who practiced some form of physical activity like baseball or soccer will have a much easier time learning a technique from a video than a total beginner.

That being said start somewhere, anywhere. When you get to the point in life where you can find a qualified instructor, that's the best way to go, but in the meantime start training now and you will be way ahead when you start training in an actual class

Step 1. Use A Mirror And Video To Self Correct.

You can learn a lot from books - footwork, the basic guards and attacks are already a hell lot and will occupy you years to master. To self train requires a lot of discipline and more importantly self criticism.

The biggest problem is training on your own is, that you don't get feedback from an instructor, right? So you have to kind of learn how to self-correct. The first thing you can do is: practice in front of the mirror.

A large mirror's a great way to start. Don't be delusional. Actually look in the mirror, examine your stance, and look at your elbow. Is it in the correct position? Look at your weight distribution is it where it needs to be? Look at your knees. Are they bent enough?

I also think that people should use their phones to film themselves from different angles. That way if they are using videos or books they can compare how they are moving to the teaching materials they are using.

Phones are actually way more useful than a mirror for correcting details. They allow you to see yourself form a familiar angle, without having to simultaneously perform the move.

I would say that even people who have schools that they are attending should make videotaping themselves a part of their training routine. It would benefit them as much as it would a person who has no instructor.

If I could get my students to do this, I know they would increase their rate of progress by at least 300%

Step 2. Use Equipment to Further Your Training.

Do something with something. Train with an object, a thing. What kind of thing? It could be nunchucks, a knife, rubber tubing, exercise bands, a ball, a heavy bag, a stick, a jump rope, or a pair of dumbbells. Whatever. Really, you can train with anything. Just remember the bigger picture.

The idea is to enhance your attributes. Attributes are things like balance, rhythm, strength, speed, endurance, and coordination. These are things that will help you execute simple techniques at a high level.

I wonder how many martial artists ever cared to consider the benefits of learning things like juggling, writing / drawing with the non-dominant hand, archery, driving a stick shift, and things of that nature.

Even in mundane tasks, like opening the door, or eating with a fork, we can choose to try it with our non dominant hand. Optionally, you can choose activities that make you synchronize your hands together. But how many martial artists would look at something like juggling and think “that’s hard training for martial arts!”

If it’s difficult physically, I say train it!

So, if you’re training alone and want to make the most of your solo practice time, do something with something. Then when you hopefully get the chance to practice with another human being, you’ll have some experience managing the resistance and controlling the pressure caused by something outside of yourself.

For me at least, challenging myself is what martial arts have always been about.

Step 3. Find Someone To Train With.

First I have massive respect for your dedication, you'll train by yourself if you can't train with others. However, let me give you one cold, hard fact. Fact—you will never be a GREAT martial artist if you only train alone. It’s impossible. There is simply no substitute for a live training partner. Your cat doesn’t count.

There are two goals in martial arts training—the first goal is to control yourself, and the second goal is to control somebody else, specifically a bad guy who is out of control. If you’re training solo, you can go a long way towards that first goal. You can develop your speed, strength, flexibility, coordination, your stamina, and you can do it in a million different ways. You can do calisthenics, plyometrics, isometrics, forms, shadow boxing, visualization, meditation, and videos— all good.

But ultimately, my friend, martial arts is about relationships. It’s about relating to another human being, In particular someone who is trying to hurt you. A human being who wants the opposite of what you want, and is fighting hard to get it. Learning to manage a person like that is the second goal of martial arts training. And to achieve that goal, you will always need another person.

It’s not too different from playing a multiplayer game in single-player mode sure you have practiced and learned but eventually, you need to compete with others to see how effective you really are you need to test yourself.

You can learn to fight without a partner. However, it's extremely likely you will fail at first You haven't learned to measure distance or actually strike another human being. You will look like an idiot but keep in mind, that you will likely perform better than someone without any training would. Remember, the only thing worse than training martial arts by yourself is NOT training in martial arts AT ALL.

Of course, it's a much better idea to train with multiple partners, The more partners you can get the better.

Look up “partner training drills” on youtube. Every style, Karate, Wing Chun, Boxing , Kali, Judo and Jujitsu has partner drills, ranging from the very simple to very complex.

First, get your partner to attack at 50% speed while you only defend, then gradually step up the tempo, then reverse the roles.

Train at home but try to find an actual school if possible.

Thanks to youtube, I think it's easier than ever to self teach yourself martial arts. With youtube, we can substitute a coach for video instruction, thus leaving only the sparring and competition aspects of martial arts training.

When you think about it, the people who created martial arts styles in ancient times, had to try techniques to see what would work and what wouldn't. Generations down the line, those techniques would be refined and improved, and added upon, but during the early developmental stages of creating fighting systems, someone had to apply and use these techniques before passing them on to others. So, if possible learning from established traditions will cut down on your learning curve.

The question of whether you can learn martial arts at home has been definitively answered in the mid to late 90s and early 2000s after the explosion of interest in grappling arts, specifically Brazillian Jujitsu after the very first few Ultimate Fighting Championships.

At this time, qualified and experienced BJJ instructors were very few and far between, which meant that the primary resource for those interested in BJJ, grappling and MMA were videotapes and books.

There were many isolated groups (many based out of traditional martial arts schools) who were primarily self-taught with supplemental trips to seminars from legitimate instructors a few times a year, often for years.

The results were very clear - self-instruction, even with the best training partners and materials can only get you so far. Not only is progress slow, but there is also a point at about the advanced novice level where progress plateaus. The general experience of guys who had practiced for years in isolation was that they would end up getting demolished by beginning blue belts when they stepped into a real school.

First chance you can enroll yourself into an actual school. You won't be in the same situation forever. When you can't access a dojo now, perhaps you can access one later.

Just like anything in life, instruction from an experienced mentor will save years of study and prevent poor techniques. With martial arts, solo drills are important but they will only take you so far. studying the literature and videos are actually beneficial to everyone no matter what your method of training and learning is.

No Mind

Obviously, if you are reading this article you think that knowing self-defense is useful. However, Self defense techniques are useless unless you can do them under stress, right? The real test is always how you will react when you have to actually use it. In real life when you need to use your techniques, there is no time to think.

Instead, you want to not think. You want to just react. You want to flow.

You are then just reacting, you are using something known as No Mind or Wuxin.

Mushin (mental state) 'Mushin' in Japanese and 'Wuxin' in Chinese (無心 "no mind") is a mental state.

Sometimes when I talk to people about this I mention driving. Remember when you first learned you were checking this and that but now after so many years you are just doing it without any direct thought of what you do next. That's how Mushin or “no mind” is experienced. Your techniques have a flow to them. It's almost like a dance when it actually comes out.

Time To Get Started

If you start with a good foundation, you can keep building from it. That is what we do when we stand on the shoulders of giants that came before us and when we listen to the people that have used and trained their arts. The beauty of the internet is that it gives us data, to see what works and what doesn't.

Now get out there and train.

Who was the founder of Danzan Ryu Jujitsu?

June 3, 2022 by lvshaolin

The founder of Danzan Ryu Jujtisu was a man named Professor Seishiro “Henry” Okazaki.

Okazaki was one of the most famous and influential martial artists in the world. His system, Danzan Ryu Jiujitsu is one of the most widely taught martial arts styles in the country today.

Okazaki named his school Danzan Ryu in gratitude to Master Wo Chung, a Chinese Kung Fu stylist who also broke tradition by teaching him the Chinese arts.

His Chinese teacher called the Hawaian Islands T'an Shan; or in Japanese, Dan Zan, . This translate to "sandalwood mountain". Hence the term Danzan-Ryu means Sandalwood Mountain School.

Professor Okazaki's influence flourished throughout the Hawaiian Islands, producing many Black belt instructors who eventually moved to the mainland to open their own schools.

Seishiro "Henry" Okazaki

Okazaki was a Japanese man born in Kakeda, Japan in the prefecture of Fukushima, on January 28th, 1890. He emigrated from Japan to Hawaii in 1906 at the age of 16.

For those of you who don't know, Japan at this time was going through a reform and a transition. Many farmers and peasants moved away from traditional lifestyles to work in modern industries.

At the turn of the century from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, there was a diaspora of the Japanese population. Many Japanese were emigrating to the West in search of a better life.

At the age of 19, Okazaki was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which is a very tough disease and it can be deadly, especially at this time in history.

Professor Okazaki decided to take his fate into his own hands and tried to cure his ailment through training in martial arts.

Under the directions and tutelage of Master Yoshimatsu (Kichimatsu) Tanaka he started his training in Judo. He took to martial arts training and found himself obsessed with getting more proficient. He practiced every day and soon found that his devotion started paying off.

Building up his cardio through hard training, he was able to make a full recovery from the illness. Thereafter, he vowed to spread the art and dedicated his life to teaching both jujitsu and judo.

He once said,”I am now the owner of a body as if made of iron."

I personally believe that these martial arts are very important because they increase your endurance. When I was growing up I had severe asthma attacks. Whenever I would have these attacks, I would just stay home from school because whenever I would breathe my lungs would emit a whistling sound which was very embarrassing for me. Of course, tuberculosis is far more serious and more difficult in breathing than asthma is.

In 1924 Professor Okazaki decided to return to Japan to further his studies of Jujitsu and Judo. He traveled extensively during this trip and visited and trained in over 50 different Dojos. One of the most famous was the Dojo of Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo itself. It was during this visit that he was awarded 3rd-degree black belt by Kano himself.

Danzan Ryu Jujitsu

It was said that he collected six hundred and seventy-five techniques from the various masters. Okazaki eventually returned to Hawaii, where he took all of his experience and knowledge and used them to create a new style of martial arts known as Danzan Ryu Jujitsu.

However, Danzan Ryu was not just made up of self-defense techniques from Japanese martial arts. You see, Professor Okazaki was a lifelong martial artist with an open mind toward other systems of martial arts. You could say that he was a pioneer of what is now known as MMA.

He studied Filipino Escrima, Chinese Kung Fu, and the native martial art of Hawaii known as Lua.

This eclectic style of fighting is what Okazaki is most famous for and is what separates Danzan Ryu from more ancient styles of Jujitsu.

In 1929, Professor Okazaki established the first Jujitsu school in Hawaii, which he named Kodenkan, which translates to “The School of the Ancient Tradition,” This school later became known as the American Jujitsu Institute of Hawaii, which is still in existence today.

There Are 13 Parts To This System Of Martial Arts:

Ukemi (falls)Yawara (hand arts)Nage No Kata (throwing forms);
Shime No Kata (mat arts; Oku No Kata (combination arts/deep arts);
Kiai No Maki (scroll of the kiai),
Fujin Goshin No Maki (women's self-defense scrolls);
Keisatsu (police arts);
Shinnin No Maki (spirit man scroll);
Shinyo No Maki (yang spirit scroll);
Shingen No Maki (original spirit scroll);
Kappo (resuscitation techniques) and
Seifukujutsu (adjustment and restoration techniques)

The ultimate goal of Danzan Ryu training is to perfect your physical, and mental attributes. This builds your character and allows you to integrate your mind body and spirit into alignment.

Danzan Ryu Jujitsu is a system of martial arts that captures the essence of traditional Japanese Budo (warrior skills) and delivers it with the warmth and power of Hawaiian culture. It incorporates physical and mental training in self-defense as well as healing arts for everyone.

The Thirteen Monks (A Chinese Fable)

March 13, 2022 by lvshaolin Leave a Comment

There was once a general named Wang Shih-ch’ung who wanted to rule China. When the Sui dynasty collapsed, he saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When the first T’ang emperor struggled to exert his power to control the empire, General Wang captured Luoyang, in the Henan Province. He built up a conscripted army, and used forced labor to construct a walled outpost in Luoyang. Luoyang was already surrounded by a massive wall, so this compound was a fort within a fort. General Wang’s influence grew when his troops were able to capture a T’ang prince called Li Shih-Min.

There were thirteen monks working the fields at the Shaolin temple on the outskirts of the city at the time. When they heard about Li Shih-Min’s capture, they wanted to rescue him.

The monks, disguised as wood carriers, arrived at the city gates. However, they couldn’t get through the crowd. A monk named Chi Shou pretended to fall over and dropped his bundle of wood. He quickly struck the vital points of some of the people in the crowd, and they fell down unconscious. This let the thirteen monks slip through the gates.

The monks were able to make their way through the city to the General’s compound in the darkness. The monks removed their heavy equipment (which were weights all around their body). They removed these weights from their wrists, chests, and ankles and scaled the wall easily. They jumped from the top of the wall into the compound quietly.

The monks snuck into the heavily guarded prison gates. They couldn’t move past them stealthily, so they attacked the guards. They used different techniques like Wild Tiger Leaps the Ravine and Golden Hook Hangs on the Wall to beat them. A monk named Shan Hu then went to steal horses, while the others went to release the T’ang prince.

Li Shih-Min was found imprisoned with a heavy cangue. The monks opened his cell and released him from the cangue. They then met up with Shan Hu.

While he was stealing horses, Shan Hu learned that the general was out on a raid, leaving his nephew and heir Wang Ren-Tse in charge of the city. The five monks Shan Hu, T’an Tsung, Shan Hui, Tao Kwang, and Ming Yueh all decided to give General Wang Shih-Ch’ung a taste of his own medicine and decided to kidnap the young heir who was celebrating Li Shih-Min’s capture. Chi Ts’ao and the rest of the monks along with the prince went out to Luoyang Bridge.

The five monks began to search the city, looking for the heir’s banquet. They found a private home suspiciously surrounded by soldiers, so the monks decided to eavesdrop on them. By fate, they turned out to be Wang Ren-Tse’s personal guard. Wang Ren-Tse was inside rapping a woman he fancied on the way to the banquet hall. The monks attacked the soldiers and easily beat them with techniques like Sparrow Hawk Spins in the Air, and Thunder Good Flies Across the Heavens.

The woman’s scream filled the house, so the monks rushed in. They started searching the house room by room.

By the time T’an Tsung found him, Wang Ren-Tse was already finished with his victim and waiting for them. Wang Ren-Tse blew out the lamp and drew his sword. The two men fought in the darkness. T’an Tsung tried to fend him off with his Shaolin techniques, but Wang was also a very skilled swordsman. T’an Tsung would not be able to fight him off without a weapon. The monk bumped into a jar of pickled vegetables from a shelf during the fight, and hurled the jar at Wang with the White Snake Flicks Its Tongue. The enemy dropped his sword and slumped on the floor.

Dragging the unconscious Wang Ren-Tse, the five monks met up with their companions at Luoyang Bridge. The thirteen monks and Prince Li-Shih-Min rode the stolen horses out of the city.

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