by Yang Shuangxing
The “audience”; in this case, observers of various martial arts demonstrations, competitions, and even (Chinese) opera, and street performers, have had a rather profound impact on the evolution (or de-evolution, depending on how you look at it) of our current martial arts. Let me explain:
Just after WWII, interest in the martial arts in Japan suffered terribly. The people, who were suffering unimaginable hardships because of the war laid the blame for the whole thing at the feet of bushido – the warrior's “code”, which the leaders (who had led the nation into war in the first place) had twisted and warped to suit their ambitions. Enrollment in martial arts classes hit an all-time low, but within a few years, judo began to recover. Many martial arts leaders of the time figured that this was due to judo's emphasis on its sporting aspect (and personally, I think they were correct). Kendo began to emphasize a sporting front as well. The karate leaders, fearing or the survival of their art, looked for ways to conduct competitions that would draw large crowds.
This led to
various changes being made to some of the kata – it was an attempt (and a very
successful one) to make the older, traditional Okinawan kata more exciting to
watch; this would lead to larger audiences and hopefully, increases in
erollment. The use of side snap kicks
(which, so far as I know, do not exist in traditional Okinawan karate) replaced
front kicks in many kata. Side kicks are
very infrequent in older Okinawan kata and when they are used, they utilize a
side-thrust kick that rarely, if ever, travels higher than the knee. Front kicks never go higher than the waist.
The roundhouse
kick never appears in traditional Okinawan kata. First, it was (and still is) felt that such a
movement left the groin too exposed and unprotected...and secondly, the
roundhouse kick as we know it (which is correctly done with the ball of the
foot) didn't exist until the late 1940's!
It was developed by a senior instructor of the Japan Karate Association
for use in sparring competitions, thereby adding a new and very exciting
element to the mix. A roundhouse kick of
sorts (going by various names, such as the “cutting kick”) were used in some
Chinese styles (but never seen in their forms) and Muay-Thai, but it was and
still is, performed differently and makes contact with the top of the instep
and/or shin...and if you've ever kicked a jaw or elbow with the top of your
foot, you can see why the ball of the foot was preferred by the Japanese. Kicking with the ball of foot is also much
more destructive to the target!
When foot-pads
and foam padded mitts were introduced into karate/taekwondo competitions back
in the early 1970's, I warned against what would happen...cometitors quickly
saw that they could easily kick with the top of the foot (or even the toes) and
gain a quick point because the pad extended their reach quite a bit and before
long, that's how most schools began to teach the roundhouse kick – so much so
that nowadays, the original version (using the ball of the foot) has been
almost completely forgotten!
The original
taekwondo forms were actually Japanese kata, since the founder and other
leaders of taekwondo had studied karate in Japan (most of them did so while
attending Japanese universities). But
with the passage of time the leaders of taekwondo wanted to further distinguish
their art from the Japanese model and to this end, kicks in many forms became
higher and higher. This made the forms
very exciting to watch; again, this was, in my opinion, done primarily to
increase interest rather than improve upon the form's combative value. And it worked!
China is a bit
of a different story. Whereas karate,
per se, is probably litle more than 400 yrs. Old and taekwondo, per se, didn't
come into its own until the end of the Korean War in 1953, Chinese martial ways
date back thousands of years. To better
understand all of this, we must first look into the subject of Chinese art
(paintings)...
One type,
known as gongbi (工筆, “meticulous”), seeks to render a
picture-perfect replica of the subject, whether it's a flower, tree, or
whatever. The other form of painting is
called xieyi (寫意, freehand style) and it aims at presenting
the essence or spirit of the subject; the observer must utilize his own
imagination as he looks at the painting.
The art of Japanese sumi-e is a perfect example of this. And so it is with many Chinese forms of
gong-fu...
Numerous
gong-fu styles, forms, and movements/postures are named after certain
creatures, from tigers to dragons, chickens, monkeys, the praying mantis, and
so on (even drunkards). Some of them aim
at imitating, as best they can, the movements of the creature for which their
particular style is named. This would be
akin to the gongbi form of painting. It
is my opinion (for whatever it's worth) that such styles imitated animal
movements to a lesser degree back in the day.
But people loved watching performers make some of these movements, particularly
in the opera and street performances, and so – to attract more paying
customers/observers – practitioners began to enhance their forms
considerably. Nowadays, there are
enthusiasts who do their level best to imitate, as realistically as possible,
the animal movements. The wiser ones
know better, however, and their renditions of their forms/movements are
directed more towards practicality than thrilling audiences.
The internal
style (such as taijiquan, xingyiquan, and baguazhang) are closer to the xieyi
form of painting; although they name movements (and in xingyi, even whole
forms) after various animals, they make no attempt to imitate the movements of
the creatures. Rather, they seek to
emulate the essence of their movements...which usually are a far cry from an
accurate imitation. In fact, they regard
accurate, meticulous imitations as incorrect.
