EVOLUTION

 by Phillip Starr

Sifu Yang Hai, a highly skilled and respected teacher of the internal styles of China, made statement regarding the art of of baguazhang, which might surprise some of you; he said that “Bagua is a developing art, even today...” That is, bagua as a style of martial art has not yet fully evolved.

Bagua is a very young art, in so far as martial art stylees go. It was created by Dong Haiquan in the mid 19^th century, so it's less than two hundred years old at this time! Does this necessarily infer that styles younger than three hundred years or more are also still developing? This could be taken to mean that arts such as judo, aikido, and several styles of karate (taekwondo included) are still evolving.

That said, I think that some arts – those whose leaders have directed them at becoming popular sports – have unknowingly retarded their evolution. Too many of their instructors and students have become interested only in winning competitions rather than carefully studying and striving to improve their arts for the art's sake.

I'm not suggesting that instructors or students everywhere should start changing the art they practice. Changes in training methodology and so forth should be made by the headmasters of a given style. After all, it is they who are (supposed to be) the most knowledgeable about the art they practice and teach.