My Stepson and his father take 7 star Praying Mantis Kung Fu. I am a big fan of the Japanese arts, but I am completely ignorant of the different styles of Kung Fu.

My question is, how does Kung Fu, specifically 7 Star Praying Mantis, differ from karate. What are the classes like for Kung Fu students? What are their tournaments like? Does this art have a lineage?

Depends on the particular branch of 7 Star Praying Mantis; some branches have been heavily influenced by the centralised Wushu movement and place emphasis on aesthetic qualities, and modify their forms according to emerging rule sets for competitions. There remain more traditional and pragmatic forms which maintain the older forms and combative emphasis though.

As a Northern syle it is largely influenced by Daoist thought and philosophy, and places emphasis on the development of Gong Fu through the repetition of techniques and Neigong, although the use of conditioning tools is not unheard of.

Although considered a hard style it still leans towards defeating hardness through softness as a broad strategy. In practice it has much in common with systems of karate which incorporate significant Tuide or Kyoshujutsu methodology, and favour close-in fighting methods. So you will see many over laps with Goju-Ryu, Uechi-Ryu, and Isshin-Ryu to an extent. However, praying mantis has a distinct pattern of north-south attacking postures, and continuous attacks compared to the aforementioned styles.

If I remember correctly, it is at least three and a half centuries old approximately. In terms of classes and tournaments I could not say; but I imagine in a westernised class it probably is not that different to the average karate class which allows children and adults to train together.

Depends on the particular branch of 7 Star Praying Mantis; some branches have been heavily influenced by the centralised Wushu movement and place emphasis on aesthetic qualities, and modify their forms according to emerging rule sets for competitions. There remain more traditional and pragmatic forms which maintain the older forms and combative emphasis though.

As a Northern syle it is largely influenced by Daoist thought and philosophy, and places emphasis on the development of Gong Fu through the repetition of techniques and Neigong, although the use of conditioning tools is not unheard of.

Although considered a hard style it still leans towards defeating hardness through softness as a broad strategy. In practice it has much in common with systems of karate which incorporate significant Tuide or Kyoshujutsu methodology, and favour close-in fighting methods. So you will see many over laps with Goju-Ryu, Uechi-Ryu, and Isshin-Ryu to an extent. However, praying mantis has a distinct pattern of north-south attacking postures, and continuous attacks compared to the aforementioned styles.

If I remember correctly, it is at least three and a half centuries old approximately. In terms of classes and tournaments I could not say; but I imagine in a westernised class it probably is not that different to the average karate class which allows children and adults to train together.

Solid post!!