The History of Hung Gar

[GoldDragon]

The History of Hung Gar

 

This section is dedicated to hung gar it's history,forms and training method well all be here.

 

HISTORY

 

 

 

Historically, Southern China has been dominated by five Kung Fu styles: Hung, Lau, Choy, Lay and Mok. Hung Gar is most widespread and popular of these.Gar means clan or family in Cantonese, whereas Hung refers to the family name of the man who invented the system, Hung Hei Goon, a Fukien tea merchant.

 

According to legend, Master Gee See,a monk of the Fukien Shaolin Temple, taught Hung the Shaolin Tiger Style. Hung being a curious man, always sought to improve his skills. He added to his Tiger Style elements from his wife's White Crane system, movements from the Dragon, Snake, and Leopard forms, and techniques from the Five Elements Fist.He modified and expanded his Tiger Style to develop a system better balanced in long- and short-range application,a system which better reflected his own character and skills -- Hung Gar.

 

Hung Hei Goon developed a reputation for being a fighter of great skill and was known as "The Southern Fist".The essence of Hung Gar can be found in its name. "Hung" means to "stand tall with integrity." Hung Gar tenents stress honesty,directness, iron will-power and righteousness.

 

Southern China is a wet land of great rivers and agriculture. Trade and transportation center around its rivers. Its population is greater than that of Northern China and its cities more crowded.Hung Gar is well adapted to close quarter fighting in small, crowded alleyways or in wet, slippery rice fields. Hung Gar training emphasizes strong stances, iron-hard blocks, low snapping kicks,ambidexterity, deceptive hand techniques and power, all geared for close-range techniques.The low,strong stances conform well to encounters on barges and rafts. Low snapping kicks are well suited to wet and slippery ground.

 

Hung Gar hand techniques stress ambidexterity and use simultaneous blocking and striking.The blocking maneuvers of Hung Gar were well-known and feared.Opponents often thought twice before challenging a Hung Gar practitioner, for if a block could numb an attacker's limb, how much more painful must a strike be? The training is grueling and highly demanding and fits well the student who is physically strong and compact, of muscular build and who possesses great endurance. Legends depict of Hung Gar students who stood in horse stance the length of time an incense stick burned down completely, anywhere between one to three hours.

 

The Hung Gar curriculum includes empty-hand, weapon and sparring sets. The sets include traditional Hung Gar forms, supplemented by sets from other systems.Each form builds on the basic skills of Kung Fu but each emphasizes a different ability. There are seventeen weapon sets, covering the four basic weapons - staff, broadsword, spear and straight sword - as well as more exotic weapons, including the long pole, hoe, double butterfly knives, trident,long handle knife, Tiger Head Shields, bench and round shield. The sparring sets complete the Hung Gar curriculum. These sets include hand and weapon sets, such as the Tiger and Crane Sparring Set,empty hand versus the horse-cutting knife, trident versus butterfly knives,Tiger Head Shield versus broadsword, and the three person staff combination.

 

Kung Ji Fook fu Kuen (Conquering the tiger Form)

 

Fu Hok Shoeng Ying Kuen (Tiger Crane Form)

 

Sup Ying Kuen (Ten Form Fist)

 

Tid Sin Kuen (Iron Thread Form)

 

Kung Ji Fook Fu Kuen (Conquering the Tiger Form) The foundation of all other Hung Gar forms. The transliteration of Kung in this specific instance refers to the Chinese character I and is therefore sometimes interpreted as the "I Shaped Subduing the Tiger Form ". There are many other translations: "Cross Tiger Fist Form" and "Conquering the Tiger Form". This is the oldest form in Hung Gar Kung Fu believed to have been developed by Hung Hei Goon after his intense training with his Sifu Abbot Gee Sing.

 

This form teaches the practitioner the basic stances and builds his foundation through emphasis on the horse stance as well as developing and enhancing one's breathing capacity. This is the longest form in Hung Gar and is one of the hardest. It is while the student is learning this form that his character, persistence and determination to learn the system are assessed. His patience is also put to the test time and time again with this form.

 

Fu Hok Shoeng Ying Kuen (Tiger Crane Form) This is the most famous and popular of the Hung Gar forms and is said to have been developed by Wong Fei Hung. This form stresses the cultivation of the Tiger and Crane as well as a balance between the two complementing each other in the form. While the Tiger is utilized for teaching one to refine his physical entity (power), dynamic tension breathing skills and courage. The Crane develops whipping power, evasive tactics, waist movement, and calmness of the spirit and balance. The Tiger form of training provides the hard or external methods of Hung Gar while the Crane form provides the soft or internal balance between the two.

 

Sup Ying Kuen (Ten Form Fist)

 

This is an advanced form featuring the five traditional animals of the Shaolin Temple, the Dragon, Snake, Leopard, Tiger and the Crane. It also contains the five elements (wood, water, metal, earth & fire) found in Chinese philosophy Each of the animals teaches the practitioner an important lesson. The Dragon teaches internal training in Hung Gar. It is the first animal represented in the form. The Dragon is a spiritual and supernatural creature and transcends from the easily understood real world. The power of the Dragons strength can appear and disappear at will. Its domain is therefore internal power and spirit. The Snake trains the fingers and is for striking the vital points on an opponent's body. It is utilized in the training and manipulation of Chi (Vital Energy). It teaches pinpoint hitting of vital areas. The Practitioner focuses his Chi all the way up to his fingertips in order to deliver and generate power correctly. The Tiger is designed to strengthen the constitution and has a fierce spirit. This animal emits ferocity, courage and strength since it is the strongest of the animals. Dynamic tension, vigorous and strong hand techniques in the form of Tiger claws is what characterizes this animal. The Leopard is the embodiment of speed and power. It has swift penetrating attacks. The Leopard fist strikes always involve more than one strike and always at extremely quick speeds. The Crane stresses balance, quick foot movements, pecking, hooking and deflecting movements. It is a lively animal whose essence can be seen in its beak attacks and pecking motion. The Metal element involves a strong slow stretching power. The entire arm is used as a solid unit. The elbows are always bent slightly in this movement, as there is less susceptibility to the arms being broken. The Wood element is a simultaneous block and strike and is the shortest arm movements in Hung Gar. This element teaches long and short arm sequences. The Water element are strikes which are of a constant nature. A series of battering blows similar to the pounding of ocean waves upon the shores. It is the swinging motion of the practitioner's arms which are the source of the Water element's power. The Fire element is characterized by a straight punch. Its more common name is the Sun Punch because the fist forms the character Sun in Chinese characters. The sun is a fiery mass. The Earth element is the last of the elements and closes the form. It develops a strong foundation. (Boxing is rooted in the feet, developed in the legs, directed by the waist and is expressed through the hands). Since the practitioner's foundation is so strong, he is capable of delivering some very destructive blows. The Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Leopard and Crane are said to give the practitioner five ways to manipulate and use his strength while the Wood, Fire, Gold, Water and Earth elements are said to give him five ways to generate and transform the power in each of these forms.

 

Tid Sin Kuen (Iron Thread Form) This form was created by Tid Ku Sarm, one of the best martial artists in the history of China. He was one of the famous Ten Tigers of Kwangtung. Through the years he passed his knowledge of the set down to one of his students, Wang Fei Hung. This form is the highest set taught in the Hung Gar system. It takes the practitioner into the realm of internal Kung Fu training, which is the ultimate goal in Chinese martial arts. Tid Sin's limited footwork is based solely upon the movements and spirit of the Dragon coupled with vibrating sounds and various intonations of breath control with twisting movements which stimulate the internal organs. Each emotion (Happiness, Anger, Sadness, Sorrow and Fear) is said to be translated into a breathing tone producing different vibrations, which affect different organs. From the breathing sounds comes a strong type of power, which is emitted from within the practitioner. There are twelve types of training methods contained in this form. They are Hard, Soft, Lineal, Isometric Contractions, Linking, Dividing, Supporting, Stationary, Circular Transition, Determination, Exactness and Immobilization. These twelve types of training are designed to control and improve the internal functions of the organs. It is a dynamic tension exercise used to increase the flow of Chi throughout the body. It is an efficient means of body building and stamina development. The combined pugilism of the Tiger and Crane styles, otherwise known as Hung Gar Kung Fu, is a southern Shaolin system designed to strengthen the physical constitution (the bones of the body) as well as the sinews (breathing and spirit). It is a most respected system whose training concepts are steeped in morality, rigidly traditional and uncompromising in preserving the original standards of Shaolin Kung Fu.

 

 

 

Each hand form and technique in hung gar stresses stance. Once you master the stance all else well follow.

 

Now to continue the history of hung gar.

 

hung hei gwun learned shaolin tiger boxing from abbot gee sim see.hung started learning kung fu after the ming government was overthrone and replaced by the ching.hung who's original name was jyu but he renamed his self after the first ming emporer hung wu,hung became a laymen in the sil lum temple and after abbot gee sim sim see watched him practice, seen that hung's skill was exceptional and took him on as his diciple and trained hung in the tiger style of kung fu.how did hung get to the temple and why? Well hung was beleived to de decended from royalty and was well off (rich or close to rich)he became a tea merchant, after a fight with some ching offial's hung became a outlaw and fled to the southern sil lum (shaolin) temple there he learned shaolin kung fu and be came one of the sil lum sup ghiet(shaolin ten best) not only was hung one of them but he was beleived to be the best(fong sai yue was also one of the sil lum sup ghiet). after he graduated from the shaolin temple and returned to the circular world hung married a women named fong wing chun(not to be confused with yim wing chun the creator of wing chun kung fu)

 

Thought all of you would enjoy this:))

[babysteffee]

Interesting...thanks for sharing that with us GoldDragon.

[iamrushman]

very informative..thanks for posting...

 

 

[Karateka_latino]

Good information.

 

Thanks.

[GoldDragon]

My pleasure-----

 

I love to talk about Arts from all over- I am now in the processs of learning Capoeria from my cousin:)

 

Theres nothing better than sharing your thoughts to other users such as Martial Artist as much as we are.