| One of the fun things about martial arts is that it | | | | Yu Dayu was the real innovator of the style, bringing in |
| teaches you a bit of history as you go through it, and | | | | staff work, and the balanced stances that formed the |
| the bull sessions after a good workout are great. | | | | basis of the Five Styles. While all three of us agreed |
| One of the bull sessions that Steve, Aaron and I had | | | | that it'd be cool to work with him, the consensus was |
| recently, after closing down the dojo, was sort of like | | | | that we'd rather learn from someone who'd been |
| fantasy league baseball, only for shaolin kung fu | | | | involved with one of the more modern forms. Kung Fu, |
| masters. Now, in fantasy baseball (another avocation | | | | like all martial, arts, changes and grows over time. |
| of mine), one of the positions you can fill is "team | | | | The next candidate that we considered was Lung Po, |
| manager", and the team manager helps your stats. For | | | | who became the principal teacher at the temple in the |
| a martial arts school, a good teacher is reflected in | | | | 17th century, which is when the style grew the most, |
| how well his students learn, and how well his style | | | | branching out from staff work to more joint locks and |
| spreads. | | | | strikes, making it a more complete style. It's harder to |
| We were pretty careful to avoid direct style | | | | learn, but Master Lung was renowned for being an |
| comparisons. Aaron knows two styles of Kung Fu, | | | | excellent teacher. It's this style of Kung Fu that |
| and Steve knows at least three, and I've dabbled in | | | | ultimately became known as Chinese Boxing. |
| more styles than I like to admit. (Steve makes jokes | | | | The last candidate we considered was Jow Lung, |
| about Yoshi's New Dance Steps, and Sit On Your Ass | | | | who integrated three different styles of martial arts |
| Kung Fu when I do something stupid and have to | | | | into Jow Ga (family Jow) Kung Fu, and who won a |
| recuperate...). So we all know that every style has | | | | ten round (ouch!) tournament to become the official |
| merits and drawbacks, and reflections based on | | | | Martial Arts teacher for the Chinese army in 1911. He |
| student's temperament and ability. | | | | and his brothers spread Jow Ga Kung Fu throughout |
| So we focused on the kung fu masters associated | | | | China, and were never leery about integrating other |
| with our respective styles. | | | | martial arts practices into their combat style, which |
| One of the earliest masters of shaolin style Kung Fu | | | | means that Jow Ga Kung Fu has probably grown the |
| was Yu Dayu of the Ming Dynasty. While there were | | | | most of any of the shaolin styles in this century in |
| references of Shaolin monks using martial arts | | | | terms of practices and things learned. |
| techniques prior to Yu, going back to the 14th century, | | | | |