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Spaniard
Spaniard's picture
Randy Brown Mantis Boxing

Howdy from near to St. Louis, Mo., USA!

Has anyone ever perused this guy’s stuff? https://randybrownmantisboxing.com/blog/2013/5/28/the-heart-of-mantis-what-is-praying-mantis-kung-fu

I listened to a very similar interview that Stephen Kesting did with him that paralleled Iain’s but with a Kung Fu perspective! I had always wondered about if Kung Fu had had a “crazy time” like Karate where practicality went away and Randy Brown opines on it and how he is making his Kung fu practical!

https://www.grapplearts.com/kung-fu-bjj-podcast/

I would love to hear Iain and Randy talk!

All the best

in pace viribus

Spaniard

Les Bubka
Les Bubka's picture
Hi Spaniard, Thank you for sharing this, very interesting. Kind regards Les
Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Spaniard wrote:
I had always wondered about if Kung Fu had had a “crazy time” like Karate where practicality went away and Randy Brown opines on it and how he is making his Kung fu practical!

I’ve not been previously aware of Mr Brown’s work, but it seems very interesting and I’m sure the parallels between the two arts will be of great interest. I’m also sure that pragmatic karateka and pragmatic Kung-fu practitioners will have much in common. Looks like someone we should all check out!

As regards Kung-fu having a “crazy time”, it most certainly has and there are many commonalities with karate’s own historical journey.  This quote strikes me as eerily recognisable:

“Individual training [forms] is prevailed in those institutions but the applied aspect of techniques learnt is ignored …Striving for nice-looking movements without practical use and absence of fighting spirit are at the bottom of it. In this way we shall lose little by little all the heritage of our ancestors who brilliantly used all methods and techniques in combat.” - Instructor’s Manual for Police Academy of Zhejiang Province by Liu Jin Sheng, 1936

Forms without application, and an emphasis on aesthetics, seems to have been a common issue in both 1930s Japan and China; with both arts “losing the combative heritage of our ancestors” over time.

All the best,

Iain