Is Shaolin-Do for real?

[shen ku]

i hope everyone had a great christmas and got a lot of new training equipment

[shen ku]

maybe little johnny got a new sword,

[shen ku]

maybe stoneheart got a gift card to a new chinese place.....

[shen ku]

900..... now it is done.... my keyboard kung fu is great

[sean_stonehart]

Originally Posted by shen ku

i hope everyone had a great christmas and got a lot of new training equipment

I got some sweats & stuff...

Gotta Kimber a few months back... +5 for damage...

[Yao Sing]

Lucky you - but do you know the apps for it?

[sean_stonehart]

Originally Posted by shen ku

maybe stoneheart got a gift card to a new chinese place.....

Naw man... I'm a fuddy-duddy... gimme Chinatown & I'm happy. Hong Kong styled Duck & Pork, Dim Sum, Dao Miew, Chow Mei Fun, etc... and I'm all sorts of happy. No gift card needed.

I did have some beef jerky a couple weeks ago in NC & thought of you living on it in passing...

[Old Man]

where do you hei hu black tiger come from?

[Old Man]

do you know the lineage?

[Old Man]

Originally Posted by Radhnoti

Did anyone ever disprove my late night theory about Shaolin-do having a circus background? Hope JP and everyone from SD I met are doing well.
Here's that old idea (took me all day to dig it out of the archives):
think Su Kong Tai Jin was in a circus. I think he studied at "the" Southern Shaolin Temple and when the temple was destroyed he went out into the world and made his way as best he could. Therefore, the photos were setups put together by the circus to publicize. I think Su Kong offered more than "just" wolf-boy appeal, I think he performed iron body feats (thus the pic of a bear biting his arm) and perhaps other "unbelievable" feats made possible by his previous training. I also think that GM Ie travelled with the same circus. Learning from Su Kong as they travelled. I have read that accompanying the letter promoting GM Sin to 10th GM Ie writes, "In the early time, I traveled everywhere in China to learn Martial arts, and had been up to North Korea. It has been 50 years since I moved down to south. I had been through a lot of tough times. But when I looked it back, I surely had a lot of unforgettable memory." Hmmm...travelling everywhere even to northern korea, learning martial arts. What better way to travel than in a circus...perhaps surrounded by folks of like mind?
Circus-type "masters" pop up several times in the SD literature.
One, in the SDA manual, speaks of "the strongest man in China" who GM Sin maintains was his hero and travelled with a circus. He died in London, exchanging blows with his English equivilent. The story stresses how he would tense before each blow, like our Three Unit Tension form...laughing at the fellow's attempts, until the Englishman caught him unaware. Next it points out how he struck and withdrew quickly, as we are supposed to do in our short forms. This was a man trained...at LEAST partially...in a style similar to our own.
Next was the story of GM Sin visiting Bali. GM Ie told him to visit an "old colleague" Ji Shou Hu. Here's a portion of that story:
"Upon arriving in Bali, Grandmaster Sin was happy to find that Ji Shou Hu was giving a public demonstration. It is well known that the chain whip is one of the most difficult Shaolin weapons to master. Ji Shou Hu's demonstration he went a step further than most. He preformed the chain whip swings while riding a bicycle. The crowd was amazed as he showed his complete mastery of the chain whip. This included "hopping" the bike up and spinning the whip underneath. For the finale he approached seven women holding Chinese coins between their thumb and forefinger. Remember that Chinese coins (yuan) have a whole in the center. Ji Shou Hu began snapping the whip toward the women with incredible speed. When he finally stopped, he held the whip up for the audience to see seven coins pierced and stuck on the pointed tip of his chain whip. At this point the audience went wild. The crowd then quieted as Ji Shou Hu raised the whip handle and extended his Ch'i power into the weapon. The Whip began to straighten out horizontally, one link at a time until finally the entire chain whip stood straight out from his hand. At his command the whip fell limp again at his side."
Is it hard to imagine such an act being worked up in a circus by a person who'd already mastered chainwhip in kung-fu training? Later in the story it is revealed that Ji Shou Hu was also a Master of our short forms.
Other masters of the school, alongside GM Ie, that I've heard mentioned include: Qui Gwong, Chi Gong, and Gi Shiao Fu. Note the similarity of the name Gi Shiao Fu to Ji Shou Hu...sorry, just noticed that myself. Maybe the Master eventually moved to teach at GM Ie's school. In any case, these small facts (perhaps a few others) have led me to my pet theory.
It's possible that this portion of SD's history isn't mentioned because some folks might feel it lacks a certain dignity. Su Kong and GM Ie living in a cave would certainly be more in keeping with the legends of old and their way of doing things...but I love this theory. Hope no one is insulted, and that at least someone finds this interesting.

you are so close to truth. so close.

[GeneChing]

And I'm not just referring to Shaolin at the Circus. Historically, CMA has been connected to performance for dynasties. In fact, that's one of the points that the latest scholarly work, Chinese Martial Arts by Peter Lorge, sheds a lot of light upon. There's no disgrace for CMA masters being connected to circus. In fact, there's a tradition of it.

[Judge Pen]

Originally Posted by Old Man

you are so close to truth. so close.

I like Radhnoti's theory. Old Man do you have some information that might shed some light on this?

[Radhnoti]

I like it too, it was interesting to read Gene's linked article. I hope everyone's training is going well. Have to admit that I'm not surprised to see that some things never change...and this thread has become a real monstrosity.

[Okami]

A quick search shows 6 years and 4 months since my last post.
Amazing that this thread is still going and going strong.

This thread deserves an award!

Good to see the "usual suspects" are still here.

[Old Man]

Originally Posted by Judge Pen

I like Radhnoti's theory. Old Man do you have some information that might shed some light on this?

i have all the history and fotos of your teachers teachers