Kunlun...Pai?

by Jonty

Eric Ling (http://eric88ling.wordpress.com/) has just posted about one of the Kunlun VCD's that we are researching. He has classified it as "Kunlunpai," rather than "Kunlunquan."

For those of you just tuning in, one of the goals of this blog is to research a group of martial arts named after the Kunlun mountians. I learned a system called "Kunlun Mountain Fist," that shares several forms with a set of VCD's (available from Plum Publications here.) In the VCD's, Master Huang names the system Kunlun Quan (Fist), but that doesn't mean much, since "Fist" can just refer to a system, rather than the name of this particular system.

Eric Ling, who has a wonderful blog mostly on Fukien White Crane and Hakka styles, labels one of the VCD's, the "Bandit" Fist, as Kunlunpai. He has also claimed he has several old manuscripts about these styles. Very exciting.

Silat in America: Where are the Pure Styles?

By Mas Jonty

Interest in Pencak Silat is growing furiously here in the U.S.A. Almost weekly, new teachers are popping out of the woodwork. However, there is a puzzling question:

Where are all the pure styles? It seems that almost every teacher of Indonesian martial arts in the U.S. is teaching their own personal "Kuntao" blend of different styles. You won't find a pure Cikalong teacher, or a straight Cimande teacher. Even the supposedly pure styles being taught over here seem to be modern Dutch/Indo blends. What gives?

Before we try and answer that question, I'd like to note that I think this is can be a blessing and a curse: As far as I'm concerned, Willem DeThouars can make up his own styles all he wants, but on the other hand I have seen some truly inferior arts in this category.

So I have a few possible answers to our question:

1) People are making up their own arts because they never finished studying any one art.

        There are a lot of "multi-yellow-belt" teachers out there, and Silat is an open field for people to pass themselves off as masters.

2) Traditional Silat styles are small, modular systems that each focus on a narrow set of skills.

        Traditionally you would perhaps have to learn several different styles to round out your fighting skills. This fits with my understanding of the older arts. If you read the Chinese and Japanese classics, the old masters used to learn several styles on their road to mastery. Large, all-in-one styles are more of a modern invention.

3) We have modern, left-brained methods of organizing and teaching our arts that require different approaches to styles.

Please "write in" and discuss. I'd love to hear your ideas.

Publication of the Kunlun Green Dragon Form!...

Shifu Jonty has recently finished his book on the Green Dragon Form of Kunlun Mountain Fist. He learned this in the mid-90's while studying with Shifu Jason Baaht. It equates, roughly, with the first quarter of the Kunlun Quan Four Directions Form (Si Xiang Quan). For anyone interested, the book is available here .

One Small Step...

I was contacted today, via one of the forums I visit, by one of Jonty's old students. She had lost track of him over the years, and was glad to have found us. She may even try and get a training group going in her area, which could be great news.

Hello There...

 My name is Jonty Kershaw. I breathe martial arts.

My training in the martial arts started when I was 4. My father, a student of  Mitsusuke Harada Sensei, had me in the back yard trying to punch holes in newspaper. Martial arts has been in my life ever since. I have been through different stages in my growth as a martial artist, starting with the Japanese/Okinawan arts, moving to the harder and more acrobatic Chinese arts, then to the more internal Daoist martial arts. The last six years has been mostly devoted to studying the Indonesian arts.

I recently "met" Steven Vance online. My main Chinese style, Kunlun Mountain Fist, is suspiciously similar to the art of Kunlunquan, and we got to discussing the possible history and connections of these two arts and all the other arts that claim the name "Kunlun." We also both have a similar love of the Indo arts and a distaste for the politics involved in studying them.

We have started this association as a sort of modern version of the traditional "martial arts preservation societies." We don't know exactly where this will go, but for now we will be focusing on researching the Kunlun and Indonesian arts, and also writing about the role of the warrior in the modern world.

If you love the martial arts and are willing to set aside ego and politics, we invite you to join us.