| Home History & Organization Kung Fu & Styles Shao Lin Gallery Contact Us |
| ||||||||||||
|
The Shao Lin Open Hand & Arm Use of the Hands & Arms In addition to the fist, which is a very valuable natural weapon for the exponents of Shao Lin, certain other hand formations and other parts of the arms may also be used as weapons. Like the fists. All of these other anatomical weapons must be specially trained by toughening exercises to endure the forces that are generally present when these weapons make impact with a target. Basic open-hand formation used in this book include use of the palm, the back of the hand, and the knife-edge of the hand; parts of the arm used are the flexed top portion of the wrist, the outer, inner, and top portions of the forearm, and the elbow.
The iron palm is traditionally reported to be the favorite weapon of a Shao Lin exponent. Special training methods, such as those shown at here, make the open hand tough and durable. In this book, we are concerned with basic uses of the open palm, and, as such, all descriptions herein are limited to uses of the palm as a cover or protective shield for the vital parts of the user’s anatomy, and to explanations of the role of the open palm in covering and controlling the assailant’s arm and hand actions. When the knife-edge of the hand (Qie) is used as a striking surface it can be delivered in a backhand or normal trajectory to the target. It may also be used in slicing-block fashion to break contact with an assailant. The hard top portion of the flexed wrist is best used in split-block (Tiao) fashion to deflect an aggressor’s punching arm upward or outward, away from its intended target. A foe’s attacking arm or leg can readily be clocked by use of the forearm. Direct use of the outside block (Qiao) makes the outer edge of the forearm the striking surface; this block is applied by moving the arm in ordinary trajectory across the body from the outside. This inside block (Ge) applies the inner edge of the forearm as a striking surface in a backhand kind of trajectory across the body to the outside. The rising block (Tiao), in which the outer edge of the forearm becomes the striking surface, rises vertically in front of the body with the blocking arm assuming an acute angle with the vertical. When the top portion of the forearm is used as a striking surface to block a foe’s attacking member down, this block is termed (Ya).
|
