The Inner Force

Tai chi is the combination of soft and hard style technique and it is the type of internal Chinese martial arts. It is practiced for self defense and health benefits. Tai chi chuan means "supreme ultimate fist" or "boundless fist". Created by Zhang Sanfeng a legendary Chinese Taoist priest in 12th century. He was inspired to create a 72-movement when he observed the bird attacking a snake and its defensive tactics. It remained still and alert in face of the birds onslaught until it made a lunge and fatally bit its attacker. He is also an expert in white snake and crane styles.

Qi Gong means a “Life Energy Cultivation”, it is practice to cultivate a balance, it is a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation. Qi (or chi) is usually translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow, and definitions often involve breath, air, gas, or relationship between matter, energy, and spirit.^[6] Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts. Gong (or kung) is often translated as cultivation or work, and definitions include practice, skill, mastery, merit, achievement, service, result, or accomplishment, and is often used to mean gongfu (kung fu) in the traditional sense of achievement through great effort. It develops the calmness and relaxation of the body.

Ip Man Legacy

Ip Man is the legendary grandmaster of wing chun kungfu. His life story was played by Donnie Yen, a martial artist, actor and martial arts instructor. The movie was very interesting and inspiring, it shows what is the real used and purpose of martial arts in our lives. The part 1 of the movie was released in 2008 and the part 2 released in 2010. The fight scenes were very amazing and Donnie Yen was a very nice actor for his role as Ip Man.

Methods of Punch and Kick

Taekwondo is one of the most popular martial arts from Korea, more focused on different types kicking, jumping and punching. Tae means “to kick”, kwon stands for “to punch” and do is “way” it also use the system of blocks, open-handed strikes, take-downs or sweeps, throws and joint locks. It was developed by the three rival Korean Kingdoms of Goguryeo, Silla and Baekje, where young men were trained in unarmed combat techniques to develop strength, speed, and survival skills. The ancient martial arts of Korea known as Subak; created by the Goguryeo kingdom. Subak was the upper body techniques, during Joseon period it became Taekkyeon; was the lower body techniques. So that, taekwondo derived from the native martial arts founded by the nine kwans (means martial arts schools) and influenced by other countries. Taekwondo is not only the most effective way, but also popular sports in the world.

Taekwondo develops:

v  Strength

v  Speed

v  Balance

v  Flexibility

v  Stamina

The Way of Empty Hand

Karate

Kara means “empty” and te means “hand”. It is the self defense that cannot use any weapons. Karate was originated from Okinawa, Japan, it will teach the techniques of punch, kick, and elbow and knee strikes, chopping, locking and grappling. It is influenced by Chinese kempo, and consists of different styles. For the defense they used different kinds of blocks. The practitioners of karate should perform katas or forms and stances; start with easy form to difficult it would help to widen their knowledge in karate. It is the martial arts that uses the whole body and the ways of moving and bending.

Shotokan Karate


Gichin Funakoshi is the  “Father of Japanese Karate”. He created his own karate popularly known as Shotokan Karate. Shoto meaning “pine-waves” (the movement of pine needles when the wind blows through them), and kan means "house" or "hall". Shotokan uses lower stances.He was the one Okinawan masters who introduced the Karate in 1922.

Funakoshi had trained in both of the popular styles of Okinawan karate of the time: Shorie-ryu and Shorin-ryu. It is divided into three parts, such as kihon, kata & kumite.  Kihon means "basics" or "fundamentals" those are taught and practice as the foundation of most Japanese martial arts. Kata means form or patterns of movements practiced either solo or pairs. Kumite means sparring or one-to-one combat situation with an opponent using the different techniques learned from karate.

Kyokushin Karate


The new form of karate created by Masutatsu Oyama (Choi Yeong-eui his Korean name) a Korean-Japanese karate master. It is the full contact karate style. He studied in Shotokan karate for two years under Gigo Funakoshi the son of founder Gichin Funakoshi. And then he studied in Goju ryu karate. Kyokushikai stands for “ the society of the ultimate truth”.

 



Goju Ryu Karate

Goju Ryu Karate is a hard-soft style and one of the main traditional Okinawan styles of karate. Go, which means hard, refers to close hand techniques or straight linear attacks; ju, which means soft, refers to open hand techniques and circular movements. Developed by Kanryo Higashionna, in 1867 he began training in Monk Fist Boxing under Aragaki Tsuji Pechin Seisho in 1873 he began studying Chinese boxing and in 1877 he began he began to study kung fu under Ryu Ryu Ko. Karate was influenced by Chinese martial arts since before.

 


 Shorin-ryu Karate

Shorin-ryu is founded by Choshin Shibana in 1933 it is one of the major modern Okinawan martial arts. It combines elements of the traditional Okinawan fighting styles of Shuri-te. Shorin-ryu is generally characterized by natural breathing, natural (narrow, high) stances, and direct, rather than circular movements (with the exception of Shorin-ryu Kyudokan, which makes extensive use of circular movements).