TaiJi and XingYi For Self Defence Part 6

 

Let’s take a look at the second line of the “Fighter’s poem”

 

Ward-off, rollback, press, and push must be taken seriously.

With coordination between above and below, the opponent will hardly find a way in.

I will let him attack me with as much power as he likes,

for I will tug with four ounces of force to deflect his thousand pounds.

Guiding him in to land on nothing, I then close on him and send him away.

I stick to him and go along with his movement instead of coming away or crashing in.

 

Again due to the range of potential applications and methodologies that could be used, I have to limit myself to a few simple examples, hopefully it will be enough to help you get a flavour of what we are talking about.

 

With coordination between above and below, the opponent will hardly find a way in.

In this line the importance of agile and balanced footwork is stated as is the importance of making sure that the footwork and hand techniques are coordinated and complementary to each other. Footwork makes important contributions to our fighting strategy in two crucial ways; control of distance and control of angle, that is to say the distance and angle between our opponent and ourselves. The importance of footwork was mentioned in an earlier TaiJI classic; Wang Zongyue’s TaiJI Boxing Treatise. The earliest known written version of this Treatise was published around 1880, it covers many strategies but to keep focused on footwork, distancing etc. I’ll look at just three short excerpts. 

 

When looking up, it is still higher. When looking down, it is still lower. When advancing, it is even farther. When retreating, it is even nearer.

This verse is referring to distance and angle, specifically if you are forced to retreat you must ensure that you can be just far enough away to be out of reach, similarly if you force your opponents to retreat you must ensure that you crowd them so they cannot re-set themselves. The references to higher and lower are similar urging you to prevent your opponents getting the advantage by getting under you or over you.

 

If your upper body and lower are not coordinated with each other, your hands will be moving while your feet are not moving [or vice versa], and you will thus be off in terms of timing or position. Consequently your body will be manoeuvring in disorder and you will get no benefit from the practice. The error is surely in the waist and legs, and should be sought there.

Here the importance of combined hand and foot movements is expressed. It’s also important to note that although hands and feet coordinate they should not conflict or interfere with each other, mention is made of the importance of the waist. The waist when relaxed and used properly separates the legs / feet from the upper body / hands. So for a simple example you can step to the left while simultaneously parrying to the right, turning the upper body one way should not prevent you feet stepping another way.

 

From foot through leg through waist, it must be a fully continuous process, and whether advancing or retreating, you will then catch the opportunity and gain the upper hand.

This I think is self explanatory, it just confirms what was said above.

 

Below is an image gallery of four stills that I extracted from a Youtube video, purporting to demonstrate TaiJi ‘fighting”. I’ve blocked the faces of the participants I don’t want to criticise any individual or style / school. The four shots capture an exchange of two attacking punches and two defending parries. Focus on the defender on the right (striped shirt), there are two things to note, one his relationship with the background (the windows behind him and the blue railings running horizontally at his shoulder height, this makes clear his body movement - or lack of it and his contact and loss of contact with the attacker.

 

Shot 1. Shows the initial parry connecting the defender with the attacker. The defender doesn’t try to utilise this initial contact, by closing the space or controlling the arm in some way.

Shot 2. Shows that the attacker has withdrawn his fist and that the defender has allowed him to disconnect also you can see relative to the background the defender has not really moved either sideways or forwards.

Shot 3. Shows that there is still hardly any body movement by the defender and he has allowed a large gap to form between his arms and the attacker. 

Shot 4. The defender has now moved a little and caught his attacker’s arm, while he has a good grip on the arm actually catching an arm mid punch is extremely difficult and he is yet to close the distance to his attacker, or strike his opponent in any way.

 

 

 

I think this sequence illustrate a common problem that exists across pretty much all martial arts, not just TaiJi. The distance management being used is appropriate for a competitive martial sport scenario, it is not suitable for a practical self defence situation. This is an issue I’ll come back to in a future post.

 

We’ll look at the next line in the poem in the next post.

 

 

 

#selfdefence #selfdefense #martialarts  #taijiquan #XingYiQuan #taichichuan #thirteendynamics #taichi