A couple of weeks ago on the Training forum, a few posters made the argument that Hsing-i Chuan was a linear art. I and several others pointed out that although it looks linear, internally, there are quite a few spirals and twistings happening that aren’t apparent in the solo forms.
They responded with the opinion that what made Hsing-i linear was the “fact” that stepping patterns “went in a straight line.” I put those assumptions in quotes because that’s true of only about a third of the footwork when you include the 12 animals.
Anyhow, for the interested, here is a clip of a basic Hsing-i drill using the most “linear” techniques in Hsing-i.
Perhaps you’ll be interested to observe how the tiny twisting and spiralling movements on an internal level can produce big obvious circles when you put another person into the mix.
No doubt, Xing Yi is as spiraly as the next art. Take something like Beng Quan. If you use it as a straight punch to the gut, you’d be missing some of the best part of it. The way I learned it, it goes out and returns on an oval shaped arc. Like the wheels on an old steam engine the forearm cycles as it goes in or out. It can help your forearm scrape over or under your opponents limb, and you can also attach to them and drag them around with it. There are many examples of this type of small circle within Xing Yi for sure.
technically speaking, nothing is linear, per se: even if I do a so-called “straight punch”, the line is the product of two (at least) circles: rotation at the shoulder and elbow occur as the arm extends, creating a resultant vector that the fist travels; of course, not to consider the spirals occurring at / from the foot, leg, pelvis, spine, etc.
and when you interact with another person, that linearity disappears even more, because the whole point is to go “off-line” anyway, especially if you are contacting someone in a way that gives them “incorrect” kinesthetic input as to where you really are (in other words, if we connect and I continue to give you input that tells you I am right in front of you staying put while I am actually moving instead)
BTW, I never studied hsing-yi personally, but saw a bit of it while briefly studying ba-gua w/BP Chan some moons ago…it’s one of those things on my martial “to do” list that I will just have to get around to one of these days, LOL
[QUOTE=Samurai Jack;858575]A couple of weeks ago on the Training forum, a few posters made the argument that Hsing-i Chuan was a linear art. I and several others pointed out that although it looks linear, internally, there are quite a few spirals and twistings happening that aren’t apparent in the solo forms. [/QUOTE]
This is consistent with what I have been exposed to as well. In the line that I study the curriculum calls for 3 years of Tai Chi, 3 years of Ba Gua, and 3 years of Hsing Yi then you can choose to specialize in one. My instructor pointed out this same knowledge.
[QUOTE=Rockwood;858848]Take something like Beng Quan. If you use it as a straight punch to the gut, you’d be missing some of the best part of it. The way I learned it, it goes out and returns on an oval shaped arc. Like the wheels on an old steam engine the forearm cycles as it goes in or out.
-Jess O[/QUOTE]
Basically the same principle as Taiji..I mean the oval part.