the way I see alot of shaolin staff forms, the practitioner is holding it down at the bottom 1/4 of the staff, giving the opponent 2/3 to 3/4 of his weapon. Please help me understand this.
Why is that a disadvantage then?
you’re giving the opponent most of your weapon, it will be easier to take away, plus it takes longer on horizontal swings to strike with.
do you suggest holding it in the middle?
Just curious, have you done any weapons sparring?
not for striking,
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heres our staff, where I’ve seen shaolin styles hold it is here.
===============x======x
my style happens to hold it here
=======x=======x=======
no, I haven’t, I’m only a yellow belt by the way.
Most Karate styles use the staff in the middle. And what staff sets I have seen done by the style known as Kung fu san soo. They also do the same (H) pattern Forms like Karate. As all the forms in san soo. At least what I have seen bye them. (From White to Black)
~Jason
I’m not too experienced myself, so this is mostly from observation (weapons sparring) from what I’ve heard and seen… The guy holding it like a spear almost always wins. It’s just plain easier to fight with a staff that way… But some japanese styles shift grip from spear to middle.
H pattern?
H pattern…
When you do your forms, it will make an H like pattern!
Unlike BSL and other CMA’s will go from south to north and back with deviations in it’s pattern! But NOT all i think?hehehe But from what i have seen and learned this is the basic pattern for CMA! But not Contemporary Wushu thou. They use an X pattern and go all over the dam floor!
~Jason:D
anyhow, I think you should train to be able to use your staff from any grip…err, yeah..
still don’t understand the H pattern.
In contemporary changquan competition forms I think you have to hit all for corners. But the other contemp. chang quan forms you mostly go right to left and back like traditional longfist forms.
Also in those staff styles where you hold the bottom 1/4 of the staff, you don’t neccesarily fight with the longer end. So you can fight close quarters with the short end, and use the longer end for more knockout type blows, or just to keep you opponent at a distance. And if your opponent were to try and grab the long end of your staff wouldn’t that create an opening for you to just punch and kick him since his hands are holding your weapon?
Never mind the H thang! It will come to you in time.
I feel as the same as Kinjit and Brad on the staff!
~Jason:rolleyes:
grip
An additional advantage of holding the staff nearer to one end is to keep distance. The staff is a long-range weapon, so to speak.
Of the three shaolin staff forms I’ve learned, I hold the staff near the middle, at the end, and with both hands like in your diagram. It depends on what the purpose of the movement…clear a lot of space, strike a specific point, pin, block, sweep, etc. Also, all my shaolin staff forms use a waxwood staff (one end is tapered) so the balance point is off-center nearer to the thicker end (or the bottom, my primary grip is just below this point). A good example of a shaolin staf from that uses multiple grips is one called 12 winds (that’s what we’ve called it anyway, I haven’t personally met anyone else that has done it). It is shown in Jet Li’s Shaolin Temple movie where a group is doing this form at the Shaolin Temple.
When you do forms, what directions do you go?
To use germpest’s staff diagraming with the x marking hand positions, we hold our staff’s like this:
============x=========x=====
or
=================x=========x
depending on the technique. BTW, we mostly use waxwood too.
Brad "When you do forms, what directions do you go? "
North, south, east and west. Is that what you mean?
Yeah, that’s it I think. Doesn’t allways litterealy make an H or I. Sometimes a T I guess, lol.