The following video is of a form of my creation. I haved called it Great Blue Heron Hyung.
I grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota. This is a small city in central Minnesota that is nestled on the banks of the Mississippi River. One of my favorite pastimes as a child, besides martial arts, was fishing. Thus, I have put in countless hours on the water in search of my prey.
During this time, I had ample opportunity to examine all sorts of wildlife. And, in particular, the Great Blue Heron always fascinated me. Here is a picture of it...
Physically, the GBH is a very large and statuesque bird. It stands in the shallows and its gracefull S curving neck examines everything before it regally. When stalking its prey, it moves very slowly, almost imperceptably, and then with incredible speed and precision, it lashes out with its beak and snaps up its food.
I've seen alot of things fall prey to this attack. Everything from frogs, snakes, crayfish, ducklings, and of course fish...including a 2 lbs smallmouth bass, went down this animal's gullet. As a hunter who watched and learned from other hunters, regardless of species, the GBH presented a wonderful example of what has been called Stillness in Motion.
If I were to compare the hunting success of a Bald Eagle with that of the Great Blue Heron, the GBH wins hands down, based on my observations.
When I was given the task of creating my own form, the Great Blue Heron naturally came to mind as inspiration. I was in college at the time and I spend many afternoons by the river with a pair of feild glasses and a note pad. I mostly watched the Heron fish, which is an awesome sight to see, but I also had the opportunity to see the Heron defend itself on two occasions.
On one occasion, a cat had made its way down the bank toward the heron's nest. The female was on gaurd at the time and it watched the cat stalk in from a nearby bush. The cat, not noticing the sentry because of its stillness, did not realize the danger it was in until the heron swooped in. The heron grabbed the cat with its feet and wings and finished it off with a lightning fast stab from its beak.
The other occasion where I witnessed the Heron defending itself is even more impressive. In this instance, a male heron was guarding the nest and a pack of three feral dogs came to raid the clutch and perhaps eat the sentry. The dogs came in and attempted to surround the heron, who would fly up a short distance and come down striking with its wings and stabbing with its beak. Everytime the dogs came in, the bird would float and plummet with its rain of attacks. After a few strings of yelps, which I assume were lost eyes on the part of the dogs, the heron made a mad rush complete with loud croaks and flailing wings. The dogs scattered and did not return during the time that I was watching.
With all of this in mind, I created my hyung. Everything from the philosophy of movement, to the basics, to the combinations, and the application against an opponent is inspired by my observations of this animal.
