Doc
Senior Master
And what if the characteristics you recognize are not in someone else's assessment of these arts? What if someone teaches Wing Chun without any of those things, because he chooses a different teaching method? What if the "Splashing Hands" I remember doesn't look like what McNeil is doing? Is it still Splashing Hands? What makes your definition gospel to anyone but you?Let me be more clear: I am talking about the characteristic moves that you'll see if you watch one of James McNeil's classes or his videos.
Regardless of the whole "They're all the same" philosophy, there ARE certain characteristics that make styles easy to recognise.
You see someone doing bong sao, using a wooden dummy or doing siu lum tao, it's a pretty good guess that it's wing chun. You see someone with hand position resembling a praying mantis ... well it's probably because he's doing praying mantis style. You see someone walking the circle doing palm changes, probably baguazhang.
You can knock me down so that I'm looking up at you, but that still doesn't make Baguazhang the same as Xingyiquan, or Wing Chun the same as Choy Li Fut.
What are some of the things that I would call characteristics of Splashing Hands? well, these are the techniques or the ways of moving which I have only seen in that style.
Example are:
- Shuffling footwork
- Shuffles and drills inside a painted box on the floor
- Slapping the shoulder or side of body while the other hand strikes
- Practicing strikes with relaxed, open hands which look like you are shaking water off the hands.
- Stiff legged front kick
- Donkey kick
- The Browns
- The Advances
- The Sections
- Four Corners Form (and other forms)
These are some of the things I have never seen in any style except James McNeil's Splashing Hands, and it would be interesting to see if they are present in Mok Gar.
P.S.
I understand the necessity for some to be married to styles for identity sake. But you miss my point. All of these "styles" evolve and change over time predicated on who teaches it, and their personal preferences. THEY think they're still doing Wing Chun, so who are any of us to tell them different? People older in the arts than I, (and I'm over 60) taught me its all the same, with philosophical exceptions of who teaches what. I'll stick with that, and continue to grow while others argue about style identities that won't improve their performance. At my age I don't have the energy for useless information, that will not help me physically.