This website is dedicated to the Students of Seifu A.S. Umar Sharif, MA. It is also dedicated to the promotion and propagation of the Traditional Afro-Asian Martial and Healing Arts. Our goal is to inform, educate, inspire, encourage, and motivate others to improve their lives by applying The Wisdom of the Ancients.
As your teacher and host, Seifu Sharif [aka: Xia` Xue' Gong] [aka: Tobi Alakoso] is dedicated to helping each of you to remember and nurture the Spirit of Wu-Te and the powers dormant within you.
The Seven Animals of Me'je Oruka, Part VI
The Mantis (Tang Lang or Tong Long)
Namaste’ Students and Fellow Martial Arts Enthusiasts!
A passerby saw a man and a woman training in a park by the lake. Both the man and the woman were quite animated in their movements. Both used their upper limbs in a way that made them seem as though they were close and far away at the same time. Both were moving in strange movements, the man almost looking like he was staggering, while the woman also seemed to stagger but with a more extended posture and graceful forcefulness in her movements. Her legs seem to act both as anchors and as springboards, while the man moved mostly close to the ground. The observer noticed that the man often rolled around on the ground while the woman never did any ground movements. The man seemed to use his arms like clubs and his fists like hammerheads, and his open hands like flat irons. The woman’s arms darted out at strange and unexpected angles and her elbows, wrists, and hands were used like a hinged tool or machine.
After a while the two martial artists turned, faced each other, and bowed, followed by a big hug and a laugh. Although the observer had never been involved in the martial arts, his observations of nature enabled him to approach the couple and say, ‘Never would I have though that I would ever see a monkey and a praying mantis in such beautiful harmony.’
There is a Northern Style and a Southern Style of Praying Mantis. I have discovered Praying Mantis in my garden area of the backyard. Think of the alert, silent, focused, and determined observer and you have the beginnings of the Mantis mindset. Both the Northern and Southern Styles may be considered ‘high systems’, relying primarily on the arms and hands to engage and overcome the opponent. The Praying Mantis Style of Kung Fu integrates very well with the Dragon and Snake because all three focus on yielding rather than blocking in order to launch an attack. The Mantis appears to be blocking when in fact it is deflecting the attack and simultaneously moving in, forward for an attack. From the perspective of the Dragon, Snake, and Mantis this is the most efficient strategy to end the conflict. The Mantis also uses Qi, awareness, and sensitivity to be virtually invincible.
The larger stronger Mantis practitioner may deliver a blitz of long arm techniques drawing the opponents instinct to block, and then suddenly drive the opponent’s arms downward exposing their middle and upper body. However, the smaller Mantis practitioner may move to the side, appear to withdraw, and dart in and out, drawing an attack, and then suddenly move into the opponent with eye blurring speed to attack the opponent’s vulnerable targets, especially vital areas like the eyes, temples, and throat. The Praying Mantis Styles, both Northern and Southern, have some of the most versatile techniques to accommodate vertically any body type of practitioner. The Mantis Claw, referred to as diu, can lock an opponent’s limbs in a vice-like grip using the forearm and last three fingers of the hand. The Mantis practitioner must train to develop strong arms, wrist, hands, and fingers in order to effectively apply many of the techniques.
Like the Crane’s head strike, the Mantis practitioner will use the back of the hand/wrist as a striking surface with devastating impact while at the same time using the inside of the wrist in a hooked fashion to seize and control the opponent’s head or limbs. The Mantis style is a very efficient and effective close range system, evading punches by only a few inches in order to stay in range and position to launch a powerful and swift counterattack. Much like Tai Chi Chu’an, the Mantis practitioner maximizes efficiency by using the opponent’s own movements and power against them.
Another strategy of fighting in the Mantis Style involves trading. The practitioner may actually take some of the impact of a punch in order to remain in close to the opponent. They are then in the best position to deliver a powerful and lightning fast counterattack before the opponent can assess the ineffectiveness of their own attack. The Mantis Style also uses many secondary-striking techniques, where one technique is quickly and seamlessly converted into a second strike, like a backhand strike converting into a Mantis Claw to the temple.
Mantis training requires a lot of actual boxing with different training partners in order to develop speed, focus, impact tolerance, and technique. The Mantis fighter must develop skilled awareness of his or her opponent in order to know in advance the opponent’s likely or intended moves. Perfect distancing, targeting, moving, and striking are the necessary combination that the Mantis practitioner is striving to achieve. The Mantis’ body moves and bends in unorthodox ways making it difficult for the opponent to strike effectively to intended targets while at the same time giving the Mantis fighter the proximity and positioning advantage when it comes to attacking the opponent.
The Northern Praying Mantis is believed to be founded and developed, around c.1650 in Shandong Province by Master Wang Lang. Master Wang Lang was a Shaolin Monk who combined stepping and footwork from the Monkey Style with hand techniques from the Mantis Style. The footwork resulted in a forward-thrusting nature to the system.
In the 7 Circles System, both the Northern and Southern Styles of the Mantis make their appearance in our Pre-Arranged Fighting Form and our various other techniques. The Mantis Claw and Hooking Wrist are often used interchangeably with the Crane Hooking Hand and Crane’s Beak. The Mantis will also make effective use of the elbows and knees once the practitioner is able to move within striking range of the opponent. The Bow and Arrow Stance and the Light Leg Stance work together to give the Mantis the ability to appear to be where it is not, and to be where it is not perceived to be by the opponent. The Mantis is the fifth member of the 7 Circles family of animals after the Tiger, Dragon, Crane, and the Monkey, merging in with perfect harmony and devastating consequences.
To be continued: Snake
Click on the Contact Us link above or below to comment or ask questions about this Post or other related topics.
It is not simply practice that makes perfect. It is perfect practice and consistent practice that makes perfect.
