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Baguazhang (Pakua Chang) is one of the major Chinese martial arts of the Wudang school. It is also one of the three main internal styles, or neijia. Baguazhang literally means "eight trigram palm," referring to the trigrams of the Yijing (I Ching), one of the canons of Taoism.

History

The truth is that nobody really knows who was the creator of this ancient martial art. Some popular stories talk about Taoist monks living on the mountains in Jiangxi province.

The creation of bagua zhang, as a formalised martial art, is attributed to Dong Haichuan, who is said to have learned from two Taoist masters in the mountains of rural China during the early 1800s. Some believe that the two Taoist priests were from the temple of Wudang, which would derive bagua zhang from Wudang chuan. There is evidence to suggest a synthesis of several pre-existing martial arts taught and practised in the region in which Dong Haichuan lived, combined with Taoist circle walking. Because of his work as a servant in the Imperial Palace he impressed the emperor with his graceful movements and fighting skill, and became an instructor and a body guard to the court. Dong Haichuan taught for many years in Beijing, eventually earning patronage by the Imperial court.

Famous disciples of Dong to become teachers were Yin Fu, Cheng Tinghua, Song Changrong, Liu Fengchun, Ma Weiqi, Liu Baozhen, Liang Zhenpu and Liu Dekuan. Although they were all students of the same teacher, their methods of training and expressions of palm techniques differed. The Cheng and Liu styles are said to specialize in "pushing" the palms, Yin style is known for "threading" the palms, Song's followers practice "Plum Flower" (Mei Hua) palm technique and Ma style palms are known as "hammers." Some of Dong Haichuan's students, including Cheng Tinghua, participated in the Boxer Rebellion. In general, most bagua exponents today practice either the Yin, Cheng, or Liang styles, although Fan, Shi, Liu, Fu, and other styles also exist. (The Liu style is a special case, in that it is rarely practiced alone, but as a complement to other styles). In addition, there are sub-styles of the above methods as well, such as the Sun, Gao, and Jiang styles, which are sub-styles of Cheng method.

Techniques

The practice of circle walking, or "turning the circle", as it is sometimes called, is bagua zhang's characteristic method of stance and movement training. All forms of bagua zhang utilize circle walking prevalently as an integral part of training. Practitioners walk around the edge of the circle in various low stances, facing the center, and periodically change direction as they execute forms. For a beginner the circle is six to twelve feet in diameter. Students first learn flexibility and proper body alignment through the basic exercises, then move on to more complex forms and internal power mechanics. Although the internal aspects of bagua zhang are similar to those of xingyi and taiji quan, they are distinct in nature.

Bagua zhang contains an extremely wide variety of techniques as well as weapons, including various strikes (with palm, fist, elbow, fingers, etc), kicks, joint locks, throws, and distinctively evasive circular footwork. As such, bagua zhang is considered neither a purely striking nor a purely grappling martial art. Bagua zhang practitioners are known for their ability to "flow" in and out of the way of objects. This is the source of the theory of being able to fight multiple attackers. Bagua zhang's evasive nature is also shown by the practice of moving behind an attacker, so that the opponent cannot harm the practitioner.

Although the many branches of bagua zhang are often quite different from each other (some, like Cheng style, specialize in close-in wrestling and joint locks, while others, like some of the Yin styles, specialize in quick, long-range striking), all have circle walking, spiraling methodologies, and certain methods and techniques (piercing palms, crashing palms, etc.) in common.

Bagua zhang's movements employ the whole body with smooth coiling and uncoiling actions, utilizing hand techniques, dynamic footwork, and throws. Rapid-fire movements draw energy from the center of the abdomen. The circular stepping pattern also builds up centrifugal force, allowing the practitioner to maneuver quickly around an opponent.

Weapons

Many distinctive styles of weapons are contained within bagua zhang, some use concealment like the "scholar's pen" or a pair of knives (the most elaborate, which are unique to the style, are the crescent-shaped deer horn knives). Bagua zhang is also known for practicing with extremely large weapons, such as the bagua jian, or bagua sword, and the bagua dao, or bagua broadsword. Other, more conventional, weapons are also used, such as the staff (gun), spear (qiang), crutch (guai), hook sword (gou) and the straight, double-edged sword (jian). Bagua zhang practitioners are also known for being able to use anything as a weapon using the principles of their art.

References

_{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baguazhang}

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