Tenth in a series: Sifu Randy Choy is a well-respected martial arts teacher in Hawaii. Sifu Fong thanks him for graciously sharing his thoughts on training here.

Grand Ultimate Spear

While growing up in Hawaii, I found that Friday night was the most important day of the week. It was the time my Uncle Cai Dai Ban taught me Chinese boxing and later took me to Chinatown to watch Chinese martial arts movies. School was boring and my life was boring, but a good Chinese martial arts movie made life that much more interesting. In those days, Uncle Dai Ban talked about the heros of Shaolin and various Chinese weapons such as the slashing saber, the piercing sword, the thrusting spear, and so on.

My uncle was not rich, but he had a wealth of Chinese culture. When you punched, it was the "Grand Ultimate Hero's Fist." When you chopped, it was the "Grand Ultimate Dragon Palm." When you clawed, it was the "Grand Ultimate Tiger Paw." One day Uncle Dai Ban was out in the yard raking the leaves. That day, I learned "Grand Ultimate Three Movements Spear." It consisted of blocking to the outside, then blocking down to the inside, and then thrusting forward. I later learned that these three spear techniques were to seal up (Bi), to close-off (Feng), and to stab (Ci). If you wanted to learn more about the spear, the most authentic text on the subject came from Mr. Wu Shu (1611-1695). In those days, there were no cameras, so everything was hand written. What Mr. Wu did, was to record the Shi family spear, the Ma family spear, the Sha family spear, the Emei spear, the Yang family spear, and the Meng Lu Hall spear styles in a manual entitled, "The Record of Arms" (Shou Bi Lu).

I'm sure everyone wants to learn the "Grand Ultimate Spear." There are two styles of the "Grand Ultimate Spear" that I'm familar with. Namely, the Chen family Taiji spear and the Taiji Preying Mantis spear. By this time, the movements of "Bi Feng Ci" have been replaced with the terminology of "Lan Na Zha." "Lan" meaning to parry outward. "Na" meaning to parrying inward. And "Zha" meaning to thrust. Both of these spear styles are very old and very different, so let's go through a brief analysis of these two spear styles.

The first style I would like to discuss is the classical Honan Chen family spear which has existed in Chen village for several hundred years. The secrets of their thirteen spear techniques were explained in their seventy-two-movement "Pear Flower Spear and White Ape Cudgel" form. If you are not familiar with these thirteen spear techniques, they are: to thrust (Zha), to parry (Lan), to crack (Pi), to tilt (Beng), to sweep (Sao), to point (Dian), to pick (Tiao), to cut (Pi), to poke (Ba), to support (Jia), to stir (Jiao), to twine (Chan), and to prick (Ci). The unique part of this spear system is their approach to spear fighting. The Chen boxers felt that the spear techniques of "Lan Na Zha" was not practical and shortened their spear application to include parrying and thrusting (Lan Zha) or capturing and thrusting (Na Zha).

In comparison is the Shangtung Taiji Preying Mantis spear style which consists of five basic forms. They are the Plum Flower Spear, the Eight Diagram Spear, the Four Doors Spear, the Double Headed Spear, and the Halberd (Lu Bu Ji). There are six basic offensive spear techniques. They are, stabbing (Ci), thrusting (Biao), piercing (Chuan), splitting (Pi), pointing (Dian), and inserting (Cha). The first technique, the stab is found mainly in the middle level stabbing spear postures. The second technique of thrusting is found in such postures as "Jade ring thrusting spear" or "Under defeated circumstances thrusting spear" to "Four sides encircling the throat spear thrust" and "Behind the back thrusting spear." The third spear technique is the pierce, found in such postures of "Wheel body hop and dredging the moon." The fourth technique is to split, found commonly throughout all the spear forms, whether turning the body, retreating or in "Little jump four sides splitting spear." The fifth spear technique is to point, found in "Kneeling horse a pillar facing the sky." Finally, the sixth technique is to insert, found in "Bow step carrying spear, on the back, while at the same time inserting the spear."

In addition to these six offensive spear techniques, there are nine basic defensive techniques. They are: to parry (Lan), to crush (Ya), to draw back (Chou), to move (Bo), to sweep (Sao), to circle (Quan), to stir (Liao), to pole (Cheng), and to support (Jia). The first defensive technique is to parry. You can find this technique in the postures "Raising the railing." The second technique is to crush. Crush is commonly used along with to raise (Ti) and to parry (Lan). They are performed as to raise, parry and crush before thrusting (Zha). The third defensive technique is to draw back, found in postures "Under defeating circumstances dispel the spear." The fourth technique is the moving spear, found in the single-legged stance or hanging stance while using the dispelling spear. The fifth technique is the sweep. It is found in the posture "Stirring the grass to find the snake." The sixth is to circle, used when advancing. The seventh technique is to stir, found in the posture, "Wai To presents his staff." The eighth technique is to pole, a backward parrying technique used in the twisted stance or when retreating. The final and ninth defensive technique is to support, found in the posture, "The golden crossbeam crosses the ocean."

If you understand everything that I have just discussed, you can consider yourself an "Expert Spearsman." Of course, there are those experts who don't know about the halberd (Lu Bu Ji). The spear with a snake head and a crescent blade on the side. So let's discuss this spear form. The Taiji Preying Mantis Boxing system has a fifty-eight movement halberd (Lu Bu Ji) form. It consists of eight halberd techniques. They are: to stab (Zha), to parry (Lan), to crush (Ya), to split (Pi), to stir (Liao), to support (Jia), to move downward (Xia Bo), and to hook (Gou).

This is a very old spear style with a couple of techniques not commonly found in the basic spear forms. So let's analyze. The first halberd technique is the stab. There are three kinds of stabs, the upward stab (Shang Zha), the middle level stab (Zhong Zha), and the backward upward stab (Hou Shang Zha). The upward stab is found in the postures 31, "Stir the grass searching for the snake." The middle level stab is found in postures 13 and 54, "Searching the clouds for the flood dragon," in posture 17, "Single stance striking toward the heart," in postures 25, 29, and 34, "Stir the grass searching for the snake," in postures 40 and 45, "Strike toward the heart." The backward upward stab is found in postures 8, 37, and 49, "Pointing at the star, gazing at the moon." Also practiced is the downward stab (Xia Zha), the backward middle level stab (Hou Zhong Zha), and the backward downward stab (Hou Xia Zha).

The second technique is the parry. To raise (Ti) is used prior to using the parry (Lan) in many of the halberd postures such as 11 and 52, "Obstructing the heavenly gate," in posture 30, "White snake ascends on the wind," and in posture 41, "The golden crossbeam cross the ocean." The third technique is to crush, similar to capturing (Na). It is found in postures 12, 15, and 53, "Yellow dragon clings to the pole," in postures 35, 43, and 47, "Green dragon extends its claws." The fourth halberd technique is to split, to chop, found in posture 21, "Jade ring splits the mountain" and in posture 39, "Turn around, splitting the mountain." The fifth technique is to stir, to scoop, found in posture 19, "Forward step with stirring halberd," in posture 36, "Single stance stirring halberd" and in posture 48, "Forward step, single stance with stirring halberd." The sixth technique is to support, found in posture 41, "The golden crossbeam crosses the ocean." The seventh technique is the movement downward, found in postures 9, 44, and 50, "Green dragon bows its head." The final and eighth halberd technique is the hook, found in posture 14, "Fierce tiger turns its head," in postures 18, 20, 26, and 28, "Golden dragon wags its tail," in postures 32, 33, and 46, "Shang Ji blows the flute."

No matter what kind of spear you decide to master, there is an old saying, "It takes a hundred days to learn the saber and a thousand days to learn the spear." In conclusion, before you call yourself an "expert," you should also practice the five kinds of spear butt methods (Qiang Ba Fa). They are: the inverted spear butt (Dou Ba), the stirring spear butt ( Liao Ba), the splitting spear butt (Pi Ba), the poling spear butt (Cheng Ba), and the thrusting spear butt (Biao Ba). Now you can call yourself an "Expert Spearsman."

Mahalo,
Professor Randy Choy
Founder of the Chinese Athletic Arts Academy
Advisor to the Hawaii Martial Arts International Society
Chuk Kai Tai Chi Praying Mantis Organization, Hawaii

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