Sixteenth 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.

Eight Diagram Obstructing Door Knife

While I was growing up in Hawaii, my godfather, Cheng Bai Zhang, taught me the Chinese knife and had me train in the art of Taijiquan. I would often visit him at his farm in Waimanalo, where he talked to me about the Chinese martial arts.

Uncle Bai Zhang was an expert in the Chinese "bolo knife." He called it the sugar cane knife, the tool of our ancestors who came from China to work as "coolies" (contract slave laborers) to work on Hawaii's sugar plantations.

I asked Uncle Bai Zhang what was the secret of his Chinese knife (Dao).  He told me that the secret of the Chinese knife was in the practice of its thirteen techniques. As we walked around his farm, I got to learn these thirteen knife techniques. He first taught me knife attacks using five offensive techniques. They were: to pierce (Zha), to split (Pi), to cut (Kan), to cut downwards (To) and to slice (Chan). As time went on, I was taught eight defensive knife techniques. They were: to obstruct (Lan), to intercept (Jie), to scrape (Gua), to stir (Liao), to pull (Lu), to bind (Chan), to fan (Shan), and to slip upwards (Hua).  One summer, I received a pair of Chinese knives in the mail from China. It was from my godparents.

I later went on to learn the Taiji knife. The most intriguing was the Chen family Taiji knife. Originally it consisted of thirteen movements.  I learned the twenty-two movement form. The essentials of this form were in its thirteen knife techniques.  They were: to parry by turning left (Gun), to close right (Bi), to pierce (Zha). to obstruct (Lan), to split vertically (Pi), to cut (Kan), to stir (Liao), to intercept (Jie), to twist (Chan), to shake (Dou), to block overhead (Jia), to smear (Mo), and to flick upwards (Tiao). Training did not end there. I also had to train in five more techniques. They were: to point (Ji), to evade (Shan), to chop levelly (To), to sweep (Sao), and to handover (Jiao).

One of my favorite knife forms is the "Eight Diagram Obstructing Door Knife" (Ba Gua Lan Men Dao). It is the oldest and a treasured form of the Taiji Praying Mantis Boxing School. I had the opportunity to learn two distinct versions of this form. I first learned this knife form in Kowloon, China, from Mr. Kwong Kwun Wai and later in Hawaii under Mr. David Cheng. This form consisted of sixty-nine movements with thirteen knife techniques.

So let's briefly discuss these thirteen knife techniques in order to further understand this weapon form.

The techniques are: to push (Tui), to split (Pi), to stir (Liao), to cut (Kan), to intercept (Jie), to sweep (Sao), to cloud (Yun), to embrace (Bao), to pierce (Zha), to press (An), to fan (Shan), to flick upwards (Tiao), and to smear (Mo).

The first knife technique is to push. This technique is found in movements 6, 8,12,15,19, 52, and 61, "Praying mantis pushing the knife" and in movements 20, 38, and 66, "Turn the body, praying mantis pushing knife."

The second technique is to split, to chop. There are three ways of splitting. There is the vertical split (Zheng Pi), the front split (Qian Lun Pi), and the slanted split (Xie Pi). The vertical split is found in movement 36, "Turn the body and chop with the knife," and in movement 41, "Chop with the knife with right front kick." The front split is found in movements 21, 26, 32, 53, and 57, "Skillful hands chops opponent's wrist," and in movement 28, "Wave and chop with knife flowers." The slanted slit is found in movement 13, "Right climb the mountain and chop the neck."

The third technique is to stir. Stirring is found in the first part of movement 8, "Turning the body with the preying mantis pushing knife," and in movements 11, 14, 18, 44, and 51, "Stirring knife."

The fourth technique is to cut, found in movements 9, 16, 39, 62, and 67, "Cart body, kneel and cut."

The fifth technique is to intercept, found in movements 10, 30, and 65, "Turn the body, bind the head, and conceal the knife."

The sixth technique is to sweep, found in movements 17, 29, 47, and 64, "Horizontal sweep a host of troops," and in movements 24 and 25, "Wind scattering the flowers."

The seventh and eighth knife techniques are to cloud and to embrace, used together in movement 22, "Embracing the moon," and in movements 33, 49, 54, and 59, "Embracing the knife."

The ninth knife technique is to pierce. There are three kinds of piercing techniques. There is the upwards pierce (Shang Zha), the level pierce (Ping Zha), and the downwards pierce (Xia Zha). The upwards pierce is found in movements 35, 50, and 60, "Stamp the leg while piercing the heart knife."

The level pierce is found in movements 46 and 58, "The snake comes out of the cave." The downwards pierce is found in movements 23 and 56, "Yasha searches the ocean," and in movement 37, "Turn the body with needle at tail's end."

The tenth technique is to press, found in movement 27, "Seizing the knife in a crouched posture," and in movement 42, "Jump step and kneel with capturing knife."

The eleventh technique is to fan. You can find it in movements 31, 40, and 43, "Old monk beats the drum."

The twelfh technique is to flick upwards, found in movement 48, "Military officer takes hold of his knife."

The final and thirteenth knife technique is to smear found in movement 63, "Step forwards and support the knife," and in movement 68, "Rotating the body and smear."

Teacher David Cheng once told me that there was an old proverb about the knife in martial arts circles. "If you want to understand your knife, you must first learn to follow your left hand." Teacher Cheng's son Brian was an expert in the praying mantis knives. His favorite wa the continuous winding saber (Lian Huan Dao aka Yu Huan Dao), the whirlwind knife (Si Feng Dao), and the double knives (Shang Dao).  What's your favorite knife? If you want to learn more about the Chinese knife, contact Professor Gregory Fong of Fong's Chinese Martial Arts.

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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