Praying Mantis Kung Fu

[Ray]

Dear Family,
I wanted to ask if anyone on the forum knows about the Praying Mantis form on the following link and perhaps would be able to offer some information, specifically the name of the techniques in the form. This form is one practiced by my father in his younger years and I would be interested in learning it:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTQyOTgzNzI=.html

Shaolin Salute,

Ray

[Luo Lang]

Hello Ray,
When beeing in Portugal, I have had the possibilty to have some fruitful exchanges with a student there, who has spent a lot of time in training the Praying Mantis, before get in contact with the Shaolin Wahnam institute.

The Set he showed me was quite different and unluckily we didn't have much time to go deep into the names of the different patterns, as we focused on some applications. Otherwise I would most certainly be able to reproduce the names of the patters.

He's as far as I know still spending time with practicing it, of course his training in Shaolin Wahnam has helped him greatly to restore and improve what he has learnt. Actually many people can do that, also my brother Ronny, who is well known for his Northern Shaolin Kung Fu is able to involve this training in his regular practice.

If you have interesst to learn the Set, which your father has learnt I would like to encourage you to do so....once you are comfortable with this set, you may do some deeper researches. You can ask your fathers teacher about the names and of course about the applications. You may also ask for example other Masters like Sifu, you will meet, if they could help you out to complete the Set and to restore its glory.

Hope that helps a little.

It may be interessting for you to know that there is a Shaolin Praying Mantis Set in our school. As far as I know though, nobody is practicing it for the time beeing.

Happy research...

[Ray]

Dear Roland Sihing,
It's wonderful to hear from you. Unfortunately my father no longer remembers the set very well since the last time he practiced it was probably forty years ago. Even worse, the whereabouts of his Sifu and his contact information are unknown which is why I posted the set on the forum asking for guidance.
I would like to learn this set because I feel am honoring my father by doing so. If someone could direct me to a reliable videotape or book with this set it would be extremely helpful.

Shaolin Salute,

Ray

[Chiahua]

I'm actually quite interested to know about the Shaolin Praying Mantis Set within Shaolin Wahnam. Is the Mantis set in Shaolin Wahnam derived from Southern Praying Mantis?

[Luo Lang]

Hello,
I do not know from whom Sifu has learnt the Set, so I also do not know about its history....

Actually out of my personal interest (the Praying Mantis style uses quite often the footwork of Monkey) I just asked Sifu if there is a Praying Mantis Set within our family, the Wahnam Institute. He just answered yes there is.

As I have much work to do with my Shaolin Monkey Set I was just happy to know that there is a Set within our family.

But be sure, next time I will ask Sifu some more relevant questions about the Shaolin Praying mantis Set.

Happy training

[Chiahua]

Thank you for asking Sihing! I have some interest in Praying Mantis too. Just from some brief youtube browsing, the Southern School looks to have less fancy footwork, while the northern schools have more tricky steps.

I did a little digging and the form you see on the video is "xiao fan che" (螳螂拳小翻車-- I think that you'll have better luck searching online using the traditional characters rather than the simplified characters). Best as I can see, it's a set from Northern Mantis, but I don't think it's associated with any of the school in particular (Seven star, Taiji, Eight Step, &c.). Also it does not seem to be the core of any style; you may want to go on one of the other kung fu forums to investigate...

[Chiahua]

More digging:

http://www.mantisquarterly.com/forum/showthread.php?t=187

This thread contains some discussion of the "Fan Che" system in the original link that you posted. There are some youtube links too in that thread.

Happy surfing,
Chow

[Ray]

Dear Chow Sihing,
Thanks for the excellent links. It never occurred to me to try and look it up with traditional characters versus simplified. My father and I are thinking of having a relative in asia look for a DVD or book that at least has the patterns.

Best,

Ray