HOW SAN ZHAN TRAINING CAN IMPROVE WEAPON PRACTICE
Plum Flower Sabre of Shaolin Kungfu
Question
Are there any special weapon sets associated with San Zhan of Wuzuquan in the lineage of Sifu Chee Kim Thong? In addition, how can the skills and principles from San Zhan and Wuzuquan improve our weapon practice?
Sifu Mark Blohm , Shaolin Wahnam Taiwan
Answer
When I learned at Sifu Chee Kim Thong’s house in Dungun, weapons were not taught nor even mentioned. I presumed that the emphasis was on unarmed combat.
However, when I visited his school in Kuala Lumpur, I saw a weapon rack with a variety of kungfu weapons. The weapons were also very heavy, about two or three times heavier than most other weapons in other kungfu schools! I presumed that weapons were taught to senior students.
There are no weapon sets associated with San Zhan. When I was learning San Zhan at Sifu Chee Kim Thong’s house, I thought that San Zhan was primary meant to train internal force. Many years later when I prepared myself to teach Wuzuquan in our school, I realized that San Zhan could be used against any form of attack.
Weapons are taught in Wuzuquan. I have seen videos of weapon sets performed by various Wuzuquan schools. The performers used Wuzuquan skills and techniques.
I believe that weapons are taught in Sifu Chee Kim Thong’s lineage although I have not seen any of Sifu Chee Kim Thong’s disciples performing them. If weapons were not found in the lineage, there would not be a weapon rack with a great variety of weapons in Sifu Chee Kim Thong’s official school. Boxing and Taekwondo schools, for example, do not normally display weapon racks. I also heard, though I can’t remember clearly, that it wouldn’t be a problem for students of the school to perform the very heavy weapons because they had internal force.
Although San Zhan is not associated with any weapons, and even if there were no weapons taught in Sifu Chee Kim Thong’s lineage, I am very sure that the skills and techniques from San Zhan will improve our weapon practice.
San Zhan develops flowing internal force. With internal force, any weapon, even when learnt from other lineage, will be easier to perform and apply. The flowing force also makes the performance and application of any weapon flexible and fast.
The techniques in Wuquzuan are suitable for weapons. The short stances, which are characteristic of Wuzuquan, prevent the exponent holding the weapon from being hit by opponents. The simplicity and directness of Wuzuquan are useful in weapon application. The profundity in simplicity of Wuzuquan enables the exponent to understand and work out on his own subtle application of the weapon.
This question and answer are reproduced from the thread Wu Zu Quan -- 10 Questions to Grandmasrter Wong in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
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