As a teacher and 5th degree blackbelt in goju ryu and a student of Sifu liu "feeding crane" i can say with surety that the roots of goju and uechi ryu karate are readily apparent in crane boxing
Excuse my saying but a principal difference in uechi-ryu from other arts is the closed fist with palm perpendicúlar to the floor: I or /, instead of -----.
I've watched this several times, always amazing. It's proof positive no matter how much you have trained and learned there is more than you could possibly learn in 10 life times out there.
Mr. Kam Wing Pang: I am Tim Cheung the producer of this White Crane episode. The idea to edit another episode about Okinawa Karate can be traced to the time when Stephen and I finished the filming in Okinawa. I told him maybe I can made a 番外篇 for it. I believe we should use more duration, or even another episode to show Okinawa Karate's good things.
Greetings, Mr. Cheung. I've spent the last 53 years researching the origins of Okinawa karate and if there was a link to White Crane. I have roughly 200 names in the genealogy of this research. I can't say I've completed the work but I can say that there appears a solid link of a particular old Okinawan family to one of the first 36 Chinese families who came to Okinawa in 1392. There also appears to be a good line to white crane and to Fujian. Laurence Lance
@@laurencelance586 Hello Laurence, are you refering maybe to the familiy Kojo? I am not sure, but i believe to have read that the Kojos have a chinese ancestry from Fujian and that these came to introduce the chinese culture in Kumemura.
@@salvatoreplacidoplumari3840 Yes, I am refering to the Kojo family. They are repeatedly found in the Matsumura history. I've spen the last 50 years putting together the linage of the Matsumura family karate and at this point I am satisified that the Kojo family were at the least one of the foundational sources for what became the Matsumura family system. I've uncovered a great deal more ( all with sources) than can be written of here.
I love it. The origins of Sanchin Kata. I loved it when the old Chinese master points out that the breathing exhalations should sound like a Crane and not the typical rough throaty sound people make when doing it. Wonder what Chojin Myagi, Yamamoto Funikoshi, Shimabuku etc. would think of that?
As a Goju Ryu practitioner (USA Goju and Goju Kai), I always been enamored with the roots of the art. I have trained with a few Okinawan masters, and attended a few Morio Higaonna seminars in the past. I have read the bubishi and read alot books on the roots of the art. This series was a breath of fresh air and masterfully done. I was very impressed scope and all of the great demonstrations. Their really is a link in the arts across the oceans. I hope to see more in the future
Yantsu is one of my favorite katas and it's movements does resemble that of Chinese Martial Arts. Even if I'm a Kyokushin practitioner, I appreciate every style of Karate or even any other martial art. It's great that martial arts have many different styles and movements that you can tell one from the other. Osu!
Stephen Au and Ah Kin are friends of mine and trains at the same dojo. Introduced him to Higaonna Sensei and his eyes are now permanently opened. This episode doesn't actually do the Okinawan Karate much justice. Stephen complained and RTHK edited an episode just about Okinawan Karate.. Thanks for posting though.
Great documentary. The Master Liu's demonstration when he was explaining the 3 arms looked incredibly vicious and at the same time it was quite enlightening.
No solo es el Kung Fu de la Grulla Blanca parte del origen del Karate, también hay elementos del sudeste asiático y en mayor medida de Japón. Además, en Ryukyu ya tenían sus propias artes marciales como el Te o el Tegumi y el Shima. Not only is White Crane Kung Fu part of the origin of Karate, there are also elements from Southeast Asia and to a greater extent from Japan. Furthermore, in Ryukyu they already had their own martial arts such as Te or Tegumi and Shima.
@@gojumaster Thank you. I had a martial arts trainer a little less than 18 years ago who twice demonstrated in passing this praying mantis techniques where someone gets slapped on the top of their head and he said that it's like getting hit with a wet towel. I should have asked him to show me how to do it. Is there any particular way to slap the top of the head? I was thinking that the bones on the top of the palm that are right under the pinky, ring, middle and index fingers should land first or the heel of the palm should land first.
@@RagingUtai Yeah, I can kinda confirm. I did Ng Zou Kyun (Wu Chu) 五祖拳 and we didn't have such movements as "feeding crane". But maybe I wasn't taught this, or perhaps my shifu did not learn this. We also used more legs and some low to the floor stances.
@@damienscabinetmaking4243 what i learned was that 5 ancestors uses the shaolin form of crane , where as fujian white crane is more a hakka art. I think there is only few similarities.
@@RagingUtai Yeah, that makes sense since we our training repertoire was "shaolin" style with formal lines of students doing forms simultaneously, which would be a more an academic approach. Except I am almost certain it was "Southern Shaolin" 南少林 which actually is in Fujian and not the commonly known "Shaolin Temple" in the north. This is from Song dynasty and later Southern Song dynasty who controlled most of Southern China. The "Five ancestors" are references to certain Song emperors, I guess similar to how the British name "Her Majesty's" or "By warrant of Her Royal Highness" as branding for services or shops that the Royal Palace used and approved of. What is similar to Northern styles like Monk Fist is that we did some palm strikes as well as fists and finger strikes. Also stances were emphatically drilled into us. I suppose higher levels would condition palms, finger tips, knuckles, and wrist or rotator cuff strength exercises but we didn't have these facilities here, the space or the time.
Then I edited another special for Okinawa Karate, right after the White Crane episode's editing, immediately, by myself. It takes about a month to finish all the post production of this Special. This special is originally planned, it's not about Stephen complains or not. Whether Stephen complains or not we'll continue to implement our plan and produce it. Our job is to provide good stuff to audience, not to please anybody.
Dear Mr. Pang. Thanks for your appreciation of our work. Concerning your query, I found you can see the English translation subtitle of Okinawa Special by checking KUNG FU QUEST - WHITE CRANE BOXING EP5 (ENG SUB) in RUclips. You may see it from time code 44:05, right after the White Crane episode. It seems some audience see it in the Kung Fu Quest II DVD boxset and put it into RUclips.
This has been a eye opener. This was so well done and not just style oriented. It really did bridge the gaps between systems and I believe show the lineage of karate from kung fu as agreed upon by some very influential master's. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Karate is a martial art with Japonic roots and Sinitic influence. Its core is in Okinawan (southern Japanese) martial arts, called "Te". After centuries passed, it received certain influence from Kung Fu, being renamed to "Tô de", and subsequently "Karate". In other words, Karate is a hybrid fighting style.
karate used to be called 唐手、which literally means 'the hand of Tang", Tang 唐, referring to the Tang dynasty of China. It was only changed to 空手、with the same pronunciation as 唐手 after it was introduced to Japanese mainland, because they wanted to get rid of any Chinese connotations. So Karate was really a Chinese Kung Fu style practiced by Okinawa. They did the same thing to many aspects from Chinese culture, which are considered to be Japanese, like Ramen "Lamian" , Shodo "Shufa", Sado "Chadao" Zen, "Chan" etc. Some have been evolved by Japan to become its own thing, but most of the time, a more ancient equivalent has always existed in China first, and passed down to Japan.
@@ultrasonicradiation Yes, this is true. I study a lot of ancient Chinese history and an uncommonly known fact is that there was 'Maritime Silk Road' that actually ran Eastward from Central China to the coastline where much of the Korean peninsula around the Manchurian area including many southern islands in what's now modern Japan once were part of the Central Kingdom 中國 ie China, and were mapped by both sides as belonging to Chinese territory well before Tang dynasty 6th century AD but in the Han dynasty 2nd century BC 漢朝, even Qin dynasty 秦朝 in 221 BC though we don't have many records still intact from that time... It was just a fact of life. China was bigger than the Roman or Persian empire... and people back then were not pro-Japanese or particularly nationalistic, but even in Japan there are multiple small kingdoms many of whom swore allegiance to China and were in fact Chinese clans or branches of famous Chinese clans! Not only is "Kanji" literally "Han (dynasty) characters" 漢字 that the Japanese happily adopted/imported our culture but it's so much deeper as they adopted our religious practices and even followed our religious changes, whether to align themselves with our monotheistic worship of Shangdi in the Imperial Temple annually or later "Buddhism" when we became syncretistic. A lot of this was due to the fact that the Silk Road went to North India/Pakistan... The vast majority of Japanese temple architecture, furniture, ritual/ceremonial bronzeware are status symbols adopted from as early as Zhou dynasty culture in the 11th century BC! But while we obviously kept updating and moving on as this documentary shows the regions surrounding China fascinatingly and ironically RETAINED and PRESERVED really old practices of ours, and we are having to go to them to learn what we ourselves have abandoned or forgotten!
@@damienscabinetmaking4243 China has simply evolved in a different direction from Japanese culture, but both are deep rooted in Chinese culture and traditions.
Kanryo Hishionna did not found Goju ryu, he was a Naha te master who had a student, Miyagi Chojun, who after Higashionna's death went to China and studied martial arts there, and after returning to Okinawa he founded Goju ryu. I've cut a long story way too short.
I really want to learn karate now. I was a lay man before 44 mins and now know couple of things I could have never known if not for this video. Thanks for uploading. Definitely impressed, specially with the breathing techniques and the way they generate power with such small movements with controlled breathing.
I had the pleasure of being trained for a short period from when I was 13 until I was around 16yrs of age in White Crane and then progressively into tiger Crane. The man I studied under was a Chinese man named Rikki who had moved to Seattle from Louisiana, he was an X police officer. His skill was exceptional, he didn't brag but we eventually found out he had reached the fifth "Dan" or degree. He had scars on his back from an accident with a sword during a demonstration. Even though my training would be considered rudimentary I have found that White Crane itself is the most versatile and deadly martial art I have ever seen. There is no rigidity in practice but only fluidity. Even today when I demonstrate some simple things I learned in my youth people are immediately amazed at the speed and viciousness of the attack and how quickly I move to circle. So I will impart this one story to you all. One day during practice in an open parking lot area a man and a woman showed up. Now mind you Rikki was only at that time training me, a friend and my friends mother. This man and woman came to see the validity of our training. They came to test Rikki was the truth of it. The large man said that if Rikki could beat him in a spar then he would pay for 1 year of training and abandon his other school. The fight was on, I had never seen a real in person martial arts combat like this. It ended so quickly, The very second the man moved to attack, Rikki moved around behind him, kicked the back of his knee, the man went down on one knee hard, Rikki then jumped off the mans bent knee and slapped him very hard in the back of his head. This was all in one fast fluid movement. That was the day I realized how lucky I was and the day I realized that White Crane is the most effective martial art in existence, period.
No, not that I know of. I can't even be sure I have spelled his first name right. He spoke perfect English. At one point he had his own school with a dojo somewhere in the Northwest but I cannot find him. I had found it before, but currently I can't seem to locate that dojo or him. He would be older now, 40s, early 50s maybe.
So basically it's impossible to say one legit karate or kung fu style is the best and be correct. They're all good. It really comes down to the practitioner. You see, all legit karate have the same roots. They may have slightly different tendencies, but all the main styles are superb.
When I was a kid I used to watch Bruce Lee movies and I still absolutely love Bruce Lees work. As a young 17 year old I didnt even know the difference between Chinese Boxing and Japanese Karate, so in a guess I joined a Goju Ryu school thinking I was going to learn Kung Fu. Well even although I was actually studying Kung Fu I didnt know it at the time, as it was called Goyu Ryu Karate, so because I really wanted to study Jeet Kune Do and couldnt, then later on in life I ran into a Kung Fu School and studied a bit of Shaolin Kung Fu. So after all my guessing and trying now I find out that Goju Ryu is actually White Crane Kung Fu and that makes me very happy as what I thought was Karate is actually a lot closer to what I really wanted to study in the first place which was Bruce Lees style. For my legs I use a cat stance which I learned in Goju Ryu and for my hands I use the sticky hands from Kung Fu as the groin protection is very good in Goju Ryu, but I prefer the sticky hands to the ridged Goju Ryu upper body as you fight a lot closer in Kung Fu which intimidates people if they not used to having some ones head 300mm away from theirs then they cant deliver those big long strikes and if they not used to fighting up close then they buggered. All in all I am very great-full to have leaned these things as they have kept me fitter and safer than I could ever have been if I knew nothing of either of them. White Crane Goju Ryu has saved me from a large gang of people, when they see you can drop 2 guys in a row in a few seconds then the rest of the crowd kinda hangs back a bit even although there were 8 people I only had to fight with 3 of them and the rest declared a truce - lol The most important thing it has done is kept me fit and un afraid of defending myself for over 30 years, I am old now and I still have a 6 pack stomach hehe that was the original plan (to live longer through doing exercise) and it has worked well for me, so I say Thank you to The Kung Fu guys and Thank you to the Goju Ryu guys you are the best, keep up the great work.
The art is artless without a true participant Sir... Therefore you make the art more than it's actually worth through your own dedicated efforts regardless of all who pioneered it before you. ... It's greatest instructor is all found in what we experience in life. For there is a wonderful lesson in that type of understanding and a teacher without limits who writes his words on the tablets of our hearts. You are an example of this meaning because you remained open for a journey where quitting has no place in it!
im 16 years old and training goju ryu karate, and i want to keep doing it until i am old, and your comment was very motivational, you sound a bit like me because i love Bruce lee too
Just don't worship it. Rather respect it instead with a particular emphasis placed on it as a means to enhance your health. You are going to encounter some setbacks along the way of this journey however such experiences are all naturally designed to bring out the best in us. Before you can make gold it must first go through much fire and then all of that heat will cause it to shine ever so flawlessly. Follow this truth and you too will shine brightly as is this truth young friend
I appreciate your answer very much and what you are saying to me, I am going to take those words to me through out my journey and remember what you have told me, osu
May GOOD HEALTH be your greatest wealth in conjunction with a PEACE of mind accordingly! Learn and learn well enough to take care of yourself young friend: A man who does well at taking good care of himself is a man who possesses the ability to also take care of those around him
Mr.Cheung: It is an interesting view in the video.As you know,Karate and Kobudo were a full traininng program for warriors. Okinawa was a CHINESE possesion until the 20th century. Tang Hand arrived at approx. 600 BCE. Somehow, with time, it became part of Buddhist Temple's curriculum and became associated with anti-government activities. Regards
Believe it or not, most martial arts that came to exist originated from Kung Fu. For example, Taekwondo was originated from Northern Chinese Kung Fu which is known for their acrobatic movements and the use of high kicks.
Dear Mr. Pang, My fault. In the last reply I said you can search KUNG FU QUEST - WHITE CRANE BOXING EP5 (ENG SUB) and find English subtitle of it in RUclips. Actually it just shows the first part of it. I don't know why but I do want to express my apologize. The Okinawa special as you know indeed has three parts. I'll ask RTHK and see if I can put the whole English version in RUclips. Will inform you asap.
White Crane and other various forms of The Chinese Martial Arts is the foundation for for The Okinawans developed their own system which is now called Karate. And since Okinawa became part of Japan, such system had to be modified to the Japanese style of techniques and movements which is primary hard and linear. Osu!
Not true, exactly. The Okinawan styles of Karate - Shorin Ryu, Goju Ryu, Uechi Ryu - are still very close to their original Chinese roots. It was actually Gichin Funakoshi, creator of Shotokan Karate, who modified his style(derived from Shorin Ryu) so that it would be more acceptable to the Japanese. Other Japanese Karate styles followed suit, but the Okinawan Karate styles are still close to their Chinese origins.
When I was in China in the 60s I never got a chance to visit Fuzhou, I was in Hong Kong for a little while....I didnt know Fuzhou was where Karate originated from.
Hi Tim, Thank you for your kind update and clarification. I really enjoyed your special edit of the Okinawan episode as have many many others around the world. Your edition has been frequently passed around the martial arts community and have been enjoyed by many. I noticed that the Okinawan special edit doesn't have English subtitles. Would one be added later? Thanks again Tim for your reply and hard work in producing the Okinawan Karate episode. Kam
really-whitecrane the forerunner to karate-do.What happened to the mixture of whitecrane/tiger/shaolin longfist/5 ancestors gung fu mixed with pre Japanese Okinawin te.Then the 3 okinawin styles of Naha,Shuri and Tomari te then the introduction of the watered down version of shotokan to mainland Japan in the 1920's by Gichin Funagoshi?????
Why r u being soo agressive???I see nothing wrong with his writing (he's not writting a book. Is just a comment in a internet channel. Stupid!!!!!!! I clearly see who's the "stupid" here. JERK!!!!
And Fujian White Crane was also studied by some of the old Korean masters and introduced into indigenous Korean martial arts. Later called "the Way of the Chinese Hand", united with the organization system of Karate, we then had Tae Kwon Do, which now is an Olympic sport.
Interesting, I didn't realise that there was so much arm techniques in crane. I always thought that crane style kung fu was China's version of Taekwondo.
i believe there was a more ancient marital art in Okinawa before 1870s. There was much commerce with Chinese merchants from before 1400 to the 1800s i presume. im not sure how the takeover by the samurai in the late 1500s affected commerce. i would think they did not seal off Okinawa to foreigners like they did the mainland after 1615 to 1860s because they did tax them prob a lot. I was told long ago the Karate straight punch was designed to hit a samurai in his armor. the various farm implements used to fight the katana like the sai, tonfa, sickle and chain prob were developed arts before 1870s. the samurai also forbid them from having swords, spears, halberds, etc from the 1590s so they had to defend themselves and trained in secret at night. so Okinawan Karate was prob a blend of the ancient arts and this White Crane. and further evolution after WWII before we saw it
+Jon Leonard I think that was a touch spar session. If it's in a real fight, we might see something more similar to a superman punch or a hammer strike.
The Paper Tigers is a book by Allan Ondash that will help any martial artist determine what is real and what is not. It is very comprehensive leaving no stone untouched. It is the “Hell’s Kitchen” of martial arts.
Mas Oyama trained Shotokan and Goju Ryu, so some of the kata have the Kung fu elements with a bit of circular movements from Oyama's training in Japanese Aikijutsu. Kyokushin is a bit more modern style of karate post World War II. This documentary goes more into the earlier connection between White Crane and Okinawa Karate which predates Kyokushin.
Doesn't do much justice in what way? btw do you know where I can find some good goju kata practiced correctly? I have a wushu friend that puts it down. I tried to show him a five ancestor first form but he said that they have small circular movements ;as if goju or okinawan arts didn't. I want to open his eyes and just make him stop being so ignorant. One of these days his mouth will get him in trouble.he's not a fighter just a showman though
there's a MA which way more older than any chinese art.It's name is kalaripayat from India,The Master became one of the patriarch in buddhism after his death.
KEN-POU is the Japanese pronunciation of CHUANFA in Chinese. It just means FIST-ART(or method, law), naming just every form of fighting with bare hands. "Shaolin boxing" is SHAOLINCHUANFA but usually it's shortened to only CHUAN. TAICHICHUAN, BAJICHUAN, LUOHANCHUAN, HSINGYICHUAN, ZHANGCHANGCHUAN, and so on.
"Is this the origin of Karate?" The frank answer is "no". Karate itself was not born in China or from kung fu by itself. Most forms of traditional Karate originate from the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa), and some traditional masters have attributed Chinese boxing as one of the places that karate borrowed early techniques from. I will say this in closing though; This seems to be focused on one school of Karate (one I am not familiar with at the moment), and the information provided is vaguely categorized as "karate" in a time when there are many styles of Karate, so I am not sure how what I have learned on a general scale matches this video's information. But, history is fun to learn about so why not jump in and learn right?
Hey for those of your chinese people. I would like to thank many of you to make a difference besides thinking like government does. From the techniques, teachings, technologies, and even art. We Japanese held that power until the Tang Dynasty came in your time. We were able to pass down those knowledge from here in Japan. So as you guys seeking to get this answer. Like the anime Baki The Grappler "china over 4000 years of history."
I can see why Bruce Lee pissed off and offended so many traditionalists... But I do see some applicable technique thru out this presentation,,, Just all the b,s, to get to them.. Anthropological studies brought me here,, I value the video greatly. Thanks again
In no way that karate in general didn't came from white crane because karate is its own native martial art of the Ryukyu Islands. The only ones that derive the white crane techniques are goju ryu and Uechi ryu.
Any Karate with kata has some degree of influence from Chinese martial arts (not just White Crane). The original Shuri-te had no kata for example. Take a look at Shotokan's lineage. Gichin Funakoshi
FoieGras If Uechi ryu came from han kou nan, pan gai nun's true pronunciation, how did Uechi-sensei learned sanchin from? He would had to learned sanchin from white crane since it's the only Chinese styles that teaches it.
6arcsn1sky Are you SURE?!?! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangai-noon It's said that the original Uechi-ryu was unmodified from Pangai noon. You can quit bullshitting now.
Well, If you want to play THAT game, realkarate.wordpress.com/pan-gai-noon/ I quote "the Pan Gai Noon book concentrates Sanchin and Seisan." I merely referenced Wikipedia because face it, it's a lot more reliable than 6arcsn1sky :) And I know what it's called in Chinese as well. But I don't feel like arguing semantics like a 6-yo. Is it THAT important to you? OOOOKKKK! YOU WIN!!
@@gojumasterI think what happened is the Japanese strict culture of honorifics and respect caused the original Crying White Crane Kung Fu imported by a single man or two who only spent 3 years in China to become abstracted and taught as static positions and no revision spirit was tolerated. Anything from White Crane Kung Fu that the oirignal importer did not learn or that he could not teach easily like flexibility and continuous movements was quickly lost and incorrectly assumed NOT PART of the style. Such that generation after generation absence of these elements were taught as genuine when in fact it's the detrimental combined effect of a strict culture of respect and conservatism, and a significant loss of knowledge in the transmission.
As a teacher and 5th degree blackbelt in goju ryu and a student of Sifu liu "feeding crane" i can say with surety that the roots of goju and uechi ryu karate are readily apparent in crane boxing
Excuse my saying but a principal difference in uechi-ryu from other arts is the closed fist with palm perpendicúlar to the floor: I or /, instead of -----.
I've watched this several times, always amazing. It's proof positive no matter how much you have trained and learned there is more than you could possibly learn in 10 life times out there.
Mr. Kam Wing Pang: I am Tim Cheung the producer of this White Crane episode. The idea to edit another episode about Okinawa Karate can be traced to the time when Stephen and I finished the filming in Okinawa. I told him maybe I can made a 番外篇 for it. I believe we should use more duration, or even another episode to show Okinawa Karate's good things.
Greetings, Mr. Cheung.
I've spent the last 53 years researching the origins of Okinawa karate and if there was a link to White Crane. I have roughly 200 names in the genealogy of this research. I can't say I've completed the work but I can say that there appears a solid link of a particular old Okinawan family to one of the first 36 Chinese families who came to Okinawa in 1392. There also appears to be a good line to white crane and to Fujian.
Laurence Lance
@@laurencelance586 Hello Laurence, are you refering maybe to the familiy Kojo? I am not sure, but i believe to have read that the Kojos have a chinese ancestry from Fujian and that these came to introduce the chinese culture in Kumemura.
@@salvatoreplacidoplumari3840 Yes, I am refering to the Kojo family. They are repeatedly found in the Matsumura history. I've spen the last 50 years putting together the linage of the Matsumura family karate and at this point I am satisified that the Kojo family were at the least one of the foundational sources for what became the Matsumura family system.
I've uncovered a great deal more ( all with sources) than can be written of here.
I love it. The origins of Sanchin Kata. I loved it when the old Chinese master points out that the breathing exhalations should sound like a Crane and not the typical rough throaty sound people make when doing it. Wonder what Chojin Myagi, Yamamoto Funikoshi, Shimabuku etc. would think of that?
This was simply marvelous! This video shows the historical elegance and rich complexity of the traditional martial arts.
As a Goju Ryu practitioner (USA Goju and Goju Kai), I always been enamored with the roots of the art. I have trained with a few Okinawan masters, and attended a few Morio Higaonna seminars in the past. I have read the bubishi and read alot books on the roots of the art. This series was a breath of fresh air and masterfully done. I was very impressed scope and all of the great demonstrations. Their really is a link in the arts across the oceans. I hope to see more in the future
Kyokushin practitioner such as myself can relate as well as Goju-Ryu is one of our parent styles of Karate.
flip1sba I'm with you on that big time, plus for the kata "Yanstu" in the Kyokushin Syllabus has influence of Chinese MA as an example.
Yantsu is one of my favorite katas and it's movements does resemble that of Chinese Martial Arts.
Even if I'm a Kyokushin practitioner, I appreciate every style of Karate or even any other martial art.
It's great that martial arts have many different styles and movements that you can tell one from the other. Osu!
Kyokushin is nothing more than modernized GOJURYU.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I had a friend who was a Goju Ryu practitioner. I practice Taekwondo and Kickboxing.
Dear Tim,
Thank you. Many people from overseas has been asking about a subtitled version of it, which is the reason why I asked.
Thanks again.
Stephen Au and Ah Kin are friends of mine and trains at the same dojo. Introduced him to Higaonna Sensei and his eyes are now permanently opened. This episode doesn't actually do the Okinawan Karate much justice. Stephen complained and RTHK edited an episode just about Okinawan Karate.. Thanks for posting though.
Thanks for posting with captions.
the fact that they acually spar is huge
Because white crane you can tell wing chun and karate are sibling arts to each other
Great documentary. The Master Liu's demonstration when he was explaining the 3 arms looked incredibly vicious and at the same time it was quite enlightening.
No solo es el Kung Fu de la Grulla Blanca parte del origen del Karate, también hay elementos del sudeste asiático y en mayor medida de Japón. Además, en Ryukyu ya tenían sus propias artes marciales como el Te o el Tegumi y el Shima.
Not only is White Crane Kung Fu part of the origin of Karate, there are also elements from Southeast Asia and to a greater extent from Japan. Furthermore, in Ryukyu they already had their own martial arts such as Te or Tegumi and Shima.
At 9:37, was that a crane beak strike to the top of the head? It is too blurry for me to see. I watched it in slow motion a bunch of times.
I'm pretty sure it was a slap. The "baihui" point is the likely target.
@@gojumaster Thank you. I had a martial arts trainer a little less than 18 years ago who twice demonstrated in passing this praying mantis techniques where someone gets slapped on the top of their head and he said that it's like getting hit with a wet towel. I should have asked him to show me how to do it.
Is there any particular way to slap the top of the head? I was thinking that the bones on the top of the palm that are right under the pinky, ring, middle and index fingers should land first or the heel of the palm should land first.
White Crane is one of the five systems encompassed in Five Ancestors Fist or Ngo Cho Kun
Theres a different between fujian white crane and the crane found in 5 ancestores
@@RagingUtai Yeah, I can kinda confirm. I did Ng Zou Kyun (Wu Chu) 五祖拳 and we didn't have such movements as "feeding crane". But maybe I wasn't taught this, or perhaps my shifu did not learn this. We also used more legs and some low to the floor stances.
@@damienscabinetmaking4243 what i learned was that 5 ancestors uses the shaolin form of crane , where as fujian white crane is more a hakka art. I think there is only few similarities.
@@RagingUtai Yeah, that makes sense since we our training repertoire was "shaolin" style with formal lines of students doing forms simultaneously, which would be a more an academic approach. Except I am almost certain it was "Southern Shaolin" 南少林 which actually is in Fujian and not the commonly known "Shaolin Temple" in the north. This is from Song dynasty and later Southern Song dynasty who controlled most of Southern China. The "Five ancestors" are references to certain Song emperors, I guess similar to how the British name "Her Majesty's" or "By warrant of Her Royal Highness" as branding for services or shops that the Royal Palace used and approved of. What is similar to Northern styles like Monk Fist is that we did some palm strikes as well as fists and finger strikes. Also stances were emphatically drilled into us. I suppose higher levels would condition palms, finger tips, knuckles, and wrist or rotator cuff strength exercises but we didn't have these facilities here, the space or the time.
Look at the kata Tensho of Traditional Okinawa Goju-Ryu as taught by Hanshi Tetsuhiro Hokama. Fujian White Crane is very evident in the kata.
Then I edited another special for Okinawa Karate, right after the White Crane episode's editing, immediately, by myself. It takes about a month to finish all the post production of this Special. This special is originally planned, it's not about Stephen complains or not. Whether Stephen complains or not we'll continue to implement our plan and produce it. Our job is to provide good stuff to audience, not to please anybody.
Dear Mr. Pang.
Thanks for your appreciation of our work. Concerning your query, I found you can see the English translation subtitle of Okinawa Special by checking KUNG FU QUEST - WHITE CRANE BOXING EP5 (ENG SUB) in RUclips. You may see it from time code 44:05, right after the White Crane episode. It seems some audience see it in the Kung Fu Quest II DVD boxset and put it into RUclips.
Really great series.....thank you for sharing, especially if you are interested in Okinawa Goju Ryu history.
This has been a eye opener. This was so well done and not just style oriented. It really did bridge the gaps between systems and I believe show the lineage of karate from kung fu as agreed upon by some very influential master's. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Karate is a martial art with Japonic roots and Sinitic influence.
Its core is in Okinawan (southern Japanese) martial arts, called "Te".
After centuries passed, it received certain influence from Kung Fu, being renamed to "Tô de", and subsequently "Karate".
In other words, Karate is a hybrid fighting style.
Wrong Ryukyuan Karate was originally called Chinese Hand.
karate used to be called 唐手、which literally means 'the hand of Tang", Tang 唐, referring to the Tang dynasty of China. It was only changed to 空手、with the same pronunciation as 唐手 after it was introduced to Japanese mainland, because they wanted to get rid of any Chinese connotations. So Karate was really a Chinese Kung Fu style practiced by Okinawa. They did the same thing to many aspects from Chinese culture, which are considered to be Japanese, like Ramen "Lamian" , Shodo "Shufa", Sado "Chadao" Zen, "Chan" etc. Some have been evolved by Japan to become its own thing, but most of the time, a more ancient equivalent has always existed in China first, and passed down to Japan.
@@ultrasonicradiation Yes, this is true. I study a lot of ancient Chinese history and an uncommonly known fact is that there was 'Maritime Silk Road' that actually ran Eastward from Central China to the coastline where much of the Korean peninsula around the Manchurian area including many southern islands in what's now modern Japan once were part of the Central Kingdom 中國 ie China, and were mapped by both sides as belonging to Chinese territory well before Tang dynasty 6th century AD but in the Han dynasty 2nd century BC 漢朝, even Qin dynasty 秦朝 in 221 BC though we don't have many records still intact from that time... It was just a fact of life. China was bigger than the Roman or Persian empire... and people back then were not pro-Japanese or particularly nationalistic, but even in Japan there are multiple small kingdoms many of whom swore allegiance to China and were in fact Chinese clans or branches of famous Chinese clans! Not only is "Kanji" literally "Han (dynasty) characters" 漢字 that the Japanese happily adopted/imported our culture but it's so much deeper as they adopted our religious practices and even followed our religious changes, whether to align themselves with our monotheistic worship of Shangdi in the Imperial Temple annually or later "Buddhism" when we became syncretistic. A lot of this was due to the fact that the Silk Road went to North India/Pakistan... The vast majority of Japanese temple architecture, furniture, ritual/ceremonial bronzeware are status symbols adopted from as early as Zhou dynasty culture in the 11th century BC! But while we obviously kept updating and moving on as this documentary shows the regions surrounding China fascinatingly and ironically RETAINED and PRESERVED really old practices of ours, and we are having to go to them to learn what we ourselves have abandoned or forgotten!
@@damienscabinetmaking4243 China has simply evolved in a different direction from Japanese culture, but both are deep rooted in Chinese culture and traditions.
thank you for sharing this terrific documentary!
Thanks for posting, Russ.
Kanryo Hishionna did not found Goju ryu, he was a Naha te master who had a student, Miyagi Chojun, who after Higashionna's death went to China and studied martial arts there, and after returning to Okinawa he founded Goju ryu. I've cut a long story way too short.
Compelling doc , history is good since we learn so much that helps us NOW.
Awesome series, going to watch as many episodes as I can today before my TKD class haha
I really want to learn karate now. I was a lay man before 44 mins and now know couple of things I could have never known if not for this video. Thanks for uploading. Definitely impressed, specially with the breathing techniques and the way they generate power with such small movements with controlled breathing.
I had the pleasure of being trained for a short period from when I was 13 until I was around 16yrs of age in White Crane and then progressively into tiger Crane. The man I studied under was a Chinese man named Rikki who had moved to Seattle from Louisiana, he was an X police officer. His skill was exceptional, he didn't brag but we eventually found out he had reached the fifth "Dan" or degree. He had scars on his back from an accident with a sword during a demonstration. Even though my training would be considered rudimentary I have found that White Crane itself is the most versatile and deadly martial art I have ever seen. There is no rigidity in practice but only fluidity. Even today when I demonstrate some simple things I learned in my youth people are immediately amazed at the speed and viciousness of the attack and how quickly I move to circle. So I will impart this one story to you all. One day during practice in an open parking lot area a man and a woman showed up. Now mind you Rikki was only at that time training me, a friend and my friends mother. This man and woman came to see the validity of our training. They came to test Rikki was the truth of it. The large man said that if Rikki could beat him in a spar then he would pay for 1 year of training and abandon his other school. The fight was on, I had never seen a real in person martial arts combat like this. It ended so quickly, The very second the man moved to attack, Rikki moved around behind him, kicked the back of his knee, the man went down on one knee hard, Rikki then jumped off the mans bent knee and slapped him very hard in the back of his head. This was all in one fast fluid movement. That was the day I realized how lucky I was and the day I realized that White Crane is the most effective martial art in existence, period.
+Dale Corner Are there any videos of sparring like that?
No, not that I know of. I can't even be sure I have spelled his first name right. He spoke perfect English. At one point he had his own school with a dojo somewhere in the Northwest but I cannot find him. I had found it before, but currently I can't seem to locate that dojo or him. He would be older now, 40s, early 50s maybe.
So basically it's impossible to say one legit karate or kung fu style is the best and be correct. They're all good. It really comes down to the practitioner. You see, all legit karate have the same roots. They may have slightly different tendencies, but all the main styles are superb.
I wish they would have shown if they did it like that or not. But I agree the Okinawan kata's resemble the last system of Crane Kung Fu.
Thanks for posting Russ. :D
Anyone know why the statue of Fang Qiniang has a weaving shuttle in her left hand ?
When I was a kid I used to watch Bruce Lee movies and I still absolutely love Bruce Lees work.
As a young 17 year old I didnt even know the difference between Chinese Boxing and Japanese Karate, so in a guess I joined a Goju Ryu school thinking I was going to learn Kung Fu.
Well even although I was actually studying Kung Fu I didnt know it at the time, as it was called Goyu Ryu Karate,
so because I really wanted to study Jeet Kune Do and couldnt, then later on in life I ran into a Kung Fu School and studied a bit of Shaolin Kung Fu.
So after all my guessing and trying now I find out that Goju Ryu is actually White Crane Kung Fu and that makes me very happy as what I thought was Karate is actually a lot closer to what I really wanted to study in the first place which was Bruce Lees style.
For my legs I use a cat stance which I learned in Goju Ryu and for my hands I use the sticky hands from Kung Fu as the groin protection is very good in Goju Ryu, but I prefer the sticky hands to the ridged Goju Ryu upper body as you fight a lot closer in Kung Fu which intimidates people if they not used to having some ones head 300mm away from theirs then they cant deliver those big long strikes and if they not used to fighting up close then they buggered.
All in all I am very great-full to have leaned these things as they have kept me fitter and safer than I could ever have been if I knew nothing of either of them.
White Crane Goju Ryu has saved me from a large gang of people, when they see you can drop 2 guys in a row in a few seconds then the rest of the crowd kinda hangs back a bit even although there were 8 people I only had to fight with 3 of them and the rest declared a truce - lol
The most important thing it has done is kept me fit and un afraid of defending myself for over 30 years,
I am old now and I still have a 6 pack stomach hehe that was the original plan (to live longer through doing exercise) and it has worked well for me, so I say Thank you to The Kung Fu guys and Thank you to the Goju Ryu guys you are the best, keep up the great work.
The art is artless without a true participant Sir... Therefore you make the art more than it's actually worth through your own dedicated efforts regardless of all who pioneered it before you. ... It's greatest instructor is all found in what we experience in life. For there is a wonderful lesson in that type of understanding and a teacher without limits who writes his words on the tablets of our hearts. You are an example of this meaning because you remained open for a journey where quitting has no place in it!
im 16 years old and training goju ryu karate, and i want to keep doing it until i am old, and your comment was very motivational, you sound a bit like me because i love Bruce lee too
Just don't worship it. Rather respect it instead with a particular emphasis placed on it as a means to enhance your health. You are going to encounter some setbacks along the way of this journey however such experiences are all naturally designed to bring out the best in us. Before you can make gold it must first go through much fire and then all of that heat will cause it to shine ever so flawlessly. Follow this truth and you too will shine brightly as is this truth young friend
I appreciate your answer very much and what you are saying to me, I am going to take those words to me through out my journey and remember what you have told me, osu
May GOOD HEALTH be your greatest wealth in conjunction with a PEACE of mind accordingly! Learn and learn well enough to take care of yourself young friend: A man who does well at taking good care of himself is a man who possesses the ability to also take care of those around him
Mr.Cheung: It is an interesting view in the video.As you know,Karate and Kobudo were a full traininng program for warriors. Okinawa was a CHINESE possesion until the 20th century.
Tang Hand arrived at approx. 600 BCE. Somehow, with time, it became part of Buddhist Temple's curriculum and became associated with anti-government activities.
Regards
WOW, It's good to know your karate lineage. ThankYou Sir.
Is there another episode of another style? This was very facinating how they find similarly to karate and Kung Fu
Believe it or not, most martial arts that came to exist originated from Kung Fu. For example, Taekwondo was originated from Northern Chinese Kung Fu which is known for their acrobatic movements and the use of high kicks.
Russ-san, I thought that I have subscribed to your channel before? Nice clip.
Superb documentary! Thank you! Amazing!
Dear Mr. Pang,
My fault. In the last reply I said you can search KUNG FU QUEST - WHITE CRANE BOXING EP5 (ENG SUB) and find English subtitle of it in RUclips. Actually it just shows the first part of it. I don't know why but I do want to express my apologize. The Okinawa special as you know indeed has three parts. I'll ask RTHK and see if I can put the whole English version in RUclips. Will inform you asap.
White Crane and other various forms of The Chinese Martial Arts is the foundation for for The Okinawans developed their own system which is now called Karate.
And since Okinawa became part of Japan, such system had to be modified to the Japanese style of techniques and movements which is primary hard and linear. Osu!
Not true, exactly. The Okinawan styles of Karate - Shorin Ryu, Goju Ryu, Uechi Ryu - are still very close to their original Chinese roots. It was actually Gichin Funakoshi, creator of Shotokan Karate, who modified his style(derived from Shorin Ryu) so that it would be more acceptable to the Japanese. Other Japanese Karate styles followed suit, but the Okinawan Karate styles are still close to their Chinese origins.
@@44excalibur Exactly
Thanks for the captions! I
Very cool documentary thanks
Best of best in all of martial arts. More power to all crane master.
When I was in China in the 60s I never got a chance to visit Fuzhou, I was in Hong Kong for a little while....I didnt know Fuzhou was where Karate originated from.
Hi Tim,
Thank you for your kind update and clarification. I really enjoyed your special edit of the Okinawan episode as have many many others around the world. Your edition has been frequently passed around the martial arts community and have been enjoyed by many.
I noticed that the Okinawan special edit doesn't have English subtitles. Would one be added later?
Thanks again Tim for your reply and hard work in producing the Okinawan Karate episode.
Kam
The show is about 40 minutes long, they spent 3-5 days filming...alot of the film in Okinawa was left on the cutting room floor...
thank you for sharing
excellent documentry
Thank You
Welcome!
really-whitecrane the forerunner to karate-do.What happened to the mixture of whitecrane/tiger/shaolin longfist/5 ancestors gung fu mixed with pre Japanese Okinawin te.Then the 3 okinawin styles of Naha,Shuri and Tomari te then the introduction of the watered down version of shotokan to mainland Japan in the 1920's by Gichin Funagoshi?????
Why r u being soo agressive???I see nothing wrong with his writing (he's not writting a book. Is just a comment in a internet channel. Stupid!!!!!!! I clearly see who's the "stupid" here. JERK!!!!
And Fujian White Crane was also studied by some of the old Korean masters and introduced into indigenous Korean martial arts. Later called "the Way of the Chinese Hand", united with the organization system of Karate, we then had Tae Kwon Do, which now is an Olympic sport.
Astute comment, however documentaries often generalise information for the sake of time and topic
that's it all same but different way we all have 2 arms 2 legs how many ways can u hit kik?
tom8181 ?
My parents are from the province of Fujian, China.
23:46 Holy fuck! Never thought I'd hear Fujian/MinNan dialect on youtube.
Wasn't Karate also influenced by Ju Jitsu? Because gi and belts are Japanese, not Chinese
very good documentary, thank you for sharing!!
Interesting, I didn't realise that there was so much arm techniques in crane. I always thought that crane style kung fu was China's version of Taekwondo.
i believe there was a more ancient marital art in Okinawa before 1870s. There was much commerce with Chinese merchants from before 1400 to the 1800s i presume. im not sure how the takeover by the samurai in the late 1500s affected commerce. i would think they did not seal off Okinawa to foreigners like they did the mainland after 1615 to 1860s because they did tax them prob a lot. I was told long ago the Karate straight punch was designed to hit a samurai in his armor. the various farm implements used to fight the katana like the sai, tonfa, sickle and chain prob were developed arts before 1870s. the samurai also forbid them from having swords, spears, halberds, etc from the 1590s so they had to defend themselves and trained in secret at night. so Okinawan Karate was prob a blend of the ancient arts and this White Crane. and further evolution after WWII before we saw it
At 4:39 a student practices Zhan Zhuang 站桩 sometime calling zhuo ma 坐马 it's the basic but they didn't explain...
Heh... that's my karate dojo at the start!!!
A lot of harshness in the comments. I have really enjoyed the documentary. I see parallels in the arts.
White Crane hand techniques appear similar to Goju Kake practice.
8:58 That was a weird jump attack. What would be the intended goal(s) for something like that?
+Jon Leonard I think that was a touch spar session. If it's in a real fight, we might see something more similar to a superman punch or a hammer strike.
+Jon Leonard
That would've been a leaping 12 to 6 in some styles. Can't really do that safely, so they use a palm instead.
Outstanding.
Eye gauge is their ultimate moves😂.
It's a different form of crane. I doubt the other forms have that though.
The Paper Tigers is a book by Allan Ondash that will help any martial artist determine what is real and what is not. It is very comprehensive leaving no stone untouched. It is the “Hell’s Kitchen” of martial arts.
That Kitarō music.
wasnt one of the famous karate masters korean ?
That was Mas Oyama. Founder of Kyokushin Karate. Also the current president of Kyokushin Federation, Shokei Matsui is Korean.
Mas Oyama trained Shotokan and Goju Ryu, so some of the kata have the Kung fu elements with a bit of circular movements from Oyama's training in Japanese Aikijutsu. Kyokushin is a bit more modern style of karate post World War II. This documentary goes more into the earlier connection between White Crane and Okinawa Karate which predates Kyokushin.
Doesn't do much justice in what way? btw do you know where I can find some good goju kata practiced correctly? I have a wushu friend that puts it down. I tried to show him a five ancestor first form but he said that they have small circular movements ;as if goju or okinawan arts didn't. I want to open his eyes and just make him stop being so ignorant. One of these days his mouth will get him in trouble.he's not a fighter just a showman though
This is kung fu or karate
CAN'T FOOL ME
I HEAR THAT AXE GANG MUSIC IN THE BG.
1:58 homeboys kicking the slip bag. That’s not how it works.
perfect.
I heard white crane was developed by a woman who desired to avenge the death of her father if I recall correctly.
looks like more like kiokushin
That's cool, Kam. I had no idea!
there's a MA which way more older than any chinese art.It's name is kalaripayat from India,The Master became one of the patriarch in buddhism after his death.
Is noone gonna point out how the guy's face slowly crippled in pain at 24:48 when Higaonna Sensei struck his arm XD
HAHAHA!
Kempo is said to be the Parent Art of Karate
KEN-POU is the Japanese pronunciation of CHUANFA in Chinese. It just means FIST-ART(or method, law), naming just every form of fighting with bare hands. "Shaolin boxing" is SHAOLINCHUANFA but usually it's shortened to only CHUAN. TAICHICHUAN, BAJICHUAN, LUOHANCHUAN, HSINGYICHUAN, ZHANGCHANGCHUAN, and so on.
"Is this the origin of Karate?" The frank answer is "no". Karate itself was not born in China or from kung fu by itself. Most forms of traditional Karate originate from the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa), and some traditional masters have attributed Chinese boxing as one of the places that karate borrowed early techniques from. I will say this in closing though; This seems to be focused on one school of Karate (one I am not familiar with at the moment), and the information provided is vaguely categorized as "karate" in a time when there are many styles of Karate, so I am not sure how what I have learned on a general scale matches this video's information. But, history is fun to learn about so why not jump in and learn right?
ruclips.net/video/YQe5dGh6dSw/видео.html
are you a ngor chor practitioner too?
太好了!!! 🙂
Hey for those of your chinese people. I would like to thank many of you to make a difference besides thinking like government does. From the techniques, teachings, technologies, and even art. We Japanese held that power until the Tang Dynasty came in your time. We were able to pass down those knowledge from here in Japan. So as you guys seeking to get this answer. Like the anime Baki The Grappler "china over 4000 years of history."
I can see why Bruce Lee pissed off and offended so many traditionalists...
But I do see some applicable technique thru out this presentation,,,
Just all the b,s, to get to them..
Anthropological studies brought me here,,
I value the video greatly.
Thanks again
Kyokushin was influenced by Goju Ryu
請開始白鶴功夫訓練課
これからてちゃうな。
🥰🥰🥰
In no way that karate in general didn't came from white crane because karate is its own native martial art of the Ryukyu Islands. The only ones that derive the white crane techniques are goju ryu and Uechi ryu.
Any Karate with kata has some degree of influence from Chinese martial arts (not just White Crane). The original Shuri-te had no kata for example. Take a look at Shotokan's lineage. Gichin Funakoshi
FoieGras If Uechi ryu came from han kou nan, pan gai nun's true pronunciation, how did Uechi-sensei learned sanchin from? He would had to learned sanchin from white crane since it's the only Chinese styles that teaches it.
6arcsn1sky Are you SURE?!?! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangai-noon
It's said that the original Uechi-ryu was unmodified from Pangai noon. You can quit bullshitting now.
FoieGras You're the one who should quit the bullshitting since you're relying on Wikipedia. I don't, and it's called han kou nan.
Well, If you want to play THAT game, realkarate.wordpress.com/pan-gai-noon/
I quote "the Pan Gai Noon book concentrates Sanchin and Seisan." I merely referenced Wikipedia because face it, it's a lot more reliable than 6arcsn1sky :)
And I know what it's called in Chinese as well. But I don't feel like arguing semantics like a 6-yo. Is it THAT important to you? OOOOKKKK! YOU WIN!!
😂打，用全力打。
I am red belt in southern crane Kung fu
In some places they have.
jajajajaja 28:43
Karate, is the fantasy of becoming a statue, static and moving in rigid movement like a robot.
Sadly, in many cases that is true. There are exceptions.
@@gojumasterI think what happened is the Japanese strict culture of honorifics and respect caused the original Crying White Crane Kung Fu imported by a single man or two who only spent 3 years in China to become abstracted and taught as static positions and no revision spirit was tolerated. Anything from White Crane Kung Fu that the oirignal importer did not learn or that he could not teach easily like flexibility and continuous movements was quickly lost and incorrectly assumed NOT PART of the style. Such that generation after generation absence of these elements were taught as genuine when in fact it's the detrimental combined effect of a strict culture of respect and conservatism, and a significant loss of knowledge in the transmission.
OSU
They are doing it wrong.. Not like zee crane
ruclips.net/video/YQe5dGh6dSw/видео.html
i think this is old method training , does is it work? maby but i prefer boxing
Funny funny kung fu