NORTHERN SHAOLIN
- History -
The Shaolin Temple
The Shaolin Temple, at the base of mount Songshan in Henan province, northern China, is the historical birthplace of Chinese martial arts. Records show that the combination of internal energy development with self defence techniques was first conceptualised over 2,500 years ago at this remote temple.
Damo
A travelling Buddhist monk from India, known in Mandarin as Damo, is accredited with developing and teaching early chi-gung methods to the monks at the Shaolin Temple.
Damo is the originator of Chan Buddism (commonly known in the west as Zen Buddism) and his Buddhist training methods often required practitioners to engage in rigourous meditation routines. Unfortunately the scholarly monks at Shaolin, who commonly led a sedentary life, were initially unable to endure such a harsh approach to meditation. In an effort to strengthen the minds and bodies of the monks, and thus enable them to withstand long hours of meditation, Damo taught them methods of internal chi-gung.
Damo, is often regarded as the father of Shaolin kung fu
Damo’s cave at the top of Mount Songshan, is where Damo is said to have created the chi-gung methods he taught to the Shaolin monks
In addition to meditation and Buddhist duties, Shaolin monks also travelled far from the temple to preach and collect alms. During this period, the roads were never safe and to protect themselves against thieves and robbers, the monks often trained simple self-defence techniques.
Shaolin fighting monks at prayer within the Shaolin Temple
Eventually these existing combat skills became fused with the chi-gung methods taught by Damo. Once the monks discovered the internal and external energy training dramatically improved their self-defence ability, they began seriously researching methods of chi-gung and advanced martial arts. The dedicated research carried out at the temple led to Shaolin kung fu developing a reputation as the number one fighting system in China.
Over the centuries Shaolin kung fu spread throughout China, spawning many diverse kung fu styles. The Shaolin system eventually travelled across Chinese borders and became the forefather to many well known martial arts developed throughout East Asia.
Ku Yu-cheung
The Northern Shaolin system was brought to southern China in the 1920‘s by Ku Yu-cheung.
Known as one of the Five Tigers of Northern China (one of the top martial arts masters in China, at that time), Ku went by the nickname Iron Palm Ku, due to his high level of iron palm chi-gung ability. He was also highly regarded for his Golden Bell chi-gung, an internal system that protects the body from damaging blows. And his kicking techniques and spear fighting ability were regarding as second to none.
Ku Yu-cheung: 1893 – 1952
Martial Family
Ku came from a martial art family. His father, Ku Lay-chi was a well respected master of the northern Tam-tui system and worked as the chief armed bodyguard for an agency protecting merchant trade caravans throughout China.
Ku senior began training his son in the Tam-tui system, but unfortunately passed away before the younger Ku was able to complete his training. On his deathbed he made arrangements for his son to be introduced to his kung fu brother, the famed Yim Gai-wan.
Life Debt
Many years previously, Ku Lay-chi had saved Yim Gai-wan’s life during an encounter with a bandit gang while working as a bodyguard.
Yim was indebted to Ku senior and took on the responsibilty of training the younger Ku as if he was his own son. Yim Gai-wan taught Ku Yu-cheung many aspects of Northern Shaolin, Yang style spear, Golden Bell chi-gung and the Iron Sand Palm. Ku was a gifted student and over the years he studied hard and learnt well.
Ku Yu-cheung demonstrates his Golden Bell chi-gung ability by taking the weight of a 1930’s car
Note: Cars in the 1930’s were not the light weight vehicles of today
Iron Palm Ku
After leaving his Sifu, Ku’s own reputation among the martial art community began to build. But it was in 1925 when his reputation became known to a wider audience. Ku was working as a clerk for the local Finance Minister in Guangzhou, when a travelling Russian circus came to town. One of the circus horsemen issued an open challenge to anyone willing to accept three kicks from his horse. A large reward of gold coins would be given to the unlikely survivor.
Ku Yu-cheung accepted the challenge and a vast crowd gathered to view the spectacle. The horse lifted its hind leg and kicked Ku square in the chest. It was not easy on Ku, but his Golden Bell chi-gung protected him from serious injury. Twice more Ku received such a blow, before he could finally rest.
When it came time to collect the reward, Ku told the horseman he did not want gold, but in exchange asked if he would be allowed one strike against the Russian’s horse. The condition was agreed and Ku struck the rear of the horse with a single slap of his hand. Immediately it fell dead.
Master Ku demonstrates Iron Sand Palm skills
Later it was observed that no external wound existed on the horse‘s body, but during a postmortem they found that many of the horse‘s internal organs had been severely ruptured. From this event, Ku gained the nickname Iron Palm Ku.
Military Academy
Ku’s reputation as an outstanding martial artist continued to grow and shortly after the Iron Palm event he was offered a position teaching martial arts at a major government military institution. Here Ku met many famous masters and was fortunate enough to expand his skills.
During this time Ku learnt Yang style tai-chi and Wudang sword from General Lei Ging-lam, a reknown swordsman, who went by the name Gim Sin, or Spirit Sword. He also had the opportunity to meet and learn from the famed Sun Lu-tang, who taught him the internal system of Hsing-yi and Sun style Tai-chi.
National Martial Art Examination
In 1928 Ku Yu-cheung was invited to take part in the largest national martial arts tournament ever held in China.
Known as the National Martial Art Examination, the tournament was fiercely contested, with competitors from all over China, representing a host of different styles, all vying for the top position. The rules for the combat division declared no strikes to the eyes, throat, or groin. Everything else was fair game. The tournament was very brutal and a number of competitors even died.
Competitors and officials at the 1928 National Martial Art Examination
It is recorded that in his final match Ku Yu-cheung was pitted against a Ba-gwa fighter, who was a master of Red Iron Sand Palm. As the two iron palm masters faced off, the Ba-gwa master launched an attack. Ku managed to avoid the strike and counter-attacked with his own technique. Within three moves Ku had knocked the Ba-gwa master down and his opponent was removed for medical treatment.
To avoid any more deaths, the tournament was stopped when it was reduced down to the last fifteen places. Out of more than one hundred competitors, Ku placed within the top ten.
Heading South
After Ku Yu-cheung’s outstanding performance at the National Martial Art Examination, the Northern Shaolin master was awarded a number of prestigious teaching positions at various National Martial Art Institutes in southern China. It was during this time that Ku exchanged his skills with several other famous masters, learning Cha family fist from Yue Tsang-sing and Lok-hap (six harmony) style from Wan Li-sheng.
In 1929 Ku eventually settled down and opened his own studio – the Guangzhou Martial Art School in Guangzhou city, southern China. Ku Yu-cheung taught Northern Shaolin full time into the 1940’s, before eventually retiring. He passed away due to illness in 1952 at the age of 59.