Hold! Hold! Films and comics set in Hong Kong have made the Chinese Buddhist monasteries known as the Shaolin Temple world-famous . Gracefully mastering a series of highly complex movements, Shaolin monks are capable of disarming anyone with prodigious speed. Shaolin martial arts are the hallmark of the temple. However, if we knew little about Shaolin Kung-Fu, it is because before being a combat sport, it represents a precious part of Chinese ancestral heritage, maintained by Shaolin monks since 1500. years. It was around the year 497 AD that the Emperor of China had the original Shaolin monastery built in honor of an Indian monk named Batuo . The chosen location, on the remains of an ancient hermitage, is Mount Songshan, one of the five sacred mountains of China. Legend has it that around 520, another Indian monk named Bodhidharma, who came to China to preach Zen Buddhism, was only admitted to the temple after having spent 9 years meditating in a cave. It was under the direction of Bodhidharma that the teaching of Kung Fu developed. It is said that we can see his face outlined in the stone of the wall which he remained contemplating during his 9 years. In Shaolin, Bodhidharma taught the monks whose lamentable physical state he discovered that the tenacity to endure hours of meditation was found in physical training and mastery of breathing. Anxious to also help them protect themselves from hordes of bandits, he lays the foundations of Shaolin Kung Fu through 72 defense techniques and breathing methods . Shaolin Kung Fu does not feature an attacking move, but if attacked, the temple's fighting monks are capable of unleashing relentless power in the form of deadly blows. Their secret? Mastery of the body through control of the mind. The principle consists of pushing the physical limits of the human body by controlling the air passing through the lungs. To do this, you must first learn to temper your thoughts. Shaolin Kung Fu amounts to achieving fall mind control. with his whole body. Let's see in detail what this martial art has become after 15 centuries of improvement. Quickly accessible by plane from Shanghai, the town of Tofu, home to Shaolin Temple, is just an hour's drive from Teichu in Henan province. Tofu hosts no less than 70 martial arts schools teaching Shaolin kung fu to some 30,000 young people. The largest of these schools, Upo, has 400 teachers for 4,000 students. Every year, 2,000 new students arrive here from abroad, particularly from Japan, to study Shaolin Kung Fu. Here you see the students repeating a series of movements. Group demonstrations. Hiya! Damn! Hiya! Damn! Damn! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Hiya! Wow! Hiya! This steel rod is 1 cm thick. By focusing their chi energy at the center of the body, students break it in two as if nothing had happened. These exercises are not only used to develop combat skills. These are not spectacular brick-breaking tricks. The objective is on the contrary to train the mind to dominate the attacker. The Chijo technique consists of prodigious jumps and leaps in which Shaolin students continue to improve. The Chijo technique consists of prodigious jumps and leaps in which Shaolin students continue to improve. This carpet rests on raw concrete. The student does not have any mechanical aid for jumping, nor any material to cushion falls that are quite violent. book sword technique. Cane technique Two spear technique Nunchaku Double whip luche technique Toshutairen. This practice is done with two students. They must show what they have learned. This training is not done to judge their capacity, but to increase it. They must use the techniques they practiced during the lessons. The jôkei technique is inspired by the movements of animals and insects. It was during these nine years of meditation in a cave… …that Bodhidharma developed this very theatrical art with a recreational and training vocation. This consists of imitating, in particular,... ...the facial expressions of tigers in the forest, or the flight of eagles,... ...the religious mint,... The duck.... The TongZi technique. Learning the TongZi technique begins in childhood. It is a spiritual preparation aimed both at the coherence of the mind with the body and at the flexibility of the latter. Because of all the skills taught in Shaolin, flexibility is considered the supreme virtue. Subtitle Subtitle Demonstration of the sword and shield in a group. Cane technique . Below! A! Two! Chuang! Huang! Zhuang! Zhuang! Huang! Zhuang! Qigong. Tazanmon. This technique, embodying the law of Shaolin, is used to punish the temptations of deserters. Candidates for departure must first face several fighters. Losers in the Dazanmon battle are condemned to remain at the Shaolin Temple to submit to a life of ascetic practice. Akiyama Academy is another famous Shaolin martial arts school. Jin Dosen, its deputy director and head martial arts teacher, is a master of Shaolin Kung Fu. Here he dexterously manipulates a long rope weighted with a weight at one end, called Ryusei Tsumo. The students of the Academy give us a demonstration of a discipline of which they are particularly proud. The Dozen Teisho. Knock! Here is the Jocho. Hanging by the underside of the lower jaw, a student holds on to its strength alone, the weight of his body in balance, while continuing to meditate in the greatest concentration. In this extremely dangerous art form, a single poorly controlled breath can be fatal. In the following exercise, also based on breathing techniques, one exhalation at the wrong time, and it's a serious accident. This is Jinso Ushiko. Resisting two pikes pointed at his throat, the disciple bends his two spears. The spikes are pressed against the hollow located under the Adam's apple, devoid of bones. the Hassō Shichin. In this practice, also very dangerous and difficult, the student rests all his weight on 8 spikes. He only catches his breath once the exercise is finished. This period of time necessary to regain control of his breathing allows him to endure this grueling ordeal to the end. Shaolin Temple falls under the jurisdiction of the Tofu Shaolin Martial Arts Academy, which is managed by the Dengfeng Government Physical Education Bureau. Ryoshoka, a children's teacher, serves as deputy director of the Tofu Regional Physical Education Office. But he has... Above all, he remains one of the the most gifted graduates of the Shaolin Temple. Here he is in a Nankan technique demonstration. The techniques of the Shorinpo technique are very useful for kung fu practitioners. Here is the TOD technique, based on the movements of frogs, of which the academy has made a specialty. The young Ryu Gofei, barely 6 years old, does us the honor of performing this unique dance. cane technique. mountain guard techniques. Duel spear training. On the road to the Shaolin temple stands an immense Buddha, revealed here for the first time to the public eye. In the temple cemetery rest countless generations of archpriests. Just like the temple, the place is classified as a world heritage site. Let us now see what martial arts exercises are practiced by the monks guardians of these sacred places. Xing Yongxin is the current Buddhist archpriest of Shaolin Temple. At the heart of the estate is the temple's supreme governing body. Men who enter monastic life in Shaolin add the particle Qi before their name. Here is a unique and surprising demonstration of the dexterity of the young monks of this holy place. TongZi Technique We don't fight! Chorinpo or Shaolin Kuan. Hey, you're an idiot! Hold! two sword technique. metal whip technique. Chaoling Taizu Shang Guan Yes! Yes! Shocked technique, the monkey with his cane. Nankung technique. Hold! The Sword of the South. When I'm in a fight, I can't cope. I can't cope. I can't cope. I Shaolin spear technique. monkey jockey technique. Two sword technique. Nunchaku technique. Bodhidharma sword technique. Chorinpo or Shaolin Kuan. Jingang Technique Psst! Scorpion technique.... Ouch! Do! Do! This demonstration by master Shaku Enzen of the naika technique developed in Shaolin is shown for the very first time publicly. Ho! Hiyaa! Ho! Chaku Enro, 34th deputy director of the Akiyama academy, gives here an entirely new demonstration of the Daiko technique developed in Shaolin. You tell the long and fascinating history of the Shaolin temple, will probably take as much time as its 1500 years of age. If we have had the privilege for you of pushing these secret doors, far from the phantasmagoric images of films and comics influenced by the spirit of the place, we have only scratched the surface of powerful ancestral traditions. See you soon for a more in-depth discovery of Shaolin and its combat techniques.
