kung fu books

[joehaz100]

dose any one know of any relly good kung fu books and where i could get them thanks

[Aaron]

https://www.wle.com

https://www.martialartsmart.com

https://www.google.com

https://www.yahoo.com

[doc]

There are no really good kung fu books...

lol

[joehaz100]

thanks for web sites it helped a lot bye.

[daodejing]

Check out some of Dr. Yang Jwing Ming's books, you can find them, I think, at www.ymaa.com

[doc]

He makes excellent chin na and qi gong books.

Still haven't found a good kung fu book.

[Aaron]

I agree, Dr. Yang Jwing Ming's Chin Na books are very good, the best I have seen on the subject.

[daodejing]

True doc, his shaolin white crane book was an excellent resource on martial qigong, but not any other aspects of gongfu (except intro to jing training).

[meattosser]

Try checking out Dr Yang, Jwing-Ming's book "Shaolin ChangChuan (Long Fist) Kung Fu." It's a pretty nice book on Long Fist Strategies and basics. It also gives a pretty good amount of overall gongfu history. It's one of his oldest books, I think it came out in 1981.
Also, check out "Chinese Fast Wrestling for Fighting", by Shou-Yu Liang and Tai D. Ngo.

[shaolinstylee]

For BASIC info, crap, history, legend, etc.... Essentials of chinese wushu is OK... Sort of a catalog of styles and systems.

The only other things I've really looked at was YJM's books..

[pazman]

"Chinese Fast Wrestling for Fighting" is a great book....Just about the only book I can easily recommend. 'Dynamic Strength' by Harry Wong is also good and cheap. Paul Eng's Praying Mantis series is direct and authentic. Yang's book are, well, I suppose decent enough. But considering he is attempting a scholarly level of writing, he makes some really inane comments at times. In one book he claims that Judo came directly from Chinese Shuai Jiao and that Aikido came directly from Chinese Chin Na. Huh? Nope, try again Mr. Yang.

But, for the most part, there are no truely amazing kung fu books.

[meattosser]

I don't think he ever actually said Judo and Aikido came directly from Chinese Gongfu, but he was saying that, based on much of his research, the Japanese arts had been heavily influenced by the Chinese arts. Perhaps many Shaolin AND Wudang masters had immigrated to Japan over the centuries, eventually influencing arts like JiuJitsu and Karate. The word "Karate" itself originally meant "China Hand"; eventually it was changed to "Open Hand" probably, for various reasons. All of this stuff is very interesting and deserves plenty of research to find out even more...

[dadoo]

WKK does have a good book called the art of shaolin kung fu. Gives good rounded info.

[pazman]

Okay, here is an excerpt from a Foreword by Dr. Yang in Liang Shou-Yu's 'Chinese Fast Wrestling for Fighting':

'When Chinese martial arts were imported to Japan, kicking and punching became Karate, wrestling became the root of Judo, and Qin Na built the foundation of Jujistsu. Later, the combination of Judo and Jujitsu became today's Aikido.'

Um, in a word, no. First, Karate is an Okinawan thing....sure, it's been transformed into a Japanese art in the past century, but karate differs from the 'Big 3' of Judo, Aikido, and Kendo in both historical development and training methodology. Before the word 'Jujitsu' was coined, the common term for unarmed fighting was simply 'ken' meaning fist or boxing (like the Chinese word 'quan'). Like gongfu, traditional jujitsu is rather holistic in its training, including striking, throwing, and joint manipulation. Which leads me to my second point....both Judo and Aikido sprang from traditional Jujitsu. Aikido's development is parallel from that of Judo's.

Okay, enough ranting. These little tiny things really add up though, especially in the realm of kung fu books. It's like pointing out to somebody as they are eating peanut butter and jelly sandwich 'Hey, you know that peanut butter was invented by a black guy, right?'

ugh.

[meattosser]

What I'm saying though is that, he's not entirely wrong. Many martial historians agree that the Chinese arts made a MAJOR impact on the development of Japanese arts. When Dr. Yang mentioned karate in Japan, he was probably including Okinawa too, since Okinawa is more generally known as part of Japan. Many styles of Karate today, are much more simplified versions of the original Okinawan systems. They have just focused on the external, especially the "sport karate" versions, neglecting the vital internal training. White Crane Gongfu was a Shaolin art, very powerful, having both internal AND external training along with an immense amount of Chin'Na (joint-locking/grappling). Many have stated that Shaolin Monks at one time or another immigrated to Okinawa, perhaps to spread Chan buddhism, or escape persecution, etc... and if you look at the Traditional Okinawan training, you'll see the similiarities between White Crane hand techniques and the Okinawan techniques. There's even an internal jing training form, (I think it's called "San Chin") which is also part of White Crane chikung, but under a different name. The internal training in the traditional okinawan karate makes it much more of a complete art than many "sport karate" versions done today; that's not to say that sport karate is bad. It's just not as complete in my opinion. Also, as far as Jiujitsu in Japan goes, yes it was also influenced by China. Chin'Na techniques had to have had a significant influence on the development of Jiujitsu. The Samurai, had practiced Jiujitsu techniques for many years, combining that with Chan (Zen in Japan) wisdom. Morihei Uyeshiba eventually developed the amazing art of Aikido, which yes, like you said, got its roots from JiuJitsu. Many aikido movements are also in chin'na, and if you ever see a Taiji exponent use his/her chin'na skill, especially the Yang style, there'll seem to be some similarities. Of course, all of these styles also have quite a few differences, since they've all spread apart from each other. It's interesting to note though, that Indian Martial Arts, like one known as Kalari, must've influenced chinese martial arts; there was a website that had some videos of some of the Indian techniques, I forgot what it was. all this stuff goes back thousands and thousands of years... good stuff...