white crane and uechi ryu

[None]

Hi Helen
It's quite interesting studying your form videos. You've done them as
such a speed that allows the viewer to discern individual moves rather
than rushed like some people record mpegs.
I couldn't help but notice that several of your combinations resemble
those found in Uechi Ryu katas 'seisan' 'konchin' and sanseiryu'
especially the use of block-grab and spearhand, the twin palm strike
and the use of the elbow-backfist, reverse punch.
Are you familiar with uechi-ryu? Many of its kata can be viewed on
George Mattison's website, although they do tend to be rather rushed as
they are filmed as part of demos. In his books George refers often to
Fujian Province in China and to the visits there by Kanbun Uechi,
Chojun Miyagi and many other old Okinawan martial arts pioneers who
perhaps where exposed to crane, tiger and various other gongfu systems
popular at that time (late 19th to early 20th century).

[Helen Shen]

Took a quick look, didn't find the Uechi-ryu kata forms links on the
website you mentioned, so cannot comment on the similarities or the
differences at the moment.

Things are constantly evolving, and internet just speeds everything up
in only 10 years. Like some Karate and TaKwonDo are 20th century
products, and remembered that 35 years ago they just became popular in
Taiwan, TaKwonDo was introduced to Taiwan then by the Marine, and some
Korean instructors stayed after they were done with the Marine. At time
we were still trained the martial art the old ways (in a way); now, 2
generations later, watching the discovery channel another day on Xtrem
Martial Arts, I was amazed how different the mentalities are.

:) Helen