Kung Fu Conversations Podcast

Xingyi Quan — Five Elements Tees & Hoodies

The front features the classical inscription:
天以陰陽五行化生萬物
NATURE UTILIZES YIN AND YANG WITH THE FIVE ELEMENTS TO TRANSFORM AND GENERATE ALL THINGS
This timeless phrase reflects the traditional philosophical principles underlying Xingyi Quan, in which the interaction of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements gives rise to continuous transformation and change, producing all that exists. Similarly, the techniques of Xingyi Quan are all born from the vectors and mechanics of these mother fists.

The back features the classic illustrations of Xingyi Quan’s Five Element Fists from Jin Yunting’s celebrated Republican-era martial arts manual. These historic drawings have been carefully restored and enhanced, preserving their traditional character while presenting the movements with greater clarity and detail.
A truly unique piece of apparel for Xingyi Quan practitioners and enthusiasts.

Tees & Hoodies are available in varoius colors.

Order yours from:
www.mushinmartialculture.com

Thursday night Ving Tsun with Kevin Gledhill

When I started Academie Duello, I mostly wanted more sparring partners and a place to teach.

I never imagined it would become my full-time livelihood, or that it would grow into a school with more than 20 instructors.

Over the past 21 years I’ve learned a lot (often the hard way!) about what it takes to build a successful martial arts school.

It's been quite the journey and I've started to put down some of the lesson I've learned along the way into a guidebook and into an online course that I'm working on.

If you run a club, school, or study group or dream to you can download my Martial Arts School Blueprint and join my mailing list (where I'm sharing more about the upcoming course and other bits of my story) here:
https://www.academieduello.com/biz-of-ma

In the Blueprint I cover how I would go about starting a school now, including: establishing what type of group you want to have, determining who you want to server, marketing, building curriculum, and more. There's a ton of value in it and I hope some inspiration!

Feel free to pass this along to any martial arts instructor or club leader who might find it useful.

Not your typical jian.

Rodell Laoshi has a new video up on a sword that breaks most of the assumptions people carry about the gentleman's weapon. 2 lb 6 oz. Blade 75cm, overall 83cm. Balance point sitting further forward than any jian has business sitting, closer to a dao. This one wasn't built to slice. It was built to shock.

Hold it lightly, tap the pommel, and it rings on and on like a tuning fork. Good steel, properly heat treated by someone who knew the blade was going to be asked to hit hard things.

And it did. There are nicks in the edge near the tip that were never polished out. Real combat damage. Possibly Qianlong, possibly earlier.

Now look at what isn't damaged.

Run a block of wood down the blade and it's dead straight. Nothing bent, nothing deformed. Nicks at the tip, nothing in the body.

That's not luck. That's the method leaving its fingerprint in the steel. Chinese sword arts deflect with the flat, turn the waist, lead the duifang's force off into nothing, rather than jamming edge into edge the way European swordsmanship does it. The sword records what it was asked to do. This one was never asked to block.

So, question for you:

Hand a 2 lb 6 oz jian to someone trained only on light, quick jian work. How long before they hurt themselves with it? And does a blade like this tell us the jian we practise today has drifted a long way from the jian people actually carried?

Tell us what you reckon below.

Video link in the comments.

Congratulations Grand Master Lee!!
Lee's White Leopard Kung Fu School

Putting Our Wuguan Series
Swords to the Test~