Bagua, Martial Arts Styles and Types

Bagua is an internal chinese martial art, discover more about this types of martial arts and martial arts styles associated with it.

Bagua, or ba gua zhang, literally means "eight trigram palm. It is also known as pa kua or pa kua chang.

Physical bases:

-Zhan Zhuang (standing posture)

-Xing Bu (moving steps)

-walking while circling

Basic Steps:

-Bai Kou Bu (sway and buckle step)

-Tang Ni Bu (walking in mud step)

I have met a master of pa kua in the St. Louis area that stated this art is one of the most difficult to learn or even comprehend.

I studied it for a very short while. I learned the eight palms but did not go much into applications so the rest of my research is from other martial artists, books, etc. I must admit that once mastered the art would be a very strong weapon!

Founder

Dong Haichuan

Said to have created the art around the early 19th century. He trained with Buddhist masters and possibly taoist somewhere in the mountains of China.

Some of Master Dong's famous disciples include Fu Chen Sung, Yin Fu, and Cheng Tinghua.

Want to know more on the founder of this art?

History

The art is derived from many different types of martial arts (it is unclear which arts are incorporated). They also added the concept of taoist circle walking. Practitioners focus on using the palm as a more effective form of striking, rather than the fist. Some other methods used include pushing, taking, buckling, catching, hooking, closing, and pointing.

Another aspect is constant movement. Basically the practitioner is harder to hit because they no longer occupy the space that the opponent was aiming for.

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