Crane Kung Fu, Martial Arts Styles and Types

Crane Kung Fu is another of the Shaolin animals, read about its use in different types of martial arts and martial arts styles.

These types of martial arts is one of the rarest arts to find. It is both beautiful and deadly. Definitely one of the more exciting styles to watch.

This art is one of those that women would feel comfortable practicing as well. The style needs no strength and requires flexability and a gracefulness that women have naturally, unlike some men.

In both China and Japan, the crane is a symbol of long life and grace. The practitioner is more of a dancer and needs to be graceful. The mindset of this fighter is to walk away if at all possible and not engage in the fight.

The characteristics of this style are deep rooted stances, intricate hand techniques, and fighting mostly at close range. The hands are used to form a "beak" by pointing the fingers (instead of a closed fist). This is the way many of the strikes are done.

Founder

Fung Chi-Niang

The way the legend goes, Fung tried to scare a crane away by swinging a stick at it. The crane evaded and countered which made her think about the animal's movements. From then on, she carefully studied the movements of cranes and combined these movements with the martial arts she learned from her father.

History

Crane Kung Fu

Although details are hard to come be, we know that Crane style kung fu started growing when Fung started teaching around the time of the Ming Dynasty. She taught what we now know as the white crane which was established in the Fujian province.

Fung Chi-Niang concentrated on developing accurate pressure point strikes and evasive body movements along with versatile footwork and speed to overcome her larger and stronger opponents.

Her teaching split into four separate styles of crane (although many more exist today):