Tan Tow (Shaolin Knife) Form History, Cutting, Squats and Jumps

I am currently spending a lot of time working on my Tan Tow (Da Dao, Dan Dao) weapon form as I need to perform this well for my next grading in October.

The Tan Tow is perhaps the most widely used cutting weapon in Shaolin martial arts.  It is also apparently one of the simplest to use, for which reason it has often been the weapon of choice for soldiers.  In the Nam Yang syllabus, the Tan Tow is the second weapon to be learnt, after the Kun (staff).  Learning the Tan Tow involves learning to slice with a bladed weapon.  I learnt this many years ago, however haven't really practised it for some time as there wasn't really the space where I was living in the UK. It's good to have the outside training area  at the MTC so I can go down and really get to grips with the weapons forms.

Tan Kew Leong was head of the medicine peddlers in the Chuan Chew district of Fukien province. (Chuan Chew is a coastal district named after its principal city.  It is some way south of Putien, the district of Fukien, where the Shaolin Temple was situated, but still contains a temple where Shaolin martial arts are practised). He was a master of the Shaolin weapon system as well as of the Tai Chor (Tiger) style. He was commissioned by the family of Nam Yang’s founding master, Ang Lian Huat, to tutor their son. This is the origin of Nam Yang’s weapon skills. My lineage is therefore:

Great Grand Master: Tan Kew Liong

Grand Master: Ang Lian Huat

Master: Tan Soh Tin

Chief Instructor:  Iain Armstrong

I've learnt all the moves in the form but am finding certain things quite tricky.  One of the most important things with the Tan Tow is ensuring that each move would actually work in real combat and is not simply a flash move to look pretty. Getting every cut to actually work as a cut or slice and every block to be effective is harder than it sounds.

The  Tan Tow blade's weight is concentrated towards the end, maximising it’s cutting power.  It has a curved cutting edge, again for maximum cutting efficiency.  Only the half of the blade furthest from the handle is usually used to cut; it should be very sharp in order to do this.  The closer half is thicker and stronger and best used for blocking and pushing.  The sharp point is ideal to stab with.  The back of the blade is blunt so that the left had can be used to hold / push it or it can be braced against the body, however often the last part of the back (towards the tip) is also sharpened.  Blades usually have one or two grooves or blood channels along their rear side.  These are intended to prevent a vacuum forming when the blade enters a body which would prevent it being pulled out: a big problem in the thick of a battle. This also alleviates weight issues, making the blade lighter without comprising the integrity of the blade's structure or strength.

I have seen many practitioners and forms that do not concentrate on the practical cutting aspect of the form. The good thing about the Nam Yang form, as with all their weapons is that it does.  I am finding it quite difficult to ensure that each cut is indeed a cut. Perhaps we shall get the cutting mats out and have a go actually cutting. Often it is tempting to flick the wrist in order to get a more whip like action out of the blade, however I am told that if you actually cut like this, you will break or damage your wrist and probably break the knife. 

Getting control out of the blade is also quite hard. Being quite light, I often find I am being thrown forward by the momentum of the blade, particularly after jumps. Sometimes the blade is not as controlled as I would like and over reaches the cut I am performing. We are spending a lot of time learning to control and handle the blade so that the form can be performed correctly with full intent and springy strength coming through the blade.

The other area I am working on, is going into the squat after the side step and keeping this a nice flowing movement. I then need to learn to whip the blade back as I come out to perform a strong stab down. 

Finally the penultimate jump is causing me some grief, as I keep getting my feet the wrong way round after unwinding the sword from the behind my back position, after the forward cuts. I need to work on fluidity as well.

With daily training and a lot of help from Chris who has a wealth of knowledge regarding the use of bladed weapons and cutting, hopefully the form will be up to scratch in time for October. Despite all the difficulties, it is great fun to work with the knife and as with all weapons it really adds an additional dimension to the art.

 

Visa Run - Part Two - Over the Border, Mae Sai, Golden Triangle, Big C

Well we  were now in Chaing Rai and relaxing comfortably by the pool with a Pina Colada or Mai Tai respectively as planned. However we still needed to get that all important stamp in our little red books.

We looked at a variety of tours that run out of Chaing Rai and go place to place, including Mai Sai so we could dart over the border, get our stamp and do a little bit of shopping. However for just 2 people these were really expensive and we had paid out a lot to stay where we were staying already. In the end Chris came up with a cunning plan of hiring a driver for the day. This turned out to be much cheaper and we still got to see all the places we were interested in seeing (except the White Temple but we need to leave something for next time).

This also meant we still got the VIP air con mini-bus and could very much set our own itinerary. Starting at 9am (not 7 or 8 am as some tours did) we drove up to the Queen Mothers Winter Palace which had some amazing views and a beautiful flower garden. What was quite strange was that a group of Thai Tourists insisted on having photos taken of them with us, as if we also were some amazing tourist attraction.  The Queen Mother worked really hard to try and improve the lot of the Hill Tribe People and here Winter Villa also full of really interesting architecture and art. 

After that we headed over to the Monkey Cave, sadly however there were no monkeys as they had all gone into the Jungle to feed.

We then went to Mae Sai and the border, a drive through some lush and verdant countryside. We literally nipped over the border, taking less than ten minutes to get in and out. We have been to Mae Sai before and although the bustling market Burma side is fun and cheap, it's very hectic and you need to be in the right mood. 

The contrast between Burma and Thailand is huge, as soon as you step over the Burmese border you are plagued by hustlers and beggars. The buildings are run down and the place somehow even smells poorer. The people are still friendly but pushy sales people desperate to make some money out of the Thai and Foreign tourists. Mae Sai on the Thai side in comparison has almost tried to make a point about how richer Thailand is to Burma, with well maintained buildings, plated in gold and silver. Large fancy hotels and wide streets. However the market although less intense is very similar mostly run by Lisu and other hill tribe women. Still we managed to get some good deals on Ginger Leaf Tea.

After Mae Sai we headed down to the Golden Triangle, the area where most of the Opium used to be produced. The Hill Tribes became quite dependent on this trade and now are struggling to find an alternative crop. There are many King's Projects addressing this showing his concern and compassion for the tribes people, however nothing is really going to have the same value as the illegal crop. 

The area is indeed beautiful though, from the amazing statues to the view over the river where you can see the coast lines of Burma and Laos (we are in Thailand) and further away parts of China.  We visited a number of temples and a really old ruined one that was fun to explore. We didn't visit the Hall of Opium or the Opium Museum as we felt we were running out of time and had learnt quite a lot about the Opium trade from the Hill Tribe Museum. On a side note I strongly recommend going to the Hill Tribe Museum before booking any tours involving Hill Tribes. They have some very good and not very obvious advice regarding responsible tourism and how to behave in the villages, which many other tour companies do not provide. 

Finally we finished off our tour at Big C in Chaing Mai. It sounds silly to say we got excited by a shopping centre, but we haven't seen one for 6 mths and it was a novel experience. Sadly nothing we wanted to see was on at the cinema as we are quite keen to see the new Harry Potter!

Next day we went on the VIP Green Bus to Chaing Mai, to spend two nights there before heading back on the Bus to Pai.  Only new thing to report is that we found an excellent Mexican fast food restaurant (a new concept to me) called Miguals which is just up the river from TaPae Gate. We also found somewhere that served a pint of bitter although it was Tetleys. We also while utterly drunk managed to build the highest Jenga tower we have ever seen. Just shows what Kung Fu can do for your co-ordination as I always used to be awful at that game!

We had a fantastic holiday and are now back in Pai and the MTC ready to get on with some hard core training!

Visa Run - Part One - Chiang Rai- Getting There!

Visa Runs - an integral part of being a "Farang" in Thailand. Since I am on an Education Visa I need to go out of Thailand once every three months to get the obligatory stamp in my passport and continue training out here.

This is actually a really good thing. It means you get the chance to do a bit of travelling and get a break away from the centre and training for a while. It means around 4 trips a year and if planned properly means we can take advantage of the opportunity to see more of South East Asia.

Only problem is that it can be expensive and although you can do it relatively quickly and cheaply if you do the Chiang Mai, Mae Sai run (you are over the Burmese border for less than 10 minutes). It seems a shame not to enjoy the opportunity to do something a bit different.

This time we went to stay in a resort in Chiang Rai. We decided we wanted a proper holiday, where we could relax by the pool and pamper ourselves a bit, so we plumped on a beautiful resort by the River Kok called The Legend.  

We set off for Chaing Rai via Mini Bus and Aya Services at 8pm on Monday and arrived after a rather bumpy and a little hairy ride in Chaing Rai at 4am.  We did feel for those poor souls who were going on to Laos and were dropped at a shared hostel in Chaing Kong with only 3 hours sleep until they had to go to catch the slow or fast boat to Luang Prabang in Laos. However Laos is such a beautiful country, I am sure they quickly got over the trauma and lack of breakfast!

4am is far from the ideal time to arrive anywhere, let alone Chaing Rai. Nothing except the good old 7 seemed to be open and the original hotel we were hoping to stay at the Starbright (considerably cheaper and in town) did not as promised have anything resembling a 24 hour reception.

We went for a wander and it is really strange and interesting being up and sober at this time in the morning. The little market was being set up and you could smell and see people preparing the food and wears they were going to sell. The area round the market was chaos and the concept of a pavement (or sidewalk for our American Cousins) seemed to be non existent. (In fact throughout the town pavements seemed to be used as glorified moped parks). 

We walked by some government offices and saw people doing the Thai equivalent to Chi Kung practice which was interesting to observe for a while. We made it down to the river just as the sun was rising and realised we were quite lost but in a really pleasant residential area. Gates seem to be key to self image here as we saw some really nice gates  attached to not so nice buildings. 

Through lucky guess work we arrived at the gates of The Legend and instantly fell in love with it. Beautifully laid out, with big airy rooms with two balconies, well landscaped grounds by the river, excellent restaurant (actual service for a change!) and a pool which had a cut away waterfall effect that made you feel that it extended into the river.  

We spent a few days relaxing by the pool, which is something we simply haven't had the opportunity to do in Pai and a few days exploring Chaing Rai itself. 

Two places of interest that you might not get in a tourist map (many temples and markets aside) are the restaurant Cabbages and Condoms (or C& C if you are feeling shy) which attached to the Hill Tribe Museum next door is a Not For Profit charity, selling high quality food (my curry was delicious) while raising money for Hill Tribe related causes. There is lots of amusing artwork including a Santa made entirely from condoms and promises that their food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy!  You get a free ticket to visit the Hill Tribe Museum next door which is worth a look as well.

The second place is Teepee Bar. Really the Chaing Mai equivalent of DILLIGAF in Pai, but full of strange and interesting art pieces and fun and friendly staff. Beer is expensive in Chaing Rai for some unknown reason but spirits seem to work out quite cheap.  Definitely highly recommended.

Our next challenge was actually getting to Mae Sai and packing in as much sight seeing as we could on route. I will cover this in the next post.

Weapons Day - Shaolin Staff, Shaolin Tantow

We recently had a very successful weapons day at the Mountain Training Centre. Everyone from beginners to more advanced students had the chance to practice Shaolin Weapon routines with specialised coaching from our Chief Instructor Iain Armstrong.

I really enjoy weapons. I particularly like the weapon

s we do at Nam Yang, as it was not long ago that they were actually used for their original purpose (especially the Staff and the Tan Tow) and hence are really practical both in forms and drills.  I enjoy Japanese weapons as well and own a rather nice wakizashi and a number of other swords which I use for tameshigiri (Japanese art of cutting) in my free time. The forms we learn in Nam Yang are not just to look good, but were also designed to teach the fundamentals of the weapons, so that they could actually be used effectively, something I feel sometimes gets lost in the more flashy forms we sometimes see in competitions.

I am currently learning the Shaolin Staff (which I graded on in my last grading), the Tan Tow (Chinese knife though looks more like a sword). Monk's Spade and Golden Lohan (although we use a staff for this as we do not have any suitable bronze poles).  During the day I concentrated on the first two weapons which are the first we learn in Nam Yang, the Staff and the Tan Tow.

The weather was perfect, not too hot but still sunny and bright. We spent a lot of time working on generating energy to the end of the staff and really sharpening up the moves. Getting hip action into the form really helps generate power and increases effectiveness for both attack and defence.  The beginners also had the chance to have a go at the staff form and were taught the basic principles behind this simple yet effective weapon. One of the good points about the staff is that it is so simple, and its principles can be applied to all sorts of other weapons.  This means it makes the ideal base to later learn other long weapons such as the Monks Spade, Golden Lohan, Spear, Horse Cutting Knife etc. 

The second weapon I worked on was my Tan Tow. It's been quite a while since I really looked at my form in detail and although I know the order of the moves there was quite a lot I needed to ahem "sharpen" up on! In particular we focused on cutting techniques and ensuring that the moves we were making in the form were effective. We also looked at generating flow and fluidity by ensuring that the movements were from the Tantien and keeping the transitions (particularly the jumps) smooth. 

I am quite looking forward to getting one of the Tantows sharpened up literally and having ago using them for cutting on the tameshigiri mats, as actually having experience cutting something is not only excellent fun, but excellent training in understanding how the knife should move throughout the form.

Rainy Season and Break falls

It's finally getting into Rainy Season out here and after a mini draught it is a joyous noise to hear the rain pounding on the roof of the Accommodation Block.

Being British my natural adversity to rain (as it seem to rain continuously back home) has actually been overcome. The rain here is not often that nasty drizzly, damp, bone achingly horrible precipitation we get in the UK. As it is warm almost all the time, it is actually quite pleasant. In fact it cools down the temperature quite nicely making it a good time to train.

Well unless you are on the bike and going over 60k of course when the rain actually starts to hurt!

The rain however, would not be such a good thing if we didn't have a particularly excellent covered training area in which to retreat to. It is fully matted as well, so yesterday we had a very good session on take downs and break-falls.  It took me a while to get the hang of falling sideways and not banging my hip (men are lucky in that their hips do not protrude so much) but we all managed to get this important concept.  I remember from my horse riding years that learning to fall correctly is essential to prevent broken collar bones and joints and this is equally important in Martial Arts.  The end result was a thoroughly enjoyable session where no doubt we all looked ridiculous, throwing ourselves repeatedly onto the mats!

Well hurray for the covered area and the rain, as at the Mountain Training Centre, it really is not a case of "rain stopping play"!

What Animal are you?

Just an aside on the Feng Shui Course. I found out something really interesting as a result of training with Rena Tan.

The Chinese Solar Year starts on Febuary the 4th so when working out your year chart for your house or even yourself check the date if you are born in Feb or Jan as it will effect the outcome. Many books will go by the Chinese Lunar Year (this is when you often see Chinese New Year Celebrations) which can change every year. This often leads to the wrong outcome as it is the Solar year that is important and this stays the same. For example for many years I thought I was a Goat in Chinese Astrology as I was basing it on the Lunar Calendar, (being born on the 14th of Feb 1980 and the Lunar Year ending on the 15th of Feb that year) in fact I am a Monkey!

Rena  (or most Feng Shui practitioners) can do a chart called the Four Pillars of Destiny for individuals based on your Birth Hour, Day, Month and Year.  For example I may well think I am a Metal Monkey as I am born in 1980. However although I am born in the year of the Monkey it is the Day that I was born in that effects my element so I am actually a Fire element.  Apparently in its most basic form the hour of your birth represents your children, the day yourself, the month your parents and the year your grandparents. So although I have Metal in my chart, I like it because it represents my grandparents but being a Wood, Fire Water person it is not good for me.

She didn't have the book to do the hour, but hopefully she will be kind enough to look mine up for me. Interestingly me and Chris had almost exactly the same outcome in terms of what is good and bad for us elementally. Chris however was a Tiger!

Perhaps I should start learning Monkey Style!!!

Feng Shui Course - Part 2

The course itself had a fantastic ambient atmosphere, with traditional "Kung Fu" Tea all round. Rena started by explaining what Feng Shui was and giving us some examples of it working. 

Rena then explained the cycles of the elements, in the Cycle of Birth Metal creates Water creates Wood creates Fire creates Earth Creates Metal, and so on. If you reverse it you have the exhaustive cycle Ie Wood exhausts Metal and there is also a destructive cycle where Fire destroys Metal destroys Wood, destroys Earth destroys Water destroys Fire destroys Metal. Rena said that often having the wrong elements around us or in the wrong area of the land or house can activate less positive stars or cause problems in health and relations. She emphasised that it is not always good to destroy a too strong element and it is better to exhaust it if at all possible.

Rena explained Land Form Feng Shui, which relates to how buildings are situated on the land, more relevent perhaps if you are lucky enough to be building from scratch or from plan.  Important though is to locate your facing door and understand that to the left (when you are facing out) is the Dragon Side and the Right is your Tiger Side. The Dragon Side should be higher than the Tiger. Another important point to consider is having a large open space outside your house to collect the positive engergies. 

We then moved on to the importance of different directions and the elements and colours that relate to them. For example in the 8 Aspirations Kung Fu (Ba Zai) SE is Green, is element Small Wood, represents the Eldest Daughter, and controls your Wealth and luck. Its good to enhance the energy in the SE by putting things like a 6 tier water fountain in this area. It's very important that your toilet bowl is not in this area. Toilet bowls are very bad as they represent the flushing away of whatever force is in that area. The SE being your wealth is a particularly bad place, so if your Toilet is in the SE of your house, Rena absolutely recommends moving it. This is a static Feng Shui and unlike Flying Star does not change.

Flying Star Feng Shui, perhaps was the most mind boggling and really helped me understand why doing Feng Shui for your business and family could easily turn into a full time job.  For this you have to work out the birth chart for your house, based on its year of construction, work out your facing and then "fly the stars" to work out what needs to be done on a monthly and yearly basis. The current year determines what numbers are particular auspicious ( this year have 8 , 9 and 1) and we need to use a detailed floor plan and a compass to work out what areas each part of the house is in. From flying the stars you can work out where your Mountain Stars and Water Stars are and put cures / enhancers accordingly.  It sounds quite complicated because it was and hats of to Rena for explaining it so beautifully so that we eventually got the hang of it.  

All in all it was a fantastic course, and I highly recommend Rena and Feng Shui to anyone who has an interest in energies and harnessing them to your advantage. As I discussed in my last post on Feng Shui, it is still widely used in China by major blue chip companies, and Rena was replete with examples of how people have had improved success or bankruptcy depending on how they did their Feng Shui. Although I now feel I could do the basics I think I would be very tempted to get a proper consultation on returning home or building anything new and then maintain it myself.

Thanks Rena, I look forward to any other courses you run in the future.