Xingyiquan

Xingyiquan is one of the styles of Chinese martial arts. The translation of the name sounds like “a fist of form (movement) and intention.” The title of martial art contains two of the most important concepts of xingyiquan – this is the “fist of the five primitives, which refers to the” intention “, as well as the” fist of twelve animals “, referring to the” form “or” movement “. Based on this, “Xingyiquan” is a martial art that is based on a careful study of the external form and filling the style movements with will.

The emergence and development of style
The Legend of Yue Fei

According to legend, the style of Xingyiquan refers to Yue Fei, which does not cause much confidence, because in China there are a number of styles that are attributed to Yue Fei, but are completely different from each other. For example, the styles of Yue-men chuan, Yue-chia jiao and the style of Yue-shi lian-chuan cannot have anything in common in principle, and even more, the style of Yue-men chuan obviously belongs to the southern styles using a “short” fist, and the Yue-shi lian-chuan style, no doubt, refers to the northern styles using the “long” fist. However, there is the Yue-shi san show style, which differs from Xingyiquan in both the training methodology and the distance used in battle – however, these styles have one form. In other words, Shin-Yi and Yue-shi san-shou use the movements in the same manner, apply the same techniques, but fight at different distances and differ significantly in training methods. Xingyiquan, for example, was created for close combat, and in Yue-shi a san show was created for close combat, the difference in the training methods for both styles is that Xing-I is an internal style, and Yue-shi san-show is external. The similarity of the external form of styles and the attribution of the creation of styles to Yue Fei talk about the common origin of both styles, which since the life of Yue Fei in the 12th century have changed significantly in the methods of training, but have not changed the external form. Therefore, the one who created the basic style, which is the starting point for Xingyiquan and Yue-shi san show, could actually be Yue Fei. However, it must be said that the point of view of experts on the similarity of styles is sometimes directly opposite. So May Mikhailovich Bogachikhin considers both styles unconditionally similar, and Alexey Alexandrovich Maslov believes that they are not at all similar, because the battle in them goes at different distances.

Legend of Shaolin Origin

According to another legend, Xingyiquan was developed by the first patriarch Shaolin, who was Bodhidharma. However, this legend does not have any real data at all, and stories about the creation of the Shaolin monastery tell us about almost all completely different fighting styles.

The Legend of Zhan Sanfeng

Another legend says that the author of the style was the holy Taoist monk Zhan Sanfeng, who lived in the Wudang Mountains. The same monk is often credited with all the available internal styles, which use similar methods of training with completely different external forms. Therefore, it is likely that training in Xingyiquan was created in Taoist monasteries in the Wudang Mountains. But the external form of the style, which is hard and not soft, unlike other internal styles, is definitely not connected with Wudang.

Information from documentary sources
Xingyiquan Chinese Martial Art Styles

In the documents, the history of Xingyiquan was first mentioned in the 17th century in a story about Ji Jike, nicknamed “Dragon Whirlwind.” He lived, according to legend, in the Zhongnan Mountains, where he received from some unknown martial artist Yue Fei’s book, which was “clear in thought, precious in content”. Another version of the origin suggests that Ji Jike himself created the style. He based the methods of the duel with a spear. A certain outward similarity between Xingyiquan and Yue-shi san-shou is confirmed by the fact that either this book actually existed, or he studied with a master who did not want to reveal his name for any reason.

But the creation of this style of Ji Qike is also a controversial issue for some critics who say that Ji Qike is famous as a wonderful spear, and not a “wonderful fist”. In addition, the history of Zao Jiu’s teaching with Ji Qike is confirmed only by Zao Jiu himself, who proclaimed himself the only student of Ji Qike, so that Zao Jiu himself is called the founder of Xingyiquan. The students of Zao Jiu were Dai Luban, Ji Shaw, Ma Xueli. The latter, according to all existing versions, was a student of Zao Jiu, but there is no such exact information about the other two. According to other sources, Dai Luban was a student of Ma Xueli, and Ji Shaw is often not remembered in any way. Ma Xueli taught a large number of students, Ji Shou created a book – and Dai Luban participated in the development of only the internal style of the Dai family and was engaged in the training of only one person – his son Dai Wensun. However, this style eventually came to Li Luban with the nicknames Fay Yu, which means Flying Fluff, as well as Neng Ren, which means Skillful. This man played a large role in the development process of Xingyiquan, in addition, he trained a large number of famous students.