| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The word 'baguazhang' literally means "eight trigram palm". The trigrams refer to diagrams from the Yijing, one of the canons of Taoism. These diagrams in turn refer to eight animals, upon which in some styles of Baguazhang movements or fighting systems are based on.
The trigrams and their corresponding animals in martial arts are:
Similar types of animal systems exist in other types of Chinese martial arts.
The practice of circle walking is bagua's characteristic method of stance and movement training. Practitioners walk around the edge of a circle in a low stance, facing the center and periodically changing direction as they execute forms. Students first learn flexibility through such exercises, then move on to more complex forms and internal power mechanics. The internal aspects of bagua are very similar to those of xingyi and taiji. Eventually, many distinctive styles of weapons training are practiced, sometimes including the uniquely crescent-shaped deerhorn knives. In many schools, students study both xingyi and bagua. These may be used together in fighting, as they are often complementary. Bagua contains an extremely wide variety of techniques, including various strikes, low kicks, joint techniques, throws, and distinctively circular footwork.
Bagua was developed by Dong Haichuan (董海川) in the early 19th century, who apparently learnt from Taoist and Buddhist masters in the mountains of rural ChinaThis article is on the geographic and cultural entity. For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some oute. There is evidence to suggest a synthesis of several pre-existing martial arts taught and practiced in the region he lived in, combined with Taoist circle walking. (It should be noted that circle walking appears popular among the shamanic traditions, including a version practiced by Siberian shamans). Dong Haichuan taught for many years in BeijingBeijing Sh Abbreviation: ( pinyin: Jing The Forbidden City Origin of Name bei north jing capital put together: northern capital Pronounced''Bay-jing (J as in joy Area Total % of national Ranked 29th 16,808 km² 0. 175% Population Total ( 2001) % of nationa, eventually earning patronage by the Imperial court. Famous disciples of Dong to become teachers were Yin Fu15:23, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC). (尹福), Cheng Tinghua (程廷華), Song Changrong (宋長榮), Liu Fengchun (劉鳳春) and Ma Weiqi (馬維棋). Although they were all students of the same teacher, their methods of training and expressions of palm techniques differed. The Cheng and Liu styles are said to specialize in "Pushing" the palms, Yin style is known for "Threading" the palms, Song's followers practice "Plum Flower" (梅花 Mei Hua) palm technique and Ma style palms are known as "Hammers." Some of Dong Haichuan's students, including Cheng Tinghua (who was killed), participated in the Boxer RebellionThe Boxer Rebellion ( simplified: traditional: , Pinyin: Yihetuan Qyi) was an uprising against Western commercial and political influence in China during the final years of the 19th century. By August 1900, over 230 foreigners, thousands of Chinese Christ.
One of the most famous Bagua practitioners of the 20th century was Sun Lutang (孫録堂), who studied Baguazhang under Cheng Tinghua. Sun was also a Xingyiquan disciple of Guo Yunshen (郭雲深) and learned Wu/Hao style TaijiquanThe Wu or Wu/Hao style of T'ai Chi Ch'uan is a separate family style from the more popular Wu style of Wu Chien-ch'uan. Wu/Hao is third among the five T'ai Chi families in seniority and fifth in terms of popularity. Wu/Hao style was founded by Wu Yu-hsian from Hao Wei-chen . Sun Lutang was reputed among the Taiji professionals of his day to have excelled in his studies and subsequently became well known as the founder of Sun style Taijiquan.
Baguazhang is also known for sometimes practicing with extremely large weapons, such as the Baguadao (八卦刀), or 'Bagua Broadsword.'
Few good teachers of Baguazhang are available in the United States, and many do not advertise. Many are conservative and in line with Confucian didactic tradition will only reveal internal practices to dedicated students.