Hakuda Ryu Kempo Jutsu Essex

It is possible, that Bhodidarma only devised twelve of the eighteen exercises that he is often accredited with having devised. The other six exercises of the eighteen actually having being added much later just as two Sutra’s were also later added to the ‘I Chin Ching’. The first Sutra added to the 'I Chin Ching' was called the ‘Yi Jiing Jiin’ which depicted further physical Yogic exercises and breathing.

The second Sutra, which was also added, the ‘Xi Suj Jiin’ served to describe how to develop both mental and physical strength.

It is these eighteen exercises and two sutras that were combined with early Chinese fighting methods and served as the foundation for the Shaolin fighting system known as Louhan Quan, or Eighteen Monk Fist Boxing.

According to Patrick McCarthy’s research in China Lou Han Quan, also known as Arhat boxing, is based on twenty four defensive and offensive techniques which can be found in the original eighteen exercises of the ‘I Chin Ching’.

The training methods consisted of standing in two stances.

The first of which is the horse stance, popular in Chinese Chaun Fa systems, Okinawan Karate, and certain Chi Kung systems.

The second training stance is the hour glass stance, this in Chinese goes by the name of Saam Chien, and is particularly well known among practitioners of Okinawan Karate, espicially Uechi Ryu and Goju Ryu where it is known as Sanchin.

Louhan Chan has six sets which strike with fist, two with palms, one with elbow, four utilising foot and leg techniques and five for grappling, this making a total of eighteen exercises.

Nine more exercises were later added creating twenty-seven skills that were then subdivided into fifty-four techniques, practised on both sides creating 108 techniques.

The Louhan Quan system is characterised by its method of striking vital points, its Chin-na that consists of grappling and dislocating joints, its methods of strangulation, as well as its breathing methods and other healing aspects.

During the Yuan dynasty when the Mongol Khans ruled China between 1260-1368 AD a Shaolin monk called Cheuh Yuan is said to have revised the original eighteen exercises contained in the ‘I Chin Ching’ and by doing so created the basis for the original seventy-two styles that claimed their origin from Shaolin.

Later Li Ch’eng and Pai Yu Feng created one hundred and seventy movements from the seventy two styles that Cheuh Yeun had created from the original eighteen exercises. The one hundred and seventy movements devised by Li Ch’eng and Pai Yu Feng were divided into five styles that represented the essences of the human body and their correspondence in the animal world.

The five styles were dragon, which stood for spirit, Tiger for bone, Leopard for strength, Snake for Chi, and Crane for sinew. It was this division which provided the basis for what became the five animal styles of Shaolin.

Yeuh Family Boxing

The Eagles Claw system, known as Yeuh Jar Ien Jao (Yingzhai Quan) was founded by General Yeuh Fei in approximately 1130 AD in Hou Pei province, and is based on Shaolin, and has in recent years become related to the White Crane system.

Yeuh Family Boxing:
It should be noted that there are many different styles of boxing that are named after the Song Dynasty (1127-1279) General Yeuh Fei, these are collectively known as Yuejia Quan, or more simply as Yeuh Family Boxing, which include both fist plays (Quan) and Wrestling methods (San Shou). That is both striking and kicking as well as grappling methods.

Yeujia Quan styles are primarily based on the combination of internal and external body methods and utilises the principles of Yin and Yang in conjunction with the Wu Xing (5 Evolution phases or sometimes mistakenly called elements) and their relationships to the body organs such as the Heart, Liver, Lung, Spleen and Kidney. .

The Yeuh family styles can be found in Hebei, Hunan, Anhui, Szchuan and Guangdong provinces and have been subject to local and individual cultural variations. Despite these variations Yeujia Quan.

The founder of the Eagles claw system, General Yeuh Fei was born on the 15th February 1103 AD at Tan Yin in Hounan province. His father died when he was one month old, and he was therefore brought up and educated by his mother who was a poor educated female scholar.

When Yeuh Fei became a tenant farmer he continued his scholarly pursuits and is said have mastered the teachings of Suen Bin’s (220BC) ‘Suen Tzu Bi Far’ (Suen’s book of Tactics), which was concerned with military strategy.

In the same village in which Yeuh Fei lived there was a scholar and martial artist who had trained at the Shaolin temple who noticed Yeuh Fei’s ability, this man Chou Ton was to become Yeuh Fei’s martial arts teacher.

In 1120 AD when Yeuh Fei was nineteen years old he joined the Chinese army and fought against the nomadic Gin. Yeuh Fei eventually he became a Marshal and led the Chinese army against the Gin, during which time he introduced martial arts into the Chinese military curriculum.

Yeuh Fei also taught two other martial arts Shaolin Chaun Fa: Yin Gin Ching, more commonly known as I Chin Ching, which he had learnt from Chou Ton, this is an internal style and the parent of the internal art of Hsing I.

Another style of Eagles Claw was the Fan Tzu Ien Jao system, but little is known about the history of this style as until the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD).

During the Ming dynasty a Shaolin monk called Li-Chaun (Li Quan), who was a master of Fan Tzu Chaun Fa and mixed this system with Yeuh Jar Ien Jao creating Fan Tzu Ien Jao, which is these days known as Yingzhao Fanzi Quan (Eagle Claw Tumble Boxing).

Li Chaun’s principle disciple was Tao Gi, also a Shaolin priest who passed the teachings to Fa Cheng, who in turn taught Lieu Shih-Jwing (Li Shijun).

It was Liu Shijun who during the reign of Emperor Daoguang (1821 - 1850) in the Qing Dynasty who taught a 9 move Yueh style fist play in the barracks of Beijing garrison and later became known as a Master of Eagles Claw and long staff in Peking around 1900 AD.

The Fan Tzu Len Jao system was then passed to Lieu Shih Jwang’s nephew Chen Tzu-Cheng who taught at the Shanghai Chin Woo Association and later at the Hong Kong branch between 1924 and 1929, where Chen Tzu Cheng’s student Lieu Men Far taught until his death in 1964.

The Eagles Claw system, due to its development from General Yeuh Fei's family boxing styles which included Shan Shou in its curriculum is in many ways similar to the Japanese martial art of Ju Jutsu.

The style Yeuh Jar Ien Jao encompasses Joint locks and strikes to vital points. Thirty-six of these strikes are lethal, but there is actually 108 form’s hand striking a total of 108 vital points. The system is characterised by the use of a technique called Ying Ji Ao (Claw hand) and its method of using kicks to block the attacks of an adversary rather than to counter attack with foot strikes.

There are, according to Dr. Yang Jwing Ming (1982) thirteen key words which describe the basic principles of the Yeuh Jar Ien Jao (Eagles Claw) system. These are Revolve (Jhan), Gesticulate (Yeh), Ascend (Terng), Clamp (Diao), Joining (Kaw), Throw (Zen), Movement (Nou), Dodge (Shan), Withdraw (Sou), Jump (Yaw), Stumble (Dye) and grasp (Jaw).

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