Yizong Tang Shou Tao (易宗唐手道,

Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means ' Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin'' literally ...

: Yi Zong Tang Shou Dao, lit. "Essence of Change Chinese Hand Way") is a system of Chinese

internal martial arts ''Neijia'' ( 內家) is the collective name for the internal Chinese martial arts. It relates to those martial arts occupied with spiritual, mental or '' qi''-related aspects, as opposed to an " external" approach focused on physiological aspec ...

training founded in the 1950s and 1960s by Hung I-Hsiang (洪懿祥,

: Hong Yixiang), a well-known

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

ese internal martial artist. The system was further modified by Hung's student, Hsu Hung-Chi (許鴻基,

: Xu Hongji) under the name Shen Long Tang Shou Tao (神龍唐手道; lit. "Spirit Dragon Chinese Hand Way"). Tang Shou Tao is not a separate style of martial art, but rather a practical, step-by-step, systematic approach to learning internal martial arts and developing highly refined levels of skill. It incorporates elements of all three of the major Chinese internal arts (

xingyiquan 形意拳, Xingyiquan , or Xingyi, is a style of internal Chinese martial arts. The word approximately translates to "Form-Intention Fist", or "Shape-Will Fist". The style is characterized by aggressive, seemingly linear movements, and expl ...

baguazhang ''Baguazhang'' () is one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the '' Wudang'' school, the other two being tai chi and '' xingyiquan''. It is more broadly grouped as an internal practice (or ''neijia''). ''Baguazhang'' literally means "eigh ...

, and

taijiquan is a Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners p ...

) as well as

Shaolin kung fu Shaolin kung fu (), also called Shaolin Wushu (), or Shaolin quan (), is the largest and most famous style of Chinese martial arts, kung fu. It combines Chan Buddhism, Chan philosophy and martial arts. It was developed in the Shaolin Temple in ...

, Taiwanese White Crane,

qigong Qigong ()) is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese medicine, Chin ...

and the essentials of

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

. However, the emphasis of this system is on xingyi and bagua. Although the system itself was formed and founded by Hung I-Hsiang during the 1950s and 1960s, the roots of using the commonalities of bagua and xingyi in practice and application can easily be traced back through Hung's teacher Chang Chun-Feng (張俊峰) to his teachers, Li Cunyi (李存義) and Gao Yisheng (高義盛). Hung opened his first school Tang Shou Tao school in Taipei in the mid-1960s. When Hung I-Hsiang took a trip to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, he was very impressed with the way martial arts instruction was organized there. He liked the uniforms, the belt system, and the systematic approach to training. Subsequently, he adopted many of the Japanese style martial arts school characteristics when he opened his own school. The students had belt ranks, wore Japanese style uniforms, and Hung devised a more systematic approach to martial arts instruction than what was typical of most Chinese style schools. Hung felt that before a student was ready to learn xingyiquan or any of the other internal arts, he first had to acquire body strength and basic martial arts skill. The beginning student in Hung's Tang Shou Tao system executes many basic exercises which develop body strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance at the rudimentary level. Many of these exercises were taken from Japanese styles such as

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

. The basic curriculum also included simple forms which Hung had put together by combining Shaolin with basic xingyi and bagua movements and techniques. Hung wanted students to have a basic understanding of blocking, kicking, punching, and throwing before they began to study the more refined internal arts.

References

Sources

* Miller, Dan, ''Pa Kua Chang Journal'', Vol. 5, No. 4.

Citations

{{reflist

External links

* BBC documentary on Hung I-Hsiang and Tang Shou Tao
Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4

North American Tang Shou Tao Association

Hsing-I Martial Arts Institute
(Mike Patterson) Chinese martial arts Xingyiquan