Bajiquan
Bājíquán (
Chinese language:八極拳, literally
eight extremes fist.
Japanese: Hakkyoku Ken) is a
Chinese martial art that features explosive, short range power and is famous for its
elbow strikes. It originated in
Hebei Province of
Northern China, but is also well-known in other places as well today, especially
Taiwan.
Bajiquan was originally called Baziquan, or "rake fist", due to the fact that when not striking, the fist is held loosely and slightly open, resembling a rake. However, the name was considered to be rather crude sounding in its native tongue, and so it was changed to the more pleasing Bajiquan.
The essence of Baji Quan lies in "Jin4" (i.e. power or power methods). Unlike most western forms of martial arts which require swinging motion to create momentum. Most of Bajiquan's moves utilise a one hit push-strike from a very close distance. The bulk of the damage is dealt through the momentary acceleration that travels up from the waist to the limb and further magnified by the charging step "zhen4 jiao3". Jin4 has many forms and is developed through many years of practice and "horse stance".
The major features of this somewhat rare school of Chinese Martial Arts include elbow strikes, hip checks, and strikes with the shoulder. All techniques are executed with a very distinctive form of short power, developed through rigorous training. Strategically, Baji focuses on in-fighting, entering from a longer range with Baji's distinctive Charging Step and issuing power up close.
Made famous in (by Chinese history standards) recent times by
Li Shu Wen (1864-1934), a fighter from
Shandong province whose skill with a spear earned him the nickname "God of Spear Li." His most famous quote about fighting was, "I do not know what it's like to hit a man twice." Certainly a bit of hyperbole, but still speaks for the shocking power Baji training develops. Li Shu Wen's most famous students include Huo Diange (bodyguard to
Pu Yi, the last emperor of China), Li Chen Wu (bodyguard to
Mao Zedong), and Liu Yunqiao (secret agent for the nationalist
Kuomintang and instructor of the bodyguards of
Chiang Kai Shek). Because of this, Bajiquan as come to be known as "The Bodyguard Style."
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Baji, which comes from the oldest book in China named "Yi4 Jing1", is an extension of all directions. In this case, in Chinese Baji means including everything or say, universe.
In Chinese Martial Arts, Baji is famous of its most violent and fast movements. There are two sentences to describe the fame and features together with Taiji:
"文有太极安天下，武有八极定乾坤。"
"Wen2 You3 Tai4 Ji2 An1 Tian1 Xia4,Wu3 You3 Ba1 Ji2 Ding4 Qian2 Kun1"
which means,
"If we regard human body or Chinese Kung Fu as a government,Taiji is like a great policy to manipulate the country,while Baji is like a great army to protect the country."
Baji contains 6 series of type of Jing4, 8 kinds of ways to hit, and several different principles to use the power. Its "horse stance" is higher than the typical Longfist "horse stance". Like others, there are also "arrowbow stance", "one-leg stance", "Xu1 stance", "Pu1 stance", etc. There are 8 different poses of hands, plus different types of breath and "Zhen4 Jiao3".
The forms of Baji are divided into Fists(non-weapon) and Weapons. In Fist, there are more than 20 different forms, including 12 Baji Small Structure Fists, Baji Black Tiger Fist, Baji Dan Zhai, Baji Dan Da/ Dui Da, Baji Luo Han Gong, Baji Si Lang Kuan, etc. In Weapons, there are more than 8 different kinds of weapon, including the very famous "Liu He Big Qiang(Spear)" and "Liu He Flower Qiang(Spear)", "Chun Yang Jian(Sword)", "San Yin Dao(Blade)", "Xing Zhe Bang(Stuff)", "Pu Dao(Long Two-Hands Blade)", "Chun Qiu Da Dao(Long Two-Hands Heavy Blade, used by General sitting on horse)".
Today, the lineage holder of Bajiquan in China is Wu Lianzhi. He is also the prototype of Akira Yuki in Virtua Fighter. Through more than 50 years of training, he collected much material and records which were passed from generation to generation.
Bajiquan was in some ways made famous by the
Sega video game Virtua Fighter, as the style that the main character
Akira Yuki practices, though none of the many representations of Baji Quan in popular media has ever been very accurate. Other video game characters that use this style are
Kokoro from the
Dead or Alive series,
Li Mei from the
Mortal Kombat series, and Xiuying Hong from the
Shenmue video game series.
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Piguaquan*
Bajimen.com - Grandmaster Liu Yun Qiao*
Ottawa Chinese Martial Arts - Baji*
Pachi Tanglang Martial Arts Institute
