The
History of Northern Praying Mantis
The
praying Mantis system of fighting was developed around
400 years ago in China�s Shang Tung province.
Wang Lang the originator of the style being a
Ming patriot left his home to improve his kung Fu at the
Honan Temple.
The reason why Lang wanted to improve his Kung Fu
was that he wanted to become an officer in the rebel
army that was fighting the Manchurians.
Lang
during sparing sessions always had trouble beating his
senior brother monk Feng in the system of Shaolin
fighting.
Around this time his senior brother Monk Feng had
decide that all shaolin monks must spend three years
traveling through out china.
Feng told Lang that when he completed his
three-year journey they would spar again to see if his
Kung Fu had improved.
One
day while Lang was training his Kung Fu he came across a
Praying mantis fighting a Cicada.
Lang was fascinated at once with the way the
mantis was able to attack and defend the bigger opponent
the Cicada. Lang
observed as the mantis moved in and out trapping it�s
opponent with his forearms .
Lang
after being defeated by monk Feng had a new motivation
to improve his Kung Fu.
Lang saw that he could use the mantis preditorial
style to adapt his Kung fu.
Lang then proceeded to use a stick to poke at the
mantis to get a better understanding of how it defended
it self. Within a week of studying the mantis Wang Lang
was able to adapt the insect combat style to fundamental
that would apply to humans.
Wang
Lang classified these movements into 12 character
principles, (
Kou
(hook), Lou (grasp), t'sai (strike), kwa (upward block),
tiao (hook), chin (advance), peng (recede), ta (strike
first), chan (contact), nien (cling), tieh (tag), and
k'ao (lean).)
To
accompany his new style of hand strikes and grasps they
system needed effective footwork.
Lang incorporated the footwork from the monkey
style to give his Kung Fu a quickness that was not
previously possible for Lang.
Now
when Monk Feng had returned from his three-year journey
around china, lang had the opportunity to spar again.
The difference was this time Lang had won easily.
Feng agreed it was a great style and helped Lang to
refine the style some more.
Once they agreed the style had been perfected
they taught the style to the rest of the Monks as a
higher level of Kung Fu.
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