Piguazhang - 劈掛掌

This is very good DVD that I would strongly recommend and is a demonstration of the jibengong of Piguazhang. My knowledge of Baji and Pigua is mainly with the lineage of Master Liu Yun Qiao 劉雲樵 in Taiwan also taught a piguazhang set as part of his Baji. There is a famous saying that: 劈掛，俗稱劈掛拳或劈掛掌，拳諺頁：八極參劈掛，神鬼都害怕；劈掛參八極，英雄歎莫及 - When Baji is combined with Pigua, both Gods and Devils are afraid, when Pigua is combined with Baji even the heroes sigh that they cannot compete. However in this lineage, the Pigua and Baji are kept as separate teachings.

In the interests of full disclosure, Jonathan Bluestein contacted me in December regarding a new DVD by his grandteacher Master Zhou Jing Xuan 周靖軒 on Piguazhang and asked me to review it. Although I have some contact with Bajiquan (I have also learned part of the liu zhou tou 六肘頭 set as part of my jibengong training, to train my blocks) Pigua is relatively new to me and so I was quite happy to do so, as even though I am a Southerner I am a big fan of most of the northern styles.

Master Zhou gave a demonstration of the following basic palms as well as a clear demonstration of applications. Although these are basic techniques, they are very important in building waist power and thus can be applicable to many styles. The the emphasis on applications is a nice change from many DVDs which just emphasize Taolu. He also has a nice flowing style which is quite different from the harder 剛 Baji style in Taiwan.

Dan Pi Zhang (单劈掌)
Gun Pi (滚劈)
Wu Long Pan Da (五龍盘打)
Yi Er San Guai Zi (一二三拐子)
Zhao Feng Shou (招风手)

Even for individuals that do not practice Baji or Pigua there is also a lot to be had from this DVD. For instance, there were a lot of similarities in Master Zhou's shenfa to those of the Gao baguazhang practitioners in Tianjin (doing large movements with full extension, power coming from the waist) and the application of Dan Pi Zhang is similar to the ban 搬 (the first Tian Gan) of Gao Baguazhang (while stressing they are independent systems). I definitely learned a lot in terms of seeing how the ban 搬 could be applied in a variety of different ways and in sequence.

For Wushu practitioners, the Wu Long Pan Da is a very common movement in taolu and is usually written as 烏龍盘打 (black dragon instead of five dragons) and is usually performed without an explanation of how it is to be used. Master Zhou does a very clear demonstration of its applications.

Finally there is also a demonstration of the 猿猴 bu or monkey step, which was also characteristic of the style.

Master Zhou jingxuan was born in one of China's most famous martial arts areas, Hong Qiao district in Tianjin. At the time, the district's Xi gu park was a gathering place for many famous martial artists in Tianjin. At the age of 9 the young boy got interested in Martial Arts and started practicing at Xi gu park.

As many other martial artists he began his practice in basic martial arts like Tan-tui and Shaolin Luo-han Quan and in time moved to more complex arts like Pi gua Zhang, Chuo Jiao and Yang Qing Fanzi. After many years of practice and mastering these arts, Internal arts caught his intrest and he started learning Xingyi Quan, Tai Ji Quan, Baji Quan and Jin Gang Ba Shi.

I also did some additional search on the Chinese websites and was intrigued to find that he studied under Shen Jia Rui 申家瑞 who in studied under the teacher Tian Jin Zhong 田金鐘 in the Wu Xiu Feng lineage of Baji 吳秀峰系八極, which has produced very many strong Baji practitioners.

From the DVD it is very clear that Master Zhou has very strong skills and is an experienced teacher and I am looking forward to seeing more material from him in the future, or maybe to even meet him if I were ever to make it to Tianjin.

More information on how to purchase the DVD and for study under Master Zhou can be found here at the Shang Wu Zhai website.