Ginger, on the martial arts behind Waterbending

So this week it's installment 2 in my Avatar: The Last Airbender mini series. I have found I have a somewhat obsessive personality when it comes to new, exciting things. I think that probably gets a little old for my friends and husband, though they would never say so, sweet people that they are. What I'm referring to is my mini (ok not really mini) obsession with the Avatar TV show recently. Everything about it is fantastic: the character development is really strong, the writing is realistic and funny, the setting is actually somewhat believable. Sorry, I'm getting carried away again. Anyways, what impressed me most about the series is the realistic look of the marital arts, and that they were all distinctly different - even in cartoon form. After looking into it a bit more, I found that the creators ( Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko) brought in a martial arts instructor (Sifu Kisu) to help them develop the four different bending styles - talk about commitment! After that I wanted to know more about the martial arts the bending forms were based off of and I thought maybe you guys would be interested to. So I came up with this four part mini series were I would share my findings. Check out Part 1: The martial arts behind Airbending if you missed it.

Waterbender Katara (check out the artist's page here!)

Waterbending is the first bending form you're exposed to in the series, though the character Katara. She acts as the narrator/secondary main character, and as the series progresses you get to watch her develop her skills and grow into a strong, capable young woman. (Quite fantastic if you ask me.) Anyways, Waterbending is based off the Chinese martial art Tai Chi. There are 5 major styles, each named after the family it originated from: (in order of verifiable age)

• Chen-style (Chen Wangting, 1580-1660)
• Yang-style (Yang Lu-ch'an, 1799-1872) 
• Wu/Hao-style (Wu Yu-hsiang, 1812-1880)
• Wu-style (Wu Ch'uan-yu, 1834-1902)
• Sun-style (Sun Lu-t'ang, 1861-1932) 

All the existing styles of Tai Chi today can be traced back to the Chen-style, which in the past had only been passed down as a family secret. The Chen family chronicles record Chen Wangting, part of the family's 9th generation, as the inventor of modern Tai Chi. Yang Lu-ch'an became the first person outside that family to learn the martial art. His success in fighting earned him the nickname "Unbeatable Yang", and his fame and efforts in teaching greatly contributed to the subsequent spreading of Tai Chi knowledge.

The study of Tai Chi itself primarily involves three aspects:

• Health: An unhealthy or otherwise uncomfortable person may find it difficult to meditate to a state of calmness or to use Tai Chi as a martial art. Tai Chi's health training, therefore, concentrates on relieving the physical effects of stress on the body and mind. For those focused on Tai Chi's martial application, good physical fitness is an important step towards effective self-defense.
• Meditation: The focus and calmness cultivated by the meditative aspect of tai chi is seen as necessary in maintaining optimum health (in the sense of relieving stress and maintaining homeostasis) and in application of the form as a soft style martial art.
• Martial art: The ability to use Tai Chi as a form of self-defense in combat is the test of a student's understanding of the art. Tai Chi is the study of appropriate change in response to outside forces, the study of yielding and "sticking" to an incoming attack rather than attempting to meet it with opposing force. The use of Tai Chi as a martial art is quite challenging and requires a great deal of training.

The philosophy behind Tai Chi is that if one uses hardness to resist violent force, then both sides are certain to be injured - at least to some degree. Such injury - in theory - is a natural consequence of meeting brute force with brute force. Instead, students are taught not to directly fight or resist an incoming force, but to meet it in softness and follow its motion while remaining in physical contact until the incoming force of attack exhausts itself or can be safely redirected, meeting yang with yin. Done correctly, this yin/yang (or yang/yin?) balance in combat, or even in a broader philosophical sense, is a primary goal of tai chi training. Lao Tzu provided the archetype for this in the Tao Te Ching when he wrote, "The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong."

Katara's brother Sokka (same awesome artist as above)

Tai Chi's martial aspect relies on sensitivity to the opponent's movements and center of gravity dictating appropriate responses. Effectively affecting or "capturing" the opponent's center of gravity immediately upon contact is trained as the primary goal of the martial Tai Chi student. The sensitivity needed to capture the center is acquired over thousands of hours of first yin (slow, repetitive, meditative, low-impact) and then later adding yang ("realistic," active, fast, high-impact) martial training through forms, pushing hands, and sparring. Tai Chi trains in three basic ranges: close, medium and long, and then everything in between. Pushes and open-hand strikes are more common than punches, and kicks are usually to the legs and lower torso, never higher than the hip, depending on style. The fingers, fists, palms, sides of the hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, back, hips, knees, and feet are commonly used to strike, with strikes to the eyes, throat, heart, groin, and other acupressure points trained by advanced students. Joint traps, locks, and breaks are also used. Most Tai Chi teachers expect their students to thoroughly learn defensive or neutralizing skills first, and then demonstrate proficiency with them before offensive skills will be extensively trained. There is also an emphasis in the traditional schools in which one is expected to show wu te (martial virtue or heroism) to protect the defenseless, and show mercy to one's opponents.

In addition to the physical form, martial Tai Chi schools also focus on how the energy of a strike affects the other person. A palm strike that looks to have the same movement may be performed in such a way that it has a completely different effect on the target's body. A palm strike that could simply push the opponent backward, could instead be focused in such a way as to lift the opponent vertically off the ground, breaking his/her center of gravity; or it could terminate the force of the strike within the other person's body with the intent of causing internal damage. Other training exercises include:

• Weapons training and fencing applications employing the straight sword (known as the jian or chien or gim), a heavier curved sabre (which translates into broadsword, though it is actually considered a big knife), folding fan (called san), wooden staff (2m. in length, known as kun), 7 foot spear and 13 foot lance (both called qiang). More exotic weapons still used by some traditional styles are the large Dadao or Ta Tao and Pudao or P'u Tao sabres, halberd, cane, rope-dart, three sectional staff, Wind and fire wheels, lasso, whip, chain whip and steel whip.
• Two-person tournament sparring (as part of push hands competitions)
• Breathing exercises; nei kung or, more commonly, ch'i kung to develop ch'i or "breath energy" in coordination with physical movement and post standing or combinations of the two. These were formerly taught only to disciples as a separate, complementary training system. In the last 60 years they have become better known to the general public.

Katara (season three)

(Spoilers?) Surprisingly, I think the series showcased water's ability to adapt and strengthen (like how water forms a canyon over time), especially as Katara's character evolves. Tai Chi was an ideal form for Katara because of it's soft, flowing nature - She's every strong, but in a flexible, quiet way. (Still waters run deep anyone?) Also, as she learns to master her bending, Katara is the epitome of martial virtue: "I will never turn my back on people who need me." (Season 3, episode 3) And again in episode 16 (season 3 again) Katara shows wisdom and mercy someone three times her age would struggle with. That I think, more than anything, is the reason Tai Chi is a perfect fit.

What Sifu Kisu has to say about it:


Check us out next week for part 3: the martial arts behind Earthbending!