Ginger, on the martial arts behind Earthbending

Ok guys! On to issue three this week in mah super awesome mini series: The Martial Arts Behind Bending ... stuff. See issue one here: The martial arts behind Airbending, and issue two here: The martial arts behind Waterbending. I started this series because I was so impressed with the realist look of the martial arts in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and after looking into it more, I found out the the different bending styles were actually based on real arts. (The creators of the show - Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko - actually brought in a specialist - Sifu Kisu - to help create them.) And I wanted to share what I found with you wonderful people. (Awww.) Enjoy!

Earthbender Toph Fanart (Source: Tyshea)

In the Avatar world, The Earth Kingdom has the largest population and covers the largest amount of land. (Not unlike China in terms of Asia.) Because of it's large population base, Earthbenders are the benders the viewers meet the most of in the course of the show. The most impressive Earthbender, and my favorite character, is Toph. Much like the rest of the cast Toph is a child who runs a way from home - but the real kicker is that she's also blind. (Or so you think!) Toph uses her Earthbending abilities to see with her feet - and while that might sound totally stupid, she comes off as a total bad ass.

More Toph Fanart (Source: Unknown)

Earthbending itself is based on the Chinese marital art Hung Gar. Historically this art was transmitted orally rather than by text, meaning much of the early history of Hung Gar will probably never be either clarified or corroborated by written documentation. That said, the "legend" as to how Hung Gar - as we know it today - came into being is pretty cool: Hung Hei-Gun (originally named Jyu, he assumed a name to honor the first Ming emperor) was a tea merchant that escaped to the Southern Fujian Shaolin Temple after he had an argument with a few upper class Manchurians during the Qing Dynasty when the Manchus were in control. An abott there (Jee Sin) accepted him into the temple and soon found out how talented and hardworking he was in Southern Shaolin Kung Fu. Jee Sin was impressed by Hung and soon began to teach him the Tiger style that he specialized in. After six years Hung became the top laymen follower in the temple (Laymen being people who went to the temple to learn only kung fu and not religion). However, soon afterwards the Qing government destroyed the temple (as well as most of the inhabitants) because the temple gave refuge to many rebels who wanted to restore the Ming Dynasty. Hung was lucky enough to escape (again), though sadly his mentor Jee Sin was not. During his wanderings in the years that followed he met Fong Wing-chun and found out that her father, Fong Sai-yuk (kung fu brother of Hung) was killed by the same person who killed his mentor. Over time they became friends and Fong Wing-chun decided she would teach him her crane style (more evasive) to balance out his hard tiger techniques (more aggressive) - Hence the name Tiger & Crane Style Hung Gar sometimes goes by! Hung went on to avenge Jee Sin and Fong Sai-yuk by finally destroying the murderer (Bak Mei according to some sources).  After many years Hung met Fong Wing-chun again, fell in love, and asked her to marry him. (Cue: Awwww!) Hung later opened a martial arts school when the martial arts ban was lifted in China. It was named Hung Gar Kuen in honour of the first emperor of the last true Chinese (Ming) Dynasty. (He must really love that guy hun?)

Yeah Tea!!!

 What can be confirmed about Hung Gar's history? It was created by a man named Hung Hei-Gun. (Yes, that was an assumed name to honor Mr. Ming emperor.) Hung was a tea merchant before becoming a martial bad ass. He was mentored in bad assory by Jee Sin in a southern Shaolin temple. That temple was destoryed by Quig Dynasty (sore winners if you ask me). Hung did learn Crane style sometime later in his life, though it can't be confirmed he learned it from miss Fong. Other than that - believe what you will. I personally think that legend is nice - though I'm on the fence about the whole vengeance thing.

A traditional horse stance

About the style itself: Hung Gar one of the most famous of the Southern Shaolin styles of Chinese martial arts. It has very specific rhythms to the way it is learned and performed. It is considered a righteous style wherein the student is supposed to be focused on learning the traditional forms precisely and exactly, thereby upholding the strong tradition of the style. The hallmarks of Hung Gar are deep low stances, notably its "sei ping ma" horse stance, and strong hand techniques, most notably the bridge hand and the versatile tiger claw. The student traditionally spent anywhere from several months to three years in stance training, which would often consist of sitting in horse stance for between half an hour to several hours at one time, before learning any forms. Each form then might take a year or so to learn, with weapons learned last. However, in modernity, this mode of instruction has been deemed economically unfeasible and impractical for students, who have other concerns beyond practicing kung fu. Hung Ga is sometimes mis-characterized as solely external - that is, reliant on brute physical force rather than the cultivation of qi - even though the student advances progressively towards an internal focus.

Hung Gar is more recently associated with Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung (from the late 1800's - early 1900's). Wong was a martial artist, traditional medicine physician, acupuncturist, as well as a revolutionary - apparently he also became the subject of numerous television series and films. (Though why I don't know. It's not like he could multi class or anything.)  He was considered an expert in the Hung Gar style and visibly the most famous practitioner of modern times. The four pillars of Wong's Hung Gar style include:

• Taming the Tiger Fist: The long routine Taming the Tiger Fist trains the student in the basic techniques of Hung Gar while building endurance. It is said to go at least as far back as Jee Sin, who taught Taming the Tiger - or at least an early version of it - to Hung Hei-Gun.
• Tiger Crane Paired Form Fist: Tiger Crane builds on Taming the Tiger, adding "vocabulary" to the Hung Gar practitioner's repertoire. Wong Fei-Hung choreographed the version of Tiger Crane handed down in the lineages that descend from him. He is said to have added to Tiger Crane the bridge hand techniques and rooting of the master Tit Kiu Saam as well as long arm techniques, attributed variously to the Fat Ga, Lo Hon, and Lama styles. Tiger Crane Paired Form routines from outside Wong Fei-Hung Hung Gar still exist.

Tigress from DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda

•  Five Animal Fist / Five Element Fist:  These routines serve as a bridge between the external force of Tiger Crane and the internal focus of Iron Wire. "Five Animals" (literally "Five Forms") refers to the characteristic Five Animals of the Southern Chinese martial arts: Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Leopard, and Crane. "Five Elements" refers to the five classical Chinese elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Metal and Wood; with each of the elements being directly related to one of the Five Animals. Thus, in the order in which they are practiced, they are Dragon/Earth, Snake/Water, Tiger/Fire, Leopard/Metal and Crane/Wood. The Hung Ga Five Animal Fist was choreographed by Wong Fei Hung and expanded by Lam Sai Wing, a senior student and teaching assistant of Wong Fei Hung, into the Five Animal Five Element Fist (also called the "Ten Form Fist"). In the Lam Sai Wing branch of Hung Ga, the Five Animal Five Element Fist has largely, but not entirely, superseded the Five Animal Fist, which has become associated with Tang Fong.
• Iron Wire Fist: Iron Wire builds internal power and is attributed to the martial arts master Tit Kiu Saam. Like Wong Fei Hung's father Wong Kei-Ying, Tit Kiu Saam was one of the Ten Tigers of Canton. As a teenager, Wong Fei Hung learned Iron Wire from Lam Fuk-Sing, a student of Tit Kiu Saam. The Iron Wire form is essentially a combination of qigong (or meditative breathing) with isometric exercise particularly dynamic tension although weights were also used in traditional practice in the form of iron rings worn on the wrists. If properly practiced it can increase strength considerably and promote a stable root. However, as with both most forms of qigong and most forms of isometric exercise it must be practiced regularly or the benefits are quickly lost.

Traditional Butterfly Swords

Common weapons for Hung Gar style are the pole, broadsword, the butterfly swords, the spear, and even the fan, but different branches use different routines to do so.

I think the Hung Gar style is the most ... represented (?) style in the Avatar world simply due to sheer numbers of Eartherbends in the series. Most of the Earthbenders have very grounded, rational personalities. And they're very stubborn - especially Toph! I like how the creators matched the practitioners personalities to the element they control and then the matched that element to a style than was very grounded with strong forms. I think it gives the Earthbending in the series some visual creditability (as far as seeing the martial arts sort of mimic their element) and also a little bit of insight to the characters performing the art (how they think, how they might associate with others and the world around them). All in all I think Hung Gar and Earthbending might be the strongest visual pairing in the show - as far as actually seeing the element react to the performer's movements. There's defiantly nothing wasted with this martial art.

What Sifu Kisu has to say about it:


Check next Tuesday for the final installment: The martial arts behind Firebending!