The History of Fighting

A photograph of the front gates of the Shaolin Temple, taken before the 1928 destruction
of the legendary Buddhist place of worship and home of Kung Fu.

Yang Lu-ch'an also known as Yang Fu-k'ui or Yang Fukui (1799-1872), was an influential master of t'ai chi ch'uan during the 19th century who founded the Yang-style. After a modest upbringing, Yang was hired by the Imperial family in 1850 to teach them and several of their élite Manchu Imperial Guards Brigade units martial arts.

At this time, he taught the Taijiquan style and is credited with spreading it throughout China, being named by four of the five Taijiquan families as having transmitted the art to them. When he fought, Yang never lost but he never caused serious injury to his opponent either and his fighting prowess was so well respected, that he earned the nickname Yang Wudi (Yang the Invinsable).

More legends of tai chi chuan

Tony Jaa executing a spinning jumping roundhouse kick in his hit movie Ong Bak.

Title:  Negros Fighting

Date:  c1824

Artist:  Augustus Earle

Infomation:  This painting is an early rendition of an illegal capoeira fight in Rio de Janeiro.
It was painted by English born artist Augustus Earle during his three year spell in Brazil in the 1820s.

Title:  Mongols Invasion

Date:  1847

Artist:  Kikuchi Yoosai

Infomation:   This Ink and water colours on paper depicts the destruction of the Mongol fleet in a typhoon that prevented them conquering Japan. This happened not once but twice, prompting the Japanese to believe it to be a Devine Wind or kamikaze.

Drawings by Neves e Sousa, 1965

Engolo or NGolo (strength / power) is a ritualistic form of combat performed at various traditional ceremonies by several ethnic groups around the Cunene River in Southern Angola. Engolo consists of kicks, dodges, and leg sweeps, with particular emphasis on inverted positions, i.e. with one or more hands rooted to the ground. Many of the moves are reminiscent of capoeira fighting techniques and the African system may well have been one of the influences on the Brazilian martial art when it was first used by the slaves there in the 16th century.

It has been suggested that it is influenced by the way zebra fight each other and according to Dr TJ Desch Obi who has done extensive research on the history of fighting in this style, it has symbolic links to ancestor worship. He claims that the inverted positions help the men fighting connect both physically and spiritually with their ancestors generally, and with specific warriors from their family’s past.

(Image - Women hunting rabbits with a ferret. From the Queen Mary Psalterc.1316)

Muhammad Ali avoids a punch from long-time adversary Joe Frazier in their third and final fight. Known as ‘The Thrilla in Manila’, the Heavyweight Title fight was fought on October 1st and is seen by many as one of the best boxing matches of all time.