Five Ancestors
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Five Ancestors Fist, also known as Wuzuquan (Mandarin) or Ngor Chor Kun (Hokkien) is a Southern Chinese martial art based on the techniques of five arts: White Crane, Monkey, Tai Tzu, Lohan, and Damo.
The history of Wuzuquan is varied and often disputed, with some putting the founding of the art around 1300 AD while other put it as late as the 1800s. While some say that the art was brought to the south of China from the original Shaolin Temple in Henan, Wuzuquan is generally considered to be a Fukien art. It is also believed that Wuzuquan may have had some influence on the Okinawan and Japanese martial arts.
One of the primary characteristics of the Wu Zu style is its reliance on the San Zhan (or three strategies/battles) stance and its corresponding hand form of the same name. Facilitating the development of the six harmonies, the San Zhan refer primarily to the 3 internal combinations of yi, qi and jing; all of which must be mastered for a practitioner to have attained a good level. San Zhan can also be said to allow development of the eight wu zu principles and so, is considered the most important form in the style.
In all, there are said to be 18 hand forms comprising the five ancestors in unity and 18 hand forms for each ancestor (108 in total). Added to this is a comprehensive system of weapons forms, miscellaneous hand forms and two man forms. Through out its history subsequent masters have added to this list, introducing material they considered relevant to the time. This includes forms for rice bowl and chopsticks, umbrellas and even opium pipes.
Wuzuquan is practiced today all around the world with schools in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Sweden, UK, Germany, USA, and Canada.