My Jhong Law Horn
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My Jhong Law Horn (迷蹤羅漢) (Mandarin: Mizong Luohan) or Lost Track Arhat Fist is a northern Shaolin style of kung fu based on deception and mobility, belonging to the "long fist" form of martial arts . It is a combination of two styles (Mizongquan and Luohanquan), with a lineage that can be traced directly back to the Shaolin temple during the Tang dynasty.
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Legends
As with most styles, there are many colorful stories about the legendary creation of My Jhong. One of these traces the origin back to one day in the Tong dynasty when a Shaolin monk chanced upon a troop of apes chasing each other in the mountains. He noticed that the attitude and movements of one of the dominant apes coincided with the spirit and techniques of kung fu. Enlightened by what he saw, the monk went back to the monastery and integrated his new insights with Shaolin kung fu to create My Jhong.
Another legend begins in the northern Sung dynasty when a famous and wealthy kung fu master named Loo Tsun Yzo learned My Jhong from the shaolin priests and then taught it to his student, Yin Ching. Yin Ching's mastery of My Jhong earned him fame and he joined the Water Margin (a Robin Hood style band which robbed the rich and helped the poor), which consisted of 108 legendary martial heroes who revolted against the emperor. Everyone knew of Yin Ching's prowess, but none could discover what style he practiced, so they called it My Jhong meaning 'lost track'. A variation of the tale has him fleeing in a snow storm from the emperor's warriors. To cover his tracks, he moved backwards with his feet and spread the snow over his tracks with his hands, thus prompting the name lost track. Even to this day, practitioners in Shantung province call their art Yin Ching Quan to honor him.
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History
The tradition of My Jhong Law Horn Kung Fu began at the turn of the 20th century when a famous martial hero of China, master Foh Yuan Chia, began making a name for himself and the style. At an early age, he defeated all Chinese challengers and later beat European prize fighters and Japanese samurai in Shanghai. In 1910, master Foh founded the Chin Woo Athletic Association, the first public teaching association for kung fu without regard to differentiation in style.
A decade later, master Yeh Yu Teng, a great master of another branch of My Jhong, also was establishing himself and his style by meeting the life and death challenges of highway bandits on his consignment caravans. In 1931, he answered the call of master Foh to go south to teach his art in the Shanghai Central Chin Wu Athletic Association. Then in 1933 he was transferred to Hong Kong to assume the position of head instructor of the Shaolin class in the South China Athletic Association.
The pursuit of historical facts concerning the origin of My Jhong has traced the roots of many different branches of the style from several regions. The results all point to one man, master Sung Tung from Shangtung province, as the founder of the style in the time of Emperor Yuan Jean of the Ching dynasty. In his early years, he studied kung fu under master Cheng of Shangtung and learned all he could in a few years. Tung left Shangtung province in quest of more kung fu and began his search for friends and a teacher. Eventually he met a Shaolin priest who had been a noble during the Ming dynasty but became a monk to avoid the ruling yoke of the Manchu and then became a master of My Jhong Kung Fu. Master Sung followed the Shaolin priest in the temple for more than a decade before completing his mastery of the style. He was sent down the mountain by the priests and then returned to Shangtung only to find that the daughter of his former teacher, master Cheng, was not pleased with him. Wishing to avoid a challenge from his sifu's daughter, he first moved to Ching Zhou and then settled in Chuong Zhou in Hobei province and started his teaching of My Jhong. Tales of his prowess and mastery of My Jhong became widespread as he gained numerous followers in the northern provinces. They gave him the nicknames Almighty Hand and Iron Feet Sung Tung. Today's My Jhong students from all different branches and places are the result of his teaching
Description
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My Jhong Law Horn is an external style, with distinct internal influences. It draws on many aspects of the external northern Shaolin long-fist style, and the internal styles Tai Chi Chuan and Pakua Chuan, which are often taught alongside it in modern times. It is characterized by deceptive hand movements, intricate footwork, varied kicks, and high leaps. In execution, the style changes very quickly.
The emphasis on flexibility in northern Shaolin styles is the guiding principle of My Jhong, and this is evident in the versatility of its attacks and the extent to which it integrates the concepts of many internal styles. An increased emphasis on mobility often comes at the price of power, but My Jhong compensates for this by providing a means for the dynamic generation of power. My Jhong's unique fa ching (discharging of force) comes from the combination of the internal corkscrew power of Chen-style Tai Chi and the external snapping power of Shaolin long fist. The result is an efficient production of force through the dynamic motion of multiple elements of the body, the mastery of which gives a My Jhong practitioner the capability of generating force quickly and flexibly from any distance.
This system was presided over by Grandmaster Yeh Yu Teng in the twentieth century until his death in 1962 at the age of 70. A number of his students (among them Master Chi-Hung Marr) emigrated to the United States in the 1960's and have continued to teach this system in locations around the U.S. and Canada.
A portrait of Grandmaster Yeh Yu Teng is on display in every My Jhong Law Horn training hall. It is flanked by a couplet in chinese which translates to:
The five continents are simmering; Tigers and monsters are waiting to be conquered by Law Horn.
May there be no diversions from the main course; To spread the art and defend the course are the duties of the My Jong Masters
The My Jhong Law Horn Style Poem
My Jhong Law Horn combines the hard and the soft; Dodging, springing, and shifting like a leopard changes its moves; Jumping and changes of steps are elusive; Spectacular leaps back and forth simulate the tiger.
Mud-tilling steps are just too swift for the opponent The left foot has hardly landed and the right follows; The right foot has yet to step down but the left sets in.
Internal power is generated by dropping the shoulders and elbows. Hands going up like lifting a caldron or a sparrow piercing through the bushes. Hands coming down like splitting a brick or a swallow gliding over the water.
Embrace, get in, reverse, glue, roll, snap, and lift. Stick-pull, grab, up-push, intercept, hammer, deflect and squeeze. Movements of the hands, eyes, body and the steps are well coordinated in all strategies. The spirit, the poise and the grace flow like waves of the sea.
References
- Tang Martial Arts Center website http://www.whiteleopardkungfu.com/default.htm