Northern Chinese Staff and Jogo do Pau

One interesting theme that we find in martial arts is that martial arts applications converge to some extent when presented with the same problem.  For example, if you wish to do a shoulder throw from a given position, it is likely that the shuai-jiao guys, the judo guys, the aikido guys, (and everyone else) will agree on common elements of the throw.  Not everyone will agree as to the utility of the throw, or if it is the most effective technique for a given situation, but if the throw must be done, then there are only so many ways to do it well.

The same thing applies in staff.  Staff play seems to be divided into three general types: spear type (involving lots of tip work, small circles, and thrusting), cudgel type (involving large swinging motions with either one or two hands), and double ended wherein both sides are used equally at shorter ranges.  At one point Sifu Henry Gong told me that the latter two could be called Sun and Moon staff in Chinese martial arts thinking, but, sadly, I don't recall which was which, and I've not found references anywhere on the internet.

While it is not so astonishing to find similar staff play across Japan and Korea, or across all of China, it is more striking to find such similarities between Chinese and Portuguese staff.  Yup.  You read that correctly.  Traditional Portuguese staff play, also known as Jogo do Pau, exhibits all the techniques of Northern Chinese cudgel play.  

Fig 1: Common blocking in Northern Chinese Staff, and similar block, with application from Jogo do Pau.

The origins of Jogo do Pau are debated even within its community with some feeling that the art was home grown in Portugal and in Galicia, Spain, (there are only so many ways to accomplish a goal) while others feel that it has Indian origins coming from the voyages of Prince Henry the Navigator and his successors.  

My interest in the art is more than simply running down its origin.  To my mind whether it came from India, China, or Portugal is immaterial.  What is interesting to me is that there aren't simply a few techniques in common, but rather the vast majority of techniques.  They even practice form.  Even more so, the Jogo do Pau players are versed in technique from day one.  They learn the practical application of their art through drill (not two-person form as in China).  They even teach multi-person staff defense.  I often feel that while 2 person forms are valuable, the lack of practical weapons training in Chinese martial arts is to its detriment.  Instructors either don't teach applications (because they don't know them), rely only on 2 person form, or make up drills as they go.  Perhaps such drills exist in secret (!!!) and only the chosen few in Chinese martial arts get them.  I'm not sure.  

What is clear to me is that in the many Jogo do Pau drills there are examples of the usage of *our* techniques.  These guys are not shy about sharing their knowledge and have a plethora of drills that can benefit the aspiring Longfist staff practitioner who wishes to better understand his/her forms.

You can find earlier links in this blog to some of our drilling. (More to come!)  A very clear and not terribly fancy compilation of northern staff techniques can be found in the 32 staff form.  I've included a link to this video below so that you can get a sense of the technique. 

Fig 2: 32 Staff play done in contemporary Chinese longfist styles.  Note the general techniques.

 How about those Jogo do Pau videos?  Here is a brief collection to get you started. 

Fig 3: Demo of Jogo do Pau technique, form and free sparring.

Fig 4: Some quality father (?) son time.  Note the competence of this young kid.  Also watch what happens when his dad's/instructor's staff breaks.

Fig 5: From a documentary on Jogo do Pau.  This has English subtitles.

As a final note, in this last video, you will notice the practitioners wearing sashes.  I doubt this really has significance with respect to the origins, but it is similar to what many Chinese martial arts practitioners wear.  

Enjoy, and good luck in training.

Staff Flow Drills: Part 2 - Figure 8's for Fun and Profit

When you first learn northern staff, one of the first things you practice is the figure eight.  It's an essential movement, you are told: it's for blocking, they say.  And while you might agree that you would not approach someone wildly spinning a staff in this manner, you may not be certain of how to do much more than intimidate novices with the movement in your own practice. The drill, as introduced here, focuses on one half of the figure eight and provides both defensive and offensive interpretation of the movement.

I'll start by saying that there are two versions of the figure eight that one often sees.  One is a badly done (but fast) version that is sometimes seen in contemporary wushu wherein the staff is held at a distance from the body.  This version uses mainly the arms to effect the spin with minimal reinforcing body motion.  It works great for show on thin staffs, but is much more difficult to do using anything substantial.  Anh once had me using a lead pipe to practice, and I can't imagine controlling the staff at any distance from my body. 

Fig 1: The tuck in blocking an attack.

The second version, which I am also seeing some from some of the better contemporary wushu athletes, involves a body turn and tuck and keeps a portion of the staff against the body for a fair portion of the movement.  The tuck and body contact provide reinforcement against impact when one blocks (Fig 1).

Staff Flow Drills: Part 1 - the Rollover (and some brief history)

Many years ago when I first started learning staff from my first teacher, Anh, he taught me a technique which I didn't really appreciate at the time: the rollover.  The idea was that following a high block, one could move very subtly to control the other person's staff and return the head shot via redirection.  At the time, I was disappointed in the simplicity of the form I was learning and could not see the elegance of this approach.

Starting position of rollover drill

Disappointed in the perceived limitations of Chinese staff, I put it down for a number of years before picking it up again when I started doing Contemporary Wushu.  My coach at the time, Wang Yang, a former Szechuan team member, taught me a "real" staff form.  We worked hard on figure eights, spins, flowers, cloud parries, and jumps, and my staff play got better.  I placed second in a small field at the USAWKF national tournament that preceded the World Championships in 1995. I felt really good about my staff play.  Only we didn't actually work on applications. At all.

As time went by I started playing applications of staff with more advanced students.  I found that many hadn't learned any real staff play other than the forms.  There was staff sparring in tournaments involving the use of foam covered staffs.  This didn't look at all like the movies, and even was embarrassing when some of the midieval renactors showed up and solidly womped all the Chinese martial arts guys. 

Then I started thinking more about Anh and his teaching.  His forms were never really fancy, but boy could that guy fight.  I started comparing movements from his old staff forms to movements from my newer ones.  There were a host of similarities.  Many of them involved sliding motions, or the use of bounce.  The hand positions (open or closed) became important since the hand was clearly a target in many attacks.  With my learning of Shaolin staff, it all fell together.

A successful rollover. 

The drill presented here is one which is designed to hilight the rollover, the superior guard, and the cloud parry, the later two of which can be found at the very end of Yilu Gunshu (16-step contemporary staff).  One starts as shown above.  Person A has just issued a strike to his opponent's (Person B) head which is blocked with a typical cross high block.  Person B then counters with the rollover.  If person A does not respond in time, he will be hit in the head.  The rollover consists of a simultaneous pullback to chamber with the right hand along with a left-handed inward circular motion.  The motion is similar to what is seen in Lianbu Quan.  Notice that person A has lost control of his centerline, whereas person B has covered his centerline throughout the entire motion.  To counter this, person A *must* roll his staff into a guarding position using primarily the right hand.  The left hand stays more or less where it was.

Person A rolls into a superior guard position to defend.

Person A can then redirect and attempt to attack person B's open left side using the "cloud parry".  Really, it's a lateral strike.  The rollover defense was the parry part of the movement.  In any event, the tip of A's staff circles to the back and then strikes toward B's left side in an arc.  B responds by rotating the body to the left and by assuming the guard position.  You should notice both B's open left hand to prevent getting the fingers smashed as well as the oblique angle of the staff.  That oblique angle dissipates the force of the blow and also allows the tip of B's staff to help maintain distancing as it arcs across A's centerline.

The third step in the drill.  B is in guard position.

The force of A's blow spent, B now redirects by circling the staff back and to the left and turns the motion into a downward strike to bring the drill full circle.  The rolls now reverse and the drill continues.

Final step of drill before rolls change

The power in B's blow comes from several sources: the momentum in the redirect and circling, the turning of the body, and the shifting of the stance.  Also, the hands play a roll.  Novices will often leave the right hand out of chamber.  This means that there is less of the body turn transferred into the staff, and as a result, the left arm has to do most of the work.

It is important to do each phase of this drill separately when first training it so that each partner understands the intent of each attack and how to defend against it.  It is also important to ultimately use force while maintaining control.  If your partner messes up, you should not clock them over the head.  Getting hit in the head does not teach you a lesson as we've seen from boxing and more recently the NFL.  Only go as fast as you can control.  Below is a video of the drill in its entirety.  Notice the fluidity.  One of the characteristics of Chinese martial arts is *smooth* application of power. When you start to feel control of the centerline, force in your strikes, speed, and fluidity, you are probably really starting to understand this drill. 

A Preview of Staff Drills for Application

One of the skills our advanced students are working on at the present time is staff (gunshu).  Staff is an interesting weapon in that it has two ends and a middle.  "OK, Captain Obvious," you say, "how can this be enlightening?"  The answer is complicated.  Because of this, staff can be both very versatile, and very hard to really understand.

Consider first this traditional form

Shaolin Staff Section 1a

This type of form stresses the use of both ends of the staff and focuses quite obviously on the coverage of the centerline.

Section 4 Old Compulsory

In this case, the center line is covered more via rapid action and broad sweeping or clearing manuvers and one end of the staff is used preferentially.

What's particularly interesting is that both forms are represented as longfist-based despite their clear differences.  The first form comes from my sifus Artie Aviles/Henry Gong who learned it from Nelson Tsou, who learned it from Li Mao Ching, who (probably) learned it from Han Qing Tan.  In short, it is from the Nanjing Central Guoshu Institute's longfist curriculum.  The second form comes from the compulsory series of forms (which were largely Chaquan based) first published in 1989.  These forms contain many movements from the more basic contemporary staff sequences from the 1950s.  However, it's not clear whether such movements are purely northern staff, northern spear (which emphasizes one end over another), or some hodge-podge of technique.

In any event, it can be challenging for students to assimilate both modes of thinking: using one end of the staff vs. using both ends.  Although we make heavy use of two person forms at our school since these provide students with timing and flow elements that are needed to really understand technique, we have also found that practically, other drills are needed.

To this end, we focus first on using the staff as a long range weapon whose primary purpose is to guard the centerline.  Students are taught to use a superior guard, such as what is found in the contemporary Yi Lu Gunshu (16 step) form, and move in such a way as to keep the opponent's staff off the centerline.  In many cases, this requires only very small movements since the bulk of the body is already protected.  In other cases, when the opponent has made an opening, more complicated motion and footwork is required in order to keep the centerline safe. 

After a handful of basic blocks have been mastered, we move to three step sticking drills where one partner attacks while the other defends.  The defender attempts to neutralize the attack using minimal force and by projecting their centerline onto the opponent.  If done well, contact between staffs may never be lost!  Then after three attacks, the roles change.  Once students have really started to learn to cover their centerline under such conditions, we pick up the speed and move to a more freeform version where both sides can attack and defend as needed.  More often than not, a good defense involves a simultaneous attack. 

Below is an example of a moderate speed three step drill followed by free-form drill.  You'll note that both contemporary and traditional type techniques have found their way into the drill although in this version, primarily one end of the staff is used.  You'll also note the footwork and angulation used to maintain the centerline.  There's a reason why contemporary staff uses so much floor space.  On the other hand, you'll note that stances are not used terribly much since we're not truly beating on each other.

In some upcoming installments, I'll break things down a bit more, show how stances get integrated and how they can change the game, and show a transition to middle range technique so that both ends of the staff are more involved.  Enjoy!