It hurts when I pi
Excellent hoodies and other apparel from the Mushin Martial Culture online store.
Introduction
First, let me get the pun and terminology out of the way. I bought one of these hoodies in December following prostate surgery. I am sure you will be glad to know that it no longer hurts when I ‘pee’!
Too much information?
‘Pi’ is the first of the ‘five element fists’ in Xingyiquan.
It is the Splitting Fist.
It’s element is Metal.
It is represented by the Axe.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is linked to the Respiratory System.
A hat tip to Byron Jacobs of Mushin Martial Culture for summarising this so clearly in his Youtube videos (last link at the bottom of the page).
And some Xingyi revision…
Xing Yi Quan is classified as one of the internal styles of Chinese martial arts. The name of the art translates approximately to "Form-Intention Fist", or "Shape-Will Fist".
Xing Yi is characterized by aggressive, seemingly linear movements and explosive power that's most often applied from a short range. A practitioner of Xing Yi uses coordinated movements to generate bursts of power intended to overwhelm the opponent, simultaneously attacking and defending. Methods vary from school to school, but always include bare-handed fighting training (mostly in single movements/combinations and sometimes in forms) and the training of weapons usage with similar or identical body mechanics to that used for bare-handed intense fighting.
A note, that I am a beginner in Xingyi, but continue to be hugely excited at studying it alongside the other internal martial arts.
Focus on ‘pi’
If you are looking at Xingyi for the first time, and want a recap on ‘pi’, then promise me you will only look at the first 46 seconds of this video…
Shout out to the Canadians!
Master Hai Yang is based in Montreal 🇨🇦.
Some quick observations and comments:
Master Hai Yang practices Hebei (the province) style Xingyi, and a number of sub-styles within it. To be honest, I don’t know the style of Xingyi we study in Wutan
There are differences though such as:
The big opening (that I like personally)
Rather than starting a step by turning the toe out and then landing the first punch, he steps and lands the foot and the hand at the same time, with the toe out
The open striking hand is largely driven forward, rather than ‘chopped’ down like an axe
As he brings his back foot forward past his front, there is a momentary pause with toes down. This could be an artefact of the ‘slow speed’ he is demonstrating at
On the turn, the new front foot is withdrawn to the rear foot and comes off the ground toe down before driving forward
His back foot shuffle his small, and sometimes barely there, but it is there
His fist shape is mostly first knuckle prominent
If you want more from Master Hai Yang, here is a 20 minute introductory overview of Xingyi…
The first YouTube link I posted above was called ‘slow-motion demonstration’!
He’s already doing it twice the speed I do 😄.
If you want to see Xingyi done much faster and with practical applications, worth checking this one out. I included it in a recent post here, but no harm in adding it once more.
Other Xingyi links from my site:
Year of the Snake - includes me demoing the Xingyi linking set 🫠
Featured image is of Master Hai Yang, from Canada. From his YouTube site.
