This is a wonderful historical documentary of Baguazhang orginating in the 1980’s and recently edited and translated by Byron Jacobs of https://www.mushinmartialculture.com. I strongly recommend you visit his site. Byron is a Liang Style practioner, whereas the Wutan school is in the Yin Style lineage.

My notes are presented here as ‘revision notes’ as part of my goal to deepen my understanding of this art. I thought this was going to be a ‘quick and dirty’ article, but it turned out longer than expected!

Following my recent article on Yin style Baguazhang showcasing Situ Ray Hayward’s wonderful and clear demonstrations, I have tried to piece together the Baguazhang lineage of our school. This is primarily derived from Master They’s first book - The Path of the Complete Martial Artist.

During the period that Yan Lu Tan held the post of Chief Instructor to the Imperial Palace, there were also other famous instructors in residence, such as Kuo Yin Sen of the art of Hsing Yi [Xingyi] and Tong Hai Chuan (1796-1880) [Dong Haichuan] of the art of Pa Kua Chang [Baguazhang]. Tong was also the king’s bodyguard and the first to bring Pa Kua to the public eye.

I am still very much a beginner in traditional Chinese martial arts and I continue to find Bagua fascinating. It seems to be doing wonders for my hips and knees. It’s the newest ‘internal martial art’ and was founded by Dong Haichuan in the mid-nineteenth century. Yin Fu was said to be his best student. It’s not a style we learn in my school, but I love the simplicity of the material presented here by Ray Howard and his simple teaching style, so I feel it is worth sharing.

The practice of circle walking, or "turning the circle", as it is sometimes called, is baguazhang's characteristic method of stance and movement training. All forms of baguazhang utilize circle walking as an integral part of training. Practitioners walk around the edge of the circle in various low stances, facing the center, and periodically change direction as they execute forms.