Category: Martial Arts

#97 Baji

This episode follows on from Episode 26 of Graham’s Tai Chi Notebook Podcast in which he interviews Woven Energy patrons Rikard Elofsson and Miika Wikberg about the little-known martial art of Baji. We discuss the possibility that the Baji Xiaojia is the most perfectly balanced form from any martial art – “Xiaojia is more Tai Chi than Tai Chi”, and look in a bit more detail at the history, technique, strategy and background to this subtle and robust martial arts style.

Graham, Miika and Rikard’s original episode can be found here.

Categories: Martial Arts

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#95 Shaolin

Did Western movies and TV lead to the creation of the Shaolin Warrior monks? Did the modern Shaolin fake something that had already been reinvented anyway? Did the Qing Dynasty really destroy the Shaolin temple, or did they instead create it? What influence did three subsequent phases of communism have on Shaolin? Was there a Southern Shaolin Temple, and what about the modern stuff at Wudang Mountain? These questions and more answered in our new episode on the infamous temple and its monks.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/9404101/95-shaolin

Categories: China Martial Arts

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#71 Xing Yi (part 13) The Water Chestnut Mirror

This episode explores the connection between the martial arts of the great Song generals’ tradition and Chinese theatre, which was emerged during the height of the Yuan Dynasty.

A modern reconstruction of a mural depicting the Yuan zaju stage c. 1324. The original was found in the Guangsheng Temple of Shanxi province.

#70 Xing Yi (part 12) Rocks and Bamboo

We pick up our series on Xing Yi with a new dynasty, the Yuan, examining the social changes that Mongol rule brought to China and their implications for the martial arts through the lens of the artwork of the period.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/9404101/70-xing-yi-part-12-rocks-and-bamboo

Gong Kai (1222-1307?), Emaciated Horse, in [Yuan shidai no huihua]. Tokyo (Nara?): Yamato Bunkakan, 1998. pl. 1, p. 26. Collection of the [Daban shili meishuguan]. ink on paper, 29.9 x 56.9 cm.