Commentary: Poetic Titles and Kung Fu

I told Art one time that I was having real difficulty remembering everything that needed to be remembered in performing each form. Apart from the intricacies of the body movements (hands, feet, legs, arms, body, and head), body positioning, alignment, weight distribution, breathing, and the synchronization of all these together, there's also remembering the sequence everything is supposed to follow.

At the time, Art had nodded and said that I needed to recognize that each form--as all forms--can be broken down into individual steps, each marked by a name to help remember them. He said remembering the names help to remember the techniques.

Which brings me to a subject that periodically catches my attention: just what is the deal with all these poetic titles given to techniques?

I mean, it appears very typical with Chinese martial arts. You hear students and teachers reciting the names as they perform the techniques. You see practitioners recognizing each other's style or instructor by the name of the techniques they display.

The names are very imaginative and evocative poetic titles. Here's a sample of some of the ones I've overheard (and what they actually refer to):

• hawk follows sparrow (refers to: one hand follows another down and across through the air)


• leaf covers summer flower (refers to: arms stretched across chest--but not crossed--with one palm facing up and the other palm facing down)


• eagle attacks fish (refers to: outspread hands coming together from different angles and then leaving in opposite directions)


• lean against the horse and ask for directions (refers to: initial stance in 1st and 2nd palm changes)


• push the moon out the door (refers to: action in 1st palm change where the practitioner pushes the opponent using a turn out of the initial stance)


• goose leaves the flock and flies alone (refers to: action in 2nd palm change where the practitioner brings one hand away by itself)

I remember Ching-Tszieh and Art had a conversation about this. Ching-Tszieh said the terms were very vivid, and brought some very bright imagery. Both she and Art had said this was the entire point of the poetic titles: to provide imaginative and evocative labels that reminded the student of ideas that helped to understand the important concepts of each technique.

For example, hawk follows sparrow is meant to ensure the student remembers to have one hand start from a high position and follow the other hand as it goes down along a leg while the student descends into a low stance; leaf covers summer flower is meant to remind the student to remember to keep one palm upwards facing the sky while the other palm faces down; eagle attacks fish is meant to tell the student to bring two hands in front from opposite directions--one hand from a outstretched high position, the other from the other low outstretched position-- like an eagle swooping down to intercept a rising fish, meet, and then go off in opposite directions again but different from the ones they came in on. Likewise, goose leaves the flock and flies alone is meant to remind the student that the hands start close together, but then one hand leaves alone by itself while the other hand remains stationary.

Of course, this means that the historical Chinese martial artists weren't really using poetry, but instead just whatever seemed very memorable for them. Jason suggested this, saying that a lot of martial artists (particularly those who were illiterate) just used whatever terms they could find that were easy to remember and very illustrative of techniques. Lean against the horse and ask for directions, for example, came from farmers and journeymen who would rest against a horse with the back of their shoulder while they planned an activity or surveyed a direction. Similarly, he said push moon out the door came from front doors of houses and nights with a full moon--things common and auspicious to Chinese culture--to help the practitioner visualize that they're standing next to an open door and pushing the evening moon out by using the shoulders, arms, and hands with a rising twisting motion from the legs and hips to close the door.

Jason said that the continuing practice using such evocative terms were a vestige of history and tradition, and that in truth anybody could use any system of names to remember techniques. He said music or tools would just as well, and that is why some modern kung fu schools sometimes use different terms to describe the same techniques, with some schools retaining the historical terms and others switching to more modern ones.

I have to admit, remembering the terms kinds of helps. It's analogous to a mnemonic device, basically giving the human mind keys to more detailed memories. Here, the poetic titles are the keys that help the practitioner's mind unlock the memories of the many actions involved with a technique. I find recalling the terms does indeed bring up visual images of each technique, and stimulates the muscle memory into performing them.

I guess more modern terminology (music, tools, movie titles, books, whatever) might serve the same function, but while they could act as mnemonic devices to spur muscle memory, for certain they wouldn't have the same evocative power, illustrative connotation, or visual imagery. And they most definitely would not be anywhere near as pretty or pleasing.

I dunno. I know kung fu is about combat, health, and spiritual enlightenment. But my vote is with the traditional. I think there's something to be said for aesthetics. It just seems more human.