HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF
HO FAMILY FLOWING WATER STAFF
This pattern, "Yellow Dragon Emerges from Cave", looks prosaic, but is one of the deadliest techniques of the Flowing Water Staff
The Ho Family Flowing Water Staff, or "Ho Ka Lau Shui Khun" in Chinese (Cantonese), is reputed to be composed by Lan Tou Ho, which means "Wounded Head Ho". He had a wound on his head which seemed never to heal.
Lan Tou Ho was a great kungfu master, famous for his staff which remained in the Ho family. He was about two generations after the Venerable Chee Seen, the First Patriarch of Southern Shaolin Kungfu.
Kungfu masters of the Ho Family would not teach the Flowing Water Staff even to their daughters, for fear that when their daughters married they might leak the staff out of the family. My sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, was the first person to bring the Ho Family Flowing Water Staff out of the Ho family.
There are four staff sets well known in kungfu circles, and Flowing Water Staff is one of them. The other three staff sets are Fifth Brother Octagonal Staff or Ng Long Pa Kua Khun, Six-and-Half-Point Staff or Luk Tim Phoon Khun, and Left Handed Fishing Staff or Chor Sau Tiew Yu Khun. All the pronumciations are in Cantonese.
There is a poetic couplet explaining the secrets of the Flowing Water Staff, which runs as follows: "Kiew lea kiew seong kor, Mo kiew shun shui low", which means "If there is a bridge, go along the bridge; if there is no bridge, flow with the water".
The combat application of the Flowing Water Staff is fascinating. Honestly, when I have learnt its combat application, the applications of other weapons look prosaic.
Wong Kiew Kit
26th December 2018
LINKS
Flowing Water Staff -- Pattern Names