LINEAR IN SET, MULTI-DIRECTIONAL IN APPLICATION
This seven-star grip is linear in the set, but can be applied in any direction in combat. This "kungfu is alive" aspect will be taught at the course.
Question
I recognized that most strikes from the Seven-Star Set comes from the center. For me it seems to be a very advanced kungfu set (like Wuzuquan and Xingqiquan) because it needs good force to make the strikes powerful from the center.
But interestingly Sitaigung Ho Fatt Nam learned this advanced set when he was a kungfu beginner. Did he realize quite fast that the Seven-Star Set is an advanced art?
The Seven-Star Set seems to have many tactics and strategies. But why doesn’t it have any Dragon-Riding Stance, like in Flower-Set, to attack a stronger opponent from the side? Sigung, can you please tell us more about my perception and questions?
Roger
Answer
While there are many Seven-Star attacks coming from the centre, there are also many that come from a side. It may not be easy for martial artists, including masters, to recognise where Seven-Star attacks come from because not only they are deceptive, the same movement can also be applied to come from any direction.
It is too verbose to explain this interesting strategy in words; one has to attend the Seven-Star course to learn it. This strategy, like many other aspects of our kungfu training, can be beneficially applied in daily life.
The Seven-Star Set is a very advanced art but it may look elementary to the uninitiated. This makes learning the set even more interesting.
Having good force to apply Seven-Star attacks from the centre or from any direction is of course desirable. But even when an exponent does not have good force, his Seven-Star attacks can still be very effective.
This is another interesting point in attending the Seven-Star course. As a great Taijiquan master, Wang Zong Yue, said in his Treatise of Taijiquan, for a stronger exponent to defeat a weaker opponent is natural, but how would a weaker exponent defeat a stronger opponent? This required a sophisticated art.
As I have mentioned earlier, many lessons in our courses can be applied to daily life. If you are in a stronger position — in business, social situations or in any conditions — to defeat your weaker opponent is natural. But if you were in a weaker position, how would you defeat a stronger opponent?
My sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, was not a kungfu beginner when he learned the Seven-Star Set from his simu, though he was not as advanced in his kungfu attainment or as wise in his experience in his later life. I don’t know whether he had learned other martial arts before this occurrence, but I know for sure he had been following my sigung for many years and demonstrating kungfu feats like piercing straws through potatoes and breaking the bottom of bottles by hitting the opening on top, which he told me were stuntman's tricks.
I did not ask my sifu directly, but I guess he realised quite fast that the Seven-Star Set was an advanced art. He told me, when starting to teach me this set, that this set made his simu, despite her small size, a kungfu expert, and that techniques from this set were excellent in countering Muay Thai attacks, which many martial artists feared.
The Seven-Star Set certainly has many tactics and strategies. It has to be for a set suitable for small-sized exponents to defeat bigger-sized opponents. If a person does not have much money or position but wants to succeed in life where there are many people who have more money and better position than him, he needs a lot of tactics and strategies.
Using the Dragon-Riding Stance as in the Flower Set to attack a stronger opponent from a side is one of many tactics and strategies. Calling it a tactic or a strategy depends on various factors, like the exponent’s intention and his overall mode of operation.
The Seven-Star Set does not use this tactic or strategies because it uses other effective tactics and strategies. It also finds this method detrimental to the general mode of Seven-Star operation. Thirdly, there is an innate weakness in using the Dragon-Riding Stance, but the Seven-Star jump which often replaces the tactic or strategy of the Dragon-Riding Stance eliminates this innate weakness.
The Seven-Star Course is definitely an interesting course where participants learn tactics and strategies not only to defeat bigger, stronger opponents but also to enrich daily life.
How would you apply this kick from an opponent's side, back or any direction?
The above discussion is reproduced from the thread 10 Questions on the famous and legendary Seven-Star Set (七星拳)
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