Now with my current focus, the jo crosses the
sea from Japan to North Western China and becomes a Whip Stick -- Bian
Gun -- albeit of the same length.Bian Gun is 'folk martial arts' --
rather than something caught up in all that martial culture of belts
and katas. The whip stick is so called because it aids walking,
defending yourself and driving donkeys.
Bian Gun attracts me because
the mystical Taoist elements are absent. In Tai Chi or many other kung
fu styles (like White Crane), there is more chi-speak than you can poke a
stick at.
All sticks move differently in the hands depending on
their length and whether they suit one or two-handed combat. While all
of these sticks are a weapon, they can be substituted with other found
'weapons' like umbrellas, handbags, shopping bags or whatever is to
hand.
In Kali you could use a pen or a credit card!
Since I do my homework, I know these things.
In pursuit of martial arts, I've been down many a YouTube rabbit hole. While I've said it before, I need to make adjustments yet again as to my focus.
My online journey has been discovery rich with me half knowing what I wanted with stick combat focus. Since I'm so impressed and enamoured with the Kali/Eschima system, I'm committed to that primarily for its approach to attack and self defence. No pretensions. Just the real deal -- street smart.
So that's one stick covered -- the short arm length kali stick.
With the jo I had been struggling. While I committed to a jojutsu approach I found the learning a hard ask. Very linear (in forward and back mode) -- with most approaches ruled, it seemed to me, by pokes and stabs. Too sword-like...with a pretensious (for me and my background) samurai lineage.
The Hanbo was more real, but it was ruled by repetitive katas -- I thought -- and limited by the fact that you seldom exploited both ends of the staff -- as you do in jojutsu.
Consequently, I delved into kung fu/Chinese stick forms and renewed my association with Yang Tai Chi Chuan. I didn't expect that Bian Gun was out there...until I found it.
Bian Gun
After all, offshore, it is not a popular form outside its regional origin. It also is not part of a martial arts style where the stick is deployed as a miscellaneous weapon supplementing unarmed combat.
Given what I had learnt and practised, Bian gun was a revelation for the free form usage of the jo staff -- referred to as 'whip staff 'in China. That it was referred to as 'folk' martial arts and emanated from everyday stick usage was a clincher for me.
So now I have dropped my jojutsu studies and have turned to Bian gun as my weapon art of choice for the jo length. While I will study some of the long forms and imitate them in my practice --as I have done with my Tai Chi/Hanbo hybrid form -- I know that, despite family lineages, Bian gun is not set as it is based on a few key moves that use the stick creatively.
None of the relentless spinning you get in Silambam and Korean staff work. No choreographic dance like so much Wushu. Just hit 'em where it hurts and then hit them again.
And no god dam chi-speak! (I am nonetheless partial to its Ying vs Yang rationales).
