The Martial Arms Starter for Chow-Gar
Southern China is where Chow-Gar style comes from. It was started by Chow Lung, who learned hung-gar from his uncle. Hung-gar is one of the five classic southern systems that came from the Shao-lin temple. His uncle taught his nephew the pa-kua staff moves before he died. Choy-Kau taught him how to fight in the Choy style. Then, after living for three years in temples, he opened his own school in Canton. General Lee-Fook-Lam put Chow-Lung in charge of teaching in the Chinese army in 1915.
Chow Gar is a short-range fighting style from Southern Shaolin. It is a form of Southern Praying Mantis, which is one of many Chinese martial arts. It is a scary style that puts a lot of focus on fighting up close. Different training methods, called chongs and gungs, that have been improved over hundreds of years are used to reach these goals.
How Chow Gar Works: The Basic Moves
There are also 20 basic moves called San Sau. Each of these moves is made up of one to three steps. they do;
- Narp Sau (hook hand)
- Chum Chung sau (hand and elbow go down)
- Pai Kui (slicing hand)
- Dun Chung (back elbow)
- Larp sau (snatch hand)
- Chuen sau (Transmit hand)
- Kwor sau (circle over hand)
- Yui Sau (Take your hand off)
- Cye Sau (deflect)
- Lau Sau (Leaking hand)
- Doa Sau (spring hand)
- Mut sau (sweep hand)
- Kum la Ja Jook (seize and hold hand)
- Chong Bow (cover hand, meaning to wrap up)
- Saw Sau (lock hand)
- Ngai Chung (Forward elbow)
- Cheet Jeung (cutting palm)
- Got sau (cut back hand)
- Yong Sau (upward reach hand)
- Jin Sau (scissor hand)
- Gau Choi (hammer fist to come down)
There are still 16 left.
Chow Gar makes up
The Chow Gar system has a lot of different forms, but these are some of the most common ones:
- Gen Tung Gen Sau Lin Wa say (fright power hand)
- Bo Sim Sau (searching insect hand)
- Poon loong keok (flying dragon leg)
- Yau Loong Sau (swimming dragon hands)
- Bic Saan (lifting mountain)
- Sark Bo Jin (3 step arrow)
- Gau Si Mun sau (9 seeking hands)
- Say Mun Sau (four gates hand)
- Mo Ying Sau Chor Kui (crack the bridge)
Chow Ah Naam started the Chow Gar Praying Mantis martial art. He had spent many years in the Shaolin Monastery (Sil Lum Jee) learning how to use the body's hidden powers through the Shaolin's secret training drills. These special skills and methods were given to people who were very good at fighting and had great intuition. Chow Ah Naam was one of these rare people. Because he was so skilled, he was given the hall of Shaolin to teach this elite art.
The short-range power he had learned easily beat the other Shaolin arts. It was given the name "praying mantis" after someone saw a praying mantis fight off a blackbird with sudden movements, which reminded them of Chow Ah Naam's power.
Chow Gar training can be done in any city in the world, and if you want to find a school near you, visit our Chow Gar martial arts directory.
