Video Clip Series: From Slow and Systematic to Fast and Spontaneous

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Shaolin Wahnam Video Series

Review of the UK Summer Camp Weapon Course July 2007

The Butterfly Knives – Part 17
FROM SLOW AND SYSTEMATIC TO FAST AND SPONTANEOUS

The Butterfly Knives against the Staff. First, we learn the movements slowly and systematically. When we are proficient, we perform them fast and spontaneously.

Others looking at our videos may criticize our combat applications shown here as too slow for actual fighting. We should feel complimented instead of insulted. Although they never mean it, they are actually saying that we understand and practice systematic training whereas they don’t.

An analogy may make this clearer. When you first learned how to drive, you didn’t go fast. You went over the various necessary maneuvers slowly, not only because you were unfamiliar with them yet, but also this enabled you to perform the movements correctly and smoothly as well as to take note of mistakes made. Now that you know how to drive, these movements have become smooth and fast spontaneously.

Please note that you can download the video clips onto your own computer and view them at your leisure. Place your computer pointer at the picture or one of the links, and right click. Choose “Save Target As”. Select the directory or sub-directory where you wish to keep the video clip. Click “Save”.

A picture-series of the set can be found here

Skillful Application of the Sword
Grandmaster Wong demonstrates how a skillful swordsman would respond to an opponent crossing his Butterfly Knives, then moving in to attack. But the “human-character” formation would frustrate this skillful counter movement of the sword.
The size of the video clip is 0.66 mb.
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Separate Clouds to Search for Silence
Grandmaster Wong demonstrates another skillful movement of the sword against the reverse slash of the Butterfly Knives. The sword pattern used is the same. It is called “Separate Clouds to Search for Silence”.
The size of the video clip is 0.50 mb.
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Comet Chases after Moon
Sifu Mark demonstrates an effective counter against a thrusting attack from a long weapon, like a staff or a spear. This counter pattern is known as “Comet Chases after Moon”. Notice that Sifu Mark deflects the thrust, not block it.
The size of the video clip is 0.76 mb.
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Counters against a Downward Staff Chop
Sifu Mark shows an effective counter against the downward chop of a staff using the Butterfly Knives pattern called “Point to Star, Look at Moon”. But Grandmaster Wong says that the simpler pattern “Fierce Tiger Descends Mountain” would be better. Do you know why?
The size of the video clip is 0.71 mb.
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Sequence of Continuous Attacks
After deflecting Martin’s initial attack, Sifu Mark responds with a series of counters, using the patterns, “Golden Knife Chops Rock”, “Fierce Tiger Descends Mountain” and “Rhinoceros Looks at Moon”. Continuous attacks like these are a forte of Butterfly Knives.
The size of the video clip is 0.88 mb.
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Attacking from the Front-Gate or the Side-Gate
Again Sifu Mark employs a sequence of attacks on an opponent, this time on the other side. In kungfu terms, Sifu Mark attacks from the “in-side” or “front-gate” of the opponent. In the previous video clip he attacked from the “out-side” or “side-gate”. Here the opponent could not defend or counter in time. But if he could, a skillful attack can still continue the planned sequence of attacks, but he needs to make some modifications.
The size of the video clip is 0.78 mb.
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