"Pieces of Eight"
"This is the segno, where you'll make your students walk, stepping forward as well as back, with weapons in hand, round about, putting their feet in the edges that cross the segno tondi."
~ Achilles Morozzo
~ Achilles Morozzo
Yesterday, I posted about the Four Virtues; one of them being the Tiger that represents speed (Celerity). Earlier in my challenge I wrote about The value of the Circle, angles and circle stepping. ("The System is Offline Tonight!" 12/08/20 and "Round and Round" 05/31/18)
Tonight, I combined them.
Walking the circle, then the first four intersecting paths.
Reversing and the original four become eight.
Applying Tiger (Celerity) getting faster, adding thrusts and parries.
Changing paths in mid direction, turning, forwards and backwards.
Visualizing the motions and steps of the tiger, a real flow came together.
In Nam Siu Lam Hung Ga (Southern Shaolin), there are five animals. The Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Leopard and Crane were not just technique classifications, but they also represented the Five Elements and Five Emotions.
We trained to embody the essence of the animals, as an attacker should feel like they were in a fight with a beast.
We were warned, regularly, not to lose our Humanity in such training.
As the European fight manuals seem to leave as much out as they tell us, I often wonder if any philosophies like this in their training.
By Thomas V. Berger
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