Tan T’ui Poems

 

Verses for 10 and 12 rows There are many versions of Tan T'ui, i.e., 10, 12,14,16, 24 and 36 that I know exist. This is what I have: Tan T'ui Ten (10) Row (Spring Legs) Name of Row Number Of Movements 1. Coherent Steps 14 2. Cross Kick 13 3. Slash and Squash 12 4. Uphold Palm 12 5. Uphold Fist and Shoot 10 6. Crook and Sprinkle 12 7. Flowery Bending 10 8. Stamp and Thread 14 9. Lock and Stick 12 10. Flying Kick 09 '' Tan T'ui Twelve (12) Row (Ching Wu School) Name of Row Number of Movements 1. Coherent Steps 14 2. Cross Kick 15 3. Slash and Squash 21 4. Uphold Fork 24 5. Uphold and Shoot 18 6. Double Unrolling 18 7. Single Unrolling 18 8. Stamp and Thread 33 9. Lock and Stick 21 10. Cut 30 11. Hook and Hang 21 12. Advance Step and Cross 18 Since Tan T'ui was a very popular style, the people developed poems to aid in remembering the set. The poem for the Ten Row Tan T'ui Row one is to hit the enemy as you hit with a whip Row two is to buffet with both fist crossed Row three is to knock the enemy's head Row four is to bar the road with fist Row five is to buffet and protect yourself with the arms Row six is to hit with a single fist Row seven is to hit with both fist Row eight is to swing your fist sideward or backwards Row nine is to hold the fist together Row ten is to kick with your foot as if it is an arrow The poem for the Twelve Row Tan T'ui Row one: Buffet forward with a single fist in the advance position Row two: Hit the enemy with both fist crossed Row three: Knock the enemy's head with your body turning backwards Row four: Buffet with the fist and kick the enemy with the foot Row five: Protect your head and hit the enemy's chest Row six: Buffet with both fist; prostrating the leg Row seven: Hit the enemy's ear with one fist and kick him hard Row eight: Protect your head and groin with the fist Row nine: Hold the fist together and separate them Row ten: Kick your enemy with the foot as you hit him with an arrow. Row eleven: Buffet sidewards with hook - fist  Row twelve: Recover to the original position   BSL Lyrics: Tom Toy I remember Sal Canzonieri once sent me a list of like a dozen different lyric versions of Tom Toy. It was a really cool piece of research he was working on,  but I don't know if he ever published it. It's sort of what I'm going for here - let's compare some lyrics! TOM TOY (Springing legs) 1. Upper punch, sweep block like carrying a yoke. 2. "Crossed" character (Chinese character "ten"), pull the drill. 3. Swing block, double covering punch. 4. Thrust technique, grind the stone mill. 5. Down punch block, followed by heel kick. 6. Lock, control, jam, and push, moving naturally. 7. Double grab, "crossed" character kick. 8. Stomping heel kick, spin like a wheel. 9. Jam the lock, heavy, close the door. 10. Plant the flower, light, snapping straight leg. BTW, it's worthy of note that my BSL sifu Wing Lam changed this set in the late 80's. In line 3, we used to turn completely around to gongbu facing the other way in sort of a chin na move.  Now we do a reverse gongbu without turning around in a simple block. When he made the change,  he said he felt this was a more applicative move for our system. The 'new' way is what is on his video series. Interestingly, the lyric still works no matter which move it is... __________________ Gene Ching Associate Publisher Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com     Tan Tui Originally Tan Tui was a ten section form that was developed during the late Ming Dynasty (1600s). During the Ching Dynasty it was adopted by Monks of Shaolin Monastery who developed their own version of it. T he form was also expanded to twelve sections. You can see some resemblance between the older 10 section version and the 12 section Shaolin version. Because Tan Tui lays the foundation for more advance technique so well, many martial arts schools,  both Northern and Southern, adopted it into their curriculum. In most cases these schools modified the techniques which resulted in different versions of Tan Tui. Liu Ho Tan Tui (6 Harmonies Spring Leg), Tui Quan (Leg boxing), and even an 18 section Tan Tui are examples of such forms. NorthernShaolin, you list even 24 and 36 verson which is interesting. Have you seen these? From what I understand Jing Wu Association in Shanghai adopted the Shaolin 12 section Tantui not the 10 section version. I know that we covered this before but from what I understand the Shanghai school listed these as part of their 10 forms as basic to the school. Tantui (12 section) and JieTantui (succeeding foot snapping) Was JieTantui, a contact form? In our school we also do follow-up form related to Tantui called Lui Lu Ying Quan (Six Methods of Hard Punching). r. Last edited by r.(shaolin) on 05-04-2002 at 01:20 AM ----- Kung Lek wrote: I was taught to perform Tan Tui at a slow to moderate pace to further encourage balance, form and fluidity ----- Applying 'jing' in all the attacks and counters, as well as doing them at fighting speed is the great bench mark for tantui. It requires, fluidity, effeciency, plus well timed, 'compressed power' (need I say fitness) to do a long form like tantui this way. When I think my senior students are getting a bit ‘soft,’ doing tantui is a great reality check : -)))) . . and memory is the lest of the issue. As far as the ‘lyrics’ are concerned, I'm not so sure memorization was the intent either. I find that objectives / intentions, are critical to effectiveness, these are aided by descriptives/poetry . ie. “Lock and Stick” or “Jam the lock, heavy, close the door” for section 9. Last edited by r.(shaolin) on 05-06-2002 at 12:05 AM