Coming To America - Jow Ga Kung Fu

Summary: I recently got to go as a guest teacher at another school that focuses on Jow Ga Kung Fu. Now, I like learning new Kung Fu styles, and have mostly focused on the Northern Chinese styles, which tend to be more holistic than the Shao Lin styles from the south. Since it's discourteous to show up at a school as a "know it all" about your own style, without learning the style they use to highlight points of similarity, I asked if I could come in for a couple of private workouts ...

I recently got to go as a guest teacher at another school that focuses on Jow Ga Kung Fu. Now, I like learning new Kung Fu styles, and have mostly focused on the Northern Chinese styles, which tend to be more holistic than the Shao Lin styles from the south. Since it's discourteous to show up at a school as a "know it all" about your own style, without learning the style they use to highlight points of similarity, I asked if I could come in for a couple of private workouts first. Their sensei, Pete Schildt, was kind enough to let me observe a couple of classes. First, like I'd suspected from watching the class work out, Jow Ga is an amalgamation of a couple of different Southern styles - the Southern style punches are a dead giveaway, as they're less fluid, and faster than the Northern styles I'm used to. The stance is a bit lower than is typical for Shao Lin styles, and the footwork is a bit more defensive, and much more familiar to me than I was expecting it to be. The defenses, like most of the Southern martial arts styles, are more rudimentary than those taught in the North. Anyway, Jow Ga Kung Fu got its start in China in the first part of the 20th century, when its founder, Jow Lung learned Hung Ga Kung Fu from his uncle, who died of an old illness. Jow Lung then followed master Choy Kau in learning Choy Ga Kung Fu. According to students of Jow Ga, Jow Lung learned the new style with a great deal of rapidity due to the foundation taught to him by his Uncle. Unable to find work, Jow Lung left his village (and China entirely) at the age of 18, eventually getting to Kuala Lampur in what is now Malaysia, where he worked as a tin miner. The cartel running the mine tended to treat miners badly, beating them up, stiffing them for their pay, and similar abuses. Jow Lung, in defending another miner from getting beaten, killed a foreman, and fled. After three days of climbing the mountains, he found a temple called Gi Leu. Starving, he asked for sanctuary. In return for doing chores around the monastery he was taken in as a pupil, where he learned Wudang techniques from Northern China, including medicinal techniques. His master, Chian Yi, said that he had a natural talent for Kung Fu, and, when his training was complete, sent him out into the world. Jow Lung walked back to Kuala Lampur, and from there, got transportation back to his home village in China. During the entire process, he started thinking about integrating the three unique styles of Kung Fu that he had learned, and Jow Ga Kung Fu was founded. Its first school was his home town, and its first students were his younger brothers. Before long, his brothers went on to found other schools, having not only mastered the techniques, but the methods of teaching them effectively. In 1911, the Chinese government held a competition for the person to teach unarmed combat to the Chinese Army, and Jow Lung won, going undefeated in a 10 round competition; he and his brothers taught the style to the Chinese army, and it's about this time that he and his brothers got dubbed the Five Tigers of Jow Ga. Jow Lung died of pneumonia in 1930, but by then, he and his brothers had established over 80 schools in mainland China. Jow Ga Kung Fu came to the US in 1966, five years after the last of the original Jow Brothers died. The first teachers in the US were Hoy K Lee and Dean Chin, who set up their school in Washington DC. Since then, it has become one of the most popular styles of Kung Fu in the United States, because of its integration of both the Northern and Southern influences into one complete style. I'm liking it a lot, from the classes I've seen, and I'm looking forward to learning from it..