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The
Creation of Chow Gar Praying Mantis as related by Sifu Ip
The
creator of Chow Gar Praying Mantis was a monk named Chow Ah Naam.
He was a Cantonese man, and was born into a wealthy farming family.
When he was about ten years old he developed a stomach illness,
which many doctors failed cure.
A
friend of his fathers suggested the illness may be due to environmental
factors, and recommended that he travel to different areas possibly
finding a better climate.
His
father gave this some thought and decided to send his son away.
He gave Chow Ah Naam money to travel North with a servant.
When
they had travelled some distances his stomach illness grew worse.
At the same time his servant became ill, and could not keep up
with Chow Ah Naam, so they rested at an Inn. A few weeks later
the servant died.
After
the funeral Chow Ah Naam had run out of money and sent a letter
back home requesting more. But he was far from home and the letter
was lost.
The
owner of the Inn knew of the young man's illness and his financial
prediciment and offered him a position of servant in the kitchen.
He also advised him to go to the Shaolin Temple to see a Buddhist
Monk named Sim Yan.
This
Monk was a famous medical man, who did not usually treat outsiders.
However he liked the Chow Ah Naam, and after a few months of treatment
the young man had recovered fully.
The Inn where Chow Ah Naam worked was in fact was part of the
Shaolin Temple, where the rules included Kung Fu practice for
at least two hours each day.
During
Chow Ah Naam stay at the Temple he had a work mate named Set.
Now Set was a big man with powerful arms and he thought himself
the strongest of the lot. He'd been training Kung Fu for many
years and was always telling people off and picking on others,
so Chow Ah Naam tried to avoid him.
One
day Set was carrying two buckets of water and Chow Ah Naam accidentally
bumped into him. Set was so angry that he hit Chow Ah Naam. Although
Chow Ah Naam tried to defend himself he was knocked down with
one punch.
Some
time later Chow Ah Naam was in a nearby forest collecting wood
for the stove in the kitchen. He heard a commotion and looked
up to see a bird using its beak against a Praying Mantis.
Watching
closely he saw the Mantis suddenly cut across the birds throat
with it's arm; the bird fell and was covered in blood - it had
stopped moving.
Chow Ah Naam was very surprised at this incident and being an
intelligent person it occurred to him to copy this insect. He
caught the Praying Mantis and many others after it, feeding them
and using a twig to test their fighting reaction. Gradually he
developed his boxing style based on the principles of these insects.
Nobody
knew about this in the Shaolin Temple until one day, a few years
later Set was showing off in front of some monks as Chow Ah Naam
was passing through. The big man decided to pick on him, and Chow
Ah Laam realised he could not avoid the challenged.
Set struck out at Chow Ah Naam, who was cool and avoided all his
punches. Set became angry and used all his power to try to knock
him down. All the other monks around were shouting and jeering,
the noise was loud and so disturbed the Head Monk Sim Yan.
Sim Yan went to investigate what was going on and saw Chow Ah
Naam fighting. Sim Yan knew that his fighting style was different
to the Shaolin style, and while he was watching, Chow Ah Naam
struck out at Set knocking him down to the ground.
Sim
Yan stopped the contest and asked where Chow Ah Naam studied his
Kung Fu? Chow Ah Naam told old Monk that he had observed the Praying
Mantis' fighting habits and developed a system based on this.
Sim Yan praised Chow Ah Naam's ingenuity because there were not
many people like him. Sim Yan personally taught Chow Ah Naam the
highest of the Shaolin Temple training to develop a strong and
powerful bridge.
Word
of the style and its creator spread. Many years later Chow Ah
Naam returned to Canton where he taught a monk named Wong Fook
Go. After several years training Wong Fook Go went to a place
named Wai Yearn and taught a young man named Lao Sui.
At
that time it was the end of the Ching dynasty and Lao Sui went
to Hong Kong where he became famous. His Kung Fu was superb and
he had thousands of students in Southern China. After the death
of Lao Sui there were only a few people who knew the highest of
Chow Gar Praying Mantis Kung Fu and Grandmaster Ip Shui was one
of the few.
Grandmaster Ip Shui is the father of Sifu Ip Chee Keung.
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