A Brief History of Jiulong Baguazhang

There are many styles of Baguazhang, and the particular style that I am learning had a circuitous route to the United States that has the same synchronicity as my coming to it (see my first post). Briefly, Jiulong Baguazhang is one of several martial arts that were handed down in the Li family from father to son in China. The Li’s were bodyguards and being able to protect your principal and the merchants who hired you to guard their caravan was of utmost importance. Before the Chinese revolution, there was no organized police force in the country and bandits roamed the trade routs that rich merchants used to get their goods to lucrative markets. Consequently, the Li’s became experts at various weapons and martial arts. The martial arts they incorporated into their family for their business were slowly modified to meet their particular needs and became their trade secret. They did not share this with others for this was their competitive advantage, or ‘secret sauce’ as Coop likes to say. So, while the essence of Baguazhang remains in the art, much of the peripheral manifestations are different. They were changed by the Li’s over the hundreds of years that they had to use it. If something in the art did not work efficiently and effectively, they did not hesitate to toss it out. If they found something new that worked, they were not afraid to incorporate it. Jiulong Baguazhang was a dynamic living art based on the necessity of staying alive and making a living. There could be no greater acid test than the environment in which Jiulong Baguazhang was born, nursed, and grown to maturity.

After the WW II, the Li family was hired to guard Chiang, Kai-shek and eventually ended up in Taiwan. From that country, Master Li, Long-dao, one of the last in the Li family who continued the bodyguard tradition, immigrated to the United States and ended as the neighbor to a sickly child namedJohn Painter. Taking this child under his wing, Master Li nursed him to health with traditional Chinese medicine and taught him Jiulong Baguazhang and the other arts in which the Li family specialized.

Dr. John Painter is now the head of the Jiulong Baguazhang family and teaches the art out of Arlington, Texas. There are several Study Group Leaders (SGLs) throughout the country, England, and Israel, who also are certified to teach the art. We are lucky to have Shi-ge Rick Krausman here in Ohio as our SGL as he has over forty years experience in martial arts and about ten in Jiulong Baguazhang.

Because of the route Jiulong Baguazhang took from a family’s private art to Dr. Painter, it is a little different from traditional martial arts. First, it does not have a belt system. They are not given to show your ranking because everyone is a student until he or she dies. There’s always something more to learn by combining core principles in different ways to come up with new techniques. Second, there are no forms to learn. Again, core principles are combined in different ways to create spontaneous forms that look one way today and may never be repeated. Third, there is no sparring. Sparring implies holding back so you don’t hurt your opponent. This form strives to react spontaneously and without thinking to disable your attacker. The thought is that one cannot perfect spontaneous reaction if one holds back. Fourth, this art did not become adapted for tournaments. There are no trophies in the schools where Jiulong Baguazhang is taught that were won using this art. Fifth, there are no punches in this art. All strikes are done with the whole body, torso, arms, legs, forearms, feet, or palms. Sixth, JBG has a moving root. By this I mean that one does not stand still while delivering a hit to an opponent. JBG was designed to strike on the move facing multiple opponents. Finally, there is a very large component of this art that is meditative in nature. What it tries to do is to get you into shape mentally in order to make you a better person, not just a better fighter but a better person.

Now some may take umbrage at the words that I’ve used in comparing JBG to traditional martial arts. Please don’t, as no offense was intended. These are simple comparisons and do not imply that one is better than another, only that there are large differences. Think of it as the preference people have for, say, Fords or Chevys; both are equally good car manufacturers.