Method Recombining

Though some of the 32 Boxing Methods can be used in and of themselves to accomplish a goal, the greater numbers of these methods provide only a portion of the biomechanics or intent for a technique. In this way, a number of methods must be linked and interfaced, again and again, to produce what modern practitioners have come to take for granted-- an organized syllabus.

In writing his chapter 14 for his training manual---commonly called "the Boxing Canon", General QI Ji-guang only sought to characterize the qualities of each method, leaving the practical applications of such qualities to his training cadre. In this way, a person with little or no practical experience could take a handful of qualities and ask themselves what might be produced by "stirring" that combination together. Later, scholars would find that techniques could be deconstructed to their essential qualities, and substitutions of other qualities made, to invent techniques intended to serve specific functions, so producing various "styles" of Boxing.

In examining this process of construction or deconstruction, it may be of help to consider these methods in much the same way as one might consider being dealt a particular hand of cards--- say, in the game of Poker. In such a game, five cards are dealt and the single most valued hands are those where all five cards are used such as a-pair-and-three-of-a-kind, or even "A Full House". A lesser hand might be two-pair, or three-of-a-kind or even a pair. In the game of Poker, such combinations and their value is readily apparent by looking at the pictures on the cards. But in the case of Military Science, "winning" combinations of Boxing Methods can only be truly known with repeated success in combat.

Certainly, with time and experience, particular techniques (IE. combinations of Boxing Methods) became recognized as methods of themselves and even later identified as techniques. Soon the techniques themselves could be linked to produce forms by which individuals could remember large numbers of techniques and need no longer concern themselves with the individual variables and nuances that first produced the techniques. In this way, for instance, one only spoke of a given Shoulder Throw and not the myriad sub-parts that contributed to the event.

Lastly, there is the matter of context and history which have come to influence the character of method re-combinations. For instance, a sharp-eyed individual, familiar with these Boxing Methods would have no trouble identifying them in Okinawan KATA as well as in the silk-reeling practices of Tai Chi. Yet, notice how very different the use of these methods are between these two examples. No doubt similar influences touched the Korean use of these methods just as the Chinese culture seasons the use of these same combinations of methods in that country.