Kung Fu Master…and the Secret of Light Kung Fu!
[I:http://mymartialartsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/AlCase10.jpg]One of the neatest things in cinema was when David Carradine in the old Kung Fu TV series walked on the rice paper. Rice paper is extremely thin, and the moisture on the sole of the foot, along with the weight of the body, was enough to tear the stuff. The legend, of course, was there is this thing called Light Kung Fu, where one could actually make the body lighter, maybe even levitate it.
Now, me and my friends would watch David Carradine, Kwai Chang Caine, and wish we had a kung fu master to teach us how to walk on rice paper. Why, we could do all sorts of things if we could only know Light Kung Fu! Bad guys would be nothing if we had that awesome ability!
So, a little thought about the problem, a little western ingenuity, and we came up with a solution. Take a roll of toilet paper and unroll it on a linoleum floor. Now, very carefully, put a small drop of water on each square. Now, walk.
Rice paper is like wet toilet paper, you see. So we walked, and…the thin stuff was ripped apart. Hmmm.
Try it again, placing the foot and not turning it at all. Squoosh, squoosh! Darn stuff just tore apart.
So we placed a long row of chairs next to the strip of tissue paper, and tried supporting ourselves as we walked the walk. Rip, squish, darn! This was tougher than we thought.
Now, in the end, we never did manage to walk the light kung fu walk, and not tear the filmy tissue into shreds. And, to be truthful, I don’t think it is possible to do, toilet paper is supposed to dissolve in water, and rice paper, well, who knows what the heck rice paper is for, or even looks like. But something amazing happened because of our interest in being able to do what the old masters did, even if they were only actors on the tube.
We worked out long hours. In between trying out our light kung fu, we practicing kicking and blocking, we did our forms again and again. In essence, though we never walked the light kung fu walk, we became masters through another route, through dedication and long hard work and by pursuing dreams!
Al Case has studied martial arts for forty years. A writer for the magazines since’81, he is the founder of matrixing technology and neutronics. You can walk on rice paper with him, or, least get a free ebook, at Monster Martial Arts.
Related posts
Tagged with: David Carradine • karate master • kung fu master • kung fu tv • Kwai Chang Caine • martial arts • ninjitsu master • self defense • shaolin temple
Filed under: Martial Arts
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Leave a Reply