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From MartialWiki English

Tang Lang Quan
螳螂拳
"Praying Mantis Fist"
Origin	China
Founded by	Wang Lang
Primary focus	Striking
Similar to	Black Tiger Kung Fu

Northern Praying Mantis (Chinese: 螳螂拳; pinyin: tánglángquán; literally "praying mantis fist") is a style of Chinese martial arts, sometimes called Shandong Praying Mantis after its province of origin. It was created by Wang Lang (王朗) and was named after the praying mantis, an insect, the aggressiveness of which inspired the style. One legend places the creation of the style in the Song Dynasty when Wang Lang was supposedly one of 18 masters gathered by the Abbot Fu Ju (福居), a legendary persona of the historical Abbot Fu Yu (福裕) (1203-1275), to improve Shaolin martial arts. However, most legends place Wang Lang in the late Ming Dynasty.

The mantis is a long and narrow predatory insect. While heavily armoured, it is not built to withstand forces from perpendicular directions. Consequently, its fighting style involves the use of whip-like/circular motions to deflect direct attacks, which it follows up with precise attacks to the opponent's vital spots. These traits have been subsumed into the Northern Praying Mantis style, under the rubric of "removing something" (blocking to create a gap) and "adding something" (rapid attack).

One of the most distinctive features of Northern Praying Mantis is the "praying mantis hook" (螳螂勾; pinyin: tángláng gōu): a hook made of one to three fingers directing force in a whip-like manner. The hook may be used to divert force (blocking) or to attack critical spots (eyes or acupuncture points). These are particularly useful in combination, for example using the force imparted from a block to power an attack. So if the enemy punches with the right hand, a Northern Praying Mantis practitioner might hook outwards with the left hand (shifting the body to the left) and use the turning force to attack the enemy's neck with a right hook. Alternately, he/she might divert downwards with the left hook and rebound with the left wrist stump to jaw/nose/throat.

Northern Praying Mantis is especially famous for its speed and continuous attacks. Another prominent feature of the style is its complex footwork, borrowed from Houquan (Monkey Kung Fu).

[edit] Origin

There are many legends surrounding the creation of Northern Praying Mantis boxing. One legend attributes the creation of Mantis fist to the Song Dynasty when Abbot Fu Ju (福居), a legendary persona of the historical Abbot Fu Yu (福裕) (1203-1275), supposedly invited Wang Lang (王朗) and seventeen other masters to come and improve the martial arts of Shaolin.[4] The Abbot recorded all of the techniques in a manual called the Mishou (祕手 – "Secret Hands") and later passed it onto the Taoist priest Shen Xiao. This manual supposedly disappeared until the Qianlong reign era when it was published under the name "Arhat exercising merit short strike illustrated manuscript" (Chinese: 罗汉行功短打; pinyin: Luóhàn Xínggōng Duǎn Dǎ).[4] Some sources place the folk manuscript's publication on the "sixteenth day of the third month of the spring of 1794".[5] The manual records Wang Lang "absorbed and equalized all previous techniques" learned from the 17 other masters.

[edit] Techniques

[edit] In popular culture

• Lion Rafale from the Vurtua Fighter video game series uses Northern Praying Mantis, as does Master Mantis from the movie Kung Fu Panda and Shujinko from the Mortal Kombat series.