Shi Da Dao - Caodong Lineage - Fly-Whisk

China: Old Master Xu Yun [1840-1959] is Still Sat in Meditation! (17.10.2024)

I once saw a Westerner (a German) living in China. He could read, write and talk the Chinese language – and had been accepted as a Disciple by a Daoist Master (this is not easy to do – even if you happen to be ethnically “Chinese”). He was able to perform a secret Daoist gongfu Form -where he used the fly-whisk as a self-defence implement. There was no violence – just lots of spiralling movement. All I can do with my fly-whisk is lift it up and down occasionally. I suppose it all comes down to timing.

Email: Torquay Museum – Japanese Battle Kite! (29.8.2023)

At the above link I have added a blog post to our family martial arts website regarding this medieval Japanese battlefield ‘kite’! It resides in the Torquay Museum in South Devon and even when we visited – there was not the usual plaque giving the provenance of this piece – other than a description of what it is. I have written to the Museum to see if I can clear-up the mystery as to the origins of this artefact. As maters stand, this is a bamboo and material device that acts as a ‘kite’ able to lift a grown man of the era into the air whilst carrying a bow and supply of arrows! He is barefoot and stands on a single bamboo pole whilst his body is held in place by two crossed baboo poles in the centre of the device!