{"id":5061,"date":"2018-03-16T16:55:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T20:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dontow.com\/?p=5061"},"modified":"2018-03-16T17:02:56","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T21:02:56","slug":"deflect-and-supplement-part-of-fundamental-principles-of-taijiquan-as-a-martial-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/2018\/03\/deflect-and-supplement-part-of-fundamental-principles-of-taijiquan-as-a-martial-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Deflect and Supplement: Part of Fundamental Principles of Taijiquan As a Martial Art"},"content":{"rendered":"
The principles of deflect and supplement are fundamentally important for Taijiquan as a martial art.\u00a0 Although these principles are relevant for all styles of martial arts, they are especially important for Taijiquan.\u00a0 This article discusses these principles.
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From the very beginning of Taiji several hundred years ago, Taiji was always viewed as a good exercise for health and a good martial art.\u00a0 When we discuss Taiji as a martial art, often we refer to it as Taijiquan, or the fist of Taiji.\u00a0 The fundamental concept behind Taijiquan is that one does not oppose an attacking force head-on, because then whoever is the bigger and stronger will win.\u00a0 Instead, one deflects the attacking force or one supplements the attacking force with a force along the direction of the attacking force, as well as many other techniques.\u00a0 Then the winner does not have to be the person who is bigger or stronger.\u00a0 We elaborate on these two approaches.<\/p>\n
Deflect:<\/strong>\u00a0 If the attacking force is along the x-direction, then a deflection force with a component along the y-direction will be able to deflect the attacking force. In principle, this deflection force can be very small, and it will still be able to deflect the attacking force, since the attacking force has no component along the y-direction.\u00a0 This is the basis for the famous Chinese saying “4 ounces can deflect a thousand pounds.”\u00a0 However, the speed in which the deflection can occur will depend on the size of the deflection force.\u00a0 So in a realistic application, the deflection force has to be reasonable, but it definitely does not have to be comparable to the attacking force.<\/p>\n This principle is applied all the time in Taijiquan (as well as in other styles of martial arts).\u00a0 For example, if A (person in black) tries to punch the head of B (person in white) with A’s right fist.\u00a0 B can mitigate this attack by raising his left hand to deflect A’s right fist to B’s left.<\/p>\n