CRANE

Kenpo & The Five Animals

The crane is soft, relaxed and explodes with sudden power. Crane teaches us great balance and complete self-control. Through the crane we learn to stay calm so concentration is never broken.

The crane is the most graceful of the five animals. A crane must be cautious and observant so one becomes alert when danger is sensed, yet never acting recklessly like a tiger would.

One must never initiate an attack if one uses the crane. The crane will wait until the attack is initiated but always strikes first by anticipating the attack and intercepting it. Therefore a crane must be patient and serene. Using the crane’s fighting methods one can tire out an opponent with little effort and send them away in humility.

Legend has it that monks observed a crane defending off a tiger that was after her young. Not overpowering the tiger’s strength but evading the fierce movements exhausting the tiger for it to retreat and come again a later day. Rather if it is true or not, I am not sure because I was not there. Some say it is and others say nay. I know this much however if you give 5 people a stick and ask them to create action with the stick all 5 will do something slightly different, in turn creating 5 different history patterns through the individuals. Some may swing it overhead, or side to side, some may add a sharp object on the end like a spear and others would perhaps use it as a walking stick. Just because something is said to be nonsense in one culture about another does not mean that it didn’t happen, because the person who swung the stick side to side may say that sticks weren’t used like a spear where in some cultures that would be likely for a better advantage and hunting purposes. You see one should not be so narrow-minded but not be fooled as well however one should open their minds and hearts to all and take the underlined lesson behind what is taught.

In Kenpo Kung Fu training crane promotes flexibility and quick to reaction. Other than learning crane techniques and a long form of grace called “White Crane Form,” a lot of special training and drilling is required for that balancing work and grace it takes to glide gently and flawlessly.

You will learn to balance on cylindrical shaped objects (like posts) and maneuvering on a balance beam. You will also learn to become light footed in this portion of the training if you didn’t during jump roping during the power training portion at red belt level by hovering pole to pole with crane like movements. This is so you can move with such control and grace to overcome an over aggressive opponent with softness while staying calm. This will make your techniques look as if you were moving without any weight under your feet at all like a ghost, creating a whirlwind of motion. If familiar with martial arts you know what I’m talking about. You see practitioners move but they look really heavy in their movements, thus causing a problem with balance. Once their root is broken, they go down to easy. This will help you control your power, speed, and stability in foot work. Crane is taught when you are a green belt (5th Pai Hong) working towards your first degree of brown belt (4th Pai Hong). You also learn two weapons in which they are the Bo staff and Tonfa. In some essence this is the start of your ending to your new beginning, because you are learning the five animals and the only color belt you wear after testing for brown is brown in the different 4 degrees of this belt. So in turn this is your last belt before Black Belt (1st Duan Wei/Blue Eagle Ranking). However you still have about 4 years before thinking about black belt.

NOTE: One should not attempt any of the Five Animal exercises without proper supervision of a trained specialist.

Click on the links below for more information on each of the Five Animals.

Crane | Snake | Tiger | Leopard | Dragon

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