Preface
Zuojia boxing is a kind of boxing founded by Zuo Changde, a famous dart master in Shanxi Wenshui, the boxing equipment is rich in content, among them, the face palm, elastic leg and double hook can be called "Zuojia three unique".
Zuojiaquan was named after the founding of Zuo Changde. Zuo Changde studied martial arts with his father Zuo Wenfa, who was proficient in martial arts, since he was a child, and obtained the true inheritance of his father. In the fifth year of Daoguang, the seventeen-year-old Zuo Changde went to Beijing with his father to run a car shop, and was accepted as a disciple by the Changmei monk, and after nine years of hard training, he succeeded.
Through relevant records, it can be seen that the founder of Zuojiaquan formed Zuojiaquan during the Qing Dynasty through his own understanding on the basis of Shaolin boxing and other types of boxing.
Zuo Changdeok
Chongli and heavy teaching, fist and Zen as one
In the sixteenth year of Daoguang (1836 AD), Zuo Changde's car shop was not well run and closed down, and since then he has wandered the world because of the uneven fight and killed people who were once arrested by the government, and then came to Suzhou with the help of his father's friend Zhang Demao, and helped him run the dart bureau.
Since then, the three generations of the ancestors and grandchildren of the Zuo family have begun a dart career that has lasted for more than half a century, and they have never lost a dart because of their outstanding martial arts.
Especially in 1844, Zuo Changde escorted the famous embroidered "Seven Birds" in Suzhou and made great contributions, and Emperor Jiajing was very happy and gave him a yellow coat.
Zuo Changde is famous in China for his strong martial arts and "royal dart", and this time is also the peak of Zuojiaquan's development.
However, in modern times, with the decline of the Qing government, the invasion of foreign powers, the division of warlords, years of war and other drastic changes in the social environment, the role of the dart game throughout the entire context of the development of Zuojiaquan in the society has become smaller and smaller, and Zuojiaquan has slowly faded out of people's field of vision since then.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the rapid development of competitive martial arts, with Zuojiaquan as a representative traditional martial arts practitioners, gradually decreased.
In 1988, the Shanxi Sports Committee established a martial arts excavation and finishing group, and Zuojiaquan once again returned to the eyes of the world and became the characteristics of the regional culture of Zuojiaquan in Wenshui County.
At the beginning of practicing Zuojiaquan, we must start with morality and etiquette, and anyone who practices Zuojiaquan must abide by the boxing etiquette. Boxing salute is also known as please boxing, that is, the salute when boxing, which contains the meaning of mutual humility, respect, learning, and unity.
Zuojiaquan is not only body language, but also has a good educational function, Zuojiaquan emphasizes the cultivation of martial virtues, contains a rich sense of ethics and morality, and abides by self-improvement, justice and trustworthiness and other good morals.
It is a practical indoctrination of learning, is a process of almost lifelong practice, "literature to contemplate the mind, martial arts to cultivate virtue" is the essence of Zuojiaquan's good education, is to convey the god in form, to deify the form.
For example, Zuojiaquan imitates the gait of the tiger, reflecting the humanistic spirit of flexibility, swiftness, wit and bravery, and "conveying a perception of Shen Yun with the form of Shenhua, so as to bring Shen Yun to the technical performance of Zuojiaquan."
Folk boxing proverbs have the saying that "the south fist and the north leg" and "the hands are two doors, and they all rely on the feet to hit people". As a northern type of boxing, Zuojiaquan has the title of "Zuojia Legs Walk the World", which shows that his leg skills are good.
Zuo's leg is known for its iron leg skills, and Zuo Changde, known as the "leg dart master", relies on this skill to make him walk in the "seven south, seven north, six" provinces in his decades of bodyguard career without defeat.
Wenshui Zuojiaquan is very technical, and his shots are outstanding and accompanied, that is, when the opponent launches an attack, he will immediately launch an offensive against the opponent without giving the opponent a chance to breathe after the opponent's offensive is resolved.
Combination of dynamic and static, both internal and external
Movement and stillness are philosophically opposites and unity, Zuojiaquan emphasizes the combination of movement and stillness in the static pile work and dynamic marching, such as freedom when moving, such as mountains when still, which perfectly interprets the law of the combination of movement and static.
Even when practicing pile gong, he also pays attention to "urging with intention". In the process of rehearsing the routine, the cohesion and transformation of the movements fully reflect the high unity of movement and static. Since ancient times, those who practice martial arts have paid attention to "practicing one breath inside, and practicing muscles and bones outside." ”
Paying attention to both internal and external cultivation has always been the cultivation goal pursued by Zuojiaquan, and the scope of inheritance is closed.
This long-term nature requires that the inheritance area of Zuojiaquan has a certain degree of stability, and it is spread in a closed environment.
Throughout the history of the inheritance of Zuojiaquan, it will be found that the spread of Zuojiaquan is limited to the family of the Zuo family, and it will only be passed on to foreign surnames as a last resort.
At present, Zuojiaquan is mainly spread in Wenshui County, Fenyang County, Lingshi County and other places in Shanxi. Compared with the national scope, the spread of Zuojiaquan is small, so this region-centered inheritance has a certain closure.
The family has its own faction, which is not conducive to the passing of the torch
The Ming and Qing dynasties were the peak period of the development of Chinese martial arts, and Zuojiaquan was also a period of development and prosperity during this period. Influenced by the feudal ideology at that time, the inheritance of Zuojiaquan was mostly carried out in the way of father to son and master to apprentice.
Although this method of inheritance protects the martial arts and their primitiveness, if there are no male members in the family or other objective reasons, the martial arts will face the possibility of being lost.
At the end of the Republic of China, Zuojiaquan began to teach the exercises to people with surnames outside the village for this reason, which shows the fragility of the inheritance of Zuojiaquan.
The geographical environment provides certain natural conditions for the inheritance of Zuojiaquan, Xiaoziqu Village, the birthplace of Zuojiaquan, is located in Maxi Township, Wenshui County, Luliang Region, located at the eastern foot of Luliang Mountain, which is a warm temperate continental semi-arid area, with open terrain, relatively superior natural conditions, a long history, and outstanding people.
In the development of Zuojiaquan, affected by the relatively closed geography, climate and human environment of the Luliang area, Zuojiaquan has rich legs, large range of movements, obvious ups and downs of movements, good at strength and internal strength, and has gradually formed a unique regional cultural style.
The martial tradition is the soil for the formation of the regional cultural characteristics of Zuojiaquan, and Wenshui is the "hometown of martial arts".
In history, Wenshui has produced countless martial arts elites, and the warriors of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Sansi, Wu Chenghei, etc., not only wrote military books, but also had strong martial arts.
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Cheng Yuanzhen, a martial artist, gradually rose from the garrison to the commander-in-chief of the army, and Wenshui in the early Qing Dynasty also produced a martial arts wizard Zhai Yushan, who was a friend of Jinlan with the martial arts hero Dou Erdun.
According to the "Wenshui County Chronicles of the Ninth Year of Guangxu", it is recorded that Wenshui had 28 martial artists in the Ming Dynasty and 113 martial artists in the Qing Dynasty. It is this kind of traditional humanistic environment that advocates martial arts, is proficient in martial arts, has strong folk customs, and produces many talents, which provides fertile soil for the breeding, development and continuous growth of Zuojiaquan.
"Dart culture" is a necessary condition for the formation of Zuojiaquan's regional cultural characteristics, and Dart is the product of commercial development to a certain extent.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Shanxi had developed commerce and expanded its market to foreign countries.
In the unstable social environment at that time, in order to protect the safety of the goods, the dart board of escorting the goods and silver taels came into being. The emergence and development of Zuojiaquan is also inextricably linked to the rise and fall of commerce and dart games.
The inheritance of Zuojiaquan is inseparable from the dart game, and the Zuojiaquan can be famous throughout the country is also inseparable from the dart game. As a characteristic culture of Shanxi, the "dart bureau culture" is undoubtedly a necessary condition for the inheritance and development of Zuojia boxing.
Folk customs, such as festival folk customs and amusement folk customs, are formed in a specific region and serve the daily life of the people.
Zuojiaquan can be inherited in Wenshui County and its folk activities have an important relationship, Wenshui Zuojiaquan has also played a great role in promoting the inheritance and development of folk customs.
According to the field investigation, every year when Wenshui holds a temple fair and the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, the masters of Zuojiaquan will show their skills. This kind of performance not only adds to the atmosphere of the festival, but also becomes a kind of support for the inheritance of Zuojiaquan.
In the process of Wenshui Zuojiaquan routine drill, it is not difficult to find that Wenshui Zuojiaquan pays attention to "respecting etiquette and valuing education" and is inseparable from the folk customs of advocating etiquette, humility and introverted cultivated by the people in Luliang area.
Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are the core of the formation of Zuojiaquan's regional cultural characteristics, and the combination of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism together constitute the cultural core of Zuojiaquan.
First of all, Wenshui Zuojiaquan advocates Confucian courtesy and humility, and Taoism's "Wu Wei" emphasizes the "unity of boxing and Zen", which has a positive and active effect on the formation of Wenshui Zuojiaquan's regional cultural characteristics.
The original meaning of Zen is meditation, and Zuojiaquan talks about the understanding of Zen and applies it to practice. The Taoist idea of Wu Wei is refined in the practice of Wenshui Zuojiaquan as "combining the will and the qi, and leading the qi with the will".
Therefore, it can be said that Wenshui Zuojiaquan is a fusion of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
epilogue
Traditional martial arts is one of our core cultures, and it is also a treasure that our ancestors pondered for thousands of years, and it is precious to the sons and daughters of China.
In this regard, we should try our best to inherit and refine it, and we should not let our traditional martial arts gradually wither in modern times, let alone see martial arts become a performance technique and do nothing.