Dragon Style
The Dragon style is without a doubt among the oldest of Kung fu systems. The concept of dragons has been deeply embedded within the human psyche for thousands of years. Every culture in the ancient world has tales of dragons interacting with, influencing and even breeding with human kind. The dragons of the west were often portrayed as evil flesh devouring, blood thirsty enemies of human kind, whereas the eastern dragons were vegetarian and bringers of peace and prosperity, also known as guardians of humankind.
The only limits of any style always depend on the individual. With the dragon style in particular one thing that must be considered first and foremost is the fact that dragons are just as diverse as humans in their movements, combat patterns and personalities, as well as any other characteristics. From a chinese martial point of view, the southern dragon emphasizes more strength and power and has a very low, slithering, creeping style that is designed to get up underneath an opponents foundation. Pretty scary! The southern dragon will also use a series of fast rushing uppercut attacks as well as joint locks and fatal pressure point attacks.
The northern dragon on the other hand will generally use longer ranged attacks with blinding speed and, being very adroit at ariel combat, can employ a barrage of flying and spinning attacks. Both the southern and the northern styles run together at the higher levels.
After a long periods of holding stances and conditioning ones bones a basic student of dragon has developed a stronger body and is now ready to learn basic twisting attacks. Coiling and uncoiling from cross legged stances are essential to the dragons style. Learning to twist the body properly can give one not only an incredible power to strike with hands and legs but also the ability to create illusion and unpredictability in the opponents mind! Once the student has developed the basic twisting attacks to some degree of proficiency he/she is now ready to learn more advanced attacks such as the dreaded dragon tail kicks as well as a multitude of other attacks. Dragon legs is an acquired level of training designed to ultimately give the student mastery over the art of kicking. In addition, the practitioner learns elusive patterns of arm and leg movements based on continuous motion, as well as the legendary razor claw.
Razor sharp claws are developed over many years by doing fingertip pushups and fingertip handstand holds. Other methods of developing the claw include lifting, holding and carrying large mouthed jugs filled with water, twisting bamboo and ripping and slashing at trees. Few ever develop the claw to this pentacle and that is very fortunate because in the hands of one impure of heart it can be a disaster! A master of the dragons claw can slash an assailant open causing critical blood loss that would be measured in pints rather than drops. It must be stated that with this level of skill the dragon has the most responsibility of all styles and must avoid combat at all costs! Only in dire circumstances will a true master of dragon open the fatal gates of chaos.
Powerfully writhing back and fourth with continuous movement, the dragon stylist leaves no fixed target. Twisting, winding and elusively luring its opponent into an aggressive pursuit, the dragon causes the aggressor to over extend himself. It is In this instant when the crafty dragon springs its fatal trap. The next question might be ‘What trap would the dragon spring?’ What ever it wants! The dragon has infinite weapons at its disposal; grasping, Locking, gouging, slashing, crushing, kicking, death roll, constriction, joint manipulation, etc the list goes on and on. A strong rule of survival is to never chase a dragon. It’s almost always a trap. On the other hand, should the dragon choose to stand and fight, it still won’t fight head on. It will use sequences of oblique and angular attacks, combined with blinding speed and deadly accuracy. Spinning, twisting, writhing, winding, coiling and springing while kicking and slashing, the master of dragon attacks with a strength and flexibility not of this world.
The deadliest thing about a dragon is its cunning and extremely deceptive mind. As a result it can turn the tides in the worst of situations. The dragon in combat, is every bit smoke and mirrors, as it is skilled in the highest levels of battle. The dragon possesses the magical ability to reflexively create within the midst of battle. In addition, the dragon is very fond of taking the fight off the battle field and deep into the unfamiliar sea of asymmetrical warfare or in other words, tactics of unequal proportion or even simpler the guerilla warfare of hand to hand combat.