Here comes my Shaolin Style
April 5, 2011 7:19 AM Subscribe
Kung Fu Movie Filter: Looking for an older Kung Fu movie where specific hand gestures were featured.
Ok, I believe this was in one of those Kung-Fu movies you would have seen on American t.v. on a saturday afternoon in the 80's. I also could have imagined the hole thing so bear with me.
Basically the scene showed a ninja/kung-fu master/etc creating different positions with his hands and naming them as he did them. It was more in the meditation/training sense than in an actual combat situation. Fingers would be interlocked in various ways and each postion represented something.
I already found the 'mudras' article on wikipedia and this may be realted however there wasnt too much detail on it and I am trying to find the movie/scene.
As a bonus if there are better sites or even books describing this technique I am definitely interested.
Also I know in some movies they show 'tiger claw', 'eagle claw' etc but this is (i believe) different from what I am asking.
Ok, I believe this was in one of those Kung-Fu movies you would have seen on American t.v. on a saturday afternoon in the 80's. I also could have imagined the hole thing so bear with me.
Basically the scene showed a ninja/kung-fu master/etc creating different positions with his hands and naming them as he did them. It was more in the meditation/training sense than in an actual combat situation. Fingers would be interlocked in various ways and each postion represented something.
I already found the 'mudras' article on wikipedia and this may be realted however there wasnt too much detail on it and I am trying to find the movie/scene.
As a bonus if there are better sites or even books describing this technique I am definitely interested.
Also I know in some movies they show 'tiger claw', 'eagle claw' etc but this is (i believe) different from what I am asking.
I have seen a lot of martial arts films, and I'm sorry to tell you that the gesture/trope that you describe is really, really commonplace, which makes your question hard to answer, as far as I can tell. Are you able to provide any further details?
posted by Dr. Wu at 7:49 AM on April 5, 2011
posted by Dr. Wu at 7:49 AM on April 5, 2011
Maybe you could find some references on TVTropes?
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 7:54 AM on April 5, 2011
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 7:54 AM on April 5, 2011
Best answer: Naruto (the anime series) uses this constantly - hand signs or seals are the way characters engage specific ninja techniques. All the seals in Naruto are based on zodiac signs/animals.
Here's a list, with pictures - do any of these ring a bell?
Also, as a way of honing in on an answer, do you remember whether the hand signs you saw were called out as zodiac signs, or planets, or kinds of flowers, or kinds of animals, or any specific category? This might help pin down a specific kung fu movie...
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 7:58 AM on April 5, 2011
Here's a list, with pictures - do any of these ring a bell?
Also, as a way of honing in on an answer, do you remember whether the hand signs you saw were called out as zodiac signs, or planets, or kinds of flowers, or kinds of animals, or any specific category? This might help pin down a specific kung fu movie...
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 7:58 AM on April 5, 2011
Response by poster: Dr. Wu if that is the case can you give me a popular/good example of it? Perhaps one where they explain it a little? In the end I am also interested in learning about it so that may be a good starting point.
posted by Busmick at 8:00 AM on April 5, 2011
posted by Busmick at 8:00 AM on April 5, 2011
Response by poster: Pickman those definitely look familiar ...that is along the right track esp. the horse and tiger ones. I do not recall what the guy was saying.
I was under the impression that this was not as common as it seems to be so my question may need to be focused more on the what is this and is there any good resources for reading about it. Also as stated above if there are any detailed movie examples that would be great.
posted by Busmick at 8:03 AM on April 5, 2011
I was under the impression that this was not as common as it seems to be so my question may need to be focused more on the what is this and is there any good resources for reading about it. Also as stated above if there are any detailed movie examples that would be great.
posted by Busmick at 8:03 AM on April 5, 2011
That sounds like a scene in at least one of the early 80s Sho Kosugi ninja movies, maybe Pray For Death or Revenge of the Ninja. I'll see if Netflix has them and scan through them.
posted by mullicious at 8:07 AM on April 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by mullicious at 8:07 AM on April 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
Was this a Japanese Ninja or was it a Chinese/HK kungfu flick?
American Ninja had some hand gestures (like mudras) as part of the mystic training (kuji-kiri). I could not find a youtube link though.
There are not many kungfu movies using hand gestures. In fact I cannot remember any, considering I have watched a lot :P
posted by theobserver at 8:07 AM on April 5, 2011
American Ninja had some hand gestures (like mudras) as part of the mystic training (kuji-kiri). I could not find a youtube link though.
There are not many kungfu movies using hand gestures. In fact I cannot remember any, considering I have watched a lot :P
posted by theobserver at 8:07 AM on April 5, 2011
Response by poster: It seems that it may have been a ninja movie as opposed to a Kung fu movie. Again my memory is fuzzy here. It may be that i remeber this from multiple movies and just combined them in my mind. Again any info/books or movies where this is featured would be great as then I can do some further research.
posted by Busmick at 8:15 AM on April 5, 2011
posted by Busmick at 8:15 AM on April 5, 2011
A popular example would be Five Deadly Venoms. Each "Venom" had a distinctive finger, hand or arm position and would call out his name (and, in some translations, number) as he stuck his pose.
posted by The Bellman at 8:33 AM on April 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by The Bellman at 8:33 AM on April 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: No idea what movie you could have in mind, but if it's ninja rather than kung fu, it's called kuji-kiri.
posted by juv3nal at 10:28 AM on April 5, 2011
posted by juv3nal at 10:28 AM on April 5, 2011
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posted by GenjiandProust at 7:42 AM on April 5, 2011