Martial Arts Industry Association

Hi,

Who out there uses a version of the SanZhan or Sanchin form in their training and art?

If so what lessons do you get from the form and how do you training it?

The Mandarin "San Zhan" translates as "Three Wars". This is to mean the conflicts of "mind, body, and spirit". Yet in ancient Chinese culture there was not a distinction between the mind and the spirit, which is a more modern, western concept. In the traditional way and our research has led us to view the SanZhan the wars of those between "mind, body and breath", or "mind, body, and qi (internal energy)".

Breathing for SanZhan is important to its practice Correct breathing builds up internal and external strength, massages the internal organs, and concentrates the mind and spirit of the practitioner.

It is our belief that SanZhan started out as an exercise or moving Chi-Kung/Qigong practice and later was assigned a fighting element.

SanZhan is an water element form mainly because of the Jin that one seeks to train when doing this form. “Shui Lan” or “Water Wave” Jin is the main aim of training in this form. It is a similar to the silk cocoon jin that you'll find in Taiji except that there is a more ‘rolling’ type of movement to express the Jin.

BaBulian (8 Steps) is found more in the hand movements. If you observe the “hands cycle” portion of the form, you should be able to detect the 5 Elements (WuXingShou) sequence. This element cycle changes from style to style so it is of little use to go into this deeper.

BaBulian starts with a "Three Wars" sequence of three similar movements forwards; "Calling Crane Wing Spreading", "Calling Crane Shaking its Plume" and "Calling Crane Shakes it Body". It then moves on to the "Four Doors" sequence which consists of "Calling Crane Blowing", "Calling Crane Prey (Breaking Bamboo)", "Calling Crane Folding Wings", Left and right "Calling Crane Stretching its Neck" (Mighty Hook) and finishing with "Calling Crane Leaving (outgoing) the Nest".

Lets hear from you!

Dear Administrator,

I have spent some time studying these type of forms, mainly the iron wire form. The sanchin kata and the Chinese iron wire form are somewhat analogous to each other. Sanchin is found in several Japanese karate styles. Iron-wire is found in Chinese hung-gar kung fu. Hard qi-gong, or dynamic tension type breathing exercises, (slow motion movement combined with muscular tension and coordinated breathing) are of the same family and are found in several kung fu and karate systems. Charles Atlas also popularised dynamic tension training many years ago. As karate stemmed from kung fu, so too, sanchin may have stemmed from iron wire, or from similar forms prior to iron wire from which they both may have originated.

The most complex of the two forms is the iron wire. It is 25 minutes long, composed of a wide variety of dynamic tension movements and takes the limbs, particularly the shoulder girdle through its full range of movement. By comparison the sanchin is somewhat confined in its movements, having less scope than the iron wire but its purpose and effect are similar. The iron wire form is not intended to have a self defence application at all; it is entirely a health form. The sanchin may possibly originally have meant also to be only for health but its movements are now also reflective of karate techniques and many people believe it to be, and use it as, a conditioning form for combat.

Unlike tai chi/soft qi-gong, the ironwire/sanchin/hard qi-gong methods are not so much about taking in, refreshing and circulating vitality, or shifting energy here and there, but rather they are about facilitating the release or escape of unhealthy energies. (although both methods do what the other does, they each do their own thing first, as if they each come at the subject from opposite directions)

The three wars are not so much wars existent between three layers/apects of the human mechanism but is the same war existent within each of the three layers/aspects of the mechanism. And this war or conflict is forced or presurized by the performance of the form beyond its ability to be contained, causing overflow, relief, and for a time, resolution. Both ironwire and sanchin force conflict to improve harmony. That is what they do. They pit forces to produce balance.