By Henrik B. Jørgensen, Member until 2015
Can you generate enough power at a short distance to incapacitate an opponent, or generate enough energy for a reasonable defense/attack at a very short distance with some kind of rotation technique?
That was probably my first idea of what a strange size Hsingi really was. After a few trips to the net to poke holes in the matter, I got a somewhat different impression. Now it was something with 12 animals, 5 energies and 3 styles. I think probably, in any case there were a whole lot of different sites that told in their own way about this old Chinese fighting style. There were also some of the animals I had seen/heard mentioned in div. film, but otherwise it was completely new to me.
When I showed up for the first course in Måløv Hallen, I wasn't very sure what this Friday evening would have to offer. Because when you are on a course with Kimu Sensei, a little of everything can happen. Was probably a bit worried about my hip, which had started to get sore when it was used for a long time. The course itself proceeded with a lot of the basis that we knew from Yakami Shinsei-ryu in the form of ido unsuko and unsoko 1 and 2 essence was movement from one point to another in a fast and safe way, with high speed, precision and power.
The second part of the Hsingi course came 3 weeks later, during which we were also on the shooting course POMW 1, which also turned out to have a lot in common with Hsingi (the common thread again). This time I was a bit more sure of what was going to happen, I thought. Because it was now so difficult to interfere with power at a short distance? Yes, if the 3 important things are not there: speed, precision and power, it is not very likely that the action will be successful.
We lined up with a partner and had to mirror each other's techniques and give constructive criticism back, with different techniques which are performed alternately with a forward slide and a step with a cushion as a target. The message from Kimu Sensei sounded so fast, precise and powerful and we worked hard, we thought to ourselves. But no! it was not all good, we were told. Why don't you do as I say, why do you do as you used to be modest.
When we were on the POMW course there was no experience to lean on, so we could much more easily carry out what we were told, but now that we ourselves thought we knew the techniques well it became a round of cheating. Why had basic now become so difficult? Maybe because we didn't bother to do the technique, and maybe because we knew better…… No it was an ommer. Correct distance, position, movement and then focus on speed, precision and power.
So what! was the code in this round? I myself believe that it is very important not to make it more difficult than it is, and then to be more open to learning. You shouldn't hold yourself back with old/bad habits, but accept 1000 years of knowledge and then do the best you can.
