morgothan’s kung fu repository

So I learned a new throw in Judo on monday, De ashi harai(Advanced foot sweep). Despite its name, it is quite a simple technique. The opponent advances forward, and before their weight it fully on their front foot, you sweep it out, and pull them down. What was cool about this throw, was as I was learning it all I could think about was how it is exactly like the middle of line 11 in Tan Toi(springing leg). So yesterday after Pa Kua class I was talking to a fellow student about it, and was playing around with it, when Sifu came up, to me and told me that it was also the same thing as all the sweeps up to a rooster is the Hua Chuans, and even the spinning rooster type movement in Pa Kua. Looking at them it was clear that yes these are the same techniques in principle, just different ways of getting there. I have been seeing that a lot in my judo training. Almost all of the principles I am learning in judo are the same as the ones in Kung Fu. Just as sifu said, it is all body mechanics, the human body can only move in a set number of ways, and once you fully grok that, its just a matter of exploiting its weaknesses. They are truly two roads divided on the same path.