I’ve been in Northern California for the last ten days and quite a trip it’s been with bears roaming through neighborhoods looking for food and a heat wave that just about destroyed our car. The purpose of the trip was to get away and take the opportunity to finish a book I’m writing. It’s about Kung Fu (no surprise) and an aspect of it which very few people have written about (maybe a surprise, we’ll see).
Among the topics I investigated was the subject of mastery which proved to be bigger and even more interesting than I had anticipated. Many observations came to mind, ideas I’ve never thought or read about before. They went into the book. Continue reading You Can If You Believe You Can… →
YES! we have restocked two very important and hard to find Taijiquan texts too…just look!
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Great news! Just got a nice delivery of Chinese books back into stock. Some of these have been gone a while, so dust off your want lists and dive in. Of particular note are the following (and we’ll do some further updating in later posts):
click picture Entire series back in stock
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We asked one of our long-time customers and correspondents to give us his review of The Complete Jianshu, by Jason Tsou and Art Schonfeld. We had expected a short paragraph, but his review was so comprehensive we thought to share it with you.
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My first impression upon cracking open “The Complete Jianshu” was that this was professionally done. Not only is the layout clear and easy to follow, but I love the fact that this was obviously meant to be a consistently used and referred to textbook. Having the book spiral bound so that it opens flat is genius, and it’s really a wonder that other martial arts books aren’t bound in the same way. Continue reading Complete Jianshu: The Review →
A quick thought, nothing more. It’s nice in times like these to take stock of things. And when the market is crumbling, the job rate rising, we Americans are embroiled in what some see as the wrong wars, and generally the world is wobbling, it is indeed time to separate the flimsy from the solid. When asked what makes Chinese martial arts what it is the answer comes back, Chi Ku or the ability to eat bitter. There’s really more to it than that but the ability to eat bitter reminds me of the famous Kipling poem simply titled “If…” It Continue reading When All About You →
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Look!! A whole new series of Bagua DVDs from Tom Bisio! Good explanations, oodles of applications, and Bagua usage that looks suspiciously like Bagua. We think you are going to like these…
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As Shaw once remarked about George Gissing, “He is conducting his education in public.” This is somewhat true of George Xu, but in this case it is a bonus. As he evolves as a martial artist, he brings forward new ideas and some inspired insights. Here’s a small seminar on “Martial Qigong”; the moves are general enough to be practiced martially or from a health orientation. And in addition to this, there are some very interesting ideas that the practiced martial artist will find especially helpful. Pay particular attention to George’s ‘third hand’ analogy.
For Those Times When the Training Seems To Stop
One minute you’re Bruce Incarnate, the next you’re unable to tie your shoes without the danger of a self-inflicted eyeshot. Continue reading A Rock and a Hard Spot →
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If it seems like “Ma Hong Month” at Plum, it seems that way to us, too. We’ve had an influx of Hongiana (that’s a technical bookseller’s term) starting with a fine set of DVDs and now with two more of his thorough books. Find here his collaboration with teacher Chen Zhao Kui and a new and expanded edition of his beautifully illustrated breakdown of Chen style self defense. If you go to this page browse down for even more Ma Hong texts.
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One of our most requested books is just and finally back in stock: Shi Style Bagua Linked Legs & Guiding Fist. This text offers two hard-to-find Bagua sets, including the Linked Legs. We get many queries for Baguazhang Leg sets, and this one is recommendable.
(The observant visitor will notice two other long-gone books on that page have had their ‘out of stock’ tags removed. They will be in next week, and we’ll post an announcement then.)
A couple of years ago I had a dream (really) where a Chinese martial arts sifu was walking towards me, one whom I had only seen in videos and never in person. “Oh no!” I thought, “he’s going to tell me that my Tai Chi stinks!” He came up and I said to him what I had been thinking. “My Tai Chi stinks, doesn’t it?” “Yes,” he said in reply. Continue reading My Tai Chi Stinks →
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A lot of people are interested in Southern styles but there’s never enough written about them. Pak Mei or White Eyebrow in particular is underrepresented in both the literature and the visual form. So we are especially happy to add this well written new book to our collection. This book does not include style or technical instruction but it does an excellent job of outlining the myths, history and theory behind White Eyebrow style. We look forward to more book on this level which concentrate as much on the philosophy and meaning of Kung Fu as its movements.
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Last week we announced our excitement over the SIX Ma Hong DVDs that we had reviewed, and were expecting. Well, the wait is over! They are ALL here and ready for sale.
We are not big ‘gushers’ here at Plum, but this series is pretty exciting. There is a certain intimacy in these DVDs, that makes you feel like you are in the audience, or standing just a few feet away on the lawn while Sifu Ma is giving this detailed instruction. We highly recommend these excellent resources…
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Gu Ru Zhang is the famous master of the Iron Palm, whose picture breaking a stack of bricks is known throughout the martial world. What’s surprising is that he is regarded by some as an excellent Tai Chi teacher. This book is a collector’s item showing Gu himself performing a form, demonstrating Push Hands and generally exhibiting mastery of a style very few people knew he had even learned. Old photographs add just the right touch to the long unavailable edition.
We are proud and happy to announce that the DVD version of Blossoms in the Spring has arrived and is now available. We could go on and on about it here but if you click the picture you’ll go to the page with all the details including its special introductory price. We’d love to hear your comments on the DVD and if you feel, as we do, that it is the perfect companion to our book.
When it happens to you, you know it. That electric dusk-sensitive porch light clicks on, there’s the sound of a new step on the back stairs, a barely discernible strain of music serenades you from another room. It’s like that, only all from the inside. Continue reading Clicking →
In the introduction to his book, Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States, Bill Bryson suggests that “nursery rhymes…are fastidiously resistant to change” and later continues: Continue reading Eenie Meenie Minie Fu →
We are so excited about this that we are posting an announcement ahead of our stock coming in (which we expect next week).
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We have just reviewed an entire DVD series by Sifu Ma Hong on Chen Tai Chi, which includes 7 discs on Lao Jia, 3 on Pao Chui, and 4 on Basics, Techniques, Usage, and general principles for which Sifu Ma is deservedly esteemed. All DVDs have english subtitles. Of the more than 2000 DVDs and VCDs Plum represents and has personally reviewed, these are some of the best that we have seen. Sifu Ma is confident and thorough in his presentation; he personally demonstrates, then uses an obviously senior student to perform what he is discussing, while he makes corrections and details the finer points, traps, and energies of the moves. His Fa Jing is strong and you would most likely have to be a senior student yourself to see this quality and type of instruction in this rarely shown aspect of the art.
If you want to be informed when it lands, click on the picture above and send us an email. We don’t know h0w many we will get in the first batch.
Two young boys engaged in grabbing one another, trying to gain a momentary upper hand, catching and locking each others joints must go back to the time before the pyramids. One version of this universal game, Chin Na, is the ancient art of joint locking practiced and developed in all styles of Kung Fu. Continue reading The Facets of Chin Na →
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There’s just no way to say it other than straight: some styles of Kung Fu are in danger of going away (is it more powerful to say “endangered”?) just like some exotic birds and threatened forests. The Eight Immortals Style has nothing to do with the Eight Drunken Immortals, so popular in Southern China. Here is a survey/DVD showing the essence of this relatively little known style.
Note there is a little historical background from this page (not much but the best we could do) if you are interested in its origins.
Jin Gang is said to originate in the Song Dynasty over 1100 years ago. It is a military heritage developed by Yu Hua Long (The Song Dynasty’s “Iron General”).
Continue reading JinGang LiGong: Buddha Disciple Strength Method →
To explore this topic we’ll have to assume the basic premise that Push Hands is bad. And if we do assume it we’re going to find ourselves in rather large company. There are amazingly few people who have gone to Push Hands contests and not been horrified at what they’ve seen there. So, the question is “Why is Push Hands so bad?” Continue reading Why is Push Hands so bad? →
Some of you (you know who you are) have been anxiously awaiting the coming of Plum’s new DVD, Blossoms in the Spring (this is the companion disk to our most recent book). Well, the wait is almost almost over. We have been holing up in our office with our computer and all of our film-editing software, and are very close to sending it off to duplication-land…just a final tweak here and there, and it will be ready. As is typical with our DVDs, what starts as a simple project often ends up closer to an epic film (we have already been referred to as Cecil D deShayman, thank you very much, Mr Shapiro…).
So this, by way of announcement, and also a passing apology if it seems that we have not been posting quite so liberally on Kaimen as we like. Gives you some time to catch up on articles, or new or restocked products you might have missed, or even write something of your own (see nag below). And, hopefully, the next post you see on this DVD will start with: “It’s here…!”
Plum nag: You could, of course, send us some articles of your own in the meantime…Tom Karls recently sent us a wonderful piece which we just published (if you haven’t read it, do!) If you are so inclined, email for details.
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There are some titles that go in and out of print almost like the seasons. It’s here, it’s gone, it’s back again, no it’s out again. Xing Yi Quan Xue (Xing Yi Boxing Studies) by Sun Lu Tang, translated into english by Albert Liu, and edited and compiled by that great contributor to martial studies, Dan Miller, is one of those books. I hesitate even to announce its arrival, as I fear I will soon be posting another want tag to it. But while we have them, grab one if you can. It is another key text to any Xing Yi library.
Recently my teacher announced that he would be issuing a lineage certificate and black sash to one of his students. For my teacher’s students this is a big deal as this would be only the eighth lineage certificate and sash awarded in 36 years of my teacher’s classes. A request was made of the seven previous sash recipients to attend the award ceremony along with all the students at my teacher’s school. Continue reading The Sash →
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This is one of our most popular books on Eagle Claw Chin Na in Chinese, period. We’ve been trying for a while to restock it in simplified charcters and have come across this republished edition in traditional characters. The techniques and photographs are the same. The lineage is from Lau Fat Man, Liu Cheng You, etc. It’s even a wee bit cheaper.
Kirk McNeil is a Tai Chi student here in Santa Cruz, California. A metal sculptor and a blacksmith, he discusses some of the obvious and not-so-obvious links between his practice and his art.
Visual Artist Martial Artist
About five years ago I was 51 years old and feeling every minute of it. Age, injury, gravity and several decades of intense manual labor had taken their toll. I could feel myself getting stiff. Continue reading Visual Artist, Martial Artist →
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Bill Hsi (Xi Jia Jun), a long time martial practitioner from Taiwan, has just issued this little treasure. It is a work showing the famous Liu Yun Chiao demonstrating the Bagua Qigong of the Gong Bao Tian style. Beside introductory notes there is a straightforward breakdown of the sections with full page photography. A Qigong text with provenance.
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OK! We at Plum admit to a less-than-secret love affair with Ba Gua Zhang. So we are always thrilled when we can add new and worthy material on the subject to our ever-expanding collection, and particularly when it comes from one of our favorite author teams: Gao Ji Wu and Tom Bisio. That’s right! Their new book, The Attacking Hands of Ba Gua Zhang is here! With almost 400 pages of instruction (Chinese and English in many places) and nice, large photos by Valerie Ghent, this book is a fine addition to a martial library. And, of course, it enters with a discounted Plum price too (see page for details)…
Note: …and that’s not all! If you buy any other Tom Bisio book along with this one, we will extend a 10% discount to them all. The catch? You must mention this note when ordering…
