Animal Kung Fu: The 5 Animal Styles of Kung Fu
A Guide to the 5 Animal Styles of Kung Fu
Kung Fu is one of the oldest and most admired of all martial arts, and the 5 Animal styles have a mysticism that has broken into the mainstream consciousness.
Kung Fu originated in ancient China as Shaolin Kung Fu, containing a well-thought-out system of learning outcomes that can improve all aspects of your body.
One of the most intriguing styles of this system is the 5 Animals of Kung Fu. It breaks down the art into a bunch of techniques based on 5 animals - the dragon, the tiger, the snake, the leopard and the crane.
Even if you have no intentions of practising the 5 animal styles of Kung Fu, you’ll just love to read about their symbolism and how they use the traits of each animal to incorporate an effective fighting strategy.
If you’ve watched any of the Dreamworks Kung Fu Panda movies, you’ll definitely recognise some of the styles in this article!
1. The Dragon
We start with a creature that doesn’t really exist for most people of the world.
However, when it comes to Chinese mythology, it has quite a significance. The usage of the Dragon is one of the rarest techniques in Kung Fu, but it is a very cool style.
This is an animal that has many commendable characteristics, including speed, agility, cunningness and spontaneity.
Practically, the mighty Dragon is a symbol of flexibility and movement, and it incorporates the techniques of the other animals mentioned in this article.
The dragon allows us to move in the opposite manner to our opponent. Its techniques mainly involve being relaxed and engaging in swaying movements, evading the opponent. Then, the opponent is countered and struck.
While the evasion methods depend on soft movements that call for floating away from the rival (and zigzagging), the drills train the fighter to attack explosively.
You are supposed to strike any body part that can be grabbed and held.
The signature move set here includes the dragon tail and the dragon claw attacks. You’ll also be doing lots of kicking, striking and sweeping.
2. The Tiger
We all know that the Lion is the symbolic king of the jungle, but when it comes to actual physical dominance, many say that the Tiger should have the upper hand.
It is one of the most feared and strongest animals on the planet. It is known for a variety of characteristics including its power, speed, intelligence and commanding attitude.
Naturally, this is one of the most popularly used styles in all of Kung Fu and perhaps in all the different types of martial arts.
The idea of the Tiger style is that its techniques are all about strengthening the bones to attack with courage, irrespective of what the opponent may have up their sleeve.
While the Dragon calls for pulling back and engaging in counter-attacks, the Tiger is all about initiating attacks with brute force.
You train in order to overwhelm your rival with a barrage of strikes, destroying their defence with an unrelenting barrage of blows.
When you train in its techniques, you also focus on attacking all the body parts and try to mimic the wild Tiger’s efforts to essentially tear out the flesh or kill with a single strike.
According to mythology, you’re supposed to attack all the energy points in the body and quickly switch stances whenever needed.
There’s a lot of focus on speed, just as there is on power. Along with the tiger claw, you also use uppercuts and elbows to strike.
3. The Snake
The snake is probably the most unusual species in the animal kingdom. It doesn’t have any limbs and it slithers around. It is known for viciously striking its prey with precision and ruthlessness.
Symbolically, a Snake is associated with slyness and deception. It likes to use the element of surprise and it relies on the fears of its prey- and capitalises on them.
All of the traits above are utilised by the practitioners of this animal style in 5-animal Kung Fu. Snake techniques train you to develop explosiveness too.
However, before that, you must develop ways to intimidate the opponent prior to the attack. You will use coiling movements and try to wear down the competitor with body kicks.
The Snake style calls for targeting all the areas that can neutralise the opponent with a single strike.
Accuracy is key, and the attacks are very direct in nature. You focus on breathing methods that boost your internal power before you strike the rival.
Along with targeting the vital points, you also build your own endurance. While there’s the stress laid on ground attacks, Shaolin boxing also uses this style.
4. The Leopard
The Leopard is one of the most unknown of the big cats, yet it is also one of the most efficient killers on the planet.
Unlike the tiger, this is an animal that relies less on brute force (even though it is very powerful). It likes to use stealth and speed to capture its prey before mauling them.
Since it depends on clever hunting skills, it is obviously a very intelligent beast.
Now, the techniques associated with the Leopard are almost as direct as the ones we attribute to the Snake.
Here, we focus on striking hard in order to inflict pain and weaken the opponent. Then, we finish them off with another attack. This is why you aim for the softer regions on their body in an effort to neutralise them for the killing blow.
The training methods for the Leopard style are all about developing power, speed and precision. Most of the focus is on the latter, as accuracy is a key component here.
Like the Snake, where you need to loosen up your muscles, you need to do the same for the leopard, but retract quickly after you’ve attacked.
The Leopard's fist is the signature move, but you also utilise your elbows and low kicks.
5. The Crane
Finally, we have the Crane, which unlike the other animals on this list isn’t known to be a predatory or vicious animal.
The Crane is one of the more underrated and less-used styles in the art. In Kung Fu, it is used to denote gracefulness and evasiveness.
As a result, it is more defence-oriented and it is supposed to teach you how to move around better without wasting your energy.
This style places a lot of focus on balance and being quick on your feet. You’re supposed to knock off the opponent’s balance though, and do all of the above while maintaining distance.
The focus of the attacks is usually on the vital points of the opponent, and clumsiness is especially frowned upon.
The crane’s beak is a key move here, used with the purpose of deflecting an attack.
