FAQ - Three Tigers Martial Arts Cornwall

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Questions about Three Tigers

2. Questions about Choy Lee Fut

3. Questions about Kempo

4. Questions about Xing Yi

1. Questions about Three Tigers Martial Arts

What is Three Tigers?

Three Tigers is a small, friendly martial arts club in Newlyn East near Newquay in central Cornwall in the UK.

What kind of martial arts can I learn at Three Tigers?

We focus on three main martial arts, each of which we teach as a complete system: Choy Lee Fut, Kempo and Xing Yi. We also do several other martial arts that support of our three main arts in various ways, for example we often use Old Yang Style Tai Chi as warm up exercises and Baji for its extensive body guarding applications.

Who are the instructors?

The club is run by Damon and Gavin.

Damon, martial arts instructor of Three Tigers Martial Arts

Damon has been studying and practicing martial arts and east asian traditions for 50 years. He studied and worked in China and Japan, studying under native Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian masters, and in 1994 was awarded a masters degree in East Asian Studies by the University of Leeds. Damon holds instructor and black belt level grades in multiple martial arts including the highest teaching rank (Sifu) in Xing Yi, a 7th degree black belt in Kempo, as well as advanced experience in Choy Lee Fut, two different branches of Old Yang Style Tai Chi, Mongolian Wrestling, Baji, Karate, White Eyebrow, Boxing and MMA. He works as a consultant for the University of Cambridge.

Gavin, martial arts instructor of Three Tigers Martial Arts

Gavin has trained in martial arts for more than 20 years and has studied Taekwondo, Boxing, Kickboxing, Wing Chun, Choy Lee Fut, and Xing Yi. He has a second degree blackbelt in taekwondo, a first degree blackbelt in Wing Chun and for the last 10 years has been studying qigong and neigong from the water method in conjunction with Yang style Tai chi for health. After gaining a degree in Medicinal Chemistry at university he began studying Traditional Chinese medicine and is qualified in acupuncture, tui na and Chinese herbal medicine.

What is the history behind this club and its martial arts?

Given that we do three different martial arts, two of which have some cross-connections, our history is a long and complex one. We have created a Timeline of Three Tigers that outlines various dates.

What is the Heretics Podcast and what does it have to do with Three Tigers?

Heretics is a podcast about esoteric subjects including martial arts. The podcast is hosted by Damon and his friend Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor Graham Barlow

There are several podcast episodes relevant to our Three Tigers club, as follows:

2. Questions about Choy Lee Fut

What is Choy Lee Fut?: Choy Lee Fut is a traditional Chinese martial art that combines elements of Northern and Southern martial arts styles. It's known for its wide, circular movements, dynamic footwork and versatile techniques. Historically, Choy Lee Fut was known for its success in inter-style competitions and prize fighting in South East Asia.
What are the key characteristics of Choy Lee Fut?: Choy Lee Fut is characterized by its dynamic stability - stability while in motion that works like a gyroscope - as well as powerful swinging strikes and a mixture of fast footwork and fluid body movements, making it both an effective self-defense system and an excellent form of exercise.
How is Choy Lee Fut practiced?: Training in Choy Lee Fut typically includes forms, sparring, weapons training, and qigong to develop martial skills, flexibility, strength, and internal energy.
What style of Choy Lee Fut do you practice?: The Bak Sing style of Master Tam Sam. This style is known for its fluid, powerful movements and focus on sparring rather than forms. There are only three bare-hand forms, plus traditional weapons variants of the forms - other styles of Choy Lee Fut typically have many more forms than this and do less sparring. The Bak Sing style has three different sparring systems or rule-sets. The reason for this is to help practitioners become flexible in approach and to prevent "training to the rules".
What language are the technical terms of Choy Lee Fut in?: Cantonese
What is Kempo?: Kempo is an eclectic or mixed martial art that blends techniques from several different Chinese, Okinawan, Japanese, and Thai martial arts in addition to Western Boxing and Wrestling. During the 80s, Kempo styles such as Shooto, Shin Kakutojutsu and Hawaiian Kempo became the progenitors of mixed martial arts, predating the UFC by several years
What is the difference between Kempo and Karate?: Karate is just one of several groups of Kempo systems that exist today. Kempo is therefore a broader term than Karate, covering a very wide range of different martial arts from different countries. Kempo is also a much older term, being in use for hundreds of years in both Japan and, in its Chinese form Quanfa, in China and South East Asia where it is sometimes known as Kumtao. The term Karate, meaning "Empty Hand" is a modern invention and was created by Funakoshi Gichin under pressure from the nationalistic Japanese government of the time in the 1920s. To put it simply, only some of the arts that constitute Kempo are Karate, but all Karate is Kempo.
What makes Kempo unique?: Kempo is unique in its adaptability, incorporation of methods from a vast range of different martial arts, and emphasis on fluid, powerful combinations. It teaches practitioners to react quickly to threats using a blend of linear and circular movements for effective self-defense. Kempo is unique in terms of the unusually large number of precursor martial arts that it incorporates, and it puts an unusually heavy emphasis on the use of hook punches compared to the majority of East Asian martial arts because of the early influence of Western Boxing on Kempo, which began in the late 1800s under the influence of people like Saito Toranosuke. An interesting, but little known, fact is that the Boxing content of Japanese Kempo is actually older than the Karate content.
What can I expect from Kempo training?: Kempo training typically involves learning a variety of striking techniques, self-defense strategies, weaponry, kata (forms), grappling and sparring. It aims to improve both physical fitness and mental discipline.
What system of Kempo do you practice?: Mishima Kempo, which is a school of Japanese Kempo. The well-known American Kempo is distantly related to Japanese Kempo, but there are some differences between the two.
What is the difference between Kempo and Kenpo?: There is no difference. These are just two different ways to pronounce one single Japanese word, Kempo (拳法), which is itself a transliteration of the Chinese word Quanfa (martial arts).
What is the difference between Kempo and Jiujitsu?: Kempo and Jiujitsu are very closely related. This is mostly a matter of emphasis - Kempo tends to favour striking techniques while Jiujitsu tends to favour grappling techniques, but Jiujitsu has striking techniques and Kempo has grappling techniques. In Japan there are individual styles where both names are used for the same art. About a third of Mishima Kempo's grappling techniques come from Jiujitsu, another third from Sumo and its precursors, and the final third from Western Wrestling.
What language are the technical terms of Kempo in?: Mostly in Japanese, but also some transliterated Chinese, as well as some Yamakotoba due to the art's eclectic origins.
What is Xing Yi?: Xing Yi, or Xing Yi Quan, is a traditional Chinese martial art known for its direct but subtle techniques and emphasis on the spear as its core inspiration. Xing Yi has long been associated with battlefield application, and several masters in our lineage were soliders.
How is Xing Yi different from other martial arts?: Xing Yi stands out due to its apparent linearity and focus on direct actions that combine defence and attack into a single movement, reflecting the characteristics of spear techniques. Although it appears outwardly simple, it is strategically subtle and complex, and is the most difficult to learn of our Three Tigers arts.
What are the key principles of Xing Yi?: The art revolves around the concepts of intention-driven techniques, direct penetration, subtle positioning and explosive power, which are deeply rooted in the principles of spear fighting.
What are the Twelve Animals?: Most East Asian martial arts incorporate animals methods, for example Tai Chi has the Snake and the Crane, but Xing Yi is unusual in having a lot of animals - twelve in all. The strategies, methods and approaches of Xing Yi are derived from observations of wild animals hunting, playing and defending themselves. The full list of animals is: Bear Eagle, Snake, Tiger, Dragon (symbolises human beings), Rooster (a.k.a. Chicken), Horse, Swallow, Goshawk, Monkey, Flycatcher, Yangze Crocodile and Turtle. We teach all of them in-depth at Three Tigers.
What style of Xing Yi is practiced in Three Tigers?: Old Hebei Style
What language are the technical terms of Xing Yi in?: Mandarin Chinese