PURPLE BELT: The Crane (Liu Chi)

Element: Smoke, Shadow, Wind

The tenuous character and subdued color of the Crane stylist stands in stark contrast to the intense orange fire of the Tiger. Now the purple talons of evening smoke and shadows replace the raking claws of the fiery noonday sun. The Crane is the complement of the Tiger. Where the Tiger is bold and aggressive, the Crane is deceptively retiring and defensive. Where the Tiger emotionally charges, the Crane waits and thinks. Just as the testing caress of a smoky evening breeze may suddenly become a choking and inescapable hurricane, so too does the Crane continually test, evade, and suddenly attack from an unexpected quarter. The royal purple represents the element of thought: analysis, evaluation, and subsequent counter-attack. The purple Crane evades, evaluates, and then executes.

Image

A quietly circling purple Crane silhouette watching for its prey to expose itself to the waiting whirlwind.

Stance

The Crane generally stands with the lead leg lifted, bent, and cocked in front of the body. The arms are bent at elbows and wrists with the thumb and fingers of the hand touching at their tips. The lead hooked crane hand is at head height and slightly to the side. A vision corridor is bordered by each hand and the thigh of the raised leg; this corridor is sighted directly at the opponent.

Commentary

The proper feeling when adopting such a style and stance is one in which the stylist feels as if his stance is at once the result of and the preparation for a leap; it is an intermediate pose within a series of expanded and contracted movements. Just as in natural breathing where each exhalation is followed by an inhalation, so too in movement for the Crane in this expanded and contracted pattern retained. The Crane is always circling, staying out of a direct line of attack, the emphasis is on intermediate movement and not on beginning or end positions. The tangible aspects of the Crane's style reaffirm the color-animal-element choice. The Crane is a defensive counter-fighter who forever attempts to avoid direct confrontation and is ever attempting to place himself out of visual as well as out of contact range.

The Crane tries to live in the purple shadows of his opponent. The one-legged intermediate stance coupled with the flying kicks and wing-like elbow and forearm strides are very much like an actual crane. This together with a circling and continuously defensive harrying is also characteristic of that bird. The element of wind (smoke or shadow) depicts to tenuous presence, and this sticking without risking being stuck is an ideal of this stylist. Coordination and agility are prerequisites for a successful Crane stylist. Continuous movement and the ability to quickly leap to angles require great balance and coordination. Quickness, rather than power, and agility rather than pure exertion is emphasized. The fear of the Crane finds relief in the Crane stylist's strong defensive gifts.

However, much more must be said concerning the combat theory of the Crane than just making mention of his defensive counter-fighter nature. Point-and-Circle strategy dominates the Crane's combat posture. The Crane visualizes a dynamic sphere of influence surrounding any person, the radius of that sphere being the possible limits to which hand or foot may reach. At a defensive resting stance, the potential sphere is perfectly round from any angle. However, whenever a person makes a committed hand or foot extension (e.g. punch or kick) in any given direction, that sphere is deformed. Imagine that you are standing on a clockface and you are facing twelve o'clock. If you were to kick or punch at twelve o'clock you would fully realize the potential limits of your range in that direction. but you would simultaneously deny your ability to defend yourself with that some hand or foot in the ten-eleven or one-two o'clock direction.

So, while your attack to twelve o'clock also provides for a formidable defense to twelve o'clock, your effective sphere collapses on the sides and exposes you to counter-attack. This is precisely the opening sought by the Crane. The Crane does not merely wait for an attack, but rather tries to force a poor attack so that the subsequent opening may be more easily exploited. To this end, the Crane stylist will make many probing feints to elicit such an attack; he pokes at the sphere to make it burst in his direction and then quickly sidesteps the attack to counter-attack from an angular position. The Crane has taken the attack as the point of a circle advantage of the collapsed sphere of his opponent to strike to the point of the opponent's circle, that point being of course the opponent himself. The intangible side of the Crane consists in an emphasis on adaptability and adjustment joined with a spiritual level of awareness which might be called "presentness." Being able to successfully adapt and adjust presupposes this "presentness." "Presentness" is an awareness of the moment, a responsiveness to things as they are rather than a preconception of how we intend them to be.

Mind and body must parallel one another in terms of perception and response. The Crane is almost completely focused upon his opponent, to the exclusion of all else. Thus, the Crane is the opposite of the Tiger. Where the Tiger is self-directed and internalizes the world, the Crane is other-directed and moves largely in response to the demands of the world. While such concentration means that the Crane has access to all of his opponent's actions, it also means (on the negative side) that the rest of the context is largely ignored. Concentration and focus is always abstract, and abstraction requires that something must be left out. It may well be that the something dismissed as irrelevant might turn out to be crucial. And, too much procrastination may lose the day.

The Crane style also invokes the Taoist dynamic harmony of the Yin/Yang tension of opposites. Wherever there is pressure, the Crane gives way, wherever there is withdrawal, the Crane moves in. The expanded/contracted motion of the Crane is also a facet of this Yin/Yang harmony of opposites. Ebb and flow, give and take are the hallmarks of the Crane style. Most importantly, however, is the dynamic aspect of this tension. When we look at the familiar circle divided into black and white portions by an "S" shaped line, we should not think of the diagram as being in a static balance; rather, properly seen, the diagram should appear about to move, to rotate. Understanding the motion born of a dynamic tension of opposites is fundamental if the Crane stylist is to successfully manifest his thoughtful circling style.