Who Invented Kung Fu? History & Origins

[mesa]

The title pretty much says it all, anybody know who invented Kung Fu?

 

[jedishrfu]

Martial arts has a very long and storied history in many countries, kingdoms and empires. I don't think there's a definitive answer. Shaolin Kung fu in China is a derivative of Indian martial arts that were further refined into what we see today. Other styles such a Tai chi are known to be village arts from a specific family. Every style will have its founder and the founder will have learned an earlier style which he/she didn't like and so improved and renamed it.

A more recent example is Bruce Lee who's basic style was Wing Chun (developed by the Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) which he combined with many other existing styles both western and eastern to create Jeet Kune Do (way of the intercepting fist).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_chun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_kune_do

Martial arts goes through a form of evolution dropping techniques that don't work and replacing them with better techniques that do and from time adopting the name of teacher.

 

[Akaisora]

Someone who had a lot of free time.

 

[jedishrfu]

Someone who had a lot of free time.

I suspect they got paid to teach by being a trainer for some private or regional army especially if they were good. Nowadays they go into acting and use a lot of wires.

 

[SteamKing]

In the US, it was David Carradine.

 

[jedishrfu]

In the US, it was David Carradine.

Except Bruce Lee as Kato in the Green Hornet was what got me interested. The Kung Fu tv show was the idea of Bruce Lee. He pitched it to the studio, they rejected the idea thinking Bruce wouldn't be able to attract an audience. They resurrected it and picked Caradine as the lead.

 

[Enigman]

The title pretty much says it all, anybody know who invented Kung Fu?

The people who invented zero...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parashurama#Kalaripayattu

Kalaripayattu is known as the 'mother of all martial arts'.[18]
Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, also practiced kalaripayattu. When he traveled to China to spread Buddhism, he brought the martial art with him, which in turn was adapted to become the basis of Shaolin Kung Fu

EDIT: some further research shows this to be based more on myths than facts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bodhidharman_(Kung_Fu_Founder)

 

[mesa]

The people who invented zero...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parashurama#Kalaripayattu


EDIT: some further research shows this to be based more on myths than facts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bodhidharman_(Kung_Fu_Founder)

I came up virtually empty on wikipedia, you must have a better version than I do, :)

 

[Evo]

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_martial_arts#Legendary_origins

 

[Evo]

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_martial_arts#Legendary_origins

I just googled "Kung Fu".

Chinese martial arts, colloquially referred to as kung fu or gung fu (Chinese: 功夫; pinyin: gōngfu), and wushu (simplified Chinese: 武术; traditional Chinese: 武術; pinyin: wǔshù), are a number of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China.

 

[mesa]

I just googled "Kung Fu".

I'm trying to cut back on Google :)

 

[jedishrfu]

One other thing to note is that while kung fu is the popular western term, in China they would use wu-shu (martial arts) or more properly "kung fu wu shu" ie having a skilled achievement in martial arts for a practitioner.