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This can be translated literally as “Praying Mantis Fist.”
螳螂拳 is sometimes called Shandong Praying Mantis after its place of origin. It was created by Wang Lang and was named after the praying mantis, an insect, the aggressiveness of which inspired the style.
Shaolin records document that Wang Lang was one of the 18 masters gathered by the Shaolin Abbot Fu Ju, which dates him and Northern Praying Mantis style to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.).
The fact that the word “Northern” is used in the English title has more to do with where this style came from (Shandong is in northern China), but “north” is absent from this Chinese title.
Note: 螳螂拳 is also a title in Japanese - however, only a Japanese person who practices or is familiar with the “Praying Mantis Fist” style would recognize it.
螳螂 is mantis or “praying mantis,” as it's often titled in English.
Technically speaking, this especially applies to the narrow-winged mantis (Tenodera angustipennis)
It is best to use this very common two-character Asian title for the mantis, as the second character alone can mean mantis or dragonfly (totally ambiguous).
This title is antiquated in Japanese, as they tend to write カマキリ (kama kiri) in Katakana to mean praying mantis.
Note: There is an alternate form of this title which uses the character shown to the right instead of the first character shown above. This is uncommon in both Japan and China (if you really want it anyway, please let us know).
南派螳螂 can be translated literally as “Southern School Praying Mantis” or “Southern Style Praying Mantis.”
Despite its name, the Southern Praying Mantis style of Chinese martial arts is unrelated to the Northern Praying Mantis style. Southern Praying Mantis is instead related most closely to fellow Hakka styles such as Dragon and more distantly to the Fujian family of styles that includes Fujian White Crane, Five Ancestors, and Wing Chun.
This style of martial arts focuses more on fighting skills rather than aesthetics.
Of course, you already knew that if you were looking for this term.
Note: This title can be pronounced and does have meaning in Korean but only to Koreans familiar with Chinese martial arts.
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your 螳螂 search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
螳螂 see styles |
táng láng tang2 lang2 t`ang lang tang lang tourou / toro とうろう kamakiri かまきり |
More info & calligraphy: Mantis / Praying Mantis(kana only) praying mantis (esp. the narrow-winged mantis, Tenodera angustipennis) |
螳螂拳 see styles |
tourouken / toroken とうろうけん |
More info & calligraphy: Northern Praying Mantis |
南派螳螂 see styles |
nán pài táng láng nan2 pai4 tang2 lang2 nan p`ai t`ang lang nan pai tang lang |
More info & calligraphy: Southern Praying Mantis |
擬螳螂 see styles |
kamakirimodoki かまきりもどき |
(kana only) mantidfly (any insect of the family Mantispidae) |
螳螂峠 see styles |
kamakiritouge / kamakiritoge かまきりとうげ |
(place-name) Kamakiritōge |
螳螂捕蟬 螳螂捕蝉 see styles |
táng láng bǔ chán tang2 lang2 bu3 chan2 t`ang lang pu ch`an tang lang pu chan |
the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind (idiom, from Daoist classic Zhuangzi 莊子|庄子[Zhuang1 zi3]); to pursue a narrow gain while neglecting a greater danger |
北派螳螂拳 see styles |
běi pài táng láng quán bei3 pai4 tang2 lang2 quan2 pei p`ai t`ang lang ch`üan pei pai tang lang chüan |
Beipai Tanglang Quan - "Northern Praying Mantis" (Chinese Martial Art) |
Variations: |
kamakirimodoki; kamakirimodoki かまきりもどき; カマキリモドキ |
(kana only) mantidfly (any insect of the family Mantispidae) |
Variations: |
tourouken / toroken とうろうけん |
{MA} praying mantis style |
螳螂捕蟬,黃雀在後 螳螂捕蝉,黄雀在后 see styles |
táng láng bǔ chán , huáng què zài hòu tang2 lang2 bu3 chan2 , huang2 que4 zai4 hou4 t`ang lang pu ch`an , huang ch`üeh tsai hou tang lang pu chan , huang chüeh tsai hou |
the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind (idiom, from Daoist classic Zhuangzi 莊子|庄子[Zhuang1 zi3]); to pursue a narrow gain while neglecting a greater danger |
Variations: |
kamakiri; tourou(蟷螂, 螳螂); imojiri(蟷螂); iibomushiri(蟷螂); kamakiri / kamakiri; toro(蟷螂, 螳螂); imojiri(蟷螂); ibomushiri(蟷螂); kamakiri かまきり; とうろう(蟷螂, 螳螂); いもじり(蟷螂); いいぼむしり(蟷螂); カマキリ |
(kana only) (occ. written 杜父魚) praying mantis (esp. the narrow-winged mantis, Tenodera angustipennis) |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Northern Praying Mantis | 螳螂拳 | tou rou ken tourouken to ro ken | táng láng quán tang2 lang2 quan2 tang lang quan tanglangquan | t`ang lang ch`üan tanglangchüan tang lang chüan |
Mantis Praying Mantis | 螳螂 / 蟷螂 螳螂 | tou rou / tourou / to ro | táng láng tang2 lang2 tang lang tanglang | t`ang lang tanglang tang lang |
Southern Praying Mantis | 南派螳螂 | nán pài táng láng nan2 pai4 tang2 lang2 nan pai tang lang nanpaitanglang | nan p`ai t`ang lang nanpaitanglang nan pai tang lang |
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In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
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Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
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