Hot_Wings

I apologize Mike, I didn’t really answer your questions about the Kung Fu thing. The reason that many of his students argue the point about “Is Nabard Kung Fu?” is because of the stated origins of Martial Arts itself. You see, most of us think that Kung Fu itself originally came from China, but that isn’t the whole story. The Chinese monks wrote down that a Persian man from India named Bodhidharma as one of the sources that introduced martial arts to the monks.

The Chinese documents from the emperor list Bodhidharma as a Persian. Now it is commonly understood that this man may have not completely introduced martial arts to China. All countries of antiquity developed some forms of established hand to hand combat techniques. However, it is certain that this Persian was very influential concerning what we now speak of as Kung Fu.

What Master Sofaku is trying to explain to people is that the original martial arts that came from Persia never died out. In times of antiquity, The Persians were one of the most powerful empires in the known world. They are the ones who fought the now often spoken of 300 Spartans.

Mater Sofaku is stating that the original Persian Martial arts system was never lost to antiquity and that he has now combined that system with other different forms of combat. That’s why his students often get into the “Kung Fu” debate. They say that Nabard is not Kung fu. What they are trying to say that Nabard is, in essence, the original martial arts that came from Persia. In a simplified manner they are saying that Kung Fu is not Chinese, but instead, really Persian. Historical records do back up this claim. As you can see it is a complicated matter.

It does beg the question, “If Kung Fu came from a guy called Bodhidharma, a Persian from India, then what was the original Persian or Indian name for the martial arts that he taught the Chinese Monks?” Even the word Kung Fu is a general term that doesn’t necessarily point to a specific martial art. It is also a modern word. It makes sense, given the historical record of Bodhidharma, that the Chinese would give the martial arts a very general name considering that, from its very outset, it was a combination of different fighting techniques from all over the known world. That’s the part that Americans have a hard time understanding that students of Nabard fully understand. The true fact that Kung Fu itself is a compilation of different systems from all around the world escapes most people. It is not a system developed only from china with no other influence from any other martial system.

Now you can see why Master Sofaku has had such a hard time explaining to people what he is teaching and where it “Really” comes from. Add to that the difficulty of Master Sofaku himself adding different techniques from, let’s say, Kali or Judo (I don’t know if he has done this or not) and you can see why naming his system accurately is very difficult.

So, is it Kung Fu? Sure, it has elements taken from the original Persian Martial Arts from antiquity that the Chinese integrated into various Chinese martial arts systems. See the difficulty here? Kung Fu is not solely Chinese. That is where the source of this confusion lies. And that is why students of Nabard will say, “No, it’s not Kung fu, Its Persian.” It is because a lot of Kung Fu was learned from a Persian Man from India. But it takes some research and reading to understand the real truth that all martial arts are in essence “Mixed Martial Arts”, even the very old ones from China.