Li Gar
李家拳One of the five family styles of southern China. It joins the firm southern fist to northern agility and is known for the long staff and leg work.
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About Li Gar
Li gar is one of the five family styles of southern Chinese martial arts. Its origin, however, is not unambiguous, and this page admits as much: the sources give several versions that only appear reconcilable. According to one line, at the beginning stands Li Sou, also called Li Yuanshou, who is said to have created the Li Sou style in the thirteenth century together with the monk Jueyuan. According to another, the Li Jia style was created by Li Youshan, also given as Lee Yau-san, after training at the Shaolin temple. A third version names Li Yi, who lived from 1744 to 1828 in Guangdong and is recorded as a founder of the Li family style — while it is not certain whether Li Yi and Li Youshan are not the same person under two names. The year 1780 that previously stood here is not documented and has therefore been cleared. The legendary layer with the Divine Immortal Palms is marked as legend in the sources themselves. The entry is carried as disputed. The Li family comes originally from Lanzhou in Gansu province, that is from the north, which explains the technical character of the style. Li gar joins the firm southern Chinese fist to northern agility and speed — a combination southern styles do not usually have. It is best known for work with the long staff and for its leg skills, together with linked hand sequences, elbows and animal forms. Alongside Hung Gar, Choy Gar, Lau Gar and Mok Gar it forms the group tradition calls the five families of southern Shaolin.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.