Monday, November 23, 2009

BUNGA TERATAI & BUNGA TANJUNG

Bunga Tanjung dari anak2 Gayong Simpang Pulai...

Silat Seni Gayong is a hard form of Silat. Different from any other Silat Kelantan, Silat Seni Gayong doesn't have a Langkah Sembah, and we don't start with learning the Langkahs first, whether Tiga, Empat or Lima like in traditional Silat. In Gayong, we learn directly Tumbuk Pintal Tali (punch), Tangkis Sisi (side block), Pancung Dayung (slicing), Tumbuk Bertapak (moving punch), Tendang Sula (front kick), Tendang Tolak Lintang (side kick) and Sepak Layang/Tebar Jala (roundhouse kick). Not to forget the famous Tiger Cub Exercices, before we are taught the Kunci, Kombat and Pukulan.

Bunga Tanjung

But when I discovered that we have actually a sort of "Langkah Sembah", known as Bunga Tanjung ('Bay' Flower), I was too excited. Bunga Tanjung is not the only one. The other one is Bunga Teratai (Lotus). Both Bunga Teratai and Bunga Tanjung has the signification behind the movements. It is said that both of the Jurus actually describe the principle lessons in learning Islam. The Aqidah (faith), Ibadah (religious practices), Akhlaq (good manners), and the Sirah (histories).

In Bunga Teratai movement, for example, shows the litterature and civilization of Malay Sultanate at that time. We make our Sembah (hands positions in front of publics), with 3 different ways, to celebrate our guest whether he is the King, Ulama', Politician, Masters, Parents, our our partners. There is also a memory how Hang Tuah tricked the Emperor of China, so that he could see the face of the princess Hang Li Po, in the Long Bean's story. It was forbidden to anyone to look to the face of the royal family, but Hang Tuah was obliged to verify first whether the princess was as beautiful as what he had heard.


China Dragon

Talking about the close relationship between China and Tanah Melayu (Malay Land) during that time, the Emperor had gift Hang Tuah a present with an image of a dragon (if i am not mistaken it was a cloth). Since that Silat Seni Gayong, beleived to be inherited from that great legend, the symbol of the Dragon was used as the image of Silat Seni Gayong. It is a double meaning also, seems when the late Dato' Meor was born, he came out with a twin of a small tiny serpent-like creature. His 'twin' was kept in for some times by his parents, but then was released into the ocean. That's why the late Dato' Meor said the Dragon, is the power at the water, the sea and the ocean. For those who had heard the stories what happened during the Khatam Keris that Dato' Meor had done at the sea, you know what type of Dragon am I trying to say.....!!! ;)

So we had done some extra training on the Bunga Teratai and Bunga Tanjung yesterday, during the Gayong seminar at Lille, with some technics derived from those Jurus. Every step in the Jurus can be developed into various technics. The first type of Bunga Tanjung that I learned (in 1997) was the actual Bunga tanjung that is used during the Gayong competition throughout Malaysia, which is the official Bunga Tanjung of most of Gayong school at Selangor, I think. (I got the message last time about the seminar of standardization of Bunga Teratai and Bunga Tanjung at Taman Nirwana training centre of Master Kahar and his son Cikgu Jazwan, but I didn't manage to be there to see the latest standard form of the Jurus in Selangor...)

Bunga Teratai

The second type comes from Cikgu Azizan, that he learned from Ayahanda Amin Hamzah. It was the first time I saw the Teratai form in Bunga Tanjung, and apparently it is one of the Pecahan of Asas Gerakan, with the tampar harimau, tumpah beras, tembi siku, pijak bara, rajawali, main daun and so on. The Asas Gerakan of Ayahanda Amin can be seen at youtube of the channel "chulahitam" of Cikgu Azizan, showing the last Gayong syllabus (in 80's) that was presented in front of Dato' Meor....



The third form that I learned was from Cikgu Nasir at his house with other Anak Gayong Warisan. It is the Bunga Teratai and Bunga Tanjung that taught by Pak Ngah Izahar from Batu Kurau. Cikgu Nasir, Cikgu Muzairi and his students, had been many times invited to Istana (the palace) of Kelantan, to perform the Bunga Teratai and Bunga Tanjung in front of the King during the traditional ceremonies of various events. The unic part of this from of Bunga Tanjung is that it use the Keris during the performance......Beautiful!!!! ;)


The Jurus's purpose is also for the Tenaga Dalam (internal force), with a specific method of breathing while executing the fast and slow movement. It is also a Senaman, the exercice to warm up or warm down before and after the training , to re-place the "Urat" (muscles/veins) to it's original place where it should be to avoid any post-training injuries. Especially here in France, now it starts getting cold, we absolutely need a good Senaman before getting on the harder moves!

3 comments:

  1. It helps understanding! thanks Cikgu! the seminar was great!:)

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  2. it's the last series of gayong seminars. and the last would be the best! ;)

    ReplyDelete