User:Fantail Combat

Fantail Combat System

The Fantail Combat System founded by Hanshi Te Hurinui Murphy. The System is based on Mythology, Legend, combined with modern day scientific fact and the natural inherent self defence that is hidden in the Reptilian brain of all humans. This article is only a brief outline of the Fantail System.

The secret unarmed combat art to the Maori Warrior revealed

The Fantail Bird of New Zealand. The Fantail or Piwakawaka, is held in high regard to the Maori. Legend say’s that it was because of the Fantail that death came to mankind. Maui the Demi-God wanted to end death or his people, so he decided to hunt down Hine-nui-te-po who is the goddess of death. Maui set off taking the Fantail with him. When they found Hine-nui-te-po she was sleeping. Maui transformed himself into a worm so he could climb in between her legs so he could kill her from the inside. When Maui transformed to a worm the fantail got really excited some say it wanted to eat the worm and others say that he was laughing seeing the great warrior Maui turn himself into a worm.

The Fantail made such a racket it woke Hine-nui-te-po. Maui was caught between her legs and as a worm he was trapped and was squashed by Hine-Nui. Even today when Maori see the Fantail flying close to the house or even worse if it comes inside then it means that bad luck is on its way or someone is going to die. The Fantail Combat System takes this belief into combat or to defend ourselves. If we have to protect or defend ourselves from an attack then we have a philosophy that ‘when the Fantail Flies someone dies. Obviously this is extreme, but that is exactly what the Fantail Combat System is, it’s especially designed for self defence. The Fantail System is not a Sport or a tournament art.

The opposite side of the Fantail is that when you’re out in the forests or even in your gardens the Fantail is the friendliest bird you can meet. The Fantail is not afraid of humans at all; in fact it uses us to find its food, especially out in the forests, as your walking along the fantail will follow you. The Fantail is waiting for you to disturb insects then it will hone in and get a free meal. I have spent many years in the native forests of New Zealand, mainly hunting. In those years the Fantail has been my constant companion so as a keen martial artist I spent years observing and studying the movements and behaviour of the Fantail, which I have transformed into a self defence combat system. There is no bird in the world that moves like the Native Fantail of New Zealand. It never keeps still and it’s constantly doing flinching or twitching type movements, and when it flies its movements seem to have no structure it’s all over the place flying erratically changing its angles and its tail is in its full fantail bloom. So all this, we have taken and used in the Fantail Combat System. We have no set stances or movements our arms and hands move erratically constantly changing and not knowing what the next move will be. This type of movement is very hard to defend against making the Fantail Combat System a very effective self defence system.

As a combat system we have four stages:

The first being the Fantail Flinch.

The Flinch is a natural self defence system that is inherent in all humans. When we are taken by surprise the natural reaction is to flinch. The Flinch is the most natural way a human can react when surprised, and there is no martial technique that you can learn that will take the place of the natural flinch. So this is the first level of the Fantail Combat System. All we have done is added the Triangle Shape of the Fan-Tail formation. The Triangle is the strongest structure in the world so no matter shape or size you are the triangular structure we use will withstand a massive amount of force. This is ideal for the smaller person and especially works well for females. We have 12 year old girls that can stop a full on attack from a much larger and stronger male.

The Second stage of the Fantail Combat System is: Fantail Boxing

What we call Fantail Boxing. This second stage is where students learn how to box using only there forearms. Our hands are never tied up but are always ready to fly into action. This second stage of the training is about the closest students get to fighting. The fantail combat system is really not a fighting art at all. We don’t teach students how to fight we teach students how to protect themselves to get in get the job done and escape.

The third stage of the System is: Fantail Flying

Fantail flying is where all the fun starts. There is no certain way to fly, students learn to free the mind and just fly. They first learn to fly up the arm of the attack. For example if an attacker throws a jab-like technique the goal of the Fantail exponent is to use the attackers arm as a means to fly up and along the arm. So there is no blocking or evading, we just set flight, The bonus of it all is that we want our attacker to come at us as hard and as fast as they can, this makes it far easier for us to fly. These are just a few techniques and strategies we use in the Fantail Combat System.

The next stage of the system is: Fantail Combat

This stage is where students put together the first three stages. At the combat level students are free to explore and really start to personalise and own the art.

The highest level of the Fantail Combat System is what is called Mau Wiri (to Shake). Mau Wiri is the movement of all things. When it rains this is Mau Wiri when the leaves move with the wind this is Mau Wiri, the movement of the sea is Mau Wiri. The movement of the hands shaking when you see Maori perform song and dance is symbolising the Mau Wiri. The Wiri is the life force or energy in all things. This level is the most dangerous level as this is the stage where students learn to switch from the cognitive brain and use the reptilian brain or as the Maori call it, the Warrior Mind, for only in this reptilian state can the true fantail system be unleashed. Where students switch from the physical to the internal state of combat. At the highest level of the Fantail Combat System students learn to use the internal energy and the energy of all things which is manipulated through the use and understanding of Mau Wiri.