One of the neatest things in all of TV history was when David Carradine in the old Kung Fu TV series walked on the rice paper. Rice paper is extremely thin, and the bare moisture on the bottom of the foot, along with the weight of a persons body, is enough to tear the stuff. The legend of the matter, of course, is that there is this thing called Light Kung Fu, where one could actually make the body lighter, maybe even levitate it.
Now, myself and all the guys in the neighborhood would watch David Carradine, Kwai Chang Caine as he was known on TV, and wish we had a kung fu master to teach us how to walk on rice paper. Why, there was no end to the things we could do if we only knew Light Kung Fu! The neighborhood bullies would be nothing if we had that awesome power!
So, a little thought about the problem, a little western ingenuity, and we came up with a solution. Take a roll of toilet paper and unroll it on a linoleum floor. Now, very carefully, put a small drop of water on each square. Now, walk.
We thought that wet toilet paper would be like rice paper, you see. So we danced our gentle kung fu pattern, and...the thin stuff was ripped apart. Hmmmm.
We cleaned the mess off the floor, let it dry, and unrolled the paper again, put our feet down and tried not to turn them at all. Squoosh, squoosh, yikes! Darn stuff just turned into puddly, little messes.
So we tried arranging a long row of chairs along the sides of the unrolled toilet tissue, and we tried supporting ourselves with a little arm strength as we walked our kung fu walk. Squish, rip, and oh my good lard! This rice paper stuff was tougher, uh, softer, than we thought.
Now, to be truthful, we never did manage to walk the walk, and not tear the filmy stuff into shreds. And, to be truthful, I don't think it is possible, toilet paper is designed to dissolve in water, and rice paper is not. But something really neat did occur because of this intense interest in being able to do what the old masters did, even if they were only actors on TV.
In trying to walk on rice paper we ended up working out long hours. While waiting for the floor to dry we practicing kicking and blocking, we did our forms again and again and again. In the end, though we never did manage to walk the light kung fu walk, we became masters by another means, through dedication and long hard work and by being inspired by our dreams! - 31497
Now, myself and all the guys in the neighborhood would watch David Carradine, Kwai Chang Caine as he was known on TV, and wish we had a kung fu master to teach us how to walk on rice paper. Why, there was no end to the things we could do if we only knew Light Kung Fu! The neighborhood bullies would be nothing if we had that awesome power!
So, a little thought about the problem, a little western ingenuity, and we came up with a solution. Take a roll of toilet paper and unroll it on a linoleum floor. Now, very carefully, put a small drop of water on each square. Now, walk.
We thought that wet toilet paper would be like rice paper, you see. So we danced our gentle kung fu pattern, and...the thin stuff was ripped apart. Hmmmm.
We cleaned the mess off the floor, let it dry, and unrolled the paper again, put our feet down and tried not to turn them at all. Squoosh, squoosh, yikes! Darn stuff just turned into puddly, little messes.
So we tried arranging a long row of chairs along the sides of the unrolled toilet tissue, and we tried supporting ourselves with a little arm strength as we walked our kung fu walk. Squish, rip, and oh my good lard! This rice paper stuff was tougher, uh, softer, than we thought.
Now, to be truthful, we never did manage to walk the walk, and not tear the filmy stuff into shreds. And, to be truthful, I don't think it is possible, toilet paper is designed to dissolve in water, and rice paper is not. But something really neat did occur because of this intense interest in being able to do what the old masters did, even if they were only actors on TV.
In trying to walk on rice paper we ended up working out long hours. While waiting for the floor to dry we practicing kicking and blocking, we did our forms again and again and again. In the end, though we never did manage to walk the light kung fu walk, we became masters by another means, through dedication and long hard work and by being inspired by our dreams! - 31497
About the Author:
Al Case has studied martial arts for 4O years. A writer for the magazines since'81, he is the founder of matrixing technology and neutronics. You can walk on rice paper with him, or, least get a free ebook, at Monster Martial Arts.
