Avatar: Martial Art Bending Styles Explained

The animated series and comic books Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Legend of Korra, have both been inspired by East-Asian cultures in a panoply of ways. We can in this rich universe fashion, myths, customs, and many more elements borrowed from Japan or China, to only name two. But one of the most obvious inspirations that comes from the franchise is the presence of martial arts.

Each one of the Four Nations, be it the Water Tribes, the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, or the Air Nomads, have their own unique blend of real-life martial arts styles. Movements from the Shaolinquan are incorporated into firebending, while the Air Nomads use what is called the baguazhang style. Waterbenders are tai chi practitioners, a type of martial art connected to the philosophy behind the yin and yang. When it comes to earthbenders, most of them practice a form of Hung Ga, while Toph Beifong makes use of the Northern Praying Mantis style, which when combined with earthbending helps her see via seismic sense. Finally there are the woodbenders that were created for CBR videos. The Wood Tribe being inspired by Okinawan culture uses the all around martial arts that is karate.

Today’s video has a total of 12 entries and will explore various martial arts that are part of each elemental bending techniques. Find out how firebender incorporates their firey rage into their technique, and how waterbenders does the exact opposite by channeling their energies in a different way using tai chi.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:41 Airbending 1: Baguazhang
02:09 Waterbending: Tai chi
03:29 Earthbending 1: Hung Ga
04:59 Firebending 1: Shaolinquan
06:02 Airbending 2: Xing Yi Quan
07:34 Earthbending 2: Nanquan
08:52 Firebending 2: Northern Praying Mantis
09:55 Earthbending 3: Southern Praying Mantis
11:00 Woodbending 1: Okinawan kobudō
12:32 Firebending 3: Changquan
13:35 Woodbending 2: Okinawan karate
14:47 Firebending 4: Southern Dragon Claw

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Written by: AGV
Narrated by: Justin Freitas @JustinFreitasVO
Edited by: *Dr. Teuts*

[AlvinBalvin]

as someone who knows chinese, i noticed a lot of things are named after chinese words, like the moon and ocean spirits tui and la, which means push and pull, as how the moon push and pulls the ocean creating tides, and also that black and white spirit which turn into a panda, is hei bai, which means black white, another one is yue, sokkas gf that turned into the moon, yue means moon

[ahaanhalwai]

Azula sometimes uses a sub variety of northern Shaolin Kung fu called dragons whiskers which is performed with two fingers (index and middle)

[yancylake]

14:25 "-often seek the high ground-" Folks, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a Woodbender!!!

[lesirakpea]

15:32 Azula is a different breed apart from toph I love her soooo much but only when she is in the right state of mind, like she is so physically strong and intelligent

[SaitoHiraga-ppmy]

THIS is the reason why ATLA fighting moves are so smooth and satisfying to watch, because they flow

[pacificcoastbreeze]

"While the air nomads are a peaceful nation.." yet showing clips of Korra and not the many clips of Aang or Aang's Air Nomad family. And then bringing up "Baguazhang" and showing clips of the new gen Airbenders flying around and not clips of Aang actually performing it.

Who edited this video??

[zapperil]

I wonder how it would go with other martial arts?

Like, for example Muay Thai with earthbending, JKD with airbending, BJJ with waterbending, and boxing with firebending if they go with close combat

[horstnasenblut]

Kung fu is about, getting in physical contact and binding then you will set a takedown. In short you limit the capabilities of your opponent. In the tales of ba sing se episode you can see iroh using a good example of that against his opponent. It is not a perfect example because the oponent has a knife and does not react, but thats pretty much the spirit of kung fu.

[ElderSign]

a channel named after the best type of sandwich. i dig it

[keithkekenbosch]

What about the style for lava benders?

[tarunspage]

and the style used by aang in the stick is called silabam ancient tamilan martials

[a.jthomas]

The Shaolin style and Tai Chi king fu are very unique styles.

[theheroandlegendchannel]

Uh no, my class mate was the guy they animated the kungfu from. All Northern Shaolin Kungfu Association curriculum. Except the Chu Gar which was learned from Manny Rodriguez. Go check for yourself. 🤙

[isaiahadams]

I been knew that the fighting movements in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra are inspired by various styles of kung fu and other Asian martial arts

[swordquanta]

Just a note.

Sticky Hands is not unique to Southern Praying Mantis. Other martial arts, especially Wing Chun, use it.

[radovanjovic]

Do the creators of the netflix live action even understand this?

[ranaemartin]

It amazing the amount of martial arts in this movie!

[albertaugustine]

man aang combat skill would be really awesome if he tried bein offenceive

[maxauerbach]

how much wood would a woodbender bend if a woodbender could bend wood?

[rtraps]

He I love ur channel yay I’m the first comment