Mantis kung fu, the mantis that stopped a cart, and the wart myth

Mantis kung fu: legend and records

Mantis kung fu (螳螂拳, tanglangquan in Chinese; dangnang-gwon in Korean) is a martial art from China's Shandong region. It's said to have been created by Wang Lang (王朗), a man from Jimo in Shandong in the late Ming to early Qing period, after he saw a mantis catch a cicada. But whether Wang Lang really lived, and whether he really founded it, is a legend not backed by historical records.

The lineage that records confirm begins with martial artists from the mid-Qing dynasty onward. Researchers think mantis kung fu probably took hold in the Qing period.

The mantis that stood in front of a cart

The tale of a mantis raising its front legs to block a cart wheel appears in several old texts, and the meaning differs from text to text.

Zhuangzi: a mantis that doesn't know its own strength

In the "In the World of Men" chapter of the Zhuangzi, Qu Boyu tells Yan He, who is to tutor the crown prince of a cruel ruler: "Don't you know the mantis? In its anger it waves its arms to stop the cart wheel, not knowing it can't withstand it. It's because it trusts that its own talent is outstanding." It's a warning that showing off your talent in front of a stronger opponent is dangerous. A similar metaphor appears once more in the "Heaven and Earth" chapter of the Zhuangzi.

Han Shi Waizhuan and Huainanzi: a brave mantis

Han Shi Waizhuan, volume 8, and the "Human Affairs" chapter of the Huainanzi record a story about Duke Zhuang of Qi. When Duke Zhuang went out hunting, a bug raised its foot as if to strike his cart wheel. The charioteer said, "It's a bug called a mantis. It knows only how to advance and not how to retreat, doesn't weigh its own strength, and takes its enemy lightly." Duke Zhuang said, "If this were a person, he would surely be a warrior famous throughout the land," and turned his cart aside to avoid it. When brave men heard this, they are said to have flocked to the duke.

In this story the mantis isn't an object of ridicule but a symbol of courage, and Duke Zhuang gave way out of respect for the mantis.

What it means today

The four-character idiom in use today, danglang geochol (螳螂拒轍, "a mantis blocks the cart track"), means rashly taking on a stronger opponent without weighing your own strength. It is closer to the Zhuangzi's meaning, and the four-character form "danglang geochol" settled into use later. The Korean proverb "like a mantis standing against a cart" (beomajaebi suregi beotideut) means the same. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture also records the tale of the mantis stalking a cicada while a sparrow behind it stalks the mantis (danglang poseon), meaning that someone who sees only the gain in front of them misses the danger behind.

Sangpyocho: medicine made from egg cases

Sangpyocho (桑螵蛸) is an herbal medicine made by steaming and drying mantis egg cases. The name comes from egg cases found on mulberry trees (桑). The herbal medicine standard of Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety defines sangpyocho as steamed egg cases containing the eggs of the narrow-winged mantis, the lesser mantis, and the giant Asian mantis.

Old texts and dictionaries record its use for many symptoms. These are only records of traditional use and don't mean its effects have been scientifically confirmed.

The mantis's many names

• Korean: Besides samagwi, there are names such as danglang, beomajaebi, and yeonkkasi (Encyclopedia of Korean Culture). Depending on the region it was also called osumssagae, yeongasi, and dangui-engi. "Beomajaebi" is sometimes explained as a combination of "beom" (tiger) and "ajaebi" (a word meaning a kind of relative).
• English mantis: From the Greek μάντις (mantis), meaning "prophet, fortune-teller." The explanation is that its stance with the front legs held together looked like someone praying or delivering an oracle. The scientific name of the mantis group, Mantodea, was given in 1838 by the German entomologist Hermann Burmeister.

Why it shares a name with skin warts

The insect mantis and the wart on the skin share a name (samagwi), but there's no settled explanation of which name came first or how the two are connected. The Standard Korean Language Dictionary of the National Institute of Korean Language lists the two words separately and doesn't explain any etymological link. Some conjecture that the skin-wart name moved to the insect, noting that in old texts the insect was called by other names like "yeongasi," but this hasn't been settled as a theory.

Folk tales say that if you put an insect mantis on a wart it will eat the wart and cure it, or conversely that skin warts appear if the liquid a mantis spits touches you. Neither has any scientific basis. Skin warts are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and should be treated by a doctor.

Mantises in other cultures

Southern Africa: In the stories of the /Xam people, part of the San, appears a being, /Kaggen, who also takes the form of a mantis. He is a figure who both makes the world and tricks people, and he appears in the records of /Xam oral accounts written down by Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd in the 1870s. /Kaggen also appears in other forms such as an eland, so the commonly heard "mantis god" is a simplification.

France: In his Souvenirs entomologiques, the entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre wrote that the mantis's prayer-like stance is really a stance for stalking prey. He also left an observation in an enclosure of one female mating with and eating several males in turn, though in the wild this happens far less often (see the hunting story).

Research in this article