Capturing circles and. the art of Sanshou
by Jim Russo
May 19th, 2026
Taijiquan
capturing circles – the art of sanshou
The Taijiquan Sanshou is a two person setsometimes translated as dispersing hands . The art is often dismissed as a two person dance. It is, however where One learns to "capture circles" . This is a very rare set, and it is only preserved legitimately in two lineages , the Tian Zhaolin lineage, and the Hsu Yang Ho lineage . Grandmaster Hsu taught this set to
TT Liang who combined it with push hands exercises and music to make his own set. This set was the creation of Yang Chien Hou according to my understanding. This example shows Jack, lifting my elbow to punch the ribs, an application of " fist under elbow." from his northern Wu style. Resisting the line of force that he is putting on my elbow will only empower him and defect my posture.Instead, I divert the force perpendicular to its line of attack with a facing up palm. The result of this is that he hits a wall and can't lift my elbow. I have coiled out into the palm shape, and now I reverse the palm shape, trapping his hand against my elbow, and pulling him out of center into a circle in which I return a strike first to his armpit/heart 1 point and the second example pulls him into the punch to his face or throat. This set was created to give multiple examples of attack and defense so that they may be preserved for future generations.
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