Hu Tao, (pronounced “wu dao”) the way of the tiger is made up of several different styles of martial arts.  It is basically a blend of Japanese and Chinese styles, with the emphasis at the beginning being the Japanese style, but more and more moving toward the Chinese as instruction progresses.  The style that Dr. Andrew Tamper has taught to James Arrasmith is known as Chinese Karate Kempo with the main focus being on Hsing-I (hard style Chinese self defense.)  

Regardless of what style one has studied, one can change it into Hu Tao.  Hu Tao consists of several different styles of martial arts, which makes it a very fast, hard and efficient art with less moves than other types of martial arts.  It actually consists of Wing-Chun (the eight gates), Choy-Lay-Fut, and Hung-Gar, which when combined together use circular movements or deflective types of moves used in the eight gates or eight trigrams.  This actually makes the style a full Chinese martial art style of self-defense, which is a very hard style.  It consists of Judo, Karate, Ju-Jitsu, Aikido, Kempo and Chin-Nan (the use of pressure points).  All are melded together to form Fi-Su-Dove-Fut, or the way of quick action self-defense, and pa-kua, a hard style of deflection and splitting moves which greatly shortens the time and action required to defend oneself.           

To define Hu Tao further, the important part of the training and discipline revolves around the hands.  The hands must be the fastest part of the body.  Even through the brain controls the hands, the student must learn to move the hands without a conscious signal from the brain.  In other words, the student must learn to move the hands independently from a conscious decision from the brain, but must also move in a very controlled manner.           

Hu Tao training also includes the art of evasion and moving in with a jamming type of footwork, which brings into play pivots and take downs.  The student needs to learn how to use the eyes as focus points, while never kicking or jamming with the legs above the naval.  It is very hard to learn duality, that is, the use of both hands and both feet at the same time.  It is important to learn to coordinate the timing of the hands with the feet.  Power flows from the development of this timing along with balance to execute the necessary techniques of self-defense.           

All of this is combined with the most important element of all - - proper breathing.  Proper breathing must be learned first in order to develop the necessary internal chi (power).  The student will usually learn external chi first, followed slowly with the development of internal chi. This internal chi doesn’t develop fully until the student has achieved the black belt level, and in some cases it is never really mastered.  Usually the minimum time to master internal chi after attaining the black belt is three years of intensive training and practice.           

Hu Tao combines all of these styles and knowledge with the working knowledge of pressure points, and the location of the meridians of the body.  Some of these points and meridians can be used to heal and are helpful.  Others can be harmful and deadly.  The end results are determined by the practioner of the style known as Hu Tao.