Jap Penhold vs Chn Penhold

Japanese Penhold or Chinese Penhold


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Hi. So I am a shakehanded player, but for the users who use the penhold grip. What kind of blade do you use. The Chinese penhold of the Japanese penhold.
Chinese Penhold:
zoom2_y-ma-lin-ex-off-cs.jpg

Japanese Penhold:
zoom_y-musashi.jpg


From what I've read the Japanese penhold has your fingers extended straight down the blade while the Chinese has you curl your fingers. But there's obviously more to it than that. The japanese penhold has that different handle, and the head of the blade is more squared off, and players who use jap pen don't use the reverse backhand technique as much. So to the penhold users, which type do you use and why? And to the shakehand users (like myself) Which type of grip would you use if you were to go penhold? For me I think I would go Jap since I already prefer to use my forehand. Notable Chinese penhold users are: Xu Xin and Wang Hao, while notable Jap penhold include: Ryu Sueng-Min, and Lee Jungwoo
 
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Chinese penhold. I dont have experiences of using japanese penhold. But the reverse backhand is also nesserary for penholders, otherwise it requires better speed and physical strength to play. Like Jiang Jialiang and Liu Guoliang, the representatives of penhold's one-side rally, they retired at a relative young age partly because their playing style shortened their sporting life. If one's playing skill is kind of all rounded, maybe Chinese penhold is better. If one relies on much of his forehand, he can choose Japanese penhold for it is more powerful on the "obverse" side.
 
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you for got ma lin..

if you are planning a switch to either you need to know whether you are able for it... Jpen is like stride mentioned reliant on FH where the aim is to hit as many as possible from both sides of the table. which requires great agility and footwork..

while C-pen could be considered less requiring you could always play one sided cpen. which would mean lighter setup faster swings.
with the addition of RPB it becomes more dangerous
 
you for got ma lin..

if you are planning a switch to either you need to know whether you are able for it... Jpen is like stride mentioned reliant on FH where the aim is to hit as many as possible from both sides of the table. which requires great agility and footwork..

while C-pen could be considered less requiring you could always play one sided cpen. which would mean lighter setup faster swings.
with the addition of RPB it becomes more dangerous
Well i didn't forget ma lin. There are plenty of players that I didn't list, ex. Liu Guoliang. I'm not thinking of switching to penhold, I'm perfectly fine with shakehand it's just that I was curious on some of the major differences and preferences of the two grips and I figured penhold players may have a new perspective on this.
 
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well, then your choice depends on what you are capable of physically and what your strengths are.. if your BH is stronger than your fh then go for Cpen with PRB. you you are FH dominant go for Jpen. which is also a bit easier to learn but like it was said demands more footwork., but your Fh might come along fairly well since its the main stroke, and then start learning to block
 
Chinese penhold. I dont have experiences of using japanese penhold. But the reverse backhand is also nesserary for penholders, otherwise it requires better speed and physical strength to play. Like Jiang Jialiang and Liu Guoliang, the representatives of penhold's one-side rally, they retired at a relative young age partly because their playing style shortened their sporting life. If one's playing skill is kind of all rounded, maybe Chinese penhold is better. If one relies on much of his forehand, he can choose Japanese penhold for it is more powerful on the "obverse" side.
From what I'm guessing, the way that you hold the penhold racket I can't imagine that the reverse backhand would be so good with touch play. So if it comes in short on your backhand wouldn't you still have to sort of cross your arm over to your backhand side.
 
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hence why its called reverse back hand.. but im pretty sure you have seen wang hao videos to show that it is a lethal technique
obviously a demonstration clip but during games he produces a good bit more effect.

but you could play like Ma Lin and only use t he reverse side on occasion and mostly use traditional( fh as a BH) block/punch. and use RPB as an opening loop or punching down the line
 
hence why its called reverse back hand.. but im pretty sure you have seen wang hao videos to show that it is a lethal technique
obviously a demonstration clip but during games he produces a good bit more effect.

but you could play like Ma Lin and only use t he reverse side on occasion and mostly use traditional( fh as a BH) block/punch. and use RPB as an opening loop or punching down the line
Well the reverse backhand technique is still rather new, so older players like Ma Lin and Liu Guoliang (even though he retired) are more likley to stick to the classic playing style. Wang Hao turned pro in 1998 so he's a rather new penhold player so he uses the reverse backhand as well as other newer players like Xu Xin, who uses it most of the time but still occasionally moves his feet so he can hit it on his forehand.
 
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You're right. Mostly the reverse backhand of a penholder is not as good as shakehanders. Wanghao is an exception. To be honest, Wang Hao's style doesn't show any advantages against shakeholder, though he himself plays well. Maybe the best way of developing penhold is that you need to learn a little about everything. In other words, combining the style of both Malin and WAnghao. Malin's style is very tricky and flexible.Personally, I use both sides on the backhand, maybe 65% the obverse side with 35% the reverse side, the usage ratio of the reverse is still increasing. Currently I used to return a service on the backhand with a reverse-sided rally. When it goes through the back and forth on backhand I usually use the oberverse to flick or block, the reverse side to defend, still unable to use reverse rally like Wang Hao during the rallies. So to me it's no bad to play with one more side.
From what I'm guessing, the way that you hold the penhold racket I can't imagine that the reverse backhand would be so good with touch play. So if it comes in short on your backhand wouldn't you still have to sort of cross your arm over to your backhand side.
 
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And if you straighten your fingers on backhand side, you won't play with a flexible wrist, hence seems much harder on the RBP or blocking on backhand. But it's true that makes your forehand more powerful. So we say straight fingers is the Japanese penhold style but actually we also straighten our fingers when smashing on the forehand. There's not a correct grip for penholders. It depends on what kind of posture makes you feel comfortable and play well.
 
pretty sure WH didnt start RPB. LGL may have or even someone before him
I'm not saying wang hao was the first or even the inventor of the rpb, but i'm saying since the use of this technique is still rather new, it was players like Wang Hao that were the first few to start using it.
 
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I used to play C-penhold, but changed to J-penhold after I bought that type of penhold by accident (I was ignorant about this stuff back then). I personally found it was so much easier to play with J-penhold. My forehand was way better, in speed and consistency. Now, I play shakehand, but I sometimes like to go back and play penhold, and I still find that J-penhold is far more comfortable for me than C-penhold. I think that J-penhold makes you more active because you have to search constantly for a chance to use your forehand, requiring better footwork for better positioning. Furthermore, today's game largely consists of high speed and spin, which can be easily achieved with a J-penhold forehand. That's not to say C-penhold forehand is not as good, but I personally just prefer J-penhold.
 
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To rebump this, I started with C-penhold and found that it is not very comfortable to hold the blade (even getting blisters sometimes, don't know how?!), or, at least not nearly as comfortable as the Korean penhold which I find to be the most comfortable of all styles I've tried. With the Korean/Jap penhold I feel almost as if the blade is part of my hand, but yes, it is a little more demanding for the backhand and requires either a good backhand practice or fast foot work. I have long been thinking of ditching this grip and going shakehand, but it's too late now I think, after 5 years of playing.. I'll just have to figure out how to develop a strong backhand.
 
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