The Shadowless Kick also known as the No-Shadow Kick or Ghost-Shadow Kick is a martial arts

Martial arts

Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

 technique in the Hung Gar

Hung Gar

Hung Ga 洪家, Hung Kuen 洪拳, or Hung Ga Kuen 洪家拳 is a southern Chinese martial art associated with the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung, who was a master of Hung Ga....

 repertoire. It was made famous by Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 folk hero

Folk hero

A folk hero is a type of hero, real, fictional, or mythological. The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. This presence in the popular consciousness is evidenced by...

 Wong Fei Hung

Wong Fei Hung

Wong Fei-hung was a Chinese martial artist, a traditional Chinese medicine physician, acupuncturist and revolutionary who became a folk hero and the subject of numerous television series and films. He was considered an expert in the Hung Gar style of Chinese martial arts. Wong is visibly the most...

, who is reputed to have used it to great effect.

In fiction

The shadowless kick has often been depicted in fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

. Frequently it is presented as a simple but blindingly fast kick. When presented this way the precise nature of what separates the shadowless kick technique from other kicks is left generally unclear.

Other fictional depictions of the shadowless kick show it as a chain of flying kicks where the attacker strikes his target many times before landing.

In modern practice

The shadowless kick is somewhat more mundane in modern practice. In practice it consists of a simultaneous grapple or distraction with the hands and a low kick. The upper body movement caused by the hands draws the attention of the target up and away from the feet which lash out at a target between the stomach and the knee. The combination of the low target area of the kick, the close range of the strike (which should be conducted from within hand strike / grapple range) and the use of diversionary technique lends it the appearance of supreme speed which the technique has become famous for.