(Martial arts online) Wing Chun - Chinese Martial Art
July 27th, 2007
Wing Chun - Chinese Martial Art
Brief History:
Wing Chun (also known as Wing Tsun, Ving Chun or Ving Tsun) is one of the most popular types of Chinese martial arts. Though it?s basically an unarmed combat technique, Wing Chun may include weapons as part of its course. The origin of Wing Chun can be traced back to China, but the real history of its creation has long been a topic of much debate. The most credible suggestion regarding the origin of Wing Chun dates back to 1700 AD in the Henan Shaolin Monastery.
When the Qing forces raided and ravaged the Southern Shaolin temple, a nun named Ng Mui fled to the distant Daliang Mountains, the only survivor. Ng Mui already had knowledge of Kung Fu in the Shaolin temple, which she assimilated with a new form she had learnt while observing a battle between a snake and a crane. She taught this new combat style to her adopted daughter whom she named Yimm Wing Chun. The new system was refined and then passed on from generation to generation, and was eventually named Wing Chun, after Yimm.
The modernization of Wing Chun started in Hong Kong during the 1950s under a Grandmaster called Yip Man. The discipline began to gain real popularity in Asia and the West when actor Bruce Lee became one of the most famous Wing Chun practitioners.
The Concept of Wing Chun:
Wing Chun is based on three basic principles - Practicality, Efficiency and Economy of Movement.
1. Practicality: Techniques such as Palm-up Hand (tan sau), Wing Arm (bong sau), Slapping Hand (pak sau) are designed to maim the most sensitive or vulnerable parts of the opponent?s body such as throat, groin, eyes and lower torso. Many movements and techniques in Wing Chun are often meant to be fatal.
2. Efficiency: Wing Chun does not use force against force, in order to gain the most efficient manipulation of the body’s energy. It believes in accurately timed and appropriately positioned little movements, and counter-attack is based on the opponent?s own force. This concept is also called Contact Reflexes.
3. Economy of Movement: This is a linear concept in which movements are based on an imaginary pole running vertically through the center of the body. The Center Line spreads out from this Mother Line, and since most of the vital points of the body are located along the Center Line, many offensive and defensive movements are based on this line. The Central Line, on the other hand, is the shortest path between the fighters where most of the combat exchanges take place.
Wing Chun Forms:
There are three basic forms in Wing Chun:
1. Empty Hand Form: This form has three more sub-forms - Siu Nim Tao - the foundation of the art, Chum Kiu - focus on advanced footwork and entry techniques, and Biu Jee - extreme short-range or long-range techniques, low kicks and sweeps, and emergency techniques.
2. Weapon Forms: The Dragon Pole and Butterfly Swords are the two forms of weapons incorporated in Wing Chun, categorized under advanced training.
3. Wooden Dummy or the Muk Yan Jong Form: A dummy made from several wooden posts represents a human opponent. The contraption is used to perfect angle, position, and footwork.
<a href="http://martialarts-hq.com/">Martial Arts</a> HQ offers articles, tips and tricks about different martial arts.
THE MISSING MARTIAL ARTS
For those lacking a decent dictionary, allow me to edify you on the derivation of the term ?martial?; which is: an adjectival form derived from the appellation of the Roman god of war, Mars. As a form of sport or exercise, it serves as training for warfare. Being ruled astrologically by the planet Mars, it?s a term applied to ?venomous animals, or plants with violently active properties?!
An authority recently described 170 different forms of the martial arts, ranging from Aikido to Zendo, maintaining new ones were invented virtually every week by some self-styled master who had either rediscovered some long lost art in an obscure backwater, or had devised some ingenious use for a hitherto unused body part. The arts covered every letter of the alphabet, apart from E, Q, V, and X.
Accordingly, I have striven to render complete this lexicon of the martial arts. After many years of undertaking diligent research in the snowy mountain fastnesses of Japan, the rain forests of Borneo, and the nether regions of Nana Plaza, Bangkok, I have rediscovered the missing arts, which I have pleasure in presenting to novelty-seeking martial arts? aficionados for your delectation.
They are as follows:
1. Ebrangling: an exclusive, particularly hard form indulged in by edentulous geriatrics in order to effatuate their opponents. Simply put, the toothless-ancients dismount from their Zimmer frames, shuffle, successfully grapple, and ultimately clench their partners in a bear hug, violently shaking them so as to render them besotted, dull or stupid.
2. Quitching: protagonists attempt to outwit their opponents, employing techniques such as fiendishly feinting by making sudden involuntary movements, somewhat in the Bruce Lee style, without the accompanying cries from the solar plexus.
Quoted by Montaigne as, ?I have seen men .. that would neither cry out, twitch nor quitch, for a good swinging beating.?
3. Quelming: an ancient, extremely hard form indulged in by ?chyldren, and fornycatours? aiming to torment, kill, or destroy. Sadly, the techniques were expurgated as being too violent for general public consumption.
4. Vezon : a particularly enigmatic form defined by the OED as ? ?meaning obscure? - quoted by Ward as “Look, look, Joan, how the Vezons fight. Who’d think they were so full of Spite?”
5. Xenelasy: a particularly effective Spartan method to be employed for when we Brits reinvade in order to re-educate you in the correct conventions of spelling and pronunciation. Meaning ?to drive away?, it employs a variety of free-forms and is the martial art par excellence to be used for the expulsion of foreigners.
Incidentally, don?t bother to try and find these names of martial arts in condensed dictionaries like Webster?s or Frank and Wagnall?s, they?re taken from the Bible of the English Language, the Oxford English Dictionary.
Likewise, the internet won?t offer you any enlightenment on the modus operandi, or access to the dojos where these forms are practised, either, and I?m keeping the techniques secret in the interests of world peace.
SEO Solutions and one way link publicity services provided by LinkAcquire.
David C Skul - CEO LinkAcquire.com and Relativity, Inc. can provide global market exposure and solutions
Jujitsu: History, Philosophy And Methods
Brief History:
Jujitsu is a 2500 year old unarmed combat discipline that has its roots in ancient Japan. The exact date on the creation of this martial art form is hard to trace but techniques resembling that of Jujitsu had already been incorporated into the training methods of the Samurai, from the 8th to the 6th centuries. Earliest Japanese historical records such as the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) and the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan) also have passages related to unarmed combat systems.
Before this Japanese martial art developed into what we know as Jujitsu today, there were many other Japanese combat techniques such as Kogusoku, yawara, kumiuchi, and hakuda etc, also collectively known as Sengoku Jujutsu. Traditions finally gave rise to the modern Nihon Jujutsu we know today, which is classified under Edo Jujutsu ? the true unarmed Japanese combat system.
Jujitsu gained prominence during the reign of Tokugawa in the 1600s but was soon alienated when Emperor Melse regained power. However, towards the mid-20th century, the ban on Jujitsu in Japan was lifted, following the Meiji restoration, and the combat art form began to be widely practiced.
The Philosophy:
Jujitsu revolves around three basic states of mind ? Zanshin, Mushin and Fudoshin. The proper combination of these elements gave the power, preparation and potential to the practitioner to excel in the Jujitsu art.
1. Zanshin ? ?remaining spirit? ? connotes the readiness for anything at any given time.
2. Mushin ? ?no mind? ? Its spontaneity permits instantaneous action without conscious thought.
3. Fudoshin - “immovable mind” ?during times of confrontation.
Basic Methods:
Jujitsu is a circular, hard and soft, external combat style. The basic techniques of attacks includes throws, locks, hitting and striking, thrusting and punching, pinning and immobilizing, strangling and joint-locking, with strong emphasis on throws, locks, and defensive techniques. In-fighting and close work are also focused upon.
Even though Jujitsu is basically an unarmed fighting system, small weapons like the Jitte (truncheon), Tanto (knife), or Kakushi Buki (hidden weapons), which include the Ryofundo Kusari (weighted chain) or the Bankokuchoki (a type of knuckle-duster) may also be used in combat.
Competition Systems:
Conventional Jujitsu can be dangerous, or maybe even fatal if its fundamental techniques were to be applied. So, in order to make the art a safer sport for the competitive arena, systems and rules have to be introduced. That is why most of the competition methods have incorporated ?Half-contact?, which prohibits serious attempts to knock out an opponent.
1. The Fighting System: This is the most popular method, divided into three phases. The first is for striking only, the second for striking, grappling and throwing, and the third includes ground-fighting such as chokeholds.
2. The Practical System: According to this rule, two defenders are surrounded by four attackers from four corners. Highest points go to the best defender judged upon effectiveness, oversight and control of the situation.
3. The Duo System: In this system, contestants are randomly chosen and awarded points for effective defences. The attacks are divided into four groups of five attacks each.
4. Combat Jujitsu: The most recent system developed in the United States. Victory in the competition is based on submission. The combat round between the two opponents lasts for not more than two minutes.
<a href="http://martialarts-hq.com/">Martial Arts HQ</a> offers articles, tips and tricks about different martial arts.
Popularity: unranked [?]
