wing chun kuen man

tsefreeflow, I can believe it. And imagine what the mainlanders would say if they saw the modified and "inproved" versions of Yip Man`s own Wing Chun....LOL A shaolin sifu that I know and respect once told me in an ironic manner that Yip Man "forgot" some of the Wing Chun forms. At least in his opinion Yip Man's branch of Wing Chun is a weak style. I can´t really make any comments myself. All I know is that the chinese lineage of Wing Chun that I practice has techniques that do not exist in the Yip Man system. I also know that on the mainland of China there are a few lineages some of which do look pretty different to what we know as Wing Chun. They also use the term Wing Choon to describe this fascinating art. I suppose that the mainland lineages are more complete than the Yip Man´s. Wing Chun Kuen Man

In my school references are made to water all the time. The "softness", "the wave", finding the gap and "rushing in"; etc. The water principle/philosophy were part of the chinese martial arts long before Bruce Lee applied them in his ideas and concepts. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Hello Lupin3, When I talk about traditional Wing Chun I am referring to the unadulterated variety. At the same time this means that it should also be taught in the traditional way. There are various lineages of Wing Chun kung fu. They have their origins in China of course. There are some differences between these lineages as a cosequence of evolution. There have been some modifications made by Yip Man in Hong Kong but this lineage of the style still maintains its essence. I am just careful whenever I hear that a certain instructor has modified Wing Chun (or any other traditional martial art) to make it more "practical" for modern use. Generally what this means is that a traditional style may have been simplified and standardised to make it easier to teach and quicker to "progress" in. Usually it is all about marketing and money making and NOT about natural evolution. I practice traditional Wing Chun. It is a mainland China lineage. It contains techniques that do not exist in the Yip Man lineage. The training is traditional, that is, there is a lot of attention given to details, basics and building of good bases. This increases the time span of progress. Strong emphasis is given to Chi Kung practise to build internal energy for combat. At my level I am expected to spend 30-45 minutes every morning doing breathing/energy exercises, as well as 10 minutes a night followed by meditation. Iron palm exercises are also incorporated into the training. There are no tests exams nor a belt system. When the sifu thinks you are ready he will take you to the next level of training. Uniforms are bought at cost price. The school is not a business enterprise it is a family. There is a price for the classes, but those who can´t afford it pay less. The internal side of the 3rd form, Biu Jee is taught only to selected students. I have checked out Jason Lau´s site and it looks pretty good and traditional to me. I would go for it. I hope that your interview goes well and good luck. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Dijita, Many thanks for the info. I will be checking out the sites now. Until later. Osu, Wing Chun Kuen Man

Osu! Hello Dijita, Mas. Oyama was a great master and Kyokushinkai is a powerful style of karate. I do not practice karate, but still I am a great fan of Mas. and I find his exploites and his dedication to his art inspiring. About the videos you mentioned of Mas. Oyama fighting, can you tell me if they are available and if so, are there any sites on the internet that sell them. Any info will be appreciated. Osu! Wing Chun Kuen Man

I ´ve seen some info on Jason Lau. He seems legit. My personal belief would be if they are both good then go with the more traditional school. I can personally vouch for the effectiveness of traditional Wing Chun. Wing Chun Kuen Man

My all time favorite is Masutatsu Oyama, the founder of the Kyokushinkai karate style, who is said to have defeated around 270 fighters, including western boxers, wrestlers, street fighters, judokais and Thai boxers, in full contact, and I believe no rules bouts, usually finishing these confrontations with single blows. Because of his power he earned the nickname "God Hand". He was the only man to participate and complete the 300 man kumite where he fought, full contact and defeated three hundred black belt fighters over the course of 3 days. Mas. Oyama also fought and killed 52 bulls with his bare hands. 3 of these animals were killed with single blows. Well that is my vote. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Thuggish, Our training concepts are obiously alien to you and other martial artists but they work. Like many Kung Fu concepts they take longer to master but they WORK. We do contact training but try to maintain calmness without any emotion, rather than become aggressive when we hit or are hit. You would be surprised on how much more you perceive when your mind is calm during combat. Anyway, as I said in my previous post "using your anger/fear" also works in combat. To each his own. Wing Chun Kuen Man

No one is denying that you have to work harder and smarter against a bigger opponent, after all such an opponent has an "inbuilt" advantage. I was merely giving an EXAMPLE of a situation where the level of power decreases in relevance. It was an extreme example for the purpose of making the point I was trying to make. SevenStar, unfortunately the example that you give is more realistic today, because nowadays you do have many martial artists like your guy A that after "many years" of practice have only mastered relative speed in techniques but low power level in their delivery, i.e. pretty(ineffective) and flashy techniques. In our school many years of practice mean high speed and high power, that means that the fight is finished when you get through- and we know that any martial art system that is correctly practiced will give you those two elements after MANY years of practice. I don´t think that there are martial arts that only aim to give you one or the other after long term practice, because one is not relevant without the other - unless one is practicing extremely sport oriented and point scorring non-contact arts, which I personally don´t regard as MA´s. What I am trying to say is that a real martial artist with many years of training under his belt will have enough power to hurt his assailant regardless of size, otherwise his training was in vain. The Bruce Lee example was raised by LuckyBoxer and I gave him my likely scenario. However, believe it or not in the old days in many parts of the far east weight classes did not exist in combat. I have mentioned this in another thread. Some years ago I trained Shotokan under a great japanese 7th dan sensei and one day after class he made some very interesting comments to me, they included "karate has become weak in modern times....." and "in the old days we did not have weight classes, this is a western concept" . This makes sense because in the old days martial arts were practiced to prepare one for real fighting and in the street/battle field level there are no weight classes. Could it be that weight classes reflect the fall in the standards of martial arts and are a way of compensating for this phenomenon (the long term effect of Mcdojos)? As far as western boxing is concerned may be weight classes are needed because the limitations and rules make size matter more. Wing Chun Kuen Man

WARNING McDojo Alert. I have gone through the site with a little more care and I think that any rate for a place like this would be too high. Giving black belts to little kids and calling them senseis is just ridiculous and is an insult to the inteligence of any serious martial artist. Having said that, obviously this school is only aim is to attract people who have no knowledge of martial arts (MA virgins). It is possible that they teach some useful stuff, but a place like this is not for me. I also don´t like the fact that these new "styles" imply or sometimes even say more directly, that the traditional martial arts don´t work. Yes, and of course we all know that in the old days in the Far East things were "very different" from today, nobody used fists and kicks and grappling to physically attack you. In those days if one was attacked, the weapon of choice for the assailants would usually be feathers and pillows. That is why the traditional martial arts don´t work because nowadays we are more likely to be attacked by punches and kicks. #&%*#$. Aitor, what I have said is my personal opinion. If it was me I would stick to Shotokan only and get real good in it and then perhaps later on look for another art to compliment it, or perhaps not. In a good dojo and with a good sensei (preferably over 11 years old ...lol) you will benefit greatly........Shotokan has a lot to offer and it is a powerful system if studied correctly and with patience. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Mugendo, the ultimate self defense system for mugs and muggers......LOL...just kidding. Their web site states that "Mugendo is a contemporary martial arts system that emphasizes...." The style´s founder is Master sensei Meiji Suzuki. It is described as a modern martial art. Which was created when "After 25 years of martial art training and teaching Sensei Suzuki [suddenly?] realised that what he had been taught and was himself teaching was unnatural and inpractical ". If I had a dollar for every time I have heard that sentence or variations of it, I would be a rich man. The site describes Mugendo as a "modern martial art". Just what the world needed, another modern martial art. Have a look and see what you think, it may even be a good system who knows. Their site: https://www.mudokai.com Wing Chun Kuen Man

Hello, Using your fear and anger in a fight to fuel agression is one way of doing it and it can work. In my school that is not what we are taught. We are taught to be calm and relaxed physically as well as mentaly and not to feel any emotion - no fear, no anger, no hate etc. We are taught just to "be". I can appreciate the fact that this type of mentality will take a lot longer to master - just like the physical techniques of kung fu - than "use your anger" mentality, but I believe that in the long run mastering it will be well worth the wait and effort. Wing Chun Kuen Man

I agree with Ironberg and I would say that mixed names would make me run in the other direction. There may be exceptions where the school is actually good and authentic but how likely is that if they can´t even create an authentic name for their school. You might even learn good kung fu techniques that turn out to be good karate techniques instead....lol Generally I would recommend one to look for a kung fu school that has a chinese name and that the classes use chinese terminology and uniform as opposed to japanese terminology. Yes I know that what they teach and how they teach it is the real issue, however I would smell a Mcdojo if I saw a kung fu school with mixed names and japanese as opposed to chinese terminology. My opinion. Wing Chun Kuen Man

I find Wing Chun kung fu an effective no nonsense firhting art. It is a complete martial art. It stresses close range fighting, but also has mid range and some long range techniques. There is also a grappling/and ground fighting side to this art. Pressure point fighting is studied later on. I have been lucky enough to have found an authentic sifu who knows his kung fu and the philosophy that goes with it. Eventually when I master the art I hope that it will open the door for me to study other kung fu styles. Wing Chun Kuen Man

They obviously do a lot of stretching exercises. They must also do incredible amounts of resistance training, e.g. hanging from bars or maintaining certain press/push up etc. positions until the muscles burn. The things we could all do with that kind of strenght. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Lucky Boxer, I think that there comes a time that even the level of power becomes less relevant. Lets say you have the power to kill someone with one punch, hitting them anywhere in the torso. Then one day you have to fight someone who has twice your punching power. At this point power becomes less relevant, and what gains importance is skill and speed, after all he can´t kill you twice. This means that the first one to get through will win. Lets take your example with Bruce Lee. Your strenght might be greater than him but remember that he was also known for his power - as well as speed, skill and immense knowledge. This means if he got through to you (or any bigger NHB opponent ), it would most probably mean lights out. Who would have more chance in getting through? The quicker and more skilled fighter, i.e. Bruce Lee. In sparring, this could be a knock out punch and in no holds barred it might be a punch/chop to the neck or throat - a very common " finishing " technique in Wing Chun. I am just speculating based on my logic and knowledge. In my opinion it is a likely scenario. Wing Chun Kuen Man

....And from what I have heard, earlier in your style´s history in japan, contact to the head was allowed as well. Sindo-Ryu seems to have the early characteristics of kyokushinkai, but perhaps with even fewer rules. Wing Chun Kuen Man

LOL. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Good post. All the fighting skills in the world will not help you if you react too late. That is why in many traditional martial arts styles you are taught to keep the mind calm and maintain awareness at all times. If you manage this then you are unlikely to be caught off-guard. However, awareness and the guts to react instantly and decisively are too different things, and that is where the spirit training in the martial arts comes in, i.e. hard training where mind is pitted over matter and where one has to face his own fears through sparring/fighting, and other "unpleasant" exercises which obviously involve some pain. The combination of the above, is meant to condition the mind of the martial artist for real situations. Where I train, we are taught the techniques of course and during practice we are expected to hit and get hit. This is one kind body/mind conditioning. You get to handle getting hit and hitting people and this helps get the valuable confidence that you need to fight. Also, we are expected to keep our minds calm at all times, absolutely no emotions, ie no fear, worry or even anger and agressiveness. Daily chi kung exercises and meditation are tools to achieve this total calmness, eventually. Other exercises especially the resistance exercises help to train the mind to handle ever increasing amount of muscular pain(burning), this in the long term contributes to ones fighting spirit. Wing Chun Kuen Man

As I said before this school does not seem to be a McDojo. I personally cannot make judgments, insinuations or insulting comments regarding "Sindo-Ryu". All I know that is there are some good and serious sounding things in their site but at the same time other things that confuse me a little bit. However, my confusion could be a result of my own lack of knowledge regarding Sindo-Ryu rather than any misrepresentation on their part. They just don´t look like they are selling black belts, if anything it looks like it will even take longer than other styles to receive a black belt in this school. Other statements in the site may reflect the Russian approach to fighting rather than any badass attitude. There being no weight class distinction in their fighting reflects how things were done in the past. A few years ago, I briefly trained Shotokan karate under a 7th dan japanese sensei. One time he made a couple of statements to me after the class, these have stayed in my mind since...they included, "karate is not as powerfull as it used to be in the past, it has become weaker" and "in the past there were no weight distinctions in fighting, this is a western concept". He also said that in his younger days in japan, the training was extremely tough and the fighting in the dojo was contact with people getting hurt regularly. P.A.L about your questions on the kata, why don´t you send them an email. If I am not mistaken they have their email listed on the site. I would like to know more, before I make any final judgements. Wing Chun Kuen Man

According to their web site the head of the Sindo Ryu school in Okinawa is sensei Hanashiro Naito. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Hello, You may want to check out the following site: https://www.eisshinryu.com/martial/goju-ryu-books-1.html they seem to have a good selection of goru-ryu books. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Drunken Monkey, The Russian sensei does not have a school in Okinawa, his dojo is in Moscow. However, he belongs to the Sindo-Ryu school of karate, whose headquarters is in Okinawa. [i think that is what you were asking]. Wing Chun Kuen Man

I understand your view. However, I believe that rather than saying that he is a badass, the Russian sensei is just talking about his experiences and is explaining his school´s training philosophy - which by the way states that they place more importance on kata training than on sparring, very okinawan in essence. Also, in the same mode they seem to place an emphasis on avoiding fights. This is hardly a badass attitude. You may have a point about the wording (maybe it is the translation from Russian to English) of the site, which could have been better done. Wing Chun Kuen Man

Hmmm, the Thai/Kick boxers are rather quiet on this subject. Or is it just me? Come on guys, any constructive input or opinions? Wing Chun Kuen Man