King of Fighters Posted April 25, 2003 Posted April 25, 2003 My friend who takes hun gar sais that to recieve the highest black shash degree and to master the style it takes about 25 to 30 years?!?!? Is this true? I know that most styles of martial arts take anywhere from 8-14 years on average to master but 25 to 30!! by the time you were ready to start training in another art you would be like in your 40s. I think thats pretty crazy!!!
Wing Chun Posted April 25, 2003 Posted April 25, 2003 maybe he means to be garndmaster or something i dunno. but i think that is going too far. i know it is a lifetime journey but yeah, i mean you could even master it as in learn everything to do with it within 5 years, to be super proficient 10 years. 15 years i believe would really put you up there. if u havent mastered a system then how can you teach? that means that every hung gar sifu has trained for 25-30 years? i dont think so. ask your friend for a bit more detail.
paolung Posted April 25, 2003 Posted April 25, 2003 couple things. one, sifu does NOT equal master. two, i cannot comment on the belt/sash ranking system that you are subject to, because the hung kuen i study has no such ranking system so i can't really compare. three, i sure HOPE i haven't "mastered" hung kuen in 30 years... in fact, i will continue to develop for the rest of my life what i learn. while some might call a very high level practitioner a 'master', that doesn't necessarily mean they have 'mastered' everything there is to know about their system... there is a difference. even WFH himself said "i am not a master, i am a bean curd martial artist" "It is not how much you know but how well you have mastered what you've learnt. When making an assessment of one's martial arts training one should measure the depth rather than the length". - MASTER "General" D. Lacey
King of Fighters Posted April 25, 2003 Author Posted April 25, 2003 I know that once you have learnt a martial art that you keep on doing it and keep getting better but when i say to master i mean to achieve the highest rank. and wingchun, my friend said that his master had been training in hung gar for 30 years and is at the second highest rank of black sash there is (and i think theres 10).
paolung Posted April 25, 2003 Posted April 25, 2003 you have to realize, the 'sash' or other grading systems are not universal in all systems. many chinese systems have no sash/belt ranking system. my sifu does not have any 'sashes' or 'rank' persay (at least not an externally visible one), but we all know who is the sifu and who the seniors are. many of the rank sash/belt grading systems were created by various japanese/okinawan and korean systems to help students see where they were regarding the other practitioners in their group. some systems see no use for these grading systems, while others find them very useful. personally, i'm not into the whole 'belt/sash' thing, but i don't really have a problem with systems that do... as long as it is taken with a grain of salt. realize that anyone can declare themselves "Sijo" of a new system and automatically they will have a 10th degree black belt, or whatever the highest level is in their new system. often in many systems, a higher rank/belt/sash is not indicative of proficiency or level of skill in a system, but more in line with political gains for the system or proliferation of the system. what i'm getting at here is, don't necessarily take someone's grade/rank/sash too seriously. i'm not saying "don't respect your elders" or anything along those lines, but rather respect your elders, not necessarily the color of their belt. you will find that belts don't really mean much of anything from system to system... a kenpo black belt for example may look feeble to a tkd blue belt (just an example here, not bashing kenpo or exalting tkd by any means). "It is not how much you know but how well you have mastered what you've learnt. When making an assessment of one's martial arts training one should measure the depth rather than the length". - MASTER "General" D. Lacey
jmd161 Posted April 26, 2003 Posted April 26, 2003 " Great answer " paolung, You answered that very well.It makes me smile to hear a fellow Hung speak that way. So you all know what i mean by fellow " Hung " Hung Gar and Black Tiger are sister styles.Even Wong Fei Hung knew both styles. Many Grandmasters although they know the entire style.Only "Master" 2-3 forms from their style.Kung Fu is not like karate where you can learn everything and then move on to another style. I'm not bashing karate!. I come from a karate background Niesi Goju Ryu. Every movement in kung fu has hidden movements within it.That's why no one can ever master a style like Hung Gar.Everytime you apply a technique you find a hidden technique within it. Thus the reason i've been in kung fu 18yrs and still feel like i know nothing. jeff The Basics Are The Hidden Secret To Kung Fu Master The Basics.
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