Alex Richter from City Wing Tsun in New York really is a great guy. He’s just uploaded the next part of the translation of Yip Man’s interview with New Martial Hero.
Lots of great stuff here on forward, rattan-like force; “staying and sticking”, Loi Lau Hoi Sung, Lat Sau Jik Chung, and more.
Funny how much of these mottos, when mentioned by the likes of Leung Ting or from people in the Leung Sheung lineage, are dismissed. :rolleyes:
Anyways, great interview for those of us who study Yip Man lineage Wing Tsun/Chun.
Alex writes:
PART 3 OF THE INTERVIEW WITH GRANDMASTER YIP MAN! Oh this part is really exciting, this is really the first time we ever hear the late grandmaster explain Wing Tsun in his own words. Enjoy!
Part 3:
(continued from last page) … That is that all Wing Tsun movements are from bong, tan, fook. Common martial arts defend punches and kicks by using the arm to block and the other hand to attack or use both feet to approach the opponent. In terms of order, their block must be before the attack. Also, defending and attacking in most situations cannot come from the same hand. In Wing Tsun, it’s different. For someone who knows Wing Tsun, if the opponent gives you a punch, when the opponent’s punch is about to land, the opponent will be attacked by me at the same time. The most special thing about Wing Tsun is to use attack as defense (to neutralize). Therefore one of the mottoes is (da sau jik si siu sau) “your hitting hand is your neutralizing hand”
One more thing you have to know or pay attention to is that the aim of Wing Tsun is “sau lau jung”. What is “sau lau jung”? Grandmaster Yip Man explained: “Every move and every attack comes from the centerline. In other words, you use your kiu sau (bridge hand) as your center. So no matter how your opponent attacks, the opponents bridge hand will always be on the outside of both of your bridge hands. Therefore you have the upper hand in the fight. Grandmaster Yip Man made a metaphor: the punches we form are the sun-character fist (yat ji chung kuen), come from the heart and move towards the opponent in a straight line like the string from a bow. Therefore the “line” of the punch is called “jau gung yuen” (walk the bowstring). If the opponent gives you a round or curved punch then they are using jau gung bui (walking the bow). (Anyone with a little knowledge of geometry will know the comparison between a curved line and straight line, and that straight line must be shorter). At the same time, in comparison with a straight punch from the waist, the distance is also shorter. The reason being, our (Wing Tsun) punches come from the heart.”
Apart from Grandmaster Yip Man using the bow and bowstring metaphor to analyze the punch, he also used rattan and hammers as examples. Logically, rattan, hammers and bowstrings don’t make sense together. How do you compare them? But in the Wing Tsun style, the similarity with the rattan cane is in when the opponent closes the distance we use tan, fook or bong for example. Therefore when the opponent comes, it’s like hitting on a rattan cane and so my defense is like when rattan gets pressure and bends. But when the opponent’s attack has a hole or gap, we use extremely fast speed to rush in with our move. Just like a compressed rattan when it’s released, the speed is fast , the move very powerful.
As for the hammer metaphor, we are talking about how to generate power in the Wing Tsun style. The force is just like when you use a hammer to hit a nail. People who have used a hammer to hit a nail will know that if you only use brute force and improper technique the nail will not go in and will be bent, so you must use gentle force, including using the wrist as the axis. Carefully and gently hit the nail, just like when using the Wing Tsun fist.
The writer asked Grandmaster Yip Man about how many people believe that Wing Tsun is soft, focusing on using softness to control hardness.
Grandmaster Yip Man answered: “Wing Tsun, you can call it a soft martial or whatever. If you think soft means powerless, then you are wrong. In Wing Tsun chi sau, our hands are very soft but it is not a lack of power, it is just like the spring power of the rattan.”
Lastly Grandmaster Yip Man told us one Wing Tsun motto “loi lau heui sung, lat sau jik chung”. He also said in applying tan sau, fook sau, bong sau, we do not have horizontal (side to side) movement. The word “sung” in the motto is a forward movement. The word “chung” is also a forward movement. The word “lau” in the motto is stay and stick to the opponents fist (arm) and not use brute force to push it aside.
Many people who are familiar with martial arts, says the writer, believe that public safety is worse than ever. There are robberies in staircases , gangsters in public bathrooms trying to rob you, in tea houses and diners, if you give a look to a gangster they will gang up on you and attack you. In tight places like these, if you want to find (cont.)
