Wing Tsun Kung Fu

WingTsun
WingTsun Kung Fu (alternatively Wing Tsun, 詠春, "spring chant" is a branch of the Chinese martial arts commonly known as Wing Chun, led by Leung Ting. It should be noted that the characters (永春) "forever spring" are also phonetically spelled Wing Tsun, Wing Chun, Ving Tsun, Ving Chun, Weng Chun, etc. All are various English romanizations of the same two sounds, wing6[1] chun1[2] in Yale romanization of Cantonese pronunciation, the first of which can be one of at least two different words depending on context. This leads to much confusion and argument, and variations of both the original characters and the various romanized spellings are in wide use by the various branches of the Wing Chun family tree. More information about the different branches of this martial art family can be found on the main Branches of Wing Chun page. There is also a city 永春, (literally, "Eternal Spring") in Fujian Province, China. Some martial arts originating there, such as White Crane Weng Chun (Yong Chun) have the characters as part of the name to identify the place they come from, rather than due to a relation with the Wing Chun martial art. [3]
Likewise, the characters (永春) "forever spring" are also used in other southern Chinese martial arts, including Jee Shim Weng Chun (Yong Chun).
The particular phonetic spelling of 詠春 as Wing Tsun was picked by the branch founder Leung Ting to differentiate his branch from the others. WingTsun (without a space) is the trademarked form used by the International WingTsun Association (IWTA) and is the preferred form when mentioning the organization

Introduction
Principles
Fighting Principles
Energy Principles
Training
Lat Sao
Chi Sao
Forms
Wooden Dummy
Grading System
Grading சிஸ்டம்
Titles
A student's title in the class is determined by their grade and their relationship to the individual that is addressing them. The title naming system is based upon the Chinese family names - showing its origins in tight knit, usually cover, groups - and students who have spent longer training under a teacher are usually referred to as "older".
There are several commonly used titles in Wing Tsun:
Sifu (師父) - Father/Teacher. Si (師) means teacher. fu (父) means father.
Sisok (師叔) - Younger Uncle (the Sifu's Sidai).Sok means "younger uncle".
Dai Sihing (大師兄) - Eldest (kungfu) brother - normally, the student who has been with Sifu the longest. Dai (大) means "oldest,or the first"
Sihing - Elder Brother
Sije (師姐) - Elder (kungfu) Sister
Simui (師妹)- Younger Sister
Sidai (師弟) - Younger Brother
Todai (徒弟) - Student
There are also other titles that, while used, are much less likely to be found in a training environment and used by students.
Sijo (祖) - Great Grandfather
Sigung (公) - Grandfather (the Sifu's Sifu)
Dai Sifu - Eldest teacher (Teacher of Teachers), The Sigung's oldest student who is a Sifu, or that has a certain number of Students he has trained to Sifu level.
Sibak (伯) - Elder Uncle (the Sifu's Sihing)
The convention is that a students relationship can be described in how the title is written. For example, all Sifu's use that title, but a student will refer to their specific sifu as "si-fu" likewise a students direct sihing would be written "si-hing" - a subtle way of signifying familiarity.
Sifu
The title of Sifu signifies that the martial artist is an officially recognized and proven teacher. The minimum official IWTO requirements for a Sifu title are as follows:
The teacher must be at least 28 years old
The teacher has achieved the 3rd Technician Level and has held it for at least 1 year
The teacher has brought at least one student from 1st Student Level to 1st Technician Level (normally at least a four year process)
The teacher has at least 50 students
Traditionally the prospective Sifu also gives his Sifu a present. This is a personal gift between teacher and student, so raw monetary value is not always a factor, however it usually is a significant item.
As the title is a sign of peer recognition of the instructor's teaching abilities, on some very rare occasions there are exceptions and the Sifu title had been granted when the teacher had 2nd Technician Level for at least a year[However this is exceedingly rare, and even exceptional martial artists such as Heinrich Pfaff who taught full-time at the Langenzell Castle headquarters for over 10 years, had 3rd Technician Level when recognized as a Sifu.
Different organizations have differing Sifu requirements, for example The National WingTsun Organization (NWTO) requires 100, or more, active students within the teacher's network of schools, and they must have produced at least five 1st Grade Technician Level students.
Other requirements may be stipulated by different schools (such as total number of students). The UK National WingTsun Organization (NWTO) requires that the candidate have 100 (500?) or more active students within the teacher's network of schools, and that the candidate must have produced at least five 1st Technician Level students.
Usually students who have been with a teacher since before they gained the title of Sifu will still call the teacher by the title Sihing (or Sije), since that was their relationship when they started training. All new students, however, will address the teacher by their new title.

No comments: