Vietnamese kung fu

Hey all, check out this site, let me know what you think:

www.sevenmountainskungfu.com

When I move back to Philly (someday,) I might train there. The only thing is that I remember that they don't have much floorspace.

-FJ

phan looks like he knows his stuff , but what do i know abt than vo.
hey i saw some viet vo video clips the other day , were really poor quality film wise, but it looked alot more similar to traditional kungfu from china,
this stuff here looks more unique to vietnam, ill post the link
www.vovinamvietvodao.com/

My dad and mom each have 10 years of vo vi nam viet vo dao. My mom has an extra 4 years of boxing added in though. Hey she's not a violent person, she's a normal asian women but was born in a family where there was only 6 daughters, having the only son (my uncle) dying at the age of 2 so naturally she needs to learn how to defend herself, back then vo vi nam viet vo dao was taught free. Odd, but my dad side only has sons. This system seems to work, all around chinatown there have been rumors about how my dad beat up 5 chinese kung fu guys (probably not very good fighters) by himself in malaysia when he was in a refugee camp and was defending his own and others interests. Hey i've never been there, and my dad is a pretty nice guy, he's not as strong as he used to be (he works all day in a country, when he came, gave him no chance to excel through education, too bad he was really smart, he was about to go to france for university and then the war came, he could have been a doctor, hey i know france isn't that great for universities but it's better then nothing, half his class goes to france, ok half his town/village/city did but still it would have been a cool experience).

Vo vi nam viet vo dao was a vietnamese attempt on perfecting many arts and putting it into one. The original creater studied in a shaolin temple for 5-10 years and moved on to okinawa and other parts of asia to incorporate more knowledge. He then took what he thought was revelent and put it into vo vi nam viet vo dao, i think it got stuff from the shaolin qigong sect also, it's a very internally based style with a good mixed external feature. I think he incorporated some tai chi stuff to enhance chi (vietnamese khi komn, which is a very important aspect of traditional vietnamese kung fu), i see khi komn everywhere in the art. My dad tried to teach vo vi nam viet vo dao to me, he learnt it from one of the original creaters top student (Who created a school of his own, and his top student who he shared everything with killed him in a challenge. That's why you should never teach your students all you know, always keep something up your sleeves, ah but this is a different story).

It's a good style, you can look into it, but remember that there is no perfect style, even though it tried to incorporate alot of soft features and is based around khi komn like most of the vietnamese arts it is not perfect, look into TKD, Karate, Wrestling, and others, never limit yourself to one style. Ah nevermind. It's an interesting style, that all i know.

whats with the schedual? They only train forms and weapons? (aka more forms..) I would have to visit and see before deciding. Based only on the site, I would not train there.

This might help someone out a bit:

http://www.vietwingchun.com/

I live in Norway, and trained under Master Dang Tieu Diep for about two years. He teaches what he claims to be his family style by the name of "Kim son quang". As you guys seem to know alot about the vietnamese styles, I was just wondering if you might have heard of this style.

The history of the art is something he talks very little about. He says that "Kim son quang" was the name of the person "inventing" it after he had trained a long time in china.

The art itself is mostly external, with some qigong and alot of circular movements.

Actually, the style Master Phan teaches is "Than Vo Dao," not "Viet vo Dao." Two different arts, as far as I know. Also, the website indicated that sparring is practiced the same day as forms, but that's one of those things one would have to look into before joining.

-FJ

i might seem controversial,
just keep in mind i don't claim to have THE truth but some bits... :D
about that son than vo dao,the stuff seems ok looking at some pictures.Just i was surprised by a picture of dinh than (bow posture=gong bu).The front foot was ok but usually the posture is done on a line not with the shoulder width (the explanation being you protect your genitals).
And it is not vietnamese kung fu,it is a vietnamese art influenced by chinese martial arts ,this family of style being called thieu lam(shaolin,but in the generic term).
Nonetheless,seems ok.

Mister hansome.
thanks for the part on french universities.
i am a proud product of these,but i don't care,it's not that important :p
About vovinam vietvodao(viet vo dao meaning way of the vietnamese martial art,vodao=budo,vothuat=wushu).
i don't have the same version of its history.sorry :p
n'guyen loc,the founder,studied vo(not in a shaolin temple,there was none in vietnam) during the 30's and traveled all around vietnam(at the advice of his master),and encoutered many masters from diverse systems,thieu lam,binh dinh and other families.
He made a synthesis out of this,very structured,something that did not existed at the time in vietnamese arts.And in it you find all the ingredients of a traditionnal vietnamese martial art.
Also,i don't agree on the incompleteness of vietnamese arts.not perfect ok as any style from any country,but nothing is missing:

quyen (forms)
song luyen (two people forms)
extensive use of all body parts
weapons (traditionnals and modern)
vo tu do (*free* boxing=free fighting)
self-defense (and also cam na=chinna or qinna)
vietnamese wrestling (vat)
breathing exercises (khi com)
meditation (thien)

and this is valid for any traditionnal style...do you find more elsewhere?;)

about vietwingchun,i don't like it.that's personnal.
my reasons:the vietnamese name should be vinh xuan,that's how people name wing chun in vietnam.And from what i saw,it is not orthodox wing chun,but wing chun mixed with vovinam.
a nonsense when you know wing chun,especially knowing that vovinam is the vietnamese style that emphasizes the most the high kick and scissor kicks (their demos are great!).TOTALLY INCOMPATIBLE arts if you ask me.Well,you can say they complete each other perfectly,i'd agree,but let's not call that traditionnal wing chun.
in Hanoi,there is a famous vovinam master (suphu) who is also a vinh xuan master,but he never mixes them!!!!!!!

Hope i was not too pretentious,i just wanted to share the little i know of these beautiful but unknown vietnamese arts.
Have a nice day
:D

hey i'm suprised ya'll knew what school i went to
anyway we do have form sparring and also free sparring after forms if you have anymore questions post them i'll try to get back to them i am without a isp