Wooden Dummy

Didnt realize 7 Star had a wooden dummy form. Happened to see it in a Lee Kam Wing Book the other day. Our gym director here on base teaches wing chun and has acquired funds for a dummy. Must be nice to spend some govt dollar on workout equip.

As far as I know, Lee Kam Wing does not have a dummy form. He developed some drills on the dummy and that is what is in his book.

Radplaiddude ,
We have a somewhat extensive dummy set. LKW has part of it in his book. However it is not in order so I am not sure if he learned the whole set / teaches a form or just drills on the dummy. There has always been a dummy in our school since 1969 when I joined up with Chiu Leun Sifu. Not many have learned the set, but many have learned drills to play on it based on the set. The set is sectional and played right and left side so it is easy to pick some parts to drill with.

But remember our curricilum is about 40% more than LKW due to the time difference of Chiu Leun and Lee Kam Wing (22 years). In that time Chiu hi Man had no longer taught some sets and other sets came from the Yip Duk monks that Chiu Leun from as a child.
So the dummy as a set may not have been taught after a certian time.
Having said that, the drills would be fine to learn as an adjunct to the rest of the training. So the set is not necessary as such, but one does exist.

Very interesting indeed, Sifu Albright. Please if you don't mind elaborating, I would love to learn more about it. Thanks

Warm regards

Robert

Hi Robert,
It is really two forms but usually practiced together. First is high dummy and second is low dummy refering to the use of a high stance play and a low stance play. 14 sections right and left side. In this picture of me from 1980 and Chiu Leun Sifu you can see the arms of the dummy across my left arm.

There is also a short form using staff play with the dummy.

Great to know there are about 3 WD forms in your style. Do they have names? 14 sections that's quite long (more than 108 moves?) BTW, the dummy looks kind of Wing Chun WD like. I think LKW's WD model is modified with 2 more arms at the top of the dummy body although I have seen his other book that used a Wing Chun dummy as well.

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing this. May be you will write and article for the Mantis Quarterly on this? I for one would look forward to it. Please consider it. Thanks

Warm regards

Robert

Yes thank you Mr. Albright! This is great info!

Jake Burroughs :D

I have to get back to this later. I'm WAYYYYYY behind on articles including one for Sifu Cottrell, Sifu Kai and IKF. Hopefully this year I can get to them.

The dummy is taught in conjunction with the main theory of mantis. The Baat Da, Baat But Da, Sup Yee Yau, Baat Gong, and Sup Yee Ji are gone through to better attach the principle and theory to memory.
The sets are Mok Jong Seung Lo and Mok Jong Lok jeung (ascending road and diving/falling palms) The Baat Bo Kuen is also taught on the dummy but it is not really a dummy set. There are no "special" techniques per se. But the moves come from a number of different of forms. Some sections are a few moves others up to 10.

The dummy we used was like the wing chun dummy but that's because it was most easy to get. I believe Chiu Leun Sifu got this from the monks (Yip Ming Duk Ji).
Here is a pic of Chiu leun Sifu visiting his teacher at the temple.

More later,
Gung Hay Faat Choy

Thank you for sharing the pictures Sifu Albright. I will have to investigate the Dummy forms and techniques more with my sifu and si-gung.

To be honest I have not bothered with the moves out of the books as they don't seem to flow very well and I have enough on my hands with the material I have been taught.

Great thread.

Paul

I´m with Paul T. in this. I always train on the wooden dummy searching for more fluidity. As I know no form I train no form.

Interesting Infos Sifu Albright. Thanks for sharing that.

Depending on which Lee Kam Wing book. The first uses wing chun dummy and some drills pieces of the set. The second book used the mantis dummy (extra arm in the center) and seems more like the form.
The form has no problem flowing from one movement to the next and is the same as any in that regard.

Some people have requested some photos of the monks of which I have a bunch. For some future article or a book I guess. Here's one more pic from my archive. Chiu Leun Sifu practicing Bung Bo with the head monk from Yip Ming Duk Ji.

Thank you for your pictures and knowledge Sifu Albright. Have you had a chance to visit the monks and the temple is it still there? It would be interesting to see more info on the monks and how they came to be doing 7 star mantis.

They moved from China proper to the New Territories. They were at Lo Wai temple (to heaven) but that was a long while ago. I think they have a place of their own now. Maybe this is it (see pic). I have info and plan to contact them in the future (what ever monks are left). Chiu leun Sifu's teachers have all passed away. He is 78 and had started with two monks as a child.