Jow Ga

[Longquan]

Does anyone have any personal experience with Jow Gar (fighting style, opinions on the system, noteworthy instructors in the US, etc.)?

I am looking for a new school -- recommendations are especially welcome. I live near DC and have noticed a number of Jow Ga schools.

Thanks.

longquan88@hotmail.com

[wisdom mind]

be careful of contracts, i wish i had more info for you....

im in NY/from DC originally so when you get a chance, have an apple dumpling at the good Barbra Fritchies for me would ya!

i miss em so...

[This message has been edited by wisdom mind (edited 08-31-2000).]

[MoQ]

...

[This message has been edited by MoQ (edited 09-01-2000).]

[bigbear]

Jow Gar is a combination of hung Gar & Choy gar. They say hung Gar hands with Choy Gar legs.
Be wary because there are different versions of Jow Gar due to the fact that there were 5 brothers with 5 different versions. A man by the name of Richard Chin used to teach Jow Gar which seemed impressive, but it depends on what you want.
Check out their credibility first.

[Wah Ren Jie]

There is a school Called Wong's Kung Fu Academy (not sure of the rest of the name other than Wong). Seen many of their students at tournaments. They look very solid. Met a few Jow Ga people, They all had the real thing. Good luck!!!

[Je Lei Sifu]

Sei Ping Dai Ma;

That would be Raymond Wong, and his guys are very skilled..

Peace

Je Lei Sifu

I have to agree about Wong's Kung Fu Academy. Their students are solid as they get. Very impressive display at tournaments.

Check them out first thing.

Peace

[HungFist]

Longquan

I may be able to help you in you quest for finding out information on the Jow Ga system. I live in the Washington, DC metro area & do not study the Jow Ga system but have meet some of there students who were all good people. Jow Ga is sometimes reffered to as HUNG TAO CHOY MEI (head of Hung, tail of Choy). The system was founded by Jow Lung and contains techniques from Northern & Southern styles. The current Si-Gung I beleive is Chan Man Cheung of Hong Kong (who I heard is very good). There are a several Sifus in the Washington, DC metro area teaching Jow Ga.

1. Sifu Raymong Wong (as Je Lei Sifu, Sai Ping Dai Ma & SLee said)I'm not sure were the school is know it used to be located on 2nd or 6th Streets, NW DC. However you can vist there URL at www.wongjowgakungfu.com the site is not completed however you should be able to contact them thru email.

2. Sifu Deric Mims - Jow Ga Kung Fu Association, Langley Park, MD

3. Sifu Abdur-Rahim Muhammad - Hung Tao Choy Mei Kung Fu Academy, Washington, DC

4. Jow Hop Kuen Gung Fu Academy, Silver Spring, MD

5. Sifu Hoy K Lee - Yorktown, VA

6. Sifu Ron Wheeler - I think located in Lanham, MD

7. Sifu Hon Lee & Sifu Reza Momenan - Jow Ga Shaolin Institute, Springfield, VA & at NIH located in Bethesda, MD

This is just a breif listing I'm sure there are others. You can look up telephone # and address in the DC/MD yellow pages. Also look up Jow Ga on the Web and see what you get. My personal advise is for you to take your time and talk to everyone you can to get the best information and make your decision.

Good Luck in your search.

HungFist

[loquito]

Longquan,

More than ten years ago I trained at thelate Sifu Chin's Kwoon. Sifu Chin already passed away, but there were several sifu teaching, maintaining the Jow Ga tradition in DC China town.

These Sifu were excellent, most of them are listed in the prior thread. Although I did not train in the style for too long, it left me w/ a very positive lasting impression.

In short, they train hard and fight hard.

Check them out and good luck.

Respect,
Loquito

[thekuntawman]

raymond wong
202-234-1826

located at 2nd and florida avenue

he is dean chin top student. hoy lee is one of dean chin first students, but they were the same age, now he claims to be dean chins classmate. that is bull****, i was dean chins youngest student and hoy lees classmate. deric mims was dean chins student but he left when hoy and dean chin part company and became hoy student. he is now supporting the claim that hoy makes and he knows this is not true. hon lee is one of sifu oldest students. he left in the early 80s and study at the shaolin temple, he is very good to. reza and ron wheeler are my classmates, raymond finish there training. they are very good to. ron is a champion for a long time in the nacmaf tournaments. rahim is already an instructor when i train there. he is probably the closest to what dean chin teach in those days, very loyal to sifu chin. his school is next door to the republic gardens club (14 and U nw). he is a very qualified teacher. terry robinson (jow hop kuen) is one of raymond students, but i grew up with him. i was his partner when he starts that school in 93. he have an isshin ryu background, and he mixed it. many of my jow ga family do not like it, but check him out, you might like his style--301-565-9325.

if you want to fight, go to raymond or ron, or terry. if you want forms, go to deric, but raymonds boys has much stronger forms, but raymond will make you fight. all the others are very good, but raymond wong is the best of all of them.

richard chin in ny: in 1991 when chan man cheung came to DC. he said that richard chin brother study with him for 6 months (he thinks) not richard chin. he only learned the first form subduing small tiger. there are more than 30 in the jow biu branch. he told us that richard is not authorize to teach jow ga, but he told us to accept him as family anyway. richard chin top students were there. he made this comment at dinner at tony cheng seafood restaurant, hon lee translated. ALL the jow ga students heard it with there own ears.

by the way, he also ranks the jow ga men in the u.s:
1. hoy lee (as dean chin oldest studnet)
2. raymond wong (dean chin closest student)
3. dean chins students that stay with dean chin (ron, hon, rahim, reza, me, and some others)
4. dean chin students that left with hoy (deric mims, eugene mackie, they are the only one left teaching)

[Longquan]

Thanks for the info.

I will check out the schools in the next couple of weeks.

[christopher]

I have heard about a jow gar connexion in vietnam. Does anyone have any information about that? Or is there any web site on the subject?

cheers

[ShaolinTiger00]

I'm curious to see what the "Community" thinks about Jow Ga (taken from www.jowtigers.com)

The History of Jow Ga (taken from www.jowtigers.com)

The system of Kung Fu known as Jow Ga (Jow Family) is also referred to as Chow Gar, Zhou Jia, and Chau Ka depending on the dialect or translation. Jow Ga has also been referred to as Hung Tao Choy Mei, which translates "head of Hung and tail of Choy.

It was labeled Hung Tao Choy Mei because the system incorporated Hung Ga kung fu's powerful upper-body techniques and Choy Ga kung fu's swift footwork and complex kicking techniques.

The founder of the system was Jow Lung. Jow Lung was born during 1891, in the Canton Province, Hsin-Hui Sheng Sha Fu village, China, an agricultural village for many generations. The people in his village adored martial arts, so Jow Lung starting learning Hung Ga from his Uncle Jow Hung at an early age. Jow Lung's training began with basic stances and stepping. Regardless of age, those who practice Hung Ga, suffer the most from basic stance and step training. Jow Lung never complained about the training and his uncle took a special liking to him.

One day Jow Hung told Jow Lung that he didn't think he would live much longer due to symptoms of an old illness. Jow Hung told Jow Lung that he knew a unique set of Pa Kua staff techniques that he wanted to pass on to Jow Lung before he died. Uncle Hung told Jow Lung that his kung fu technique had come to the point that if he learns the Pa Kua staff techniques, he will be one of the best in the martial arts field. Within one month Jow Lung learned the Pa Kua staff techniques. Shortly after Jow Lung learned the Pa Kua staff techniques, his Uncle Jow Hung died. After the death of his uncle, Jow Lung followed Master Choy Kau (Chi Ching Tsai Kong) and learned Choy Ga Kung Fu. It took Jow Lung only a few years to master the Choy Ga Kung fu because of his basics in Hung Ga kung fu.

At the age of 18, Jow Lung had a difficult time finding a job in his hometown through the introduction of his townspeople, so he traveled to Malaysia (Singapore and Malaysia were one country at that time). In 1910, Jow Lung and many others went to find work as miners in Kuala Lumpur. The bosses, who were described as gangsters, would often beat the workers. One day Jow Lung got into a fight with one of his bosses and fatally wounded him. Jow Lung fled to the mountains and found a temple named "Gi Leu". Because he hadn't eaten for many days and was exhausted, he asked an apprentice at the temple for help. The master of the temple Chian Yi, agreed to provide shelter for Jow Lung in the temple. Chian knew that Jow Lung had a natural talent for Kung Fu from the moment he saw him. Chian Yi taught Jow Lung northern Shaolin Kung Fu and medicine.

One day, Master Chian Yi called Jow Lung and told him, "I have passed on to you the north Shaolin Martial Arts and medicine, and now your skills are good enough to hold a special place in the martial arts field". Master Chian Yi then ordered Jow Lung to leave the temple. When Jow Lung went back to Kuala Lumpur, he felt like centuries had gone by, but he never stopped practicing kung fu. From continuous practice, Jow Lung realized the uniqueness of the three styles of kung fu he learned and decided to combine them into one, thereby developing Jow Ga Kung Fu. Jow Lung felt that he would not be able to spread his family's kung fu in Kuala Lumpur, so he went back to his hometown in China. From then on he vowed to spread his families kung fu. In his hometown, Jow Lung taught his brothers Jow Hip, Jow Biu, Jow Hoy, and Jow Tien the system of kung fu he created. The brothers would diligently practice.

They discussed setting up the first family kung fu school in Canton "Zhou Ren Yi Tang". Jow Lung would be in charge of teaching, while Jow Hip, Jow Biu, Jow Hoy, and Jow Tien would assist in the teaching. Eventually their family kung fu spread. In 1911, a commander of the military ordered General Fu-Lin Li to hire a martial arts expert to be the coach of the military by holding a public competition. Whoever won the competition would get the job. Jow Lung signed up for the competition. The competition was divided into 10 groups, and used elimination's to decide the winner. Jow Lung passed each elimination, and reached the final competition against one of the best martial arts practitioners Guan Gin Sze. Jow Lung defeated Guan Gin Sze and became the military martial arts coach. Because of Jow Lung's success, his brothers assisted him in teaching the military. It was around this time that the brothers became known as "The Five Tigers of Jow Ga".

At that time Jow Lung made it his job to solve problems and dissolve dissentions. The four brothers followed in Jow Lung's footsteps. In 1919, Jow Lung became so busy teaching that he hardly got rest. When Jow Lung caught a cold at times, he would dismiss it casually because he considered himself to be strong. Unfortunately Jow Lung's cold became so severe that it turned into pneumonia and rendered him incurable. Just as other heroes who have died young, Jow Lung died when he was 29. His death shocked the martial arts community. His students mourned him as if they would for their own parents and the society as a whole was at loss.

Jow Hip, Jow Biu, Jow Hoy, and Jow Tien mourned deeply for the loss of their brother. On the day of Jow Lung's funeral, they vowed that they would continue to carry out their brother's dying wish to spread Jow Ga Kung Fu, so that it would be noted in history. The brothers worked hard and opened up the 4th branch in Canton and Hunan. In 1927, they set up the 5th branch in Chen Tsun, 6th branch in Fo Shan, 7th and 8th branch in Nan Hi Shi Giao, and Guin Shan.

In 1928 Jow Biu returned to his hometown to set up the 9th branch in Jiang Men, 10th branch in Tai Shan Hsin Chan, 11th in Gio-Gian, students Zhu Hua and Lee Ngou (Li Niu) in charge. In 1929 Jow Tien went to Shi-Gian to develop and set up branches in Yu -Tsen, Du-Tsen, Nan Fu and Guan-Shi, widely setting up to 20 or more branches. By 1930, 80 branches were set up in Shanghai and led by students of the Five Tigers. Setting up so many branches in a few years is unprecedented in the martial arts field. This was achievable due to the Jow family leadership.

China experienced great political upheaval. Lee Ngou immigrated to Hong Kong's Yuan Lan head branch. Jow Biu followed and set up branches. Many other students of the Five Tigers arrived in Hong Kong later to help with the branches.

The Jow Ga lion dance techniques were even better known. Before World War II, Hong Kong held a huge parade during the inauguration for the King of England George II. The Hong Kong government sent people to Canton to ask a group from Jow Ga to perform for Queen Elizabeth's inauguration ceremony. Jow Biu led the group to accept Hong Kong's invitation. Since the war, Jow Ga's lion team has performed during any large scale parades in Hong Kong. When Queen Elizabeth celebrated her 25th silver anniversary of ruling, the Jow Lung Branch sent out a huge Lion Dance team of 300 people for the parade.

On March 14th 1961, Jow Biu passed away after a short illness.

*** My apologies for such a long opening Topic, but as I was copying directly from the site, I did not want to edit words that were not my own.

I only studied JowGa for 2 years before I moved and found another sifu who taught me N. Shaolin which was suprisingly an easy transition considering JowGa is considered a southern style.
After several more years training in N Shaolin I became interested in Sanshou and began to train ferverously. Many of those powerful movements of JowGa came back into my regemen once again.
and of course the love of the lion dance..

Many publications (kungfu magazine, etc.)have done articles on Jowga and my sifu Hoy Lee especially, but I have not heard of it mentioned in this forum.

There is much more info available but I've already made this post far too long...

A strong man controls others. A man who controls himself is truly powerful. -Lao Tzu

[Fish of Fury]

i trained Jow Ga in my early days of kung fu and think it's a great style.as i understand it though, it's a mixture of both southern and northern kung fu.
i studied under Sifu Randy Bennet.don't know if he was related to the school in that link, but the logo looks the same so i'd guess he may be.

_________________________"I never drive faster than i can see...other than that...it's all in the reflexes" Jack Burton

[Juggler]

Jow Gar = Chow Gar?

Now I'm confused.
I'm supposedly doing Chow Gar Tong Long!? :p And it's not what you describe it as.

Probably transcription difficulties...