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Subscribe now to the movie that recalls the life of Master Nguyen Duc Moc, founder of our school - in € - in CHF Last updates : Workshops - 26.01.2009 |
The history of Võ
The 18 disciplines
Originally, Võ is the art of war. The word Võ suggests the idea of fighting, of war.
Vietnamese martial techniques are specific to its history. The country was colonised during millenia, by stronger opponent that outnumbered them, and therefore had to create an art which, as the famous XIIIth century general Trân Hung Dao said, fights “the long with the short, the many with the little” and where suppleness is more efficient than hardness. The many occupations of Viet-nam reinforced the secret aspect of Võ, which has nearly always been clandestine.
The martial knowledge was grouped into eighteen disciplines: fights with fists and feet, immobilising, various weapons (spear, sword, sabre, bow and arrow...), using weapons whiles riding a horse, etc, but also strategy and commanding army troops.
These knowledges would represent today all military techniques of an army (infantry, artillery, cavalry, intelligence...). This would require long studies at the end of which different paths were possible: to become a master of Võ, an army general, king’s guard, convoy escort or enter into anonymity.
The generals who mastered Võ, if they knew the strategy, tactics and command, were accomplished warriors who fought many battles and who could defeat many opponent. To master this knowledge which combined theory and practice required years and years of work.
The number 18, as well as its multiples such as 72 or 108, are often used in the organisation of martial techniques. This comes from the influence in Võ of Buddhisme and Taoisme where these numbers have an important symbolic value. Think of the chinese martial adventure book called “Au bord de l’Eau” which is also called “The Knights of 108 Stars”, or the fact that buddhist rosaries have 108 grains
As a physical discipline, Võ has now left the context of war to take on a different role in our society. The study of traditional weapons does not have the same goal: the aim is not to learn how to kill; the use of these weapons is now more a sport and an art
Bare hand fighting is also no longer meant to destroy the opponent, but to measure one’s strength and skills in a friendly manner. Still, Võ-Vietnam techniques remain efficient for self-defense in dangerous situations.
Practise ofVõ-Viêtnam
Teaching in ancient times was done by studying « thaos ». A thao is a lesson of movements simulating a fight agains several opponents in various directions. The student learns these movements by heart, and practices them alone, which is similar to what the Japonese call a “kata”.
Originally, sometimes even before learning the movements, the student would memorise the thao in the form of a poem. Then, repeated training of the thao would create an automatic reaction which would allow immediate application of these movements during a real fight. This fight would determine if the lesson was assimilated or not.
But a thao could only be correctly used if it was properly understood. Whithout this theory, there was no valid practice, and vice-versa. However, the master only explained very little: the student had to use his own research, work, with the little information given to understand the real meaning of the movements.
Nowadays,
many people practice the thaos without understanding the real meaning,
a bit like a dance, and some teach the thaos in that same state
of mind. Yet traditionally, these are real fighting lessons.
The technique included 108 mouvements, like an alphabet of Võ. Just as you can only write if you know your alphabet, you needed to master these 108 movements to “speak the language of Võ”.
Then you had to understand the “thê” (series of movements) in the thao. The thê were secret techniques (thê bi tuyên) which set the mouvements in a dangerous strategy, for example attacking by surprise the opponent’s anatomical points.
This was part of the “production secrets” of the school that mainly only the master or the student knew, and that must never be divulged outside of the school. Today, in Võ-Vietnam, you still study the thao, bare-handed or with weapons, as well as the thê, but todays lessons also contain the study of isolated mouvements grouped into series: series of punches, kicks, or with the edge of the hand, etc.
A large amount of the eighteen disciplines are still practiced today: feet, hands, immobilising, projections, using the opponent’s strength, traditional weapons, etc. Some disciplines are no longer taught such as the bow and arrow on horseback.
To acquire a high level, the programme still requires a long study and a lot of patience. A good bare-hands practice if therefore essential before learning to use the weapons.
The study of the series and the thao is to be done individually, even when working as a group. When the student has properly acquired the basis, he will then work with a partner with whom he will apply the thaos and series, or study self-defense with pre-defined, free or competition fights.
However, individual work for these techniques must be done every day. This work will bring strenght, suppleness, speed, agility; it will strengthen the body in order to resist any attacks and to bring good health.
The Võ Tu Ve
Võ Tu Ve contains the self-defense techniques of Võ-Vietnam. Võ Tu Ve uses the thê (series of movements) that have been elaborated over the centuries. They generally have very meaningful ancient vietnamese names. This is a very important cultural heritage aspect of Viêt-nam. They have a poetic and sometimes humorous character. However, these poetic images used for the movements also hint at how to use them. It is up to the student to search and understand this.
It is for this reason that Master Nguyên Duc Môc reminds us that whoever does not know the name of the movement cannot know this movement. Poetry and martial gestures form a whole which raises practice above a simple physical activity.
The Võ-Viêtnam in France
Maître
Nguyên Duc Môc was born in 1913 in
North Viêt-nam in the district of Thôn Bô Son,
province of Bac Ninh (today known as Ha Bac), in a cottage built
on the Son Hoan Long hills which means « the mountain of
the returned dragon ».
In these hills, families lived by farming and cattle breeding. The vegetables were sold at the market in a village 30 km away and the fruit was sold on spot.
In 1919, when he was six years old, his father started teaching him vô and then his uncle took him further north to Quang Nguyên to teach him « Vô Thuât Gia Truyên » (traditional family martial arts) and « Vô Nghe » (military art, strategy).
When he turned 16 in 1929 he became the pupil of master Hoang Hao Ba from the monastery of Ma Duong Cuong in southern China. This master was a travelling salesman of medical plants that he made himself and had been noticed after defeating about fifty robbers who had settled in the area. By the child’s parents’ request he took on as pupils the young Nguyên Duc Môc and his brother Nguyên Duc Chi who died some time later by poisoning. He taught them « Vô Cong Bi Truyên » the secret techniques of his school’s martial art.
Most of the time, students studied the martial art with their master in the forest where they learnt to recognise medicinal plants, particularly plants for healing wounds. They also trained in a cavern in the middle of the hills called « the eye of the dragon ».
The youth and life of master Nguyên Duc Môc was marked by events that allowed him to understand martial arts by putting it into practice. Many individual fights, during his youth as well as during adulthood, allowed him to test the theory by putting it into practice. Nguyên Duc Môc studied with his master until he was 26, in 1939, when he was ordered to embark for France to fight with the colonial army. After a certain amount of time spent in encampment in the Middle East, the colonial troups were sent to join the free french forces and were transfered to Africa, in Brazzaville in old Congo. From there, they were brought back again to the Middle East, Syria and Lebanon for the counter-offensive that lead to the Normandy landings. After the french liberation, Nguyên Duc Môc, who had been demobilised, began to search for work and in 1947 he started working in the Renault factories in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Because of the many racist provocations, he was forced to defend himself and his fighting skills amazed his collegues. They questioned him, thinking he was using judo, the only well known martial art at the time ; and so he began talking about Vô-viêtnam, the vietnamese martial art. They then asked him to teach them his techniques. The master accepted, hoping to make his home land better known. This all happened in the fifties, and Vô-viêtnam has been known in France from that time onwards.
The first teachings of Vô
His pupils had to then abide to the discipline rules that must be followed in a traditional Vô school. In the beginning, there were ten people at the training, and little by little more pupils from different workshops joined to form a group of about 200 people. The class was given in the evening after work in the Bois de Boulogne beside the factory.
At the same time, private sessions were organized for vietnamese people who didn’t work in the factory to allow them to defend themselves and to maintain good health.
In 1956 at Boulogne-Billancourt, Tran Tu Huonga, a vietnamese master who had appointed himself seventh dan of Vat (vietnamese wrestling) and eighth dan of Vô, died during one of his classes. He had claimed that he could free himself from the second strangling technique of judo applied by a pupil. His death cast a shadow over Vô and Viêt-nam, and newspaper articles questioned the existance of a true vietnamese martial art.
Tran Tu Huong’s pupils then asked master Nguyên Duc Môc to continue the classes in the Youth and Culture centre of Boulogne sur Seine. He accepted, mainly to defend the reputation of Vô and his country. He proved the value of Vô after several contests with other martial arts and various fighting sports : english and french boxing, wrestling, judo (with a japonese master of sixth dan who returned later on to his country).
He then founded the « Son Long Quyên Thuat » school of Vô-viêtnam, the fighting technique from the mountain of the dragon, in memory of the hill where he grew up.
Pupils from the whole world came to France for the training, and then founded schools abroad.
In France in the seventies there were already about 3000 members at a time when martial arts were much less widespread than today. Consistant relations with the sports mouvement and martial arts in Viêt-nam were established. In 1983 a delegation of 23 members went to Viêt-nam for a trip of cultural and sports exchanges. There were a total of ten demonstrations, one of them being held in the master’s home town of Ha Bac in front of 17’000 spectators. At this point in time Vô wasn’t very well known in the country that was only just starting to get over 30 years of war. This trip helped fuse a new expansion of Vô in Viêt-nam.
A second trip was organised in 1989 and the situation had greatly evolved, martial arts schools were spreading across the country. The international delegation of 1994 solidified the relationships between the different groups of Vô in the country.
Today master Nguyên Duc Môc is 94 years old. President of honnor and technical director of the International Federation of Vô Viêtnam, he still works continuously for the development of the art he devoted his life to. He remains a precious witness of a time when Vô began a historical development in Viêt-nam.
Born in 1913, he lived through the 20th century creating a strong link between two eras and two civilisations.
The 18 disciplines
Originally, Võ is the art of war. The word Võ suggests the idea of fighting, of war.
Vietnamese martial techniques are specific to its history. The country was colonised during millenia, by stronger opponent that outnumbered them, and therefore had to create an art which, as the famous XIIIth century general Trân Hung Dao said, fights “the long with the short, the many with the little” and where suppleness is more efficient than hardness. The many occupations of Viet-nam reinforced the secret aspect of Võ, which has nearly always been clandestine.
The martial knowledge was grouped into eighteen disciplines: fights with fists and feet, immobilising, various weapons (spear, sword, sabre, bow and arrow...), using weapons whiles riding a horse, etc, but also strategy and commanding army troops.
These knowledges would represent today all military techniques of an army (infantry, artillery, cavalry, intelligence...). This would require long studies at the end of which different paths were possible: to become a master of Võ, an army general, king’s guard, convoy escort or enter into anonymity.
The generals who mastered Võ, if they knew the strategy, tactics and command, were accomplished warriors who fought many battles and who could defeat many opponent. To master this knowledge which combined theory and practice required years and years of work.
The number 18, as well as its multiples such as 72 or 108, are often used in the organisation of martial techniques. This comes from the influence in Võ of Buddhisme and Taoisme where these numbers have an important symbolic value. Think of the chinese martial adventure book called “Au bord de l’Eau” which is also called “The Knights of 108 Stars”, or the fact that buddhist rosaries have 108 grains
As a physical discipline, Võ has now left the context of war to take on a different role in our society. The study of traditional weapons does not have the same goal: the aim is not to learn how to kill; the use of these weapons is now more a sport and an art
Bare hand fighting is also no longer meant to destroy the opponent, but to measure one’s strength and skills in a friendly manner. Still, Võ-Vietnam techniques remain efficient for self-defense in dangerous situations.
Practise ofVõ-Viêtnam
Teaching in ancient times was done by studying « thaos ». A thao is a lesson of movements simulating a fight agains several opponents in various directions. The student learns these movements by heart, and practices them alone, which is similar to what the Japonese call a “kata”.
Originally, sometimes even before learning the movements, the student would memorise the thao in the form of a poem. Then, repeated training of the thao would create an automatic reaction which would allow immediate application of these movements during a real fight. This fight would determine if the lesson was assimilated or not.
But a thao could only be correctly used if it was properly understood. Whithout this theory, there was no valid practice, and vice-versa. However, the master only explained very little: the student had to use his own research, work, with the little information given to understand the real meaning of the movements.
Nowadays,
many people practice the thaos without understanding the real meaning,
a bit like a dance, and some teach the thaos in that same state
of mind. Yet traditionally, these are real fighting lessons.The technique included 108 mouvements, like an alphabet of Võ. Just as you can only write if you know your alphabet, you needed to master these 108 movements to “speak the language of Võ”.
Then you had to understand the “thê” (series of movements) in the thao. The thê were secret techniques (thê bi tuyên) which set the mouvements in a dangerous strategy, for example attacking by surprise the opponent’s anatomical points.
This was part of the “production secrets” of the school that mainly only the master or the student knew, and that must never be divulged outside of the school. Today, in Võ-Vietnam, you still study the thao, bare-handed or with weapons, as well as the thê, but todays lessons also contain the study of isolated mouvements grouped into series: series of punches, kicks, or with the edge of the hand, etc.
A large amount of the eighteen disciplines are still practiced today: feet, hands, immobilising, projections, using the opponent’s strength, traditional weapons, etc. Some disciplines are no longer taught such as the bow and arrow on horseback.
To acquire a high level, the programme still requires a long study and a lot of patience. A good bare-hands practice if therefore essential before learning to use the weapons.
The study of the series and the thao is to be done individually, even when working as a group. When the student has properly acquired the basis, he will then work with a partner with whom he will apply the thaos and series, or study self-defense with pre-defined, free or competition fights.
However, individual work for these techniques must be done every day. This work will bring strenght, suppleness, speed, agility; it will strengthen the body in order to resist any attacks and to bring good health.
The Võ Tu Ve
Võ Tu Ve contains the self-defense techniques of Võ-Vietnam. Võ Tu Ve uses the thê (series of movements) that have been elaborated over the centuries. They generally have very meaningful ancient vietnamese names. This is a very important cultural heritage aspect of Viêt-nam. They have a poetic and sometimes humorous character. However, these poetic images used for the movements also hint at how to use them. It is up to the student to search and understand this.
It is for this reason that Master Nguyên Duc Môc reminds us that whoever does not know the name of the movement cannot know this movement. Poetry and martial gestures form a whole which raises practice above a simple physical activity.
The Võ-Viêtnam in France
Maître
Nguyên Duc Môc was born in 1913 in
North Viêt-nam in the district of Thôn Bô Son,
province of Bac Ninh (today known as Ha Bac), in a cottage built
on the Son Hoan Long hills which means « the mountain of
the returned dragon ». In these hills, families lived by farming and cattle breeding. The vegetables were sold at the market in a village 30 km away and the fruit was sold on spot.
In 1919, when he was six years old, his father started teaching him vô and then his uncle took him further north to Quang Nguyên to teach him « Vô Thuât Gia Truyên » (traditional family martial arts) and « Vô Nghe » (military art, strategy).
When he turned 16 in 1929 he became the pupil of master Hoang Hao Ba from the monastery of Ma Duong Cuong in southern China. This master was a travelling salesman of medical plants that he made himself and had been noticed after defeating about fifty robbers who had settled in the area. By the child’s parents’ request he took on as pupils the young Nguyên Duc Môc and his brother Nguyên Duc Chi who died some time later by poisoning. He taught them « Vô Cong Bi Truyên » the secret techniques of his school’s martial art.
Most of the time, students studied the martial art with their master in the forest where they learnt to recognise medicinal plants, particularly plants for healing wounds. They also trained in a cavern in the middle of the hills called « the eye of the dragon ».
The youth and life of master Nguyên Duc Môc was marked by events that allowed him to understand martial arts by putting it into practice. Many individual fights, during his youth as well as during adulthood, allowed him to test the theory by putting it into practice. Nguyên Duc Môc studied with his master until he was 26, in 1939, when he was ordered to embark for France to fight with the colonial army. After a certain amount of time spent in encampment in the Middle East, the colonial troups were sent to join the free french forces and were transfered to Africa, in Brazzaville in old Congo. From there, they were brought back again to the Middle East, Syria and Lebanon for the counter-offensive that lead to the Normandy landings. After the french liberation, Nguyên Duc Môc, who had been demobilised, began to search for work and in 1947 he started working in the Renault factories in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Because of the many racist provocations, he was forced to defend himself and his fighting skills amazed his collegues. They questioned him, thinking he was using judo, the only well known martial art at the time ; and so he began talking about Vô-viêtnam, the vietnamese martial art. They then asked him to teach them his techniques. The master accepted, hoping to make his home land better known. This all happened in the fifties, and Vô-viêtnam has been known in France from that time onwards.
The first teachings of Vô
His pupils had to then abide to the discipline rules that must be followed in a traditional Vô school. In the beginning, there were ten people at the training, and little by little more pupils from different workshops joined to form a group of about 200 people. The class was given in the evening after work in the Bois de Boulogne beside the factory.
At the same time, private sessions were organized for vietnamese people who didn’t work in the factory to allow them to defend themselves and to maintain good health.
In 1956 at Boulogne-Billancourt, Tran Tu Huonga, a vietnamese master who had appointed himself seventh dan of Vat (vietnamese wrestling) and eighth dan of Vô, died during one of his classes. He had claimed that he could free himself from the second strangling technique of judo applied by a pupil. His death cast a shadow over Vô and Viêt-nam, and newspaper articles questioned the existance of a true vietnamese martial art.
Tran Tu Huong’s pupils then asked master Nguyên Duc Môc to continue the classes in the Youth and Culture centre of Boulogne sur Seine. He accepted, mainly to defend the reputation of Vô and his country. He proved the value of Vô after several contests with other martial arts and various fighting sports : english and french boxing, wrestling, judo (with a japonese master of sixth dan who returned later on to his country).
He then founded the « Son Long Quyên Thuat » school of Vô-viêtnam, the fighting technique from the mountain of the dragon, in memory of the hill where he grew up.
Pupils from the whole world came to France for the training, and then founded schools abroad.
In France in the seventies there were already about 3000 members at a time when martial arts were much less widespread than today. Consistant relations with the sports mouvement and martial arts in Viêt-nam were established. In 1983 a delegation of 23 members went to Viêt-nam for a trip of cultural and sports exchanges. There were a total of ten demonstrations, one of them being held in the master’s home town of Ha Bac in front of 17’000 spectators. At this point in time Vô wasn’t very well known in the country that was only just starting to get over 30 years of war. This trip helped fuse a new expansion of Vô in Viêt-nam.
A second trip was organised in 1989 and the situation had greatly evolved, martial arts schools were spreading across the country. The international delegation of 1994 solidified the relationships between the different groups of Vô in the country.
Today master Nguyên Duc Môc is 94 years old. President of honnor and technical director of the International Federation of Vô Viêtnam, he still works continuously for the development of the art he devoted his life to. He remains a precious witness of a time when Vô began a historical development in Viêt-nam.
Born in 1913, he lived through the 20th century creating a strong link between two eras and two civilisations.
Original article : Bruno
Clavier (Paris)
Published in the revue "Arts & Combats" in 1995
Published in the revue "Arts & Combats" in 1995