One of the most debatable techniques in Wing Chun Kung Fu is the Fook Sau. The movement consists of letting your arm rest slightly parallel to the ground, slightly below 90 degrees, with your elbow about a fist and one half length from your torso and your wrist bent so your fingers can point back at yourself.
The technique itself would be considered a "crane-like" movement from animal based martial arts. The main weapon in this instance could be either the exposed outside of the wrist as a striking surface or the inside of the wrist for a hooking movement.
The CONCEPT (or idea) behind this movement is one I have seen taught several different ways.
We first see this movement in Sil Lim Tao (Wing Chun's first form called The Little Idea.) Here in this form it is taught to be in a series of movements sequenced 2 or 3 times, depending upon the teacher. My first teacher used to say, "when in doubt, do it again."
The question is always, "why do we do it 3 times?"
My first and second teachers had said that we do this movement (very slowly) to develop what is known as "elbow energy" in Wing Chun. (See my related article on elbow energy.)
Ip Man was said to have taken 30 minutes to train each movement on each side. Not for nothing, but I do not have an hour a day to do Sil Lim Tao. In a recent article in Wing Chun Illustrated it was pointed out that Ip Man, may in fact have promoted the super slow and methodical training of this movement in order to have his student's stay in the stance longer to train their legs. To me, that makes much more sense.
What about the position of this movement? I have seen some teachers start this movement at their navel height and others at their sternum.
And how about the wrist? Should it be completely relaxed or "engaged" by torquing the fingers back at ourselves?
In the Chi Sau application, I have felt several types of Fook Sau energy. Some lineages (mostly William Cheung and Leung Ting) have their Fook Sau used as a hook, tightly curved around your Tan Sau / Bong Sau hand as you roll in position. Some lineages have their Fook Sau relaxed and "flopping" all over the place as they roll. And some still, as in under my second teacher, have their Fook Sau as a total concept and place the whole of their palm on your Tan Sau / Bong Sau hand.
So far to date, the best explination of Fook Sau was written by David Petterson in Wing Chun Illustrated. To paraphrase his article, he talks about Fook Sau being a highly misunderstood concept in which we are learning the basis of simultaneous attack and defense along with the hand tools of Wing Chun.
For me personally, I try to train all the above concepts and movements of this. Seeing as some of these teachers are absolutely fantastic at their understanding of Wing Chun, it is my preference to take what is useful from them and throw away the rest. But then again, that is all of our responsibility when we truly seek to learn our beloved martial art.
Lastly, my view on Fook Sau is that unless that specific movement can be used in a true combat circumstance, it is merely an idea to focus on while in the form. I understand that people will have their statements of, "Oh, you're wrong! Fook Sau does XYZ!" And I don't mind seeing as that is the view point on most techniques, but for the most part I think we can all agree that Fook Sau, at the very least, is a pretty cool movement.
Dominick Izzo
Chief Instructor
Izzo Tactical Combat Martial Arts
http://www.izzo-training.com/
Wing Chun Kung Fu - Chicago and the North Western Suburban area.
No comments:
Post a Comment