Traditonal – Whats in a word

September 4, 2009 | MMA Newcastle, martial arts newcastle, wing chun newcastle, MMA Styles, Chinese Boxing, BJJ Newcastle, No Gi Grappling Newcastle, Videos

The word “traditional” in martial arts is a funny one. Its use and its meanings are often two very different things and the connotations of “A traditional martial art” or “Traditional Wing Chun” or even “A traditional system” can be very different to what they often amount to. Let’s ask firstly the meaning of the word as many martial artists seem to be unclear.

The Cambridge English Dictionary (had a longer definition than the oxford) and says this:

Traditional (adjective)
following or belonging to the customs or ways of behaving that have continued in a group of people or society for a long time without changing:
The villagers retain a strong attachment to their traditional values/customs/beliefs.
The school uses a combination of modern and traditional methods for teaching reading.
The dancers were wearing traditional Hungarian dress/costume.
She’s very traditional (in her ideas and opinions).

The Modern use of the “T” word…..It’s all about marketing

There are many martial arts traditions which are apparent in the practice of Oriental Martial Arts such as the wearing of the Gi in Karate [1] or the traditional Wai Kru and Ram Muay Dance before a Muay Thai bout [2] however this really has nothing to do with the way the word is used. I could spend a load of time writing about the history of martial arts, Bushisdo, the influence of Chinese martial arts etc but this article is very firmly set in the modern age and is about how martial arts are marketed and certain practices sold as “traditional martial arts” or specific to my particular discipline “traditional Wing Chun” to disguise their lack of foundation or relevance.

The word “traditional” in martial arts conjures up images of the old Chinese master slowly practicing his Tai Chi or the man in his Gi/kimono executing a Kata or Form; it plays on the idea of strong, mystical and possibly more to the point authentic martial arts practice.

Sadly this often couldn’t be further from the truth. In my article “Striking into MMA” I discuss how old masters built their reputations on challenges and would look to innovate, modify and evolve. Yip Man the father of modern Wing Chun indeed did this:

“According to some traditions (possibly better termed accounts), one day one of his classmates challenged him to try his martial arts skill with an older man. The man beat him with a few strikes. It turned out that the old man was his sibak Leung Bik ( ?? ), son of his sigung Leung Jan ( ?? ). After that encounter, Yip Man continued to learn from Leung Bik. At age 24, Yip Man returned to Foshan, and his Wing Chun skills had improved tremendously while he had been away.” Yip Man, Wikipedia.

This example represents quite a divorce from the definition of the word tradition. Indeed Yip Man was the man to place many of the old teachings into the forms we now see today, I must wonder what the old man would have thought about watching his system slide into arguments about what is authentic, or it being the way “Yip Man did it” as opposed to working out what actually works and gaining a high level of genuine skill.

There are a whole raft of modern self appointed Masters, Sifu, Sensei who have no real link to the roots of their system other than to blindly follow a practice they have neither questioned or successfully applied at any level other than maybe a street fight against a drunk with no skill. This is far from a traditional martial artist, if anything this is a modern phenomenon not at all to do with Traditional martial arts or traditional Wing Chun. As almost counterpoint to this within the combat sports fraternity the word “traditional” has become an almost equally negative connotation as it is a positive with the so called “Trad martial arts brigade” however many of the practices in some of these systems are truer to the roots of really authentic martial arts training than with their form/Kata dancing, counterparts.

Enter the Tradition of Wing Chun Whilst training in the USA with a man I genuinely consider to be a true Kung Fu Master, Sifu Robert Chu, I was introduced to a practice of what Si Gung termed traditional Wing Chun Sparring which starts in the position made famous by Bruce Lee & Robert Wall in “Enter the Dragon”. This form was bare knuckle and certainly bore little resemblance to the half hearted dance I have seen in many a so called “traditional” classes sparring or some Karate Kumite I have witnessed. There was blood spilt, much bruising and even the odd sore knuckle, MMA sparring is an easier ride than this and I would imagine that in days gone by this was practiced once in a while by advanced students which might explain why so many Wing Chun teachers believe there is no sparring in Wing Chun. However a more cynical view would be that hard sparring does little for the bank balance of teachers wishing to make a living from their students, a consideration somewhat less prominent at a time when martial art practice was a life saver not so much a hobby. I can almost hear the “Trad” martial arts fraternities’ outcry but I’m only stating what I have seen, if the cap fits….

Ahhhh but that’s not REAL WING CHUN…….

Time and time again I have heard “traditional Wing Chun” teachers and students argue that boxing gloves kill the system or that sparring utilizing the full range of techniques available in the system is too dangerous, one word on this “Rubbish”. Wing Chun punches and kicks, ties up and clinches, is this not also true in say….Muay Thai? How could the use of boxing gloves and some ability to develop real timing and distancing skills actually damage your skill level? It’s a stupid argument. The old chestnut about MMA not being a true test because there are rules is an even dumber argument. No it doesn’t take into account multiple opponents, weapons or environmental issues….. No true but if you can’t handle one guy of a similar weight to you with some skill what chance do you think you might have against three with baseball bats?

In Thailand a little known fact is that Muay Thai Fighters do very little “hard” sparring certainly not throwing the full range of techniques they have available preferring to leave that for the ring, instead they utilize light, “tip – tap” sparring and movement drills to practice their timing, distancing etc.

In Muay Thai Clinch sparring drills don’t need to end in hospitalization and neither do they have to in Wing Chun. In fact when watching this form of sparring many “Traditional” Wing Chun practitioners might be surprised at how similar many of the techniques start to look, Tan, Lan Sau, Elbows, Biu Sau are all in there.

Many people who come and join Cyclone don’t even realize our core system is Wing Chun. Why? Because our emphasis is on sparring skills, Boxing drills, pad work, clinch, clinch sparring and using body structure in our application. Yes there are forms, yes there is Chi Sau but they are only part of a wider picture, this in my mind is far more authentic, far more traditional than much of the stuff involving allot of bowing and wearing those cute trousers and tee shirts with little Chinese letters on them which could say chicken fried rice for all the student knows.

Grades, belts and other ways to further distort reality.

In my opinion there is almost no other practice in martial arts today that has done more damage to its reputation than the use of grading systems. But that’s traditional right? Wrong.

“The systematic use of belt color to denote rank was first used by Kano Jigoro , the founder of judo , who first devised the colored belt system using obi , and awarded the first black belts to denote a Dan rank in the 1880s. Initially the wide obi was used; as practitioners trained in kimono , only white and black obi were used. It was not until the early 1900s, after the introduction of the judogi , that an expanded colored belt system of awarding rank was created.Other martial arts later adopted the custom or variation on it (e.g. using colored sashes) to denote rank including in arts that traditionally did not have a formalized rank structure. “ Source Wikipedia.

So this is a practice just over a hundred years old, much less in many martial arts systems, 1920’s for Karate (1950’s for Okinawan Karate) since their very inception they have been wrapped up in political maneuvering.

Q: What Belt did Tyson have?
A: World Title Belt and it wasn’t black

So if grades are not traditional why have them?
To contradict my earlier statement I actually can see positive reasons for a ranking system but these are often heavily outnumbered by the many negatives. One positive angle of a grading or rank is every student’s development can be aided by pressing them towards attainable goals, a grading syllabus which sensibly steps towards reaching a high level of skill can be a useful tool in aiding this progression however the major downfall and what has become the standard practice in so called “traditional martial arts” is where it is the grade not the ability that becomes the achievement. The result is a hoop jumping exercise that ultimately results in black belt teachers who have very low actual skill levels and even less depth in their overall understanding of their system. The black belt itself originally only signified a basic level of competence and did not signify a teaching rank however in the interests of franchising many systems churn out 1^st Dan or Equivalent graded teachers in order to grow as a business lowering what are often already low standards of practice. This is not always true but sadly it is more than common.

I actually quite like the BJJ & some Judo style grading systems where students must fight for their grades especially the higher ones where they have to at least hold their own against people of the grade they are looking to achieve. Even better if this is done in a fairly rigid competition format where there is a definite criteria for wins, losses and draws. Maybe not so practical at lower grades but certainly for milestone grades and this certainly would press towards a more uniform skill level for a certain grade. However this all will depend on where you set the bar in the first place.

The worst of this is when the grading system is further bastardized to include honor terms such as Master or Grandmaster. These terms are often self appointed and are there to attract gullible or more to the point unquestioning students who will pay high fees for the chance to train with “the master”. This is predominantly found in Chinese martial arts where the associations are far less well established than in their Japanese counterparts. Again I must say there are genuine masters out there but they have a tendency to be humble and honest. In my home town of Newcastle there is a Judoka I trained with briefly who owned the red and white belt of a master who I must say deserves it. He is a genuine master of Judo and personifies that rank however he would simply introduce himself as Steve. Sadly men of his integrity and caliber are few and far between. There is also a so called “master” of “traditional” Wing Chun marketing himself as such here too alongside his teacher the “grandmaster” of genuine, totally traditional, really real, unbroken lineage etc Wing Chun…. Well what’s that sound like to you? Sounds like one of those commercials on daytime TV shopping channels to me.

Conclusions

I have nothing against people marketing their schools. I market my school. However what concerns me is the watering down of a system I happen to believe in and work very hard to promote as a genuine fighting system. If you are a genuinely good practitioner and a good coach then why do you need to dress things up or present something that is a distortion of the facts, hide your students from outside influences in case they start asking awkward questions or point to a family tree to give a stamp of authority? It all points to a lack of genuine belief that your skill can stand up to scrutiny. And for students reading this I challenge you to go to 2 other schools doing the same system and ask questions, I would guarantee a high percentage would move to another school within one month of doing so.

Just as a finishing thought I must share this promotional video with you I found on You Tube, draw your own conclusions bearing in mind everything I’ve just written about! This comes complete with an uplifting tune about “finding centres! & them being the saddest bunch they ever met!”, The computer generated demonstration is a new one on me and where they found the soundtrack for this hey well Sepultura eat your heart out….. in fairness the guys comment on you tube was that it wasn’t entirely serious and in the words on the great Jeremy Paxman “yeaaas, quite”.

I must Emphasise here that the views of the Wing Chun system expressed in the video above are a completely different set of beliefs and practices to that practiced at Cyclone Wing Chun & Chu Sau Lei and are in no way a representation of anything we do. I have included it to show a way in which the term “traditional” is used to market the Wing Chun system.

[1] In Karate the wearing of the Gi has become a tradition. There is no obvious use for it (for the system unlike say Judo) other than to provide a simple uniform and a change of clothes from normal day to day wear. With the easy availability of sportswear in the modern age it would be reasonable to say the use of the Gi is “traditional” in this form of martial arts. The wearing of the Gi in fact appears to have come from Judo where it was indeed useful and is not truly a tradition because it is needed for use in the sport, just like wearing a regulation weight of gloves is in boxing.

“ The karate gi appears to have been developed from the Judo uniform. When Gichin Funakoshi demonstrated karate in Japan at the Kodokan , he still wore a traditional judo gi.” Source: Wikipedia.

[2] Prior to the start of the first round, both fighters shall perform the Wai Kru (paying respect to the teacher and Ram Muay (boxing dance, accompanied by the appropriate Thai traditional music, incorporating the Ching (cymbal, Klong khaek (tom-tom⁾ and pi Java (Thai reed pipe).