mindfulwingchu...
The Wooden Dummy is a very useful tool facilitating the training of Wing Chun. The entire form-set of the Wooden Dummy comprises of diverse combinations of the forms of 3 empty hand Forms of Siu Nim Tao, Chum Kiu and Biu Jee. The Wooden Dummy serves as a target object onto which different applications of forms are praised.
For this reason, the Wooden Dummy form-set is not self-contained. Rather; it is an aggregate of various forms derived from the forms of the foundational form-sets, slightly modified to become practical moves for use in imagined combat situations. This signifies the transition from empty-handed practice to application for combat.
There are 10 sections in the Wooden Dummy form-set. Each section groups,
by and large, 10 moves of similar purposes. In addition, there are eight moves of kicking. All this sums up to 108 moves of the form-set.
According to the oral narrations by Grandmaster Ip Man, the second section (could be regarded as the secondary 10 moves) was originally placed at the ninth section.
Grandmaster Ip opined that the moves in this section were the same as those in the first section and thus rearranged the order to make it the second. Whether the original sections were distanced deliberately due to some undiscovered secrets is unsure, something that I have not delved into.
The count of 10 moves in each section of the Wooden Dummy form-set is not a precise measure. For some sections, there are as many as 15 moves. No wonder there are alleged versions of different counting, respectively suggesting 116 and 132 total moves in the Form-set.
Meanwhile. Grandmaster Ip Man often treated the Wooden Dummy as the practice partner for experimenting new moves he had conceived. I was influenced by this attitude and practiced with the Dummy in the same way. However, the newly conceived moves had not been merged into the Wooden Dummy form-set, so that its original composition could be preserved.
As such, I suggest that when practicing with the Wooden Dummy, apart from familiarizing with the traditional forms, the learner can also try out new moves that are self-conceived, practicing them as ad hoc forms. This on one hand can fulfill one’s satisfaction, and on the other hand enrich one’s training mood.
Practicing the Wooden Dummy forms brings about various benefits. The immediate benefit (on the external) is to hammer out all the proper hand-movements, leg-movements and the stance driven by the Center of Mass. This, in contrast, could be hardly attained in Sticking Hands practice in which only little time would be allowed for applying the forms correctly -
one would only feel incompetent in maneuvering.
For benefits to the internal, it requires dedicated exposition to uncover the essence of the Wooden Dummy Form-set through concise analysis, making it more available to and comprehensible by learners in the future. "
-Grandmaster Chu Shong Tin (from his book)
28 сен 2024
