Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

modeled on the spurring talons of the fighting cock, as well as high-jump
kicks to the upper torso or head, a feature that appears in other Vietnamese
systems also. Actions are fast and aggressive, with attack preferred to defense.
Practitioners of Kim Ke even utilize biting attacks. It has been noted
that Kim Ke fighters prefer lateral attack angles.
Family systems have been described that simply use the family name
(e.g., Truong Vo Thuat, Truong Family Fighting Style) as a label. Such systems
are developed within lineages and generally utilize both Vietnamese
and non-Vietnamese (especially Chinese) martial arts as sources of armed
and unarmed techniques.
The most familiar of Vietnam’s martial arts are Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao
and Quan Ki Do. Both systems were synthesized from a variety of preexisting
arts in the twentieth century.
Vovinam (later renamed Viet Vo Dao) was founded by Nguyen Loc
(1912–1960) in the late 1930s. Traditional history within the system states
that Nguyen, while in his twenties, combined elements of local schools of
Shontei province, other Vietnamese styles, principles from the “Linh Nam
Vo Kinh” treatise, traditional Chinese wushu, Japanese jûdô and related
wrestling systems, and Japanese karate to create Vovinam. Nguyen began
teaching his eclectic system to a group of friends in 1938 in the capital city
of Hanoi. The system was developed with the practical intent of providing,
after a short period of study, an efficient means of self-defense. Further, as
a distinctive national art incorporating what supporters have called “the
best of Vietnamese martial arts,” Nguyen hoped to establish a basis for national
identity and patriotism among his hard-pressed people. A spectacular
element of the art is the existence of leg techniques in which the practitioner
uses both legs to kick, grasp, and trip an opponent. The “flying
scissors” techniques are the most recognizable of these Vovinam tactics.
Tradition holds that these maneuvers were developed as a means to allow
Vietnamese foot soldiers to attack Mongol cavalrymen during the Battle of
the Red River Delta in 1284. From its creation until several years following
the founder’s death, the system was called Vovinam. The name Vovinam
blends two words: Vo (martial arts) and vinam (a shortened form of
Vietnam) to signify “martial arts of Vietnam.” In 1964, Viet Vo Dao (“the
philosophy of Vietnamese martial arts”) was added to the name to produce
the modern form Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao.
Quan Ki Do (also Qwan Ki Do, Quan Ky Do), which can be translated
as “Fist and Qi (energy) Way,” was established by Pham Xuan Tong
(ca. 1981). One tradition holds that the roots of the art are in the Chinese
boxing system of Wo-Mei (a Southern Shaolin style). The main techniques
derived from Chinese martial arts are based on the animal forms of the
tiger, crane, and praying mantis. A Vietnamese system, Quan Ki, is re-
Southeast Asia 549