Differences in LT WT?

[geezer]

The version I learned has around 27 moves.

Run through it four times turning to face four directions and you will have a 360 degree form with a perfect 108 movements! You can alternate leading hands too!

I actually used to do that until we changed it to 28 movements and, being OCD, I couldn't handle that it didn't add up to 108 any more!

 

[Punchy]

Run through it four times turning to face four directions and you will have a 360 degree form with a perfect 108 movements! You can alternate leading hands too!

I actually used to do that until we changed it to 28 movements and, being OCD, I couldn't handle that it didn't add up to 108 any more!

When I'm feeling spunky I practice it that way too.

 

[Bino TWT]

In all fairness to LT, I was told by Rene' Latosa that LT was actually awarded that level by the EWTO/ Kernspecht.

But yeah, I agree with you Steve, maybe a little less of a grandiose title would have been better...Something along the lines of "Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler" maybe ?

No, that's backwards. LT awarded KK. There's an in depth account of that on my website on the Lineage page if you'd care to read it.

As far as the EWTO awarding that title to LT,

10th level is Grandmaster. There are 3 on the planet in the LTWT. LT, KK, and Chen Cheng Fun. LT was the first, and awarded the others. Currently, they are all still 10th level. 11th level is RETIRED GM, and none of them are. 12th level is post-humus. That's why I said anything over 5th Practitioner "Master" level (yellow stripes) is purely organizational.

 

[geezer]

No, that's backwards. LT awarded KK. There's an in depth account of that on my website on the Lineage page if you'd care to read it.


10th level is Grandmaster. There are 3 on the planet in the LTWT. LT, KK, and Chen Cheng Fun. LT was the first, and awarded the others. Currently, they are all still 10th level. 11th level is RETIRED GM, and none of them are. 12th level is post-humus. That's why I said anything over 5th Practitioner "Master" level (yellow stripes) is purely organizational.

Thanks for the update, Bino. Back when I was doing WT, only LT was at GM level. KK I know about. Curious thing about My si-sok Cheng Chuen Fun (whom I've never met) is that he was LT's si-dai (younger kung fu brother) under Leung Sheung, and not his to-dai (student). Also, several years back, I heard he left LT's organization ...but without the usual hard feelings that accompany such a split. Perhaps you can clarify if this is true, and if so, does he still hold GM rank in LT's organization?

...Either way, WC politics is soooo confusing!

 

[Bino TWT]

At one point in the heyday of the EWTO, LT awarded KK 10th GM of the EWTO branch of WT. The catch was, it was only valid in the EWTO. I think it was sometime late 90's or early 00's when he actually made it an official IWTA 10, putting him on the same level as LT. I'm sure that this was political and exuberant amounts of money exchanged hands.

CCF was LT's Si-Dai under Leung Sheung. After LT left LS to finish his training with Yip Man and opened his own school, CCF became LT's student. He appointed CCF as the chief instructor of the IWTA in '82 (same year KK opened the castle) so he could travel the world spreading the gospel of WT. It was sometime in the early 00's (after '02, at least) that CCF was awarded 10th level. And you are correct, he did officially leave the IWTA with not one ill word about LT (actually, he never really told anyone why he left; my Si-Fu trains with him frequently and has asked him, and he won't say). He does still train and teach periodically at the IWTA headquarters, so he and LT must not be on as bad terms as most ex-WT guys.

When I left the EWTO side of WT and went under the Hong Kong side, my Si-Gung by way of my current Si-Fu is Tam Yiu Ming, who was a student of both CCF & LT, and Si-Hing of Chris Collins. Tam was the technical adviser of the IWTA and handled the gradings. When Tam moved to London, LT pressured him to join the EWTO and fall under KK, and Tam refused, wanting nothing to do with the EWTO organization (can you blame him?), and ended up leaving the IWTA because of this. Like CCF, Tam still often trains with LT and teaches and the IWTA HQ, but they are not officially affiliated with the organization in any way.

CCF still holds 10th level I suppose; once you've been graded and ranked, it's yours, and now CCF if Si-Jo of his own lineage of WT. Being that CCF still occasionally teaches at the IWTA HQ, I suppose his rank is still honored.

That's why LT is referred to GGM, to make sure everyone understands he's the top of the food chain, since there are 2 other people that hold equal 10th level ranking.

Check the Lineage page on my website bro, there's a lot of cool WT stuff on there.

 

[geezer]

Bino, is your Si-gung, Tam Yiu Ming any relation to old Tam Hung Fun (probably deceased by now) who used to be LT's top guy in Austrailia in the early days? That old guy looked really tough! Although, according to LT, the problem with old Tam was that, like many Chinese of his generation, he preferred to teach Chinese students, limiting the growth of his program.

 

[Bino TWT]

I'm not sure if there is any relation, I'll ask him though.

Yeah LT learned early on that non Chinese peoples money spends just the same lol