What is Som Gin Choi? (and the rest of it)...

[wckf92]

for reference...

About Leung Jan's Pin Sun WIng Chun Boxing

Can anyone (KPM? Jim R?) shed any light on this or any other content on the posted webpage? Is this family specific or to Wing Chun as a whole?

Thanks!

 

[KPM]

Saam Gin Choi is "Three Arrows Punch." The San Sik teaches three punches that are thrown from where the last one ends, straight out like an arrow! The first punch is the Pin Sun Da....a full body pivot with a straight mid-level punch. It is almost like a karate reverse punch, but with a vertical fist. It is meant as a long-range punch or a finishing power punch. From this extended position you drop the fist straight downward to punch with the hammerfist or back of the knuckles into the shin or top of the foot of an oncoming kick. This is the "drop to defend the incoming foot" noted on the webpage. This is often done with a "Gwai Ma" or "hanging stance"...which is bending the back leg into a half-kneeling position. The third "arrow" is to then rise up with both the stance and the punch by lifting straight up so the fist travels from the last position back up as a rising punch. This has the same function as the "Ding Sau" or rising hand portion of the Siu Nim Tao form in the 2nd section. This San Sik teaches 2 of the "4 energies".....Sink & Rise.....teaches the Gwai Ma stance....teaches a basic defense against kicks (to hit them!)....and teaches how a punch can also block. It is typically one of the first three sets learned in level 2.

But hey, what do I know? I never really learned anything!

(That, however, is much more information that you would have ever gotten out of Jim R. on a public forum! )

 

[KPM]

And......those lines on the webpage are referring specifically to the San Sik or short sets in Ku Lo Wing Chun.

 

[wckf92]

Saam Gin Choi is "Three Arrows Punch." The San Sik teaches three punches that are thrown from where the last one ends, straight out like an arrow! The first punch is the Pin Sun Da....a full body pivot with a straight mid-level punch. It is almost like a karate reverse punch, but with a vertical fist. It is meant as a long-range punch or a finishing power punch. From this extended position you drop the fist straight downward to punch with the hammerfist or back of the knuckles into the shin or top of the foot of an oncoming kick. This is the "drop to defend the incoming foot" noted on the webpage. This is often done with a "Gwai Ma" or "hanging stance"...which is bending the back leg into a half-kneeling position. The third "arrow" is to then rise up with both the stance and the punch by lifting straight up so the fist travels from the last position back up as a rising punch. This has the same function as the "Ding Sau" or rising hand portion of the Siu Nim Tao form in the 2nd section. This San Sik teaches 2 of the "4 energies".....Sink & Rise.....teaches the Gwai Ma stance....teaches a basic defense against kicks (to hit them!)....and teaches how a punch can also block. It is typically one of the first three sets learned in level 2.

But hey, what do I know? I never really learned anything!

(That, however, is much more information that you would have ever gotten out of Jim R. on a public forum! )

Cool. Thx! That adds a bit of context for me to chew on.

So, Ku Lo teaches "4 energies"? In the other thread I started that "poem" seems to list 16! Perhaps it is only contained/taught in Vietnam lineages?

 

[KPM]

Cool. Thx! That adds a bit of context for me to chew on.

So, Ku Lo teaches "4 energies"? In the other thread I started that "poem" seems to list 16! Perhaps it is only contained/taught in Vietnam lineages?

The poem likely came from Yuen Kay Shan lineage....not his brother's Vietnamese line. Many of those words are "key words". The 4 energies refer specifically to ways of generating power, while key words can refer to multiple topics. The 4 energies are found in Ku Lo Wing Chun as well as YKS Wing Chun and likely most mainland lineages. It was probably Ip Man that left out ideas like that and "key words" out of his later teachings in HK.