Nhat Nam
Nhất NamVietnamese martial art that the press says Ngô Xuân Bính unified in Hanoi in 1983 from võ Hét schools of Thanh Hóa and Nghệ An. Now also practised in Russia and elsewhere in Europe.
Quick Facts
VietnamCharacter & Origin
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
About Nhat Nam
Nhất Nam is a Vietnamese martial art that, according to VietNamNet and the Vietnamese agency VNA, officially arose on 23 October 1983 in Hanoi. According to VNA, Ngô Xuân Bính then unified various Hét martial arts schools from Thanh Hóa and Nghệ An provinces and named them Nhất Nam. VOV World writes that Ngô Xuân Bính revived the art in 1983, citing an account that the school has existed since the 13th or 14th century. According to VNA, the Hét art, also called Hec, is named after a loud shout during an attack, meant to intimidate the opponent and control breathing. According to VNA, the fighting principle is to dodge and strike quickly with precise blows to sensitive points. The syllabus includes forms without weapons, weapons, internal and external training, and health care tied to traditional medicine. VOV World quotes master Dao Trung Hieu, for whom the essence of the art is the principle that weakness overcomes strength. According to VNA, Ngô Xuân Bính chairs the Nhất Nam federation in the Russian Federation and Europe. According to the same agency, the art took hold in Russia in the nineteen-nineties and is present in Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. We have not found an inscription of Nhất Nam on Vietnam's national list of intangible heritage.
History
VOV World reports an account that Nhất Nam derives from the martial art Hét, also called Hec, in today's Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh provinces. According to VNA, the story of Nhất Nam begins with the art Hét in areas of Chau Hoan and Chau Ai. According to VietNamNet, Ngô Xuân Bính recounts that when Emperor Quang Trung marched north through Thanh Hóa and Nghệ An against the Qing armies in spring 1789, he recruited many local fighters, and that in the old lands of Ái and Hoan there was an art with which locals defended themselves against wild animals and enemies.
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According to the newspaper Thế giới và Việt Nam, Ngô Xuân Bính learned fighting from fifteen or sixteen in the family tradition of the Ngô and Trần clans. At twenty-two, according to the same newspaper, he joined research into the history of Vietnamese martial arts led by the General Department of Physical Education and Sport, and two years later he united family schools and branches of the art Hét from the Thanh Nghệ region into the Nhất Nam school. VietNamNet writes that the school was officially founded on 23 October 1983 in Hanoi, when Ngô Xuân Bính taught art education at the Central Pedagogical School of Music and Fine Arts. According to VietNamNet, in 1992 Ngô Xuân Bính traveled to Belarus at the invitation of the wushu federation and other Vietnamese schools, and clubs then arose in Russia, Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine. Thế giới và Việt Nam states that he went to the Soviet Union as early as 1990.
How it differs
According to VnExpress, Ngô Xuân Bính merged the techniques into the Nhất Nam school, which he calls purely Vietnamese, free of foreign martial arts. According to VNA, the art of Hét, on which Nhất Nam draws, is marked by a strong shout on attack.
Technique
According to VNA, the combat principle of Nhất Nam is to dodge and strike fast with precise, effective blows to sensitive points. According to VietNamNet, Ngô Xuân Bính, given the small build of the Vietnamese, developed techniques of evading blows, fast striking and finding the opponent's weak points. Master Dao Trung Hieu, according to VOV World, describes the essence of the art as the principle that weakness overcomes strength: the practitioner dodges so the opponent's attack fails and uses the chance to strike. VnExpress describes the tay xà technique, imitating the throwing, lashing, intertwining and writhing of Thanh Nghệ pythons, and the tay trảo technique, in which the thumb points sideways like a rooster's spur and the other fingers at huyệt points. According to VNA, the system includes forms without weapons, weapons, internal and external exercises and health care closely tied to traditional medicine and acupuncture points.
Training
According to VnExpress, Nhất Nam students learn thập bát võ nghệ and seventeen other weapons and follow the motto to dodge, strike fast and hit the sensitive spot precisely. The Yên Hòa club in Hanoi is, according to VOV World, free, was founded by Dao Trung Hieu and Pham Hai Hung, and students train every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. The masters there, according to the same source, teach the meaning of morality and moderation. VNA states that Nhất Nam is taught outside the curriculum at some schools, for example Hoang Quy primary school.
Today
According to VNA, Ngô Xuân Bính chairs the Nhất Nam federation in the Russian Federation and in Europe. According to VNA, the art took hold in Russia in the nineteen-nineties and is present in Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In 2019 the daily Thế giới và Việt Nam reported four national federations, in Russia, Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine. We have not found live websites of federations in Switzerland or the United Kingdom. In Vietnam, according to VNA, a Nhất Nam branch led by Grandmaster Tran Dung was founded in Thanh Hóa province. We have not found an inscription of Nhất Nam on Vietnam's national list of intangible heritage.
Did you know
According to VietNamNet, Ngô Xuân Bính's book Nhất Nam căn bản won the prize for the most valuable and beautiful sports book at the exhibition of socialist-country publishers in Poland in June 1989. The daily Thế giới và Việt Nam places the award for the first two volumes in 1988 and wrote in 2019 the book has five volumes and the author plans ten. For the 25th anniversary of the school, Ngô Xuân Bính held, according to VietNamNet, a meeting in October 2008 at the Temple of Literature, Văn Miếu-Quốc Tử Giám, in Hanoi. According to VOV World, he says that martial art is not about violence but a path to perfection and harmony of the individual and community.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Nhất Nam?
Ngô Xuân Bính. According to VNA, on 23 October 1983 in Hanoi he united the schools of the art Hét from Thanh Hóa and Nghệ An and gave them the name Nhất Nam. VOV World writes that he revived the art.
What does Hét mean?
According to VNA, it is the art Nhất Nam derives from, named after the loud shout in attack. The shout is meant to intimidate the opponent and control breathing.
Where is Nhất Nam practiced?
In Vietnam, for example in Hanoi and in Thanh Hóa province. According to VNA, it is also present in Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.