Wuguan

武館

Chinese martial arts school and training hall, literally “martial hall”. In Cantonese mo gun, in English often kwoon. Counterpart of the Japanese dojo.

Quick Facts

Term typePlace and space

LanguageChinese

Formnoun

Pronunciation[woo-gwahn]

Alternative Namesmartial arts school

Readings and romanizations

Pinyinwǔguǎn

Jyutping (Cantonese)mou5 gun2

Word breakdown

武wǔmartial

館guǎnhall, building

Definition

Wuguan (武館) combines wu (martial) and guan (hall, building). It is a martial arts school led by a sifu master, including the room where training takes place. In Cantonese it is read mo gun. The English kwoon comes from the Cantonese 館 and spread among Chinese communities abroad. In a wuguan, besides kung-fu, lion dance was traditionally practiced, and in southern China and Hong Kong schools presented themselves at shows through it. The school's altar usually bears portraits of previous masters of the lineage, to whom students bow.

Relations to other terms

Equivalent in another art

Dojo道場

Hall where Japanese martial arts are practised. Literally “place of the way”, with its own etiquette, cleaning and a fixed arrangement of the space.

Dojang도장

Training hall of Korean martial arts, mainly taekwondo and hapkido. Written with the same characters as the Japanese dojo (道場).

Associated Martial Arts