Vovinam
Việt Võ ĐạoVietnamese martial art taught in Hanoi from 1938 by Nguyễn Lộc. It became known for its attacking leg scissors and has been on the national intangible heritage list since 2023.
Quick Facts
VietnamCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
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About Vovinam
Vovinam, with the addition Việt Võ Đạo since the nineteen-sixties, is a Vietnamese martial art founded by Nguyễn Lộc (1912 to 1960). According to the World Vovinam Federation (WVVF), he completed his research in the autumn of 1938 and began teaching a group of friends as a trial. Green gives the year 1938 and Hanoi. The daily Đại Đoàn Kết writes that the art arose as early as 1936 and was taught publicly only from 1938. According to Green, Nguyễn Lộc added elements of Chinese wushu, judo, karate and taekwondo to his knowledge.
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According to Green, the name combines the word vo, martial art, and vinam, short for Vietnam. According to Green, the addition Việt Võ Đạo came in 1964, according to the WVVF around 1966. In 1942 the French puppet regime closed vovinam schools, according to Green, and Nguyễn Lộc kept teaching in secret. In the early nineteen-fifties he moved to Saigon, and vovinam then entered the curricula of military and police academies. He died in 1960, according to the WVVF aged 49, according to Green aged 47, and handed leadership to his chief disciple Lê Sáng. Green describes vovinam's movements as practical and direct, similar to karate but more supple and relaxed. Its leg techniques set it apart most, above all the leg scissors, in which the practitioner clamps the opponent with both legs and pulls him down. The daily Đại Đoàn Kết lists twenty-one such attacking techniques, đòn chân tấn công. It is practised on the principle of cương nhu phối triển and with weapons, including the sword, the sabre, the staff and the fan. The World Vovinam Federation (WVVF) was founded on 25 to 26 September 2008 in Ho Chi Minh City. Vovinam first appeared at the Southeast Asian Games on 14 November 2011 in Jakarta. In November 2023 it was inscribed on Vietnam's national list of intangible cultural heritage for Ho Chi Minh City.
History
According to the World Vovinam Federation (WVVF), Nguyễn Lộc was born on 24 May 1912 in the village of Hữu Bằng in Thạch Thất district, now part of Hanoi. In the autumn of 1938 he finished his research and began teaching a few friends on a trial basis. About a year later he presented his students at the Hanoi opera house, and in the spring of 1940 the first public course opened at the Hanoi teacher training school, followed by courses in Nam Định, Sơn Tây and Thanh Hóa. Green states that public teaching at the school was made possible by Dr. Dang Vu Hy, chairman of the sports association. In 1942, according to Green, the French puppet regime closed the vovinam schools and forbade Nguyễn Lộc to teach, but he kept teaching in secret.
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In the early nineteen-fifties, according to Green, Nguyễn Lộc moved to southern Vietnam and opened a school in Saigon. Within ten years vovinam had entered the curricula of military and police academies. According to the WVVF, Nguyễn Lộc died on 29 April 1960 in Saigon and handed leadership to his chief disciple Lê Sáng. His remains are laid to rest on Sư Vạn Hạnh Street in the tenth district of Ho Chi Minh City. From 1961 to 1963, according to the WVVF, the South Vietnamese regime restricted martial arts schools, and vovinam was taught only at a few private secondary schools. In 1964 teaching resumed, and since schools began offering instruction, around 1966, the name Vovinam Việt Võ Đạo has been used. Green places the addition of the name Việt Võ Đạo in 1964. On 15 December 1978 master Nguyễn Văn Chiếu opened a course at the Hòa Bình swimming pool in the eighth district, thereby reviving the school in Ho Chi Minh City. According to the newspaper Báo Lào Cai, the school's Council of Masters was founded in 2010.
How it differs
Green compares vovinam's movements to karate but calls them more supple and relaxed. According to him, it is the leg techniques that set vovinam apart most. The newspaper Đại Đoàn Kết writes that vovinam stems from the traditional Vietnamese wrestling vật and combines it with the best of martial arts from around the world. Today there are two world organizations. The World Vovinam Federation (WVVF), based in Ho Chi Minh City, was founded in 2008 and issues rules, technical standards and grades. The diaspora organization Vovinam Việt Võ Đạo World Federation, with a council of masters, holds its own world championships and in 2000 adopted its own grade convention.
Technique
Green describes the movements of vovinam as very practical and direct, similar to karate but with greater flexibility and looseness. In his view, it is set apart most by special leg techniques, many high jumping kicks and scissor takedowns, in which the practitioner clamps the opponent with both legs and trips him, the best known being the flying scissors. The newspaper Đại Đoàn Kết states that vovinam has twenty-one attacking leg techniques đòn chân tấn công in all, with which the opponent is brought down using both legs. According to it, vovinam has long been known for three techniques: elbow strikes chỏ, which are banned in some competitions because the elbow is used very forcefully in it, the chém quét technique, a cut on one side and a sweep on the other, and the attacking leg techniques. The syllabus includes strikes, kicks, blocks, knees, elbows and takedowns, and the weapons kiếm, đao, côn, thương and dagger. According to the website Znews, the principle of cương nhu phối triển trains bare hands, elbows, legs and knees and weapons including sword, saber and fan.
Training
Green states that students first practice leg techniques at leg height, and as they progress the height increases until it reaches the neck and face. To avoid injury, they must master falls and rolls. At each grade they learn ten exercises with specific attacking or defensive techniques, and then sequences that combine those ten exercises. According to the World Vovinam Federation, the training program was divided in its early period into three levels, beginner, intermediate and university, focused on martial art, martial strength and martial doctrine. A peer-reviewed Vietnamese sports science journal examined how third-year students of the sports university in Ho Chi Minh City use attacking leg techniques in sports sparring.
Ranks and progression
Green describes a system of seventeen colored belts, from shades of blue for beginners to a white belt with blue, black, yellow and red stripes for the grand master. According to him, blue means hope, black the color of water, yellow of earth, red of fire and white purity. The World Vovinam Federation (WVVF) states that it issues technical standards and grades and holds international belt examinations. The parallel diaspora organization Vovinam Việt Võ Đạo World Federation adopted an international grade convention in Los Angeles on 19 August 2000. It recognizes two systems, the traditional one from 1964 and an international one. According to it, the minimum age for 1st dang is 16, between 1st and 2nd dang there is a two-year wait, and between 2nd and 3rd and between 3rd and 4th dang three years. Grades from the red belt of 5th dang are awarded only by the council of masters. We have not found a full table of colors and grades in text form.
Competition
Vovinam first appeared at the Southeast Asian Games on 14 November 2011 in Jakarta, where, according to VietNamNet, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia competed for fourteen sets of medals. According to the World Vovinam Federation, it was there for the second time in 2013 in Myanmar, with eighteen sets, then was absent from three Games and returned in 2022 in Hanoi. There it had, according to the newspaper Việt Nam News, fifteen sets of medals, six categories in sparring and nine in demonstration. The parallel diaspora federation scores forms from 1 to 10 under the technical competition rules of the 2022 World Championships in Paris. Among the categories are quyền forms and a category with four compulsory techniques out of twenty-one and two free ones. The seventh WVVF World Championships were, according to Báo Lào Cai, to be held on 22 to 30 November 2023 in Ho Chi Minh City.
Today
In November 2023, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyễn Văn Hùng signed a decision that entered vovinam Việt Võ Đạo, for Ho Chi Minh City, on the national list of intangible cultural heritage. According to Báo Lào Cai, the Vietnamese vovinam federation is preparing a nomination for UNESCO and plans a vovinam academy in Ho Chi Minh City. The World Vovinam Federation (WVVF) was founded on 25 to 26 September 2008 in Ho Chi Minh City with representatives from more than thirty countries. According to VietNamNet, the Vietnamese national federation was also founded in 2008, the Asian one in 2009 and the European one in 2010. In 2023 the Vietnamese federation marked 85 years since the school's founding, and its president, also president of the WVVF, is according to Báo Văn hóa Mai Hữu Tín. Outside Vietnam, according to Green, the first school opened in 1976 in Houston, while the WVVF states vovinam in several European countries as early as 1973.
Did you know
According to the tradition Green reports, flying scissors arose so that Vietnamese infantry could attack Mongol cavalry in the 13th century. According to Green, the school's slogans were Vietnamese people practise Vietnamese martial arts and Whoever is not a student of vovinam is not a Vietnamese patriot. Green also states that on 25 August 1999 a woman was for the first time promoted to senior master of vovinam. According to VietNamNet, in 2011 vovinam became, after shuttlecock, the second Vietnamese sport at the Southeast Asian Games.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded vovinam?
Vovinam was founded by Nguyễn Lộc (1912 to 1960), who, according to the World Vovinam Federation, began teaching a group of friends in the autumn of 1938. Green gives Hanoi. The newspaper Đại Đoàn Kết states that the art arose as early as 1936.
What are the scissors in vovinam?
They are the attacking leg techniques đòn chân tấn công, in which the practitioner clamps the opponent with both legs and pulls him down. The newspaper Đại Đoàn Kết lists twenty-one of them.
Is vovinam at the Southeast Asian Games?
Yes, first in 2011 in Jakarta, then in 2013 in Myanmar and, after a break, again in 2022 in Hanoi.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.