Vovinam ist a vietnamese martial art. Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ...

Vo (Võ): "Martial Arts".

Vinam stands for "Vietnam"

General

Vovinam - Viêt-Võ-Dao is a martial art designed for self defence, health and personal developement. It is based on he priciple of harmony between hard and soft. Vovinam uses force and reaction of the opponent. Over the years a student will develop amicability from his/her own strength, generosity and tolerance as well as fighting spirit, courage and tenacity, but also fairness, modesty and tolerance.

Vovinam includes training for the complete body. For self defence the Vovinam-student uses hand- and ellbowtechniques, kicks, throws, escape- and levering techniques. Both attack and defense techniques are trained, just as foot techniques, forms (Quyen, Song Luyen), combat and traditional wrestling.

Advanced students learn to combine the techniques and learn to defend himself/herself against armed opponents.

Instructors train traditional weapons like the long stick, short stick, knife, sword and sabre. Thereby the weapons serve as training devices for reaching optimal body control. Outermost concentration is nescessary.

The wide range of techniques include punching, kicking etc. as well as Quyens ("Kata", "Form"), wrestling, sword, staff ("Bo")(not the chinese "Gun"), axe, and others.
Self defense techniques cover defense against weaponles attacks like choking from behind or grabbing and against attacks with knife or sword. Kata (åž‹) (literally: form) is a Japanese word describing detailed patterns of defense-and-attack movements practiced either solo or in pairs. ... This article is about the meanings of the word form connected with shape or structure. ... Image of a human-shaped silhouette holding a Bo (棒, Japanese Weapon) A bo (棒) is a long stick usually made out of wood or bamboo. ... Gun (棍 pinyin gùn) refers to a long Chinese staff weapon Categories: Weapon stubs | Weapons of China ...

Hard and Soft

The Yin & Yang-Theory (in vietnamese "Am & Duong") states that everything in the usiverse and on earth is initiated through the interrelation of Yin (negative) and Yang (positive). As to this theory there are martial arts that prefer the hard over the soft and others that prefer the soft over the hard. Vovinam - Viêt-Võ-Dao does not prefer any over the other. Hard and Soft are used equally to adapt to every situation, to every problem. Taoists Taijitu The concept of Yin Yang originates in ancient Chinese philosophy, most likely from the observations of day turning into night and night into day. ...

Based on Võ-Thuat the student will develop the ability to combine hard and soft at the right relation, in combat and in daily life. This will develop both pysical abilities as well as the student's spirit.
Not only the principle of the harmony of hard & soft but also many other things resulting from the training contribute to internalizing the martial art philosophy. E.g. fighting spirit, courage, tenacity, fairness, modesty and tolerance. Above all the training morality and the way of applying the techniques shape the students's character. The greatest difficulty is to see through ones own ego and then to overcome it. On success in doing so the Vovinam student will gain generosity and tolerance with other people. With the awareness that the most important thing in life of a human are other humans the final goal is to be able to not only help oneself but also to help others to live in peace and harmony with ones surrounding, and if nescessary to be willing to give ones own life for other people.

With the salutaion ("the strong hand on a benevolent heart") the student is reminded about the main principle and about the goal of Vovinam - Viêt-Võ-Dao with every training. Is is also about using the opponent's force and reaction, hence reach maximum effect with little force/effort.

History

Founder of Vovinam - Viêt-Võ-Dao is grandmaster Nguyen Loc. Grandmaster Nguyen Loc (* 24. ...

In his younger years he was training traditional, vietnamese martial arts. At that time Vietnam had to suffer under 50 years of french colonialisation. To his belief a strong nation could only arise if its youth was trained - a strong body, a clear mind and a "pure" soul. He was determined to make changes.

He bagan studying various martial arts. He read books about history, arts, health, philosophy and religion. He united all his experiences in a new martial art and philosophy. It was so far patriotically influenced as it was made by a vietnamese for vietnamese people. The variety of the sources is refelcted in the variety of the techniques.

Vovinam spread the world by vietnamese emigrating from Vietnam mostly over France.

After Nguyen Loc's death grandmaster Le Sang signed worldwide responsible for the further developement and the worldwide distribution of Vovinam. Grandmaster Nguyen Loc (* 24. ... Grandmaster Le Sang (* Autumn 1920 near Ha Noi, Vietnam) is grandmaster of the vietnamese martial art Vovinam since 1960 (due to:2005). ...

The 10 priciples of Vovinam - Viêt-Võ-Dao

1. Vovinam's disciples promise to attain higher level of martial art in order to serve the people and humanity.
2. Promise to be faithful with Vovinam and develop the young generation of Vovinam - Viêt-Võ-Dao
3. Be unanimous in spirit and heart, respect the elder, love fellow peers.
4. Respect discipline absolutely, maintain the higher honour of a martial art disciple.
5. Have respect for other martial art schools, only use martial art skills for self defense and protect justice.
6. Be studious, strengthen the mind, enrich the thought & behavior.
7. Live simple, with chaste, loyalty and high mind.
8. Build up a spirit of steely determination and vigor, overcome powers of violence.
9. Make intelligent judgments, carry out struggles with perseverance and act with alertness.
10. Be self-confident, self-controlled, modest, generous, critical with self for fur

The belt system, the suit and the colors

From 1973 and 1990 the suit was black. Viet Vo Dao (Viêt-Võ-Dao) is the Philosophy behind many vietnamese martial arts. ...

Since 1990 the suit is blue.

The adult begins with a light blue belt - the same color as his/her suit.
He then is a "Vo Sinh", a student aspirant.

Following the light blue is the dark blue belt. Then he/she is a "Mon Sinh", a student.
Blue stands for the factor of the sea, the female and the hope - the hope in being able to learn Vovinam.

With the following 3 exams yellow stripes are added to the blue belt. The 3rd yellow stripe is followed by the yellow belt. The student has reached the instructor's level.

Yellow is the asians' skin color. It symbolically stands for the skin color of all people. It symbolizes the internalization of the martial art and the philosophy.
The yellow belt is the same as te black belt.

Following in larger time steps 1, 2, respectively 3 red striped are added to the yellow belt. This corresponds to the 1st, 2nd, respectively 3rd Dang (Dan).
The exam following the 3rd red stripe is the master's exam. Passing the exam successfully assigns the rigt to wear a red belt with a circulating yellow border.
Red stands for the male, the blood, the intensive flame. The student has internalized Vovinam - Viêt-Võ-Dao even further.

5. to 9. Dang are shown as 1 to 6 white stripes on a completely red beld.
White stands for the infiniteness, the bones; is the sybol of the depth of the spirit. The white belt assigns the master the absolute mastery of Vovinam - Viêt-Võ-Dao.
The white beld stands for the 10. Dang.

Specialties

Vovinam has some unique techniques:

1. Scissors: Leaping at the opponent, kicking or grabing the opponent and pusching or draging him down. Verry spectacular looking in demonstrations, usable as a verry surprising attack in a fight.
2. "Dam Lao": A swung fist to eg. he temple.

Weblinks

See also

Viet Vo Dao, Vo Thuat

International 

vovinam.com; Vovinam International

USA 

Sandiego; South Seattle

Canada 

Canada (1); Canada (2): Brampton

Australia 

The Australian Vovinam Viet-Vo-Dao Association Inc.

Belgium 

L' Association Vovinam Intercontinental Belgium

France 

Fédération Vovinam Viet Vo Dao France; Mouvement Phong Trao Vovinam Viet Vo Dao Au Chau; Vovinam Bussy; Vovinam-Paliseau; viet-vo-dao.com.fr

Germany 

Vovinam Viet Vo Dao Bundesrepublik Deutschland e.V.; Föderation Vovinam Viet Vo Dao Deutschland; Föderation Vovinam Viet Vo Dao Deutschland; Nussloch; Muenchen; Stuttgart; Vaihingen an der Enz; Petershagen

Italy 

Italien Associazione Nazionale Vovinam Viet Vo Dao; Unione Vovinam Viet Vo Dao Italia; Viet Vo Dao Italia Federation

Russia 

Krasnodar region federation Vovinam Viet Vo Dao

Spain

Schwitzerland 

Fédération Suisse de Vovinam Viet Vo Dao

Viet Vo Dao (Viêt-Võ-Dao) is the Philosophy behind many vietnamese martial arts. ...

Further Sources

Viêt-Võ-Dao Föderation Deutschland
List of martial arts This is a list of martial arts, broken down by region and style. ...