Nino bernardo

Safari Wing Chun - the next stage of my journey...

By Nino Bernardo

Recently two of the boys who spent the summer training at Ibiza Kwoon met up with some other wing chun practitioners, who spell the name of the art differently. When my name was mentioned, the other practitioners immediately indicated that they had heard of me. “Our style of wing chun is better,” they said. “We hit each other at our school.”

My students cme back and told me about this incident. My initial reaction was of anger and concern. I was angry that my wing chun was judged as inferior to another style. I was also concerned because I earn my living from teaching wing chun and I do not want to promote nor encourage “hitting each other”. I did all that when I was learning in Hong Kong. I also followed that approach for nearly all of the first ten years when I was teaching at the Basement in London.

During the Basement years, I began to see analogies between wing chun and a safari. In the past, the people who would go on safari were the very rich. These would pay for a team of natives to carry the food and the tents and whatever else that the “brave hunters” from far-away countries would need to survive in the jungle while looking for wild animals to kill, stuff or skin and then take home as a trophy. The result was a trade, a huge business in skins and other products from the death of animals.

Of course, the safari still exists today, but cameras have replaced the guns. Back at the Basement, in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, I gradually introduced the idea of “taking photos” with our hands, fists, elbows, knees and feet instead of hitting one another.

One side effect was that we were able to practise chi sao without pauses to clean bloody lips, to open the first aid kit or to rush a mate to hospital (although this actually only happened twice). Nobody would miss training for weeks to allow fractured ribs to heal. The first aid kit would gather dust on the shelf and soon became forgotten.

One other side effect was that we were able to evolve and develop a strategic attitude and see a path in our chi sao as well as acknowlege, recognise and avoid dangerous areas. This resulted in longer flowing and more enjoyable training with only the occasional bruise caused by the accidental use of more force than required. Yet another side effect is the development of a certain thought process. Another way of putting this would be a higher level of sanity.

Of course, there will always be the tough guys who would prefer a more “realistic” chi sao, along with the real risk of injury. I will not get in the way of two people who choose to go along the hard path, but in my school this has to be an activity between two consenting adults and does not take place in the presence of new or young practitioners.

In a real fight, it is not unusual for one person to die and the other to be badly injured. If one loses their life, there will be no more stress nor happiness. Meanwhile, the other fighter lives on, often with serious injuries, and might even fight again.

I know and I agree that wing chun, however it is spelt, works as a fighting tool. Efficient fighting can be found in many schools these days. I simply choose not to promote that side of this phenomenal system.

I will always admire and respect the skills of my sifu, the late Wong Shun Leung. However, the only person qualified to offer Wong Shun Leung wing chun is the man himself, and he is no longer with us. I can only offer my own experience, opinions and interpretations of wing chun. I hope you won´t believe a single word of this article. Double check with your conscience and make up your own mind.

Nino Bernardo will be available to discuss these ideas in further depth at his spring seminar in London.