葉問宗師的詠春絕技 - 詠春拳的「控制」和腿法 How good was Ip Man’s Kung Fu?– “Controlling” and Kicking in Wing Chun

葉問宗師的詠春絕技 - 詠春拳的「控制」和腿法

詠春拳在最近幾年的快速普及必須要感謝那些與葉問宗師相關題材的電影。正如我們都知道電影要娛樂觀眾，所以製作電影的人經常使用想像力來不是美化就是誇大影片中人物的武功。但是，在現實生活中的葉問功夫到底有多好？在實戰中，葉問的詠春拳打起又是什麼樣子呢？

終其一生葉問宗師有許多學生，但很少有人真正有機會看到在實戰中他如何使用詠春拳。他的兩個香港時代弟子，不只是有機會親眼目睹葉問的詠春拳他們還親身「體驗」了葉問的功夫。他們就是梁相師伯公和黃淳樑師公。這倆人在成為葉問的弟子前都曾經習武而且倆人原本都想只測試葉問的功夫。在他們被葉問宗師擊敗之後都成為了他的弟子。也許我們可以透過葉問宗師與他的兩個弟子交手的過程略窺一二。雖然，電影《葉問2》有演黃淳樑挑戰葉問的場景，而在《一代宗師》和《葉問：終極一戰》也有演梁相挑戰葉問橋段。然而在電影終就是電影。那麼，到底宗師葉問是如何打敗他的兩個未來的弟子呢？

黃淳樑與葉問比試的有不同的故事不同版本，這裡我採用黃淳樑師公自己的說法。在一次採訪中，黃淳樑師公回憶起他與葉問比試的經過說道：「當我第一次到(葉問的武館)，在葉問沒有教我什麼時，我和他的兩個學生對打並擊敗他們。但隨後葉問親自和我打，我感到葉問打敗我的方式是如此的流暢並且相當有說服力，我便想向他學習。葉問擋下我所有的拳。他完全沒有打我就直接控制了我。在當下我明白我已經輸了」。幾個葉問宗師的弟子都說當他們與師傅做黐手時，葉問從來不打他們而是控制他們。

比較起黃淳樑的比武，梁相與宗師葉問的比武增加了幾分神秘色彩，因為除了宗師葉問打敗他並沒有很多相關的資訊。最後找到梁相的學生的一篇文章。文章中寫道在這一比武單靠宗師葉問的一腳就結束了。以下是該文章部分的選錄。「葉問宗師因戰亂南來至香港，於一古廟中掛單，不知如何給人知道他是學詠春拳的，當時港人對詠春拳聞所未聞，其中有一位彪形大漢，是一名武痴。在好奇心的驅使下，很想見識一下詠春拳法，於是到古廟找葉問。並道明來意。但見葉問身裁瘦削，跟這大個子相比，其有點像梁醒波與新馬仔，有些輕敵。看不起眼前的葉問及詠春拳，心想不消一個回合，便可將對手擲出廟外，亦不擺出架式，立即大吼一聲，撲將過去，誰知還未接戰，已慘叫一聲，倒下地來，發現右腳幾乎被踢斷，因不知怎的給葉問踢中上下五寸之要害(胫骨)，當時仍摸不到頭腦，直到多年以後才知道是如何給踢斷的。後來痊癒之後，走起路來右腳有點一跛一跛的。但亦輸得心服口服，並拜葉問為師，葉問在香港收的第一個徒弟，就是這位彪形大漢，亦是筆者的師父──他的名字叫梁相。這個故事就是他親口述說出來的，很多追隨他多年的徒弟都知道這個故事」。關於葉問宗師的腳法還有另一個故事。有一天葉問宗師在香港街頭遇見一個扒手試圖竊取他身上懷錶。葉宗師也是用一腳把扒手踢飛出去。

雖然，詠春拳同門對宗師葉問的故事總是感到有趣的。不過，本文的宗旨是利用這些故事來凸顯詠春的控制技和腿法，因為許多人有認為詠春拳是只有「打」的武術。一些同門選擇只專注並非常擅長於詠春拳「打」的一面。說真的那也不錯。但對於那些熟悉傳統中華武術應該知道絕大多數武術都包括四個元素：踢、打、摔、拿。詠春也不例外。個人認為「摔」和「拿」都可是控制技的一部分。雖然大多數人談到詠春即想到令人眼花繚亂「打」的速度，當我還在林文學(Gary Lam)師父門下學習時，他常鼓勵我們花更多的時間在我們的腿法以成為一個更強和更全面的詠春拳習練者。師父林文學也不希望我們的詠春停止在「打」上就感到滿足，他經常鼓勵我們「升級」(“upgrade”)我們的功夫和在控制技能上多下功夫。要控制一個全力抵抗的對手實在是不容易做到;尤其是當我們完全不打他。就我而言，如果一個人能做到「控制」，他將有更多的選擇。一來並非在所有情況下，我們可以單靠「打」 來解決。例如，保安人員或面對一個喝醉酒鬧事的朋友。此外，當你「控制」 住對手時你可以選擇收手;如果他同意停止他的攻擊行為。或者，你可以選擇重傷他，因為他已經是完全無法抵抗任由你擺布了。在我們林文學(Gary Lam)詠春系統的第二級(Level 2)課程，我們非常注重控制技和腿法的訓練。

附註：

1.      黃淳樑師公自述的來源為《Qi》雜誌。作者是Daniel Poon。文章的標題是《Wong Sifu – A Passion for Wing Chun》。

2.      梁相與宗師葉問的比武經過源出於《詠春的起源》。作者是楊七郎。原文的連結。http://www.cantoneseculture.com/page_MartialArtLife/martialArt003.aspx

3.      在網路上搜尋後，發現梁相與宗師葉問的比武故事的第二個版本。這個版本傾向於葉問用詠春拳的「控制」折服梁相。文章的標題是《葉問公的生平事》。葉準、葉正、徐尚田、蕭煜民、黃紀民口述。彭耀鈞筆錄。「問公鑑貌辨色，觀人於微，心知梁君不太順服；在大家客氣了一番之後，便比試起來。梁君的龍形摩橋講求吞吐，若對手一拳打來，他便會把對方的拳頭一吞，拉入自己的身體範圍之內，然後又隨即一吐，把對手推走。梁君準備在問公身上施展這種吞吐功夫；他把問公的手一接一吞，隨即準備一吐；可是，在他一吞之時，問公便順勢以膀手一撞，很輕鬆的便把他推到很遠很遠之外。此役之後，梁君便聯同他的結拜兄弟四處宣揚問公的功夫了得，更親身拜師學習詠春拳術」。原文的連結。http://ihome.ust.hk/~su_wcsoc/ipman_c.html

How good was Ip Man’s Kung Fu? – “Controlling” and Kicking in Wing Chun

The popularity of Wing Chun in the recent years has to give credits to those movies that depicted Ip Man .  As we all know movies want to entertain the audience, so they often used the creativity license to show the movie characters' Kung Fu.  But, how good was Ip Man's Kung Fu in real life and how was it like in real combats?

Grandmaster Ip Man had many students throughout his life, yet very few of them actually had the opportunity to see how he fought.  Two of his Hong Kong era students not just had the opportunity to witness how he fought, they got to "experience" it themselves.  Maybe we could get a sense of Grandmaster Ip’s Wing Chun in real fights through how he defeated these two students.  Both of these two students had prior martial art experiences and both wanted to test Ip Man’s Kung Fu.  They became Ip Man’s students after they were defeated by Ip Man.  They were Leung Shueng and Wong Shun Leung.  In the movie “Ip Man 2” had a scene of Wong challenged Ip Man.  In “The Grandmaster” and “Ip Man – Final Fight” had scenes of Leung Shueng challenged Ip Man.  Movie is movie; the fight scenes are more elaborated and exaggerated.  Then, what really happened?  How Grandmaster Ip Man defeated his two future students?

One can find different versions of the story on the internet, here I use his own account. Wong Shun Leung recalled his fight with his Sifu: “When I first joined, I sparred with his two students and beat them even before Ip Man had taught me anything.  But then Ip Man fought with me, and I felt the way that Ip Man beat me was so smooth, and was convincing that I wanted to learn from him.  Ip Man controlled me without hitting me at all.  He stopped my punches and I recognized that I had been bettered.”  As a matter of fact that several of Ip Man's students have said that when they did Chi Sao with their Sifu he never strike them but controlled them. 

Comparing to Wong’s fight, Leung Shueng’s fight with Grandmaster Ip Man was more a bit of mystery, since there weren’t a lot of information on the fight, except Grandmaster Ip Man beat him.  I was able to find an article written by one of Leung Shueng’s students.  Following is an excerpt (I took the liberty of translating it from Chinese to English.) from that article: “When Ip Man first moved to Hong Kong due to the unrest in China, he stayed in an old temple.  Don’t know how the words got spread out that he had learned Wing Chun.  At that time, Wing Chun Kung Fu was little known in Hong Kong.  There was a big guy who was a real martial art nut.  Due to his curiosity, he went to the temple wanting to experience Wing Chun.  He told Ip Man his purpose of visiting him.  Ip Man was a man with slight stature comparing to this big guy, so this person didn’t think much of Ip Man nor his Wing Chun.  He thought he could throw Ip Man out of the temple in no time.  So, this big guy just rushed toward Ip Man.  Suddenly, he screamed and fell down to the floor.  His right shin bone was almost broken into half by Ip Man’s kick.  This person wholeheartedly admitted his own defeat and became Ip Man’s first disciple in Hong Kong.  His name is Leung Sheung.”  Another story about Grandmaster Ip Man’s kicking skill is one day there was a pickpocket trying to steal from Grandmaster Ip.  Grandmaster Ip also used one kick to send him flying. 

Although, the stories of Grandmaster Ip Man are always interesting for those who practice Wing Chun to hear.  However, the main focus of this article is to use these stories to highlight the controlling and kicking skills of Wing Chun, since many people consider Wing Chun is a striking/hitting art only.  Some Wing Chun people choose to focus on just “striking” aspect of the art and are very good at it.  That’s all fine and dandy.  But, for those who are familiar with the traditional Chinese martial art should know most arts compose of four elements: 1. Striking, 2. kicking, 3. Throwing and 4. Joint-locking/Chin Na; to me “Throwing” and “Chin Na” are parts of the Controlling skill.  Wing Chun is no exception and has all four elements.  Although most people associate Wing Chun with blinding-speed hand strikes, my Sifu Gary Lam encourages us to spend more time working on our kicks to become a more formidable and complete Wing Chun practitioner.  Controlling against a fully resisting opponent is really not easy to do; especially when we don't hit him at all.  Sifu doesn't want us to stop at hitting and satisfied, he often encourages us to "upgrade" our Kung Fu and work hard on the controlling skill. Personally, if one can do "control", I think one will have more options. Not in all situations we could rely on just "hitting."  For example, the policeman or against a drunken friend.  In addition, you can choose to stop hurting your opponent and let him go if he agree to stop his aggression. Or, you can choose to put a lot of hurts on him since he is completely at your mercy and can't resist any more.  In our Gary Lam Wing Chun system, we put strong emphasis on training Controlling and Kicking in our Level 2 curriculum.

Note:

1.      Wong Shun Leung’s interview can from “Qi” magazine.  The author is Daniel Poon and the title of the article is “Wong Sifu – A Passion for Wing Chun.”

2.      Leung Sheung’s story came from an article written by one of his student.  Link to the article in Chinese.

http://www.cantoneseculture.com/page_MartialArtLife/martialArt003.aspx

3.   After searching some more on the internet, I found another version of Leung Sheung vs Ip Man story.  In this version, Grandmaster Ip relied more on his “controlling” skill to defeat Leung Sheung.  The story described Leung Sheung as an expert in Dragon Style Kung Fu.  In this style, they use “swallow” and “spit.”  For the example, when the opponent punches he would “swallow” the punch (pulling his opponent in), then he would “spit” (push) out the opponent.  Leung Sheung intended to use these techniques on Grandmaster Ip Man.  However, when Leung “swallowed” Grandmaster borrowed his force and used Bong Sao to fly him out afar.  Link to the original article. http://ihome.ust.hk/~su_wcsoc/ipman_c.html