Interviewer: Good evening sifu. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. I’d like to ask you about Yuen Kay San’s yiu ku.
Sifu: OK. I’m happy to talk on some of this.
Interviewer: First could you explain what the expression “yiu ku” means?
Sifu: Yes, it means important advice or sayings to help you achieve success in self defence. They are four character rhyming couplets in the original Chinese.
Interviewer: Would you give us the context for these sayings please, sifu?
Sifu: That’s a very good question! I don’t often get asked such a question! Thank you! I’m impressed by the question because so much of what modern practitioners say or think is naturally, unquestioningly, set against their modern life as the background. For the majority of practitioners, even if they’ve had the less than usual experiences of a practitioner who has lived in a dangerous country or location and had to employ their art for realworld self defence, their psychological constructs and perceptions of combat cannot be the same as those of the past masters who lived and fought in the feudal era in China. So, the context against which these sayings were derived is one where attacks with weapons and with deadly intent were, overall, far more common than in today’s world. Of course in those days there was no nonsense in laws favouring the perpetrator if he was injured or killed through his own fault! Hence, these sayings are fully intended to offer practical advice for realworld combat.
Interviewer: Like kuen kuit?
Sifu: Similar, yes. Kuen kuit are "fighting songs" or "martial sayings". Yiu ku tend to be more general pointers.
Interviewer: OK. Are you able, then, to offer some yiu ku, sifu?
Sifu: My own! (Laughs) Hit hard, hit fast, hit first, hit last! OK, seriously, though, I devised that one about twenty five or so years ago. It’s interesting that Yuen Kay San offered this: “Fight enemy fiercely, attack first to control. Attack several times, destroy”. This means that enemies must be fought fiercely and attacks may be initiated in order to gain control. Once an initial attack is made, it is followed up with a flow of attacks until your attacker is finished. That’s summed up in my experience in my four phrase poem. Most Wing Chun practitioners are probably taught to wait and allow an attacker to throw the first attack. Whilst this is one way, I think pre-emption is vastly wiser! Hence, my saying “hit first”.
Interviewer: Sifu, can you comment, or do any yiu ku refer to the Wing Chun motto: “Receive what comes, escort what goes; if no-one knocks on the door open it and go out”?
Sifu: Well that last phrase is the old saying. The modern way common now is: “if the hand is free and line clear, strike”. It’s: “Loy lau hoi sung, lut sau jik chung”. This tells us to retain what's coming in, send off what's being withdrawn, and attack when your hand is free. Sifu used to say you welcome the guest at the door, you see them to the door as they leave and if they don’t come to the door, you go out to greet them. Yes, the yiu ku do comment on this. A bit more advice is added. The yiu ku say: as force is presented, it should be received and the limb captured. Never resist it or knock it away, but accept it and stick to it. As force is drawn back, accompany it and add to it. When loss of contact occurs, or the hand crosses the centre line, attack straight down the centre line.
Interviewer: Do kuen kuit and yiu ku always overlap?
Sifu: No, not at all. One yiu ku, for example, advises not to plan ahead, that is, think into the future trying to second guess the attacker and stubbornly stick to what you plan to do regardless of the circumstances. Remember I’m always telling you to keep your mind in the moment and don’t let it attach to the past or future? Same thing. You can’t think in a fight! Is he a kicker or puncher? Straight or curved attack? Left or right? High or low? Aarrgghh! You’re dead! You see? Keep your mind free from attachment! Now how many times have I said that? Yet I don’t think that’s a kuen kuit.
Interviewer: Lots! Yes, you told us lots of times! OK. Can you offer another yiu ku please, sifu?
Sifu: Sure! Attack according to circumstances, be alive and always changing. This refers to our core principle of flow, see? Or, another: “When turning, the hands and body act together”. Remember I’m always saying feet finish, fist finishes, everything stops together? Same, see? You’ll never be able to forget my constantly saying “no horse, no gung fu”. Well, there’s a yiu ku that refers to this: “If your root is stable, the fight will be stable.”
Interviewer: So you are actually telling us yiu ku in training all the time, sifu?
Sifu: (Laughs) Yes! It’s either my important advice or the ancestors!
Interviewer: Wow! And I didn’t realise that you were transmitting such sought after material so freely!
Sifu: Well, you have to qualify as a student first so I agree to teach you! So it isn’t just throwing it out into the barn yard!
Interviewer: Can I extract a little more, please sifu?
Sifu: Oh, OK! This is one of my favourites: “Wing Chun fighter uses power the best way, sail with the wind, not against it”. I think that one has nautical roots going back to the Red Boats. It means don’t use force against force – go with the flow!
Interviewer: Back to the Red Boats - like some of our terms and expressions? Like you say when doing the dummy form, move like a fish around rocks? Or some of the technical names – whirlpool knives?
Sifu: Yes. Correct.
Interviewer: We were recently discussing trust, sifu. You told me a yiu ku that related to trust.
Sifu: Yes, I did indeed. It is: “Trust Wing Chun and your trained ability in application”
Interviewer: Ah! I see!
Sifu: I guess you see that my ideas are not just my idiosyncratic ideas but stem from the founders and ancestors!
Interviewer: So one must think of the source when one drinks water?
Sifu: (Laughs) I see you do listen to me! Yes, that’s considered very important.
Interviewer: Not everyone drinks the same water though do they?
Sifu: Oh, very good! You do listen! (Laughs) Yes, some are drinking very muddy water, some drink from a very shallow little trickle of water. Some drink polluted water! Some are sucking on air! Some are drinking a great mix of liquids with not much pure water in it!
Interviewer: There’s no yiu ku on that?
Sifu: Actually there is a kuen kuit that refers to this state of affairs. Yes, there’s one that says non Wing Chun techniques are unsuitable in training practice. It’s one of our rules! Keep the art pure!
Interviewer: So no mixing arts? No training in half a dozen arts?
Sifu: No. If you’ve found a genuine sifu, a genuine branch of the art and learnt it properly then there’s no need. You have all you need to fight. If not, then you can learn a hundred arts and still be no good at gung fu – but you’ll be great at “tongue fu”! (Laughs) Really good Wing Chun guys don’t find they need anything else.
Interviewer: Thanks for another interesting interview, sifu!
Sifu: Thank you for your time and effort.