Hung Fut
| Also known as | Hung and Buddha style kung fu |
|---|---|
| Focus | Striking |
| Country of origin | China |
| Creator | Lei Jou Fun |
| Famous practitioners | Hung Yu Chung, Hung Kam Pui |
| Parenthood | Hung Gar, Fut Gar |
| Olympic sport | No |
Hung Fut (Chinese: 洪佛; pinyin: hóng fó) is a southern style of Chinese martial art, first developed in the early 1800s by Lei Jou Fun 李祖寬 and widely practiced today.
Hung Fut is considered to be a hybrid system. Its philosophies are a mixture of two martial art systems: the powerful, hard style of Hung Gar with the flowing, soft style of Fut Gar (Buddha's palm) forms that develop body coordination. Hung Fut is a combat method that uses economy of movement in order to achieve efficiency. Its strategies are to try to throw the opponent into an awkward position that makes defense difficult and counterattack unlikely. There is no need to keep contact with an opponent, as the system uses interchangeable and flexible movements.
The system also includes techniques from Fut Jeung which is thought to be a Shaolin Buddhist method, and ten animal styles (snake, tiger, leopard, lion, eagle, crane, monkey, elephant, horse and dragon) as well as "8 Drunken Immortal" forms (based on the personality traits of the 8 heavenly deities of Chinese traditional religion), "4 Afflictions/Cripples" forms (a deceptive mimicry of one who is crippled) and a left- handed form (based on the legend of a famous general fighting while holding the infant son of a Chinese emperor).
There are somewhat different lineages and succession stories listed by various Hung Fut schools around the world. The stories of the masters vary also from account to account. As the style has moved around the world, the content of the system—number and names of forms, types of power used, stances, techniques, theory, and training methods—has also changed, leading to a large variation from school to school.
8th generation grandmaster, Tai Yim, the adopted son of Hung Yu Chung, the 7th generation grandmaster, immigrated from China to the United States in 1977. He traveled to the United States to fulfill the wish of Hung Yu Chung to spread Hung Fut to the west. He opened his first United States side school in Wheaton Maryland in 1978 and now teaches in Kensington, Maryland, a suburb outside of Washington D.C.
The 9th Generation Masters, inducted by 8th generation Grandmaster Tai Yim include: Master Linh Thai, Master Eugene Chung, Master John Miller, Master Mike Sutton, Master Vicky Miller, Master Shelton Lee Jr, Master Ricardo Chen, and Master Jae Ha Hwang. Some of his most notable students include Joe Myers, Don Niam, Hung Stewart (International Grand Champion), Phung Lee ( International Grand Champion), Ed Pratt (National Full contact fighting and Forms Champion), Antwann Rawls (Forms and Fighting National Grand Champion), James Whitley (Forms and Fighting International Grand Champion), Philippe Prosper (Forms and Fighting International Grand Champion), Lester Solomon (Asst. Chief Instructor), Michael Hammond (Asst. Chief Instructor Forms and Fighting International Grand Champion), Stephen Roberts (Asst. Chief Instructor).
...
Wikipedia