Vovinam

Vovinam

Master Tân Rousset training Dai Dao
Also known as	Việt Võ Đạo, VVN, VVN-VVD
Focus	Hybrid
Hardness	Full-contact
Country of origin	Vietnam
Creator	Nguyễn Lộc
Famous practitioners	Le Sang (Grandmaster)
Parenthood	Vietnamese martial arts, Vietnamese traditional wrestling
Olympic sport	No
Official website	No

Vovinam (short for Võ Việt Nam; Vietnamese: Việt Võ Đạo, Martial Arts of Vietnam) is a Vietnamese martial art.

Vovinam is practiced with and without weapons. It is based on the principle of between hard and soft. It includes training of the body as well as the mind. It uses force and reaction of the opponent. Vovinam also includes hand, elbow, kicks, escape- and levering techniques. Both attack and defense techniques are trained, as well as forms, combat and traditional wrestling. The wide range of techniques include punching, kicking, forms, wrestling, sword, staff, axe, folding fan and others.

Self-defense techniques cover defense against weaponless attacks like choking from behind and defense against attacks with knife or sword. Advanced students learn to combine the techniques and learn to defend themselves 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 control of body and mind.

Vovinam Việt Võ Đạo was founded as Vovinam by Nguyễn Lộc (1912 – 1960) in 1938, with the intent of providing practitioners with an efficient method of self-defense after a short period of study. Nguyễn believed martial arts would contribute to freeing Vietnam, which had been ruled by France since 1859, from outside domination. Vovinam, which Nguyễn synthesized from Chinese styles of kung fu, his own knowledge of traditional Vietnamese martial arts, and elements of Japanese and Korean systems, was thus created partially as a response to the French occupation, meant to promote a sense of national identity for the Vietnamese people.