Вьетнамдық жекпе-жек өнері: Вовинам және Việt Võ Đạo

Vietnamese martial art

Vovinam (short for Võ Việt Nam, meaning "Vietnamese Martial Arts"), officially known as Việt Võ Đạo (越武道, meaning "Vietnamese Way of Martial Arts") is a Vietnamese martial art founded in 1938 by Nguyễn Lộc. It is based on traditional Vietnamese eclectic sources. Vovinam, based on the principle of "hard and soft", involves the use of strikes, elbows, kicks, knees, and wrestling moves, as well as weapons such as swords, knives, chisels, claws and fans that serve as training devices for reaching optimal control of body and mind. Students also learn defense techniques and forms. Amongst Vietnamese martial arts, Vovinam is the largest and most developed with more than 60 schools around the world, including Poland, Belgium, Canada, Cambodia, Denmark, Germany, the United States, Morocco, Norway, Russia, France, Romania, Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Italy, Australia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Spain, Algeria, Taiwan and Greece, among others.

Vovinam/Việt Võ Đạo was founded 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. Lộc believed martial arts would contribute to freeing Vietnam from colonial rule, which had been ruled by France since 1859, and from outside domination. Vovinam added elements of Chinese and Japanese systems onto traditional Vietnamese martial arts, systems, was thus created partially as a response to the French occupation, meant to promote a sense of national identity for the Vietnamese people. Hence, it is similar to taekwondo in that it is an eclectic system with combined elements of Japanese and Chinese martial arts onto an indigenous framework. After being invited to demonstrate Vovinam publicly in Hanoi with his disciples in 1940, Lộc was invited to teach the art at Hanoi's École Normale, and Vovinam gained in popularity. During the following years, political unrest increased throughout Vietnam; due to the system's nationalist political orientation, the art came under suppression. By 1954, Lộc had emigrated to South Vietnam, where he was able to continue to teach and establish Vovinam schools. Vovinam now exists without the political overtones it originally carried. This shape symbolizes the harmony of hard and soft. Within this yellow shape, the red text "Vovinam" is written above the marine blue text "Việt Võ Đạo". Beneath the text appears a Âm Dương symbol in red and marine blue. The Âm Dương is surrounded by a thick, white circle, symbolizing the being of the Dao, with the mission to mediate between negative and positive (Âm = Negative, Dương = Positive), to subdue the two, to enable life of all beings. A yellow map of Vietnam is superimposed on the symbol.

The yin and yang theory (Vietnamese: "Âm Dương" and "Nhu Cương") states that everything in the universe and on earth is initiated through the interrelation of Âm (negative) and Dương (positive). As to this theory there are martial arts that prefer the hard over the soft and others that prefer the soft over the hard. Vovinam Việt Võ Đạo does not prefer any over the other. Hard and soft are used equally to adapt to every situation, to every problem. The student aims to develop the ability to combine hard and soft in combat and in daily life. This aims to develop both their physical abilities and spirit. Not only the principle of the harmony of hard and soft but also many other things resulting from the training contribute to internalizing the martial art philosophy, e. g. fighting spirit, courage, tenacity, fairness, modesty and tolerance. Above all the training in morality and the way of applying the techniques shape the students' character. Emphasis is placed on recognizing one's ego and overcoming it. In doing so the Vovinam student will gain generosity and tolerance with other people. With the awareness that the most important thing in a human's life are other humans, the final goal is to be able to not only help oneself but also to help others to live in peace and harmony with their surroundings. With the salutation "Iron Hand over benevolent heart", the student is reminded of the main principle and the goal of Vovinam Việt Võ Đạo with every training. It is also about using the opponent's force and reaction, reaching maximum effect with comparatively little force.

Vovinam has Voninam World Championships since 2002 as well as Vocotruyen World Championships.