Master Tse’s Wing Chun Notes #80

Wing Chun Fist – Yaht Jih Chung Kuan 日字沖拳

Punching comes next in Siu Lim Tao 小念頭. It is called Yaht Jih Chung Kuan and it means the fist we hold in vertical is like the Chinese Character “Day日”. “Chung Kuan 沖拳” means “Punching”. We always use the left hand first and then the right hand. This is because most people are right handed and so their right hand is stronger, when facing our opponent during fight our left hand interacts with their right hand and so we need to train the left hand more.

At the end of the form we punch three times, we start with the left, then the right and then the left hand again. We can of course do more, but we always start with the left hand and in fact all movements in all of the Wing Chun forms start on the left side. At the beginning of the form we punch only twice, first the left hand and then the right hand.

The Wing Chun fist is vertical with the index finger at the top and the thumb holds the first three fingers. Before we reach our target, the fist should be loose. It only becomes strong when we reach our target and then the power must connect with the whole body. Our power comes from our legs.

Michael Tse