VietNamNet Bridge - Twenty five years ago Ngo Xuan Binh created a new martial art called Nhat Nam that is the only purely Vietnamese form of kung fu.

“Kung fu is not an act of violence,” says Master Ngo Xuan Binh, the founding father of the martial art Nhat Nam. “It is the way to guide us to the perfection and harmony of individuality in a community. It’s a way of self-improvement!” Perhaps this explains Binh’s plethoric talents – besides being a kung fu master, he is a poet, a painter, an acupuncturist, and a doctor of oriental medicine.

He is also currently lecturing Oriental Philosophy at a Russian university. He explains that Nhat Nam originates from the Hoan and Ai regions of ancient Vietnam where today you would find Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces. Master Binh hopes that this purely Vietnamese martial art can bring all of the different schools and martial arts groups in Thanh Hoa and Nghe An province together as “one united group under the Vietnamese sky!”

However, such the popularity of Nhat Nam since being created 25 years ago it has already attracted followers from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Germany, France, Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. When I meet Master Binh he is taking a class attended by some senior European disciples of Nhat Nam who have travelled to Nghe An province, the ancestral homeland of their code.

Historically, Nhat Nam traces its roots back to a kind of kung fu known as het, which means ‘scream’ in Vietnamese. People from Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces devised ‘het’ kung fu to combat wild animals as well as any rival army that should appear on the horizon. The original movements were based on the movements of wild beasts like tigers, bears, pythons and monkeys.

“The basic principle of Nhat Nam is a combination of strength. Every part of your body has its own power,” explains Binh. “Each strike must come from all parts of your body at the same moment. Nhat Nam is a beautiful and smooth combination of power, like you’d see in a panther or a snake.” In feudal times the best ‘het’ martial artists would have served in the royal guard.

This is why Binh believes Nhat Nam is an integral part of the nation’s spirit. It is also a purely Vietnamese martial art uninfluenced by other forms of kung fu. Binh was born to a traditional martial arts family in Vinh, Nghe An province. Besides inheriting certain techniques from his family, he devoted much of his time to studying with kung fu masters from Thanh Hoa and Nghe An.

After a long period of extensive training, in 1983 he developed Nhat Nam while also teaching art criticism classes at the Hanoi teacher’s training college. During a class of Nhat Nam he wears a French beret, a clue to his artistic side. “Nhat Nam does not claim to be the best martial art of Vietnam as others do,” says Binh. “I only mean to say that Nhat Nam is a completely Vietnamese form of kung fu.” In 1990, Ngo Xuan Binh left Vietnam for Russia where he established the Nhat Nam Martial Art Federation. Nhat Nam is now very famous in Russian and Baltic countries.

“Many countries consider martial arts as a part of their national culture. Such countries like Japan, Korea and China spread their traditional forms of kung fu abroad with the aim of creating opportunities to exchange knowledge and develop their countries. Why don’t we do that to promote Vietnam?” asks Binh. But this cultural exchange is already in progress.

The students learning in Russia and Baltic region have travelled here to the heartland of Nhat Nam to further understand this Vietnamese martial art. “When I discovered Nhat Nam, my first impression was that it was too wild. It was like no other kind of martial art,” says Valerie, who teaches Nhat Nam in Latvia. “It is one of the few kinds of martial arts in Asia that is not based on Shaolin. That’s why I stayed with Nhat Nam until now.

That’s my choice and maybe my karma! But this is the most unique fighting art I’ve seen.” Another student, Le Hung, from Hanoi only started studying kung fu at the age of 20. “I thought I was too old to study kung fu but I was wrong. Unless you want to be Bruce Lee or Jet Lee or Jackie Chan… age does not a matter,” says Hung.

“My master started at the age of 13 and his master only began at 27 and he has continuously improved himself until now.” “Kung fu can enrich your life and expand your limit. In other words, kung fu has two basic sides: sport and art. For sport you must be young, for art – well there is no age for art.”

(Source: VIR)