Wing Chun Long Pole

One of only two Wing Chun weapons and probably the last part of the system that is still a big mystery for majority of the practitioners, students as well as masters, even for many "famous" teachers and respected grandmastes.  Part of the system we are talking about today is Long Pole, also known as "Dragon pole " in some systems or "6,5 point pole"

  Long pole is weapon characteristic for Pearl river delta region in Guangdong. During 19th century the road infrastructure was almost non existent and those roads that did exist were in a poor condition and overcrowded with bandits of all kinds. For fast and safe travel people of Guangdong area used specific boats with flat bottom that used vast network of natural channels of Pearl river delta. To pilot these boat crew used poles of different length, from 2,5 meter or more.

From the necessity to pilot the boats for several days on long and slow trips specific body structure and way of generating power was develop in order to maximize power output and preserve the energy and of course to release the pressure on the body of the pilot for as long as possible and to keep the balance on the shaky boat decks. That specific structure and power generation was used to develop a fighting system which goal was to prevent unwanted people to board the boats from the shore of other boats. This body structure and power generation  will later become a foundation of Wing Chun system.

Long pole is an emergency weapon developed from a tool (it is an actual tool) with limited fighting capabilities for specific environment. It was never used as a main weapon of any style although it can be found in many styles from Guangdong. As weapon it was too long, too heavy and too slow to be used in urban environment and training with a pole was pretty much neglected when style left the boats.

Today, almost as a rule, long pole is taught at the end of training as the highest and most advanced part of the system. On the other hand, at the time when the art was still practiced among boat crews training with long pole was a part of everyday life much before training in wing chun fighting system would start. This was of course not some special approach to training but simply the way of life, on long trips people simply had to pilot the boats at the same time developing power, balance and structure.

When the left the boats pole training was not important as before and it was neglected. Many crucial things in long pole training system were forgotten. On the other hand Wing Chun knives were still relevant for urban environment and could be kept hidden, they were ideal selfdefnse weapon at the time. For that reason, training with knifes continue to develop and today is much more elaborate than pole training. In most of the styles long pole became a thing of tradition.

Key elements are simply forgotten in many styles. In training accent is put on unimportant things, teachers insist on forms and sensitivity drills and of course there is a lot of politics and arguing who has the “original” or the “best” form.  Different styles have slight differences in executing some techniques and all differences are as usual proclaimed as wrong, ineffective ect.  Argument of this kid usually shows a lack of knowledge and understanding of log pole training. Long pole by its nature does not allow many movements and form is just a choreography, it is completely irrelevant in which order movements are executed.

Today long pole is mostly used as way to develop strength. Usually heavier poles are used for this kind of exercise and practitioners execute movements as strong and as fast as possible believing that this kind of exercising is the most efficient for developing Wing Chun skills. Although strength can be developed this way it doesn’t have anything with Wing Chun. Almost 99% of Wing Chun practitioners use long pole in described manner.

For successful and meaningful pole training it is not only necessary to understand proper body structure and its usage but it is also necessary  to understand that power generation for long pole is quite different from power generation of empty hand techniques and knives. Also, long pole body structure is more elaborate and has several variations which changes in correlation with specific techniques.

Proper practicing develops body structure, “ open” joints , develops strength .It is from outmost importance that every movement is executed from the proper structure.  Long Pole structure is quite different form the structure learned in empty hand forms and wooden dummy. Structure dynamic, fluid, ever changing , adjusting for every movement .This is due the fact that there is 12 basic ways to generate power for long pole techniques. Half of this ways are circular and the other half are linear. Large number of power generation ways is a consequence of the length of the weapon and the fact that long pole doesn’t have any sharp metal parts which could induce wounds without too much force. With proper power generation a lot of force can be released .

Practicing long pole in old, original way using complete body structure and power generation can help the practitioner to improve his skill and attributes in almost all areas of Wing Chun style and also to get better perspective how human body can be used in fight. Long pole can be universal tool for Wing Chun skills development if done properly