The reform of the Quyen of sword
La Commission Technique Internationale
The International Technical Board
299-23-CTI/EN-01-10-2023
Grand Master Tran Nguyen Dao
President of the World Council of Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao Masters
President of the International Technical Board
The reform of sword techniques-1st level
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The Quyen of Sword
The 5 subjects forming the 1st level of the sword system are:
- Attack techniques.
- Parade techniques.
- Counter-attack techniques.
- The Quyền Lưỡng Nghi Kiếm Pháp[[1]].
- The Song Luyện Kiếm.
The Quyền Lưỡng Nghi Kiếm Pháp
Quyen Luong Nghi is part of Traditional Quyen. That is to say a concentrate of techniques which simulate an imaginary fight against one or more opponents, with the aim of achieving not only excellence in technical areas such as: basic techniques (attack techniques and parade techniques.), orientation in space, movement, but also to seek to control one's breathing and vitality in order to achieve total self-control.
Quyen is therefore not a simple grouping of techniques but a set of techniques which follow one another to form an individual working method corresponding to a given level of practice.
Quyen is generally divided into several "sequences", each sequence is composed of several movements, and each movement develops into a series of coherent techniques, which are linked and coordinated to form a combat or counterattack situation, in short: a system.
I.The place of Quyen in the teaching system of Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao with the principle: 1 generates 3
According to the concept of Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao, the content of Quyen reveals its nature and meaning while positioning itself at the heart of other subjects. It is in Quyen that we must exploit, interpret and bring together the techniques of other subjects, such as basic techniques (attack techniques, parries), counter-attack techniques, combined sequences (Song Luyen ), positions, etc. to create an interdependent dynamic in accordance with the Vovinam-Viet Vo Dao teaching system with the principle: 1 generates 3.
II. II. Analysis du Quyen Luong Nghi actuel:
- The Quyen Lưỡng Nghi is made up of 15 sequences, therefore very easy to memorize, if you know the counterattack techniques, also known under the term “analysis of sword techniques” (Phân tích Kiếm).
- As a whole, 80% of its techniques are consistent with the other subjects(basic, counterattack and Song Luyen techniques) which are "extracted" from Quyen. But there remain some contradictory and major problems
1- There are differences between the techniques in Quyen and counterattack techniques. And the disparities are even more striking with Song Luyen. The principle “one generates three” is therefore undermined in its principle
2- If we strictly respect the positions and movements, then at the end of Quyên, we do not return to the initial position, but further back by approximately 3 meters
3- Towards the end of Quyen, from the 11th sequence, we observe excessive use of rotation techniques (3rd and 4th attack tech.). And if we calculate the entire Quyen, there are 35 techniques out of 78, which represents more than 45% of the Quyen. Here is the detailed analysis of the current Quyen :
- 25 Chem 3 techniques (rotation from bottom to top): 32.05%, or a third of Quyen,
- 10 Chem 4 techniques (rotation from top to bottom): 12.82%,
(Including a total of 35 rotation techniques, which represents 45.32% of Quyen).
- 4 Chem 1 techniques (vertical cutting edges): 05.13%,
- 10 Chem 2 techniques (horizontal cutting edges): 12.82%,
- 2 Chem 5 techniques (45° from bottom to top): 02.56%,
- 2 Chem 6 techniques (45° from top to bottom): 02.56%,
- 7 Chem 8 techniques (Dam): 1 direct drill to the right (8.1), 2 direct drill to the left (8.2), 1 horizontal drill (8.3), 2 verticals drill from top to bottom (8.4) and 1 vertical drill from bottom to top ( 8.5): 08.97%,
- 17 parry techniques (blocks): 21.79%,
- 1 direct jump kick (Da Bay Thang – Phi Cuoc): 01.28%.
4- The 13th and 14th sequences have not been clearly codified in counter-attack techniques.
This is why the reform of Quyen sword must favor study that is both scientific and rational, because it is Quyen which “generates” the techniques for other subjects.
III.The principles of improving 1st level sword techniques.
1- Respect the shapes and objectives of the sword by only proposing changes linked to the four identified imperfections;
2- Reduce the number of movements by keeping only the essential ones;
3- Propose new techniques to fill in the gaps;
4- Change the old techniques in order to remove contradictions, and at the same time achieve coherence between the three subjects which make up the 1st level sword techniques, namely: Quyen, Song Luyen and counterattack techniques.
5- Return to the starting position of the Quyen.
In order to implement the stated improvement principles, here are the modifications:
1- Reform of Quyen Luong Nghi Kiem Phap (see below: 299_23_EN_ Sword Tech Reform_Quyen of sword.pdf)
2- Implement basic techniques such as: attack techniques and defense techniques (parry) – See file: « 298_23_EN_ Sword Tech Reform_Basic Tech.pdf».
3- Reform of saber counterattack techniques – See file: "300_23_ EN_ Sword Tech Reform_Counterattack techniques.pdf"
4- 4- Reform of Song Luyen Kiem - See file: "301_23_ EN_ Sword Tech Reform_Song Luyen Kiem.pdf"
IV.Reforming Sword Quyen:
The new sword Quyen has a total of 62 techniques, instead of 78 like the old one, which are distributed as follows:
- 12 Chem 3 techniques (rotation from bottom to top): 19,35%,
- 2 Chem 4 techniques (rotation from top to bottom): 3,23%,
(Including a total of 14 rotation techniques, which represents 22,58% of Quyen).
- 6 Chem 1 techniques (vertical cutting edges): 09,68%,
- 8 Chem 2 techniques (horizontal cutting edges): 12,90%,
- 2 Chem 5 techniques (45° from bottom to top): 3,23%,
- 3 Chem 6 techniques (45° from top to bottom): 4,84%,
- 2 Chem 7 techniques (the blade placed horizontally): 3,23%,
- 8 Chem 8 techniques (Dam): 1 direct drill to the right (8.1), 3 direct drill to the left (8.2), 1 horizontal drill (8.3), 2 verticals drill from top to bottom (8.4) and 1 vertical drill from bottom to top ( 8.5): 12,90%,
- 18 parry techniques (blocks): 29,04%,
- 1 direct kick (Da Thang): 01,61%.
V.Coding:
- VI.The Quyen's movement pattern:
The diagram below traces the movements during the execution of Quyen:
- From the starting point, up to 2 steps forward (+2, red).
- Maximum 3 steps back (-3, dark blue).
- And a maximum of 2 steps to the left or to the right, depending on the direction of execution of the Quyen (0 and -1, green).
If these limits are exceeded, the Quyen will be inaccurate and non-compliant.
