User:NhanNakMuay/Tay Son Nhan

Tay Son Nhan is a Vietnamese Martial Arts form, with roots in both Chinese and local styles, that first started making a name in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) during the 1940's with it's founder Bui Van Hoa. In the 1960's and 1970's it became famous under Grandmaster Nguyen Van Mach. The fighting prowess of his students was well recognized through all the country. Today Tay Son Nhan is beginning to grow again. It has spread to countries like the United States and France.

Bui Van Hoa: Grandmaster 1945-1958

Early Days

Grandmaster Bui Van Hoa (1894-1958) was born in the land of Binh Dinh. Both of his parents were well trained in martial arts. At the age of 10, he was already considered a high level technician and throughout his youth he traveled through China to further his learning in Vo Thuat and continued to stay at the top of his martial art studies. During this time he trained in two types of martial arts; Thieu Lam (Shaolin) and a more simplistic style of defense; Vo Dang (Wu Dang) but later on he took the two and combined them together. He called his hybrid "Thieu Lam Noi Quyen" which focused on releasing and controlling ones inner energy (qi), to harness strength and speed. His real birth name was of course Bui Van Hoa but later on he decided to shorten it and say Chin Hoa because he was the 9th child of the family (Chin is 9 in Vietnamese). In total he continued his martial arts studies for more than 30 years, after he mastered the art, he packed up and went back home to Binh Dinh in 1945.

Founding

When he moved back down in 1945, he followed the communists and during those few years he taught Thieu Lam Noi Quyen in a small town, he later on packed up again and moved down to Saigon leaving his communist beliefs and starting fresh with a new school down there. When he moved down to Saigon, he opened two schools. One in Saigon and one in Gia Dinh. And both schools continued to grow more and more successful in business. And he called both schools "Tay Son Nhan" and we continue to keep the name. For some reason when he later on called his schools Tay Son Nhan, that attracted more and more people to come in and learn and later on that's where we get many of our TSN artists under him like Nhat Ho and Nhi Mieu, Tam Tru, and Tu Tinh. That's what Chin Hoa named them. The first was Nhat Ho (nhat means 1st, ho is tiger) and he named him so because he fought with speed and strength like a tiger. Nhi Mieu (second cat) was named so because of his agility, great defense, and his smooth and soft moves like a cat. And third, Tam Tru kept his family name. But he's known for his quite painful and hard to block kicks. And forthly, Tu Tinh was named was for his quick thinking and timing and his odd way of waiting for his opponent to tire out and attack at once when they show the slightest bit of exhaustion. Mainly using his knees and elbows. He favored close-up fighting. And strangely enough these 4 different students with 4 different trademarks all add up to what Tay Son Nhan is.

Forms

Tay Son Nhan's base is built upon the forms Mai Hoa Quyen and Mai Hoa Thuong better known as the Plumb Flower Form. In China there are many branches of this style. Simplicity and economy of motion is very important in this form. The stance training and the hand techniques are the key. At first the form is practiced on the floor, after some time the student will train on top of elevated wooden posts called "plumb flower poles" or "monkey poles" in other systems. Aside from training a student in the basic skills, the Mai Hoa Quyen form in Tay Son Nhan encompasses many fighting techniques vital to the Tay Son Nhan system. The Mai Hoa Thuong form is a sister form that follows the pattern of the Big Dipper Constillation.

Other forms in Tay Son Nhan are the 5 animals; the dragon, tiger, panther, snake, and crane in that order. Also there is La Han Quyen better known as the Shaolin Lo-Han style.

Luu Van Lien: Grandmaster 1958-1960

In TSN there's this 2nd group of masters that people called "Ngu Tam Nhat Thap". In english this roughly mean 53-10. The 53-10 included Ba Ve, Ba Lien, Ba Suu, Ba Lai, Ba Toc and Muoi Mach. Ba is Vietnames for 3 and muoi is ten. These men were the greatest of Chin Hoa’s students.

On feb. 22, 1958 Chin Hoa passed away and he left the school to vo su Luu Van Lien (Grandmaster Ba Lien) born 1909-1985. Ba Lien was also a fellow villager in Binh Dinh just as Chin Hoa was. And one of the first students of Chin Hoa. He learned under Chin Hoa more than 10 years in Binh Dinh and continued to follow Chin Hoa down to Saigon and further his learning under him down there. Ba Lien was a man of honestly, loyalty, and full of wit. He was also a quick learner. He had very little schooling, but he was very bright. He didn't just learn martial arts alone, but also took up studying Buddhism along with medicine and anatomy. Of all of Chin Hoa's students it can be said Ba Lien was the top. He had more knowledge than the others due to his time with Chin Hoa. It’s a loss because he only handled the school for just 2 years, and he stopped because he took up full dedication to becoming a monk. And soon after he left the school in responsibility of Nguyen Van Mach born (1921-1990).

Nguyen Van Mach: Grandmaster 1960-1990

Even though Chin Hoa was the founder of Tay Son Nhan, Nguyen Van Mach is responsible for taking this art and making it prosper even more and beyond what Chin Hoa could ever imagine if he was still alive. He later on managed to open a total of 6 more schools in Saigon and all were very successful. There were over 1000 students in total. He also changed the teaching process differently than the way Chin Hoa did but it was a more efficient way for the students to learn the right way of Chin Hoa's teaching. Students continued to get better and better in the art and fought numerously and won practically every match they got into. Because Nguyen Van Mach drilled the main basics into their heads so they wouldn't forget how to properly block punch and kick.

Famous Students

Hung Nhan was also Nguyen Van Mach's student. He wasn't the best of the class, he was good. Much more wins than losses. But Grandmaster Mach gave him high praise because he found Hung Nhan to be the most dedicated and the most hard-working. Hung Nhan became a local champion prize fighter. He should not be confused with Hong Nhan, one of Grandmaster Mach’s sons. In reality Hong Nhan was a good fighter too, he learned willingly from his father. But he did not study the different aspects of Tay Son Nhan. Another of Grandmaster Mach’s students was To Dinh Thanh. He was also a great fighter. Like some of Nguyen Van Mach's other famous prospects, Thanh never lost even one fight. And Nguyen Van Mach favored him because he saw a great person in Thanh. Grandmaster Mach had two daughters Hong Yen Nhan and Hong Van Nhan. And both shared the top title for the lightweight. By 1969, Nguyen Van Mach finally got his top 10 students to be promoted masters and certified by the government. From there, Nguyen Van Mach took his schools in Saigon and brought them up to the government. To broaden and expand Tay Son Nhan even more and bring it out of just little Saigon so it spread all over the country. And he got the country's attention with how good TSN was. Ever since then he expanded the news of TSN with the help of the government, he was always on good terms with them, and when he died on June 12, 1990, thousands upon thousands of people mourned for his loss and always kept his name in high respect.

Fighting Method

Tay Son Nhan truly is a unique martial art. It originates from several branches of Chinese martial arts and yet in Vietnam many of it’s practitioners used it in the ring. Many people forget that Vietnam, like all South East Asian countries, had it’s own kickboxing art. The world today recognizes Muay Thai as the original kickboxing art when in fact Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam all possessed a very similar martial art often used for prize fighting in the ring. Unfortunately after the Vietnam war all kickboxing stopped. Only recently has kickboxing made a come back but this time it has a closer relation to San Da, a Chinese Kickboxing style. The most noted techniques in the South East Asian systems are the shin style round kicks, the clinch & knee strikes, and the elbow strikes. The Tay Son Nhan artist may practice flowery forms from Chinese Kung Fu but they use a hybrid style of fighting. The combination of dangerous self defense moves and the “finish the fight quickly” mentality of Kung Fu and the no-nonsense devastatingly powerful kickboxing style Tay Son Nhan found its way to the ring, street, and battlefield. This is how Tay Son Nhan was during Nguyen Van Mach's time.

To Dinh Thanh: Grandmaster 1992-Present

In 1992, Grandmaster To Dinh Thanh became the third generation so far to take over the Tay Son Nhan business and carry off where Mach left off. All the members of the Tay Son Nhan council voted to elect a new Grandmaster two years after Nguyen Van Mach's death. The vote was unanimous for To Dinh Thanh. Even Nguyen Van Mach's wife chose To Dinh Thanh to carry on her husdand's school. By this time To Dinh Thanh brought his whole family into the art and changed his life to be fully dedicated to the school of Tay Son Nhan. Aside from the art that was founded by the man from Binh Dinh, he took up Muay Thai, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido and Kendo before he learned anything from Grandmaster Mach. After becoming a Master under Nguyen Van Mach, Thanh tracked down Ba Lien. He was able to learn many forms and techniques from Chin Hoa's top disciple that nobody before had learned. Thus To Dinh Thanh was able to grow stronger connections to the root of Tay Son Nhan. He also studied from other disciples of Chin Hoa such as Ong Sau Tru, Ba Toc, and Ba Lai. Also To Dinh Thanh is a Doctor of Herbology and Acupuncture.