It has been five centuries since the Cham kingdom with its capital of Vijaya became part of unified Dai Viet country in 1471. Binh Dinh martial arts talents have shown up as many as stars in the night sky and brought fame to the villages of martial arts with their high spirit and real expertise.
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Song phuong kiem (Phoenix Double Sword technique)
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Secret martial arts techniques of three Tay Son Heroes
Master Nguyen Dong Hai had studied Buddhist teachings and martial arts at the 200-year-old Long Phuoc Pagoda in Tuy Phuoc district, Binh Dinh province when he was still a young boy. Because of his fate, he gave up the frock as he was very famous for his great martial arts talent. He has been living a peaceful life since then as a doctor of Vietnamese traditional medicine (based on medicinal herbs) in Phu Cat district, Binh Dinh province. Knowing from Master Tran Duy Linh - a disciple of Master Hai and a Vietnam traditional martial arts instructor of Binh Dinh Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism - that Master Hai were keeping very miraculous secret techniques, I got to meet him.
Probably experiencing many ups and downs, Master Hai’s face looked meditative at the first sight although he had already settled down with his married life at the age of 44. It was the presence of Master Tran Duy Linh that helped me get a talk with Master Hai about Tay Son- styled martial arts secret techniques about which few people had known so far.
Master Hai explained, “The material wrote about the martial arts life-work of 20 renowned generals under Tay Son Dynasty, including the Three Tay Son Heroes of Nguyen Nhac, Nguyen Hue and Nguyen Lu. Its author was Master Nguyen Trung Nhu, alias Hu Linh An, also known as Thong Cat. He was the 8th-generation descendant of Long Ho Khong Hong school. The secret techniques were internally handed down from generation to generation within each of the school and rarely shared to outsiders. Yet, Master Nguyen Trung Nhu knew very well the quintessential secret martial arts techniques of the heroes because he probably had been building a good friendship with them. They all lived in the same time and mutually admired one another.”
The three Tay Son Heroes were bright at both roles of scholar and military general. They were extremely excellent at forms and weapon uses although each of them had their own strong points.
With his straight sword technique (Doc than kiem), Nguyen Nhac could kill numerous of enemies just in some acts of brandishing the weapon. The black saber technique employed by Nguyen Hue was as powerful as hurricane.
He, thus, was honored as a “Heavenly General”. Yet, soft form created by Nguyen Lu was the most mysterious technique. He was able to take life of his adversaries in a flash with just a light stroke.
In a fight to the death, the then Tay Son style martial arts had techniques of hitting dangerous spots like in kungfu Chinese films. Master Hai confirmed that the statement was reliable. Yet, few people really knew how to employ the techniques.
Legend has it that only Nguyen Lu mastered them. Everybody was terrified to see Nguyen Lu performing the unique form of martial arts, said Master Hai. He struck at different vulnerable spots on human body. In case he struck at vital points, flows of the opponents would be stuck, leading to immediate fatality.
The Hung Ke quyen (Bravery Cock Fighting Style) created by Nguyen Lu after he had watched cockfighting went down to posterity and was chosen as one of the 10 most prominent forms of Vietnam traditional martial arts by Vietnam Traditional Martial Arts Federation.
Martial arts related marriage
Under the strategic leadership of the Tay Son brothers, the farmer troops became the crack armed forces who resumed and finished responsibility of uniting the country. Among the renowned generals of Tay Son Dynasty, the high-ranking Commander-in-chief Tran Quang Dieu and female general Tran Thi Xuan were popularly known in many anecdotes.
Tran Quang Dieu was accepted as an orthodox disciple by extraordinary martial arts expert Diep Dinh Tong, who had been living at Kim Son Mountain (at present-day Hoai An district, Binh Dinh province). The extraordinary man was living with a tiger.
After 5 years of learning martial arts with the weird man, Tran Quang Dieu went down the mountain and started his heroic cause. Before his leave, Diep Dinh Tong gave him a precious saber called Huynh long bao dao.
One day, on his way to Kien My village to look for Nguyen Nhac, Tran Xuan Dieu encountered a big tiger. He had been fighting barehanded against the ferocious wild animal from morning to afternoon. Bui Thi Xuan and her entourage accidentally appeared as Dieu was in the dangerous situation. Witnessing the death threat from the tiger, Xuan joined Dieu in the fight with her special talent of using double swords. They finally defeated the animal.
It was said that Bui Thi Xuan had once organized competitions to look for a husband. Days went by and no one in the region had been qualified enough to compete with the woman who would became a famous general of Tay Son Dynasty later until she met Tran Quang Dieu. Their marriage resulted from the martial arts competitions. The material about Tay Son style martial arts secret techniques mentioned the saber techniques of Tran Quang Dieu and the extremely skilled sword technique of Bui Thi Xuan.
Bui Thi Xuan herself created Song phuong kiem (Phoenix Double Sword technique) while she was training war elephant troops at Tay Son Highlands (present-day 3 districts of An Khe, K’bang and Konchoro, Gia Lai province).
Legend has it that she created the technique after dreaming of a phoenix couple which offered her a precious sword. She taught her 5 inferior women the technique. Tay Son Emperor conferred her and other 4 women the title “Five Principal Heroines of Tay Son Dynasty” then.
A thousand-year-old martial arts technique
According to an anecdote, Ly Cong Uan came to the throne when many rebellions commonly took place. The king himself quelled the revolts a lot of times. Finding that mountains and forests were so dark for his troops to use common weapons in dawn break battle formation, Ly Cong Uan created U linh thuong technique to train the troops.
No one but the very first king of Ly Dynasty, who moved capital of Dai Viet from Hoa Lu to Thang Long (modern-day Ha Noi) in 1010, that created the thousand-year-old technique, said Master Tran Duy Linh. The technique was collected in the book Luc tuong tang vuong pho minh binh thu chieu phap (Book of warfare and kungfu employed by military generals over dynasties). The book was compiled by To Hu Minh, who founded Long Lo Khong Hong school in the post- Le Dynasty.
The technique had been handed down to generations of the school’s followers. Long Ho Khong Hong school is now at the 13th generation while the person who takes responsibility of passing U linh thuong technique to the next generation still lies low.
It is very strange that U linh thuong is popular in Binh Dinh, the land of martial arts. One of the very few people who perform the technique most successfully is Master Tran Duy Linh. Although the name of the crucial person to U linh thuong is still unknown, many people guess that no one but Master Nguyen Dong Hai is the right person. The fact that he is technical adviser to Master Tran Duy Linh in performing the thousand-year-old technique is probably the reason.
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