Admin note: Please read this post and chime in with your thoughts! A friend wrote this and we find it quite interesting as it falls in line with our own research on the matter. We want as many thoughts/comments as possible on the subject!
I was talking to a friend in Wing Chun who was telling me about this old woman; she was a Wing Chun grandmaster and contemporary of Ip Man, who took on all challengers and defeated all of them (armed or unarmed) with the 8 Wing Chun methods using just 1-4 movements. This was a mainland version of the art, and in a lineage that has all but died out.
These 8 methods were demonstrated in the swords form, on the dummy, and in empty hand fighting.
Having known that most Wing Chun lineages have 8 sets in the swords form, and having seen 8’s other places in the system (8 methods of kicking for example) I started looking for what these “8 methods” might actually be.
What I found was surprising, and yet not surprising. No one can agree and everyone has different interpretations. Some people have 8 methods, some have 12. Some have 8 sword techniques, some 8 sword methods, some have 8 sword cuts, and while some have 8 sword sets that have multiple methods and techniques within them. Still others say it is the sword protecting the 8 directions.
