Survival is a four-letter word:
Hung Suen Wing Chun’s E.J.N.K Street Strategy
By Si-Fu Alfredo Del-Brocco
When it comes to nitty gritty hand to hand combat survival for the street, Hung Suen Wing Chun has no nonsense, no choreography, and no bullshit method of approach.
There have been several principles and strategies written and talked about by various teachers of the differing disciplines and lineages of Wing Chun. These concepts and their application were designed to efficiently and effectively defeat a hypothetically `best’ opponent or enemy of the times. Many kung fu systems were developed for combat against a martial arts warrior; someone possessing and adhering to a code of honour. Times have changed. At the end of the day, the martial artists of the new millennium must look at the 21st century street animal. An animal that when faced with the harsh reality of survival and gang rather than clan honor, has no respect for the law or its consequences and will resort to whatever it takes to win. Therefore, we need to arm ourselves with a simple but effective set of guidelines.
Often students ask me about the various theories of Dim Mak, Iron Shirt Chi Gung and other traditional and sometimes fabled methods of martial arts training. My answer is always... “Know your history books”. Take the Boxer Rebellion for example. British soldiers pointed muskets at their Chinese counterparts, who were armed only with the skill and training of their various martial systems. Their Chi Gung and Dim Mak strategies were no match for the lead bullets that easily penetrated their Iron Shirt training. Bearing this in mind, we need to understand the street weapons of today: knives, sticks, bats and even small firearms. More importantly, we must realize that there are people out there who would use these weapons to rob us of our livelihood, our mobility or even our lives. We must be ready to diminish and disable an attacker or opponent in the most rapid and devastating ways possible. Hung Suen’s E.J.K.N. Strategy is one of those ways.
Understanding that the E.J.K.N. strategy only encompasses hand to hand combat and must be modified to suit weapons such as knife or gun (perhaps a topic for a future article), we shall commence our look at it.
E ... stands for... EYES
The Eyes are a prime target for street combat. Remembering that if you take someone’s vision away from them – even momentarily - they cannot see what strikes you are going to finish them with and therefore cannot defend against them. If someone’s vision is blurred or taken away from them they also cannot see what direction you retreat in (i.e. to get away and fight another day if necessary, remembering that a broken ego always heals faster than a broken nose!) Taking the sight away from your opponent may save you valuable seconds, which could mean the difference between winning and losing. Hung Suen employs the fingers, thumb, hand and fist to achieve the desired result. Also implementing survival tactics such as using objects around you like a hot cup of coffee, an object thrown into opponent’s face and so on can also equalize the odds. Your opponent’s pain, shock and fear of not being able to see what is happening could provide the psychological advantage you need to defeat them.
J ... stands for ... JAW
A well timed strike to the jaw either ‘on the button’ (chin) or to the side could be the equalizer in determining weather you are a victim or a survivor of a street encounter. Again, Hung Suen Wing Chun employs the strikes with the fist, palm or elbow to achieve this end result. The fist could encompass any rear cross or lead or rear hook or uppercut. The palm strike might be made with the heel or blade of the palm. Even the elbow can be used to strike the jaw in several different ways – including upward or horizontal. The Hung Suen ‘Iron Palm’ hand conditioning training drills ensure that any well timed strike to the jaw puts your opponent `to sleep’.
N ... stands for ... NECK
Any strike to the neck region could be the difference between walking away or finding yourself on your arse, or worse, in a polished wooden box. Hung Suen employs the blade of palm, forearm, fist, heel of palm and a couple of the previously mentioned strikes that can readily be turned into blood-flow (arterial) or oxygen-flow (tracheal) choke holds. Remember, if your opponents have no air they can have no attitude. A common strike to the side of the neck in the cartoid artery region has the desired effect of sending a message to the brain, albeit a false one, that the body is suddenly suffering from high blood pressure. The body responds by shutting down and passing itself out flat, so that the heart is under less stress to pump the blood through the body. The throat is a very brittle area and any strike to the throat could have fatal consequences in interrupting the pathway for air to reach the lungs. For this reason, throat strikes must be used judiciously in combat. Of course, when the option is your throat or theirs, is there such a thing as a choice? Similarly, any well-targeted strike with the heel of the palm to the rear or base of the skull can have a desired yet serious result.
K ... stands for ... Knees
Take out your opponent’s knees and you take their balance and hence their ability to stand and fight, run after you, or hit you with further kicks or punches. The worst injuries found in a lot of sports such as football or basketball is the anterior crucial ligament. Unlike kickboxing where a low round kick must be aimed 3 to 4 inches above the knee, the Hung Suen practitioner would blast through the knee joint with the low round kick or a front or rear heel stomping kick also nicknamed the ‘elephant’ stomp. The knee joint only needs 20 to 30 pounds of force to be applied before it buckles and incurs serious ligament damage.
In conclusion, a cautionary tale
Strikes to the four key targets listed above can be put into any combination and from a variety of angles and combat ranges including groundfighting and grappling. The ultimate goal is to walk away quickly unscathed or before a weapon such as a knife is drawn. The above areas are considered primary guaranteed targets while a conclusive result with areas such as the groin is, from my own personal experience, a risk. There was a memorable incident where an aggressor, later found to be hyped up on a cocktail of drugs, was struck several times very convincingly with a shin kick to the groin that would have brought a tear to any red-blooded male, but did not immediately go down. However, an elbow to the jaw that was quickly turned into a figure-4 chokehold around the neck brought this armed and potentially dangerous individual under control. For, after the police arrived to apprehend this person, it was also discovered that a nicely concealed knife and screwdriver were on his person. In closing, my advice is know what from your system’s arsenal is merely choreography that looks great on the kwoon / dojo floor and what is genuinely effective `on the street.’ Question, test, evaluate and re-evaluate. In essence, you must strive to separate the fable from the fact while you have a fighting chance.
