japan 2009

Fun, Inspiration and very hard training in the Bushido country: Japan.

Training mainly took place in the "Deep Impact" Dojo of Tokyo with Shooto mates Shinya Aoki (Dream and Shooto champion), Masanori Kanehara (Sengoku champion) and Hideo Tokoro. Secondly, training at the "Purebred" Enson Enoue's Dojo of Kyoto with Ueta Yu, Sato Takuya and Kawakatsu Saburo. Sifu Cesario greatly enjoyed his time in the wonderful land of the rising sun.

(below follow pictures and videos)

Fok-Fu

Fok-Fu is the perfect definition of our Southern Kung Fu Style, Weng Chun.

It means riding the tiger.

"Ride" is the most appropriate definition for the chinese word "fok", because it include, the way of combat for Weng Chun Fighters, which is the way of flowing with the opponent without stopping his way of being wild, but guiding him in a perfect strategy.

"Fu" is the tiger, the only wild predator, which it always guide his prey into his own fighting hunt game.

"Tame" is inappropriate definition of the name "fok" because who tames, does no guide but he collides in the power of his opponent trying to stop his natural way of being.

Who fights taming use to overcome the power of his opponents with his own power, who likes Weng Chun Fighter fights riding, use to overcome the power and the energy of his opponent with the soft way of circling.

Now out!

A new clip of Julian Hancock is out. The project of Si-Hing Julian Hancock, Weng Chun practitioner and Assistant of Sifu Cesario Di Domenico in the Dutch Head Quarter, was completed very succesfull.

Thanks of the help of one of the most known Dutch Movie Production Companies: maarten.nl, Sifu Cesario Di Domenico expresses in this unique video the potential of a fighter, who daily fights his deamons to always find himself sharp in the real skill of combat.

Special thanks for the movie goes to one of the 5 dragons: GGM Wai Yan, who represents a pilar of Weng Chun, the one who attracted with his personality the attention of the real kung fu pioneers; and special thanks to GM Andreas Hoffmann. Because with him, everything begun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieiyqvoGCdo

The time has been changed, but.....

I would like to share with all my readers my point of view concerning my style: Weng Chun Kung Fu, and the goal of our ancestors to spread this wonderful art.

In the early time our ancestors never kept any form secret, but they always try to teach: "the real secret was never in the forms or in the movements but in the actual time you spend training", this is the only substance that gives us the perfect skill. 

This, together with the knowledge of our concepts will keep the value of the art always; alive, eternal.

This message of our ancestors kept alive in the heart of every master and pupil for centuries trying always to educate trough this message and to keep out those who wanted to get something else out of it.

This relates to a story from the sixties of a very famous wing chun grand master who was in contact, only for a short time, with our style in the Weng Chun home of the time, called Dai Duk Lan owned by the latest chinese master, Great Grand Master Wai Yan.

GGM Wai Yan, according my teacher GM Andreas Hoffmann, some Chinese articles, and those who also met him outside the Kung Fu world, can say that he was a wonderful person, the one who could speak his opinion with a loud voice, the one who could say: "Weng Chun is not based on political rank, but on skill".

This message of GGM Wai Yan was very difficult to follow, even difficult with some of his Chinese colleagues, because it was a message deeper than every technique or form,  his message, was a message about life.

This is the time where GM Andreas Hoffmann could learn from him, because, GGM Wai Yan had the trust that Sifu Hoffmann could spread this message together with Weng Chun. This is why me and Sifu Hoffmann are very close, because this message is still alive in the bottom of our heart.

But like it was in the past, it is in the present. People trying to find themselfs in an endless political research to find out who "he" was and what "he has done".

The point is not, to search but to look inside, we all must look inside of us (this is the real concept of meditation). 

The real successor is not who found the 'right' person with the 'right' Chinese piece of paper, but who really owns the kung fu skill and has the knowledge to show it, the one who transmits the skill to his pupils without betraying any of their talents, the one who owns the skill to FIGHT, the one who owns the right concepts in his lifestyle.

We honor our ancestors and GGM Wai Yan in this way, and in our family we all know that he never wanted a fake bow on his grave but his message alive in the heart of every of his descendant.

In this way everyone can be the real successor of GGM Wai Yan.

Sifu Hoffmann more than his real diploma of LO Family and GM Wai Yan's successor, showed me this and I am trying my best to do the same. This will always give me the opportunity to be close to GGM Wai Yan and to all our ancestors, this will always give me the opportunity to be remembered in the skill of everybody, in the heart of everybody, this will always give me the opportunity to be, ETERNAL.

Sifu Cesario Di Domenico

 

   

The Absolute Beauty

Since the beginning of time, research of the absolute beauty was a need for anybody in any culture.

We find this back in classical literature, art, architecture and so on. 
 Classical beauty (like Winkelmann defined) formed the model for any single beautiful element, and created beauty which lives on forever through peoples work. 

In this way, classical beauty also got involved in every element of mankind, such as poetry, art, architecture but also martial arts.

Today we can still read thousands of years old texts and there are still beautiful and actual, like classical poetry or literature. 

This, according to me, is only possible when the poem has been written with elements of classical beauty.

What made a poem like this special was not its writers pen or his knowledge, but actually the realization that there would be always someone who would read his work. 

The writers understanding that every reader of his work should be able to identify himself with it. 

The reader becomes the poet, and in this way the poet and his work lives on forever trough his readers.

This is exactly what happened to the art of Weng Chun.Weng Chun was cultivated in the Shaolin Temple with the need to be beautiful and attractive (in the name beautiful is also involved the right to be perfect and very EFFECTIVE). 

The concepts, principles and wisdoms made this martial art a classical beauty, which is actual trough every era. 

Same as classical poetry. The shaolin monks knew that they would always have people (like us) who could follow them and their concepts.

To remain a classical beauty and to let history love on forever, Weng Chun needs someone like us, like me, who dedicate all their life to the research of this classical beauty.

These ancestors are always modern in every era, and when we daily follow all their teachings, we can identify ourselves to the time and to the skill of everyone of them, so that Weng Chun is “perpetually” alive.

Sifu Cesario Di Domenico

qi-gong

Qi Gong and performing in daily life

Many people do not have a clear idea about the real meaning of Qi-Gong and its effects. When we start with the simple translation of the terms, it already makes it easier to comprehend the concept. Qi means: life energy, breathing, and Gong means exercise, work.

What keep us alive and healthy is the way to let our Qi flow, but it is necessary to keep exercising your Qi and to integrate this with your daily life. Practicing Weng Chun is a great way to do this.

For me personally, having chosen Weng Chun as my lifestyle, it’s easy to combine life energy with my daily life and work. Training and teaching intensively on a daily basis keeps my Qi constantly very high, which proofs to be great in many circumstances.

Who uses Weng Chun to work on his QiGong is very right. Beside our fighting forms, Weng Chun contains a wonderful QiGong (Ng Chong Hei Gong) form. When you practice this typical form, it will increase your Qi level so much that you will be able to practice your fighting forms afterwards on a whole other level. Your ‘life energy and breathing’ will enable you to perform in an outstanding way.

As a fighter, like I am, practicing your QiGong gives you the chance to carry on even with many injuries. Your body becomes your own competitive edge. Where the other stops training, we just begin!

Sifu Cesario Di Domenico

weng chun and mma

I would like to share with my readers a good topic at moment, a topic concerning our wonderful art of Weng Chun Kung Fu and the mma.

MMA it is a fighting sport competition, which in the early times was born, to let, all kind of martial artist, meet together in one tournament to demonstrate who and which martial art could be, the best.

In this tournament you could strike, wrestle and fight on the ground.

Since twenty years this kind of competition became very popular in all the world.

In the name of my style Weng Chun Kung Fu being an advanced teacher and a professional fighter (in the mma circuit) i feel the duty to make some points about those disciplines.

Weng Chun is an ART, it is not only born as a fighting style but as a DIAMOND (as GGM Wai Yan used to call it), it shines in many directions for who decide to choose, like me, as a real lifestyle.

It is a fighting style, healthy physical and mental training.

As a fighting style it is very accurate in different aspect of it:

empty hand fighting (for self defense and advanced aspects of combat)

weapons fighting system (two main weapons: double swords and long pole)

Qi Gong and Philosophy

The fighting knowledge of Weng Chun is based on three main substances, Buddha (heaven) Dharma (man) Sanga (earth).

The way you combine them make everyone able to fight in different environments and competitions.

The main tools to improve your fighting skill and the substances mentioned above (heaven, man and earth), are:

Forms

Techniques

Principles

Work

Art

The forms are the way to build up combinations of techniques in your fights, they are selected by principles which will let them work in any environment and in the end you can feel connected and be one with art, expressing the art which is in you.

This is the reason why i do competitions, (it is a sort of meditation for me, to be connected with time, space and gravity).

This is the key to read the weng chun fighter's movements; he will always take care of Heaven (striking) Man (wrestling) Earth (ground fighting), his fighting position will be controlling the three main hights (look at the photos), he will move without any gap, because his striking, wrestling and ground fighting game is one style, and his power is builded up from the main work of FORMS.

If i compete in the MMA circuit it is because i am a Weng Chun fighter and not a MMArtist, because this one (in my opinion) does not exist.

Sifu Cesario Di Domenico