The Creation Of The Wooden Dummy

After a recent chat in our members Facebook group I though I would share a little story with you.

 

Although we know ‘Jong’ as dummy, it actually means ‘Piles’ (NO! Not those), the posts of differing heights you see Shaolin monks jumping from one to the other.

Over time arms where placed upon them and used as we know now.

 

Still, there are many styles of dummy different to ours.

 

The Wing Chun wooden dummy as we know it, traditionally would have been used with the base buried in the ground, making the 5′ Dummy you are looking at, actually 7′ in total, having had the extra 2′ buried.

 

When Ip Man moved to Hong Kong he lived in an apartment block with no way of using a dummy (not unless the chap in the apartment below didn’t mind a tree trunk stick through his ceiling!).

 

Until one of Ip Man’s students, ‘Koo Sang’, came up with the great idea of creating the wall mounted dummy we all now know.

Incidentally Koo Sang also made my knives for me shortly before his passing away, these are the ones I use in most of the Knife classes.

This style of Dummy then became known as a ‘Live’ Dummy because when you strike it responds, especially when compared to the (now known) ‘Dead’ Dummy, which does not move when hit and is buried in the ground (get it?).