The Wang Kiu Wing Chun system that I learned from Dr. G.K. Khoe, had five pieces consisting of 108 movements each. These forms are:
Siu Lim Tao
Chum Kiu
Biu Jee
Wooden Dummy
Knife + Pole
Traditionally the weapons are taught last but actually they can be taught first just like the Filipino’s teach weapons first and most cultures learn to shoot a gun before they learn how to use their fists if they ever learn that.
In my opinion, especially since I am 74, it doesn’t make sense to tell a student that after 10 years,. I will teach him the knives. First I might not be around that long and second isn’t is better to train the knives for ten years starting now when you are still young, then to wait ten years to even start on the knives? Even Ip Chun agrees that all the forms can be taught within a year. We were all taught everything thing within a year but then refined what we learned every year after that. Maybe if students just come for lessons once a week (Reza’s theory) this approach doesn’t work?
We haven’t actually trained the weapons for many years because the past few years, students mostly only came once a week. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s we used to train harder and more often. Some photos below show one of the members of the Victoria Ladies Wing Chun club doing some classical poses with the Butterfly knives. These go with the two people partner training routine for the Wang Kiu Butterfly knife routine. We trained knives against sword, knives against knives, knives against Escrima stick and knives against spear. The head instructor of the ladies club, Yvette Wong, also practiced the Wing Chun spear against Japanese Naginata in Japan. Naginata is a Japanese ladies art where the weapon is a long pole with a big blade on the end of it.
I expect to get comments by keyboard martial artists that this would never work against a Samurai Swordsman. We definitely know this. It would not work against the Roman Gladiators either or against the modern semi-automatic rifle. We admit our skills also would also not work against the Filipino stick fighting art of Grandmaster Bobby Taboada who we like a lot.
Wing Chun is an art. We no longer train these kinds of weapons for real. Most Wing Chun people have adopted the Escrima/Kali/Arnis methods for stick and knife combat but even so, nobody knows if that really works in a real fight. The Dog Brothers were famous for testing out the classical Filipino stick fighting arts in a tournament setting.
Since the Butterfly knives are part of the Wing Chun art, it is nice to train something with them. Not everything is about reality combat. For that I definitely would recommend handgun lessons.
In the early 1980’s we also trained all kinds of drills with the knives to practice cutting at various angles. we had a setup similar to that used by some Escrima people to train their sticks:
