Understanding the attacks of Kung Fu San Soo

Since I joined Jimmy H Woo’s Kung Fu class in 1962 there have been many changes, on the outside of the building there was a sign in front that said Kung Fu Karate which did not make sense. Kung Fu is a Chinese Art and Karate is Japanese so that was my first question. He explained hardly anyone knew what Kung Fu was, he felt that people would go by thinking it was a Chinese restaurant but many knew of Karate so he added the word.

Kung Fu meant a method of self defense, San Soo means full combat/fighting portion of the Art. At that time he gave an individual lesson to each student starting with Ju Jitsu’s (Punches and kicks there is 1 thru 45) and a small group (5) of Aikido’s (leverage to the joints), both were Japanese words. Sometime in my training I thought it was right to use the Japanese words so I talked to a few students and we called the Basic 45 and the Aikido’s were called “Chi Na = leverages, more students started using the words and soon GMW started using them also.

When you worked with a partner he would throw punch and you would counter then it repeats, next it was your turn to throw to punches. These were thought as of working 2x2s, when you learned the current lesson you then could use all your lessons, you could also be a little creative.

After those were learned he started teaching “Fut Ga’s” which meant “Buddha Family” which connected the Temple with the Art. Fut Ga was a situation were you started and finished the fight trying not give him a chance. I know it sounds unfair but on the street it was up to you to read the situation and decide if there was no other way out so you attack. If you give him a chance, he may beat you in a fight so if you have to, attack. If you just strike he may move to avoid and try to get out of the way. The average person has one reaction and before he had another he is attack. GMW seldom just struck, he would set the man up and then strike. Example, he would reach toward your eyes with his left hand which causes an avoidance reaction and the right hand strikes its intended target. It is very quick and the fight is over, he called it the “Element of Surprise”.
The next attacks were called “Nam Pi” which meant “Southern China” which was were the Art was taught and where the Quan Yin Monastery was located. This group was the top of the line, the best of the best, your evasion and attack was all one flowing movement without any blocking. When he attacks your movement avoids the attack and you strike at the time his intended strike would have hit you. There are many ways to do this, I will try to give you an example but first you must know, there were 78 or 79 Nam Pi’s taught. Many teach way more than that, some say they have hundreds and that is not true. If anyone teaches you a Nam Pi and they show the lesson with a block, they are lying or they made it up. I can teach you many things I have seen or made up but I will tell you where it came from. After the Nam Pi’s were taught the rest of his life he taught the lessons in the Fut Ga format. Now here is the kicker, it made no difference because once you had the key you could do any of the lessons all three ways. Here is what I did to test my students to see if they had the key, I would give them a combat sequence, then they had to demonstrate it using all three forms of attack.

Ron Gatewood