Wooden Dummy – Part 2: History and Overview

The wooden dummy is a training tool used in Wing Chun. It is traditionally made from solid wood. But nowadays, variations in all sorts of materials are used. It has two protruding arms and a lower arm/high leg that sticks out around the waist level. At the bottom is a leg that barely touches the ground. The limbs are loosely mounted into the main body of the dummy so that they can move around easily. This allows the fighter to hit the dummy without injuring him or herself.

Wing Chun is a fighting system that is ideal for small spaces. Legend has it that the Red Junk/Boat Opera, a group of traveling performers who were anti-imperial assassins by night would train in Wing Chun. Because of their small training spaces and lack of training partners, they developed the wooden dummy to aid them in their training.

 

Wooden Dummy Blogging Series