VietNamNet – For hundreds of years, Binh Dinh has been widely known as the land of great martial-arts masters. Nowadays, Master Phan Tho remains dedicated to preserving the traditional reputation of his hometown.
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| Master Phan Tho. |
The old three-chamber house, situated in Binh Village, Tay Son District of Binh Dinh Province, is also the martial hall where Master Tho trains his students.
It is quite easy to find the red soil path between the two green rice fields leading to the house, but it was really difficult to meet the Master, since he rarely stays at home.
“The master is visiting his patients in the neighbour village”, replied one of the students when I came for the first time.
At the second call, seeing the red motorcycle in the garden, I knew that he has returned. I was really astonished by a powerful hand-shake that came from an agile and svelte 80 year old man.
“Whoever visits Binh Dinh would see its women practising martial arts.” This old folk-song has been passed from generation to generation in Vietnam, telling that Binh Dinh is the land of Martial Arts. |
It is hard to imagine that this little elder has remained the legendary master of Binh Dinh martial arts for decades.
Almost everybody in this province knows about him and about his story in the 40s, when the 17-year-old youth asked Master Cai Bay to take him as disciple.
The young Phan Tho needed only seven years to master the secrets of martial arts passed by his teacher. After 20 years of practice, he had reached the highest levels and became a well-known kungfu master.
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In 1972, hearing much about Master Phan Tho’s skills, a Korean military officer with five-sigma black belt made a visit to his house.
After a short talk, the young guest politely challenged Master Phan Tho to a duel. For the honour of Binh Dinh martial arts, he took the challenge, even though he was in his 40s.
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| Master Tho shows Tiger claw posture. |
“He was very powerful, and especially strong at attacking with storming high kicks”, the elder master gently smiles when telling me about the match. He showed me the cleft on the pillar and laughed “I dodged his kick, and the poor pillar had to suffer”.
As an experienced master, when facing with a strange kungfu for the first time, Master Tho patiently avoided the Korean’s attacks and waiting for his weakness to be revealed. When the officer made a curving high kick, Master Tho rapidly applied his secret moves to block the attack and used a low kick combined with the claws to knock out the opponent.
The old story seemed to inspire the master much. He changed into the kungfu uniform and performed the Ngoc Tran (jade cup) Fists andSieu Xung Thien (sky diving) Blade for us.
The reputation is really well merited: the performance was full of power and accuracy, although the master is at his 80s. The excited 11 year-old grandson also went through a marvelous Tiger Fists for us to enjoy.
Before I left, the Master told me about the history of Binh Dinh martial arts.
This land had been the battlefield of both struggle against invasions and civil wars. Hundred of years of fighting were devastating, but it also promoted the development of the martial arts.
The local martial arts had absorbed the secrets of Chinese skills from the north, Champa skills from the south and the Central Highland people’s skills. All of them come together here, combined and harmonised in the martial art halls of Binh Dinh families.
In the middle of XVIII century, the peasant revolution rose from Tay Son District under the lead of Nguyen Nhac, Nguyen Lu and Nguyen Hue who were dubbed in the Vietnamese History as Three Heroes of Tay Son.
It quickly wiped out the feudal forces, defeated the invaders, united the nation and gave birth to the Quang Trung dynasty. It was the Three Heroes of Tay Son that had developed the Binh Dinh martial arts, and enriched and formalised it with national research and competitions.
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| Life grandfather like grandson: Master Tho is watching as his 11-year-old grandson shows a posture. |
Nowadays, the standard of living in Binh Dinh has increased considerably; the martial arts are more popular, contributing to the conservation of the nation’s cultural values.
Hundreds of martial arts halls have been established in Binh Dinh, especially those featuring traditional kungfu.
According to Director of the Tay Son – Binh Dinh Information, Culture, and Sport Centre Chau Kinh Tu, Binh Dinh martial arts are have flourished via the International Association of Vietnamese Martial Arts.
It is forecast that in France, Switzerland, Italy, and other countries, there are thousands of people practicing Binh Dinh martial arts.
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