Martial arts in Vietnam occupied since ancient times a very important role in the process of growth and development of people. There are many martial arts schools with different backgrounds together, which can be sorted in 5 main currents:
Hà Bắc (North)
Bình Định (Centre)
Nam Bộ (South)
Groups of Chinese origin as Thiếu Lâm, Ðường Lang, Bạch Mi, Vĩnh Xuân, Thái Cực...
The last current concerns more recent schools that have been developed in Europe by Vietnamese masters living in Europe in the years 60-70.
Bắc Hà:
In this current great importance is given to Võ Vật which has its roots far and anchored in popular traditions, since ancient times Vật tournaments were organized in the villages during festivals in spring; Those were occasions in which the Warriors of various age groups were performing and competing for various prizes. This group also includes styles that have deep roots in the regions of Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An (Viet Nam), which played a very important role in the history of formation and growth of the Vietnamese people. Among the most known and traditional schools we find: Ðôi, Liễu Vật Nhất Nam, Nam Hồng Sơn ... and in the end the Vovinam, encoded by master Nguyễn Lộc, currently very known and widespread abroad.
Bình Định:
Bình Định historically was a region belonging to the ancient Champa empire, whose traces are still preserved and documented today. The Võ Bình Định was uncorrectly considered as coded Tây Sơn brothers, in fact Bình Định appears to be born in the 15th century during the Le dynasty by Emperor Lê Lợi's whose royal name was Bình Định Vương Lê Lợi; he gave the order to his great general Nguyen Trai to write the famous work "Bình Ngô đại cáo " to document the battles and events that occurred during the war against Chinese dominion. Võ Bình Định had its greatest development and splendor from the 18th century with the Tây Sơn brothers: Nguyễn Nhạc, Nguyễn Lữ, and Nguyễn hue which brought that style to their army and created the so-called "võ trận ", namely the study of various strategies of opening and closure of the soldiers when troops had to face the enemy army; aided by those techniques they were able to defeat the Chinese army until they regained Vietnamese independence; still there is a fact worth mentioning: Emperor Quang Trung Nguyen hue was the only one, in the long history of Việt Nam, he never lost a battle in his life as a leader. Since the days of the Tây Sơn brothers, Võ Bình Định has led to the creation of several other very famous schools in Vietnam as "roi Thuận Truyền " focused on using a staff named “roi”, quyền An Thái, An Vinh with his bare hands quyens. In the current technical program of the võ cổ truyền federation most of the quyền descend directly from Võ Bình Định.
Nam Bộ:
Developed in Southern Viet Nam, this branch had his strong development during the migration period (Nam Tiến = Southwards advance) of the Nguyễn family. Southern schools have different influences both from Võ Bình Định and from various southern styles Thiếu Lâm introduced into Vietnam due to the presence of various Chinese masters emigrated there; and in some regions near the cambodian border even different styles and expressions of some populations of Champa and Kampuchea are to be remarked.
The fourth branch consists of a large group with Chinese origin who is called "võ Tàu " as opposed to those with Vietnamese origins "võ Ta ".
The last group consists of the Vietnamese schools that have formed especially in Europe starting from 60-70 by several Vietnamese masters who have settled in Europe in those years.
The name Văn Lang is very important for the Vietnamese people because it recalls fo the glorious past of Việt Nam and it was, in fact, the first name given to the people of Việt by Emperor Hùng Vương I, whose dynasty lasted for 18 generations.
Văn = Culture
Lang= Young
Võ = Martial Art
Ðạo = Way
Way back to the ancient mythologies, Vietnamese people considered themselves as sons of the Dragon and descendant of the Angels; to respect this belief emperor Hùng Vương I gave his people the name of Văn Lang to claim their great lineage and noble ancestors. Throughout 4000 years of history, several changes in dynasties and territorial extension happened to Văn Lang, but the advent of this name is still considered the beginning of the growth and development of the Vietnamese people.
Văn Lang Võ Ðạo is the path to martial arts of the ancient Vietnamese people, represents the result of a long time of practice, deep reflection, analysis and synthesis operated by our Master: with the name of Văn Lang he wanted to underline the importance of the ancient cultural background, traditions, and millenary history of the Vietnamese people, also with the ambitious aim to widespread Vietnamese and Sino-vietnamese martial arts with passion and a strong commitment.
Our motto points out the spirit animating and characterizing our school, and can be synthesized in the following sentence:
Văn Lang Võ Đạo, Thiên, Điạ, Nhân qui hội
Văn Lang Võ Ðạo, the path were Sky, Earth and Men unite.
