The name Wing Chun Kuen in Chinese / Japanese...

詠春拳 is the title for the “Wing Chun” school of martial arts but with the addition of the character for “fist” at the end. So this is “Wing Chun Fist” or literally “Singing Spring Fist.”

There are lots of alternate Cantonese romanizations for this, such as “Wing Chun Kuen,” “Wing Tsun Cheun,” “Eng Chun Pai,” and “Wing Ceon Kyun.” The characters are the same; just the lack of a standard Cantonese romanization means that people make up their own based on what they think it sounds like.

This text is the chant or poem of Wing Chun.

I call it a “chant” because it was meant to be a somewhat rhythmic poem to help practitioners memorize many aspects of Wing Chun.

You will see this referred to as “Wing Chun Kuem Kuit.” This Cantonese romanization is popular in the west (and there is no official way to romanize Cantonese, so many variations exist). In Mandarin, it would be, “Yong Chun Quan Jue.” The last character (kuit or kyut from Cantonese, jue or chüeh from Mandarin) kind of means “secrets of the art.” It's a short way to write 口訣, meaning “mnemonic chant” or “rhyme for remembering.”

In the west (especially in the military), we often use acronyms to remember things. There are no initials to make acronyms in Chinese, so in ancient times, chants like this are used to remember vast amounts of information. I will presume you already know the meaning of the 10 maxims, so I will skip that to keep this calligraphy entry from getting too large.

Some think 练拳者必记 is the title but that just says, “(When) training (the) fist, people should remember:.” Therefore, I've not included that in the calligraphy. However, you can put a note in the special instructions if you want it added.

Note: On a traditional calligraphy wall scroll, the characters will be written in vertical columns, starting from the right, and proceeding left.

Note: This is an except and variation from a huge 口訣. These 10 maxims are used extensively in Wing Chun training, and you’ll find them all over the internet. Just know there is a much longer version out there, along with several variations and excepts like this one. If you know of, or want a different version, just contact me, and I will add it for you.

A customer asked me to split these Wing Chun maxims into two parts, so he could order a couplet. I thought this was a good idea, so it's been added here.

A couplet is a set of two wall scrolls that start and finish one phrase or idea. Often, couplets are hung with the first wall scroll on the right side, and the second on the left side of a doorway or entrance. The order in Chinese is right-to-left, so that's why the first wall scroll goes on the right as you face the door.

Of course, couplets can also be hung together on a wall. Often they can be hung to flank an altar, or table with incense, or even flanking a larger central wall scroll. See an example here from the home of Confucius

Be sure to order both parts 1 and 2 together. One without the other is like Eve without Adam.

詠春 is a martial arts technique that has an oral history (versus a written one) so very little can be said for sure about its origins.
Wing Chun (or Wing Cheun) is a Chinese martial art that emphasizes short combat strokes.

The characters 詠春 literally mean “Singing Spring” (as in springtime).

If you are wondering, the spelling and pronunciation of this martial arts style in English come from the Cantonese pronunciation of these characters. The second character sounds similar in both Mandarin and Cantonese, but the first is quite different.

Note: This title can be pronounced in Japanese, but only a Japanese practitioner of Wing Chun would recognize or understand this title. It is not considered a Japanese word or martial art at all.

詠春功夫 is Wing Chun Kung Fu.

The first two characters literally mean “Singing Spring” (as in springtime).

The last two are “Kung Fu” (high skill).

太極詠春功夫 is the title Tai Chi Wing Chun Kung Fu.

Please note that it can be romanized in a variety of ways such as:
Tai Chi Ving Tsun Kung Fu
Tai Qi Yong Chun Gong Fu
Taai Gik Wing Ceon Gung Fu

Be sure this is the right title for what you are looking for before you order.

A customer asked me to split these Wing Chun maxims into two parts, so he could order a couplet.

It thought this was a good idea, so it's been added here.

Be sure to order both part 1 and part 2 together. They need to be a matched set. It will be incomplete as a single wall scroll. Also, each wall scroll is handmade, so if you order them separately, weeks or months apart, they will vary a little by length, shade of paper, etc.

洪拳 is the martial arts title Hung Kuen.

The first character means flood, big, immense, or great but it can also be the surname, Hong or Hung.

The last character means fist.

洪家拳 is the martial arts title Hung Ga Kuen.

The first character means flood, big, immense, or great but it can also be the surname, Hong or Hung.

The second character means family or home.

The last character is a fist.

翼 is the shortest way to say “wing” or “wings” in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

This can be the wings of a bird or aircraft (including the rotors of a helicopter or rotor wing).

Single characters like this are often ambiguous and have many additional meanings. This character, depending on the context, can mean the following:
Area surrounding the bullseye of a target; to assist; The Chinese surname Yi; “Wings” constellation (one of the 28 mansions of Chinese astronomy).

翼 is also a Japanese name that romanizes as Tsubasa and can refer to the Japanese manga series Tsubasa.

劉家功夫 are the characters for the Lau Gar Kung Fu style of martial arts.

The romanization of “Lau Gar” comes from Cantonese. “Kung Fu” is the common romanization for English from the Mandarin “Gōng Fu” or Cantonese “Gung Fu” pronunciations.

Lau gar = Lau family.

The first character means “wood glue” or can be understood as “sticky” or “sticking.”
The second character means “hand” (or “hands”).

This term can be romanized as “Chi Sau,” “Chi Sao,” or from Mandarin, “Chi Shou.”

黐手 is a concept that comes from the Wing Chun (AKA: Ving Tsun, Wing Tsun, or Yong Chun) style of martial arts. If you are looking for this term, chances are, you already know the meaning within the context of Wing Chun.

黑旗門 is often romanized as “Hek Ki Boen” in Cantonese, this is the title for a certain branch school of Wing Chun or Eng Chun martial arts.

This is a term for “teacher” that is primarily used in Wing Chun martial arts schools.

In very old Buddhist context this can be “thaumaturge” meaning a worker of wonders and/or performer of miracles.

南派螳螂 can be translated literally as “Southern School Praying Mantis” or “Southern Style Praying Mantis.”

Despite its name, the Southern Praying Mantis style of Chinese martial arts is unrelated to the Northern Praying Mantis style. Southern Praying Mantis is instead related most closely to fellow Hakka styles such as Dragon and more distantly to the Fujian family of styles that includes Fujian White Crane, Five Ancestors, and Wing Chun.

This style of martial arts focuses more on fighting skills rather than aesthetics.

Of course, you already knew that if you were looking for this term.

Note: This title can be pronounced and does have meaning in Korean but only to Koreans familiar with Chinese martial arts.

This means nobleman, person of noble character, man of virtue; wise man, or a true gentleman

君子 can be romanized as chün-tzu or jūnzǐ from Chinese and gunja from Korean. This has the same meaning in Japanese, but in another context, can be the female given name Kunshi.

庇護 is not the most common word for a wall scroll, but this is the word for protection in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

庇護 is the non-religious, non-superstitious form of protection.

庇護 can be translated as shelter, shield, defend, safeguard, take under one's wing, to put under protection. In a certain context, it means to grant asylum or give refuge and sanctuary.

See Also:  Guardian Angel

鄭 is the Chinese surname Zheng, Japanese surname Tei, Korean surname Jeong, and Vietnamese surname Trịnh.

This can also refer to the state of Zheng during the Warring States period of China.

In Korea, this can be the original way to write the surname Jeong in the old days (now it's 정 in modern Korea). Can also romanize from Korean as Chung or Jung.

In Japanese, this is the surname Tei. But can romanize as the following Japanese names/surnames: Ti; Te; Tsun; Dziyon; Chiyon; Chon; Chou; Chun; Chuu; Chien; Zen; Jiyon; Jon; Jou; Jun.

In Vietnamese, this is the name Trịnh from the time before Vietnam romanized the language.