Lau Bun Stories

[hskwarrior]

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[htowndragon]

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[Rockwood]

Hi,

I was lucky enough to train in the method of Wing Woo Gar in northern and southern california. The creator is James Wing Woo, now in his mid 80's. He is semi retired and is located in North Hollywood.

Sifu Woo was a Hop Sing Tong guy as a youth and trained with both Lau Bun and Wong Tim Yuen. I interviewed Sifu Woo for the book I did about martial arts teachers, it's called Nei Jia Quan: Internal Martial Arts.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/155...books&v=glance

There's only a little bit about the Hop Sing Tong in the book, but Sifu Woo told me a number of other hair rasing stories about collecting gambing debts with Lau Bun and the other triggermen of the Tong. Apparently San Francisco in the 1940's was a much tougher town than today and gang wars were a common occurance.

Sifu Woo met Ed Parker at Lau Bun's school and went with him to LA. It was Sifu Woo who created the Chinese material that is a part of Parker's Kenpo to this day. However, he broke with Parker early on and went on to teach his own style which is a mix of all the martial arts he learned in Canton in the 30's.

-Jess O'Brien

[hskwarrior]

you're right about the 30's 40's and 50's were a tougher place to live in the sf.

thanks for the input on Lau Bun, it's moments like this that people come up with forgotten material or even just never repeated.

but i i will have to beg to differ with you, but a good majority of ED Parkers kempo is from Lau Bun, and on Master Hawkins website, they mention that their forms 3-5 came from Lau Bun, not jimmy woo.

Isn't jimmy woo the founder of Choy Lee Ho Fut Hung?

anyways, if you remember the stories i would love for you to post them.


hsk

[iron_silk]

Frank

I found this link http://www.sanjosekenpo.com/creationofforms.htm

and it kind of details the creation of the Chinese flavour to Ed Parker's Kenpo.

So although it may be similiar to Lau Bun's CLF and possibily taken from Lau Bun himself, it sounds more plauseable that it was taken from Jimmy Wing Woo.

Given how the story in the link portray's Ed Parker I am surprised Lau Bun would even have anything to do with him.

Still just based on the story sounds like it is more likely (or at least out weigh in terms of involvement with Jimmy Woo) to take something you have time to study and learn rather than just by watching...or maybe both had an influence on his kenpo.

[hskwarrior]

what i think was said, was that there is a split within the ed parker camp.

but ed parker had more dealings with lau bun than your average outsider.

what was posted could very well be the case, but i have been trying to contact master hawkins because it was his students who said forms 3-5 came from lau bun.

when i find out i will post my findings.


peace.

hsk

[Rockwood]

I'm sure it's possible that Parker got some of his material directly from Lau Bun. When I talked to Sifu Woo he said that he created the "Chinese" style forms that are within Kenpo and that he wrote most of what is in "Secrets of Chinese Karate" that Parker published. The pictures in it are drawings of Sifu Woo. Since James Wing Woo was a student of Lau Bun, who taught Parker, it's likely that the majority of the stuff is from Woo. It's hard to copy forms from tape, but not impossible. Either way the material is likely to be related to Lau Bun's, although Woo had many other teachers before that time.

James Wing Woo is creator of Wing Woo Gar, he's not the same Jimmy Woo of San Shou fame, who may also be related to Choy Lay Fut in some way, I'm not sure.

I asked Sifu Woo about world war two. One of the stories he told was that because San Francisco was a central point in sending the US military forces to the Pacific front, many thousands of young guys from all over America started showing up and raising hell. He said that some of these guys hadn't ever ridden in a street car or seen a city before, they were straight off the farm in Kansas or wherever. He declared that some were so backward that they hadn't even worn a pair of shoes before being issued their Army uniforms! This influx of red-blooded youths created numerous conflicts and racist attacks, and the defenders of Chinatown in the Hop Sing Tong would be called out again and again to protect the Chinese citizens in big street fights.

Hsk Warrior, (what was your real name again?), I would recommend that you find the time to go visit Sifu Woo. He is old school and it takes a lot of time to earn his trust. But if you are sincere, I think he may be able to tell you some things about Lau Bun, and Southern style Chinese martial arts that would be useful to you.

Sincerely,

Jess O'Brien

[hskwarrior]

Rockwood,

much appreciated and if you can take that a step further i would love to call him. hopefully you can pm me and send me his number.

see, this was what i was hoping for by opening up and talk about lau bun, people would be more open to tell what they know. thank you.

my sifu agreed about the wwII and the causing of trouble and hop sing guys would go and protect chinatown.

but isn't jimmy woo the founder of Choy lee ho fut hung?


and oh my real name is frank.

[hskwarrior]

Mr Jess O'brien,

are you related to the late Dr William O'brien from San Fran? he was a world class fencing master, ex o.s.s. , and such?

frank

[Rockwood]

Frank,

No problem, Sifu Woo isn't hard to find. http://www.jameswingwoo.com

One problem is that there are two Jimmy Woos. One is James Wing Woo who is alive and in LA. Then there is Jimmy Woo of San Soo. He is the one you are thinking of as the creator of Choy lee ho fut hung. He was Tim Cartmell's teacher, and is well known for his street fighting art of San Soo.

James Wing Woo in North Hollywood teaches his personal creation which is a mix of all the arts he learned over the years in Canton and San Francisco. The 10 forms of the Jing Mo, Tam Tui, Southern Praying Mantis, Northern Shaolin, Mok Gar, Hong Gar, Li Gar, Choy Li Fut and others are all part of it. His favorite is the Yang style Tai Chi Chuan that he started learning before he was even a teenager. His knowledge of Chinese martial arts is vast. There are few alive today that have such a wide range of information. He was young when the golden age of Chinese martial arts at the turn of the century was still in living memory and now he is one of the last of his generation. He fought the Japanese in the US Navy during WWII. Above and beyond the rest, the man is a tireless researcher into kinestheolgy and the workings of the human body, I've never seen so many anatomy books an charts in my life!

And no, I'm not a relation to any of the San Francisco O'Briens. Except perhaps through our ancestor Brian Boru, who won his war with the Vikings in 1014!

-Jess O'Brien

[hskwarrior]

as i have said, i have been trying to gather as much info on lau bun as possible, and thanks to mr o'brien i have a few more.

but my sifu has also been helping me by contacting our elders and he called me today with this one. He said he was talking to someone (i;ll leave his name out for now) but this person said "do you know that Lau Bun taught choy lee fut to Anthony Quinn? my sifu's response was "BU11sh1t!!!!! The actor?!!!!?!?!?!

this person said no, it's true and he was there to take a picture of it. so we are waiting to get the picture and i will post it up.

but if this true, WOW!!! He taught the legendary Anthony Quinn, movie actor.

until i get the photo's is still a rumor. and it really focks me up since i knew he never taught now i can say too many white folks.


HSK

[hskwarrior]

ttt...........

[hskwarrior]

no prob bob,

i love recounting the stories of our founder here in the u.s..

Lau bun is truly America's kung fu patriach and its about time the world knows about him.

but i will keep you all posted on the old actor Anthony Quinn, who starred in Lawrence of Arabia.

[htowndragon]

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[hskwarrior]

morbid or not, i am posting Lau Bun's grave stone for anyone interested.

check out the attachment.