Jong Sau 樁手 – for rapid emergency response against straight punches above & smothering your hands
Jong Sau 樁手 is an emergency upwards wedge, for when your hands are low (like they normally are naturally) and the opponent is punching over the top of them. With little time to react, or little space to move, an upwards wedging block like Jong Sau may be needed.
If you don’t have the time & space & speed to bring down an oncoming punch (with Gam Sau) and you don’t even have time & space to slap it aside, because your hand is lower than theirs, and theirs is already almost hitting you, this may be the time to intercept quickly from below – simply lift your forearm to meet their forearm and take it off course.
Upwards interception is quicker than the sidewards or downwards slap when your hands are below and smothered by theirs, for example, if their wrist is directly above your wrist. It doesn’t put you in such a dominant position, but it blocks the punch immediately, which is the main thing. It’s more of a desperation move, but if you’re careful, you can stay balanced with it too.
There are many variations to an emergency upwards interception. We’ll focus on two versions of the sharp wedging variety in this tutorial. The sharp cutting Wing Chun way (which is also found in Tai Chi), and the dampening Tai Chi way (which is a bit more graceful).
The Wing Chun way
The very first move in Ip Man’s wooden dummy form routine is a great example of Jong Sau 樁手, the main Wing Chun technique for an emergency rapid upwards interception from a non contact position.
Jong Sau is done with the wrist higher than the elbow, in a classic high Wu Sau 護手 (‘guard hand’) structure. For this reason, it’s often simply called Wu Sau.
It’s also similar to Tai Sau 提手 (‘lifting hand’) although this term tends to refer to the Cheung Kiu 長橋 (‘long bridge’) version of the same technique.
Some people use the term Jong Sau in reference to the on-guard position of the hands, although most people call these hand structures Wu Sau 護手 (any guard hand, especially the rear guard hand) and Man Sau 問手 (an extended lead guard hand), while to term Jong Sau is usually reserved for the upwards wedging block.
The fact it’s found at the very start of Ip Man’s wooden dummy form routine is a testament to how important this move is, as well as its relevance as an emergency interception at the very start of a fight.
The softer Tai Chi way
Each variation of Jong Sau has its unique purpose. This version is most commonly associated with Tai Chi, but similar moves are also seen in Wing Chun.
This is roughly the best structure for intercepting quickly upwards from a non-contact position, and sticking without bouncing off, and holding structure without collapsing and without tensing up in a way that turns your arm into a lever that can then get you thrown by a skilled opponent. The Wing Chun way that wedges up more sharply, may be a faster move but is more liable to bounce off or create tension that can be countered. So this move is for when you have slightly more luxury of time but still need a rapid interception from below and want a dull impact that doesn’t rebound, disconnect or shake you off balance.
The ideal point of connection
With enough space & time, you’ll ideally make contact with your wrist hitting their mid to upper forearm when doing Jong Sau. This is the safest and most balanced way to do this move, buying you maximum time and giving you plenty of room for error, while smothering their ability to divert energy into their elbow. But if lacking the time & space & speed to do this, you may need to go closer to their elbow, which is much more risky, since it gives you less leverage and less room for error, especially if their arm is longer than yours.
Footwork
As with slapping down or sideways, in all forms of upwards interception you will ideally sink weight into the leg beneath the hand that’s doing the block, immediately before the block receives the impact. Any stepping with that leg to line up the initial connection should be done prior to impact, else be ready for the impact to push you back a bit, and maybe throw you off balance. If it’s not really an emergency, and you have time for footwork, but stubbornly want to intercept up from below, then you’d ideally still step back with the diagonally opposite leg, for extra cover and alignment. There’s less need to swing the leg back in a circular motion here, compared to when you’re doing Gam Sau, because Jong Sau is more of a linear move and its counter-balancing leg should match it. But if you’ve got time & space for adjusting your stance when doing Jong Sau, you should generally aim to do a more dominant hand technique too (ideally Gam Sau).
What about Bong Sau?
Upwards interception can also be done with your elbow being level with your wrist, to create a platform rather than a sharp wedge. This move is called Bong Sau 膀手 (meaning ‘upper-arm hand’). Here, instead of wedging inside the arc of their punch, you’re creating a platform beneath it. You can still wedge it up from here – your arm is like a balancing scale that can tip passively to either side or be asserted proactively if you prefer.
If the oncoming punch follows through, you can twist your arm even more to expose the palm and tricep, while rotating the torso on a vertical axis, then brushing or grabbing their punch off the top, using your spare hand, a technique called Lap Sau 擸手, to free up your initial hand for a counter attack – this combined brush or grab plus counter strike is called Lap Da 擸打.
When Bong Sau is done with a lot of forward energy, to pin them up and wedge them open from underneath, this can be called Lan Sau 攔手 (meaning ‘Bar Arm’ in Cantonese) which itself can be done from above or from below.
Bong Sau is by far the most complicated common move in Wing Chun. It’s mainly relevant in super close quarters, especially where you’re already sticking hands and are confident about the precise mechanics of the oncoming punch. It’s a collapsible structure – it can apply pressure but it’s always ready to collapse and transfer to Lap Sau 擸手 (grabbing hand – pulling the opponent’s hand aside with your spare hand), to open up a Fak Sau 拂手 (chop to the opponent’s neck) or a Gwa Choi 掛搥 backfist or Drilling Fist, using the same hand that did the Bong Sau. From here, after the initial counter strike, your backhand (that did the Lap Sau) is ready to follow up again.
Bong Sau can be seen in professional boxing too – Tyson Fury often did it against Deontay Wilder. But it’s a fairly complicated move – you really need to learn it through sticking hands with a partner. And it’s a non essential move since the sharper Jong Sau 樁手 solves the same kind of problem in a much simpler way that’s also better suited to most real self defence scenarios. So we’ll skip Bong Sau for now and focus on the Wing Chun and Tai Chi variations of Jong Sau 樁手 to solve upwards interception needs from a non-contact position.
Terminology
Jong Sau 樁手 is the Cantonese name for this move. Jong literally means Post (sticking up from the ground), and Sau means hand. You may recognise Jong from Mook Yan Jong 木人樁 meaning Wooden Man Post (wooden dummy).
In Mandarin, this technique is called Zhuāng Shǒu 桩手. You may recognise Zhuāng from Zhàn Zhuāng 站桩 meaning Post Standing, a popular Qi Gong posture.
Post Standing is essentially holding the position of a double Jong Sau – that is Seung Jong Sau 雙樁手 (Cantonese) or Shuāng Zhuāng Shǒu 双桩手 (Mandarin).
The Cheung Kiu (Long Bridge) version of Seung Jong Sau (Double Post Hands) is the first hand technique in most Tai Chi form routines, including the original Chen style routine, Lǎo Jià Yī Lù 老架一路 (Old Frame, First Routine) and is found at the beginning of many derivative form routines from Chen and other styles of Tai Chi too. But this technique is rarely named for what it is – instead, it is typically bunched in with the corresponding Cheung Kiu Seung Gam Sau (Long Bridge Double Pin Hand) and simply called Yù Bèi Shì 预备势 (Start Form).
The Long Bridge Double Post Hand and Long Bridge Double Pin Hand are also trained sequentially in the first form routine of most Wing Chun lineages, including Siu Lim Tao in Yip Man’s lineage, although something different (but with almost identical application) is found at the very start of this particular routine – that is the crossed-hands short-bridge equivalent of the same set of techniques.
Five Elements analysis
The Wing Chun method of doing Jong Sau (like an upwards thrusting Wu Sau) is an expression of Yin Metal energy (Splitting), which perfectly trumps the attacker’s Yang Wooden energy (Piercing). So if someone is throwing a very straight & fast, penetrative punch to the centre of your face, and it’s already almost hit you, and your hands are low and too smothered to slap-block from the side, let alone from above, then the Wing Chun style Jong Sau is probably the ideal tool to counter that straight punch, both in practical terms and in Five Elements theory. If you want to cut Wood (or other organic material), you’ll generally want to use Metal tools (or other crystalline material, like ancient flint tools).
The Tai Chi method of doing Jong Sau (receiving a punch gracefully, to create a dull, non-rebounding impact) contains a lot more Yin Earth energy (Catching) than the Wing Chun version. This is generally going to be trumped by the attacker’s Yang Wood energy; but if you’re very quick, strong and confident in your technique, and are doing it at an appropriate time, you may be able to turn the tables. Indeed, while Strong Wood assertively counters Weak Earth, it’s also true that Strong Earth passively counters Weak Wood. Imagine stabbing a random patch of land in the middle of a field, with a sharpened hornbeam ironwood stick – the wood will generally do what it wants. But now repeat the process a thousand times in rocky mountainous soil, with a softwood stick – that stick will soon become blunt and may even snap – it may even fail to penetrate the earth one time. Or embed a stick deeply into the earth, in the middle of a mature woodland, and leave it there for a thousand years – the earth will soon break it down and decompose it, then repair the hole as if nothing ever stabbed it. In these ways, strong earth can overcome weak wood, even though wood normally trumps earth. Hence I say, the Tai Chi style Jong Sau is only to be used when you’re confident you have enough time & space to do it comfortably. In a real emergency, when you know you’ll struggle to intercept the punch, the sharper Wing Chun style Jong Sau is the way to go. Head movement may also help, but this should be used sparingly to avoid compromising your balance & power.
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