Muk Yan Jong or wooden mannequin

28.10.2009EvilDollaR

When studying martial arts, it never hurts to have a wooden dummy at your disposal. I've seen them in kung fu movies (Descendant of Wing Chun and Rumble in the Bronx) and always thought it would be nice to own one of these. Besides, anyone who has their own Muk Yang Jong has to be serious master of martial arts.

But several factors held me back. First of all, I do not study Wing Chun kung fu, which is usually associated with the wooden dummy. I study the “seven stars of the praying mantis” and the Northern Shaolin style. And secondly - the price. These things have a decent price. I have a wife, two children and a mortgage. Purchasing a wooden mannequin for almost $1000 is too much of a waste for me.

I knew I would have to learn a little Wing Chun (more on that later) in order to use Muk Yang Jong. And if I need it, I have to make it myself. Thus began my adventures with creating a wooden mannequin.

I started by searching for information on the Internet. I found many websites selling Muk Yang Jongs. But as I said earlier, I couldn't afford to spend $700 to $1200 on a purchase, so I kept looking. I found several websites that sell blueprints. Maybe I'm just greedy, but I didn't want to pay for them. Ultimately, I found a few free sites and used parts of each of the drawings to put together the final design for my Muk Yan Jong.

To begin with, I needed to make the main part of my mannequin - the frame. After calling a couple of sawmills, I got in touch with one that might have what I was interested in - a pine log five feet (one and a half meters) long with a nine-inch (23 centimeters) diameter. I decided to use pine because I live in Colorado and there isn't a lot of teak here. And since the mannequin will be in my garage, there will be no special need for additional tools.

I had to pay $38 for the log. When I brought it home, I saw several very large cracks. Now I understand what they meant by “rough processing.” The log could be called anything but smooth. I filled the cracks with sawdust and started cleaning it up. It took a few hours, but in the end I got the smooth surface I wanted.

After cleaning, I needed to transfer the dimensions from the drawings to the log itself. Easy at first glance, right? But, in fact, everything turned out to be much more complicated than I expected. First, I drew a straight line exactly down the center of the entire length of the log. All my other dimensions had to be based on it. Making marks for the legs is easy. Making marks for the bottom handle is easy. Making marks for the top two handles is a BIG CHALLENGE. The length of the handles should be 11 inches (27 cm), and their ends should be 94 inches (8 cm) apart. I had no idea how to guess the right angle to cut the holes for the handles so that their position would be correct. I had to use my brain and experiment. I made an adjustable angle gauge from scrap wood, attached it to the top of the log, and adjusted the handles so they were 20,32 inches apart. This is how I found out where the centers of the holes for the top handles were supposed to be.

I then started preparing the leg for my mannequin. The drawings indicated the angles I needed, but the leg had to be bent, and I had no idea how this could be done. In the end, I joined the two pieces together using glue and screws. I imagined that if I broke a leg, I could always make another one. But it turned out that the junction of the two parts turned out to be very strong.

Once the leg was made and all the marks from the drawings were successfully transferred to the log, I could begin drilling and creating the holes. I wasn't too lazy, checked all the dimensions a few more times and got to work. To make the hole for the leg, I used a 2,54-inch (1,9 cm) drill bit and a ? inch (XNUMX cm) chisel. After drilling the hole, I started working with the chisel. I needed to deepen the hole and insert the leg there, making sure it was placed at the correct angle. After about one hour of work, the hole was made and my mannequin began to take on its familiar shape.

I don’t have a lathe, but I wanted to make the handles from oak, so I faxed the drawings to the carpenter. His work cost $112 for three pens, but it was worth it because they turned out great.

Having taken the handles from the carpenter, I began to drill holes, and I did it just as slowly and carefully as when working with the leg. Each pen took approximately one hour to complete. Now my mannequin looked like a mannequin. All that remains is to attach it to the wall.

I drilled holes in the back of the log for fasteners and made a bracket for my garage wall using 4x4 bolts. The mannequin was placed in place and ready for use. Now there's only one problem left - how the hell do I use this thing?

I understood that for this it was necessary to study Wing Chun, so I bought myself a book, several videos and began to study the technique of using Muk Yang Jong. With the help of a friend who had previously trained in Wing Chun, I learned the basics of the technique. Everything was fine for a few months, but I soon realized that my main style, “seven stars praying mantis,” was suffering from this because I was spending too much time on Wing Chun and the wooden dummy.

I asked myself: “What are you doing? You haven’t really learned the “seven stars of the praying mantis” yet, and now you’re learning a new style just to use this wooden mannequin?” After that, Muk Yan Jong just stood idle in my garage for a while.

Purely by chance, on the Internet I came across an old, long out of print book about the “seven stars of the praying mantis.” I ordered it. After delivery, I flipped through it and was amazed to see how a “seven stars” student was using a wooden mannequin with the praying mantis technique! Is that really true? Can I really use Muk Yang Jong with something other than Wing Chun? There was the “mantis grip”, “seven star swing”, dodges, parries, footwork. Everything was there, I just didn’t know about it.

It was a good book of seven stars, and thanks to it I understood the principles of working with a wooden mannequin. You don't need to know Wing Chun to use Muk Yang Jong.
Training with a wooden dummy

Now I use Muk Yan Jong regularly. I don't stand in front of him for hours, as I did before. Now I'm working on technique, as I always have. Then I select a few techniques from it to practice on a dummy and hone them to perfection, try to use them in various combinations, and then improve them when working with a live partner.

As it turns out, the wooden mannequin can serve as a good stepping stone for the transition from technology to application.

Only a little adaptation is needed. Many techniques use very linear movements. I noticed that when performing techniques, instead of straight-line movements, I moved from one side of the mannequin to the other. This is important because the side-to-side technique is used in many styles.

I was able to find out that almost any technique can be used on Muk Yan Jong. All you need is a clear head and a little creativity.

The whole process of creating the mannequin paid off handsomely and was not as difficult as I imagined. After learning that there was no need to learn Wing Chun, I could adapt it to my needs and that was a big plus. I ended up owning a valuable item that can help with almost any style of training, and I have to admit, it's pretty cool to have something like this at my disposal.

Author: Brian McCarry
Information Search: Jason DinAlt
Translation: EvilDollaR

Drawings with dimensions and comments are attached. Naturally, with a translation into Russian and suitable units of measurement.