Nguyễn Lộc, ( vi-hantu, , Thạch Thất district, 8 April 1912 – 29 April 1960) was a Vietnamese martial artist and teacher. He was the founder of

Vovinam Vovinam (short for ''Võ Việt Nam'', meaning "Vietnamese Martial Arts"), officially known as Việt Võ Đạo (越武道, meaning "Vietnamese Way of Martial Arts") is a Vietnamese martial art founded in 1938 by Nguyễn Lộc. It is based o ...

(Việt Võ Đạo). Grandmaster Nguyễn was born in Hữu Bằng village, Thạch Thất district, then part of

Sơn Tây ''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnamese or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted else ...

province, now a district of

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

. He was the eldest son of Nguyễn Dinh Xuyen (阮廷釧) and Nguyễn Thị Hoa (阮氏和) and had four other siblings; Nguyen Thi Thai (阮氏泰), Nguyen Dan (阮寅), Nguyen Ngo (阮海), and Nguyen Thi Bich Ha (阮氏碧河). His father's family had settled in Hữu Bằng village for many generations. Later on, the family would move to

where his father would meet an old master and ask the old master to teach his oldest son; young Grandmaster Nguyễn, traditional martial arts and wrestling techniques for his son's health & his ability to defend himself. It was from there he had his first experience with martial arts. In his younger years he trained in traditional Vietnamese martial arts. In 1938, grandmaster Nguyễn who was already teaching the style to a few of his friends introduced his style "Vovinam" to the public. After a demonstration in 1939 in Hanoi, Vovinam quickly spread across the country, and internationally to the

Vietnamese diaspora Overseas Vietnamese (, , or ) refers to the Vietnamese diaspora living outside of Vietnam. The global overseas Vietnamese population is estimated at 5 to 6 million people. The largest communities are in the United States, with over 2.3 million ...

via France. He taught his first Vovinam lesson in the spring of 1940 at the Hanoi National University of Education (E’cole Normal) however the French banned the movement in 1942. In 1946 when Vietnam became officially at war with the French, Nguyễn organised his students in resistance in the Hanoi area, but a disagreement with the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a Communist Party of Vietnam, communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1 ...

led to him disbanding his group and retreating to his home village. After much consideration, he decided to emigrated to

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

in the 1954. July 1954, he and many of his loyal disciples decided to settle in

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

and start a new life there. It was a time of uncertainty; he had left everything he created in the north and had to start new all over again. However, his business did pick up and he was able to open various Vovinam schools all over the south. Because of the reputation he and his school was quickly able to garner, that same year grandmaster Nguyễn was invited to

Thủ Đức Thủ Đức ʰu˨˩˦:ɗɨk˧˥is a sub-municipality in Ho Chi Minh City of the Southestern region of Vietnam. History The oldest name what was recorded in this area was Ngãi An (義安), a district-level administrative unit has existed sin ...

to train the South Vietnam Police. However, his success was short lived because that summer, he would fall ill and delegate all of Vovinam teaching activities to his senior student

Lê Sáng Lê Sáng ( vi-hantu, , 1920 – September 27, 2010) was the Chairman of the Vovinam Vietnamese Martial Arts World Federation, a position he held from 1960 until his death. Biography Le Sang was born to Le Van Hien (also known as Duc Quang) (188 ...

while receding himself to behind the scenes work. He would eventually succumb to his illness in 1960. After grandmaster Nguyễn's death, his senior student, Grandmaster

continued the development and international promotion of Vovinam until his own death on September 27, 2010.Martial Arts of the World : A-Q - Page 654 Thomas A. Green - 2001 "In 1960, grandmaster Nguyen Loc passed away at the age of 47 because of an illness. Before his death, his senior student, Le Sang, was appointed to lead and further advance Vovinam. "

References

1912 births 1960 deaths Vietnamese martial artists Martial artists from Hanoi {{Vietnam-sport-bio-stub