Võ phục not necessarily adopted by all practitioners, as evidenced throughout 1973-1990 when many practitioners under a separate development of Vovinam, the "Viet Vo Dao Federation," wore black uniforms. By 1990, however, after further meetings between councils, indigo had been adopted by the majority of Vovinam practitioners in and outside of Vietnam. Deep blue/indigo (Vietnamese: Lam) is now the internationally accepted color of Vo Phuc for Vietnamese martial arts. The "võ phục" of Vovinam are very similar, if not nearly identical, to the "keikogi" of Japanese martial arts. Both top and bottom of the uniform are constructed in much the same way
Northern Shaolin (martial art) place of origin. The Northern Shaolin (北少林 denotes Henan 河南崇山少林寺 temple) style associated with Gu Ruzhang was first taught to a lay disciple, the celebrated 18th century master Gan Fengchi of Jiangsu Province, by a Shaolin monk named Zhao Yuan, born Zhu Fu, a member of the Ming royal family who joined the sangha after the Ming was overthrown by the Qing in 1644. (Gan is also remembered for founding the martial art Huāquán 花拳, literally "flower fist", about which he wrote the book "Introduction to Huāquán".) Gan in turn taught Wan Bangcai, who taught Yan Degong, who taught Yan