tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44592012065406109052024-03-12T22:27:12.976-07:00Agen138 Slot TerpercayaAgen 138 Slot online gacor terpercaya 2023 yang memberikan maxwin dan live RTP kemenangan hingga 98%Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-44276221825153176082021-04-20T07:15:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:13.315-07:00一蓑煙雨任平生 - With straw-cape and straw-hat, through mist and rain, I'll walk life's journeys again, and again<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0u4EaiS8dq8mXpOT6u3jx-0asYxbMse1uxM4iaHNpfS-tUzndua1vAs3mf8D3WNJXdPgd7eR_ueef_-ZavgEGM2uKgN5taoDRkkF13bbl2QXoc9bI3OL_6yvPia056KT6qG2VQw6okmiG/s960/tea+scoop2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="490" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0u4EaiS8dq8mXpOT6u3jx-0asYxbMse1uxM4iaHNpfS-tUzndua1vAs3mf8D3WNJXdPgd7eR_ueef_-ZavgEGM2uKgN5taoDRkkF13bbl2QXoc9bI3OL_6yvPia056KT6qG2VQw6okmiG/s320/tea+scoop2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqsPULQFWw_o76ZtXzidG4-hKp9geWT4pEt7oYdW8HOR2XBun6jm5tkwhuPw3-QOcydSa_vAqFACXEJ2AO1-tmI0KA3eCoKN6lt31znujUCIwr9YGNRT1o0bbtXx5azhS3wlBz41TFCtQ/s960/tea+scoop.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="566" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqsPULQFWw_o76ZtXzidG4-hKp9geWT4pEt7oYdW8HOR2XBun6jm5tkwhuPw3-QOcydSa_vAqFACXEJ2AO1-tmI0KA3eCoKN6lt31znujUCIwr9YGNRT1o0bbtXx5azhS3wlBz41TFCtQ/s320/tea+scoop.jpg" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">刻蘇軾名句:一蓑煙雨任平生</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's been a quiet night and I had my Covid vaccine today. My arm is numb but am in good spirits, I recently had the good fortune to meet a famous Taiwanese artist </span><span face="Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">馮欣信 who is specializes in carving tea scoops. This one especially caught my eye as the famous phrase that was carved on it resonates deeply with my blog - especially the very first post. For those who do not know the phrase it comes from the famous poem by the Song Poet Su Shi. It is carved from old rosewood - which is actually quite fragrant as opposed to much of the rosewood that is now sourced from Africa which has a slightly sour smell. </span></span></span></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the last year or so, I have had the opportunity to reflect further upon my life's purpose. I want to share my passions for the quiet life inspired by the old Chinese sages and literati. Perhaps as an adjunct to Mary Kondo, I was to inspire a life that sparks joy through the little things -to surround oneself by beauty whether it's the aesthetics of movement (baguazhang, taichi, yiquan) incense (agarwood and sandlewood) chinese calligraphy and art and the depth of tea ceremony and art. Underpinning it all are the more sacred spiritual practices of neigong and alchemy.</span></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I can surround myself with like minded people to continue life's journey that would be wonderful and offer workshops and seminars while doing it. </span></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p data-adtags-visited="true" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://28utscprojects.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/s080/" target="_blank">蘇軾 – 定風波</a><br />SU Shi – Lyrics to the Melody of a Pacified Storm</strong></p><p data-adtags-visited="true" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">三月三日沙湖道中遇雨,雨具先去,同行皆狼狽,余獨不覺。已而遂晴,故作此。<br />On the seventh of March, along the Shahu Pass sudden rains befell us, those with rain gear hurried ahead; while my colleagues all felt discomfiture, I alone did not. The sky has since cleared up, so I have written as follows.</p><p data-adtags-visited="true" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">中文原文﹕</p><p data-adtags-visited="true" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">莫聽穿林打葉聲,<br />何妨吟嘯且徐行。<br />竹杖芒鞋輕勝馬,<br />誰怕?<br /><b>一蓑煙雨任平生。</b></p><p data-adtags-visited="true" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">料峭春風吹酒醒,<br />微冷,<br />山頭斜照卻相迎。<br />回首向來蕭瑟處,<br />歸去,<br />也無風雨也無晴。</p><p data-adtags-visited="true" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕</p><p data-adtags-visited="true" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Heed not to the tree-rustling and leaf-lashing rain,<br />Why not stroll along, whistle and sing under its rein.<br />Lighter and better suited than horses are straw sandals and a bamboo staff,<br />Who's afraid?<br /><b>A palm-leaf plaited cape provides enough to misty weather in life sustain.</b></p><p class="inline-ad-slot" data-adtags-visited="true" data-adtags-width="584" id="inline-ad-0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; float: left; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; height: 0px; margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 584px;"></p><p data-adtags-visited="true" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A thorny spring breeze sobers up the spirit,<br />I feel a slight chill,<br />The setting sun over the mountain offers greetings still.<br />Looking back over the bleak passage survived,<br />The return in time<br />Shall not be affected by windswept rain or shine.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-18818074114120114462019-04-10T02:08:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:13.644-07:00Ten Methods of the Heavenly Dragon <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxDdBRAv-mzJhpV3yHGtbHhFSaVZGm2FT9Bjril19qlyfGbE1axWsvOukKvYjcfjb2KRpy9VLxoq27PZoZodp-M5kWjR4Vvzis5pSEdyLq-XibAM2TQTEvGsP48LUeXoDjfPEsBJAu8Gkl/s1600/ten+methods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="645" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxDdBRAv-mzJhpV3yHGtbHhFSaVZGm2FT9Bjril19qlyfGbE1axWsvOukKvYjcfjb2KRpy9VLxoq27PZoZodp-M5kWjR4Vvzis5pSEdyLq-XibAM2TQTEvGsP48LUeXoDjfPEsBJAu8Gkl/s320/ten+methods.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I recently came across this book by Robert Scheaffer in Amazon, or rather the book came to me. I had actually passed on the book several times previous, because the cover seemed to be rather bland, and I imagined the contents to be a semi-fictionalized account of the author's time in Taiwan with some orientalist tropes thrown in for good measure.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But there was something that finally drew me to click and buy the book, perhaps hoping that it would be along the lines of Matthew Polly's "American Shaolin" or Lindsey Wei's "The Valley Spirit". This genre of literature has always been a fun leisure read for me ever since I read "Angry White Pajamas" by Robert Twigger who spent a year studying Yoshinkan Aikido in Tokyo. There is always a flash or recognition of a kindred spirit who is seeking something beyond the mundanities of everyday life.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The book began innocently enough, describing the sights and sounds of Taipei in the late 1980s or 1990s, which brought back memories of my time there. And his description of his naive, younger self also held up a mirror to my own recollection of when I first started out on the path to study martial arts. The first 20% or so of the book was pleasant enough, not particularly well written but with just enough zest to keep me turning the pages. But as I ventured further and further into the book, it became increasingly intriguing. Many of the descriptions of the Tai Chi push hands techniques and meditation seemed to be rooted in a firm theoretical basis, as was his insight into his experiences of meditation.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Furthermore his description of his teacher Shun Yuan, of the Heavenly Dragon Sect and his teachings and techniques seemed to have a deeper resonance. The author really seemed to have a sound understanding of the material. As I continued to read, I almost fell over in surprise when I saw that the author was also a student of baguazhang. And his descriptions of the applications were very much in line with what I had learned. And the more I read, and as the material progressed, there was material that I found useful to think about and ponder. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I, then took the time to look up his site and found out that Robert Sheaffer is a writer, traveller, student of bagua and lay member of the Heavenly Dragon Order. No wonder the parallels with the real world were so concrete. Interestingly enough, the author had put his contact details on the website and I have sent him an email to reach out to him. I shall fill in the readers in due course about what transpires. But in the meantime, I would encourage readers of my site to try this book if they have time. There may be material in there that may surprise you. </span></div><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-79638925478729431292019-02-21T06:23:00.000-08:002022-10-28T06:49:13.880-07:00Moroi 脆い - An Exploration of Human Fragility <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Last week a young artist by the name of Mizuki Nishiyama reached out to me as an avid reader of my blog. She had a background that seems almost tailor made for this blog as a Japanese that grew up in Hong Kong and is now based in New York. As part of our correspondence she sent me some samples of her work which I have share here with my readers. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDaT8th0j1CY21EivE5J4moo7E1tami77GhnlWOOz6sD2eVYkqKIfU-PfC2gMAJ8nhV55lHDoV61rbQ7e2CrrRx6GAj1H-GlKXwd6zBAwsuuyh0-fWwhx_1DU3x4LPUHLrxHMA6rM0-UWk/s1600/%25E4%25B8%2580%25E4%25BA%25BA%25E3%2581%25AE%25E8%2587%25AA%25E5%2588%2586+%2528Hittori+no+Jibun%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1185" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDaT8th0j1CY21EivE5J4moo7E1tami77GhnlWOOz6sD2eVYkqKIfU-PfC2gMAJ8nhV55lHDoV61rbQ7e2CrrRx6GAj1H-GlKXwd6zBAwsuuyh0-fWwhx_1DU3x4LPUHLrxHMA6rM0-UWk/s320/%25E4%25B8%2580%25E4%25BA%25BA%25E3%2581%25AE%25E8%2587%25AA%25E5%2588%2586+%2528Hittori+no+Jibun%2529.jpg" width="236" /></a></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(Hittori no Jibun)</span></div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vz8tVdn98k0nTSKAs8h4XoxQT64SmqAnu8b9hDPckPaHH61WkF0v9vdRY1BxhXjmzmjkZ7-eazy8lJvkpxTejtejv9AqgGf39hlNHq3kLz2H5L_P3xoYnw5UICEbJRtJ59FZ8Hg1lppY/s1600/%25E4%25B8%2580%25E4%25BA%25BA%25E5%25A5%25B3+%2528Hittori+Onna%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1196" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vz8tVdn98k0nTSKAs8h4XoxQT64SmqAnu8b9hDPckPaHH61WkF0v9vdRY1BxhXjmzmjkZ7-eazy8lJvkpxTejtejv9AqgGf39hlNHq3kLz2H5L_P3xoYnw5UICEbJRtJ59FZ8Hg1lppY/s320/%25E4%25B8%2580%25E4%25BA%25BA%25E5%25A5%25B3+%2528Hittori+Onna%2529.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(Hittori Onna)</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxUrvoRX2mqnglfSo9guD-PJYOEDyr9qDkQ9so-KmMatO46G3S2cxBc4188zigjpwSfApTXrW2TlRteRbtvnrEvwoAMlfDgoK9TWXSaA_LM3zfkK-fkE0B5TCo58ts_yyFEmCBpqHhuXi/s1600/%25E7%259B%25AE%25E5%2584%25AA%25E3%2581%2597%25E3%2581%2584%25E4%25BA%25BA+%2528Da-Ke%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1563" data-original-width="1279" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxUrvoRX2mqnglfSo9guD-PJYOEDyr9qDkQ9so-KmMatO46G3S2cxBc4188zigjpwSfApTXrW2TlRteRbtvnrEvwoAMlfDgoK9TWXSaA_LM3zfkK-fkE0B5TCo58ts_yyFEmCBpqHhuXi/s320/%25E7%259B%25AE%25E5%2584%25AA%25E3%2581%2597%25E3%2581%2584%25E4%25BA%25BA+%2528Da-Ke%2529.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(Da Ke)</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQElZN_MTS3OexzPuz1TCJR_d83bTLkhsiSlgpaZ1YUEDY67beIPMva_7SuNWLr92t3r9bOUZUa3vjF6CM3QAIg75B4z-5tN7lfkEUZzZyAUvcyihPdD_q1eOQ5IBsj7xIS9u1TaZXuqkd/s1600/%25E9%259D%2599%25E3%2581%258B%25E3%2582%2593%25E9%259F%25B3%2528Quiet+Sounds%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1159" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQElZN_MTS3OexzPuz1TCJR_d83bTLkhsiSlgpaZ1YUEDY67beIPMva_7SuNWLr92t3r9bOUZUa3vjF6CM3QAIg75B4z-5tN7lfkEUZzZyAUvcyihPdD_q1eOQ5IBsj7xIS9u1TaZXuqkd/s320/%25E9%259D%2599%25E3%2581%258B%25E3%2582%2593%25E9%259F%25B3%2528Quiet+Sounds%2529.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(Quiet Sounds) </span></div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I find them disturbing and visceral, hitting you like a punch in the gut. Although it is not the usual work that I am drawn to, there is something that makes it difficult to look away. Something that hints at the fragility of the masks we put up to the world, and the raw untamed power of the emotions and unconscious beneath as if we were but a hair's breath from madness. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To me the work has echoes of Picasso, combining the rawness of Lucian Freud mixed with movement and the colors and brushwork of Basquiat. It is hard to characterize but at the same time retains something essentially Asian and Japanese. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Japan as a country is very safe but beneath the calm and refined exterior there are many repressed thoughts, desires and emotions. These are extensively explored in Japanese literature and movies, in particular those of the murder mystery or horror genres. There is something of a similar impulse here to explore what really lies beneath, to unearth the dark and shadow side of us that we are most afraid to show.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">While the theme of the show is the Japanese kanji for fragile or brittle, I actually found a softer side behind the pictures - the unifying theme for me was that of vulnerability - that behind the different exteriors we present to the world we are still all subject to emotions such as sadness, loneliness, pride, doubt. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Mizuki Nishiyama's show is ongoing at the Greenpoint Gallery from the 8th March, 2019 390 McGuinness Blvd, Brooklyn, New York </i></span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-8371211589813238722018-04-05T21:26:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:14.117-07:00Interstitium <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnERlDQJZp3IIN18z-_FUv0dpXdISWNsXXST_KhlFHfKvTXwGhzEhI951U8z5Jp2pFLXT5sH1EhB6O-NZX_amTmGYfOcWQKLdJfwfMXNHT2qRZ_xiZV2mRunGWpiz14Y2k-2OreuiofkRg/s1600/166220_web_lczbci.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1170" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnERlDQJZp3IIN18z-_FUv0dpXdISWNsXXST_KhlFHfKvTXwGhzEhI951U8z5Jp2pFLXT5sH1EhB6O-NZX_amTmGYfOcWQKLdJfwfMXNHT2qRZ_xiZV2mRunGWpiz14Y2k-2OreuiofkRg/s320/166220_web_lczbci.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For those martial artists who have been following the fascia and internal power discussion through the years, there was a nice piece in the various international media about the discovery of a new "organ" last Tuesday - the interstitium.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The new organ is a thin layer of dense connective tissue throughout the body, sandwiched just under our skin and within the middle layer of every visceral organ. The organ also made up all the fascia, or the thin mesh of tissue separating every muscle and all the tissue around every vein and artery, from largest to smallest. What initially seemed to be a solid, dense, connective tissue layer was actually a complex network of fluid-filled cavities that are strong and flexible, yet so tiny that they escaped the attention of the brightest scientific minds for generations. (Actually the reason that they escaped the attention of these scientists was because putting connective tissue under slides drained and collapsed these cavities so they did not know they existed.) </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Although the scientific literature focuses mainly upon this being a possible medium for the metastasis of cancer cells and pathway for migration from one part of the body to another, there is some speculation that this may also be the medium for transmission of Qi and how accupuncture works. Master Chang, my qigong teacher in Taiwan has done a lot of work on how the fascia is related to Qi in the body and this, to an extent, provides additional support for his work. (More on this to follow in later posts). </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In addition, the intersitium may act as a shock absorber for the organs of the body. This would make sense to martial artists who have seen the benefits of hard neigong training such as "iron shirt" qigong which was believed to be a strengthening and thickening of the fascia. With this discovery perhaps we can speculate how the fluid nature of the interstitium maybe harnessed and brought under conscious control for example, how internal artists can redirect the energy of punches and disappate their force. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Interestingly enough the Tom Myers, the author of "Anatomy Trains" who many internal artists cite as the basis for meridians and lines of force in martial arts was sanguine about the whole thing in his <a href="https://www.anatomytrains.com/blog/2018/03/29/interstitium-statement-tom-myers/" target="_blank">blog</a>. His attitude was "we've been talking about this for 25 years and only now have you guys caught up?"</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Anyhow welcome any comments from readers or any links to the forums for interesting discussion. I haven't been on Rum Soaked Fist for years so happy to let others set me in the right direction. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.livescience.com/62128-interstitium-organ.html" target="_blank">Meet your Interstitium. A new-found "organ". </a></span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-90701739424317533412018-04-04T10:46:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:14.356-07:00Ukiyo e Heroes <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRT1S4xsH4rVaIccjhuslL1laB6RkI1DkHPUooX2eh6igswh6ojXVkWa0JLLNKzdxwun7zqTS1r5g8TfNTIvrXsehzCB5gVoR80CTPWvD13YMxHr3uUylUKZprOd3rDoTPPLtm_Ecxhgfa/s1600/Screen-Shot-2016-09-20-at-9.03.38-AM-1-1196x1600.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1196" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRT1S4xsH4rVaIccjhuslL1laB6RkI1DkHPUooX2eh6igswh6ojXVkWa0JLLNKzdxwun7zqTS1r5g8TfNTIvrXsehzCB5gVoR80CTPWvD13YMxHr3uUylUKZprOd3rDoTPPLtm_Ecxhgfa/s320/Screen-Shot-2016-09-20-at-9.03.38-AM-1-1196x1600.png" width="239" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO85rTnaC2Jwr8KSAw3n4OAqhlrmlXhi1JHCK_p7FlQopFRWPpyrkatO3snAg3dK7wM7fFYMI1-L6_0IgxrCFd3lzaEw6VLjv7yGsx6ZUOBEUU9CkCjXOaRRYjC-3Y99QQwQf2NhBvifrK/s1600/05_metroid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="846" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO85rTnaC2Jwr8KSAw3n4OAqhlrmlXhi1JHCK_p7FlQopFRWPpyrkatO3snAg3dK7wM7fFYMI1-L6_0IgxrCFd3lzaEw6VLjv7yGsx6ZUOBEUU9CkCjXOaRRYjC-3Y99QQwQf2NhBvifrK/s320/05_metroid.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is one of the sites that I wanted to share with my readers, during my absence. One of my many hobbies is collecting Japanese woodblock prints, which I have done on and off over the years, started during my time in Philadelphia in 1999. So it came my attention earlier in the year that an artist Jed Henry was making woodblock prints in the traditional Japanese style but incorporating modern characters from video games and science fiction. The stuff blew my mind.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFYYh2ln14Zhsoezb5_RvC7iEYT1rSPRt3CeSBiAQKmaJn_Kd_4reZ-8uKeYsvewB-XWm-qcJ9gi0iwKFnE64eOPXnHrFFWZxcBUMnQG5YvtJIQcHF3r3A9nfQmA63hOVTeyr22nXMvDFb/s1600/08_shadow_of_the_colossus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="672" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFYYh2ln14Zhsoezb5_RvC7iEYT1rSPRt3CeSBiAQKmaJn_Kd_4reZ-8uKeYsvewB-XWm-qcJ9gi0iwKFnE64eOPXnHrFFWZxcBUMnQG5YvtJIQcHF3r3A9nfQmA63hOVTeyr22nXMvDFb/s320/08_shadow_of_the_colossus.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Like many of us, Jed grew up on a diet of video games. Using his favorites as inspiration, he developed an interest in drawing and eventually went to college for animation. Subsequently he lived in Tokyo for a few years as a Mormon missionary. He was very impressed by the work of Dave Bull, a traditional wood block printer (who lives in Japan), and so he reached out to his hero to see about collaborating. Two years later, they started working on a project called Ukiyo-e Heroes. With Jed’s illustration and animation background and Dave’s block printing skills, they have created something quite unique and amazing.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I would advise my readers to check out the internet and their <a href="http://ukiyoeheroes.com/" target="_blank">site</a> as well as their instagram. Really no where to do justice to it besides to check it out yourself. He also has created a Medieval Fighter RPG game called "Edo Superstar" definitely worth downloading. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyIwXSTRc-nLtp0zbHcApG7QzMN8AhrAVq4b9ktpWAXgNjr6t9lwb8kR-It7BHPFaHUVXWZQ2NUTsqkoQjk10Y_VbyiuXEtcxkighmbfhFMtrrt_uqEFRP6LGgDe9sBwj7RPkXGlYkmurt/s1600/04_final_fantasy_vi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="672" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyIwXSTRc-nLtp0zbHcApG7QzMN8AhrAVq4b9ktpWAXgNjr6t9lwb8kR-It7BHPFaHUVXWZQ2NUTsqkoQjk10Y_VbyiuXEtcxkighmbfhFMtrrt_uqEFRP6LGgDe9sBwj7RPkXGlYkmurt/s320/04_final_fantasy_vi.jpg" width="238" /></a></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-29182103610150682192018-04-03T14:11:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:14.593-07:00Return to Posting <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwLD9yWZa0EVWqEe6cNEMgH4zHkaznmzAYjHKRMcWv1npdaRDLbewDRXRal1RU_SF1eX-pwr5vTqAlhkuCTISLM4YWqpkc7bI3fVXhIC0ygQAZ8cE3cJ-xAI_J_6C-2xs7zFFRTSnQ0qO3/s1600/DSC_5499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1068" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwLD9yWZa0EVWqEe6cNEMgH4zHkaznmzAYjHKRMcWv1npdaRDLbewDRXRal1RU_SF1eX-pwr5vTqAlhkuCTISLM4YWqpkc7bI3fVXhIC0ygQAZ8cE3cJ-xAI_J_6C-2xs7zFFRTSnQ0qO3/s320/DSC_5499.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To all my readers, I have recently returned to posting on my blog after about a long hiatus. I think the discipline will be good for me as I begin to think about various developments that have happened in the intervening years. As a catch up here are some of the things I have been working on since the time I last posted on my blog. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For the martial arts enthusiasts I have continued to practice my various styles - Baguazhang, Yiquan and Tai Chi. The last couple of years have placed much more emphasis on my Chen Tai Chi practice. As some of you know my Sifu CS Tang is a disciple of Feng Ziqiang in Beijing who passed away in May, 2012. (It feels almost like yesterday). There have been a lot more breakthroughs with regards to my shenfa and the way I move my body, especially a deeper understanding of silk reeling. This year I have gone back to basics and have been really focusing on my basic Baguazhang movements again, trying to understand how the spiraling works deep within the body, especially how the rotation of the torso contributes to storing and releasing energy. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Related to this ... in the intervening time I have also been focused on practicing <a href="https://www.qiji.org.tw/" target="_blank">Qiji Daoyin</a> - a form of qigong taught in Taiwan by Master Chang Liang Wei, who helped found Taiji Daoyin and then broke away to develop his own system. This system has helped me really understand many of the basic principles of Tai Chi and internal arts on a much deeper level, what he terms the 8 major principles </span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #555353; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: auto; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; letter-spacing: 0.1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif;">螺旋、延伸、開闔、絞轉</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">spiralling, extension, opening and closing, wringing, and </span><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">靜心、旋轉、壓縮、共振 </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">stilling the mind, turning, compression and resonance. The biggest take-away has been freeing me from the defensive turtle-back of internal arts to open the body to a greater degree. I hope to share more of this in future posts as well translate some of the important materials on his site for a larger readership. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Continuing on the theme of martial arts I have also started teaching. Although it is mainly Tai Chi at the moment, I do hope that I can start teaching more of the Daoyin as I believe it really does have something valuable to offer that others do not. If any of you are interested in taking my classes in Hong Kong (or in Orange County) you can drop me a PM.</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #555353; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: auto; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #555353; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: auto; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On a final note I have also been spending some more time on some of the other Chinese arts - like gongfu cha (tea ceremony) calligraphy (which I also study under my teacher CS Tang) and incense ceremony (appreciation of agarwood which I study under Master Chang). I found that these have helped me round out some of the character development that martial arts does not provide. But it is indeed surprising how much the arts inform each other. You can also find pictures of my travels and other arts on my Instagram page - @bodhisattva77</span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #555353; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: auto; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #555353; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: auto; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Anyhow, after a series of false starts I am happy to be back posting again. Please excuse the self indulgent photograph above. But thanks for your continued support. </span><span style="font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-13181953538254186892016-10-20T05:04:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:14.831-07:00Taichi: The Story of A Chinese Master <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilugd-fOXB7j4jymnUT7ZL7BNWCzSKcs3Dl8hjsnhKJ0z2Dp9b_AfMJI40eBGYW8P1vjFZTG6Tmb3kBiu4LS1S5T42lgt8pfV9SadBVlrU5SqM35MswM_sPtbf5tnYBWJArOs6uhk84rBy/s1600/marc-meyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilugd-fOXB7j4jymnUT7ZL7BNWCzSKcs3Dl8hjsnhKJ0z2Dp9b_AfMJI40eBGYW8P1vjFZTG6Tmb3kBiu4LS1S5T42lgt8pfV9SadBVlrU5SqM35MswM_sPtbf5tnYBWJArOs6uhk84rBy/s320/marc-meyer.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I had the good fortune to be contacted by Marc Meyer, a musician and author regarding his new novel entitled Taichi: The Story of a Chinese Master in America. Although a little hesitant in agreeing to his request for a book review, I am glad I did. The book is Taichi, is ostensibly about a martial artist Kuo Yun San, a former bodyguard to Madam Chiang Kai Shek who comes to New York in the early 1960s and starts teaching Taichi (The reference to the Xingyi practitioner is I believe, not incidental). It is loosely based upon the life of Cheng Man Ching, whose style Marc Has studied in the past. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The book is written in sparse prose with a minimum of description, leading much to the reader's imagination. Although there is not a great deal of "action" in the book, it does a good job as a coming of age story for the narrator, Paulie - Kuo's nephew and is evocative of Chinatown and New York in the 1960s, as well as the counter-culture of that time.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Indeed the part I liked most were the various students of Kuo, whose colorful personalities provided a great foil to the more straight laced Chinese characters. Broader historical and political issues are deliberately downplayed, and little mention is made of the Great Leap Forward in China, the Second World War or McCarthyism and racism in America. This is a shame as I believe it would have made it a stronger novel. However, Meyer does takes advantage of a number of opportunities to incorporate the history and legends of Tai Chi such as the stories of Yang Lu Chan, Bodhidharma and different schools of Tai Chi and makes this a nice introduction for someone who may not have a great knowledge of the art and younger audiences. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The few incidences where marital arts are used are generally accurate as in push hands, and general self defence making this a refreshing change from the more fantastical books that seem to abound on the shelves nowadays. Meyer is also to be commended for avoiding the issue of whitewashing. The main protagonists are Chinese and it really is a story about them and their immigrant experience in America, without any "white saviors" that are so common in Hollywood. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So all in all a book I would recommend as light reading, especially for the reading lists of high schools, as I believe younger adults will identify closely with the main character and gain insight into how martial arts really work, as well as a bit of Chinese history and culture. I spent a number of enjoyable hours with the book and it made for great fall reading. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">P.S. However, due to academic nature of this blog, I must issue the caveat that there are a number of anachronisms in the book that were a little jarring for me, but would probably not be picked up by a casual reader. For instance, references to Tsing Tao Beer - (only introduced into US in 1972), Containerization - (although containerization started in earnest in 1958, smuggling immigrants in containers from China was still relatively rare at this time due to Chinese ports still being very backward), Arthur Fong (a Chinese being a katana master in Japan before coming to USA - not very believable due to the racial animosities before and during the war), eating Kimchee in Chinatown. But all this might come across as griping on my part, and should not detract from my recommendation of the novel. Marc, you should have let me review your draft! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-90217313814414289442015-07-16T19:23:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:15.068-07:00Tanaka Min - 田中泯<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_l9hWb0X-IyDB5B9XRkvC3zVEE9tVym4Dh3L5DhCU3mcd8zMwm0nZBKeCKFyxtGbAuPeUj83tqItjgQ46kWfGvcKZGtOGLqaP3phMEN4NhXwvQwccIp3HnXviIibRaZlvGZE_qA6aRuQ/s1600/min-kao.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_l9hWb0X-IyDB5B9XRkvC3zVEE9tVym4Dh3L5DhCU3mcd8zMwm0nZBKeCKFyxtGbAuPeUj83tqItjgQ46kWfGvcKZGtOGLqaP3phMEN4NhXwvQwccIp3HnXviIibRaZlvGZE_qA6aRuQ/s1600/min-kao.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I came across Tanaka Min when I recently watched the Ruroni Kenshin るろうに剣心 movie trilogy on DVD. The sword choreography was absolutely amazing and should be watched for that alone. Otherwise I am not a big fan of the franchise for I find Kenshin a little too effete and the main female character unconvincing as a practitioner of budo. Although Tanaka Min only had a small supporting part in the second and third films, playing Kashiwazaki Nenji, the leader of the Oniwanban (ninjas for the old Shogunate who are sleeper agents embedded in society). His calm demeanor and wisdom, provided me with a template for what I would like to aspire to become as I age. "Gentle, run down at the seams" as described by Nobuhiro Watsuki, the creator of RK. But still possessed of a quick mind and able to guide his younger followers to choose the right path. Tanaka Min also played important supporting roles in the movies 47 Ronin, the Hidden Blade and Twilight Samurai. I hope through my efforts in this blog that he can be better known and appreciated by the global community. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioCXFXIUt3mR1hmSCw-DFHHWkrrwhH68omevmSadg_vjshmHoTcoiqTqV5sF0uuKvSiH0obypf_FKKvZcMQbHppGhugB_jjyARs00a1J5s7js-UPpy5wVcFxwN-YaJWa6bXlknmECTHUBz/s1600/140828_k47u.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioCXFXIUt3mR1hmSCw-DFHHWkrrwhH68omevmSadg_vjshmHoTcoiqTqV5sF0uuKvSiH0obypf_FKKvZcMQbHppGhugB_jjyARs00a1J5s7js-UPpy5wVcFxwN-YaJWa6bXlknmECTHUBz/s320/140828_k47u.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A brief description of his background from Wikipedia. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQrA7rd_TdDJgIjN0kWv8s1qUH9Vv0n_ltNZEh1RtLLPrHPUq0zNGG4WiYb6Sju9lcZ6rp-LnHAMglNFJLn567kN7a2PQOoIoUO1dyn1stgxZkt4T_3YmBn6R4GOYPicB5GzT4RlOkDGb/s1600/tanakamin_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQrA7rd_TdDJgIjN0kWv8s1qUH9Vv0n_ltNZEh1RtLLPrHPUq0zNGG4WiYb6Sju9lcZ6rp-LnHAMglNFJLn567kN7a2PQOoIoUO1dyn1stgxZkt4T_3YmBn6R4GOYPicB5GzT4RlOkDGb/s320/tanakamin_07.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Tanaka was trained in ballet and modern dance, but in 1974, turned his back on these forms. He began his solo career with a series of nearly-naked primarily outdoor improvisational dances that took place throughout Japan, often dancing up to five times a day. For a time in the 1980s, he was associated with Hijikata Tatsumi and butoh, a loose genre of Japanese dance, but now has broken from that framework as well, and no longer uses that term to describe his dances. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oexP8YYRj37j_bY_KRa71Uy0g-jVRsPkHyHgmlMIM6xMRCDrZK77YcvhVENBEroU3U89FPLKzTbvYShWy1HQazonRLPoPQcJQlipCS2r6bCIDa8S64UOM9SwD2QX7WtiCBDDGf763tFq/s1600/069g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oexP8YYRj37j_bY_KRa71Uy0g-jVRsPkHyHgmlMIM6xMRCDrZK77YcvhVENBEroU3U89FPLKzTbvYShWy1HQazonRLPoPQcJQlipCS2r6bCIDa8S64UOM9SwD2QX7WtiCBDDGf763tFq/s320/069g.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From 1986 to 2010, Tanaka hosted dance workshops based in Body Weather, a movement ideology which "conceives of the body as a force of nature: omni-centered, anti-hierarchic, and acutely sensitive to external stimuli." In 1985, Tanaka and his colleagues founded Body Weather Farm, located four hours west of Tokyo, where he taught summer sessions lasting four to five weeks in Japanese and English. Much of the training workshop students received was centered around the labor of workaday tasks, primarily in agriculture. Tanaka taught that performing such tasks in their environments and with their accompanying physical stimulations functioned as a dance student's teacher itself, overturning the tradition of the environment taking on a subordinate role to the dance student's technique. He continues to experiment with new ways to use the body, including drawing inspiration from farming. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7N4tJO08GvsBA1XCKqxQrlFwfO4ROWELcrG9uqHqXRJfOrYFlKsSLfn1sfTA4FmiCKeoMYnQXfexGBulW8B5X7UgqROUlx4kQ7MQ1NOn5V-HU94d9os6Z-4R0xAe8YxursdcUqJWuJ3TQ/s1600/f_min_fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7N4tJO08GvsBA1XCKqxQrlFwfO4ROWELcrG9uqHqXRJfOrYFlKsSLfn1sfTA4FmiCKeoMYnQXfexGBulW8B5X7UgqROUlx4kQ7MQ1NOn5V-HU94d9os6Z-4R0xAe8YxursdcUqJWuJ3TQ/s320/f_min_fire.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Starting in 2002, he began to appear in movies and on television. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 26th Japan Academy Prize for The Twilight Samurai.</span></div><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-42146427544915319962015-07-15T05:07:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:15.306-07:00DC Superheroes reimagined in Feudal Japan <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiemq0hyphenhyphen-ysRvWQpXqGs40lJs1Dm_00JGZDkZZbDXbne6Kl_v-m96i7oQM6heQb_nFdMKaIjxsMA3In0NFZC-5qMu-J8uHVff_XpFi7uynyBsJ_DjIpghgJTdLkzYJol3IKZrhOC9np3K5N/s1600/samurai1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiemq0hyphenhyphen-ysRvWQpXqGs40lJs1Dm_00JGZDkZZbDXbne6Kl_v-m96i7oQM6heQb_nFdMKaIjxsMA3In0NFZC-5qMu-J8uHVff_XpFi7uynyBsJ_DjIpghgJTdLkzYJol3IKZrhOC9np3K5N/s320/samurai1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtrPT4AJVTHQHI7OIj0QCfPnxEeZSNhja6_gfnmXIAkLiJk2lcVjn4bjqM8_5fKruvXDwUNaEbwKQx5qxE4RB7kB1tD35EvojXPq8nq7lROeoN3PaLPy8gmWAdSTKRtsSWeeMZiGA73A7/s1600/Samurai+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtrPT4AJVTHQHI7OIj0QCfPnxEeZSNhja6_gfnmXIAkLiJk2lcVjn4bjqM8_5fKruvXDwUNaEbwKQx5qxE4RB7kB1tD35EvojXPq8nq7lROeoN3PaLPy8gmWAdSTKRtsSWeeMZiGA73A7/s320/Samurai+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9M7bD0l7q5ts-nl3rLKpCPfiZ4ZxqK4N928r4f2NxqNI44J48QxZLD2X5KT2sFDSg8RGa4ZF1xpel62STvO3ygEHJoI2QMrlCzruC8pgP-dPSxIMzCKJP5KZ4-f_T0VuWZjZ7gUiE9aM3/s1600/Samurai+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9M7bD0l7q5ts-nl3rLKpCPfiZ4ZxqK4N928r4f2NxqNI44J48QxZLD2X5KT2sFDSg8RGa4ZF1xpel62STvO3ygEHJoI2QMrlCzruC8pgP-dPSxIMzCKJP5KZ4-f_T0VuWZjZ7gUiE9aM3/s320/Samurai+3.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On a lighter note, in an attempt to post more often I came across the artist <a href="http://anotherbrittneywilliams.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Britney Williams</a>, a self described freelance comics artist, skateboarder and character designer. She has reimagined the DC Superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in a Japanese feudal setting and it is pretty awesome. Not much commentary from me, just enjoy.</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFr0XoFiUvjt50vUiCwxbveWajziohVLPbcP_CJPeQiSdBfY8AzY3BwWX8dVWGttTOXeX6VYOAp1xez9d1JEYhlNQMR88cEPMjW89rr0EZyRCnK0ujYehW1BhHIMbMN8sBSfs1PlGMhDY3/s1600/Samurai+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFr0XoFiUvjt50vUiCwxbveWajziohVLPbcP_CJPeQiSdBfY8AzY3BwWX8dVWGttTOXeX6VYOAp1xez9d1JEYhlNQMR88cEPMjW89rr0EZyRCnK0ujYehW1BhHIMbMN8sBSfs1PlGMhDY3/s320/Samurai+4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-90962821931981052082015-06-04T21:51:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:15.549-07:00A Brief History of Lei Tai Fighting in Hong Kong <div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5i2eLKy3deYnz6vRmWgKEUQFNVkDsAiVZrql_ugcd0ghrToCOSdnR7MNsuGtDqslELq2d9KnpUqGnL-P9Huqv1dE0aGGgDtwunD9L_F2NQbcubX1viESdHjuxBXm4eC04w9dKjzdpV8so/s1600/lei+tai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5i2eLKy3deYnz6vRmWgKEUQFNVkDsAiVZrql_ugcd0ghrToCOSdnR7MNsuGtDqslELq2d9KnpUqGnL-P9Huqv1dE0aGGgDtwunD9L_F2NQbcubX1viESdHjuxBXm4eC04w9dKjzdpV8so/s1600/lei+tai.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>An excerpt from my Kung Fu brother - Osmond Lam Kwok Fai's book "Secret Leg Techniques of Wing Chun". A brief history of Lei Tai fighting in Hong Kong with with a Wing Chun slant. The English version of the book is slated to be published in the Fall to coincide with the release of Yip Man 3. Translated from the Chinese by yours truly. </i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In the 1950s and 60s, apart from personal duels, martial artists would also go overseas to measure themselves against other martial artists and accumulate experience. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On the 22nd January in 1957, the Chinese National Boxing Association organised the first "Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau Guoshu Competition" at Sanjun Stadium in Taipei. From the Hong Kong and Macau side, the team leader Chan Duk Siu led ten elite martial artists to take part, and each person paid 300 dollars in travel costs. The team consisted of Wing Chun "King of Sparring" Wong Shun Leung, Wu Style lineage holder Chen Tin Hong, Northern Shaolin [ ] Gap Soo, Dao Style Yuen Cheung, Rougong Style Liu Tze Keung, Tai Chi's Woo Shing, White Crane's Chan Tze Yuen, Choy Li Fatt's Chan Wu Leung and Lai Hung, Mantis Tseng Jun Hwa, and others. The consultanting team included a collection of great masters such as Grandmaster Yip Man, Rougong Style's Ha Kwok Cheung, Shaolin Hapgar's Wu Yeen Ming, Buddha Style's Chan Ging Wun, Hung Kuen's Mok Yee, Choy Li Fat's Lee Chou, and the "Three Fu's of White Crane" - Kwong Boon Fu, Luk Chee Fu and Chen Hak Fu. The winners and results of this "Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau Guoshu Competition" were closely watched by the public. But the most attention was focused upon the regulations of the competition. One these regulations were successfully implemented, they would be the rules relied upon by future Guoshu competitions and would allow these competitions to be held more frequently and would help in the promotion of Guoshu.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After the competition was over, the participants and old masters from Hong Kong and Macau felt that there were many areas that could be improved upon, one of which was the method of scoring. The regulations had one rule which stipulated : "If a competitor is able to knock down or throw down his opponent to the floor (if the elbow does not touch the ground it is not counted as a knockdown) he receives 3 points"; another rule stipulated "In a single match of three minutes (and according to rumour was later reduced to two minutes) the one who strikes harder and strikes the opponent more times is awarded two points". That meant that no matter how many times a competitor struck the opponent in a round, the points would never be as many as if he threw the opponent once. For those who were unfamiliar with jiujitsu or shuai jiao, it was an obvious disadvantage. It was said that "The King of Sparring" Wong Shun Leung when faced off with the Taiwanese "King of Kicks" Wu Ming Jer, Wong maintained a furious attack, but because the opponent's head and body were protected, he was not cowed. However in the end Wong, was kicked by Wu and fell down, which gave the opponent three points, and led to Wong losing the match.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Apart from the scoring system needing to be improved, everyone felt that the organisers should have taken the fighters' health into account. For example, the competition made it such that one fighter had to fight three times consecutively in a single day, with three different opponents, and this unquestionably utterly exhausted the fighter. As this was a martial arts tournament and each fighter would give it their all, minor injuries were unavoidable, but if one sustained internal injuries it would not be immediately obvious. As the organisers arranged for the competitors to to fight again within a few hours or forfeit, this truly showed a disregard for human life. In the case of Master Hu Shing who trained in Tai Chi, he had already won two stages, but he had sprained his wrist, the convention did not allow him time to rest and recuperate, and insisted that he had to take part in the final competition. All he had to do was compete and under the rules where he had already won two of the three matches this meant that he would automatically win, but as he was already injured and and did not want to damage his reputation [by losing], he decided to forfeit and gave up the title. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This overall winner of the Meet was Chen Rung Chien, the silver medallist was Wu Ming Jer, and third prize went to Kao Sen Wang, who were all from Taiwan. After the event, the results were analyzed by the Hong Kong media and martial arts community, the reason for Hong Kong and Macau's loss to the North could be attributed to several points. First, there was no transparency in the way that the Taiwanese organised the draw, each competitor was assigned a number instead of a name, but there was no announcement beforehand which competitor had which number, once the number was chosen then the Taiwanese would announce who would be competing, leading many on the Hong Kong side to suspect that the Taiwanese had already secretly prepared the pairings beforehand. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Secondly during the weigh-in there was no one from the Hong Kong-Macau side present, so when the weights were announced there was a great deal of suspicion. Also in the pairings there was also a discrepancy in the weights of the participants. For instance, pairing the 148 pound Woo Shing against the 190 pound Taiwanese Kao Sen Wang, there was a difference of 40 pounds in the weight, and Woo Shing was at a great disadvantage in terms of body size. Another unfair point was pairing the better Hong Kong fighters against each other, so they would wear each other down, and in the round robin would have exhausted themselves, but for the Taiwanese it was felt that when they fought each other, the winner had already been decided in advance, and with only a few blows a winner was determined. So in the finals the Hong Kong fighter's stamina was not up to the Taiwanese. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As for the Hong Kong-Macau side there were a few competitors who retired because they did not like the regulations, there were a few who too old and were barred from competing, and some wanted just to observe the setup and did not have any intention of competing, and this weakened the Hong Kong- Macau side; in addition the Taiwanese competitors combined Guoshu and Japanese Jiujitsu, and many were ex-military with very strong constitutions, all those reasons combined to give Taiwan every advantage and they were the big winners. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Although the Hong Kong side did not win any prizes, they did record wins against the Taiwanese during the competition, like the Tai Chi master Cheng Tin Hung, he defeated the Head Coach for the Taiwanese joint forces (air, sea and land) and three times Wushu Champion Yu Wen Tung. Although Cheng Tin Hung was injured and did not go the second round, his performance demonstrated the power of the Hong Kong side and his performance was a credit to the Hong Kong team. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Putting aside who was right and who was wrong, the author believes the competition also brought a lot of benefits to the Hong Kong martial arts, as it provided an opportunity for everyone to better understand the techniques and rules of fighting in the ring. Fortunately the proceedings were recorded on film, and was made into a documentary called "A Meeting of Masters - A Special on the Taiwanese -Hong Kong - Macau Competition" which was released in Hong Kong on 12th February 1958. It was said that Bruce Lee could not believe that his kung fu brother Wong Shun Leung lost to Wu Ming Jer in the first round, so he used the opportunity to view the footage to figure out what happened. According to his good friend the director Little Kirin, Bruce Lee watched the movie eight times during the four days it was being shown in the theatres, as he wanted to figure out how Wong had lost in the fight and figure out Wing Chun's weakness against other styles in the ring, to figure out how to improve his own techniques. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After this Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Competition, incidents where Hong Kong martial artists went abroad to fight were few, and most fights remained on the level of personal duels, until May 1959, the Singapore National Guoshu Association, to celebrate the founding of Singapore a hundred and fifty years ago, arranged the "The First South East Asian Guoshu Invitational", and this again raised the interest of Hong Kong martial artists in lei tai fighting. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">At that time the Chief Editor of the "Tin Tin Daily" Wai Gei Sun, using his status as the Head Coach of the Tin Tin Athletic Association, led the young talent to compete. At that time the Dah Shing Pek Kua Master had a disciple that he was especially proud of called Chan Kuan Tai, (a famous action star in the 70s and 80s), and was encouraged by his master to compete. The twenty three year old Chan Kuan Tai had an ideal body at 65kg. and in five rounds he won five times, and won the title for Lightweight A division and shook the whole martial world. Subsequently in an interview he remembered how he prepared for the fight, and he especially prepared techniques for the ring from Karate, Shuai Jiao, and Thai Boxing. He believes that he won that time because he placed an emphasis on physical fitness, in a three minute round from a fitness aspect, he he a sixty-forty percent advantage over his opponent. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From the interview the author believes that Chan Kuan Tai had absorbed the lessons of the earlier "Taiwan-Hong Kong- Macau Competition". Before the competition he trained his body hard and in arts such as karate, shuai jiao and Thai boxing, this allowed him to more easily read the movements of opponents from different countries, but also allowed him to understand the secret of winning in the ring. According to him, his fellow fighters also followed this training plan in subsequent competitions, and with his practical experience in the ring he was able to give pointers to his brothers on defence, so he was able to win the title four consecutive times. From this it can be seen that although a good foundation in one style is important, but the tricks of fighting in the ring are an important part that cannot be neglected. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After a few experiences fighting overseas, the Hong Kong martial community had gained a better understanding of the regulation of fighting in the ring. They saw the Singapore National Guoshu Association had put on a colourful competition, but in Hong Kong they did not have a single association, even less the ability to put on a big competition. At that time Asian arts such as Karate, Judo, Tae Kwon Do and Thai Boxing (at that time called freestyle fighting) were very popular in Hong Kong and attracted many young people to train, having seen this the Guoshu community had the idea of promoting Hong Kong Guoshu. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">At the end of the 1960s, a Tai Chi Master - Yeung Ging Shuen was celebrating his wedding anniversary at the Geen Kwok Restaurant on the sixth floor of the Chung Wah Department Store Building and he invited a number of famous masters such as Kwan Tak Hing and Lee Ying Arng, and the people from Singapore's Hung Shing Kwoon. Master Kwan felt saddened that Hong Kong not have a unifying association for Guoshu, with the community splintered into many groups, and he intended to set up the Hong Kong Guoshu Association to unify all the different schools. Although there were supporters and detractors at the dinner, but at the end they were able to set aside their differences and prejudices, and agreed to set up the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association started fundraising on 9th of November 1968 and was registered on 8th August 1969 and was officially founded on 16th May 1970 (note: the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association officially changed its name to the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Lion Dance Association on the first September 1970.) The founders were Kwan Tak Hing, Lee Ying Arng, Lung Kay Ming, Chan Han Chung and eight other masters. The first official gathering of members took place at the King Wah Restaurant. After its foundation, the members intended to hold their first lei tai competition. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Actually prior to the foundation of the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association, different schools, or local groups had held large Guoshu competitions, but most were based on demonstrations. For example in October 1955, Yau Ma Tei Resident's Benefit and Improvement Association had a fundraising event that lasted three nights "All-Hong Kong Northern and Southern Guoshu Master's Demonstration Competition" The competition involved the Guoshu associations of all the large workers unions (like the banquet hall and cafe workers union, restaurant workers union, etc.), most large Guoshu Sports Schools, Boxing halls, etc. they all sent representatives to show off their skills. In the winter of 1969, Wing Chun's Leung Ting, held the first Wing Chun Demonstration Competition at at the then Hong Kong Baptist College, attending were Grandmaster Yip Man, Inspector Tang Sang, and Yip Man's disciples like Koo Sang, Wong Chuen, etc. There were also many instructors from other schools such as Dao Style's Yip Tin Duk who received invitations. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Although these demonstrations held by local organizations and schools had the benefit of promoting Guoshu techniques, but they were restricted to different schools, and were at the end of the day just performances, and were unable to demonstrate the effectiveness of their techniques in the ring. From the time that the Hong Kong China Guoshu Association was founded, members had harboured the desire to arrange a lei tai competition, and through the competition hastily arranged by Inspector Tang Sang, "The First Chinese Martial Arts [Public Sparring] Competition", as a pretext for fundraising for the main organization, it was held on the 27th February 1971 in the Concert Hall in City Hall, and gathered many masters from different styles to spar on the platform. But due to the legal restrictions at the time it was still a "Sparring Demonstration"</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In order to promote the event, the Wing Chun world held a "All-Hong Kong Wing Chun Qualifying Competition. This was organized by Inspector Tang Sang at Ma Mei Ha village in Fan Ling, New Territories at the Tang Clan Ancestral Temple, and through this they were able to select the competitors for the Competition. Two of the author's Sibak Ho Pak Cheng and Wong Kim Chung also qualified in this preliminary competition. Having been favored, Wong Kim Chung did not let Yip Man and Chow Sigong down and won in the finals. It was said that there needed to be a selection, because Wong Shun Leung's disciple had opened with a Mun Sau stance during the previous competition, but was immediately kicked by his opponent and retired with a broken wrist. At that time it was rumoured that Yip Man feel humiliated, so he decided that the competitors had first to qualify before they could represent the Wing Chun School. This was probably because the students in those days did not have adequate preparation or experience of fighting on the platform, and did not adapt their techniques accordingly. Of course the author has always believed that Wing Chun is not a form of kung fu or sport for fighting in the ring, but it is a form of self defence for street fighting. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For a Wing Chun practitioner to win in the competitions was a good thing, but Yip Man had grander goals, but he hoped that his students would have a better result in the next competition. Thus in 1972, before the "Third Chinese Martial Arts [Sparring] Competition" he invited Tang Sang to organise the one time "Yip Man Cup" qualifying competition, to select the Wing Chun representatives. This time the qualifiers took place at Ma Wei Ha village in Fan Ling, in the Tang Villa Main Hall, at that time Yip Man's disciples like Lok Yiu, Pang Kam Fat, Ho Kam Ming and Chow Sze Chuen all turned out to support. Yip Man encouraged each disciple to select two students to come and compete. The authors's kung fu uncle Chan Wai was selected by Chow Sigong, to spar with other Wing Chun practitioners. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">According to Chan Wai, each pair of competitors were only required to fight a single round to decide the winner, and it was incumbent upon the Adjudication Committee consisting of Wing Chun Masters on who would be selected to represent the style. Chan Wai was very fierce and courageous, and his level of techniques were high, and impressed all the judges, who all wrote down his name as a representative for the larger competition. With a smile, Chan Wai mentioned that at time only Chow Sigong did not vote for him, because he did not want to be viewed as prejudiced, so he humbly chose someone else. Eventually Chan Wai was selected with high ratings to compete along with Ho Kam Ming's student Lee Siu Hung. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Talking about 1972, many people will not forget that on 18th June, on Tsui Ping Road in Kwun Tong and Kotewall Road in Mid- Levels in Hong Kong, there were two incidences of buildings collapsing because of landslides, leading to the deaths of 156 people, and 117 injured. Hong Kong was abuzz with talk of a charitable fundraiser for the disaster, and the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association did not was be seen as left behind, and used the proceeds of the "Third Chinese Martial Arts [Sparring] Competition" as a donation, and this was praised by all quarters. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The competition was held on the 6th August 1972 at City Hall in Central and lasted over two days, apart from Wing Chun sending Chan Wai, Li Siu Hung, Hung Chung and Tam Kam Hing, the other styles such as Da Shing Pek Kua, Eagle Claw, Tai Chi, Choy Li Fut, Hung Kuen, Bak Mei, White Crane, Tang Sau Do sent their representatives to get together and compete. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In those days the regulations first required that each person would first be weighed, and would then be assigned to different classes. In the case of the twenty two year old Chan Wai, he was approximately 105 pounds, and he was assigned to the lightweight class, and his opponent was decided by the luck of the draw. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The competition was of three rounds with two victories deciding the winner. Each round was 2 minutes, and three rounds decided the winner. If there was a competitor that was injured such that the bleeding would not stop, he was forbidden from continuing in the competition for his own safety. According to the memories of Chan Wai, in those days the rules allowed kicking but kicking of the genitals was forbidden, and one could hit the head, everyone wore a helmet, chest and crotch protection and they wore 4 ounce boxing gloves. The referee blew on his whistle, and Chan Wai flew forward, both hands and feet extended, using speed to overcome his opponent, and used all his techniques at once, and within two minutes had beaten his opponent until his mouth and nose were bleeding, but as his opponent opted to continue, they finally went to the full three rounds, beating his opponent and taking the title and a golden flag. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Due to the many different classes, the competition was based upon victory in a single match, and that was the end of the competition. So there were more than ten different winners in more than ten classes. Many thought that winning in such as way was not representative of the skills, thus under the pressure from the participating organisations, the Hong Chinese Guoshu Association in October 1976 during the "Eleventh Chinese Guoshu [Sparring] Competition] there were three tiers of prizes, gold, silver and bronze medals, and later a golden shield and golden cup were also added, to attract more participants. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From 1971 onwards ring fighting in Hong Kong underwent a thirteen year Golden Age, for the most part the competition was organised by the Hong Kong Chinese Guoshu Association, each year the competition was held twice and it usually took place over the Saturday and Sunday over the weekend at the Southorn Playground in Wanchai and the admission tickets cost 15 or 20 dollars. For several years the winners had specially trained in techniques for fighting in the ring, and incorporated the techniques of their own style, so each match was exciting and attracted a large audience, and the number of fans increased daily, which led to the matches being held more often, and started to involve other martial arts associations and began to be held in different formats, it was really a case of a hundred flowers blooming. For instance, the Hong Kong Chinese Gush Association in association with the "New Martial Hero" magazine held the New Martial Hero Cup in 1978, and another organisation - the Hong Kong Kung Fu Association also held a competition once a year. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The lei tai fighting competitions spread everywhere, but the regulations varied, like the type of protective gear that could be used, the weight classes, there was no unifying structure. Until the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s, some organisations gave up using the three foot high raised platform structure, and changed to the boxing ring enclosed with ropes, and did not require that competitors wear helmets and protection, this encouraged close contact fighting, and attracted even more fans looking for visceral excitement. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The ring fighting was a noisy and colourful event that was eagerly awaited every year. However on the 31st September 1979 there was a fatal accident, which shocked the fighting community. At that time the Hong Kong Kung Fu Association held the "Fourth Guoshu Competition" on the second night during the 17th match-up, in the Middle A Class bronze medal match, Lam Chung Cheng from the Lama Style was fighting Bak Mei's Chan Ming Duk. After the match started, Lam initiated a left sweeping kick and it just happened to strike Chan's neck. Unfortunately this was the second time that the competition did not require the competitors to wear protective helmets, having been kicked by Lam, the unprotected Chan collapsed to the ground, and expired in the ring. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This tragedy shocked the martial community, and the community took responsibility and donated 26640 dollars to express its condolensces. As a result of this incident, several of the organisers and committee members including Tai Chi Master Sim Mang Ho were detained by the police for questioning. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This incident led the community to rethink the safety of the leitai fighting setup, and they improved upon the existing regulations, so that from the 70s until the middle of the 80s there was a great emphasis on safety. However from the mid 80s until the late 80s, lei tai fighting started to decline, with one of leading causes was the entry of Muai Thai fighters which opened the eyes of fans, showing them a faster and more brutal form of free fighting, converting many of the die hard Guoshu fans. Also seeing how advantageous Muai Thai was in the Ring, many Chinese martial artists converted to studying Muai Thai, and fought in Muai Thai matches, leading to an outflow of talent. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There were those who did not want Chinese Guoshu to be overshadowed by Muai Thai, or were concerned about their loss in profits, and they lobbied the British government to place additional regulatory requirements on Thai Boxing. There were those who said in those days there were more and more Guoshu academies but Thai boxing schools also tried to get in on the action, and some martial arts organisations saw that there was profit to be had in promoting competitions, organised more and more free style fighting competitions, which then led to the Colonial government to keep a close watch on developments. The number of people training in martial arts increased exponentially, in an [economically fragile] environment, crime figures began to rise, and the general security started to decline. The Government, legislators and citizens natural began to place the blame for the decline in security to the riding trend in training in martial arts. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The author does not wish to debate whether the government and legislators were overzealous in their approach towards martial arts. But on 1st January 1985, the government stipulated that all competitors in free style fighting competitions must wear protective gear, this greatly reduced the thrill of watching ring fighting, and led to an exodus of fans, who went to watch international competitions. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As a result, the methods used to combat the incursion of Thai style free fighting, also affected the Hong Kong Chinese martial arts, and led to a new dark age in let tai fighting and the promotion of martial arts. The Colonial Government also placed new restrictions on the venues available for free style fighting, which affected the development of lei tai fighting, which led to many competitions playing to silent and empty venues. Although there continued to be a base of silent support amongst martial arts fans, in the last ten years, the recent wushu and kungfu craze has been promoted by movies and schools of the various styles, and this has led to a new crop of people who have come to train. Especially with the screening of Donnie Yen's "Yip Man" movie, there has again been a world wide outpouring of love for Wing Chun, and can be compared to the earlier craze for Bruce Lee. As someone who loves martial arts in Hong Kong, seeing the martial community regain some of its former glory, I feel great happiness for both our seniors and for those who are treading in our footsteps after us.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-83094222797779595952015-06-01T22:23:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:15.811-07:00New Twin Swords forged by Longship Armoury LLC 日月雙劍<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjsClWYbDZHz6BPu9gx5cQ0INhW2RBktd0cQbMYFlZBjYWVQi6mCmhZ5uFUb3ANUZ7r2LcUvAavCmL1T11IYw3coZeY1-5EIeJbeGLA-Km-al1VNC_5sU2yQ0OinL_Y8ezTr5IiyexQxN/s1600/11352194_10153350074053522_1707837692_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjsClWYbDZHz6BPu9gx5cQ0INhW2RBktd0cQbMYFlZBjYWVQi6mCmhZ5uFUb3ANUZ7r2LcUvAavCmL1T11IYw3coZeY1-5EIeJbeGLA-Km-al1VNC_5sU2yQ0OinL_Y8ezTr5IiyexQxN/s320/11352194_10153350074053522_1707837692_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">These are a pair of Chinese swords I custom ordered from <a href="http://www.longshiparmoury.com/" target="_blank">Longship Armoury LLC</a> based in the United States which was established in 2011 as a successor to <a href="http://www.odinblades.com/" target="_blank">Odin Blades.</a> The blades are hand forged by master weapon smith John Lundemo and unlike many other smithies like the ones in Longquan, they work hard to ensure that the blades are actually accurate and combat ready and are not purely decorative pieces. In addition the prices are much more reasonable. They should arrive in Hong Kong in the next month or so subsequent to which I shall post additional pictures. Although they are based largely on the existing Shenlong Jian model previously produced by Odin Blades, I have tweaked the specifications to conform to my own personal preferences. (Thus they are not fully bespoke but more made to measure pieces). </span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht7VMfKXU3WRU0uFjAAScj7bOnIQ1UwBVVpBKM0Mt1l-FlRwQWxGb4PdePqkKigTTXmJbX0exuDKbEId6vVpGCkauVhXyU3-MLu8ZgBni-2DqynVXdKmTU1B37vyr4L23jjHRUnWGGM1Vi/s1600/Jian1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht7VMfKXU3WRU0uFjAAScj7bOnIQ1UwBVVpBKM0Mt1l-FlRwQWxGb4PdePqkKigTTXmJbX0exuDKbEId6vVpGCkauVhXyU3-MLu8ZgBni-2DqynVXdKmTU1B37vyr4L23jjHRUnWGGM1Vi/s320/Jian1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpn7MT6p4lJG5HNvwVYBfZlBw7mG3yP29kwy3oOcmfOm5mQjC9bh8_PYNsO-jICIPDr80DZacaBbguF6pRkIdV0l3ZmxaII43nl_r_q_xiJ0wTftP5yr_kIpWF8fbO5qlmAGNBSt5uIu9/s1600/Jian5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpn7MT6p4lJG5HNvwVYBfZlBw7mG3yP29kwy3oOcmfOm5mQjC9bh8_PYNsO-jICIPDr80DZacaBbguF6pRkIdV0l3ZmxaII43nl_r_q_xiJ0wTftP5yr_kIpWF8fbO5qlmAGNBSt5uIu9/s320/Jian5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Examples of the Shenlong Jian</b></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The most important change is the addition of a fuller on each blade (see below excerpt from Wikipedia) as I needed to drastically reduce the weight as I intended to use them as a paired weapon. In a concession to practicality, I am not sure if this has affected the aesthetics as I feel the fuller is too wide. In addition, I added a sun and moon motif to the sword as a nod to my tutelary deity Marishi / Dou Mu / Cundi, which represents the powers of Yin and Yang or heaven and earth. Originally the handles were wrapped in shagreen, but in concession to my Buddhist teachings I had them replaced by fake ivory. I will test them out to see if the grip provided enough friction for my sweaty hands. The original Shenlong model was based upon a Ming Era sword and it also has a little western influence as that was the period when there was the first extensive contact with the West. However the level of detailing on the hilt ensures that this is definitely a sword for the literati and upper classes rather than a wandering knight errant. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The blades weigh 2lbs 3oz each, 28" in length and point of balance at 3". Thus they are extremely light and agile without sacrificing stiffness and resistance in cut. They were designed to suit my style of fighting. I will also get the blades blessed so they can keep dark forces at bay. The blades were sharpened to 8000 grit and stropped for the keenest cutting edge. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A fuller is a tool used in the trade of blacksmithing to produce a rounded or bevel groove or slot in the flat side of a blade (e.g. a sword, knife, or bayonet), and it also refers to the grooves made by these tools. These grooves are often called "blood grooves" or "blood gutters" as well as fullers, although their purpose has nothing to do with blood. A fuller is often used to lighten the blade, much the way that the shape of an I-beam allows a given amount of strength to be achieved with less material. When combined with proper distal tapers, heat treatment and blade tempering, a fullered blade can be 20% to 35% lighter than a non-fullered blade without any sacrifice of strength or blade integrity. This effect lessens as the blade is reduced in length. While this groove is often called a "fuller" by sword enthusiasts, it is the tool used to make the groove which is actually a fuller and the blade is said to be "fullered" after introduction of the groove. </span></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig57GP3ClPmSSqXSDE3RI33r42GjX4TrFPGlGCf2LfZ-R0CKLDkxkve193t3gDLbBWXuLKyaWpGzAPZVbxHX9YGypa0Q5_0u_kTHxfkXFtqFyzcEewsxXOdIPwDFHIiJpnxqmMeExUp_wJ/s1600/11297790_10153338122063522_1987746663_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig57GP3ClPmSSqXSDE3RI33r42GjX4TrFPGlGCf2LfZ-R0CKLDkxkve193t3gDLbBWXuLKyaWpGzAPZVbxHX9YGypa0Q5_0u_kTHxfkXFtqFyzcEewsxXOdIPwDFHIiJpnxqmMeExUp_wJ/s320/11297790_10153338122063522_1987746663_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-85724775539287001932015-05-31T05:11:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:16.059-07:00Lancelot Chan - Sword Trainer <div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Ar2RYuWQdBUGA87c-l1V0T33vVprgMMtE3NCSUIXN2rf9EMpTncuVgr_vgagJpnIewYI5yf1Yg31SrTeIILMokDywAajC27mijTFQ-8JRD14QYEwfdUjCyg3ymzcqnyuTiZVf8h8-Clu/s1600/dm2-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Ar2RYuWQdBUGA87c-l1V0T33vVprgMMtE3NCSUIXN2rf9EMpTncuVgr_vgagJpnIewYI5yf1Yg31SrTeIILMokDywAajC27mijTFQ-8JRD14QYEwfdUjCyg3ymzcqnyuTiZVf8h8-Clu/s320/dm2-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Here is an article on Lancelot Chan, one of my teachers whom I studied with for free sword sparring. This article just came out in the <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1813149/hong-kong-sword-trainer-lancelot-chan-brings-game">South China Morning Post.</a> I have transcribed the article in its entirety here as it is sometimes difficult to access the site without a subscription. He can be contacted through the website www.rsw.com.hk </i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hong Kong is a world away from the epic sword and lightsabre fights on the <i>Game of Thrones</i> and <i>Star Wars</i>. But a local sword-fighting master is bridging that gap between fantasy and reality.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">His name, aptly enough, is Lancelot Chan Ying-chih, according to his HKID card. The 37-year-old’s full-time job is creating realistic swords for training purposes, and he also teaches students how to fight with the replica weapons.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chan says a childhood illness, an iconic movie and make-believe duels brought him to where he is today.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As a child, he would often roughhouse with two friends using broken TV aerials and sticks. Chan used to study martial arts as a boy, but one day, while he was Primary Five student, he suddenly found himself unable to move.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">He was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. In secondary school, he took medicines to reduce the inflammation, but he lost the flexibility and endurance he once had. He stopped doing hand-to-hand combat and started training with weapons (for fun), which is less physically demanding.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Later, when he began studying at a technical school, he learned how to use a drill and other equipment to craft swords.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“Before class, we’d all go crazy and fight each other,” he told the <i>South China Morning Post</i>. Our teacher would yell, ‘Stop, or you’ll all get detention.’ He did that from a safe distance, of course.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“Our metalworks teacher wanted us to pay attention to him, so he said if we listened to him, he’d teach us how to make an aluminium ruler. A few of us learned how to make one and that made for an excellent weapon that lasted a long time. That was funny, but that’s also why I can’t tell you which school I went to,” he said.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">He has come a long way from fighting with rulers. He now makes a variety of training weapons, including Chinese swords, a German bastard sword, Japanese katanas, a European rapier and a Zulu war spear.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">He has around 20 students training under him as part of the Ancient Combat Association, where he is the swordsmanship director. The association, founded in 2003, promotes “freestyle swordsmanship” or allowing students to train with a variety of swords.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The number of practitioners is unclear but several countries including Canada, the US and China have sword-fighting schools. In March, Russia <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/this%20year/04/21/russian-mma-promotion-introduces-division-for-fighters-who-really-like-game-of-thrones/" style="color: #006391; text-decoration: none;">launched a mixed martial arts division</a> where fighters dress up as knights and fight with swords and shields.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chan chose the name Lancelot when he became interested in sword-fighting and after he saw the movie <i>Excalibur</i>. Lancelot ignited his imagination more than the other knights of King Arthur’s Round Table because he “wasn’t a perfect example of virtue”. Lancelot made mistakes and ultimately redeemed himself, explains Chan.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But the name choice seemed stranger than fiction to some.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“I got in trouble while registering for my HKID card; the person didn’t know this is an English name and gave me one day to prove that this was an actual name. I had to run to a bookstore, buy a very thick dictionary that had the name Lancelot and show it to the person, who made a photocopy of the page,” Chan says.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">He also got in trouble when he went to his first swordsmanship forum in the United States in the 1990s.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“They didn’t let me register under the name Lancelot. I didn’t realise how strange this name was to them. They asked me to prove it, and I showed them a scanned copy of my HKID card.”</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“I said, ‘Now that I’ve proved it, can you apologise?’ The guy refused, and shortened it to Lance. That happened at several forums I went to when I was younger. But later I got more famous, or maybe organisers just became more liberal, so it’s fine now.”</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chan studied information technology in university and upon graduation started teaching IT with his father. But his real passion called; he took up sword-fight training in earnest.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In 2001, he figured out how to make training weapons that weighed and felt like real swords – but without the risk of injuring someone.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">His swords have a steel core and are wrapped with an outer layer of foam rubber, similar to the material used for foam blocks or pool noodles. The replicas cost around HK$800 to HK$1,000 each.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">His wife, Annie Ma Cheuk-yin, says he was already into sword-fighting when she met him but at first thought he was just bragging about his skills. Chan sometimes spars with Ma, who uses a spear.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chan tries out real swords so that he can mimic the look and feel of the weapons as closely as possible. When there are weapon exhibitions in the city, Chan contacts the organisers and arranges a private viewing session. He also requests hands-on experience with the ancient swords.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In May last year, he was able to <a href="http://lancelotrsw.blog.163.com/blog/static/207336204last%20year42961419407" style="color: #006391; text-decoration: none;">try out the swords of Chinese master Hu Xiaojun</a>, whose work was displayed in Hong Kong that month. He also grasped in his hands the <a href="http://www.mam.gov.mo/oldmam/showcontent.asp?item_id=20051015010100&lc=1" style="color: #006391; text-decoration: none;">swords from Macau’s “Masters of Fire” exhibition</a>almost a decade ago.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As long as he proves that he makes swords for a living and signs a liability waiver, Chan says he can handle the genuine weapons. Besides, he says, he knows most of the exhibitions’ organisers.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">He says hands-on exhibits are more popular now: the swords are placed inside acrylic glass cases with a hole in the middle, so that people can feel the hilt.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chan has been making swords and teaching sword-fighting full time since 2005, and says he has no control over the number of clients and students. His experience in the trade also gives him access to a network of potential customers worldwide.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“This comes from the blood and sweat of a lot of my supporters,” Chan says of his business. “Once you lose your health and your basic mobility, there’s not much you can really do. [So] now that I’m somewhat healthy, I decided to just take the plunge.”</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chan says most of his students are men – among them Taku Mak Ming-ting, 30, who has been learning from Chan since 2008. Mak even made his own armour from plastic boards and sometimes brings his wife to trainings.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mak, who knows Taekwondo, said he wanted to try an activity that felt more like actual combat.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“I feel like if you’re learning martial arts, of course you want to find something that’s as close to the real thing as possible. It’s like when you’re driving: you don’t want to drive a fake car; you want to drive a real car, or even a racecar.”</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mak and Chan both say that they pay attention to sword-fighting sequences in TV shows and movies, though most of them are disappointing.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“In a real fight, the goal is to not let your opponent know how you’re going to strike. If even the audience can see what you’re going to do, your opponents definitely do, too, so they can easily block your attacks.”</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chan cites <i>Highlander</i>, a 1986 action-fantasy film about immortal warriors, as having the most realistic fight scenes. The movie stars Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery and Clancy Brown.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chan says he knows of only two other full-time sword enthusiasts like him: a man in Japan who lives with his family, and another in Germany who sells sword-fighting videos online.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Chan says he will stick to his craft despite challenges. “I’ve been doing this since 2005 and if I get back on the job market now, I won’t be able to find a job,” he says. “I’ll keep doing this until the property prices drive me out of business.”</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px;"><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UFJvCnaliJg" width="560"></iframe><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-12407327691243131812015-04-29T22:09:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:16.303-07:00BOOK REVIEW: Hung Kuen Training - Chin Cheung & Fok Fu Kuen <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrDEBA7akQrfCHEAioAzqEosvgBq5244YcdLvmwWHwJb9Sp1y2bm3DV6lGWgxCUz9ZcJIWlEMEFOE7UYtd1aEG-Zm7um1YkuvyIOwTzQipAAJa4Ad5kTDmaaTPNl-G4u702wfrTFU04_j5/s1600/343246a16918dd167de4bc54ea6a217f_w644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrDEBA7akQrfCHEAioAzqEosvgBq5244YcdLvmwWHwJb9Sp1y2bm3DV6lGWgxCUz9ZcJIWlEMEFOE7UYtd1aEG-Zm7um1YkuvyIOwTzQipAAJa4Ad5kTDmaaTPNl-G4u702wfrTFU04_j5/s1600/343246a16918dd167de4bc54ea6a217f_w644.jpg" height="196" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Will start with my usual apologies for the lack of posts on my blog, but I have really been concentrating on my sword work so I have tried to jettison most of the extraneous mental chatter. The recent challenge for me is to keep the "flavour" of each of my sword forms distinct so they don't all look the same - Yang Taiji Sword, Bagua You Long Sword and Wudang Sword. I have also attended some introductory Kyudo classes where I gained some valuable insights into the use of the elbows which has fed through into my Taiji. But that is a story for another post.</i> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">What I did want to review today was the second volume in Lam Chun Fai and Hing Chao's Hung Kuen series which contains two manuals - Chin Cheung (War Palm) and Gung Gee Fok Fu Kuen Dui (Taming Tiger Boxing Two Man Set) - both core boxing forms in Lam family Hung Kuen. As with all of Hing Chao's books they are of great value to both the Hung Kuen practitioner and martial artists of other styles on a number of levels. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">First of all for the martial arts historian, there is an extensive section on the history of Hung Kuen and Southern Shaolin boxing, from its historical origins and its comparison to other forms of southern martial arts, most notably with those of Fujian. Although some of this ground has been covered in the first volume of Hung Kuen training and in the book "The Hong Kong Martial Community" the material here is much more focused upon how Hung Kuen as a style relates to other styles in the region and what Hing Chao terms as archaic forms of martial arts. This is really some of the work that Hing Chao does best. What makes this stand out from other works is that besides historiography, there is an exploration of techniques and principles such as Sam Zin, Sei zi ciu tin and po pai shou and its relationship with those of other styles. Hing Chao takes great pains to set out the case for Nam Siu Lam (Southern Shaolin) as an overarching regional system but at the same time laments that much more work needs to be done studying the many village styles that are still practiced in Guangdong and Minnan, especially Zhangzhou and by studying any other new martial arts manuals that come to light. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For training, another valuable part of the book lies within the section on basic training techniques. In the old days many of these basic conditioning exercises were kept secret, but as times have changed a discussion of these exercises is important in truly understanding the system presented. Practitioners of other styles will find much of value in this section, in how to train a martial body, even though the details of each exercise will still need to be learned from a skilled master. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-VuYU9nKh_6TSfUiLOZIRUGcj_EKkEJ1_c2UYNMtT5KF0C0GCp5bS5YKAFcO28E3Y8grCMOBZ8issK3hMedm48h_gz1Xw8jyv7grONQkaF5abiH07CsM2kdkS2P1tkfCPOB6jz9Lz4AXs/s1600/a37b055cf75104e3f16a7a188cd061ec_w644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-VuYU9nKh_6TSfUiLOZIRUGcj_EKkEJ1_c2UYNMtT5KF0C0GCp5bS5YKAFcO28E3Y8grCMOBZ8issK3hMedm48h_gz1Xw8jyv7grONQkaF5abiH07CsM2kdkS2P1tkfCPOB6jz9Lz4AXs/s1600/a37b055cf75104e3f16a7a188cd061ec_w644.jpg" height="196" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When we get to the core of the book, which encompasses the two sets, great care has been taken to convey an accurate description as well as clear photos so that it is possible to obtain a very good idea of the sets themselves. As I am not a Hung Kuen practitioner I will not go into great detail in this section. But much is made about the Chin Cheung, a relatively little known set central to the Lam family style, and now fully documented for the first time. Quoting from the book, "Its archaic style, simple structure, emphasis on small frame and subtle movement... makes a sharp contrast to the style of Hung Kuen represented by Gung Gee Fuk Foo Kuen and Fu Hok Seung Kuen, which is distinguished by a relatively big frame, relatively lively footwork, and a combat approach that relies on <i>gaak daa</i>." This set was reputedly taught to Lam Sai Wing by his uncle. Without disputing the efficacy of the set, however, when speaking with other masters, I realized that there is some dispute as to whether Chin Cheong is a later addition which is passed off as coming from Lam Sai Wing due to its very different feel. The differing interpretations are a good example of the fluid nature of martial arts transmission and the difficulty in studying the lineage of martial arts, as well as the difficulties of remaining objective as a practitioner of a given system. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Regardless of the above, this does not detract from the quality of the manuals presented, with terms explained in a copious glossary at the back of the book. In addition to the photos and description of the movements and applications, I do also want to highlight a very important part of this section which called "Core Principles" which describes how archery was still considered paramount amongst the martial arts during the late Qing Dynasty and how martial artists used archery principles to develop new techniques. [Hence the reason for my reference to kyudo in the preamble to this post.] Hung Kuen was no different from other styles in this respect and one of the techniques that best encapsulates the bow's mechanics is the biu sau or zin zoeng (arrow palm). A technical analysis of how power is generated here, and how it mimics the compression of the bow is clearly set out. To me it is worth the price of the book alone and will be of great interest to many of those who want to generate "internal power". </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Finally in terms of its appearance, as in the case of the first volume which is also reviewed on my blog, this volume comes in a handsome hardcover edition, the design mimicking the traditional cloth bound hand stitched traditional chinese books in a pale shade of blue. For various design and budgetary reasons the decision was made to forego a dust jacket, which remains one of my main criticism of the design, as the current cover is easily stained. However I was very happy to see that one of my other criticisms of the first volume which was the large number of congratulatory letters and personal messages and praise from students was addressed and limited to a single postscript. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Again I would unreservedly recommend this book and would encourage martial artists of all stripes to beg, steal or borrow a copy. Well maybe not steal...</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-23063866504549010742015-03-23T01:04:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:16.546-07:00Li Jing Lin - The "Sword Saint" and "Warlord" who wore the Imperial Yellow Jacket 李景林:穿著黃馬褂的“劍仙”和“督軍”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsZR5jp-QBcu2sa7gCldcTPpSdDFSqkpNd3sDsBuvHis1KsTJud1txJkloESrFai9K4Q-9k_rIicpQ-i9I9_mWivjVaWAQVrXfJFwRd82stZU1aI1udUN8qsuovAPSVeyeIXUL47gmxYtB/s1600/1-1409291616145L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsZR5jp-QBcu2sa7gCldcTPpSdDFSqkpNd3sDsBuvHis1KsTJud1txJkloESrFai9K4Q-9k_rIicpQ-i9I9_mWivjVaWAQVrXfJFwRd82stZU1aI1udUN8qsuovAPSVeyeIXUL47gmxYtB/s1600/1-1409291616145L.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Translation of an article from the Business Times Newspaper </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;"><i>時代商報</i> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Among the Chinese Warlords, Li Jing Lin has become almost "marginalized", unlike Zhang Zong Chang <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">張宗昌 </span>whose name will stink forever, or Sun Chuan Fang <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">孫傳芳</span> whose life still attracts a lot of interest. But in actuality Li Jing Lin and Zhang Zong Chang were two of the "Five Tigers" of Zhang Zuolin. But not only was he recognized as a Warlord before Zhang Zong Chang but his status was always above that of Zhang Zong Chang. Like Zhang Zong Chang his troops were semi trained conscripts. During the Zhi-Wan (Hebei - Anhui) War <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">直皖戰爭 in 1920</span>, Li Jing Lin operated as a Regimental Commander under the Anhui Clique General Qu Tong Feng, but was ousted by Wu Pei Fu and reluctantly sought refuge under the aegis of Zhang Zuo Lin. As both of them commanded troops who were not regular soldiers, their relationship was quite good. Their unit was called the United Troops of Zhili (now Hebei) and Shandong <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">直魯聯軍</span>. And became blood brothers fighting in the same wars. </span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">What is interesting is that when one talks of Li Jing Lin, one rarely discusses his leadership ability or his life as a Warlord. But reference is always made to his status as a martial arts Grandmaster. The author believes that Li Jing Lin achieved two things that deserve to be remembered. (1) During the Xinhai Revolution, Li Jing Lin, he was Captain of the Qing Court Second Suicide Squad <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">清廷第二敢死隊</span>, and was tasked with suppressing the rebellion in Hanyang. Due to his valor in battle, the Qing Court awarded him the Imperial Yellow Jacket or Huang Magua. (As yellow was a color normally reserved for the Imperial family, this jacket granted for civil or military merit was considered the highest honour during the Qing dynasty) (2) Like Zhang Zong Chang, he was also a "Dog Meat General" <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">狗肉將軍</span> (the term derived from the game Pai Gow which Northern Chinese termed eating dog meat) and when gambling he did not care how much money he lost. According to the memoirs of his strategist Han Yu Chen, once he lost 70-80 thousand silver dollars of offical funds gambling and he no means to repay. He then puffed up his chest and reported to General Zhang and took responsibility saying that he did not short any of the soldiers pay [to cover his debts]. Zhang said that he did well and wrote off the funds. Li said that he remembered this all his life. </span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>Discussing Li Jing Lin's martial arts</u></span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Li Jing Lin, whose courtesy name was "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">廣古川" </span> was born in 1885 and died in 1931. He hailed from Juchang County in Encai Township in Hebei. He was an ethnic Han Bannerman, and although he was not famous as a Warlord, he had the sobriquet "Sword Saint" or "God of Sword Li" which all the other Warlords were hard pressed to match. As to the source of his martial arts and as to his original teacher there are many different theories. One theory is that his teacher was Chen Shi Jun<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">陳世均</span>, but according to the Wudang Sword Dan School 12th generation Lineage Holder Wu Zhi Quan</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">吳志泉</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> the existence of Chen Zhi Jun is questionable without any historical records. Instead he says that Li's martial arts comes from three sources (1) his martial arts learned as a child (2) Wudang Sword from Song Wei Yi and (3) Yang Taiji from Yang Lu Chan.</span></span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">According to the present information, we can figure out this much. When he was young, Li Jing Lin had a foundation in Yan Qing Men </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">燕青門</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> Er Lang Men </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">二郎門</span>. When he was 14 he enlisted in the youth corps </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">育字軍</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> in Luoyang. The head of the youth corps, Song Wei Yi noticed that Li Jing Lin had a foundation in martial arts and was very intelligent, thus he accepted him as his disciple and transmitted the Wudang Sword to him. Song Wei Yi's status in the martial arts circles was very high, he was the ninth generation lineage holder in the "Dan" school of Wudang Sword, and he was the first lineage holder in the history of Wudang Sword to compose a martial arts manual. In 1922 when Li Jing Lin was First General of the Armies of the three Eastern Provinces, he was was training his armies in the north and he reconnected with his master, they were naturally very happy to see each other. Song Wei Yi gave the martial arts manual </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">《武當劍譜》</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> he had authored to Li Jing Lin and thus received the full transmission from Song Wei Yi and became the 10th Generation Lineage holder of Wudang Sword. Thus his titles such as Sword Saint were not a bunch of hot air. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">During the Boxer Rebellion the youth corps were disbanded. That year Li Jing Lin was 16 and returned to his hometown, and went looking in the neighboring Yongnian County for a new teacher and became a student of Yang Luchan's third son Yang Jian Hou and learned the essence of Taijiquan. However there are several accounts of this period of his life, according to the famous martial artist and "walking encyclopedia" Sa Guo Zheng </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">沙國政</span>, Li Jing Lin learned his Taijiquan from the eldest son of Yang Lu Chan - Yang Feng Hou and an indeed in the 1993 Fall issue of Wudang Magazine the lineage is listed as Yang Lu Chan - Yang Feng Hou - Li Jing Lin - Jiang Rong Qiao - Sa Guo Zheng. But other information states that his teacher was Yang Jian Hou. However as Yang Feng Hou passed away relatively early, even his son Yang Jiao Lin's kung fu was taught by his uncles Yang Ban Hou and Yang Jian Hou. Wu Zhi Quan also stated that Li Jing Lin studied under Yang Jian Hou and was one of his non-Yang family disciples. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Regardless of what each party states, the source of Li Jing Lin's Taichi was Yang Lu Chan, and this can confirmed. During training he also formed a deep friendship with Yang Jian Hou's son Yang Chengpu and spent a lot of energy promoting Taichi. The current simplified Taiji set and 88 movement Taijiquan promoted by the Chinese government are based upon the original Shandong Guoshu Academy manual</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">《太極拳講義</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">》</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> which was authored by Li Jing Lin and Yang Chengpu in collaboration with others. The records state that in 1929 Li Jing Lin asked Yang Chengpu to author a manual, and after three rounds of corrections, it was demonstrated by the Head of Teaching of the Shangdong Guoshu Academy - Li Yu Lin </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">李玉琳 </span>and the final version was set by Li Jing Lin. At this time there was those who called this version the Li Jing Lin Style or the "Yang Style New Frame" </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">“楊式新架</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> "New Yang Style"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">“新楊式”. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In addition to Taijiquan, Li Jing Lin also spent considerable effort popularizing Wudang Sword. Of special note was that Li Jing Lin obtained the approval of Song Wei Yi to publicize the historically confidential Wudang Sword. (In 1923, the manual was published in Beijng) and this helped the spread and influence of Wudang sword greatly. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Having said this, Li Jing was not a conservative person, he widely taught and accepted disciples. This was especially true during the 1929 National Ring Fighting Competition </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454641; line-height: 21px;">“全國打擂比賽” </span><span class="Apple-style-span">and it was said that during that period more than 500 people became his disciple. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>The Ascendancy of Li Jing Lin </u></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Some information states that Li Jing Lin was a graduate of Baoding Military Academy, but this does not seem right. According to the information Li Jing Lin went to study in Baoding in 1903, and was the same year as Sun Chuan Fang and Wu Pei Fu. At the time the school was called the "Accelerated Military Training Hall for the BeiYang Army" and was the previous incarnation of the Baoding Military Academy. The period after Li Jing Lin graduated was not clearly documented with some information stating that he served as a lower level officer in capital. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">During the Xinhai Revolution, Li Jing Lin followed the troops south, to fight the rebels. According to the records Li Jing Lin was very brave, and volunteered to head the second suicide squad. At that time the suicide squad had 500 people, and was divided into two teams, when crossing the Xiang river straight to Sanyan Bridge, it hit the rebels so hard that they could not retaliate. He rushed to the front to capture Hanyang City's Guishan (Tortoise Mountain) and was rewarded with an Imperial yellow jacket by the Qing court. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Before he served under Zhang Zuolin, Li Jing Lin once served under the Heilongjiang Warlord Xu Lan Zhou as a strategist. During this time Li and Zhang were not "friends" but were "competitors". As Zhang Zuolin had ambitions to conquer the three Eastern Provinces (Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang) he had to defeat Xu Lanzhou, and as Li Jing Lin served as Xu's strategist, was caught up in the conflict, and thus for a period Li's career faced many obstacles. During the Zhi-Wan War, he even fled to serve as a regimental commander for Qu Tongfeng. When he was defeated he lost his status even as a regimental commander. Reluctantly he changed his allegiance to Zhang Zuolin, and in this respect he was similar to Zhang Congchang. However from the actual situation we can see that Zhang Zuolin respected Li's talents and did not demote him in the same way as Zhang Congchang, but promoted him several grades. After the first Zhifeng War in 1922, Zhang Zuolin restructured his command and it was at that time that Li Jing Lin became the Commander-in-Chief of the three Eastern Provinces. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-71983354254578857132015-03-17T20:52:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:16.785-07:00The True Transmission of Wudang Sword<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhnx8KpJBguHQoZy6HKXOQv97OpKWcQHPIfzsuXpOUo8MKQKGl0EqRKUFbpMivX8uSOlZp4pcqBsehwWBuIFw0YrtEGFUJGp00zmRxy83BkQlU_nZgwbXMizyYqCOXyoNaR-O6WfPSjYwQ/s1600/20110904191223_415161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhnx8KpJBguHQoZy6HKXOQv97OpKWcQHPIfzsuXpOUo8MKQKGl0EqRKUFbpMivX8uSOlZp4pcqBsehwWBuIFw0YrtEGFUJGp00zmRxy83BkQlU_nZgwbXMizyYqCOXyoNaR-O6WfPSjYwQ/s1600/20110904191223_415161.jpg" height="206" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I made mention of the Wudang sword style in a previous article which Cheng Man Ching also studied. It is one of the styles taught by my Sifu CS Tang and he had previously written a short article in the 394th Issue of New Martial Hero Magazine. It is a a skeleton sketch of the system but there is some valuable information contained herein. It is also important to distinguish the traditional transmission of Wudang Sword versus the many new wushu performance styles that borrow the Wudang name and are currently extant such as the Wudang Tai Yi Sword. Learning the Wudang Sword is my current project for 2015. </span></i></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Wudang Sword Method is a rarely transmitted style in recent times, it is the only sword technique that still retains sparring fighting and defense and practical fighting techniques, and is very different from sword performance.</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>1. The History of the Wudang Transmission</u></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">According to legend, Wudang Sword was transmitted to Zhang Sanfeng in the Ming Dynasty. When his teacher the Zhenwu Emperor 真武大帝 attained enlightenment, began to train in the flying sword, and it shook the three realms of heaven, man and earth. The subsequent lineage is listed as follows:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Zhang San Feng - Zhang Song Xi (Taoist Name: Dan Ya Zi)張松溪(丹崖子), Zhao Tai Bin (Dan Yun Shan Jiao)趙太斌(丹雲山樵), Wang Jiu Cheng (Wudang Dan Xu)王九成(武當丹續) - Yan Xi Sheng (Ding Dan Yu)顏昔聖(定丹叟), Lv Shi Niang (Dan Xia Ke)呂十娘(丹霞客), Li Da Nian (Jin Dan Chi Zi)李大年(金丹赤子) - Chen Yin Chang (Dan Yun Lu Ke) 陳蔭昌(丹雲旅客)- Zhang Ye He (Huan Dan Zi) 張野鶴(還丹子)- Song Wei Yi (Fei Dan Jiu Er)宋唯一(飛丹九兒).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>2. Original Source</u></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In 1922, General Li Jing Lin 李景林 had encamped outside of the pass, his subordinate the First Team Leader of the Twentieth Camp Ding Xing Hua was climbing Changbai Mountain to hunt and lost his way, and encountered the Swordsman Song Weiyi, and as a result Li Jing Lin, Guo Qi Feng and five others were able to become disciples of Master Song, study Wudang Sword, boxing, neigong and other arts and were known to posterity as the Seven Swordsmen of Guanglin. They were Li Jing Lin, Guo Qi Feng郭岐鳳, Chen Yu Kuan陳玉寬, Liu Zhan Kui劉占魁, Xiao Fengxiang蕭鳳翔, Zhang De Zhun張德君 and Liu Hai Yan劉海晏.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In 1928, the Central Guoshu Acadamy was formally established, Master Zhang Zhi Jiang 張之江 and Master Li Jing Lin took up their positions as Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster respectively, to spread and promote Chinese Guoshu. Li Jing Lin officially started to openly teach Wudang Paired Sword and taught it widely. However what Li taught was only the second level paired practice (see below) - he did not teach the solo sword and swords sparring, and none of his disciples learned these arts. Only Guo Qi Feng taught the solo sword form to his disciples, when M. Guo came to Hong Kong and taught the art to Lam Jee Yuen, Wu Wun Diao, Fok Kwong Wah, Wong Shu Choi, Fu Jun Sau, Chow Shing Fan, Lee Sek Yee, Lee Ying Arng, Cho Chung Sang.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Master CS Tang teaches the solo and paired forms and has taught widely in Europe and the US. He also teaches Zhen Wu Sword真武劍, Yang Style Taiji Sword, Chen Style Taiji Sword, Lung Feng Sword (Dragon Phoenix Sword)龍鳳劍, Double Lung Feng Sword, Xingyi Longxing Sword形意龍行劍, and Bagua Youlong Sword八卦游龍劍.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>3. Wudang Sword Transmission</u></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There are five ritual rules:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(1) do not teach those who are cowardly or lacking in intellectual facility, </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(2) do not teach those easily distracted, </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(3) do not teach those indulge in sensory pleasures and alcohol, </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(4) do not teach those who are violent and like to fight, and </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(5) do not teach those who readily show off their abilities.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>4. The Schools of Wudang Sword</u></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Wudang Sword is divided into several schools which are comprised of three levels: </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">上乘偃月神術 字、柱、極三派。 The higher level Curved Moon Spirt Technique Schools (Zi, Chu, Ji)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">中乘匕首飛術 符、鑒、匕三派。 The middle level Flying DaggerTechnique Schools (Fu, Zuo, Bi)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">下乘長劍舞術•符、籌、丹三派 The lower level Dancing Longsword Schools (Fu, Chou, Dan)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>5. The Three Treasures of Wudang Sword</u></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Circle圈 (Sticking and Following黏連), Angle角 (The Thirteen Edges十三鋒), Qi (Attainment Training達鍊)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sword Circles : The movements of Wudang Sword do not deviate from the principles of Yin and Yang. Its speciality lies in the retreat of the body while the sword enters. When the circular motion of the sword stops it becomes an angle - which then transforms into the sword application.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Triangular Paired Practice: When the opponent's sword comes at you, I blend and lift it, forming a triangle: when the sword comes as a thrust, I block it forming a downward facing triangle: when the opponent's sword comes in as a stir, I meet it by carrying it forming the left triangle; when the opponent's sword comes as a slash, I obliquely block it, forming the right triangle. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After the triangular paired practice becomes second nature, one trains the hook step and entering the yin yang circle, after one is familiar with both practices, one can begin sword sparring.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>6. The Method of Yin Yang Sword</u></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Wudang Style places emphasis on four methods, they are "strike, thrust, parry, slicing", as the four mother methods, and they are like the Si Xiang 四象 or four images of the Yijing, they give rise to innumerable methods, and by adding "drawing, leading, lifting, touching, breaking, chopping, blocking, mixing, pressing" the nine situations 九勢, these become the 13 postures十三勢, and depending on the situation these give rise to "slashing, wiping, chopping, hooking, cloud, circling, pressing, piercing, lifting" for a further 9 situations, with the 9 following the 9 there is a continuing cycle back to the beginning without end. The flashing blade expresses the unfathomable depth of Wudang sword techniques, the exquisite nature of the movements in the air.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Wudang Sword has 13 postures</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1. Drawing 抽 - the two methods include drawing upwards and drawing downwards - and the applications are mostly of the Tai Yang Sword [The directionality and angle of the sword - similar to using the clock face - to indicate direction - 1 o'clock etc.] </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2. Leading 帶 - this includes straight leading and horizontal leading - the straight lead is of the Central Yin Sword, horizontal lead is of the Tai Yin Sword</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3. Lifting 提 - this includes front and back lifting - their movements are of the Old Yin Sword</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4. Block 格 - includes lower block and reverse block - lower parry is of Central Yin Sword and Reverse Parry is Central Yang Sword.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">5. Strike 擊 - the two methods include straight strike and lower strike - straight strike is </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">6. Thrust 刺 - the two methods include thrust to the side and horizontal thrust - side thrust is of the Middle Yin or Middle Yang. Horizontal thrust of of the Tai Yin Sword or Tai Yang Sword.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">7. Touch / Tap 點 - the two methods include obverse touch or reverse touch - obverse touch is of the Middle Yin Sword and Reverse touch is of the Middle Yang Sword.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">8. Parry 崩- the two methods include obverse parry and reverse parry - obverse breaking is of the Middle Yin and reverse breaking is of the Middle Yang</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">9. Chopping 劈 - the two methods include obverse breaking and reverse breaking - obverse breaking is of the Middle Yin and reverse breaking is of the Middle Yang</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">10. Cut 截 - the three methods include horizontal cut, side cut and reverse cut - horizontal pulling is Tai Yin Sword, Side Pulling is Middle Yin Sword, Reverse Pulling is Central Yin Sword</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">11. Stirring 攪 - there is side stirring and vertical stirring - there is no fixed method for this</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">12. Pressing 壓 - there is obverse press and reverse press the obverse press is Tai Yin Sword and the Reverse Press is Tai Yang Sword.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">13. Slicing 洗- there is clockwise slice and anticlockwise slice - clockwise slice is of Middle Yang Sword and anti-clockwise is Middle Yin sword.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>7. Training Method</u></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Separate levels of training include 1. Individual solo practice 2. Paired Practice 3. Live Sparring</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1. The beginner individually practices solo sword routines. The basic practices include : the 13 edges十三鋒</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">, the 3 forms and 3 basins三形三盤, and the solo sets include :</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(1) Yin Yang 13 Movement Sword, (2) Pearl rolling Basin Sword珍珠滾盤劍, (3) Rolling Dragon Sword滾龍劍.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2. The Intermediate Paired practice : there is sword alignment practice鍛鍊劍鋒 and six sword routines.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">They are : snake form paired practice, wild goose paired practice, lion form paired practice, eagle form paired practice, dragon form paired practice, chaos form paired practice.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3. Advanced sparring is divided into 3 levels</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(1) Fixed stance paired practice, (2) moving paired practice, (3) freestyle sword practice.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For additional information I would encourage my readers to purchase the Major Methods of the Wudang Sword by Huang Yuan Xiou : Translated by Mei Hui LU, which is the only book in English that I am aware of on the traditional Wudang sword method. </span></i></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhefDFfwlnVmfuA6PFZ9RfY5FgZSzRj7gCn19dp-pCNYWN2eceBpYvlOCJDDtapDJc_hPhyBehwjbrhha-0eUNTlh4F1ZYvIo9CoD-6vP_r9zYmrSDDgSuGlws6InShovEFm2_D4KT9aaZ/s1600/9781583942390_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhefDFfwlnVmfuA6PFZ9RfY5FgZSzRj7gCn19dp-pCNYWN2eceBpYvlOCJDDtapDJc_hPhyBehwjbrhha-0eUNTlh4F1ZYvIo9CoD-6vP_r9zYmrSDDgSuGlws6InShovEFm2_D4KT9aaZ/s1600/9781583942390_0.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div> <i> </i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-83805478170565300282015-02-08T22:13:00.000-08:002022-10-28T06:49:17.024-07:00Door Gods - 門神<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkC8xs7QnilDFmjld0YZNAitECi5MbMNGG9cj4PBTOcZ3JaFPOMrB28cnFT5S0F0Ok7DRanFnegurIfS8xo_E88sKsmqQZTrsX0NbvZamePyUyHRvpKtCrFt7pwRZjCg3KVTlJhn2F1L0h/s1600/10560295_870491546306987_5610444436681232246_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkC8xs7QnilDFmjld0YZNAitECi5MbMNGG9cj4PBTOcZ3JaFPOMrB28cnFT5S0F0Ok7DRanFnegurIfS8xo_E88sKsmqQZTrsX0NbvZamePyUyHRvpKtCrFt7pwRZjCg3KVTlJhn2F1L0h/s1600/10560295_870491546306987_5610444436681232246_o.jpg" height="215" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I saw this picture from the <a href="http://www.co-co.hk/">Coco Magazine</a> page on facebook and I liked it so much that I posted it here. For all the fans of Mobile Suit Gundam.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A door god (simplified Chinese: 门神; traditional Chinese: 門神; pinyin: ménshén) is a Chinese decoration placed on each side of an entry to a temple, home, business, etc., which is believed to keep evil spirits from entering.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> "The custom dates back to the Tang Dynasty, whose founder Emperor Tang Taizong (599 - May 26, 649) honoured two of his most loyal generals – Qin Shubao and Yuchi Jingde – by having their painted portraits hung on his front door. Ordinary families soon adopted the imperial custom, putting woodblock prints of the ever-vigilant generals on their front gates in the hope of attracting good luck and fending off evil spirits. The Door God business soon spread throughout China, adding other folklore heroes and mythological figures to the repertoire."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Qin and Yuchi, in a Tang dynasty legend, were told by the emperor to guard the door because of a ghost harassing him, thus resulting in sleepless nights. When Qin and Yuchi were called, they guarded the emperor's door. Thus, the emperor had a blissful sleep. The next day, the emperor, not wanting to trouble his two generals, called on men to hang portraits of the two men on either side of his door.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The door gods usually come in pairs, facing each other; it is considered bad luck to place the figures back-to-back. There are several different forms of door gods. The most frequently used are Qin Shubao and Yuchi Jingde (used on a pair of doors). The poster depicting Wei Zheng or Zhong Kui are used on single doors.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk5s-Wzqb_twHLnKrPvwU_aF0mjWJKIoT08gFZ4A2G11urKSlvXgqju0a81WVmGUIM7HnwUKp7vlYpGhgI6lnLbqeGoUHqhD90poVHdW1kMh4EPJ14Bb_6xog3aoPcY63axLErBr48WFRP/s1600/%E5%AD%98%E5%BF%83%E5%96%84%E5%A0%82%E9%97%A8%E7%A5%9E1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk5s-Wzqb_twHLnKrPvwU_aF0mjWJKIoT08gFZ4A2G11urKSlvXgqju0a81WVmGUIM7HnwUKp7vlYpGhgI6lnLbqeGoUHqhD90poVHdW1kMh4EPJ14Bb_6xog3aoPcY63axLErBr48WFRP/s1600/%E5%AD%98%E5%BF%83%E5%96%84%E5%A0%82%E9%97%A8%E7%A5%9E1.jpg" height="320" width="234" /></a></div><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-81301689955509610842015-01-29T22:43:00.000-08:002022-10-28T06:49:17.264-07:00BOOK REVIEW - Wisdom of the Taiji Masters<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh85JG4z36M85pTCKZ5Dj388DtlKMsQveDxLt2iJVTotGRPQdZXkmBR3ZjYjbn4jUbSlw4p8UmX-QEWAi3bhJL-EKvrVMLe7_iso4dI8TynC0-YaU-hTyjwVINPmnsdIUUtEkH0XSrgeg3K/s1600/taijicoverpreview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh85JG4z36M85pTCKZ5Dj388DtlKMsQveDxLt2iJVTotGRPQdZXkmBR3ZjYjbn4jUbSlw4p8UmX-QEWAi3bhJL-EKvrVMLe7_iso4dI8TynC0-YaU-hTyjwVINPmnsdIUUtEkH0XSrgeg3K/s1600/taijicoverpreview.jpg" height="233" width="320" /></a></div><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The benefits of having a martial arts blog is that you can meet a lot of people who share the same interests and also in the process learn a lot of things. At the end of last year, I was contacted by Mark Wiley who runs a publishing company called <a href="http://tambulimedia.com/">Tambuli Media</a> which publishes various books on the martial arts and is also practitioner of Five Ancestors Fist - a Fujianese martial art. Mark used to be Executive Editor of Martial Arts Books for Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Company before coming out to start his own publishing company. He was kind enough to send me a few martial arts books to review and I really enjoyed the following book - Wisdom of the Taiji Masters - Insights into Cheng Man Ching's Art. </span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I had the opportunity of practicing Cheng Style Taiji when I was living in Taiwan in the early 2000s and although I now only practice Yang Style Taiji (85 movement, Long Fist and Taiji sword) in the lineage of Yang Shou Chung, I give credit to the foundation I obtained in Cheng Style to how quickly I managed to pick up the Yang Style due to the inherent similarities in its internal structure. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The book - Wisdom of the Taiji Masters - is a compilation of a series of interviews with key Cheng Taiji Masters active in Peninsular Malaysia which were documented by Nigel Sutton, the founder of the <a href="http://www.zhong-ding.com/index.php/about1">Zhong Ding Association</a> in Malaysia, in the 1980s and 1990s. They provide a valuable resource for research into the development of Taiji in a style that is usually most closely associated with Taiwan and parts of the United States but also provides a peek into one of the countries where there is a a long tradition and deep pool of CMA masters but is rarely documented or acknowledged - that of my birthplace - Malaysia. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwjYHJrzQr4mmW2T4c6Hc9ZhZe82Kw8jwadIwdtM_mgAUV8kerqyzr5_Ow3_dO9hQSb4rBBhEydtyjGdjKG7DHChKnjn2NlDRdifVabqm5atXocRHhfoHIzD16TdXcjbGEXOWPKTkIjQO/s1600/134.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwjYHJrzQr4mmW2T4c6Hc9ZhZe82Kw8jwadIwdtM_mgAUV8kerqyzr5_Ow3_dO9hQSb4rBBhEydtyjGdjKG7DHChKnjn2NlDRdifVabqm5atXocRHhfoHIzD16TdXcjbGEXOWPKTkIjQO/s1600/134.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Cheng Taiji is the style that is attributed to its founder Cheng Man Ching who studied with Yang Cheng Fu from 1930-1936 and had many influential disciples in the West such as Robert Smith, T.T. Liang, William C.C. Chen. Huang Shen Hsyan was one of his most successful disciples, establishing over 40 schools in South East Asia. Although considered to be a subset of the Yang Style, a case could be made for characterizing it as an independent style. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The following are some of the characteristics of his "Yang-style short form." (1) It eliminates most of the repetitions of certain moves of the Yang long form. (2) It takes around ten minutes to practice instead of the twenty to thirty minutes of the Yang long form (3)The hand and wrist are held open, yet relaxed, in what Cheng called the "Fair Lady's Hand" formation (as opposed to the straighter "Chinese tile" formation of the Yang style) (4) The form postures are not as expansive as Yang Chengfu's form Cheng postures are performed in "middle frame" style, which changes the movement of the feet from the Yang version. (5) Cheng's concept of "swing and return" in which the momentum from one movement initiates the next. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This book is valuable on a number of fronts, as it fleshes out the lineage and development of Cheng Taiji in Malaysia with background on the early generation of teachers such as Yue Shu Ting and Tan Ching Ngee who studied with Cheng himself, and interviews with the second generation of teachers such as Lu Tong Bao, Lee Bei Lei and Koh Ah Tee, who taught in Penang, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. From the interviews themselves one is able to gain an insight into the curriculum taught by each of the teachers and the differences in content and emphasis of each of the teachers. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Cheng Taiji is controversial as it is often criticized as a "watered-down version" of the Yang Style and there is still an ongoing debate as to whether Cheng Man Ching had any "gongfu" or if he did whether he deliberately chose to withhold some of the key teachings from his disciples. There is a perception that those of his disciples in the USA and Taiwan lack his level of martial ability. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hence each teacher in the book has had to address these fundamental criticisms and discuss their teaching methods relatively openly and with a close reading of their interviews there are many training secrets (or "nuggets of gold" as <a href="http://www.zhong-ding.com/">Nigel Sutton</a> puts it) that are helpful to a experienced practitioner buried in the text. From the viewpoint of a martial arts historian it is fascinating to see what other training methods each teacher has added above and beyond the 37 posture set and push hands and their justification for doing so. It is an interesting study in how an art evolves in an environment of incomplete knowledge (for many of these masters were not well educated) and cross fertilization with other arts extant in Malaysia (many of these masters studied more than one style and had more than one teacher). Malaysia in the middle and even late twentieth century remained a relatively rural and traditional society and these teachers often had to demonstrate the effectiveness of Taiji in a combat setting. And many of the teachers in the book had given up other styles to focus on Taiji because of its practical efficacy. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Thus this book bears close reading and includes detailed discussion of many topics that are of interest to any dedicated Taiji practitioner. These include whether the Fair Land's Hand has improved Ting Jin or sensitivity as compared to the traditional Yang Style, of the need to use sandbags to condition the hands (often taught in the lineage of Lu Tong Bao), the role of dian xue, different weapons such as the sword and staff and most importantly of all, whether Cheng Man Ching taught neigong. This is an important topic and stands at heart of the discussion of whether Cheng style is an effective fighting art and whether it should be characterized independently from the Yang style, which does not teach neigong. Power in the Yang Style stems primarily from dou gan or pole shaking exercises. Indeed most of the teachers in the book teach a version of neigong (but even from a cursory reading text it seems that the nature of the neigong taught varies from teacher to teacher in the book). Cheng Man Ching's neigong practice was attributed to Zhang Qin Lin who taught Cheng Man Qing the Zuo Lai Feng system of internal stength. Many teachers in the book also emphasize zhan zhuang which is also absent from the traditional Yang Style. There are discussions on the "killer qi" in the Yang style versus its absence in Cheng Style. This is all fascinating stuff and rewards close reading and discussion. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">At the same time misunderstandings also abound in the book, due to the biases of the teachers and lack of exposure to the wider martial arts community. Understanding these "mistakes" are also important for the serious practitioner, as part of one's martial development involves an understanding of the source of one's teachings and what may be later interpolation or false paths. For instance Koh Ah Tee states that Cheng Man Ching took the Taiji sword from the Yang Family and made it more natural. But in actuality, if one looks at the set one can see what Cheng Man Ching taught was Wudang Sword and not Taiji sword and his paired sword set is also traditional Wudang Sword as taught by Li Jing Lin. Lu Tong Bao also incorporated Xingyiquan and Baguazhang into his Taiji but he called the long form (108 or 85 form) Long Fist as it took longer to complete. This is a misnomer as traditional Taiji Longfist is a fast set in Yang Taiji with more explicit fajin. Dr. Wong Fu Jing incorporates the Yijing (Book of Changes) into his Taijquan but admits that he has had no teacher in the Yijing, that he taught himself and he states things like "in the jian you can even throw the weapon, as that is what the tassel is for." But all of this is what makes tracing the development of the art so fascinating. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All in all, Nigel Sutton has done us a great favor in compiling this book, for these interviews were made over twenty years ago and in the interim some of these masters have passed away. This is a valuable document as the art we know as Taiji continues to evolve on a global basis and has become a part of mankind's intangiable cultural heritage. This is a good book for any practitioner of Taiji with its numerous training tips and is heartily recommended. </span> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-38979046754631887852015-01-02T01:17:00.000-08:002022-10-28T06:49:17.511-07:00Lee Chi Ching - 李志清<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjk9n6C5srEv76zpk6m74f97rzfDjBf2xzrh-YYdVJEw3xUMnbKg24-aWgXtpfv7zqDuX5VuaLVMAAb95hFj-l97wz1HkuWEr0OCnO9pLoG9EmWSWDoSKiKc4DxSc7a3jBLKGw3nUI1WEq/s1600/Spirits-of-Martial-Arts-Butterboom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjk9n6C5srEv76zpk6m74f97rzfDjBf2xzrh-YYdVJEw3xUMnbKg24-aWgXtpfv7zqDuX5VuaLVMAAb95hFj-l97wz1HkuWEr0OCnO9pLoG9EmWSWDoSKiKc4DxSc7a3jBLKGw3nUI1WEq/s1600/Spirits-of-Martial-Arts-Butterboom.jpg" height="168" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Just a bit of a backdated post. Lee Chi Ching had an exhibition at the Jao Tsung-I Academy in Hong Kong in November titled "Painting and Calligraphy of Swordsmen Exhibition". This was in conjunction with an exhibition of swords by the famous swordsmith Hu Xiao Jun and organized by the International Guoshu Association. In keeping with the same theme as my last post - many of the pictures featured in the exhibition were characters from Jin Yong (Louis Cha's) martial arts novels. Unfortunately the pictures I snapped on my phone do not really do the work justice so I have included some pictures downloaded from the web. I think it is important to bring his work to a wider audience</em>. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJ7D7rriShad9umd2qb6edEpm9ikzei2Mo3I-djUq4y4YSGIGCDMRlaWH6NWPxMm-dOH_i1dx3_3tBMKP-PyHfNtHZPrg1SZ7kxrXo8y9v9ktFhLpNcuuwLsn1FciFZOywksovu_haO38/s1600/10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJ7D7rriShad9umd2qb6edEpm9ikzei2Mo3I-djUq4y4YSGIGCDMRlaWH6NWPxMm-dOH_i1dx3_3tBMKP-PyHfNtHZPrg1SZ7kxrXo8y9v9ktFhLpNcuuwLsn1FciFZOywksovu_haO38/s1600/10.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKcZuQgyWc10iDNFyRB3i9FqPBWceuf1ektSy62QLbCWED5F_jLEOS4p69zL74JQXHzgKk3nqEJs3SSIH8blmXcZomdZ3EKG-Drehj9yceA_g5dOaUjNp-ZXWOA25xu8BbeTKyiWJSCx_/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKcZuQgyWc10iDNFyRB3i9FqPBWceuf1ektSy62QLbCWED5F_jLEOS4p69zL74JQXHzgKk3nqEJs3SSIH8blmXcZomdZ3EKG-Drehj9yceA_g5dOaUjNp-ZXWOA25xu8BbeTKyiWJSCx_/s1600/11.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJlpuNtGIkGZXMbXizeFbkB4E6RZXNBZrZlmUavmi3aDAl5V1QpoPbTynqfX-RNUMzGMDGvbsXMOuSw8XP7v4oK6SE9qTMLtZNk2Oy2wga8Rg5onn-hkNI8d8RZv4H36VBIbnHJIrTndYf/s1600/12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJlpuNtGIkGZXMbXizeFbkB4E6RZXNBZrZlmUavmi3aDAl5V1QpoPbTynqfX-RNUMzGMDGvbsXMOuSw8XP7v4oK6SE9qTMLtZNk2Oy2wga8Rg5onn-hkNI8d8RZv4H36VBIbnHJIrTndYf/s1600/12.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0AP0Z-IDspZVdjHlqerlzQiXo9u62pUZC3NracliJT0v2jO7AH7G6Gf9EHTMYHMM0cFouFzdubQoXSXa2dEuJ_VZPTfKwHt0v7ra7GwoUXZ1VE3zrT8mJm2BiWHI_LLjkh2oJtVFnpgNK/s1600/17.jpg" height="320" width="255" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Lee Chi Ching (Chinese: 李志清; pinyin: Lǐ Zhìqīng; born 1963) is a Hong Kong Manhua illustrator with the pen name "Qing'er" (清兒). Lee began drawing comics and graphic novels in 1981. In 1992, he won an award for his watercolors at the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Biennial and had his work housed at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. He is the first cartoonist from Hong Kong to have his work published in Japan. His speciality is in historical Manga, usually based on pre-existing classic novels, including the works of Wuxia writer Louis Cha. His major works include Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin. His works are usually published by CultureCom Comics, a Hong Kong publishing house. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">His work Sun Zi's Tactics won the first International Manga Award that Japanese Government sponsored in 2007.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-13078760892766280482014-12-29T20:08:00.000-08:002022-10-28T06:49:17.760-07:00Book Review -《王道劍》- (上官鼎) <div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7nlRmJQrmrAsEX0ZHOl0UEqdy3erAEzkaKMftedTNDVUBiim7etyeKkfzMgnUYegfS7VLtgSp7C1yBXFSE654yeY2L_l07CJR9gneLd-4j0x7GImIhc4MCvx08FuV99_1AQLYsGufO1S/s1600/getImage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7nlRmJQrmrAsEX0ZHOl0UEqdy3erAEzkaKMftedTNDVUBiim7etyeKkfzMgnUYegfS7VLtgSp7C1yBXFSE654yeY2L_l07CJR9gneLd-4j0x7GImIhc4MCvx08FuV99_1AQLYsGufO1S/s1600/getImage.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I am not a big fan of many of the modern Wuxia novels (post Jin Yong's retirement), many whose language ranks only a little higher than the equivalent of Young Adult (YA) books in the west, without any of the originality of storyline. So it was to my surprise that there was a big hooha earlier this year when Shangguan Ding (上官鼎), a famous Taiwan wuxia author was coming out of retirement to publish a new martial arts novel after 46 years.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Originally consisting of three brothers (sons of an Air Force General who all went on to obtain doctorates in engineering), who wrote the novels together in their teens (hence the name, which refers to a tripod used for cooking during the Zhou and Shang dynasties). They were relatively well known in the 1960s in Taiwan and not really that famous in Hong Kong. But did publish 7-8 novels 《蘆野俠蹤》(1960)、《長干行》(1961)、《沉沙谷》(1961)、《鐵騎令》(1961)、《烽原豪俠傳》(1962)、《七步干戈》(1963)、《俠骨關》(1964)、《金刀亭》(1966), which included ghostwriting one for the famous wuxia author Gu Long《劍毒梅香》(1960). The brothers stopped writing towards the end of the 60s so that they could go abroad to study. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The one brother that had come back out from retirement used to be the Head of the Executive Yuan in Taiwan - Liu Zhaoxuan (劉兆玄) and he has written a novel called《王道劍》(which can be translated to something like "Sword of the Kingly/Stately Way...王道 is the Confucian concept of the proper way to run a benevolent government). </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The novel is set during the early part of the Ming dynasty and focuses heavily on the usurpation of the throne by Prince Yan, the uncle of the Jian Wen Emperor, who later became the great Emperor Yongle. It was inspired by recent archaeological evidence that the Jian Wen Emperor did not die in a fire as many believed, but eventually spent his remaining years as a monk in Ningde in the province of Fujian. A series of color plates in the final volume presents the archaeological evidence for this as well as pictures of many of the settings in the book. The eunuch Zhenghe also makes an appearance and it is speculated that his remarkable voyages were also motivated by the search for the deposed Emperor overseas. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This new evidence seemed to really get Liu Zhaoxuan's creative juices going and he wrote close to 880,000 words in half a year. The book has been released with a number of heavy hitting endorsements from both the academic and literary sectors in Taiwan. Jin Yong also mentioned that Shang Guan Ding was one of his favorite authors. The novel is published by Yuanliu publishing, same company that publishes Jin Yong's work in Taiwan.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I recently finished the five volumes and was pleasantly surprised by the content and I would definitely rate this amongst the best wuxia I have read, after Jin Yong. Although the usual martial arts tropes are there, such as revenge, finding the secret martial arts manual(s), the evil villains, the main difference is that it is based upon a real historical incident and backdrop. Thus sections of the book are dedicated to describing actual battles and campaigns (which lends the novel more than a passing resemblance to Tolstoy's War and Peace) before reverting to the Wuxia storyline which involves three high level fighting monks from India who are agitating to gain hegemony over the martial arts world in China. Besides an exciting story there are also meditations on what is nature of justice, the futility of revenge, what constitutes good government and why does it not last, loyalty, sacrifice and other sweeping questions. (In this respect there are some resemblances to Jin Yong's Condor Shooting Heroes.) And the author's psychological study of the Yongle Emperor is astute and presents us with an understanding of why he acted the way he did, even if we do not sympathize with his methods. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The focus on the politics and Confucian aspect of Chinese culture is something which is different from many martial arts novels which tend to focus upon the Daoist or Buddhist aspects of Chinese history, be it an emphasis on internal alchemy and almost magical powers, or the impermanence or vanity of fame and power. Instead the theme underlying the book is a meditation of what constitutes good government, and how one can govern in an enlightened manner without excessive use of violence or a big stick. The politics of the court and the differing motivations of the key players is something which the author conveys with authority, given his background in the cut and thrust of Taiwanese politics. (There are also shades of a Game of Thrones during these sections.) But the suffering of the common people, whose main motivation is to lead a good life and have no interest in who ultimately sits on the throne and the horrors of war are ever present. These questions continue to bedevil Chinese society and can be seen reflected in the recent purges of Xi Jinping. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The novel is not without its flaws, however. My main reservation on the book is that at 5 volumes, the novel is rather long, and large sections could have been cut with a better editor, who was not afraid to stand up to the writer. There also seems to have been a bit of a race to finish the novel which was indicated by a profusion of new characters that only emerged in the final volume. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The second issue problem with the novel is that the powers of the main characters are pitched too high, with a number of martial artists breaking ground or reaching levels that have never been reached in history. (If you have ever played traditional Dungeons and Dragons, one knows that if your characters reach immortal levels with god-like powers, this rapidly takes out much of the challenge and fun of the game.) This could be why even though this is a marital arts novel, the descriptions of the duels and fighting falls rather flat as do the description of the martial arts training and breakthroughs (the part I like the most in movies and novels). Concepts coined by the author like 生生不息 and 脫胎換骨 seemed unconvincing to me as high level martial arts principles. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">The author indicated in an interview with the Taiwanese media that, unlike Jin Yong, he was not so interested in the martial part of the marital arts novel and focus on each movement and style but was more interested in the setup and character development. It was telling to note that in the early years it was his two elder brothers who were responsible for scripting the fighting and romantic scenes while he was responsible for everything else and I believe this shows, as the romance in the novel remains strictly PG, without any nudity or sexual violence, with any intimacy between the protagonists being strictly implied. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">However all in all, it was an entertaining read, and offered great value for money in terms of entertainment time per dollar spent. I would highly recommend this to those who are looking for something different from Jin Yong but remains of a high quality. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-80249400605609240422014-12-24T18:27:00.000-08:002022-10-28T06:49:18.004-07:00Eunoia II - Lisa Park <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0bKUJdXMOZ5sDiC8CLMNq0aHC_SGgw5ctIBOCznCNuhlCqq_VwwGYkYXWsodab6iWsW0I8yJDDLpRpB2cj8eMlrU8vVLo4ucI_7a256_y4oOJaaRIbhcXDUzmEOGACSbLPLFA_N1Yf1c/s1600/B1OC3CdIgAA27rO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0bKUJdXMOZ5sDiC8CLMNq0aHC_SGgw5ctIBOCznCNuhlCqq_VwwGYkYXWsodab6iWsW0I8yJDDLpRpB2cj8eMlrU8vVLo4ucI_7a256_y4oOJaaRIbhcXDUzmEOGACSbLPLFA_N1Yf1c/s1600/B1OC3CdIgAA27rO.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>I came across the artist Lisa Park via a friend's post on Facebook. This particular work resonated strongly with me due to its relationship with meditation and the emotions. Lisa's work mines traditional culture and tries to make it relevant to the modern world.</em> <em>A brief description of this particular work and her bio is included below. Her website is <a href="http://www.thelisapark.com/">www.thelisapark.com</a> </em></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">American-born raised in South Korea, Lisa Park is a multidisciplinary artist who is currently based in New York. Park combines EEG scanning with speakers and pools of water to visualize her thoughts and emotions. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Last year, she exposed her brain patterns to the world with Eunoia, in which she placed five water-filled metal plates atop speakers designed to respond to her real-time brain data. In that project, Park sorted the data into five emotions—sadness, anger, desire, happiness, and hatred, one per plate. These are the emotions associated with an excess in the five organs in traditional Chinese medicine. In rhetoric, Eunoia is the goodwill a speaker cultivates between himself and his audience, a condition of receptivity. By training her brain to control and express her emotions she was able to play a musical score using the plates.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdj3CQRHA9KlQj3g79yNAbrcLbUVTTdQrXtidRmTrqTGqu5e1ZOUJxQW8UOYfW4415FXyVuXAb6woICI472mVJ9rDhk_nYrytgpGp45yVXyNgWVCSbIFXh0oWkOb8u8vRb4EybRlnMokS5/s1600/article-2535974-1A7FC9D000000578-216_306x312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdj3CQRHA9KlQj3g79yNAbrcLbUVTTdQrXtidRmTrqTGqu5e1ZOUJxQW8UOYfW4415FXyVuXAb6woICI472mVJ9rDhk_nYrytgpGp45yVXyNgWVCSbIFXh0oWkOb8u8vRb4EybRlnMokS5/s1600/article-2535974-1A7FC9D000000578-216_306x312.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">For the Eunoia project her stated goal was to 'to exercise control over her own mind, to make her mind so still and so calm that there’s nothing for the EEG sensor to read.' Park was hoping that by calming her thoughts she could silence the speakers, and stop the water from moving. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But the latest iteration of the project takes the experiment to the next level: Eunoia II is outfitted with 48 vibration pools, inspired by the 48 emotions philosopher Baruch Spinoza outlined in his book, Ethica, like frustration, excitement, engagement, and meditation. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Each speaker vibrates according to Park's brain wave-interpreting algorithm, which tranforms intense signals from Park's Emotiv EEG headset into intense vibrations in the pools of water. Here, Park is literally putting her inner struggles on display, and the whole show depends on how she deals with her feelings. "I started working with biosensors especially EEG headset, because I questioned, 'how can I take this invisible energy and emotions and make it visible?'" "When I am feeling certain emotions (anger, sadness, happiness), I believe that what's inside me, more than 60% of water in human body, will create vibrations/energy within myself. So, I wanted to create an artwork that represents the inner part of myself." </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Master’s degree in the Interactive Telecommunications Program from New York University’s Tisch School of Arts and has a BFA in Fine Art Media at Art Center College of Design. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">She explored different genres in painting, sculpture, photography, and film during her education with an extensive background in fine art. Over the past few years, her interest in New Media Art (a genre that encompasses artworks including digital art, computer graphics, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, video games, computer robotics, and biotechnology) has influenced her art practice to focus on creating performative-based interactive installation. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5c3qZASoB4Tpqa7gp6LgoNA8wTYmWA7zbS4k2UnGbzA5clJFKT-j_6tGo4j44u5vjCV2tvKv0hQmGuyF_2trdMnSca5HTRaH4Pg2dJ31-0mUs-CW5JhyxvnnuAKYyyjicBYqj8xqxnq4O/s1600/7953984_300x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5c3qZASoB4Tpqa7gp6LgoNA8wTYmWA7zbS4k2UnGbzA5clJFKT-j_6tGo4j44u5vjCV2tvKv0hQmGuyF_2trdMnSca5HTRaH4Pg2dJ31-0mUs-CW5JhyxvnnuAKYyyjicBYqj8xqxnq4O/s1600/7953984_300x300.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">She has been interested in the application of neurofeedback’s method to analyze and understand human emotions. Her recent works explored the possibilities of self-monitoring her physical and psychological states through the use of biometric sensors (heart-rate and brainwave sensors). The latest performance involves using the commercial brainwave sensor, EEG (electroencephalogram), to create an external representation of herself. Her works were featured on The Creators Project, The New York Times' Bits Blog, Time Out New York, New York Post, Wired, Daily News, PBS' Off Book Series, and Intel’s Make it Wearable video, and many other publications. Other collaborations with The Moving Company (Tamar Ettun, Tyler Patterson, Tina Wang, Maia Karo) were published by Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, and Vogue.com.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/112387261?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/112387261">Eunoia II</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/thelisapark">Lisa Park</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-25011245541304225542014-12-23T06:15:00.000-08:002022-10-28T06:49:18.262-07:00Book Review - Champions of Buddhism - Weikza Cults in Contemporary Burma <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCipGu9XZPRgxEB0nnmdS_kLNjL60xBfqtcrvEA8vfOywrPM55XCnBqDTO1ztuP4fel2lblgb_54LW5jtorjRSfr1ckVT8bmF1NIhvnY_S3ozShU9KSELGIHdAudVGBJime7jPzFwR8wrT/s1600/Champions-of-Buddhism-Front-Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCipGu9XZPRgxEB0nnmdS_kLNjL60xBfqtcrvEA8vfOywrPM55XCnBqDTO1ztuP4fel2lblgb_54LW5jtorjRSfr1ckVT8bmF1NIhvnY_S3ozShU9KSELGIHdAudVGBJime7jPzFwR8wrT/s1600/Champions-of-Buddhism-Front-Cover.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I have recently been travelling to South East Asia for business and one of my recent trips was to Burma (Myanmar) which is a fascinating country, but one which I know very little about, especially in terms of its Buddhism. I had always taken Burmese Buddhism to be very similar to that of other Theravada nations such as Thailand and Sri Lanka, with an emphasis on Vipassana or Insight meditation. To my surprise, I came across this book in lobby gift store in the Sule Shangri-La which describes a hitherto little known aspect of Buddhism in great detail. This book - Champions of Buddhism - describes the phenomenon of the Weikza, or wizard, or one who has mastered the moral precepts, meditation and has attained certain supernatural powers in order to defend and protect Buddhism. The generalized lack of knowledge in the Western world regarding this phenomenon can be seen by the short Wikipedia entry thrown up when one does a short web search. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Rather than striving for nivarna through the practice of meditation, the Weikza seeks to master various occult and supernatural practices such as alchemy, talismans, yantra, ayurvedic medicine (anatomy and pharmacy) and mantras in order to attain an extraordinary long life, verging on immortality. This is attained by ultimately leaving the human body behind to attain a higher form, but may still communicate with ordinary people or followers through several different channels such as visions, possession and the transmission of different types of energy. They are often called upon for protection, healing or to perform exorcisms. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Although Buddhist texts describe the Buddha's sasana in exorable decline, Burmese Buddhists are constantly vigilant to preserve as much of it as possible during their age, equating the loss of Buddhism with a myriad of disorders and disasters that would be fatal to society. A will to safeguard Buddhism motivates many forms of Burmese Buddhist practice: worshiping the Buddha and his physical relics and statues, preserving the Pali Canon in its allegedly pristine state, supporting the monastic community and so forth. And the Weikza plays an important part in this process defending against supernatural attack especially during the process of Pagoda building. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Longevity practices are also a characteristic of the weikza. They seek to prolong their lifespan through various means so they may, in this life, witness the re-gathering of Gotama Buddha's relics for a final sermon at the end of this current sasana or the arrival of the future Buddha Maitreya. By avoiding death, they also avoid the risk of being reborn in one of the hells of Buddhist cosmology, and thus simply miss the moments when Gotama's sermon, or the advent of Maitreya would make enlightenment possible once more. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">The practices of the Weikza can be traced back to <em>borran Kammatthana </em>or "older meditation practices" and other forest traditions of the Tai-Khmer which were actually at the center of Buddhist practice before the rise of Vipassana and a belief that enlightenment could be achieved in one lifetime during the 19th Century. For me, the most fascinating aspect of the book lies in the close family resemblance Weikza practices hold to Daoist practices and tantric practices in the Bengal. Although it is now impossible to ascertain how these practices and cults evolved in history there are enough similarities to indicate that these practices are somehow tapping a deep core of practices and power that is common across many religions. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">With the validation of Vipassana meditation by the West and the modern scientific community the practice of Weikza has become seen as unscientific and magical. But it continues in to operate below the threshold of modernity and has a strong hold on the folk consciousness. The book is a fascinating collection of essays which deal with different aspects of the Weikza in Burma including their practices, history and talismans. Highly recommended as a book to spread knowledge of the Weikza amongst the western world and especially timely as Myanmar continues to make progress in rejoining the world family of nations. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKjfrnIzoBKTW2VfF6Gc7GKPbR8bSUpBj_-muTDLRmLXiU71bWB8-jU2XSjI9ygjTYOCTlblq5tJixkUlfFa5DyJGPC8pEjgO0IOdHAMlcJk9LsLsb91QIxqb_YjbatJ5iZlVzg9RRerjd/s1600/statue.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKjfrnIzoBKTW2VfF6Gc7GKPbR8bSUpBj_-muTDLRmLXiU71bWB8-jU2XSjI9ygjTYOCTlblq5tJixkUlfFa5DyJGPC8pEjgO0IOdHAMlcJk9LsLsb91QIxqb_YjbatJ5iZlVzg9RRerjd/s1600/statue.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-50030049715306231082014-12-16T22:24:00.000-08:002022-10-28T06:49:18.526-07:00Searching for the Source of Wing Chun<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQPsqEoAJyAfAbFr_63_4n_VmK9LuS_PZjtn1ueDPLC_GyhsvUCXqHE0svl_8EWU72xoyrKfcptURhzR7usAAvpVqObKO6ztDPY5WMJE2vZAF-zz7BhHlkxXb_Yew13X7QQo0lHpdvg6d5/s1600/0814_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQPsqEoAJyAfAbFr_63_4n_VmK9LuS_PZjtn1ueDPLC_GyhsvUCXqHE0svl_8EWU72xoyrKfcptURhzR7usAAvpVqObKO6ztDPY5WMJE2vZAF-zz7BhHlkxXb_Yew13X7QQo0lHpdvg6d5/s1600/0814_001.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a></div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In a follow up to the previous post, I have translated the preface written by Sifu CS Tang for my Kung Fu brother's book "The Spread and Transmission of Wing Chun - The Secret Leg Techniques of Wing Chun". This preface gives a brief flavor of the diversity in the various lineages of currently extant Wing Chun Schools and can provide some context of how the Yip Man and Hong Kong lineages fit into the Wing Chun Family as a whole. The book is currently available only in Chinese and can be found at most major Chinese bookstores in Hong Kong. </span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Wing Chun is a very special form of Chinese martial art. It specializes in the maintaining and using the centerline, short distance use of power, always continuing to advance and press the advantage, using stillness to overcome movement. It uses the energy of the curve to defend and the fierce power of the straight line to attack. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">During my practice and research of Wing Chun, I have come into contact with many different lineages of Wing Chun boxing, and have been a part of several systems, in order to search for the original source of Wing Chun. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The main schools of Hong Kong Wing Chun are mainly comprised of the Yip Man line, Chu Chung Line 朱忠 and Pao Fa Lien Wing Chun 刨花蓮詠春. Later on I discovered Gu Lao leaning body Wing Chun 古勞側身詠春, Guangzhou Ruan Qishan (Yuen Kaysan) Wing Chun 廣州阮岐山詠春 and others. The Wing Chun Association of Guangzhou lists nine separate schools of Wing Chun. What began as a very simple school of boxing, in a short time has diverged into more branches than one could keep track of, with each having their own roots, flavor and practice forms. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">According to Yip Man's hand written records, this form of boxing originated with Yim Wing Chun, who studied under Master Wumei, when one looks at its closed high stance, defense of the centerline, one can imagine it to be a style of lady's boxing, or the boxing of a cultured person. However this is but a story handed down from our ancestors, for in actuality it would be difficult to find a woman who practiced boxing during feudal times, even less the female founder of a boxing system. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Many Southern styles originate in Fujian, and Fujian is mainly known for its Crane boxing. Wing Chun's hand movements and stance do not deviate from the overall form of Fujian boxing. In the original boxing taught in Foshan, there was Butterfly Stance 蝴蝶馬, Tiger's Tail Leg 虎尾腳, Master Shum Neng 岑能 had the twelve form san shou and Master Wong Chen 黃貞 had the thirty six form san shou. The letter 2 life stealing knife 二字奪命刀 is a form derived from the Fujian double piercing knife 福建雙插刀, in addition there was the special Tang Koo Sau 藤箍手(rattan trapping hand), and the full form of the six and a half staff. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When considering the hand movements, in Hung Kuen's basic Gong Zi Tiger Quelling boxing 工字伏虎拳 (in the shape of the character "工") there is the high and low Pang Sau, which is similar to the wings of a crane, and these movements are also incorporated into the movements of Siu Lim Tao. The founding legend of Hung Kuen, which is also very beautiful, recounts that Hung Hei Goon from Fujian along with his wife Wing Chun Sam Leung, saw a snake and crane fighting and thus developed their tiger and crane boxing. The teacher of Hung Hay Goon was reputedly the Zen Master Zhishan from Shaolin, and his wife's teacher was the nun Wumei and they were both part of the 5 elders of the Jiulian Mountain Shaolin Monastery. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Nowadays we all know that be it in Jiulian Mountain, Putian or Quanzhou, we are unable to locate the Southern Shaolin monastery. [Widely considered to be a myth.] In my early years, I met Master Wang Yunzhan 王雲展大師 at the Baodao Hall 抱道堂, where he taught Fujianese Boxing, and it was rumored that he hailed from Jiulian Mountain Shaolin Monastery, and he could recite the paired couplets from the mountain gate, describe the location of the main hall, and stated that in the lower levels of the monastery there were wooden dummies for martial arts practice. When I asked its location, he stated that it was located deep in the mountains, with little trace of human activity and there was no road to speak of. If he went again he would have to search for a long time. It is really a mystery.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When one considers Wong Gam Bor's Hung Kuen Wing Chun whose school is in Yuen Long 元朗黃鑑波洪拳永春, the forms are even simpler than Hung Kuen, there is only one form of leaning body, one form of wooden dummy kicking, one form of wooden dummy hand training (empty stance and burying stance 空樁及埋樁). For weapons they teach one set of 9-13 spear九點十三槍, the hand movements are small and at a close distance using the Pang Tan Fuk Scissor hands 膀攤伏較剪, for the stance one stands in a parallel inverted stance, the feet do not face in but the hips are pulled inwards to protect the crotch, and is very similar to Fujian's White Crane. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For different forms of Wing Chun, they all have a similarity in that they do not emit sounds when fighting, which is different from the Hung, Lau and Choy Lay Fut styles. But in Guangzhou there is one style called Shaolin Wing Chun, where there is only a single form, of which one third is spent standing in a stance and performing hand techniques, and after that one begins to move into bow stance, parallel stance, back weighted stance, and the latter part of the techniques has the emission of sounds, how strange!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Wing Chun is mainly done with a high stance with the weight on the back foot 高身坐後馬. Guangzhou Wing Chun has Tan Yao 攤腰, Jut Sau 窒手, Dou Dan 抖丹 and these are also performed on the back foot, and this is to facilitate the swaying of the body to avoid punches, and to lift the foot to kick the enemy. It also has half butterfly stance 半邊蝴蝶馬 or kneeling stance, which is a speciality of Fujian boxing. But for Macau Jiu Jau Style Wing Chun 招就系, it has the Sinking Bridge Biao Jee 沉橋標指, but all of this is done with the Diu Ma 吊馬(weight completely on back foot front foot lightly touching the ground). </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From the analysis of the name, the source of Wing Chun is Foshan, where the old Masters Wong Wah Bao 黃華寳, Scar Faced Kam 花面錦, Fung Siu Ching 馮小青, Chan Yu Mien 陳汝棉 resided. According to the oral records, it was already called Wing Chun at that time, originating from the Wing Chun Hall 永春殿 of the Shaolin Temple; with further research it has now been established that this was actually the Wing Chun from Wing Chun County 永春縣 in Fujian which is the original derivation of the name of Yong Chun White Crane boxing 永春白鶴拳. Thus one can see that Wing Chun has an intimate relationship with Fujian county. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now Wing Chun has developed very quickly, the many lineages have sub-divided into those of Yiu Choi, Jiu Wan, Jiu Jau, Mak Gei Wong, Red Ship, Shaolin, Pao Fa Lien, Hung Kuen, Snake Crane (She Hok), Wing Chun Crane Boxing. When practicing the power is full while sinking the weight and performed slowly, in Guanzhou and Foshan the emphasis is on softness and on the inhalation and exhalation, whereas the emphasis in Hong Kong is on speed and ferocity. The name can also be written as Wing Chun (Eternal spring)永春 which is beautified to Wing Chun 詠春 (Song of Spring), or simplified to Wing Chun (also Song of Spring)咏春 Each branch has its own emphasis, and has its own development, Wing Chun is one family, and we should let a hundred flowers bloom! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Osmund Lam has studied the art of Wing Chun for many years, and has recently written this work "The Spread and Transmission of Wing Chun" in which he has detailed research into the source lineage of Yip Man's Wing Chun, from the founding of the style into recent written history and events. In the 70s and 80s the South East Asia Martial Arts ring fighting competitions were popular for a period, and he also recounts the details of the early period of Master Yip Man's life in Hong Kong, and how he transmitted his art, and all this is related in great detail. In honesty this book is a record of the history of the Hong Kong martial community. This book is premised upon effectiveness, and does not discuss forms, and discusses certain applications that are not known to the wider public, as well as knife work, especially the kicking and leg techniques that Master Chow Tsz Chuen 鄒子傳 was famous for, the demonstration Mai Jong, practical sparring, all this is demonstrated in the pictures. By disclosing what is unknown to most people, this book is a treasure for the greater martial community. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-64213041320707039792014-12-09T22:59:00.000-08:002022-10-28T06:49:18.785-07:00A Note from the Guangdong Wushu Association (Wing Chun Special Commitee) <div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNlDmwst1rL8GguUI1byGmvG8UpD7SMIJbUs-NrXqYeXroAWddB191I_b0zolTcB7HvmeMHuwb21orQl0Uyo6DIZUguZNi8RdnX3fvx3aqeoAvIYOUNaxM5e9nWCzectr9qTR3COqkNrMu/s1600/Yip+man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNlDmwst1rL8GguUI1byGmvG8UpD7SMIJbUs-NrXqYeXroAWddB191I_b0zolTcB7HvmeMHuwb21orQl0Uyo6DIZUguZNi8RdnX3fvx3aqeoAvIYOUNaxM5e9nWCzectr9qTR3COqkNrMu/s1600/Yip+man.jpg" height="320" width="242" /></a></div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There has been a great deal of bad blood and publicity in the media regarding the dispute between the Guangzhou branch of Wing Chun and Yip Man's descendents in Hong Kong. Some of this may be attributable to jealousy due to the recent resurgence of interest in Yip Man in the movies and the media worldwide. On the 24th November a notice was issued by the Guangdong Wushu Association to the worldwide media criticizing the distorted portrayal of Yip Man in the media worldwide. I have translated the notice [but have left out portions which are in my opinion just venting on the part of the authors]. Please note that the views expressed below do not reflect my own, although I have added some of my own notes in red. I do however encourage my readers to consider the allegations made in order to construct a more balanced view of Yip Man's legacy. </span></i></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Beginning in 2010, Yip Chun and Sim Kwok Lam [<i>Director of the Yip Man movies</i>] as well as other foreign nationals, have under the fraudulent aegis of the "World Wing Chun Association", have been active domestically in China (with Guangzhou and Foshan as the main areas), leading to many instances of conflict in these areas. Using fictional compositions and facts without historical basis, they have sought to muddy the history of Wing Chun, damaging the historical standing and status of the active schools of Wing Chun in Guangzhou and Foshan. As a result of this the Wing Chun Special Committee has put out the following notice:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(1) As for the World Wing Chun Association, this is a private for profit enterprise that is domiciled and registered in Hong Kong as the "World Wing Chun Association Limited". And until now an internationally recognized International Wing Chun Association does not exist. The controlling parties of this Company using the concept of its "high status" to mislead the media both domestically and worldwide , mislead the government officials in China and the general public into believing that the representatives of the Company represent and direct the interests of the whole of Wing Chun community worldwide.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(2) Not long ago, the controlling interests in this Company also tried to do the same for the Foshan Hung Kuen community, registering the "Hong Kong Global Hung Kuen Headquarters Limited" and tried to pass it off as the "Global Hung Kuen Headquarters." In a similar instance the Guangdong Wushu Association also issued a notice reprimanding this association for overstepping its boundaries and violating rules and regulations in Foshan. If the Hung Kuen School had been damaged by outrageous behavior of the Global Hung Kuen Headquarters, then the entire Wing Chun Community has been damaged by the behavior of Yip Chun, Sim Kwok Lam and the International Wing Chun Association.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(3) In 2013 Yip Chun, Sim Kwok Lam and other persons led the Yip School (one of the many branches of Wing Chun) to be involved in the "Wing Chun returns to Shaolin Incident", due to conflicts of interest and contradictions, this incident led to a loss of face for the entire martial arts community. Feng and Lam and the "World Wing Chun Association" were caught up in the midst of this which represented itself as the "Inner Sanctum of Wing Chun" to the worldwide media and dragged the whole Wing Chun community into Fung's machinations. Making a family dispute drag in the whole Wing Chun community, leading the Committee to severely reprimand Yip Chun and Fung. [<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Yip Chun in 2013 conducted some activities in conjunction with the Shaolin Monastery in Henan and made himself out to be representative of the greater Wing Chun community. Part of what was so damaging about the trip was that Yip Chun stated that Wing Chun was returning to its roots in Shaolin when there was no real historical relationship with the Shaolin monastery in Henan. Wing Chun is universally acknowledged to be a Southern Style. There was some controversy in the media over this] </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(4) Yip and Sim being the main culprits in the Wing Chun storm has already been recorded long ago, and one has to look to the past incidents, to prove they have destroyed the face of the Wulin community and thrown the hierarchy into chaos and besmirched the old masters. In 2010, Yip and Fung used the movie to raise the historical status of Yip Man, who sought to "uphold and protect the martial arts" but they have confused and falsified history and created a historical backdrop from imagination and have destroyed the reputations of two outstanding giants of Wing Chun history. [<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">I am not sure which two giants of Wing Chun history the notice is referring to but in terms of seniority there were many Wing Chun masters at the time that the story omitted - I have stated in some of my other posts that of there was a Wing Chun Grandmaster perhaps Ruan Qishan had more of a right to the title than Yip Man] </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(5) 90% of the movie is false, especially how one falsifies history, using many fake incidents to portray Yip Man as the "Incarnation of Wing Chun". If Foshan, the home of traditional martial arts, has to rely on an [air brushed] character to represent it internationally, is this not an insult and shame to Foshan and the greater martial arts community.[<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">90% of the story is false but this is not much different the treatment of many historical personages. The sad thing is that we have very little historical accounts with which to base what happened upon so the point is moot either way. But I do have to admit that the amount of hyperbole in the movies is rather extreme.] </span> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(6) [This is a long rant which I have omitted]</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(7) When Yip Man was in Foshan, he was not the "Foshan Wing Chun Grandmaster" that was hyped by the media. We perhaps say that he was never the Grandmaster in Foshan, but there was another that was the "Foshan Wing Chun Grandmaster" The older generation in Guangzhou and Foshan and those who have a deep knowledge of Wing Chun all know, that the Yip Man was "Team Leader of the Second Team of the Investigation Unit in Nanhai Provide during the time of Japanese occupation"(See "New Talks from Foshan" by Chu Rui Zhi). [Additional language omitted] [<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">It has long been rumored that Yip Man was actually a traitor and collaborator with the Japanese during the Occupation. Hence the urgency with which he needed to flee to Hong Kong when the Communists came. If true, this is especially ironic given his portrayal in the first Yip Man Movie] </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(8) This Committee is of this highest rank on a provincial government level, and covers the Wing Chun activities in10 major cities and areas within Guangdong province and has never had any relationship with the "World Wing Chun Association" Wing Chun originated in Guangdong, has its roots in Guangdong, and has its main development in Guangdong, and the greatest number of teachers in Guangdong. Guangdong province is stands at the apex of Wing Chun development, and does not [tolerate the existence of outsiders misrepresenting its history] [<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">In terms of the best preserved historical Wing Chun, probably Guangzhou Wing Chun retains more of a traditional flavor than Hong Kong. This is not to say that Yip Man did not teach traditional Wing Chun but it has undergone evolution in the hands of his students] </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(9-10) [Additional ranting] </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">- Guangdong Wushu Association (Wing Chun Special Commitee) </span></div><br /><br /><i><br /></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-41818478583214311952014-12-01T18:21:00.000-08:002022-10-28T06:49:19.036-07:00Two Approaches to Yoga<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijNjEmb3V3H_A8X2Eoqeo9d9MeU9n_FnvRGEckQJuTCJrgUhLopm5BUSjteqsrnsJIQlmCWX1ukfped4BaFDEbsX-USDFEt3PnApfcxnK-AJ8r3b8b5G8TF4UVLwOkqwFwHaNyVCF-yuDR/s1600/Picture-251.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijNjEmb3V3H_A8X2Eoqeo9d9MeU9n_FnvRGEckQJuTCJrgUhLopm5BUSjteqsrnsJIQlmCWX1ukfped4BaFDEbsX-USDFEt3PnApfcxnK-AJ8r3b8b5G8TF4UVLwOkqwFwHaNyVCF-yuDR/s1600/Picture-251.png" height="311" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I came across this interesting article on the role of yoga in the practices of two rather diverse individuals - Rickson Gracie and Aleister Crowley. While neither of the way that the two individuals train can be construed to be orthodox, it is interesting to see how yoga was able to benefit both of them in their respect professions - professional martial artist and magician respectively. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This should not be to surprising given the ability of an asana practice to train both the physical body and breathing as well as the mind and energetic body. From the perspective of a martial artist - there was much to be mined from this article. A aspect of Rickson's practice includes breathing exercises coupled with gymnastics which Rickson learned</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> from Orlando Cani a fellow martial artist, yogi and personal trainer. Orlando believed that the breathing techniques of yoga should be performed with gymnastic movements. By combining gymnastic exercise with yoga, Rickson Gracie was able to train his body in a way that converges with the physical demands of jiu jitsu. And by breathing in a more efficient manner, he has better stamina and able to maximize physical performance.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Only recently has breathing practice and holding capacity been investigated for its effects on aerobic ability. It turns out that individuals who engage in these practices have greater lactic acid and CO2 thresholds as well as more efficient aerobic capacity. These individuals also have greater control over their heart rate. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There was also a strong mystical element to these practices which are also detailed in the article. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From the viewpoint of Aleister Crowley, whom some view as a charlatan, he also incorporated fixed asanas into his practice, which he held for long periods of time. I have never held much interest in Aleister Crowley and Western magical practices but one has to give him credit for reviving interest in the occult at a time when a materialist approach was the general operating paradigm. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Regardless please find attached article here with credit to Pedro Olavarria for writing a great article. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://fightland.vice.com/blog/rickson-gracie-and-aleister-crowley-two-approaches-to-yoga">Rickson Gracie and Aleister Crowley - Two Approaches to Yoga </a> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For another interesting article please see below </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://wrestlejitsu.io/2014/12/02/breathe-like-rickson/">Breathe like Rickson</a></span> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4459201206540610905.post-35706349956424787142014-09-14T23:20:00.000-07:002022-10-28T06:49:19.290-07:00Discovery of Sword by Famous Swordsmith Masamume <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeMj2uUjLTnANUxJebNK2zeTYY0ZLLBXhG-7O0umlUqpAiTgLsnUYKk50cUb7CGru3jGhouw9fXyJqP-mB7_hXLbUuBsNEkyBdIUgWnOKZ5VskZlPpoMHozDDZGT-d81SiX3w2rt3Gc2U/s1600/ms-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeMj2uUjLTnANUxJebNK2zeTYY0ZLLBXhG-7O0umlUqpAiTgLsnUYKk50cUb7CGru3jGhouw9fXyJqP-mB7_hXLbUuBsNEkyBdIUgWnOKZ5VskZlPpoMHozDDZGT-d81SiX3w2rt3Gc2U/s1600/ms-1.png" height="177" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Experts confirmed the authenticity of a famous sword that had been missing since it was presented by the Tokugawa family to the imperial family late in the Edo Period (1603-1867).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Shimazu Masamune sword was a gift for the marriage of Princess Kazunomiya to Tokugawa Iemochi (1846-1866), the 14th shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A collector of famous swords in Osaka donated what he said was the Shimazu Masamune sword to Kyoto National Museum last fiscal year. The man obtained the sword in 1969 from a member of the Konoe family, which has close ties to the imperial family. He said he made the donation because of his advanced age.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Experts said the sword should be considered a national treasure because it was crafted by Okazaki Masamune, one of Japan’s most outstanding swordsmiths who was active in the late Kamakura Period (1192-1333).Producing the highest-quality blades during a time of military power made Masamune’s swords extremely prized. Masamune (正宗), also known as Gorō Nyūdō Masamune (五郎入道正宗), Priest Gorō Masamune, c.1264–1343 AD),is widely recognized as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as tachi and tantō respectively, in the Soshu tradition. No exact dates are known for Masamune's life and he has reached an almost legendary status. Some stories list his family name as Okazaki, but some experts believe this is a fabrication to enhance the standing of the Tokugawa family. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Masamune is believed to have worked in Sagami Province during the last part of the Kamakura Period (1288–1328), and it is thought that he was trained by swordsmiths from Bizen and Yamashiro provinces, such as Saburo Kunimune, Awataguchi Kunitsuna and Shintōgo Kunimitsu. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Today, the only swordsmith who can approach his exalted historical status is Muramasa, who was born hundreds of years later. Justified or not, Muramasa is said to have been psychologically imbalanced and prone to violence. Superstition holds that these traits were passed on to the swords he forged, and as such Masamune’s are often held to be the superior weapons.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A legend tells of a test where Muramasa challenged his master, Masamune, to see who could make a finer sword. They both worked tirelessly and eventually, when both swords were finished, they decided to test the results. The contest was for each to suspend the blades in a small creek with the cutting edge facing the current. Muramasa's sword, the Juuchi Yosamu (十千夜寒?, "10,000 Cold Nights") cut everything that passed its way; fish, leaves floating down the river, the very air which blew on it. Highly impressed with his pupil's work, Masamune lowered his sword, the Yawarakai-Te (柔らかい手?, "Tender Hands"), into the current and waited patiently. Not a leaf was cut, the fish swam right up to it, and the air hissed as it gently blew by the blade. After a while, Muramasa began to scoff at his master for his apparent lack of skill in the making of his sword. Smiling to himself, Masamune pulled up his sword, dried it, and sheathed it. All the while, Muramasa was heckling him for his sword's inability to cut anything. A monk, who had been watching the whole ordeal, walked over and bowed low to the two sword masters. He then began to explain what he had seen. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> "The first of the swords was by all accounts a fine sword, however it is a blood thirsty, evil blade, as it does not discriminate as to who or what it will cut. It may just as well be cutting down butterflies as severing heads. The second was by far the finer of the two, as it does not needlessly cut that which is innocent and undeserving." </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In another account of the story, both blades cut the leaves that went down on the river's current equally well, but the leaves would stick to the blade of Muramasa whereas they would slip on past Masamune's after being sliced. Or alternatively both leaves were cut, but those cut by Masamune's blade would reform as it traveled down the stream. Yet another version has leaves being sliced by Muramasa's blade while the leaves were repelled by Masamune's, and another again has leaves being sliced by Muramasa's blade and healed by Masamune's. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> In yet another story Muramasa and Masamune were summoned to make swords for the Shogun or Emperor and the finished swords were held in a waterfall. The result is the same as the other stories, and Masamune's swords are deemed holy swords. In one version of the story Muramasa is killed for creating evil swords. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> While all known legends of the two ever having met are historically impossible, both smiths are widely regarded as symbols for their respective eras.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Many Masamune swords still in existence have been named national treasures or important cultural properties.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Kazunomiya was the eighth daughter of Emperor Ninko (1800-1846) and stepsister of Emperor Komei (1831-1867).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A volume published in 1919 about famous swords in Japan includes a passage about the Tokugawa family presenting the Shimazu Masamune along with gold coins to the imperial family when Kazunomiya married Iemochi.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Toshihiko Suekane, a curator at the Kyoto National Museum specializing in the history of Japanese metalwork, pointed to three factors that led to his conclusion that the sword was authentic.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The first is that the sword came from the Konoe family. The two other factors are related to entries in documents from the Edo Period about famous swords.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> One document was compiled by the Honami family under the orders of Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684-1751), the eighth shogun. The Honami family handled the appraisal of famous swords at that time. The entry for the Shimazu Masamune sword listed it as 68.7 centimeters in length, matching the sword in question.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> The other document was a catalog of swords that contained the designs made on the blades. The design for the Shimazu Masamune was very similar to the one on the sword being studied. Taeko Watanabe, head of the Sano Art Museum in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, and a researcher of swords, also said the uncovered sword was authentic.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> “While the design on the blade is somewhat mild compared to other Masamune swords, it is still a fine work that transmits a sense of movement within a calm atmosphere when one observes it closely for a time,” Watanabe said. “Another very interesting fact is how the sword was passed on from the Tokugawa family to the imperial family and then to the Konoe family.”</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0