A young Mr. Parker next to Professor Chow.
Saturday, September 29, 2018
Friday, September 28, 2018
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Ark Yuey Wong
(southern5.com)
Grandmaster Ark Yuey Wong (Wong Ark-Yuey) was born in the large village of Toysun Tien Sum Chien, Canton, Southern China, in
1899/1900 into a moderately wealthy family. Early on, he was exposed to the ancient fighting arts as a need to defend himself from
articulated or actual threats of harm. In those days bandits roamed the countryside and Wong's grandfather made all males in the Wong
family study kung fu, if they were to receive any inheritance. A younger jealous brother, in order to weaken the older man and obtain his wealth, attacked his great-grandfather. Upon recovering from the attack, the old man decreed that all his male descendants were obligated to learn Kung Fu when they started school at the age of seven.
It was at that age that Ark Wong began his training under 14 masters within a Shao Lin Temple (Sifu Wong explained that the Cantonese pronunciation of "Siu Lam", sometimes seen as Sil Lum is the same as the more popular term Shao Lin). His first Shifu was the well-respected master, Lam Ark Fun. Master Lam was rather old at this time but still highly revered as a great teacher of the art of Choy Li Fut
1899/1900 into a moderately wealthy family. Early on, he was exposed to the ancient fighting arts as a need to defend himself from
articulated or actual threats of harm. In those days bandits roamed the countryside and Wong's grandfather made all males in the Wong
family study kung fu, if they were to receive any inheritance. A younger jealous brother, in order to weaken the older man and obtain his wealth, attacked his great-grandfather. Upon recovering from the attack, the old man decreed that all his male descendants were obligated to learn Kung Fu when they started school at the age of seven.
It was at that age that Ark Wong began his training under 14 masters within a Shao Lin Temple (Sifu Wong explained that the Cantonese pronunciation of "Siu Lam", sometimes seen as Sil Lum is the same as the more popular term Shao Lin). His first Shifu was the well-respected master, Lam Ark Fun. Master Lam was rather old at this time but still highly revered as a great teacher of the art of Choy Li Fut
.
At the age of twelve, Ark Wong was taught the art of Chinese Herbal Medicine, a skill that he would employ extensively later in life from Master Lam. Ark Wong studied under another well-respected master, Ho Ark Yeng from whom he learned Mawk Gar Kung Fu. Both Master Lam and Master Ho were hired by a representative of the great-grandfather to teach the Wong family exclusively. In his later teens, Ark Wong went to college and gave private Kung-fu lessons in Canton. It was during this time that he met Pung/Pang, the chief monk of the Canton area and one of the greatest Kung-fu fighters in China. He studied under this master for a year and a half. Previously, all of Wong's training was of the external aspects of Kung Fu. It was from Pung that he began to learn the internal aspects. Master Pung invited Wong to his ascetic quarters and told him to place a lighted candle at the end of the room. According to Wong, Pung was able to chop the candle in half from yards away, merely with a flick of the finger. “I had heard of power like that, but I had never seen it demonstrated”, Wong recalled years ago. When civil unrest occurred in Canton, Wong returned to his village.
Here in Lin Chuan Yuan, Putien County, he opened a Kung Fu school for his family and the younger children of the area. One New Year's, as was the custom, all the Kung Fu schools gathered to put on the "Lion Dancing" demonstration. On the basis of these demonstrations by the different schools the masters were chosen. Only the best demonstrators would receive the title "Master." At the remarkable age, of nineteen, Wong Ark Yuey was made Master.
Master Wong immigrated to the United States in his early twenties, around 1921. His uncle taught him Chinese herbal healing and
acupuncture. At that time, kung fu was taught among Chinese and mostly in Chinese tongs and associations. Since Chinese have many
festivities and cultural beliefs, the art of lion and dragon dance were taught to accommodate the celebration ritual. Many Chinese benefited from Wong's martial art lessons during the 40's and 50's when he stayed in San Francisco, Stockton and Oakland. This was the birth of Ng Ga Kin and Ng Ying Ga in the United States. In 1929, he moved to the Los Angeles area, where he taught exclusively for the Wong family the first two years. He then opened his Chinese Herb shop and Kung Fu school, called War Que (War Kyu) or Overseas Chinese Martial Arts Association. In 1931, Wong went to china to instruct the Wong family in the Martial Arts. In 1934, he returned to Los Angeles and resumed his teaching. At the young age of 31, Master Wong was given the title of Grandmaster. In 1965, Wong opened his doors to the public, to any sincere student who wanted to learn from a Master. Previously, as mentioned, all Chinese Kung Fu was taught to Chinese only, as it was kept a secret. He taught the Five Family styles of Cho Li, Fut, Mok, and Hung and the five animals of the Tiger, Dragon, Crane, Leopard and Snake. Master Wong taught Tai Chi Chuan, five element fist, natural fist and the Hop Gar Lama fist. He also taught the 18 traditional Shao Lin weapons, Lion and Dragon dancing, Chinese Acupuncture, Massage, and Herbal medicine. During his last 30 years profession, many people entered the school. Especially during and after the Bruce Lee kung fu movie era. But only very few had completed the entire course.
Master Wong was also a traditional Chinese herb doctor and helped many people with arthritis because of his special herb liniment called Dit Da Jow, a special Shao Lin temple recipe handed down to only those students who were loyal and sincere.
Master Wong was in the original pilot movie of the television series "Kung Fu", with the actor David Carridine, who played the part of
"Kuai Chang Caine", (Grasshopper). Master Wong was the greatest Master of our century and the true "Pioneer" of Chinese Kung Fu in America. Master Wong was on the front cover of the 1965 issue of "Black Belt Magazine" and has had numerous articles about him in the "Inside Kung Fu Magazine". Combining all the styles he had learned, Wong counted among his students Bruce Lee, David Carradine and Jimmy H. Woo.
Master Wong passed away on his birthday in January of 1987 at the age of 88 (1986 age 89). Up until his death, Wong’s speed and agility continued to impress students one-third his age. In demonstrating the tiger form, Wong, in his late 80’s, included a dragon drop “so fast, he was down in the floor and back up in a split second”, Holub notes. He was always helping people and devoted his whole life to Kung Fu and Chinese medicine. He was the last of the old Masters but his legacy and his Association is still being carried on today. Grandmaster Wong had achieved many accomplishments including being pioneer kung fu instructor to America and contributed to society with his Chinese medicine. Because of his efforts, the Five Family/Animal Style has prospered worldwide. His grandson Seming Ma is now continuing the tradition.
Due to the history, including the destruction of the Temple and all of its artist, to the highly selective process in which only a small handful of students in a generation actually inherit a system with its complete information. It is a fact that Grandmaster Wong was the only man in this country with the entire Five Family Fist Southern Shao Lin system. After the destruction of the temple only a few survived and migrated to Hong Kong and are now deceased. It is an unfortunate fact that this system almost died with the destruction of the temple and its martial artist in 1927. Were it not for Grandmaster Wong Ark-Yueh the system would probably not exist today. Fortunately for Southern Shao Lin advocates the complete system is still alive today in the surviving two inheritors of Ma Se Ming and Richard Vera.Because Master Wong was very frugal about time and believed in using time and not measuring it; he did not waste his time with people who were not truly dedicated. This is why only a handful of students would learn the real secrets and go on to become masters. Students were (and still are) divided into two major catagories. The first category is the public students. These students were the general public who came to learn kung fu for health and self-defense. These students would learn basic fundamentals including forms, stances, hand movements, and basic weapons, which would empower them enough to be considered very formidable in a personal combat situation. The second category of students was the secret or advanced students. These select few students are chosen from the public students who exhibited exceptional behavioral attributes, timely tuition payments, and consistent attendance of classes. These students would be shown advanced skills based upon their individual achievements. From these were chosen the inheritors and direct inheritors of the system
At the age of twelve, Ark Wong was taught the art of Chinese Herbal Medicine, a skill that he would employ extensively later in life from Master Lam. Ark Wong studied under another well-respected master, Ho Ark Yeng from whom he learned Mawk Gar Kung Fu. Both Master Lam and Master Ho were hired by a representative of the great-grandfather to teach the Wong family exclusively. In his later teens, Ark Wong went to college and gave private Kung-fu lessons in Canton. It was during this time that he met Pung/Pang, the chief monk of the Canton area and one of the greatest Kung-fu fighters in China. He studied under this master for a year and a half. Previously, all of Wong's training was of the external aspects of Kung Fu. It was from Pung that he began to learn the internal aspects. Master Pung invited Wong to his ascetic quarters and told him to place a lighted candle at the end of the room. According to Wong, Pung was able to chop the candle in half from yards away, merely with a flick of the finger. “I had heard of power like that, but I had never seen it demonstrated”, Wong recalled years ago. When civil unrest occurred in Canton, Wong returned to his village.
Here in Lin Chuan Yuan, Putien County, he opened a Kung Fu school for his family and the younger children of the area. One New Year's, as was the custom, all the Kung Fu schools gathered to put on the "Lion Dancing" demonstration. On the basis of these demonstrations by the different schools the masters were chosen. Only the best demonstrators would receive the title "Master." At the remarkable age, of nineteen, Wong Ark Yuey was made Master.
Master Wong immigrated to the United States in his early twenties, around 1921. His uncle taught him Chinese herbal healing and
acupuncture. At that time, kung fu was taught among Chinese and mostly in Chinese tongs and associations. Since Chinese have many
festivities and cultural beliefs, the art of lion and dragon dance were taught to accommodate the celebration ritual. Many Chinese benefited from Wong's martial art lessons during the 40's and 50's when he stayed in San Francisco, Stockton and Oakland. This was the birth of Ng Ga Kin and Ng Ying Ga in the United States. In 1929, he moved to the Los Angeles area, where he taught exclusively for the Wong family the first two years. He then opened his Chinese Herb shop and Kung Fu school, called War Que (War Kyu) or Overseas Chinese Martial Arts Association. In 1931, Wong went to china to instruct the Wong family in the Martial Arts. In 1934, he returned to Los Angeles and resumed his teaching. At the young age of 31, Master Wong was given the title of Grandmaster. In 1965, Wong opened his doors to the public, to any sincere student who wanted to learn from a Master. Previously, as mentioned, all Chinese Kung Fu was taught to Chinese only, as it was kept a secret. He taught the Five Family styles of Cho Li, Fut, Mok, and Hung and the five animals of the Tiger, Dragon, Crane, Leopard and Snake. Master Wong taught Tai Chi Chuan, five element fist, natural fist and the Hop Gar Lama fist. He also taught the 18 traditional Shao Lin weapons, Lion and Dragon dancing, Chinese Acupuncture, Massage, and Herbal medicine. During his last 30 years profession, many people entered the school. Especially during and after the Bruce Lee kung fu movie era. But only very few had completed the entire course.
Master Wong was also a traditional Chinese herb doctor and helped many people with arthritis because of his special herb liniment called Dit Da Jow, a special Shao Lin temple recipe handed down to only those students who were loyal and sincere.
Master Wong was in the original pilot movie of the television series "Kung Fu", with the actor David Carridine, who played the part of
"Kuai Chang Caine", (Grasshopper). Master Wong was the greatest Master of our century and the true "Pioneer" of Chinese Kung Fu in America. Master Wong was on the front cover of the 1965 issue of "Black Belt Magazine" and has had numerous articles about him in the "Inside Kung Fu Magazine". Combining all the styles he had learned, Wong counted among his students Bruce Lee, David Carradine and Jimmy H. Woo.
Master Wong passed away on his birthday in January of 1987 at the age of 88 (1986 age 89). Up until his death, Wong’s speed and agility continued to impress students one-third his age. In demonstrating the tiger form, Wong, in his late 80’s, included a dragon drop “so fast, he was down in the floor and back up in a split second”, Holub notes. He was always helping people and devoted his whole life to Kung Fu and Chinese medicine. He was the last of the old Masters but his legacy and his Association is still being carried on today. Grandmaster Wong had achieved many accomplishments including being pioneer kung fu instructor to America and contributed to society with his Chinese medicine. Because of his efforts, the Five Family/Animal Style has prospered worldwide. His grandson Seming Ma is now continuing the tradition.
Due to the history, including the destruction of the Temple and all of its artist, to the highly selective process in which only a small handful of students in a generation actually inherit a system with its complete information. It is a fact that Grandmaster Wong was the only man in this country with the entire Five Family Fist Southern Shao Lin system. After the destruction of the temple only a few survived and migrated to Hong Kong and are now deceased. It is an unfortunate fact that this system almost died with the destruction of the temple and its martial artist in 1927. Were it not for Grandmaster Wong Ark-Yueh the system would probably not exist today. Fortunately for Southern Shao Lin advocates the complete system is still alive today in the surviving two inheritors of Ma Se Ming and Richard Vera.Because Master Wong was very frugal about time and believed in using time and not measuring it; he did not waste his time with people who were not truly dedicated. This is why only a handful of students would learn the real secrets and go on to become masters. Students were (and still are) divided into two major catagories. The first category is the public students. These students were the general public who came to learn kung fu for health and self-defense. These students would learn basic fundamentals including forms, stances, hand movements, and basic weapons, which would empower them enough to be considered very formidable in a personal combat situation. The second category of students was the secret or advanced students. These select few students are chosen from the public students who exhibited exceptional behavioral attributes, timely tuition payments, and consistent attendance of classes. These students would be shown advanced skills based upon their individual achievements. From these were chosen the inheritors and direct inheritors of the system
-------------------
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Money in the martial arts
(from Mr. Bob White's Facebook page, 9-18-18)
Ed Parker opened up the first commercial school here in the U.S. Before that, people shared their art in venues that were designed for other activities. Mr. Parker received a lot of criticism for it. The critics said he was selling out and it was a disgrace to the martial arts. Black Belt magazine came out against Mr. Parker because he used contracts in enrolling students. He asked Black Belt magazine if they sold subscriptions, and "wasn’t that the same thing?" Imagine if Ed... Parker would have listened to the critics and not have had a commercial school? Imagine how many thousands of people would not have been involved with martial arts and how they would not have had the opportunity to learn the life lessons that martial arts teaches us.
Personally, I am grateful for the fact that he had this vision which has allowed me to do something as a profession for my entire adult life. I feel that sharing Kenpo Karate and coaching my students is my calling.
This brings up the subject of my post, which is money. Many people have a resentment when people make money at their schools or promoting a tournament. Please stop and realize that if the school owner does not make a profit he/she cannot stay open. How many would be deprived of the opportunity to learn martial arts if there was not a school to go to? How could a tournament promoter continue to throw tournaments if he/she does not make a profit? Personally I would want the promoters to make money on all of their events so they will continue to give our community the opportunity to compete and develop their skills.
I believe if we are to have professional instructors they must be fairly compensated. Unless we are raising funds for a worthy cause, instructors that are invited into our school will be guaranteed an agreed price. If more is raised, 100% of that money goes to the teacher. When the price is agreed upon, that money is put aside and is no longer mine. There are different ways of showing respect and keeping your word is right at the top of the list. In my opinion to not pay the teacher a fair amount is disrespectful. We want to be contributors not just consumers. If you can’t pay your dues at your school go up and talk to your teacher. When you do this you are showing respect to him/her and your school. I have mentioned before about people wanting to join our school after their original school closed. I asked them what their tuition was and they said they did not pay dues. I wonder if that might have had something to do with the failure of the school.
Ed Parker shared with me that people buy things to gain a benefit or avoid a loss. Investing money in your martial arts education makes sense. If you don’t think it is an investment you will have a resentment and soon do something else.
Ed Parker opened up the first commercial school here in the U.S. Before that, people shared their art in venues that were designed for other activities. Mr. Parker received a lot of criticism for it. The critics said he was selling out and it was a disgrace to the martial arts. Black Belt magazine came out against Mr. Parker because he used contracts in enrolling students. He asked Black Belt magazine if they sold subscriptions, and "wasn’t that the same thing?" Imagine if Ed... Parker would have listened to the critics and not have had a commercial school? Imagine how many thousands of people would not have been involved with martial arts and how they would not have had the opportunity to learn the life lessons that martial arts teaches us.
Personally, I am grateful for the fact that he had this vision which has allowed me to do something as a profession for my entire adult life. I feel that sharing Kenpo Karate and coaching my students is my calling.
This brings up the subject of my post, which is money. Many people have a resentment when people make money at their schools or promoting a tournament. Please stop and realize that if the school owner does not make a profit he/she cannot stay open. How many would be deprived of the opportunity to learn martial arts if there was not a school to go to? How could a tournament promoter continue to throw tournaments if he/she does not make a profit? Personally I would want the promoters to make money on all of their events so they will continue to give our community the opportunity to compete and develop their skills.
I believe if we are to have professional instructors they must be fairly compensated. Unless we are raising funds for a worthy cause, instructors that are invited into our school will be guaranteed an agreed price. If more is raised, 100% of that money goes to the teacher. When the price is agreed upon, that money is put aside and is no longer mine. There are different ways of showing respect and keeping your word is right at the top of the list. In my opinion to not pay the teacher a fair amount is disrespectful. We want to be contributors not just consumers. If you can’t pay your dues at your school go up and talk to your teacher. When you do this you are showing respect to him/her and your school. I have mentioned before about people wanting to join our school after their original school closed. I asked them what their tuition was and they said they did not pay dues. I wonder if that might have had something to do with the failure of the school.
Ed Parker shared with me that people buy things to gain a benefit or avoid a loss. Investing money in your martial arts education makes sense. If you don’t think it is an investment you will have a resentment and soon do something else.
Monday, September 17, 2018
Kenpo without belt ranks
(by Mr. Ron Chapel kenpotalk.com 2-5-18)
While belt rankings and recognitions have always been a part of the culture of training in the martial arts, it was the creation of Judo and the installation of the codified "kyu" and "dan" rank structure of Jigoro Kano who recognized as an educator, that students of any discipline must be "assigned" levels of competency, if for no other reason than to measure competency against social peers. This is even more so in a physically competitive environment where the wide disparity of participants make such separation and division physically mandatory.
It has since then been carried to all forms of the arts regardless of national origin, and accepted as the norm in modern cultures of training. Even as young man who began training in the Traditional Chinese Arts under Ark Wong, I found myself upon beginning, assigned a "silver sash" in the late fifties. Xifu Ark Wong had in place even then a colored sash rank structure, even though "old world" culture dictated colored sashes were for the most part decoration in demonstrations, than indicative of martial prowess.
Mr. Parker recognized this as well and often spoke of how most of us need some type of external motivation or incentive as part of the process. Some need it more than others obviously, and some are at an extreme and seek only these visible indicators over the actual skill and knowledge they are supposed to represent. This is more a testament to the nature of human beings in a modern world that seems to be less focused and disciplined, regardless of culture.
I remember the debut of the U.S.A. Today Newspaper. They recognized that culturally people were no longer interested in in-depth topics, and long news stories requiring multiple pages in a newspaper. They wanted a "snapshot' of the overall news, an overview, or McDonald's "McNews." A fast food version or on-the-go version of a newspaper that has proved successful.
It is these things I personally considered when I too lamented the idea of rank and belts when I saw so many people who were supremely unqualified to teach wearing and holding lofty ranks and lots of red on belts they didn't deserve. Somewhere along the line, rank has become synonymous with competency, AND the ability to convey knowledge and skill to another as an instructor or teacher.
Unfortunately, the martial arts explosion of the sixties in the western hemisphere gave us lots of practitioners whose primary focus was and is competition, and they have received ranking based on their ability to compete, over actual knowledge and skill of the martial arts and the ability to teach. Many of the so-called champions I've seen over the years were nowhere near qualified to teach any aspect of the arts, and that includes the competition they themselves were actually skilled in.
Their athletic "gift" was the ability to "do" as they expressed their talents, but were lousy "teachers." For many it was simply a matter of a lack of education and real world experience and a limited ability to express ideas to another, whereas most in my opinion, were just not interested in "teaching." In a true competitor, the "fun" is in competing and winning. Teaching just takes time away from training to compete and the drive to win.
I ultimately decided to let the belt rankings stand. But, I did something that I feel is very important. I decided to separate belt ranking from teaching competency. Belt rankings up to a point, are driven by ability only. Competency determines belt rankings. After a fashion and history of "competency," than longevity becomes a factor although not a singular one. But still none of these factors have a bearing on teacher or Instructor status. Further, I made ALL color and numerical rankings "honorary and/or emeritus." This solved the problems for me that I have seen festering over the years that has destroyed the credibility of many arts driven by rank and commerciality.
With all rank honorary, I can now issue diplomas and certifications and "teaching credentials." A person may have one or both, but neither guarantees the other. An individual may have a Black Belt Diploma, but that only certifies personal competency up to the level described. It is NOT a teaching credential or license which must be obtained separately. Many of my students find this acceptable because they have no interest in teaching. They're reason are person and they do no include training and teaching others, which from their perspective, takes away from their own training time. Now personally, I require some teaching as a part of the process of obtaining one's own competency, but only under the supervision of a credentialed instructor.
One doesn't automatically confer competency in the other, and the holy grail in my tutelage is to have certifications, credentials, and diplomas in both. Problem solved. Students are competent without impacting teacher qualifications, and teachers have demonstrated competency before becoming instructors. Ranks maintain their legitimacy without impacting teaching credential.
All of this stems from my assigned thesis project for 7th from Mr. Parker, who recognized the impact children and young people were having on the rank structure and legitimacy of Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate. He loved the paper, but never implemented it has he focused on changing the structure from 32 techniques per chart, to 24, to his ultimate goal of 16.
While belt rankings and recognitions have always been a part of the culture of training in the martial arts, it was the creation of Judo and the installation of the codified "kyu" and "dan" rank structure of Jigoro Kano who recognized as an educator, that students of any discipline must be "assigned" levels of competency, if for no other reason than to measure competency against social peers. This is even more so in a physically competitive environment where the wide disparity of participants make such separation and division physically mandatory.
It has since then been carried to all forms of the arts regardless of national origin, and accepted as the norm in modern cultures of training. Even as young man who began training in the Traditional Chinese Arts under Ark Wong, I found myself upon beginning, assigned a "silver sash" in the late fifties. Xifu Ark Wong had in place even then a colored sash rank structure, even though "old world" culture dictated colored sashes were for the most part decoration in demonstrations, than indicative of martial prowess.
Mr. Parker recognized this as well and often spoke of how most of us need some type of external motivation or incentive as part of the process. Some need it more than others obviously, and some are at an extreme and seek only these visible indicators over the actual skill and knowledge they are supposed to represent. This is more a testament to the nature of human beings in a modern world that seems to be less focused and disciplined, regardless of culture.
I remember the debut of the U.S.A. Today Newspaper. They recognized that culturally people were no longer interested in in-depth topics, and long news stories requiring multiple pages in a newspaper. They wanted a "snapshot' of the overall news, an overview, or McDonald's "McNews." A fast food version or on-the-go version of a newspaper that has proved successful.
It is these things I personally considered when I too lamented the idea of rank and belts when I saw so many people who were supremely unqualified to teach wearing and holding lofty ranks and lots of red on belts they didn't deserve. Somewhere along the line, rank has become synonymous with competency, AND the ability to convey knowledge and skill to another as an instructor or teacher.
Unfortunately, the martial arts explosion of the sixties in the western hemisphere gave us lots of practitioners whose primary focus was and is competition, and they have received ranking based on their ability to compete, over actual knowledge and skill of the martial arts and the ability to teach. Many of the so-called champions I've seen over the years were nowhere near qualified to teach any aspect of the arts, and that includes the competition they themselves were actually skilled in.
Their athletic "gift" was the ability to "do" as they expressed their talents, but were lousy "teachers." For many it was simply a matter of a lack of education and real world experience and a limited ability to express ideas to another, whereas most in my opinion, were just not interested in "teaching." In a true competitor, the "fun" is in competing and winning. Teaching just takes time away from training to compete and the drive to win.
I ultimately decided to let the belt rankings stand. But, I did something that I feel is very important. I decided to separate belt ranking from teaching competency. Belt rankings up to a point, are driven by ability only. Competency determines belt rankings. After a fashion and history of "competency," than longevity becomes a factor although not a singular one. But still none of these factors have a bearing on teacher or Instructor status. Further, I made ALL color and numerical rankings "honorary and/or emeritus." This solved the problems for me that I have seen festering over the years that has destroyed the credibility of many arts driven by rank and commerciality.
With all rank honorary, I can now issue diplomas and certifications and "teaching credentials." A person may have one or both, but neither guarantees the other. An individual may have a Black Belt Diploma, but that only certifies personal competency up to the level described. It is NOT a teaching credential or license which must be obtained separately. Many of my students find this acceptable because they have no interest in teaching. They're reason are person and they do no include training and teaching others, which from their perspective, takes away from their own training time. Now personally, I require some teaching as a part of the process of obtaining one's own competency, but only under the supervision of a credentialed instructor.
One doesn't automatically confer competency in the other, and the holy grail in my tutelage is to have certifications, credentials, and diplomas in both. Problem solved. Students are competent without impacting teacher qualifications, and teachers have demonstrated competency before becoming instructors. Ranks maintain their legitimacy without impacting teaching credential.
All of this stems from my assigned thesis project for 7th from Mr. Parker, who recognized the impact children and young people were having on the rank structure and legitimacy of Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate. He loved the paper, but never implemented it has he focused on changing the structure from 32 techniques per chart, to 24, to his ultimate goal of 16.
Friday, September 14, 2018
Bruce Lee's Toughest Fight
 |
| Wong Jack Man |
by Michael Dorgan (from Official Karate, July 1980)
Considering the skill of the opponents and the complete absence of referees, rules, and safety equipment, it was one hell of a fight that took place that day in December. It may have been the most savagely elegant exhibition of unarmed combat of the century. Yet, at a time when top fighters tend to display their skills only in huge closed-circuited arenas, this battle was fought in virtual secrecy behind locked doors. And at a time when millions of dollars can ride on the outcome of a championship fight, these champions of another sort competed not for money, but for more personal and passionate reasons. The time was late winter, 1964; the setting was a small kung fu school in Oakland, California. Poised at the center of the room, with approximately 140 pounds packed tightly on his 5'7" frame, was the operator of the school, a 24-year old martial artist of Chinese ancestry but American birth who, within a few years, would skyrocket to international attention as a combination fighter/film star. A few years after that, at age 32, he would die under mysterious circumstances. His name, of course, was Bruce Lee. Also poised in the center of the room was another martial artist. Taller but lighter, with his 135 pounds stretched thinly over 5'10", this fighter was also 24 and also of Chinese descent. Born in Hong Kong and reared in the south of mainland China, he had only recently arrived in San Francisco's teeming Chinatown, just across the bay from Oakland. Though over the next 15 years he would become widely known in martial arts circles and would train some of America's top martial artists, he would retain a near disdain for publicity and the commercialization of his art, and consequently would remain unknown to the general public. His name: Wong Jack Man.
What happened after the fighters approached the center of the room has become a chapter of Chinatown's "wild history," that branch of Chinese history usually anchored in fact but always richly embellished by fantasy, a history that tells much about a time and place with little that's reliable about any particular incident. Exactly how the fight proceeded and just who won are still matters of controversy, and will likely remain so. But from the few available firsthand accounts and other evidence, it is possible to piece together a reasonably reliable picture that reveals two overriding truths. First, considering the skill of the opponents and the complete absence of referees, rules, and safety equipment, it was one hell of a fight that took place that day in December. And second, Bruce Lee, who was soon to rival Mao Tse Tung as the world's most famous Chinese personality, was dramatically affected by the fight, perhaps fatally so.
Due to the human desire to be known as an eye witness to a famous event, it is easier to obtain firsthand accounts of the fight from persons who were not there than from those who were. As to how many persons actually viewed the contest, even that is a point of dispute. Bruce Lee's wife Linda recalls a total of 13 persons, including herself. But the only person that she identifies other than her husband and his associate James Lee, who died of cancer shortly before her husband died, is Wong Jack Man. Wong, meanwhile, remembers only seven persons being present, including the three Lees. Of the three persons other than the Lees and himself, only one, a tai chi teacher named William Chen (not to be confused with the William Chi Cheng Chen who teaches the art in New York), could be located. Chen recalls about 15 persons being present but can identify none other than Wong and the Lees. So except for a skimpy reference to the fight by Bruce Lee himself in a magazine interview, we are left with only three firsthand accounts of the battle. They are accounts which vary widely.
Linda Lee, in her book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, initially dismisses the fight as follows: "The two came out, bowed formally and then began to fight. Wong adopted a classic stance whereas Bruce, who at the time was still using his Wing Chun style, produced a series of straight punches. "Within a minute, Wong's men were trying to stop the fight as Bruce began to warm to his task. James Lee warned them to let the fight continue. A minute later, with Bruce continuing the attack in earnest, Wong began to backpedal as fast as he could. For an instant, indeed, the scrap threatened to degenerate into a farce as Wong actually turned and ran. But Bruce pounced on him like a springing leopard and brought him to the floor where he began pounding him into a state of demoralization.
"Is that enough?" shouted Bruce. "That's enough!" pleaded Wong in desperation. So the entire matter was just another quick triumph for the man who frequently boasted he could whip any man in the world. Or was it? Later in her book, Linda Lee hints that the fight may have amounted to more than the brief moment of violent diversion she had earlier described. "Bruce's whole life was an evolving process - and this was never seen to greater effect than in his work with the martial arts," she begins. "The clash with Wong Jack Man metamorphosed his own personal expression of kung fu. Until this battle, he had largely been content to improvise and expand on his original Wing Chun style, but then he suddenly realized that although he had won comparatively easily, his performance had been neither crisp of efficient. The fight, he realized, ought to have ended within a few seconds of him striking the first blows - instead of which it had dragged on for three minutes. In addition, at the end, Bruce had felt unusually winded which proved to him he was far from perfect condition. So he began to dissect the fight, analyzing where he had gone wrong and seeking to find ways where he could have improved his performance. It did not take him long to realize that the basis of his fighting art, the Wing Chun style, was insufficient. It laid too much stress on hand techniques, had very few kicking techniques and was, essentially, partial."
Still later in the book, Linda Lee adds: "The Wong Jack Man fight also caused Bruce to intensify his training methods. From that date, he began to seek out more and more sophisticated and exhaustive training methods. I shall try to explain these in greater detail later, but in general the new forms of training meant that Bruce was always doing something, always training some part of his body or keeping it in condition."
Whether Bruce Lee's intensified training was to his benefit or to his destruction is a matter to be discussed later. For now, merely let it be observed that the allegedly insignificant "scrap" described early by Linda Lee has now been identified by her as cause for her husband to intensify his training and serves as the pivotal reason for his abandoning the fighting style he had practiced religiously for more than 10 years.
That the fight with Wong was the reason Lee quit, and then later repudiated the Wing Chun style, was confirmed by Lee himself in an interview with Black Belt. "I'd gotten into a fight in San Francisco (a reference, no doubt, to the Bay Area rather than the city) with a Kung-Fu cat, and after a brief encounter the son-of-a-bitch started to run. I chased him and, like a fool, kept punching him behind his head and back. Soon my fists began to swell from hitting his hard head. Right then I realized Wing Chun was not too practical and began to alter my way of fighting."
For those who have difficulty believing that a quick if clumsy victory over a worthy opponent was sufficient reason for Lee to abandon a fighting style that had seen him through dozens of vicious street fights as a youth in Hong Kong, where his family had moved shortly after his birth in San Francisco, a more substantial reason for Lee to change styles can be found in the account of the fight given by Wong Jack Man.
According to Wong, the battle began with him bowing and offering his hand to Lee in the traditional manner of opening a match. Lee, he say, responded by pretending to extend a friendly hand only to suddenly transform the hand into a four-pronged spear aimed at Wong's eyes.
"That opening move," says Wong, "set the tone for Lee's fight." Wing Chun has but three sets, the solo exercises which contain the full body of technique of any style, and one of those sets is devoted to deadly jabbing and gouging attacks directed primarily at the eyes and throat. "It was those techniques," say Wong, "which Lee used most."
There were flurries of straight punches and repeated kicks at his groin, adds Wong, but mostly, relentlessly, there were those darting deadly finger tips trying to poke out his eyes or puncture his throat. And what he say he anticipated as serious but sportsmanly comparison of skill suddenly became an exercise in defending his life.
Wong says that before the fight began Lee remarked, in reference to a mutual acquaintance who had helped instigate the match, "You've been killed by your friend." Shortly after the bout commenced, he adds, he realized Lee's words had been said in earnest.
"He really wanted to kill me," says Wong. In contrast to Lee's three Wing Chun sets, Wong, as the grand master of the Northern Shaolin style, knew dozens. But most of what he used against Lee, says Wong, was defensive. Wong says he parried Lee's kicks with his legs while using his hand and arms to protect his head and torso, only occasionally delivering a stinging blow to Lee's head or body. He fought defensively, explains Wong, in part because of Lee's relentless aggressive strategy, and in part because he feared the consequences of responding in kind to Lee's attempt to kill him. In pre-Revolutionary China, fights to the finish were often allowed by law, but Wong knew that in modern-day America, a crippling or killing blow, while winning a victory, might also win him a jail sentence.
That, says Wong, is why he failed to deliver a devastating right-hand blow on any of the three occasions he had Lee's head locked under his left arm. Instead, he says, he released his opponent each time, only to have an even more enraged Bruce Lee press on with his furious attack. "He would never say he lost until you killed him," says Wong. And despite his concern with the legal consequences, Wong says that killing Lee is something he began to consider. "I remember thinking, 'If he injures me, if he really hurts me, I'll have to kill him."
But according to Wong, before that need arose, the fight had ended, due more to what Linda Lee described as Lee's "unusually winded" condition than to a decisive blow by either opponent. "It had lasted," says Wong, "at least 20 minutes, maybe 25."
Though William Chen's recollections of the fight are more vague than the other two accounts, they are more in alignment with Wong's than Lee's. On the question of duration, for example, Chen, like Wong, remembers the fight continuing for "20 or 25 minutes." Also, he cannot recall either man being knocked down. "Certainly," he says, "Wong was not brought to the floor and pounded into a 'state of demoralization.'"
Regarding Wong's claim that three times he had Lee's head locked under his arm, Chen says he can neither confirm or deny it. He remembers the fighters joining on several occasions, but he could not see very clearly what was happening at those moments.
Chen describes the outcome of the battle as "a tie." He adds, however, that whereas an enraged Bruce Lee had charged Wong "like a mad bull," obviously intent upon doing him serious injury. Wong had displayed extraordinary restraint by never employing what were perhaps his most dangerous weapons - his devastating kicks.
A principal difference between northern and southern Chinese fighting styles is that the northern styles give much more emphasis to kicking, and Northern Shaolin had armed Wong with kicks of blinding speeds and crushing power. But before the fight, recalls Chen, "Sifu Wong said he would not use his kicks; he thought they were too dangerous." And despite the dangerous developments that followed that pledge, Chen adds that Wong "kept his word." Though Chen's recollections exhaust the firsthand accounts, there are further fragments of evidence to indicate how the fight ended.
Ming Lum, who was then a San Francisco martial arts promoter, says he did not attend the fight because he was a friend of both Lee and Wong, and feared that a battle between them would end in serious injury, maybe even death. "Who," he asks, "would have stopped them?" But Lum did see Wong the very next day at the Jackson Cafe, where the young grand master earned his living as a waiter (he had, in fact, worked a full shift at the busy Chinatown restaurant the previous day before fighting Lee). And Lum says the only evidence he saw of the fight was a scratch above one eye, a scratch Wong says was inflicted when Lee went for his eyes as he extended his arm for the opening handshake.
"Some people say Bruce Lee beat up Jack Man bad," note Lum. "But if he had, the man would not have been to work the next day." By Lum's assessment, the fact that neither man suffered serious injury in a no-holds-barred battle indicates that both were "very, very good." Both men were no doubt, very, very, good. But Wong, after the fight, felt compelled to assert, boldly and publicly, that he was the better of the two. He did so, he says, only because Lee violated their agreement to not discuss the fight.
According to Wong, immediately following the match Lee had asked that neither man discuss it. Discussion would lead to more argument over who had won, a matter which could never be resolved as there had been no judges. Wong said he agreed.
But within a couple of weeks, he says, Lee violated the agreement by claiming in an interview that he had defeated an unnamed challenger. Though Lee had not identified Wong as the loser, Wong says it was obvious to all of Chinatown that Lee was speaking of Wong. It had already become common knowledge within the Chinese community that the two had fought. In response to Lee's interview, Wong wrote a detailed description of the fight which concluded with an open invitation to Lee to meet him for a public bout if Lee was not satisfied with Wong's account. Wong's version of the fight, along with the challenge, was run as the top story on the front page of San Francisco's Chinese language Chinese Pacific Weekly. But Bruce Lee, despite his reputation for responding with fists of fury to the slightest provocation, remained silent.
Now death has rendered the man forever silent. And the question of whether Wong presented Lee, who is considered by many to have been the world's top martial artist, with the only defeat of his adult life will remain, among those concerned about such matters, forever a controversial one. Even those Bruce Lee fans who accepts the evidence as supportive of Wong's account of the fight may argue that the outcome would have been different had the two battled a few years after Lee had developed his own style, Jeet Kune Do. But while it is true that Jeet Kune Du provided lee with a wider range of weapons, particularly kicks, it is also true that Wong continued to grow as a martial artist after the fight. Only after that battle, says Wong, did he develop tremendous chi powers from the practice of Tai Chi, Hsing I, and Pakua.
Martial art styles can be divided roughly into two categories: external and internal. External styles, which are also called "hard" styles and which include such American favorites as Japanese karate and Korean taekwondo, rely primarily upon muscular strength, while internal or "soft" styles, such as Japanese Aikido and the three above-mentioned Chinese styles, cultivate a more mysterious energy called chi.
Although everybody has chi, few people have much of it, and fewer still know how to express it. But according to the Chinese, this precious elixir can be cultivated and controlled through the exercises of the internal martial arts styles.
Specifically, they say chi can be brewed in the tan tien, a spot about an inch below the navel. Once the tan tien is filled, the chi supposedly spills out into other parts of the body, where it is stored in the marrow of the bones. It is said that as a martial artist develops chi energy, his bones become hard, his sinews tough, is muscles supple and relaxed, which allow the chi to circulate freely through the body.
Chi usually takes much longer to develop than muscular strength, but it is considered a much more formidable energy. In normal times it is said to serve as a source of extraordinary vitality and as a guardian against my diseases. And in battle, it is said to provide a person with awesome power and near invulnerability.
Though Wong had been trained in the internal styles while still in China, up until the time he fought Lee he had concentrated mainly on the refinement of his elegantly athletic Northern Shaolin, which, like Lee's Wing Chun, is an external style. Following the battle with Lee, Wong would train in the internal styles until he had developed such chi power that he can, according to Peter Ralston, a former student of Wong and the first non-Asian to win the Chinese Martial Arts World Championships in Taiwan, take a punch to any part of his body without injury or even discomfort. As for Wong's offensive capabilities, they have apparently never been tested.
Regarding the question of how much Lee grew as a martial artist after the fight, Wong is convinced that the benefits to Lee from his homemade style were more than offset by the damage it did him. Wong even goes so far as to speculate that Jeet Kune Do may have caused Lee's death.
Most martial arts masters agree that just as serious training in a proper method can greatly improve one's health, strenuous and prolonged training in an improper method can destroy health. Of the health damage is attributed to improper breathing practices, and often the damage is to the brain. Special use of the breath is acknowledged by every martial arts style as a key element to developing power, though different styles have different breathing methods. Proper methods can be simply categorized as those which develop power while building health, and improper methods as those which either fail to build power or build it but at the expense of one's health. Though many of the ways in which breathing methods affect health remain mysterious, the methods themselves - at least the proper methods - have been empirically refined over many generations. Wong's Northern Shaolin, for example, can be traced back to the great Shaolin Temple of more than a thousand years ago, which is considered the source of Chinese martial arts. While the Wing Chun practiced by Lee until his fight with Wong also had a long period of development and refinement, the style he put together after the fight was a chop suey of many and varied ingredients.
That Jeet Kune Do lacked the cohesion and harmony of a style in the traditional sense was something acknowledged by Lee himself, who preferred to call it a "sophisticated form of street fighting" rather than a style. After abandoning Wing Chin, Lee developed a disdain for all traditional styles, which he considered restrictive and ineffective. He even went so far as to place outside his school a mock tombstone that read: "In memory of a once fluid man crammed and distorted by the classical mess." It is grimly ironic that it would be Lee would be in need of a tombstone long before the man, trained by and loyal to the "classical mess," who was almost certainly his most formidable opponent.
It cannot be proven, of course, that Lee's fatal edema of the brain was caused by Jeet Kune Do, just as it could not be proven his death was brought on by any of the other rumored causes ranging from illicit drugs to excessive sex to blows on the head. Wong thinks, to serve as a caution to those who believe they can, by themselves, develop the knowledge it has taken others many generations of cumulative effort to acquire.
Perhaps it is because he gives so much credit to those who came before him that Wong's voice is absent of boast when he says his art was superior to Lee's. But while to him that is a matter of simple fact, Wong, aware that legends are larger than men, is not optimistic about ever being accepted as the winner of the fight. He says, however, that what people think regarding the outcome of the fight is less important to him than what they think provoked the battle in the first place.
In Linda Lee's account, which has been repeated in a number of Bruce Lee biographies, Wong is portrayed not only as a loser but also as a villian. According to Ms. Lee, Wong provoked the fight in an attempt to force her husband to stop teaching Kung Fu to Caucasians.
After sketching a brief history of Chinese martial arts up to the Boxer Rebellion, she writes: "Since then - and the attitude is understandable - Chinese, particularly in America, have been reluctant to disclose these secrets to Caucasians. It became an unwritten law that the art should be taught only to Chinese. Bruce considered such thinking completely outmoded and when it was argued that white men, if taught the secrets, would use the art to injure the Chinese, he pointed out that if a white man really wanted to injure a Chinese, there were plenty of other ways he could do it. "However, Bruce soon found that at first his views were not shared by members of the Chinese community in San Francisco, particularly those in martial arts' circles. Several months after he and James Lee had begun teaching, a kung fu expert called Wong Jack Man turned up at Bruce's kwoon (school) on Broadway. Wong had just recently arrived in San Francisco's Chinatown from Hong Kong and was seeking to establish himself at the time, all his pupils being strictly pure Chinese. Three other Chinese accompanied Wong Jack Man who handed Bruce an ornate scroll which appears to have been an ultimatum from the San Francisco martial arts community. Presumably, if Bruce lost the challenge, he was either to close down his Institute or stop teaching Caucasians."
So by Linda Lee's account, her husband had suddenly found himself in a position no less heroic than of having to defend, possibly to the death, the right to teach Caucasians the ancient Chinese fighting secrets. It is a notion that Wong finds ridiculous.
The reason he showed up at Lee's school that day, says Wong, is because a mutual acquaintance had hand-delivered a note from Lee inviting him to fight. The note was sent, say Wong, after he had requested a public bout with Lee after Lee had boasted during a demonstration at a Chinatown theater that he could beat any martial artist in San Francisco and had issued an open challenge to fight anyone who thought he could prove him wrong. As for those in attendance at the fight, Wong says he only knew of few of them, and those barely. Certainly, he says, no group had come as formal representative of the San Francisco martial arts community. Wong attributes both Lee's initial challenge and his response to the same emotion, to arrogance. "If I had it to do over," he says, " I wouldn't." But while admitting to youthful arrogance, Wong strongly contests Linda Lee's allegation that he was guilty of trying to stop Bruce Lee from teaching Caucasians.
It is true, say Wong, that most - but not all - of his students during his first years were teaching were Chinese. But that was true, he adds, only because few Americans outside of Chinese communities had even heard of kung fu. Americans who then knew anything at all of the martial arts most likely knew of Japanese judo or karate. They would not hear of kung fu until several years later, when it would be made famous by the dazzling choreography's of Bruce Lee.
Far from attempting to keep kung fu secret and exclusive, Wong observes that his was the first school in San Francisco's Chinatown to operate with open doors. That the other kung fu schools then in existence conducted classes behind locked doors was due more to the instructor's fears of being challenged, say Wong, than to a refusal to teach Caucasians. Once Caucasians became interested in kung fu, it would be Wong who would train some of the best of them, including Ralston and several other leading West Coast instructors. And all of these students of Wong who currently teaches at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center would be taught for a monthly fee amounting to a fraction of the hourly rate (in some cases $500) charged by the man who allegedly fought for the right to teach them.
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Sunday, September 9, 2018
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Ralph Castro
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| Bruce Lee, Ed Parker, James Lee, Ralph Castro |
(from the Striking Distance Facebook page 10-1-16)
Ralph Castro emerged from the mid-20th Century martial arts culture of Hawaii. Although it rarely gets the credit it deserves, Hawaii was really the first great international martial arts melting pot in the world. And it wasn't just diverse, it was tough....old school tough. Once when I brought up Ralph Castro's name while interviewing Willy Cahill about this history, he smiled and said, "He went to high school with my brother; a really rough school....and Ralph was the toughest guy there."
Mr. Castro opened his first kenpo school in San Francisco in 1958. Barney Scollan, a student of Al Tracy's in Sacramento during the early '60s, told me: "Whenever we saw Ralph with his students at competitions, we'd all be saying - 'Jeez, we gotta fight those guys?!'
Castro was also a key part of why a young Bruce Lee left a good situation in Seattle to relocate to Oakland. Here in the Bay Area, Bruce aligned himself with a talented group of forward-thinking practitioners, training and talking martial arts with a 24/7 mindset. Linda Lee gave me a great description of this: "I can't tell you the number of late nights that were spent with Ralph Castro, and Wally Jay, James Lee, Allen Joe, all those guys. Many late nights were they would go around the room demonstrating things."
When I interviewed Mr. Castro a few years ago, I found him to be a very humble, benevolent, and down-to-earth guy. He is living proof that you can be a tough guy AND a gentlemen.
There are other people that are far more qualified to talk about his longterm career than me. But for the section of history that I have studied and written on, I have to salute Mr. Castro not only as a trailblazing martial arts pioneer, but as a class act in every way.