dread

Dread – there was a time (karate) when every new kata was learned with pure excitement, body shaking and tingling, adrenaline rush.

Now each new form is learned with a mixture of excitement and dread. For I have learned too much, and the burden is getting heavier…more time spent reviewing a new form or application means less time for reviewing the old.

Recently the demo / exhibition season has slowed down, finishing last week with the all-Tokyo tournament. My daughter joined the long fist / 长拳 group but I worked staff all day, so the pressure was off me.

Timed nicely, we are in the middle of a series of seminars – two full days of the 42 sword / 剑 form from tomorrow, and last Sunday with another Sun Style tai ji quan seminar.

So it is a great period for consolidation and integration, but as usual the prospect of Just One More new thing is hovering in the background…and with it, the usual mix of dread and excitement.

Of balding heads and revolving planets

It's that glorious time of the year in Japan - spring. The blossoms on the plum trees are blossoming and the beer companies are releasing yet another This Spring Only beer (same beer, different can).

Yes, people are taking to the outdoors, shedding clothes and ... putting on hats. Yep, us balding (excuse me, maturing) folks must don baseball caps once again to protect our valuable pates as we practice outdoors, since the sun is shining directly from a different angle.

Spring is not too bad - the sun strikes my practice spot for only a couple hours a day and it is still a bit chilly. But with the hot, humid Tokyo summer also comes more hours of direct sunlight as our planet tilts a bit.

No matter to me today, outside working on the Sun Style (no connection to the sun, just a name, 孙式太极拳) tai ji form, inspired by yesterday's all-Tokyo tournament. That and the prior week's all day Sun Style Tai Ji seminar.

Side note - there is a great series on Chinese Martial Arts from Guangzhong TV. One of the episodes is on Sun Style tai ji and they interviewed one of the top people, who also happens to own a car repair service (in Beijing? memory fails me at the moment). All the employees go through the Sun Style tai ji form before work, or face a reduction in salary. I loved that.

A year of Sun

Yesterday I celebrated a year of working on Sun style tai ji quan’s 73-motion competition form by joining my 4th seminar with Li Laoshi. It was the first time I had gone in knowing the form fairly well, as opposed to scrambling to get the motions and order down. So a bit of the pressure to LEARN IT ALL NOW! was off and I could enjoy a bit more.

Already having a few things to work on in my practice regime, I had not set out in active pursuit of this one. But the right combination of teacher and timing presented itself, and here I am.

Sun style tai ji quan (孙式太极拳, sun being pronounced like the word “soon”), is one of my topics for self-study, one not taught directly to me by my main teacher (Mr. T) but still part of my overall curriculum with him.

Some random thoughts:

1) Last February, just after my first Sun Style seminar, it was mentioned in one of my regular 24-style classes that claims about 24-style being good for health or good for the body should be disregarded. Huh? First I have ever heard of that, as tai ji is usually promoted as an excellent long-term exercise for health. Nope – it is far too right hand dominant, so we need to explore the mirror image of the form as well, if we really hold better health as one of the reasons to practice 24.

I said that I thought the Sun Style must be good for health, since it has left and right versions of most of its key moves. Nope again. The recently-made, 73-move competition form may be so, but all the traditional Sun Style forms are right hand dominant.

2) Every one of these Sun Style seminars has the same environment – Li Laoshi is Chinese, there are several dozen Japanese learners in the room (many of them heavyweights in the local taiji world, a little daunting to walk into the room in the morning…but also nice to be greeted personally by half the room). Then there is me, the sole non-Asian.

Li Laoshi was talking about the most often repeated move in the form, opening and closing / coming together of the hands (开合手). He said the vertical palms, each facing inward, should spread apart to shoulders’ width, then return to the width of your own head. I stepped to the side to check my motions in the mirror on the spot. He laughed and chastised the Japanese learners as a group for their (?) tendency to overfocus on exact precision in numbers, yet still lacking feeling in the motions.

My ears were quite red as I quite agreed with him yet am guilty of the same. He went on to say that most of those people practicing in Chinese parks each morning are full of mistakes in their motions, but they do have the right feeling.

3) A related point, also in sharp contrast to the typical Japanese martial arts class over here – he encouraged us not to worry too much about the details (for now…) and to concentrate instead upon getting the general outline and feeling.

4) About the book cover in the photo – the design with the overhead- sword-wielding – triangle person emerging from green primordial muck … It must have something to do with the general outline and feeling of the form. I sure don’t get it. Looks like I need another seminar, and fast.