getting started (2)

Getting Started (I) (July 10, 2008)

I hit 40 this year and it has been rough in many ways. Over 12 years in Japan now, and the Last of the Budo Bums has gotten flabby as work has taken priority over practice for the first time. I can’t expect anyone’s sympathy, I know that, but it’s been rough entering the Real World. Even so, I still have ample time for practice and will now try to squeeze one more thing in, a long-rumored blog.

In late 1995 I came to Japan with the naïve and grandiose idea of spending 5-7 years in Japan studying Japanese language and martial arts, then going to China for 5-7 years of Chinese martial arts and language, then going back home to teach. Nearing 13 years in Japan at this point (minus a short year in China and many short trips over there) and none of the objectives fully realized…

The funny thing is that at about the 7-year mark in Japan, I began a marked shift toward things Chinese. Less practice of things Japanese, and more practice of things Chinese. And I have (for the second time, as many have reminded me) set a roughly-two-year limit for getting back to the States, making it about 7 and 8 years respectively. I haven’t quit things Japanese entirely, but I have significantly rearranged my training priorities.

This blog, then, will feature thoughts and ramblings about the practice of Chinese and Japanese martial arts. About a year ago I began thinking of doing a blog centered on “Pivotal Practices”, trying to capture those moments that mark and change the course of our training. I began jotting and scribbling, but didn’t get far. More recently, I have been pondering the concept of “A Year of Training”, slowly building 365 entries spanning more than 20 years of training. That is, you might get July 10, 2008, then something I wrote back on July 11, 1999, and then another from July 12, 1989, then another blast from the present, and so on.

Being somewhat technologically challenged (I still write real letters on occasion!), I am known as Analog Man among family, friends, and detractors alike. But recent events have conspired to give me access to a Mac blog guru to get me started and to hold my hand when I panic. And everybody I have talked to about this misguided blog idea tells me to go for it. So here we go…


Getting Started (II): Getting Unstuck (July 11, 2008, by 10 minutes)

I spend many Friday nights training and drinking in the Zaimusho Kendo Dojo, but tonight I was on my own. Once my daughter was asleep, I went out to my old pre-fatherhood stomping ground, a nearby open space which offers some measure of privacy while one dodges the occasional unscooped dog shit.

I had been itching to throw some punches all day. Maybe it is a product of doing too much gooey, lovey-dovey tai ji quan lately, or the result of watching too much acrobatic-jumpy wushu at Day One of the all-Japan Wushu/Taijiquan tournament today, but the urge has been growing to just get out and go after it. Solo routines are fine, but at some point I want nothing more than to get into the ring or onto the mat and get after it, two people seeing what happens when the punches and kicks really fly.

I have been very focused on my forms lately, so most of my practice has been solo. And heaven forbid that we practitioners of Chinese martial arts do any sparring. We might find out the hard way that the flashy does not hold up well against the simple and practical.

So tonight I changed the routine, went out for 30 minutes of punching and kicking. No partner, but it was still a valuable exercise. The sweat was flowing immediately, since it is still rainy season in this part of Japan and rain is rolling in later tonight. Yeah, I really beat the shit out of the tree who substituted for a sparring partner. And yeah, it felt good, long overdue.

Then I shifted into some brief standing practice (thanks M in Canada and Z in Tokyo) before starting a thorough ba gua zhang review session. Recently I have been focused on relatively high-level stuff – 八卦掌游身连环掌 bagua youshen lianhuan zhang (swimming body), 八卦子午鸳鸯钺 bagua ziwu yuanyang yue (pair of weird multi-bladed and multi-pointed Klingon-looking deer-horn weapons made of metal which I really love), 对练 duilian paired practice, etc.

But tonight I jumped straight into the years-old “simple” stuff which should have been automatic…and I got stuck. Simple lack of practice, and it stung. In particular, I got stuck on number six of 八大掌, the Eight Main Palms. In the middle of the sequence, there is a portion where one palm stabs upward while the other drives downward. In both Swimming Body and Yue, (and in the health building exercise) you go down into a full squat with flat feet, palms fully extended up and down. But you don’t do that in the Main Palms. And there I was, stuck.

I went through it from the start again and again, but kept getting stuck at the same place. As an English teacher over here, I have endlessly and glibly advised students how to get “unstuck” when all else is going well but they suddenly freeze up on one unknown or forgotten word and are unable to proceed. Try to use the opposite word, try to give an example, rephrase it…Now it was time to take my own advice.

Each of the Eight Main Palms can be done clockwise and counter-clockwise but they are typically done counter-clockwise first. Some years back I did a demo of the Eight Main Palms at a local tournament. Due to time constraints, I did number one to the left, number two to the right, three to the left, and so on. I wasn’t working as much then and had more time for incessant drilling.

So tonight I tried number six to the right, and bang, it came right out. Must be muscle memory from that period when I intensively drilled the even numbers to the right (clockwise). After that, I could instantly do it to the left as well, and was completely unstuck.

Going through the entire set of eight, I was surprised, embarrassed, and pleased to realize how many motions were directly connected to the higher level stuff I have been over-focused on. It is all one massive, unified set when seen and practiced in its entirety. And there is beautiful overlap between the weapons forms and the empty hands forms. All those connections had been waiting for me and were finally found in the humid night under a blurry moon.



Getting Started (III) – Rainy Season (July 12, 2008)

Rainy season affects practice in many ways here. You spend more time oiling and checking weapons like swords and sai. You have to do your weapons review indoors but you love the feel of the rain while going through empty hand forms outdoors. You sweat a lot more and do more laundry. And the laundry never seems to get dry, hanging indoors for days on end. Then there is a day of blistering sunlight and all the laundry goes outside. Even the sweat-soaked pungent kendo kote (hand protectors) can finally get dry (if not lose their odor) in the shade outdoors.

If you are lucky you don’t have work those days and can put in a couple hours in the sun. The first sweat is just from the heat, already dripping and splattering as you stretch. As you start to move, the drops begin to fly. After a while, you notice a growing heaviness in the air and a certain sluggishness in your motions. You aren’t tired yet – it is just the humidity climbing somewhere above 117%. Clouds are forming overhead and you know what is coming, but there is still far too much to review, just one or two more times through this section…

The clothes and equipment have to be brought back inside, still warm to the touch as the rain is falling. Maybe a final couple runs through a taiji quan routine outdoors, then indoors for water and a shower at last. And more laundry to be washed.