2019Ź´Ç¬¬Ä¸•Æœ NEW.Indd
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
COMMENT DOI: 10.12032/life2019-0125-006 Supplement to the Title: Taijiquan's Enigma Is Taijiquan a martial art or a dance? C.P. Ong fter Xiaodong Xu, a Mixed Martial Arts was slaughtered by Iwakura just as Taiji Lei would A(MMA) fighter, summarily crushed Wei Lei, be some ten years later. Yanagi's Qi-power that had a self-proclaimed Taijiquan grandmaster, in 10 stopped his students charging at him in their tracks, seconds, he mocked Taijiquan, as well as other failed to shield Iwakura's punches from striking and traditional kungfu arts as mostly fake and ineff ective bloodying his face. in combat [1]. The humiliation of the defeat and The match is viewed on youTube mainly as a the put-down of the traditional arts touched a raw testimony that debunks non-touch Qi-power, not nerve. The wushu community was thrown into a as an Aikido-MMA matchup. The event did stir convulsion and the Chinese social media went viral. up some consternation, but nothing close to the The cultural comfort of the sacred belief of kungfu's explosive sensation of the Xu-Lei fi ght. superiority was shaken at the very core. The furor A match that is more exemplary of martial skills is raged on for days and so consumed the cyberspace the one pitting the colossal might of sumo against that the Chinese authorities shut down the debate and the nimbleness of ground-fi ghting Brazilian Jiujitsu deactivated Xu's Weibo (internet) account. (BJJ) [4]. The fi ght was the main feature of a 2004 There was nothing particularly noteworthy of the New Year's Eve extravaganza celebration, debuting martial skills in the fi ght. The only thing remarkable Akebono Taro in the MMA ring. Akebono, a about the fight was that it was unremarkable—the Hawaiian, became a legend as the fi rst non-Japanese Taiji guy was shoved to the ground by the MMA to be inducted into most coveted and highest sumo fighter's flurry of quick punches and was then rank of Yokozuna (Grand Champion). mercilessly groundpounded out without fanfare. It His opponent, Royce Gracie, was a three-time UFC was obvious that Wei Lei had little or no experience Champion. He is one of the stable of successful in the combat ring and was woefully unprepared second-generation Gracie fi ghters. The Gracie family on the ground. Nevertheless, the lopsided match (Carlos and Helio Gracie) had taken the "soft" whipped up a tsunami of emotions, forcing a Japanese martial arts, jujutsu, and forged it through reexamination of traditional wushu as a combat art. real combat challenges with other martial arts and "Can Taijiquan be eff ective in real combat?" street fi ghts to develop the new BJJ fi ghting art. The Taiji-MMA fight is reminiscent of a similar Royce Gracie, 6' 1" and 180 lbs, had strategized match between a Japanese Aikido-cum-Kiai (Qi) that his advantage was on the ground. But as much master and an MMA fi ghter, where the MMA person as he was mentally prepared, he could not be sure of pummeled the hapless Aikido guy in what could best the 6' 8" and 486 lb behemoth mounting fully on him be described as a pathetic one-sided fi ght [2]. on the ground. Seconds into the round, Gracie forced Tantei File, a Japanese fringe magazine given to the fight onto the ground. With the massive sumo sensationalism, had featured a 64-year old Aikido body plumped on top of his chest, the audience was master, Yanagi Ryuken, who claimed a fighting left tantalizing as to whether he would be smothered record of 200-0 wins and to have the Kiai-Qi power underneath. But Gracie was able to wriggle and to ward off attackers by the wave of his hands slide out without much diffi culty. He knew then and without contact. Eager to capitalize on the magazine there that he had control of the fi ght. Seconds later, promotion, Yanagi off ered a million yen ($10,000) to he forayed from below and forced the fight on the any fi ghter who could defeat him. As it turned out, ground with him trapped underneath again. This the magazine columnist was training in a gym with time he knew he was in no danger and took his time Tsuyoshi Iwakura, a 36-year old aspiring to be an to arm-lock Akebono's arm by maneuvering his leg MMA fi ghter who was only too willing to be enlisted around to leverage it, forcing a submission in just 2 [3]. The match took place on Nov 26, 2006. Yanagi minutes and 13 seconds. On the ground, Akebono Life Research January 2019 vol.2 no.1 48 DOI: 10.12032/life2019-0125-006 COMMENT Akebono towering over Gracie simply had no chance to apply his sumo skills which power, which demonstrated his strike, purportedly served him well in the dohyo ring of 15 ft diameter. penetrating and squishing the inside of a watermelon Sumo is a national sport of Japan, rich in without squashing it and, another, of a pigeon unable history and steeped in tradition. The staging of to take flight from his palm. Lei's thrashing by Xu the ceremonial rituals at the start of each sumo was well-deserved as he was trolling the MMA championship, complete with the distinctive topknots fi ghter on the internet. Despite his loss, he later still worn by the rikishis (wrestlers), is a throwback insisted that he refrained from using his Qi-power to medieval Japan. And Akebono was a bona fide that could be lethal to his opponent. sumo superstar. Yet, there was no hue and cry from The wushu community's outrage against Xu the sumo-adoring public, lamenting over the loss was not in defense of Lei. It was a reaction of the of face or the efficacy of sumo-combat, as that community's collective psyche to Xu's tirade of would be engendered by the Xu-Lei fight some 12 insults that the traditional arts, particularly Taijiquan, years later. The rigid offi cial hierarchy and cultural were useless in real combat. keepers of the sumo sport were no doubt chastened by the yokozuna's abuse of his sumo celebrity to Taiji Push-hands Training profit himself. (Reportedly, he was forced to by Push-hands practice is Taijquan's answer to mitigate circumstances of his enormous debts.) injuries attendant in combat sparring. It starts The Xu-Lei fight came about as a result of Xu with choreographed patterns of exchange between calling out Lei's claim that he could free himself partners, which then moves on to freer and less from any choke-hold. Lei, a self-styled founder restrictive format. The push-hands exchange tests and grandmaster of the Lei Thunder Taiji, had and hones the players' comprehension and use of the also published an online video clip of his Qi- eight jin-forces categorized in Taijiquan theory as: 49 no.1 vol.2 January 2019 Life Research COMMENT DOI: 10.12032/life2019-0125-006 Author in push-hand play with Grandmaster Zhenglei Chen at a Zion National Park scene in Utah, USA the four cardinal jins of Peng, Lu, Ji, An, and the four In other words, the plying of the eight jins in push- auxiliary ones of Cai, Lie, Zhou, Kao [5]. The reader hands practice not only emulates the interactions of is referred to the many video links on youTube that off ense and defense, but serves to further imbue the explain and demonstrate the practice [6]. principle of inner balance in a dynamic setting. Taijiquan's push-hands practice may seem very The strategy is to await a faltering by the opponent, limited, but the training of the eight-jin methods upon which the opportunity is seized instantaneously is drawn on neijin, which in totality, cover to launch a counter-off ense—De Ji De Shi. Taijiquan comprehensively, interactions of off ense and defense combat training is not just about a repertoire of in contact-range combat. More crucially, the push- techniques, but the response of the right force vector hands practice drills in the core principle of "using of the eight jins to emerge in the martial applications. softness to overcome hardness" (Yi Rou Ke Gang) of Therefore, Taijiquan training is not preoccupied Taijiquan combat. with any specific skill set of combat techniques The principle gives basis to the strategy of not but is centered in the cultivation neijin and qi. fighting back "force with force," but of "yielding" Complemented with push-hands of mastering to follow the opponent and not lose contact. It is the eight jins, neijin makes a Taijiquan warrior the combat response of zhan nian lian sui "sticking, unconquerable, built on strength (Jin), techniques gluing, adhering and following," to flow with the (Jiqiao), and spirit (Shen). The high cost is that it opponent's actions, which in each instance trains a takes kungfu—time and eff ort—to forge a warrior. response of the right force vector of the eight jins. However, the blazing speed of strikes and kicks are Life Research January 2019 vol.2 no.1 50 DOI: 10.12032/life2019-0125-006 COMMENT real and would have devastating consequences when right force vector in the combat response, seized in they land solidly on target. That is why the Gracie timeliness of the opportunity when it arises. fi ghters go for a takedown at the earliest opportunity, That is the raison d'etre of Taijiquan's neijin.