For The Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 24, click here.

Interviews with Japan Wushu Taijiquan Federation Officials and National Team Coach Sun Jian Ming, Extraordinary Martial Histories and Silk Road Sites

January 28, 2019 - Tokyo - I’ve been to Japan a few times before over a decade ago when I was a teacher in Korea and had to do “visa runs” to Japan to renew my Korean visas. But that was Fukuoka and this is Tokyo, the capital city since 1869 at the beginning of the Meiji Restoration and the end of the Pax Tokugawa Shogun Era. Though officially Tokyo has “only” 13 million people, if one includes the suburban areas it’s actually much larger. Tokyo is a huge city and the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic economies and greatest martial art cultures.

Once again, I was traveling with friend Miao Hui. Though she can’t speak Japanese, the written language is mostly the same as Chinese which I can’t read very well. Never underestimate the value of being able to read, or the presence of a good friend. She’d actually arrived a week before me for the International Jewelry Tokyo (IJT) exposition. Always the thrifty one, she’d rented an apartment in Shinjuku District near the Shinto Hanazono Shrine - which by the way has offered divine protection to the Shinjuku area of Tokyo for many centuries. It seems everything in Japan has significance not to be underestimated.

The same afternoon I arrived in Tokyo, I called the Japan Wushu Taijiquan Federation (JWTF) Office and to my surprise got an interview for the very next morning. Luckily Miao had already scouted out the subway system and we found the Federation headquarters easily. Subway really is the best way to get around huge cities and Tokyo, like Beijing has an entire city under the city with shopping malls, restaurants and everything else along with the ultra-modern, clean, quiet and safe subways.

How is it different from China in this regard? Japanese have taken courtesy to stratospheric levels; beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Certainly, in Beijing people are very polite and helpful. But in Tokyo for example on escalators everyone stands on the right side in case someone else is in a hurry and has to rush up or down quickly. Everyone follows the social rules. Everyone. On the subways, nobody talks on the phone as it might disturb other passengers, although, of course, all subways have high-speed internet connections.

Arriving about five minutes early for our interview we were greeted by young Mr. Kodai Kato who helps coordinate things there in their offices. He showed us to a comfortable room and invited us to sit on the couch. Within a few moments the JWTF Executive Director Hiroo Kawasaki, International Exchange Committee Vice-President Seiichi Agarihama, and their media director Kazumasa Nagae came in and introductions were made. This, of course, included an exchange of name cards, so naturally we all dutifully examined each other’s name cards, which actually is a useful kind of habit because they usually explain pretty much about who is who. I also love name cards because they help make sure I spell everyone’s name correctly and get official titles correct.

 

First, I asked Executive Director Kawasaki about the origin of the JWTF. His English is pretty good but International Exchange Committee Vice-President Seiichi Agarihama helped out here and there to ensure clear smooth translations.

“In 1987 the Wushu Association started in Japan with the help and guidance of Mr. Muraokyuhei. At that time there were so many Wushu groups in Japan, though he’s not a Wushu enthusiast himself. Instead at that time he was the Japan-China Friendship Association (JCFA) Executive Director, and after he became president of the Japan Wushu Federation. Back then there were very few open channels with China and Wushu helped to bring the countries together.

“Martial arts uniting the world again.”

I thought with some deep appreciation of this statement. Though the casual observer may find this paradoxical, it is the foundation of my motivation for the entire Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour series.

As the Chinese say "bù dǎ bù xiāng shí (不打不相识)" which means “Out of blows, friendship grows,” or literally translated as “Don’t fight, don’t know.” Martial arts are indeed a very powerful way to bring people and cultures together. Does anyone remember Rocky IV? That was 1985 - six years later the walls came tumbling down and it was all bro-hugs and Kumbaya between the U.S. and Russia for a couple of decades.

Wushu Federation Officials L-R: Kodai Kato, Hiroo Kawasaki, Seichi Agarihama and Kazumasa Nagae.

 

Nineteen-eighty-seven saw the inauguration of the Wushu Federation of Asia (WFA), an international Wushu organization founded September 25th in Yokohama, Japan. Its goal is to enhance the corporation and friendship of Asian Wushu, to improve Wushu technique and to promote the development of Wushu in Asia. Eleven countries joined including China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, Nepal, Malaysia, Macau, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. Thus, I can presume Wushu helped “open channels” all around Asia, and yes that is a vague allusion to the “qi” (sometimes spelled “chi”, or in Japanese “ki”) energy channels so critical to health in Chinese medicine and power in martial arts.

Next year when Tokyo will hold the 2020 Olympics, Executive Director Kawasaki mentioned “In 2020 the JWTF will hold the 3rd Taolu World Cup in Tokyo.” He added that “In 2018 the 2nd Taolu World Cup was held in Myanmar with 21 countries and 80 athletes participating.” Japan also sent a team.

At this point I asked about his Wushu background. In response I learned that in 1976 he went to Beijing and studied Wushu full-time, specifically Tai Chi Chuan Tuishou(pushing hands) and sword arts. Also he studied Yang style Tai Chi with a Chinese traditional teacher at Nankai University in China.

Seeking to learn about the current development of Wushu around Japan I asked: “How many Wushu clubs are there around Japan at this time?”

“There are 47 prefecture federations in Japan and each has annual Wushu competitions with the winners coming together for national competitions. The winners of those are most often from Tokyo and Osaka. Also there is the Japanese Students’ Association, and many university martial art Tai Chi associations.”

“How many nationally and internationally certified coaches do you have here?” I asked.

“We have 35 high-level trained in China including 4 Chinese master coaches,” Kawasaki responded.

It seems to me that many countries have several Wushu teams, e.g. women’s, men’s, juniors, Paralympics, etc., so I asked how many teams they have. “We have just one national team practicing Taolu, Nanquan, and Tai Chi Chuan.”

“How about Sanshou?” I asked.

“Oh yes, they are practiced here too, with Sanda training centers in Tokyo and Osaka.” About how many International competitions does your national team go to every year? In 2018 we competed in several international competitions, like the 7th World Junior Wushu Championship in Brasilia, Brazil, the 1st World University Wushu Championships held in Macau in August, the 2018 Asian Games held in Indonesia August 18th to September 2nd the Taolu World Cup competition this past November and the 1st Asian Traditional Wushu (Kung fu) Championship in Nanjing, East China in November, 2018.

"How many athletes does your team usually send?"

“It depends on a lot of things, but for example we sent seven athletes to Myanmar,” Kawasaki answered.

"Who pays for your team’s attendance at international competitions?"

“The Federation pays for some competitions but it depends on the competition.”

"Does the Federation pay your national team members?"

“No, we don’t pay athletes,” he said with a chuckle, “they have their own jobs; we don’t have a professional team. We do offer them a place but they don’t live here."

“What percentage of federation costs does the government pay?” I asked.

“Almost nothing,” the Director answered adding “Some companies like Asics pay an advertising fee in our monthly newsletter and that helps.”

"So you have a sponsor list?" I asked.

“Yes, but it’s a local list and very short really.”

It was around this time that Director Kawasaki was called away for other business and we chatted with International Exchange Committee Vice-President Seiichi Agarihama for a while. I asked if he could share some photos from his team’s competitions and he asked media director Kazumasa Nagae to show us to some offices where several people were working. Mr. Nagae fired up a computer and in a minute or so showed me some files with lots of great photos, of which I picked out a dozen or so to share with readers of KungFuMagazine.com. Before long we bid our adieus, but not before arranging to visit later on in the day to meet with the national team and some of the coaches.

We got back to the training center about 7 pm and went to the second floor where at least part of the national team was training and first met and chatted with legendary Head Coach Sun Jian Ming.

Having worked on this series of articles for a few years now I’ve met quite a number of head coaches but this was the first time I met a real movie star. Head Coach Sun Jian Ming was a student alongside with Li Lianjie, known in the west as Jet Li. Back in the day, they were students of legendary Chinese coach Wu Bin. Head Coach Sun Jian Ming went on to become a movie star in many - then blockbuster movies in China in the 1980s including Xia Jiang Yiying (1985) and Shan Zhong Liu Zhu (1987). Naturally he’s a good friend of Jet Li and many other luminaries in the martial arts world.

He first came to Japan some thirty-three years ago to teach Wushu and clearly likes it here. Because of his contributions to Japan of his expert Wushu instruction the Japanese government even offered him a Japanese passport, but he said, he politely declined, as his roots and heart are in China. Needless to say, his Japanese is very good. During the day I found out he teaches at his own clubs and in the evenings comes to the JWTF national training center to coach the national team.

Coach Sun was very kind during our visit and even did a little Tuishou with me later on the evening. During the training session he managed to keep an eye on all team members’ training simultaneously and it seemed to me he had “eyes in the back of his head” the way he could offer instruction to all and any team member even with so many practicing at the same time in different parts of the large gym. The bond between coach and team members is always a close one and I could see why this team has done so well in competitions.

During our visit to the national team training center I also did a short interview with one of their rising star Taolu champions, Tomohiro Araya. At age 24, Tomohiro has had a steady climb in the Wushu world in Asia. Thus far he’s competed in nine international competitions. At the 2017 World Cup he took first place in Tai Chi Sword and in the 2018 Asian Games, he came in second which is pretty good going up against many of the toughest competitors in the Wushu world. I asked how he got into Wushu and like several other champions I’ve met he followed his older brother. However in his case, his brother didn’t quit later (like most do) on but instead went on to a successful coaching career. I asked Tomohiro if he’d trained in China and he said yes, every year over the New Year holidays he goes to train with the Fujian (south China) provincial team.

Just an incidental note here, in Japan they celebrate the Gregorian calendar New Year holiday, that is January 1st, and have since the Meiji Restoration. This actually worked out well for me because if Japan celebrated the Lunar New Year like in China, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish half of what I did in Japan because this year’s Lunar New Year landed in the middle of my vacation in Japan.

Miao asked Tomohiro “Which is harder, learning Tai Chi or Chinese language?” and he laughed answering “Tai Chi is more difficult.” Most of the interviews this evening were conducted in Chinese by the way.

Before long we asked Head Coach Sun to help set up a group photo and then had to leave as it was getting late.

In the second part of this Kung Fu Friendship Tour (chapter 26) - Wushu in Japan, KungFuMagazine.com roaming reporter Greg Brundage explores some of Japan’s most sacred, beautiful and historic locations culminating in visits to the Samurai Museum as well as the world headquarters of Judo, the Kodokan where he did randori (Judo sparring) with some unbelievably great players – where he was very fortunate not to get squashed like a bug, and then the next day a very famous traditional Kendo school where he trained and competed with some of the world’s finest sword masters – and was very fortunate not to get chopped into liver pate. Japanese courtesy and attention to exacting detail is lovely indeed and allows for the development of skills otherwise unattainable.

For those who care to learn my principles of combat strategy, follow these rules in observing the Way.
Think never to veer from the Way
Train unremittingly in the Way
Acquaint yourself with all arts
Know the Ways of all vocations
Discern the truth in all things
See the intrinsic worth in all things
Perceive and know what cannot be seen with the eyes
Pay attention even to trifles
Do not engage in superfluous activities
Quote from “The Earth Scroll” (8)
The Book of Five Rings and Other Works
By Miyamoto Musashi (1643) Translated by Alexander Bennett, Tuttle Publications (2018 Ed.) P. 80