A tiring day
Whew! After about two months of not coaching at schools, it is certainly tiring to coach two classes. Tonight, one student took the grading test. He missed the December grading and he missed last week test too. I thought more would come for the test as some little tigers from Jasin missed their test last week. Only one student turned up for grading.
Not too tiring giving grading test though. But it was really weary to correct his mistakes. I think I will go to bed early tonight. I don’t feel like carry on with some of my work.
First day at school
Today is the first training day at school after the long year-end school holidays. All schools re-opened on January 3 but co-curriculum activities only begin this week. Many old members dropped out already. Today has 90+ students came to enroll themselves into the school karate club. What a big crowd! But again, they are interim. According to my teaching experience in school, by the next two weeks, the number will drop drastically to less than half. By another 2 to 3 weeks, the number will reduce half again. It’s fine for me and it is a healthy sign as the the filtering process will filter out casual members. I hope to spot one or two (or maybe a few) potential butterflies like Ong.
The process of registering their name with the school karate club committee was quite a mess as this was the first time for these 14-year-old teenagers to handle such a big crowd. Off course, I helped out by showing them what to do. At least I was able to train the other old members. Unlike last year, I alone handled more than 100+ head counts.
How to get black belt fast? – Part 2
I wrote an article with the same title some time ago. You can find it here. There are a number of inquiries asking me how to get black belt fast. Well, I told them: “The fastest way is go to the store, buy one and wear it!” That’s the fastest way and cheapest way of becoming a “Black Belt”.
Two weeks ago, a Chinese family came to my doukoukai to inquire. Came along their two elder sons and the youngest daughter. They asked a lot of questions about our training and they watched my students practicing on their own.
Before leaving, the father asked me what dan am I? Because we don’t wear gi and belt during training, I jokingly told him I didn’t have any belt. They never return. That’s fine for me.
Many parents, including their children, are eager to reach black belt. They don’t understand the principal of training as well as the ranking system. Last night, 5 little tigers from my Jasin class turned up for the grading. These little kids do not pay attention during training and certainly do not train at home. I failed 3 of them in front of their parents to teach these little kids a lesson about failure. To my surprise, the parents were very keen at taking notes for their children. Although the students themselves are supposed to take notes after the training, it shows some positive feedback from the parents. The parents also get to know how their children are doing in training classes. Anyway, I am glad to have supportive parents like them. The 3 kids will re-test after 3 months. They are not required to pay any fee for a re-test.
Why Kanbun Sensei leaving China so soon?
My research effort about Uechi-Ryu has been gaining some momentum and one interesting fact I found out together with my students about Kanbun Sensei is that, why Kanbun Sensei left China so soon?
The research has sparkled from an unrecorded fact which was told by mouth. We gathered quite some materials which indicated some speculations and deviation from what I already knew of. Kanbun Sensei might have more than one teacher while he was in Fuzhou.
I have established many theories why Kanbun Sensei left China in a hurry. But this information cannot be published at this moment because it can affect the family honor of the Uechi’s descendants as well as shaking the Uechi-Ryu community. All these can come down with a simple question, why Kanbun Sensei left China?
My research is gaining more interesting facts and I am planning to go deeper into it.
Eagle cries
In my previous poem, I wrote “千里莺啼绿映红”
The loose translation is “Eagle cries thousand miles away and green (white) reflects red (black)”.
A deeper understanding of this sentence and the loosely translated English version needs to be understood from the Chinese literature perspective, not by using stupid translation software. The original meaning describes a beautiful scenery. But when this sentence is used in my poem, coupled with the other sentences, it becomes another meaning. The real translation with a deeper understanding is this:
An eagle cries as in “it involves in a quarrel which it defends against an accusation”. The green means white and also means correctness and right. But other people sees it as red (black) and means something so wrong.
So, the green (绿) and red (红), as reflected in a Chinese proverb: “青红皂白”. The green-red (青红) pairs into (皂白), black-white. Both green-red and black-white make vivid contrast as wrong-right makes its contrast! The Chinese use these 2 contrasts to describe right and wrong, good and bad.
In the translation, the green means white, has the meaning of innocent. The Chinese characters for green-white is “青白”. And the character green “青” (qing) is pronounced similarly as “清” (qing) or meaning clear. So, “青白” is “清白”, which means innocent.
Similarly, the character “映” means to reflect, according to dictionary. Here, in the context of the poem, it means to contrast. That’s the magic of Chinese literature.
It is a character game which the meanings of a word can be interchangeable. It cannot be translated without proper understanding.
As I said earlier about that sentence “千里莺啼绿映红” in my poem, its original meaning differs from meaning as reflected in my poem when coupled with other sentences or words. A translation software cannot cleverly determine and analyze the structure of the sentence(s) as well as the relationship between the previous and the next sentences. But a clever human being with a “proper” understanding of Chinese literature can. So, don’t use the stupid translation software to determine wrong and right!
A tiny fraction of people knows who and what I am referring to.
沧海一笑
秋天久雨现雷暴，
俗世浮沉沧海中。
冬天雪后将转晴，
惨雨酸风顷刻平。
千里莺啼绿映红，
春来一笑风云过。
－－贺文耀 2007年1月12日著。
Uechi-Ryu Zankai – My Anamnesis – Part 10
In my previous anamnesis part 9 and earlier, I mostly wrote about my feelings and understanding of the Uechi-Ryu concepts. This part gives this a change, not to talk about Uechi-Ryu solely but the underlying fundamentals and concepts common in all martial arts.
I am having muscle ache on my stomach, arms and chest due to the heavy workout last night. So, today not much of practice for myself. As usual, after checking the students’ Sanchin, we went on dantai no kata for Kanshiwa and Kanshuu, then Kanshiwa bunkai.
Tonight, only adult students were coming. None of the kids, including mine came for training. My muscles were aching and not much practice for myself. A perfect time to talk about some concepts. I talked about concepts, not so much of Uechi-Ryu but the fundamentals of tanden (or Tantien in Chinese) and the body structure and skeleton alignment. I also demonstrated explosive 1 inch power punch (of course with controlled amount of energy not to hurt anyone). I continued to demonstrate and to explain the concept of Taijiquan and the differences between the external and internal system. I gave quite a lengthy talk about both internal and external weight change and of course, the scientific explanation of this underlying fundamentals. Martial arts is also martial science which involves human anatomy, physiology, bio-mechanism, kinesiology and physics.
I find it important to let older students to know about this so that they can understand the concept and learn to utilize their body more effectively. This fundamental knowledge is also crucial for them to understand not only Uechi-Ryu system but also other martial arts. The knowledge is also an eye-opener to not be superstitious about Qi, Tantien and the myths about Taijiquan as seen on Youtube as well as in discussion forums.
If I say I have not learned Taijiquan before but am able to explain and demonstrate the Taijiquan concepts, will you believe it? 
This appears to be a short anamnesis but I will continue to write about this fundamentals in more depth.
Light foods
I had some crackers before training this evening. Crackers is a slow-release carbohydrate, said LA. So, I tried this evening. I had about 4 pieces, washed down with a mouthful of fresh milk and a tall glass of water. I felt fine as my stomach was not too full for actions and not to empty for training. Just nice.
After the training, I took an orange, and 5 pieces of crackers with sweet coconut jam or kaya. More carbohydrate and sugar. Yeah sugar, good for my brain to work on blogs and trouble-shooting some hardware problem for my client. Here starts the night of the day!
Protected: 120 mark!
A basket of rotten fruits
It’s Monday again, another week of teaching and training. As usual, I was looking for something to eat in the evening before going to dōkōkai. I thought of having some fruits so I look into the fruit basket on the table. Guess what?
OMG! Some fruits had rotten in the basket! They rot and got moldy. What a waste! I threw them away instantly without a second of hesitation. But I am glad that I’ve managed to save several from rotting in the basket. Perhaps they are lucky that I found them (or they found me?).
What a bizarre coincidence!!! 
Protected: FCUK
Dinner for training
Since the opening of the dōkōkai in November, my dinner on weekdays are usually post training. Sometimes I continued my training after the class and I would be home around 10 or 10:30pm. It is rather late for dinner but LA had kept some food for me. I felt very difficult to sleep after the dinner even though I did not eat too much. I know this is bad for health but there is an empty stomach. So, I would continue working on computer to let the food be digested a little. But I will usually linger until midnight or pass midnight before going to bed.
Yesterday, I changed my pattern to try it out. I had my dinner before the training. Not a full dinner but it certainly did not feel good during the first part of the training. I guess I will have to have my dinner a little earlier, about 5 to avoid a full stomach during the training at 7.
I had a grapefruit and 6 slices of breads last night after the training. I felt much better but I slept at 2am because I was updating my blog.
Or perhaps, some light food and fruits before training and bread after training will be better off. I should try this today.
Research Paper
At the end of 2007, I saw another challenge to teach the students about concepts. A simple movement such as wa-uke or circular block has many concepts in its fundamental which I find it difficult to learn, teach and to talk about.
I wrote an article to provoke thinking and self-exploration, hopefully can lead my students, friends and even myself to self-realization of the technique and its fundamental concepts. It has received a number of feedback. I hope more feedback will come in so that I want to compile those feedback for writing a paper about it.
Uechi-Ryu Zankai – My Anamnesis – Part 9
Part 8 of this anamnesis closed the year of 2007. I have written all 8 parts of my anamnesis since my return. It will be a great pleasure to begin the new year with part 9 of this anamnesis. I don’t foresee how many parts will it be. I guess I will keep on writing until this old ship is washed ashore. Until then, I hope my children will continue my saga in their own time when I have passed.
In my retrospection, 2007 had been a great year. A year full of events and incidents. A great year which I embarked on a new chapter in my karate exploration, a totally new direction and a new experience for me. I had visited Okinawa last July/August, a dream place where most karate practitioners would visit and seek further knowledge and experience. I had witnessed with my own eyes for the first time and had broken the myths about karate on Okinawa. I had achieved, to some extent, from Jukyu to Ikkyu after a month long of “severe” training on Okinawa and received recognition and approval (to teach) from both my teacher and my teacher’s teacher. I learned the meaning of “severe” from my new teacher. Upon my return from Okinawa, I set the course on track, a big responsibility for me to teach what I had learned on Okinawa to my students. I opened the first Okinawa Karate-Do Uechi-Ryu Zankai Malaysia Dōkōkai in November. All my students had been tested and a hierarchy had formed before the year ended with Christmas Carol and Nikainen-undō (Training on New Year Eve pass midnight, bridging two years).
I have a rather successful year despite of some sour events. What else do I want more? It is time for me to let go those mistreatment I received. It is time for me to let go the hatred and grudge (did I have any?). It will be nice to let these burdens off my shoulder. This way I can even progress further as I can already see.
I am not only learning a great art of Uechi-Ryu from my teacher, I am also learning the fine Okinawan Budo art from him. I wish to thank him and also those people who have been supporting and assisting me. Once again, thank you all and may you have a happy, prosperous and successful new year 2008.
At the end of 2007, I had seen the challenge for me to teach the concept of Uechi-Ryu, particularly, wa-uke, binkansa and yawarakasa. It is really abstract and hard to be explained and understood by words. So, I begin my research and writing an article (of many parts) to assist my teaching. Part 1 of the article was written two days ago. I foresee it will be many parts of it like this anamnesis. I hope to compile these articles (posts including the comments) into a research paper or book later on. Maybe 10 years later when I have got more time to sit down for word crafting.
Speaking about word crafting, I learn a great deal from my teacher too. Perhaps, my blog will train me to become a writer/author one day.
The last 6 months of 2007 were really exciting and fruitful. I learned a great deal along the process and I find myself with more knowledge and skills. Oh yes, and experience. I would like to thank those people who were the causal factors which slingshot me into this marvelous learning paradise!
Protected: OA9
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