Qn:
What
do you think of sport karate and contemporary wushu?
Ans:
I think sport karate and contemporary wushu have their places,
if looking "cool" and flashy is what you want.
It is a good way to promote the arts to the uninitiate.
Contemporary wushu was created by the communist Chinese
so that they can control the real martial artists. It is
sad to see the traditional styles are being systematically
destroyed by these low lifes.
On
the other hand, several of the traditional internal masters
I have had the good fortune to learn were from China. It
is comforting to know that the traditional systems are still
alive and well, albeit the numbers are smaller then they
were.
Qn:
Since Bruce Lee was and remains perhaps the major influential
figure in the eclectic martial arts movement,
what
do you think of his fighting arts legacy?
Ans:
I think Bruce Lee was not the first or last one to train
in multiple styles and arts. In the old days, the Chinese
martial artists had learned and trained with whomever they
could.
For
example, the Xingyi and Baqua people always practice both
styles together; in Wingchun, the staff form (Six and a
half staff) was not originally a Wingchun form.
In
fact, one of the thing I noticed since I started training
in kungfu is that kungfu practitioners are always fluent
in at least two to three and sometimes more styles.
I
think Bruce Lee was a innovator. He felt the inadequacy
of Wingchun in some areas and decided to correct it for
his own use, and quite successfully.
However,
I think his major fighting skill was still based on the
Wingchun system, especially his "chi sou" (sticky
hands) skill.
Most
martial arts students only see what he did on his films
and say that Bruce Lee was a great kicker (which he was),
a good nanchaku fighter, but a lot of them fail to see that
his sticky hands skill was his main fighting arsenal.
I
think his fighting arts legacy shows students that they
should learn/see as many styles as they can and take the
key of each style/art to better their own skill, and, to
be a good all round martial artist, which Bruce Lee was,
you have to open up your eyes and see, adapt other styles
for your own use.
*Suzuki
Sensei and some of his senior students make special trips
to Okinawa in June 1960, and May 1961 to learn and train
with Grandmaster Miyasato.
Conducted
by Mathieu Ravignat, senior member of the Gloucester Traditional
Karate Association. February 2001 Ottawa, Canada
Copyright © Mathieu Ravignat 2001
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