This story?
I will quote the story that Terry Dobson told me, which was corroborated at another time by Donn Draeger. I also heard Terry tell this story again in a group with Mitsugi Saotome present, who amidst laughter chimed in and agreed. I didn’t know that Ken Cottier was present but he was also part of the group.
First, some context. WANG SHUJIN, for those who don’t know, was primarily a Pa Kua, Hsing I teacher, who also trained many years in YIQUAN. He was a massive man, fat over heavy muscle, in his prime, about 5’6" and about 260 lb, I’d guess. He also did TAIJIQUAN, the syncretic form created by Chen Pan Ling, which he did in a very different manner from Chen (this form is, these days, often called the Guo Shu form, the “national form” of Taiwan). Wang was the head of a neo-TAOIST sect, which strove to harmonize the major religions of the world.
As always, there are debates about how strong he really was, I studied with him only two months when he was months away from death from melanoma. I witnessed him knock over a very muscular kyoshinkai champion with a side-step and belly blow, but that was a a controlled situation, not free-style. Still, really impressive power, despite his illness. For me, one of the most interesting measurements of his “power” was that when I travelled in Taiwan, every teacher who was talking big and trying to impress with his credentials claimed to have beaten Wang.
Anyway, Wang originally came over to Japan in the '60’s, first to teach his son-in-law, who had married his adopted daughter. Among the first to study with him was Sato Kimbei. Sato, among koryu circles, was generally considered a joke. He collected scrolls and licenses. Otsubo sensei, of the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, told in a very public forum, of Sato apporoaching him, asking how long it would take to get a menkyo kaiden and when Otsubo was noncommittal, trying to bargain with him. Otsubo allowed him to train with him and w/in two months, Sato was nowhere to be found, but years later, he was claiming licensure in the school. Anyway, Sato hooked up with Wang for some years, and this did give him legitimate claim to being one of the “pioneers” of Japanese TAIJIQUAN.
Wang used to ask a former student of Sato’s to demonstrate what Sato
taught, and he and his son-in-law would pick it apart, laughing and asking him to repeat cerain moves over and over. I also happened to be present at a workshop when the head of the Bejing wushu society, (forgot his name - the guy who put together the 48 movement syncretic TAIJIQUAN form) and another practitioner, who has won the Yang TAIJIQUAN competition several years running and Sato came up and told them that they weren’t allowed to teach because they hadn’t asked his permission, and they looked at him like you look at a deranged street person asking to borrow your briefcase, and walked away shaking their heads. Sato did nothing, and left with his wife shortly after. Sato is currently claimed as a senior infuence on the Genbukan and Tanemura - - -Oh well.
Wang started teaching in the grounds of Meiji shrine, and somewhere along the line a group of non-Japanese around Donn Draeger started training with him. Draeger learned some pa-kua, Wang would also show some Hsing I, but mostly he taught TAIJIQUAN. Among this group was Terry Dobson, who was a live-in student of Morihei Ueshiba of aikido. Terry’s direct senior was Chiba. Wang was doing demos in Japanese martial arts demonstrations and as Ken Cottier put it, “here you’d have all these startched Japanese in their crisp kiekko gi and their crisp snappy movements and then out would come this fat Chinaman in grey flannel slacks and suspenders and he’d start doing impossible slow TAIJIQUAN and he’d turn around and this ass as big as the moon would waft across the stage and then he’d challenge all comers to have a go at him and the young karate boys would be rabid and he’d let them punch his stomach or kick him in the groin and he’d just laugh it off but heaven help you if you tried to punch his head. He made it clear that that was out of bounds, and if you broke the rules, then he’d become, shall we say, active.”
Terry stated to me, (I’m quoting as best as I can remember) “the uchi-deshi at honbu, particularly Chiba, started giving me a raft of **** that I was being disloyal to O-sensei by studying with Wang, and I asked O-sensei, and he said, ‘sure, do what you want’ but they wouldn’t let up so I said, “why don’t you come and check him out for yourself.” So Draeger and me took Chiba, Saotome and Tamura. Well, we walked in, and Wang scopes out Chiba right away, like he knows who has the attitude here, takes one look, and says, ‘come here boy.’ Seriously, Wang’s over sixty, paid lots of dues, is a religious leader and all, and here comes these punks, as far as he’s concerned, in their twenties, copping an attitude. So Wang lets Chiba punch him in the stomach. Nothing. Chiba tries again. Nothing. Well, now Chiba loses his temper, half turns away, and then tries to sucker punch him, thinking it’s timing. This time Wang sucks the fist into his belly and then drops, he gives it back, Chiba’s arm goes shooting back behind his ear, and he’s shaking his wrist in pain. Wang then let Chiba kick him in the groin. Nothing. So Chiba loses it, grabs Wang’s wrist and puts a nikkyo or kote-gaeshi on it, some wrist lock. I don’t know what Wang did, it was too fast, but Chiba slams on the floor and Wang’s doing something to him with one hand and he’s screaming in pain. Finally Wang lets him up and says, “You’ve got a little chi, why don’t you come back when you acquire more?” Then he turns to Tamura and Saotome, who were standing there with their backs against the wall, and says, “you want to try.” They both shake their heads and we all went home. They never gave me **** about Wang again. . . . Far as I’m concerned, Chiba lost his chance at salvation right there. He should have quit everything and sat at Wang’s feet.”
The story that Dobson tells is quite congruent with my own experience with Chiba. When he first returned to Japan in 1976, I think it was, I took his classes for several months. For whatever it is worth, I was the first person he threw in the first class he taught. It’s relevant for this reasib. He comes in the room, substituting for Tada, and picks the biggest guy in the room - me. It’s like he wants to make an initial impression on everyone. First throw is shihonage, and he very deliberately bridged my elbow over his shoulder and tries to snap it. No ambiguity at all. Not a mistake. He was deliberately trying to hurt me. I had previously been warned about him and was in the air the moment the throw started, yet the elbow did momentarity slip out of the socket and back in with an audible click. I hit the ground and came back up for the next move (jeez, I was a loyal puppy in those days) and Chiba got the same look on his face that you see when someone’s slinking out of the porno shop with a back of goodies under his arm, and then he sees I’m not on the ground, or nursing the arm, and he starts in surprise, like he’s been caught at something dirty, and then covers it up. Never tried to hurt me again, seemed to like me after that like I passed some sick test - lest some loyal students think I’m reading too much into this, I deal with psychopaths on a daily basis for a living, and I know that look. So I’m inclined to believe Dobson and Draeger over Chiba’s interview.
