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Chapter 2 - The road to tai chi: Seek the divine art of Bagua Zhang from immortal mountain wizards (13 episodes)
I look out of the window. Buildings gradually become smaller and smaller until they form a single city. The city is also getting smaller and smaller, and I no longer find any human presence. The distance from my homeland is getting farther and farther away. I boarded an airplane for the first time in my life and headed for Taiwan, the land of my dreams. In 1973, overseas travel was not very common. You cannot imagine now how much determination it took for a young man who had just turned 18 years old to travel overseas. In my mind, I was even prepared that this might be a one-way ticket trip. With that much determination, I shook off any lingering regrets about my life in Japan and the dojo, and worked hard to handle realistic issues such as making arrangements for travel expenses and obtaining a visa. All for the sake of finding a new master and a new path of training for myself. Finally, the time has come. I couldn’t contain my rising feelings. Of course, I was anxious, but the anticipation for the unknown drowned out my fears and I envisioned a bright future. I would be able to meet a true master who had inherited the essence of martial arts passed down through the continent.... Then I would learn from him and enter the world of mystery! But what if I couldn't meet him? I went back and forth between anticipation and anxiety until the announcement of the landing was finally played. At last, I would be landing on the land where dream and reality connect. --- Now, before landing, let me explain a little about Taiwan at that time and my plan. First, regarding language, fortunately Japanese was generally understood in Taiwan at that time, so I did not have to bother finding an interpreter. Once I arrived in Taiwan, I would use a cheap hotel as my base and spend three months, the full period of my visa stay, to look for an ideal master in Taipei and other areas. Just before I left for Taipei, I was luckily introduced to a Taiwanese trade official. My plan was first to have this person introduce one master to me and then with his help, find a master I would study under. However, it was my first time to go abroad, and I was prepared to take a random chance. The same was true for my base of operations. I managed to find a small, cheap hotel behind Taipei Station through an introduction from the Taiwanese trade official. Thanks to this, I was able to keep my stay costs very low, but the environment was quite challenging. The toilet was communal, of course, and located between my room and the one next door. When using the toilet, the door to the next room must be locked, and when leaving the toilet, the door must be unlocked. It is not difficult to imagine that if you forget to lock the door to the other room when using the toilet or leave it locked when going out the toilet you will be in trouble. Sometimes, when I turned over the comforter to go to sleep, I found a spider and a cockroach struggling with each other. I told the receptionist what I had seen with a surprised vigor, then an old lady rushed in with an insecticide, as if it were a regular occurrence. She took one look at the insects struggling in the comforter and sprayed them mercilessly with insecticide and the game ended in a painful draw with a KO on both sides. The only winner, the old lady, quickly left, without changing the comforter or the bed linen. On such days, I would lie on the edge of the bed, twisting my body to avoid the subtle dampness. Adding to this instance, I was often fed up with a situation I had never experienced before, but I was also relieved by an unexpected event. When I opened the only window of my room to take in some fresh air, I saw a typical family life spread out below me, with laundry hanging out to dry, mothers scolding their children, and everyone eating together. When I was drinking Shaoxing wine alone in my room at night, the old lady at the reception desk was considerate enough to pick up some snacks from the food stalls in front of the inn. (I was charged for this, of course.) It was here in Taiwan that I would learn martial arts from an authentic master for the first time, and the time came sooner than expected. About a week after arriving in Taiwan, I was introduced to a famous tai chi master by the Taiwanese trade official. |
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