Learning Martial Arts

"When do you need to fight? Hopefully, never. When do you need good health? Every day." Zhang Yi Zhong

I began my study of the martial arts in Long Beach, California in 1977.  I was living in Belmont Heights at the time and a Karate studio opened up about ten blocks away on Broadway.  I'm not sure why I felt motivated to attend a class but since it had opened in the neighborhood it seemed like a sign I should go.

The teacher was a WWII veteran who had learned Karate in Japan during the U.S. occupation. He had a female partner who would teach the women.  His top student,  Rainbow, would drive in from Los Angeles for class.  "Ten thousand times!  You must practice each move ten thousand times."  The converted storefront would ring out with the sound of our Ki ya! as we stood punching in place.

We built camaraderie by working in two's stretching on the floor and practicing punching and kicking drills. For class exercises, those of us who had not yet purchased a uniform had to stand at the back.  We were encouraged to pay for our Black belts in advance so we would be motivated to achieve this revered status and be entitled to the advanced training that was needed. By the time a year had passed  many had paid in hundreds of dollars.

One night we arrived for our evening class but the door was locked.  As we stood peering in the windows in the gathering dusk we saw that all the equipment and supplies were gone.  We realized that teacher also was gone and the Black Belt money with him. 

In 1978 I moved to San Francisco to work with my friend John Laver on bringing his patented invention, Skywatch, to market.  We shared a house on 22nd Street near the corner of Guerrero, in the Trans-Mission.  Our house was located directly behind a street-front store that had been converted into a martial arts studio.  The studio seemed to be seldom open and when I finally had a chance to meet the teacher (and owner of the building) and asked if I might take classes there I was quickly, but politely rebuffed.

"Have you studied  martial arts before?"
"Yes, I took Karate for a year."
"We don't teach Karate here."
"Well, I'd like to learn what you're teaching."
"Why don't you come back in a couple of weeks."

And so I was dismissed.  That was my first encounter with Henry Lucero, who would teach me the art of Kempo over the next 20 years.  The next time I saw him he again put me off. "Come back next week and watch a class and you can see if you like it.  And if you want to do sparring you'll have to sign a release." Henry was a cautious man; the ultimate downside planner I came to learn, but the little I had seen told me he knew his stuff.  Finally, after my third interview with him he reluctantly agreed to take me on.

Forms I learned from Henry:

Form 1 (closed fist)
First variation on Form 1 (open hand, horse stance)
Second variation on Form 1 (open hand, cat stance)
Form 2 - short form
Variation on short Form 2
Form 2 - long form
Variation on long Form 2
Form 3 - short form
Variation on short Form 3
Form 3 - long form
Variation on long Form 3
Finger set
Belt set
Praying Mantis staff
Single stick set
Double stick set
Tiger and Crane (from Huang Gar)
Variation on Tiger and Crane
Praying Mantis (practice set)
Cane set
Book set
Variation on Book set
Form 4
Japanese sword
Form 5
Kempo Two Person set
Variation on Two Person set
Double daggers
Kicking set
Defense against weapons set
Kicking and Punching set
Tom Toi

Henry's teacher had been Harry Hutchings who had studied with Prof, William Chow in Hawaii. Harry's fellow students included  Ed Parker and Ralph Castro.  He was a Marine veteran and had seen action in combat, including hand to hand fighting, according to Henry.  The Kempo studio was in Daly City, in a tough neighborhood.  Henry told me his initial motivation for learning Kempo was to keep from being beaten-up in high school. At the studio, students were often injured in sparring sessions. It was just considered part of the training.  Harry told them, "If you lose a fight outside the studio, don't come back."

Henry was in awe of Harry.  He was short of stature but very powerful.   One time, Henry related, he was competing at a tournament where Harry was a referee and Harry wanted him to stand in a different spot.  Henry is a big guy, six feet and 180 lbs.  Harry reached out with one hand, picked him up and set him down in the place he wanted him.  Another time a student challenged Harry to penetrate his kicking defense when the student was on the floor.  Harry leaped through the air and came down with his knee an inch from the student's head.

Harry had retired from teaching Kempo by about 1980; "I'll never teach another student." he told Henry after giving him his Black Belt.  Henry continued his studies with Wong Jack Man at Fort Mason and later studied Ba Gua and Wu style Tai Chi with old man Ying in a church in Berkeley.  I went with him sometimes to Ying's where we would walk the circle and do the palm changes in the lobby of his apartment building.  Afterwards, we would all retire to his apartment where his daughter would make tea for everyone.  Ying  was quite famous, having studied with the circle of people around Big Spear Liu, and a lot of prominent Bay Area martial artists came to walk the circle with him. He also had a degree from the London School of Economics.  He was already quite old by the time I met him but of unfailing good humor.  Henry said his grip was like steel and no one could withstand it for more than a few seconds.  I was just an occasional guest so I did not have the chance to experience it myself.

In addition to a deep knowledge of Kempo Henry was adept at Ba Gua, Hsing-I and Wu, Yang and Sun style Tai Chi,  By the time I finished my studies with him he had also mastered a dozen Shaolin  sets.  Henry learned Shaolin, among other arts, from Wong Jack Man.  Henry was a walking encyclopedia of Chinese martial arts.  He was also accomplished academically with a MBA from USF and a MFCC.

After three year's training with him it occurred to me to ask him how I was doing.  "How do you think you're doing?" was his only reply.

Henry was laconic in his instruction but loquacious, apparently, in comparison to Wong Jack Man.  Henry's  most frequent instruction was, "Relax your shoulders."  He said the extent of Wong's instruction was to show you a move once.  After that the senior students were your only resource.  Henry was more generous with his instruction and was willing to demonstrate moves many times.

He did tell me once that he had learned the secret of martial arts. "What is it," I asked.  "I can't tell you," he replied, "It's a secret."

Later he relented, " The secret is practice."

Before I was allowed to learn any of the forms I had to learn the 15 Kempo punches, the 12 Kempo hands and the 6 Kempo kicks. Drills of the punches and kicks were performed countless times that first year before I was deemed ready for Form 1.

After five years with Henry I wanted to experience some different styles of martial arts so I visited an Aikido Dojo on Van Ness Avenue. The class reminded me of those first Karate classes in Long Beach. Students who didn't have the uniform stood in the back and there was a lot of bowing.  The substance of the class was students grappling with each other in pairs and trying to execute take downs or throws. Of course everyone was barefoot, the floor was covered in mats, and different colored belts were in evidence. Japanese martial arts. It made me realize how much I liked the informality of the Chinese martial arts and the hard wood floors of the 22nd Street studio.  Wear comfortable clothing, something on your feet (Chinese kung fu slippers optional) and there's no bowing aside from the Kempo palm-covering fist salute at the beginning and end. When asked to explain the difference between Japanese and Chinese martial arts the simplest answer is that in the former you wear a Gi, go barefoot and bow a lot; in the latter you wear whatever you have on, always wear something on your feet and rarely bow.

When I eventually earned my Brown belt, Henry told me the origin of the different colored belts. Since the belts weren't washed, after a number of years of practice your belt becomes brown with dirt; you're a Brown belt.  After a lot of years your belt is so dirty it's black.  There's really no need for any other colors.

When I reported back, Henry said, "Why don't you try Tai Chi?"

Starting Tai Chi - 1984

On my way to and from work I often passed by the Footworks Dance Studio at 22nd Street and Mission. In the display case I had noticed a flyer for Integrated Tai Chi. I was hooked from the first class. Sometimes you just know that something is right for you and that's the way I felt with Tai Chi. This is for me, I thought as I watched that first class. I studied with Joe two or three times weekly for the next 10 years, often with his teacher, Chang, I-Chung in attendance. In later years, the class moved to in front of the Band Shell in Golden Gate Park and workshops with Master Chang were held at the Avenue Ballroom on Taraval. Joe and Master Chang, had many students in the Bay Area and they had been teaching in Northern California for over 20 years, starting out on the Mendocino coast. Joe and Mister Chang, as Joe began calling him in the early years of the new century, are well known and there is much lore if you want to look. I noticed that over time, when speaking of his teacher, Joe referred successively to Master Chang, then Mister Chang and finally Brother Chang.


There is a saying in martial arts, “There are two kinds of students: those who come to class and those who come to class as often as they can.” I aspired to the latter and attended class three times a week with Henry and three times a week with Joe. By January of 1990 I had started classes with George Xu and on Mondays would go to a 7 am class with Joe and then on to a 9 am class with George and a 5 pm class with Henry.

1990

Awareness is centered on having correct spinal alignment: upright, yet relaxed, tucked and stacked. In the words of Joe Deisher, "The head, heaven, is connected by the bridge of the neck to the human world, the heart, which is connected by the bridge of the back and spine, tucked and stacked, to the earth of the stomach and groin: the world of sexual energy, digestion, the metabolic processes. These are the three worlds and the two bridges. Centered and balanced, you can pass freely from one world to the next as is appropriate."

Tai Chi is aesthetically pleasing mainly because of correct posture and correct posture is, in fact, the very basis of living because your posture includes your attitudes, emotions, spiritual aspirations and all else. In boxing there is an expression, "Don't lead with your chin." Henry used to say, "Keep your nose behind your toes." Commonly it's cerebral cortex first with body and spirit following along as best they can. In the workaday world it may not always be possible, or advisable, to be open-hearted but in practice you can let the heart open by actually allowing the chest to relax and opening your heart to love.

To make progress in the physical art of Tai Chi you need to also consider the emotional and mental sides of your nature. When you are absorbed in doing Tai Chi you enter a meditative state. Meditation is key.