{"id":13042,"date":"2018-11-13T13:50:10","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T05:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=13042"},"modified":"2021-10-15T17:17:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T09:17:01","slug":"back-to-the-cold-weapon-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2018\/11\/back-to-the-cold-weapon-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the Cold Weapon Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jones Chan Kowk-chung\u2019s lifelong love affair with swordsmanship<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Jasper Cao<\/strong><\/p>\n

I<\/span>f he hadn\u2019t dipped into that Japanese comic book, Jones Chan Kwok-chung might have been a fashion designer with stable income. But Chan is a man who is guided by his instincts which led him to turn his childhood dream of becoming a master of Japanese swordsmanship into his career.<\/p>\n

The 45-year-old kenjutsu trainer started learning the 400-year-old Japanese martial art when he was a secondary school student. After years of struggling to balance his family and job commitments and intensive training in Japan, Chan became a professional coach. Now he spends most of his evenings teaching over 100 disciples kenjutsu in Pei Ho Street Sports Centre.<\/p>\n

Chan\u2019s love affair with kenjutsu began in a summer vacation when he was just a teenager. He randomly picked and read a Japanese comic book, Musashi no Ken, named after a legendary samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, who was regarded as one of the best swordsmen in Japanese history. The story is about an elementary school boy who determines to master kendo, a Japanese sword sport that was once used to train samurai. He practices so diligently that, eventually, he wins the national competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a comic book filled with positive energy and encouragement,\u201d Chan recalls. As he finished the comic book with excitement, Chan quickly identified himself with the character and dreamed of becoming a kendo expert one day.<\/p>\n

He found an advertisement for the Hong Kong Kendo Association<\/a> on the final page of the book. Without hesitation, the young Chan made a call to the association. His lifelong journey with Japanese swordsmanship started after that phone call. He attended the kendo class twice a week after school and stood out as the youngest learner in class for all other learners were adults. \u201cI didn\u2019t compare myself with them though, we all just learned for fun,\u201d Chan recalls.<\/p>\n

In 1994, Chan crossed paths with his first kenjutsu master. Knowing Chan\u2019s affection for kendo, a friend of his invited him to visit a sword shop in Sheung Wan, where he met the shop owner, Chan Chun-fu, a kenjutsu master. Touched by the young man\u2019s strong passion for Japanese martial art, Chan Chun-fu made the young boy his disciple.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Chan helps a disciple adjust his position.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cChan Chun-fu was the first man who introduced kenjutsu to me and showed me the difference between kenjutsu and kendo, he was my very first master,\u201d Chan says.<\/p>\n

Young Chan studied with the master for four years and learned Toyama-ryu, a branch of kenjutsu. This experience laid a solid foundation for him to master kenjutsu techniques in his later days.<\/p>\n

Chan fell into a period of confusion four years later. Like many other young college graduates, he was not sure about his career choice. Although he tried different kinds of jobs, he still could not settle with a career goal and even stopped taking kenjutsu classes for some time.<\/p>\n

After four years of twists and turns, in 2003, Chan finally settled down as a designer of female fashion. Once he was accustomed to the new working environment, he quickly reunited with his old hobby again by learning another classic kenjutsu style, Suio-ryu.<\/p>\n

Chan overcame the language barrier with the help of a friend who was fluent in Japanese and called the s\u014dke (the head family)\u00a0of Suio-ryu in Japan. Chan obtained approval from the s\u014dke to visit them in Shizuoka, a Japanese town where the s\u014dke lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first met the master, he asked me to demonstrate the kenjutsu techniques that I had learned,\u201d Chan says. With his determination and experience gained in years of learning, Chan successfully convinced the master to accept him as disciple. Chan\u2019s Japanese master, Katsuse Yoshimitsu Kagehiro, is the 15th generation headmaster of Suio-ryu.<\/p>\n

Given his family commitments and his job in Hong Kong, Chan could not stay in Japan for too long, so he reserved all of his annual leave from work to train in Japan.<\/p>\n

Unlike Tokyo, life in Shizuoka is peaceful, but it can also be quite dull for a foreigner, as there are not many entertainment options, Chan says. \u00a0During training days, Chan\u00a0had two hours of training in the morning, and another two hours after dinner. As his time in Japan is limited, he often practiced for an extra hour in the afternoon. \u201cI was alone, but not lonely, because I had a very clear goal that is to master kenjutsu ,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0says.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Chan practises with his followers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chan has fond memories of his training days in Japan. He has developed strong bonding with other disciples and especially with the master. \u201cWe had tea and chats after we had finished training every evening,\u201d Chan recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe master is a kind and amusing old man,\u201d he adds. \u00a0\u201cMy master even offered to teach me for free after we have known each other better.\u201d In recognition of the master\u2019s kindness, Chan gives his master a present every time he goes to Japan. \u201cI usually bring antiques because he likes antiques very much,\u201d\u00a0Chan\u00a0smiles. \u201cEvery year I carefully select a piece of antique for my master.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chan has been travelling to Japan for regular training for the past 15 years. Having forged a loving friendship and trust with his master, Chan received his master\u2019s blessing to be the head of a Suio-ryu Hong Kong branch in 2017 and the head of the mainland China branch in 2018. He now also offers free lessons in three affiliates founded by his friends in Xiamen, Shenzhen and Guangzhou to promote the Japanese martial art.<\/p>\n

Although he has a prestigious title bestowed by his master, Chan does not want to profit from it. \u201cMoney is important. But I don\u2019t want to make money in the name of Suio-ryu,\u201d Chan says. \u00a0\u201cI just want to share my passion for kenjutsu by becoming a coach, but not to make money out of it. I have my own philosophy of screening students.\u201d<\/p>\n

When choosing disciples, Chan\u00a0always considers candidates\u2019 character flaws.\u00a0Chan explains he will not let those who have aggressive character and enjoy fighting to become his disciple, because he thinks kenjutsu is a dangerous martial art. \u201cFiguratively speaking, I will not train someone with personality like a tiger,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I train a tiger and equip it with skills, it might attack people. That is extremely dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

And those who learn kenjutsu with the sole purpose of getting a certificate are not qualified for him either. \u00a0\u201cOnly those who are really passionate and keen to learn kenjutsu can be my disciples.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

“<\/span>Only those who sincerely love this martial art and share my passion to learn kenjutsu can be my disciples.”<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Chan says teaching kenjutsu is just a hobby and he makes a living mainly by investing in the stock market. He wants to take on the responsibility of introducing kenjutsu to more people. He is also planning to set up more affiliates in other cities so he can share his interest with more people.<\/p>\n

When asked what kind of role he wants to play in the story of kenjutsu, Chan says \u00a0he has no interest in chasing fame. He admires the life of swordsman Linghu Chong (\u4ee4\u72d0\u51b2), a fictional character in one of Louis Cha Leung-yung (Jin Yong)\u2019s novels. \u201cTo wander around the world with my sword and wine, that is good enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edited by Grace Liyang<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former fashion designer Jones Chan Kwok-chung\u2019s love affair with Japanese swordsmanship and how he turned his passion for the Japanese fighting technique into his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1809,79],"tags":[1120,1102,1103,1104],"class_list":["post-13042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-149","category-people","tag-chan-kwok-chung","tag-japanese","tag-sword","tag-swordsmanship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13042"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13256,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13042\/revisions\/13256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}