Taiwan has long been a repository for martial arts and now there is another invasion of fighters who are passing on their deadly skills.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), mixed martial arts (MMA) and capoeira are three of the latest combat sports spreading around the world to have taken hold here.
Ancient forms of martial arts were used for self-defense or offense, but these new techniques are attracting adherents with different aims.
Historically, martial arts have been an important part of life in Taiwan since the first Chinese arrived in the 1600s and were used by militias to fight off Aborigines and protect settlements from bandits.
After the end of the Qing Dynasty, Japanese colonialists banned Chinese martial arts and introduced kendo and judo. Following World War II, many Chinese martial art teachers fled China and found refuge in Taiwan.
Today those who take up martial arts are more likely to be interested in keeping fit, becoming more confident, adding or losing weight and developing a sporting interest with like-minded people. They are leisure-time warriors.
BJJ was started by a master of Japanese jujitsu who emigrated to Brazil. It is defined as a combat sport that concentrates on grappling, especially on the ground, where locks and chokes are intended to force a submission.
Coaching sessions are sweaty affairs, where the maximum of effort is expended and no quarter is given. Training often leads to competitions.
“I would much rather see BJJ practiced as a sport rather than being promoted as an activity for goons,” said Warren Wang (王韋人), a medical doctor and BJJ coach in Taipei.
“There’s often misconceptions about studying martial arts and a lot of people who do it have a false sense of confidence.
“There are kids with black belts running around thinking they can defend themselves against anyone and moms allowing their kids to walk home late at night because they’ve done a few classes,” said Wang, 30, who is Taiwanese but took up BJJ as a student at Berkeley, California.
“This is isn’t true. If somebody comes at you by surprise with a knife, a gun or a bottle there’s not much you can do. There’s no guarantee you can defend yourself.
“I tell these people that they are involved in a sport. It’s not about beating people up, it’s about training and bonding, hosting or traveling to tournaments and competing as a team.”
Scott Sommers, 44, a teacher at Minchuan University, is in many ways a typical convert to martial arts. Though he did judo and boxing as a teen in Canada he played team sports after school, such as rugby.
The BJJ student took time out from fighting a younger man at the Third Asia-Pacific Rim invitational tournament earlier this month, to explain why he took up the sport.
“Two years ago I looked at myself and saw a wreck. This is a safe and reliable way of getting in shape. I got more injuries when I played rugby. I’m 172cm and was over 100kg. I lost 20kg to 25kg, stopped drinking, went on a diet and developed a liking for health and fitness.”
“Scott was throwing up after 30 seconds of rolling or grappling when he started,” Wang said. “Now he can go forever.”
Fellow BBJ grappler and English teacher Vaughn Anderson, 28, is more serious about fighting and is not only a BJJ instructor, but also boxes and competes in MMA competitions.
“What I like about martial arts is that it makes me feel that even in my shoes I can achieve something big and get the cheer of the crowd. There were 4,000 people watching and it was the first time a crowd was shouting for me,” Anderson said of a mixed martial arts fight he entered in Guam.
“It’s the greatest challenge to fight somebody who’s in great shape and knock them out. ... Doing martial arts has brought out the best in me.
“Trying to get good grades, a job, nothing else has pushed me so hard. Fighting motivates me more than anything else to get really fit.”
MMA is said to be the fastest growing extreme sport in the US and martial arts instructor and doorman Gordon Preston is credited as the first to introduce it in Taiwan — “because no-one else was doing it.”
The 41-year-old has been wrestling since the age of 12 and came here 16 years ago to learn kung fu from Lo Man Kam (盧文錦), a master of wing chun (詠春), which emphasizes short-range combat.
“MMA to me is the most extreme sport because when two guys put their fighting ability to the test it’s the ultimate. It’s close to battle, but the rules make it a sport. None of us would be fighting long if there weren’t rules,” Preston said.
“In MMA, the shift from striking to grappling is grueling because you pull and push and work both sets of muscle groups. It’s the most physically and mentally challenging sport out there.”
At his club, Evolution Combat, he teaches boxing, kung fu, MMA, combat grappling and BJJ. He said most of his members came for exercise but some progressed to competition.
“Back in the ‘20s everybody learned to box but those days are gone and now it’s seen as dangerous. Parents don’t want it for their kids, they would rather them do soccer or something.
“The population is less violent and looks down on fighting sports as barbaric. The truth is they are not [violent] and they are sports. It’s natural and history’s very first sport is not going to go away.”
But it will mutate, Preston conceded.
One of the martial arts to benefit from this change in attitude is capoeira, which originates in Africa but was developed by slaves in Brazil.
“Capoeira is the hippy kung fu thing. It gets you in great physical shape, there’s music, acrobatics, culture, and if I was younger I would do it, but it’s not really fighting,” Preston said.
And this may be one of the reasons why it is becoming so popular, especially among women, who see it as a kind of yoga/hip hop hybrid activity.
Capoeira instructor Cristiane Henry said there were two forms of the Brazilian martial art: one that was aggressive and the other more like a vigorous dance.
It is the more cultured version of capoeira that she teaches and at a recent session held at her Taipei studio around 20 students swayed, twirled and practiced kicks, fell and bounced back onto their feet.
It was a lively session punctuated by singing, backed by the rhythms of a long-necked gourd instrument called the berimbau and other percussive elements.
Henry first learned capoeira in her native Brazil as a six-year-old over 20 years ago. Before coming to Taiwan three years ago she was part of the Brazil Tropical Dance Company, which toured around the world.
“This is a fun activity, with dance and gaming,” Henry said. “The idea is to look good and show people what we can do with our bodies. It helps your abs, butt and legs. Your body changes.”
Each capoeira student is given a Brazilian nickname and Ken Lin (林晉仕) is called Relampago or “lightning” because he’s so quick.
The 28-year-old caterer from Tainan previously studied wushu and taekwondo but likes capoeira because of the music and energy.
“During the sessions you get a high that you just don’t get from fighting and taekwondo. Its effects are very good and the moves can be used for fighting,” Lin said.
His friend Allen Hsueh (薛駿翔), who has studied for a year-and-a-half, said he had been inspired by martial arts movies to do kung fu and Thai boxing.
“For Westerners who just box they see fighting with kicks and go, ‘Wow!’ I guess with capoeira it’s the same for us. We are not used to fights that start high and then go lower on the floor. There’s a lot of changes, so it’s exciting for us,” Hsueh said.
“In the future more Taiwanese will like capoeira. It’s kind of similar to hip hop with the dancing and it’s high energy with a lot of fighting moves.”
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