Have you ever seen kung-fu movies? You may have seen Bruce Lee’s or Jackie Chan’s ones before. As you see, kung-fu is one of Chinese martial arts. I had an opportunity to see many of those Chinese martial arts yesterday.

     There was a course entitled “Chinese Martial Arts and Tai Chi” on Miyoshi Campus of Aichi University yesterday on November 3^rd. I took a class of Simplified 24- form Tai Chi with a friend of mine. There were 150 participants in the class! 

     I do Tai Chi, but the style is not the Simplified 24-form, which is common in modern China. I do Yang Ming Shi 24-form Tai Chi. Both of them have the same 24 forms, but the movement is different. It was a little bit hard for me to have followed the class because about 90% of the participants at the class had previous experiences. But I enjoyed the class and was able to learn many things for my Tai Chi movement.

     The course began at 9:30 a.m. and finished after 5:00 p.m. I was exhausted…I learned the 24 forms, some important points for the movement, and meanings of some actions as martial art. Tai Chi might look like an elegant dance, but it’s a kind of Chinese martial arts. Each Tai Chi action includes both of offence and defense.

     There were four classes in the course: 42-form Tai Chi, Taolu of Chuo Jiao (Poking Feet), Tai Chi Tuishou (Pushing Hands) ,and Simplified 24-form Tai Chi. All the participants and some college students performed at the end of the course. It was wonderful to have seen many different Chinese martial arts. That was so exciting.

     I experienced the resonance of Chinese martial arts and saw the potency of Tai Chi through the course.