All,
Kenichi Sawai brought Yi Quan to Japan as Taiki-Ken. I've read his bio and am very curious as to how he came to meet and fight the founder of Yi Quan and secondly, how he managed to train with him while World War 2 was going on. The bio says Master Wang Xian Zhaï came to him after WW2 and, in what must have been a really moving scene,stopped Master Sawai from commiting suicide. So he must still have been in China after WW2? Can anyone help me fill in these blanks?

Yes, There are rather vague parts in the history. Remember that China was being occupied by Japan, and the Japanese were particulary brutal about it. It's almost surprising that they didn't simply kill Wang, 1. as he could have been a threat, and, 2. The Japanese were (and are) so fanatical they couldn't tolerate someone who might be better at something than they were.

Sawai was a combat veteran (against the Chinese and possible other nations) and and appears to have been part of the occupying military forces. For a Japanese to ask instruction of a Chinese would have been very unusual. It may also have spared the life of Wang and his family.

In addition, Sawai is not likely to have gotten deeper 'inner teachings' from Wang as Sawai was not just 'non-Chinese', but he was literaly, physically, the enemy of Wangs country.

I'm with you, but I'd love to know 1) where Master Sawai was stationed 2) what his duties were 3) how he came to know Master Wang and what the circumnstances of the fight were like 4) how he managed to remain after the war and 5) how he knew him well enough to stop him from committing suicide. It all sounds so interesting and frankly, the makings of a great martial arts film.

For most of those questions, you would probably have to contact some of his surviving family or first generation students.

On the match, most versions say they crossed hands several times, his book doesn't specify. Remember that Sawai ranked in judo, kendo, some karate, was a combat veteran, and was probably a pretty tough character. Wang easily avoided all his attacks, and threw him easily. Sawai states that he could not understand how he was being defeated.

By grabbing one of Wangs wrists, he was thrown. Even attempted grabbing an arm and a lapel with both hands so that even if thrown he might take Wang with him, but no success.

Sawai then asked if they could have a go with sticks to simulate swords and was again defeated every time. Further, with each defeat, Sawai states that Wang touched him lightly on the chest and he felt a pain like a heart attack.

Being so throughly defeated and having no idea of how it was done he asked to become a student. He does mention that Wang gave very little by means of explainations in his teaching, but he (Sawai) was tolerated to ask questions which the Chinese would not have due to custom/protocol, (and possibly because Sawai was an officer in the army of occupation.

FYI Mas Oyama wrote that he was angered that the war ended before he got the chance to kill Americans, so he would start fights with American soldiers in Japan to demonstrate that he personally, had not surrendered. Was often in jail because of that. Had he not been a teenager, I wonder if the troops might not have been so lenient with him.

I was able to find a copy of the Sawais' original book in english. And were Hollywood to make a film, I am certain they would screw it up big time.

who care????
where are any of his great fighters now?????????
if he was so famous,then how come his students
are not killing guys in the martial world now???????????????????!!!!!!!!!
get over it china's mysteries died a long time ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Thanks for your input, Hatfield.

Hey everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Daoust. This is the second thread I've posted where he has decided to write a bunch of negative, off-topic commentary. To see more of his fine work, read my "John Peterson vs. Harry Wong" thread.

Daoust, if you want to debate the value of Yi Quan/Taiki-ken, then write your own thread.

Its best to contact some of Sawai's former students.Ron Nansik(sp?)trained with him in the Seventies and has a website called Wuyiquan.Sawai was farmed out to Yao Zongzun for his intial training and at a later date was trained by Wang Xiangzhai.From what I understand his fight with Wang took place in the Thirties.Wang also fought,and defeated, Imrie Hangarei(Olympic light weight boxing champion)around 1937.Sawai must have been stationed where Wang was living and we can presume it was Beijing at the time of their fight.

Of course its impossible to confirm what these fights were like.Where they friendly or a vicous match to hold up National honour?Its impossible to say but there is enough documentary proof of Sawai's fighting abilty in later life and it seems he was a formidable opponent.In his Seventies he was giving tweny five year old Kyokushin 3rd dans a hard time.Speaks for itself.

Nice to see that Marc has made his usual intelligent contribution.

Tony,

Thanks! That site has a lot of interesting material.
And ya know, I hadn't even thought about the nature of the fights. I assumed, since these were two masters meeting, the "rules" were decided in a civil way. No reason for two masters to get hostile in a test of skills. But I'm sure that it must've been a sight to behold.

You might get what you are after at this site:
http://www.geocities.jp/taikikenpo/englishpage.html

Thanks, Xen. I think this will require a little asking around. I'll post back when I learn more...

Just in clase that was not clear, re: the Mas Oyama comment, he was speaking about himself. I included that to give an idea of the Japanese mentality of the time.

Stephen, ask Frank. He told me an story or two about Sawaii when i was his student about ten years ago. He got the stories from Kumar. And tell him I said hello, please. I think he'll remember me. Thanks.