When Weapons Collide

WHEN WEAPONS COLLIDE : Kea Wong meets some ‘Heroes Of The East’ and matches wood and steel with the best.

Our impending DVD release of the Shaw Bros classic Heroes Of The East afforded me yet another opportunity to put my faithful sidekick Kea Wong in peril. (Just wait ‘til we release Story Of Riki…) Kea, who played Jubilee in the second and third X-Men movies, is no stranger to danger. She chased trams for our upcoming ‘The Killer’ DVD, she threw down some MMA moves for a ‘Flashpoint’ featurette. This time, I sent her out to meet the challenge of some of Hong Kong’s resident masters of blade and pole…

First up was Sensei Lok, whose school is the Toyama Ryu Iai-do dojo. (Iai-do being the Japanese art of drawing the sword). Heroes of the East features a duel between kung fu master Gordon Liu and a katana wielding foe. To my surprise, the Iai-do dojo was located just opposite the studio where we record our DVD commentaries. In an inspired piece of scheduling madness, I proposed recording the Heroes Of The East commentary before heading across to shoot Kea’s introduction to the Way of the Sword. Of course, my commentary session ran over (this being my first solo Shaw Brothers track for Dragon Dynasty) and Kea was left to direct, produce, present and wield a lethally sharp blade almost as long as she is. At least she looked great doing it! Sensei demonstrated the ‘quick draw’ method used to unsheathe a katana, and showed Kea how to slice through a rolled tatami mat. No pressure or anything, but these mats were specially prepared and flown in from Japan, and they only had the one for her to demonstrate on. Did Kea manage to cut through it on her first attempt? You’ll have to check out the DVD… (Sensei Lok can be contacted at wklok@mac.com, his website is at www.hksword.com.)

(When I finally escaped from the studio and arrived at the Toyama Ryu dojo, I was surprised and delighted to meet an old friend, Jason Ng Yuk Shu. A long time action actor and stuntman, the ever youthful Jason’s career dates back to our earlier Shaws release, My Young Auntie, and he has since appeared in such films as Bloodsport and Magnificent Warriors. Already a master ‘bootman’, Ng is adding Japanese swordplay to his skills.)

Next up was the Chinese contingent, and, of course, Kea and I turned to the great and patient Sifu Mak Chi-kong. He has trained us both in Hung Kuen, and we traveled out to a sports centre in Tuen Mun (a looong way out of town) so we could film him demonstrating the varied weapons of the Chinese martial arts. Mak Sifu discussed the history and application of the gim (straight sword), daan do (single broadsword) and cheurng (spear), before teaching Kea a section of a spear form. (Heroes Of The East features a clash of skills between Gordon Liu and a rival master of the spear, which is called a ‘yari’ in Japanese.) As ever, I was grateful and amazed at how fast the divine Ms. Wong picks up new skills. One particularly tricky moment saw Mak Sifu flicking the spear into the air and catching it at one end. Was Kea able to follow suit? Again, you’ll have to check out the Heroes of the East special features! (That’s Mak Sifu with Kea in the photo above. He can be contacted at lck486001@yahoo.com.hk, and his website is at www.hungkuenhk.com.)

Our next stop took us to a sports centre in Sham Shui Po, where we met Sensei Alan Lai of the Shorin Ryu style. He proved to be an affable and articulate host, and almost stole the show with his demonstration of a bo kata or form. (‘Bo’ is the Japanese term for a wooden pole, and is referred to as ‘kwun’ in Chinese martial arts.) What made this demonstration particularly interesting to me was that the form originates from Okinawa, where the Chinese influence on karate is more clearly evident than on the main islands of Japan. After an impressive solo demonstration of the bo kata, Sensei Lai put Kea through her paces, and, as ever, she rose to the occasion. (The full name of Sensei Lai’s dojo is the Hong Kong Ueshiro Karate Club, Okinawa Shorin-ryu karate. He can be contacted at senseilai@gmail.com, and the dojo’s website is at www.shorinryu.com/hk.htm.)

Though they are less high profile than in previous years, bona fide martial arts masters still abound in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, time constraints meant that we could only visit a representative sampling of two Japanese and one Chinese stylists. For my own education, and yours, I look forward to shooting future Dragon Dynasty featurettes that will allow us to show off even more aspects of the diverse world of Asian (and non-Asian!) martial arts.