Changing My Title
Column by Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong
INSIDE KUNG-FU MAGAZINE
January 2005 Issue
I am
considering taking a humble title to replace the term ?grandmaster.? Of
course, all students and instructors in my Federation will still address
me as grandmaster, because this title was awarded to me by my late and
retired teachers.
What made me qualified to earn this title? Why me and not their other
students? People outside my Federation have asked me this question from
time to time. I was promoted to the title of grandmaster because I
passed all the tests and met all the requirements in terms of martial
arts skill, knowledge, ability and leadership. Some other students may
have been good in kung-fu, but they were not interested in teaching and
passing on ther knowledge through schools or seminars.
I e-mailed my instructors in the Federation and asked them to suggest a
good title that would be humble, yet strong enough to represent them as
the leader of the Plum Blossom International Federation. I wanted to
make sure the title would not make my students and members look bad and
would not be intimidating to people outside the Federation. Some
suggested that I drop the ?grandmaster? title and replace it with
?mister? or ?doctor? in public.
However, if I dropped the title and then went to a martial arts event
such as an exhibition or big open tournament, where maybe ten
grandmasters and 100 masters were in attendance, the subdued title would
do a disservice to my students. It doesn?t matter to me, but I cannot be
selfish in my humility and make all the students look or sound like
their grandmaster is a nobody at public events.
Some students have suggested I use a Chinese title. However, in ancient
China, there was no international martial arts organization and even
today there are only a few ? including ours. The term ?si-jo? or ?jo-si?
is for past masters. However, I have noticed that some non-Chinese
kung fu teachers are using the si-jo title nowadays. It's okay for your
students to call you si-gung or tai-sifu. All you need is one student who
also has one student and you will become the si-gung of your student?s
student. Gung means grandfather or old man. I do not want to act so old
yet.
In this case, I have to take tai-sifu. The problem is that I have
students who are instructors down to the fifth generation. My
second-generation students call me tai-sifu; third-generation students
call me tai-tai-sifu; fourth-generation students call me
tai-tai-tai-sifu; and fifth-generation students call me
tai-tai-tai-tai-sifu. Guess what? Upcoming sixth-generation students
will just have to call me tai to the fifth power. These kinds of Chinese
terms are not good for professional titles, only family titles.
Some of my students have asked that I keep the title grandmaster. A few
students would like me to change to the title of chief master or chief
teaching master, I think the word master alone can he intimidating to
someone. Besides, some Korean martial arts already designate the title
chief master to the person directly under the grandmaster. Choosing
chief master would be delegating me to second-class status.
Other suggested titles include: founding director, federation president,
chief director instructor, executive director instructor, chief
executive instructor, professor in chief, chief scholar, principal
scholar, chief coach, and keeper of the Hu Yuen Chou System. Is there a
specific tide you like? Do you have a better suggestion? If you have
something that sounds good, is suitable for my position, and will also
appear humble to the public, send it to
jasonjwong@yahoo.com.
Doc-Fai Wong writes a bi-monthly column for Inside Kung-Fu.
January 2005 ? Inside Kung-Fu