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History of Grand Master O. E. Simon |
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The information in this history comes from
several sources including Olaf Simon's own testimony & literary works, the
old TKF website as well as discussions with past "Simon's Karate/ Temple
Kung Fu" owners, teachers, masters & associates. Olaf Emil Simon was born January 20, 1929 in East Prussia (Poland), he is the founder and President of Temple Kung Fu Studios International Ltd and is currently retired and residing in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada. Olaf claims that in 1935 he was introduced to Martial Arts at the age of 6 by Master Fu Yen and trained under this venerable Master for approximately 4 years. Who is Master Fu Yen? (This information comes from a series of sources, most of it written or spoken by O. E. Simon)
“Uncle Yen taught me, he was a friend of our family. He taught us or me especially some of the moves. He made me a bow and arrow and helmet and this… so I got introduced in the rudiments of the Shaolin concepts. We trained for quite some time off and on. We lived in the diplomatic quarters in the Tier (phonetic) Garden… and the Chinese embassy was not too far away so that would add, I would think to three or four years I would think from there on in but with interruptions… I mean to me this was not training but a play thing.”
“Fu Yen, known as Hu
Yen, the Tiger, and also known as Uncle Yen to Olaf Simon was a monk that
survived and escaped persecution in China. He was from the "White Horse
Monastery". This is in the Henan province, near Louyang. Northern
School. As a side note, Louyang is the start of the Silk Road... The
mentor, who would have a profound influence upon Grand Master Simon, was
Fu Yen. This Celestial Master resided in Chuan Chow Shaolin Temple, near
the East Buddhist village. On the orders of the Ching government, this
temple was destroyed as well but rebuilt just before the year 1860. It was
permanently closed in 1926... Fu Yen was a Great Shaolin Master who left
the last remaining Temple in 1904. His cousin was then the Mayor of
Shanghai. Fu Yen was the guardian of the “Temple Plates” from the
ceremonial cauldron. These plates were used in the Fukien Temple and
stem from the White Horse Monastery. Upon leaving China, Master Yen
entrusted these plates to his good friends, then later they were given to
his student Grand Master Simon.” The White Horse Monastery is supposedly where the Temple Kung Fu "Kung Fu Club Oath" came from.
"Master Fu Yen
(Pronounced Ho Yen) taught Grand Master Simon (also referred to as GMS)
from an early age. Grandmaster’s uncle was an attaché to the German
Consulate in China during the early 1900’s and helped to get Fu Yen out of
China during the political instability of the Boxer Rebellion and ensuing
Chinese Civil war at the turn of the century. Fu Yen was a Shaolin Monk as
well as a master gardener, as each monk also had a skill beside the Art.
Upon reaching Europe, Fu Yen worked for the Simon family as their gardener
and began training both Olaf Simon and his brother in Kung Fu. GMS took to
the teachings more readily than his brother did and he and Fu Yen spent
nine years together. The court document posted here states three and a
half years and that is either an error or has been changed for various
agendas. GMS, who is the direct source of the information, has stated to
us that it was 9 years, not three and a half. GMS was taught many of the
keys of the Art and overtime he developed and evolved this knowledge into
his own style..." "In
his childhood he learned forms and motions of the shaolin style of karate
(Shorin-Ji) and was taught by members of his family, which did belong to
the staff of the embassy in Peking in the Moo system (1889 to 1901)
leaving China after the boxer uprising." "Fu Yen, the Old Tiger,
the Master, originally came from the Tibetan town of Taichao and had lived
many years in the Shaolin Temple near Chuan Chow in Fukien province as a
priest....The Chinese civil war forced him north and after the collapse of
the empire he left to Paris. From there he was reunited with his friends
in Germany." "The white boy's
childhood was guided by the spirit of this old man." Above is a picture of Master Fu Zhong-Wen, a highly skilled master of Yang style Tai Chi Chuan. Though not the "Fu Yen" of Olaf Simon's lineage the histories of these two individuals have similarities, however unlike Master Simon, Master Zhong-Wen has a direct and provable lineage to his style and past teachers. The point is how easy it would be for anyone to fabricate the history of a false Kung Fu Master by borrowing from a real one like this and changing a few details. This suggestion is nothing new and is certainly not limited to only a few individuals. There have been and still are many martial arts individuals and schools in all styles with suspect histories and made up titles which are hard to prove or disprove. This is because there is no unifying governing body for all martial arts and some individuals try to carve their own piece of the pie no matter what it takes.
(without prejudice) |
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