Dao Thanh is the last of the four Great Sages of martial arts still alive.
The 87-year-old master of Tay Son, one of Vietnam’s many traditional fighting skills, still trains young learners daily in his remote hometown in the central province of Binh Dinh.
Despite his age, he rides his bicycle 60 kilometers every day to go around for the training.
He lives in the mountainous village of Tan Duc in An Nhon District. A large garden surrounded by bamboo hedges in front of his house has been a training ground for generations of Vietnamese martial artists over the last 70 years.
Master Pham Dinh Phong, vice chairman of the Vietnam Traditional Martial Arts Federation, was one of his disciples several decades ago.
Thanh agreed to meet Tuoi Tre correspondent at home last month.
“I’ve been teaching martial artists for free all my life,” he begins.
“I can’t stay at home as I miss my students and miss schools. I may die if I stay at home.
“I don’t get money from my students but they sometimes give me some tea, milk, or rice.”
A few gift him money occasionally.
“I [am] poor but relaxed.”
He began learning martial arts at 15 from teacher That Duy.
“My mother was afraid I would be enrolled in the French Army and sent me to the teacher.”
After two years there, he went to other teacher, Phi Hung in Phan Ri District in the central province of Binh Thuan, to learn sword fighting and bare hand techniques.
After six years of training he began teaching himself to earn money so that he could go to a top master to learn. And, he has never looked back since.
Now he lives with his wife he married at 17 and has six sons and four daughters.
“She loves me because I was handsome and skilled at martial arts,” he jokes.
“I love her because she is good at singing and making beautiful conical hats.”
He pours some wine and says with obvious contentment: “We are poor but happy.
“I just need three bowls of rice and a bowl of soup for a meal. That’s enough. So what do I need money for?”
“If I want some fish, I ride my wife to the market to sell some chicken eggs and buy some fish. I don’t need any more than that.”
Thanh’s home has become a regular visiting place for Phong to learn esoteric techniques that few teachers know.
Thanh says he may be the only person to still know some techniques believed to be invented by King Quang Trung in the 18th century and General Ly Thuong Kiet in the 11th century.
Phong says Thanh is a sage of Vietnamese traditional martial arts that need to be preserved.
The country is home to more than 100 different martial arts of which 40 -- like Xuan Thanh, Xuan Lieu, Nhat Nam, Tay Son, and Hung Ke Quyen -- are famous.
Thanh’s other famous contemporaries, the three other Great Sages, Huong Kiem Trung, Muoi Dau, and Ha Trong Son, have all passed.
Thanh says: “Last year I went on a bicycle tour of Quy Nhon [city] to visit friends who trained with me. Unluckily, they had all died.”
