Biography of Shihan Peter Chong
This is his story on how he started martial arts and finally in the Kyokushin Karate.As a young boy, Peter was always bullied by his schoolmates due to his small built and he wanted to learn martial arts to protect himself and his loved ones. In around 1955, when Peter was fourteen years of age, his father started training him with a group of village boys. After a year, the training stopped when his father became a staunch Roman Catholic who did not believe in violence. He refused to give the young Peter any more instructions in martial arts and his uncle took over the training. Peter put his heart and soul into the training but soon grew weary of the endless repetitions of performing only the forms or the katas. He read about free sparring in a few karate books available then and was very drawn towards the unknown Japanese art. When Taekwondo was first introduced to Singapore, he mistook it for karate. After a few months, he realized that it was not karate, so he left. He was also trained in boxing and judo in school.
After a month, he tracked down Sosai Oyama's book "This Is Karate" and was greatly impressed by the exploits of Mas Oyama. He wrote to Sosai Oyama and he was surprised when he received a reply from him saying that he was accepted to train in Japan. He then had a big problem-how to get there? It was the early 60's and his monthly salary was only about S$200. He saved the money by cutting all excess spendings, no bars, and no outings. At that time he was a family man with a child, and besides providing for his family, he also saved money and bonus in a secret account. He calculated and saved for the cost of a two-year training stint in Japan. In 1965, Peter packed his bags and set off for Tokyo without his wife and father's knowledge (at that time, his father was in Europe). He was sacrificing a great deal to go into full-time training, but as it was his ambition to become a top pugilist, he considered it worthwhile. The sea journey took around a week; he was received at Yokohama by a representative from Honbu (Headquarter) who had Peter's photo. When they arrived at Honbu and he was brought up to the 3rd floor office, where Sosai Oyama greeted him and his first words to Peter were: "Welcome to Tokyo, but no woman". At that time, there was no Uchi Deshi dorm (live-in student) so with Honbu's help, he found a small five tatami mat room in an Inn nearby. Shortly after, he started training at Honbu and was confident in his abilities from his previous training. However, he was completely exhausted after just the Kihon (Basics of Kyokushin Karate training). The first few weeks proved to be quite a torment for him as he encountered language problem. The other Karate-kas mistook his silence, due to his ignorance of the Japanese language, for insolence and gave him hell. They thrashed him soundly every time there was a sparring session.
The training at Kyokushinkai Honbu was no easy task. There were two sessions of 2½ hour's duration each day, morning and evening except Sunday. The Oyama style stressed the need for very rigorous exercise to build the body to withstand blows. There was also weight-lifting, katas, free sparring, which involved full contact, running to build stamina, and meditation. Soon the winter came (Peter trained there since summer). He remembered an incident that he experienced in that extremely cold winter. He washed his gi (karate uniform) after each training because he could only afford one set. Usually he would soak in the bucket and wash it the next day as he did during the summer time. But to his astonishment, he found out that the bucket with his gi and water was all frozen. This experience makes him really learn something different other than Karate. After a week, the snow came but the training never stopped. Running barefooted in the mountains and training under waterfalls was a routine in wintertime. (Please see Story 1) Peter adapted himself well to the training and to the Japanese way of life after one year. One day, he received a telegram stating that his father was sick. He was so worried about his father that even Sosai came to advise him to return home. He flew home four days after receiving the news of his father's illness. He was shocked on returning that his father had died and was already buried. He later learned that his father died from worrying about him. Heartbroken, he went to his grave and stayed there for a few days. While he was there, he noticed other tombstones and ages of some of the deceased. It somehow made him see what short lives some of them had. While he was there, he did some training in the night. He then met two friends who went there to visit recent bereavements. They were interested in karate and soon started training together in the graveyard. Soon they had a regular group of 10. One day, the police came to ask what they were doing shouting all the time. Peter explained that the shouting was the "Kiai" and it was the basics of Kyokushin Karate. They assured the police that it would not cause any harm. They had to move away from graveyard to a Pahlai Buddhist temple in Bedok where the number increased to 20 people. For six months, Peter stayed home to settle the affairs of his father's estate. Peter could find no consolation and decided to go back to Japan. This time, he stayed for another 1½ years. He put all his efforts in training and after one year, he was awarded Shodan. It was also at this time that he found himself to be in financial difficulties. He worked in a restaurant, and he was recommended to teach English Language on a part-time basis. Sometimes he fought in kickboxing matches for money. He was paid well in his fights and thus ended his financial worries. In 1968 he was awarded 3rd Dan (Please see Story 2) and returned to Singapore in early 1969. He was actually instructed by Oyama to assist in the United States, but declined the offer as he preferred to stay home. He opened his first dojo in St. Francis Road in 1969 and the members whom he met in his father's graveyard were the first batch of members. He trained his students the same way as what he had learnt in Japan. There were also some guys from other martial arts that came and tested him out. Usually they were knock down by his Jodan Mawashi Geri (high roundhouse kick). He gave training twice everyday and people come from all over Asia to train under him. The most important aspect of his training was mental training other than the physical training. This was to instill the fighting spirit in his students. He also traveled to many countries, holding courses and training camps (Please see Story 3), and grading his students at various dojos in many parts of Malaysia. In 1971, Gogen Kamaguchi (Sosai of Goju-ru Karate-Do visited Singapore and Shihan Peter Chong looked after him during his stay as he was Sosai Oyama's elder.
Although Peter devotes full-time to instructing, promoting and demonstrating the abilities of karate, he does not place tuition and grading fees as exclusively his. He has ploughed back substantial sums back to improving his dojos, sending members to Japan for further training and leading teams for overseas friendly matches. In the 1984, 3rd World Tournament in Japan, Peter gave a memorable demonstration of his karate abilities. In 1988, Shihan received the Public Service Medal (PBM) from the President of Singapore for his promotion and integration of martial arts in the community. The first Singapore International Tournament was held in Singapore in 1992 at the National Stadium & then in 1995, the First Karate Convention was host in S'pore with Kancho Shokei Matsui & various branch chief. In 1998 he was inducted into the American Black Belt Hall Of Fame for his lifelong promotion and teaching of Kyokushin Karate, resulting in three more annual Diamonds Awards from the Hall Of Fame. Currently, Shihan Peter Chong has 8 dojos in Singapore. His sons, James (3rd Dan) and Jackie (5th Dan), took after what he had learnt. He often traveled to Southeast Asia and Middle East to host tournaments and very often he was appointed as Chief Judge for these events.
Shihan's Vision for the Singapore Oyama KarateShihan's Vision today is to setup a full-time clubhouse, which will consist of a training ground, a gymnasium, a Kyokushin library, and a place for relaxation for members all in one place. He also tries to generate more funds for members to go to Japan for further upgradings and tournaments. Shihan Peter Chong hopes that more young people will take up martial arts and so that they are able to protect themselves and their loves ones. Shihan's Vision is also in-line with the government's; i.e. to promote good healthy lifestyle and racial harmony amongst the different Communities. Compiled and edited by
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In those days they would punch the opponent in the head, grab and hold him, knee him and even when he fell down on the floor, they would still attack him with punches, elbows, knees and etc. All these Peter took without any protest. There were many times he asked himself why he wanted to come such a long way here to suffer all these hardships and miss the love of his family. But he made up his mind to stay put and train hard, as he was not from a rich family. He was not doing well in his life, so he wanted to see how far he could go from there! Later when it was known to them that he was a foreigner, the other Karate-kas felt sorry. They made amends by devoting much of their time teaching him. 
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