Hiromi Hangai Johnson

Hiromi Hangai Johnson was born in Tokyo, Japan. She started her practice of Ch’i Kung and T’ai Chi  to help rehabilitate her knees after surgery. In 1980 she began studying Ch’i Kung (Eight Pieces of Brocade) and T’ai Chi (24-Step Simplified Form).

From 1988 to 1998 she studied the 99-Step T’ai Chi Ch’uan of Cheng-Ming School under two disciples of Grand Master Wang Shu-Jin, who first introduced T’ai Chi Ch’uan and related internal martial arts to Japan in 1952. Yutaka Ueda was her first teacher and then Master Wang Sheng-Zhi. Hiromi practiced with Master Wang until his death, and with Master Ueda until she left Japan.

In 1998 Hiromi moved to Charlottesville.

In November, 2002 Hiromi was advised to visit Grand Master Wang Fu-Lai in Texas and ask if she could pursue her study of the Cheng-Ming T’ai Chi form with him. Grand Master Wang is the lineage holder of Cheng-Ming School (Cheng-Ming is a nickname of Great Grand Master Wang Shu-Jin) in Taiwan. Since then she has trained with him in Texas and Charlottesville whenever he visits. She also travels to Taiwan to train with him. She was certified as an International Cheng Ming Instructor for Ch’i Kung and T’ai Chi in 2008, Hsing I in 2010, and Ba Gua in 2019. She was inducted as an In-Room student of Grandmaster Wang Fu Lai in October, 2019.

Hiromi believes that one of her missions is to help increase awareness of the health benefits of T’ai Chi and Ch’i Kung in the community. Besides teaching at the CTCC Dojo, she also teaches at Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Program, at ACAC, and gives private lessons. She gave workshops at the Clinical Connections Day on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) at the UVA Hospital, UVA Semester at Sea Forum, and various community events.

Hiromi has been practicing Japanese Tea Ceremony and Vipassana Meditation since 1978. She finds these practices complement the practice of Internal Martial Arts. Hiromi believes that integrating T’ai Chi practice with her daily life benefits not only her well-being but also her teaching.

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