Hiromi is the founder of Hiromi Tai Chi, a non-profit organization dedicated to prmoting the health benefits of Tai Chi and Qi Gong to the Charlottesville community.
Hiromi Hangai Johnson was born in Tokyo, Japan. She started her practice of Ch’i Kung and T’ai Chi Ch’uan to help rehabilitate her knees after surgery. In 1980 she began studying Ch’i Kung (Eight Pieces of Brocade) and T’ai Chi Ch’uan (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, who owns a well-known health food restaurant in Tokyo. Hiromi followed his advice to practice T’ai Chi with his students at Hikawa Jinja, a temple in Roppongi. After a year of practice with Master Ueda, he introduced her to Master Wang Sheng-Zhi, a senior disciple of Grand Master Wang Shu-Jin. Hiromi practiced with Master Wang until his death, and with Master Ueda until she left Japan.
In 1998 Hiromi moved to Charlottesville and joined Little Mountain T’ai Chi and learned the Yang Style Short Form under Susan Christmas. At Susan’s suggestion, Hiromi started to teach T’ai Chi and Ch’i Kung at the Little Mountain T’ai Chi Association in 2000.
Hiromi felt a strong need to find a teacher in the States. Fortunately, she found Master Wei-Lun Huang through Barbara Feldman’s Blue Heron Martial and Healing Arts in West Virginia. Hiromi trained with Master Huang in Charlestown, WV, Winchester, VA, and Miami, FL.
In November, 2002 Hiromi received a phone call from Japan with news of Master Wang Fu-Lai visiting Texas. Master Wang Fu-Lai is the lineage holder of Cheng-Ming School (Cheng-Ming is a nickname of Grand Master Wang Shu-Jin) in Taiwan. Hiromi was advised to visit Master Wang Fu-Lai and ask if she could pursue her study of the 99-Step Form with him. Since then she has trained with him in Texas whenever he visits. She also traveled to Taiwan to train with him and to participate in a memorial event for Grand Master Wang Shu-Jin in the spring of 2004.
Hiromi feels fortunate to be able to study with such gifted teachers as Master Wang Fu-Lai and Master Wei-Lun Huang to broaden her understanding of Chinese Internal Martial Arts.
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 Hiromi T’ai Chi, she also teaches at Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Program, at ACAC, and gives private lessons. She has been giving workshops at the Clinical Connections Day on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) at the UVA Hospital.
She has been a volunteer instructor for the UVA Women’s Health Festival, the Church Fair in Grottos, the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses (AMSN) at UVA Hospital, the Jefferson Area Board of Aging (JABA) and Martha Jefferson Hospital. From June 2004 to October 2005, she volunteered to coordinate the bi-annual weekend workshop with Master Wei-Lun Huang for Little Mountain T’ai Chi Association. She has also organized the Spring Ch’i Kung Workshop co-sponsored by Charlottesville Parks & Recreation and Hiromi T’ai Chi.
Hiromi has been practicing Japanese Tea Ceremony and Vipassana Meditation for over 20 years. 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.