One day I was promoted at the end of class to Yellow Belt. Lewis Sensei followed his instructor’s traditions and you didn’t test for belts. When you were ready to begin training at a new level you found yourself asked to come up before the class and you received a promotion, with no idea it was coming that evening.
I always find it interesting how such promotions carry greater obligation. You haven’t achieved anything, rather you are challenged each and every promotion to work harder and live up to the responsibility of the new rank.
Kihon still remained Kihon. Kumite meant you could fight harder and in turn ‘they’ could let you have it even harder. You also began a new kata study.
In Isshinryu this meant Seiunchin kata.
About ½ of the kata was done with tension and hard breathing, similar to Sanchin breathing, and about ½ of the kata was done with normal speed and breathing. The Isshinryu Seiunchin kata is a variation of the Seiunchin practiced by the Goju stylist. For the most part they cover the same material and the movements have the same application potential, but Isshinryu’s Seiunchin is just that, Isshinryu’s.
Among the changes the Club was getting ready for a karate demonstration at the local Civic Center. I just related one small back story of that preparation.
Mr. Lewis decided to form a Yellow Belt team doing team kata using Seiunchin for the performance. There was one slight stylistic difference for the performance from the Dojo Seiunchin, and we were going to do it to music. The group practiced the kata over and over, and then the music was added. It was to a mid 70’s song, ‘The Hustle’.
To this day when I practice Seiunchin kata I hear ‘the Hustle’ in the background.
Because of that deep drilling Seiunchin became my favorite kata for the next 20 years, till I reached the point I no longer have favorites, I fully respect all of them. But other lessons learned were the values to imprinting a group flavor to the kata. To this day I maintain kyu group study of Seiunchin kata, following the same timing and flow of that day. I find there is a strong return on the effort of group practice, getting all of the students on the same page, setting them for eventual application study using that timing and flow with the Seiunchin technique tool kit.
I had begun to pay for my club dues by cleaning the dojo every Sunday afternoon. It allowed me to spend time on my training for an hour or so and then get down to work. So I was now in the dojo 3 days a week, and having the key I could open the dojo up for class as soon as I got there during class nights.
Kumite also took on a different practice. Jhoon Rhee had begun manufacturing and selling SafeT gear for the hands and feet. We all bought some because we expected it was going to be required in future tournaments. The funny thing was, those Green belts I wrote about seemed to strike and kick harder with the foam rubber pads on their hands and feet.
On the other hand I had discovered a new weapon. Even though I was working as a construction laborer, when I warmed up I ended up with a gigantic pool of sweat around me and had to run and get the mop to clean it up before class could proceed. In turn when anyone kicked me, especially when they did so hard, when they put their foot down they fell as we had a polished tile floor I was cleaning each week.
I was far from an adequate fighter, but that one secret weapon could drop everyone.
Working with the Safe T gear we prepared for an upcoming tournament in Lansdowne, Pa. The day came when we drove up as a group. I competed with Seisan kata, but when they announced the kumite division and covered the rules I remember there was a change from how we were training, probably no head contact allowed at all. At the time I didn’t know how the rule difference could work considering I had trained differently.
Of course today, I would recognize forget the rules and just fight. Then I didn’t know what to do, none of my instructors were nearby and when my fight was called I was thinking far too much… enough said.
It was a time of work, more work, sweat and pain and so much more.
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