One day I recall very well, My wife and I lost
our daughter being stillborn. My first thought when she was in delivery was to
call Sensei Lewis and explain why I would not be in class. That did pass and
the time training continued.
Isshinryu
was not static, it was very much in play. What was the standard was the very
high caliber of Seniors who trained with Lewis Sensei.
After
intense training under Charles Murray, and obtaining my Sho Dan, I was too
soon on my own. Never had much money to
travel an meet others is Isshinryu. There were many things I had to learn on my
own to teach. I did seek out others skilled and train with them.
The
Isshinryu I met at tournaments, rarely had the time to do more than say hi. And
as I was not their brand of Isshinryu, nothing went further.
The
more I experiences, the more I learned by teaching, the more I trained with
extremely skilled friends, the greater my resolve to strengthen my Isshinryu
became.
Then
the wheel turned, and I had to move for work. I recommenced my program, added
an adult class. For decades I drove hours a day to and from work, for two years
commuted every other week to Pasadena California. But I kept the program going.
There
was always too little time to train, so much to share. Isshinryu remained as I
was taught, what occurred on the dojo floor, not so much a lesson in history.
My
own interest was intensely personal. In my day there was not attention paid to
the application potential to the Isshinryu kata, within our tradition. In
addition to teaching I worked on my own studies.
Of
course in those earlier days, many of the schools I did visit in my area, most
not Isshinryu, they on the whole did not work on application studies either.
One program on Shotokan did extensive application studies in Black Belt
training. That school taught me their meaning of ‘BUNKAI’ long before the word
came into use. Years before the magazines, the internet of that day, came to
use the term.
But
‘BUNKAI’ as they used it was very different from what the term came to mean
with most others around the world.
What
I began was to logically look at the application potentials of the Isshinryu
movements. As time passed I learned a real lesson. Those movements I had
learned an application potential for, knowing the answer, also meant I did not
look at those movements further. Many, time many I learned much later there was
always much more there.
Then
in 1995 I met Sherman Harrill. It was serendipity, but he was in the immediate area,
and I learned from him he had been friends of Tom Lewis back on Okinawa. I know
I am not alone being astonished at what he was doing. I do have some video tape
of the first time he and I worked together.
For
about a decade I was able to attend clinics with him throughout New England. I
learned whatever was being shown. He did make it clear that only part of his
studies could be in a clinic. Explaining somewhat what was different.
My
proudest moment came when was able to get him and Tom together for a weekend.
However, he passed away. A too brief moment in
time.
What
the experience did for me was to double my own efforts to understand what the
application potential, to Isshinryu, could be.
I
kept teaching, kept studying. The fire in me burned ever brighter.
Five
years later I drove to Chicopee Mass., to meet John Kerker. And of course I was
schooled. Many of the things he shared with me, which often continued things
Sherman could share. This continue for almost another decade, though but a few
short hours in the morning once a year.
Then
more time passes and my time came to a close, I could not continue to teach the
young. Where history was never part of what we discussed in detail, have shared
a great deal privately with my students by writing to them. And my blog where I
shared much more.
Isshinryu
for me is always that which occurs on the training floor. Building the body and
spirit of Isshinryu. Always fanning the flames for new generations, never
enough time. Working to make the best use of the time that is available.
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