Personal historical note on my tonfa practice

 

When I was a brown belt Charles had borrowed the 1966 Shimabuku movies from Sensei for his own study. One day he told me he was giving me one of the movies and his movie editor (which can be used to view the firm frame by frame) and told me I was going to learn the tonfa movie on the film At that time on one in the IKC was doing tonfa.  I purchased a tonfa at Asian World in Phila. And then viewed and viewed that form on working out how to do the form move by move. On the movie the form was called Chifa, so that was what I called it. After watching that movie so many times frame by frame I got to the point I could never really view it again. I did get a form, not really sure how close it was to what Shimabuju did. That was 1978.

 

Then Charles had me teach him. Of course in a week he was doing it better than I.

 

On the day of my black belt test, Howard Mitchum was giving two clinics at Lewis Sensei’s dojo for the IKC. During a break between one of the clinics Charles volunteered me to present my tonfa form. At that time nobody in the IKC was doing tonfa. When Lewis Sensei trained on Okinawa Shimabuku Sensei was not teaching the form. I believe he studied it a year or so later from Taira Sensei. When I finished Harold Mitchum volunteered that when he trained on Okinaw it was not studied then either.

 

So I just worked Chiafa for decades. I used to visit Salisbury one a year or so, always stopping in Dover to also  train with Reese Rigby. One time I did teach him what I was doing too. Years later, after Lewis Sensei retired, Reese went with Angi, even traveling to Okinawa to train with him. I am sure ht adopted the version Angi taught.

 

Eventually I became aware of a Panther video of Angi Uzeu doing the tonfa form. But I really could not watch it closely either.

 

 I just trained.  Eventually I taught the form to my black belt long germ students.

 

One time when Sherman was visiting me he asked to see my tonfa, so I showed him what I was doing.  In turn he showed me his, which he made the point he studied it from AJ Advincula. It was a bit like mine and also different. He never said I was right or wrong, never discussed the name of the form., Just wanted to see what I was doing.. We really never much ever went into kobudo, and when he did, it was on bo-bo and select bo applications.

 

Roll forward to 1990 when I joined the internet age. Remember all my Isshinryu training came from Tom and Charles back in the 1970’s. I discovered that others were calling the form Hama Higa No Tonfa. But as I never studied with anyone of the form decided I would keep the name as it was on the tape.

 

I heard claims what Shimabuku Sensei forgot the entire form, and that he made mistakes. I could not say. To me in actuality it made no difference. Any form is but the form being done. I had no context as to who was right or wrong. Any version can work. Then of course reality sets in.. 

Sure there is a police version, the PR-24, modified to make some tonfa techniques impossible to do for the police. But realistically one can’t carry them around today. 

It time I discovered their real worth was secondary as a long term study  to become another force enhancer for karate practice. The decades of work with the tonfa builds stronger karate technique.

 

This is Chiafa as I taught it  

Back in 1980 I worked up my own tonfa exercise to better work the potential for tonfa IMO  It was how I felt tonfa would be more practical in use. I based it off of Wansu kata.

 

My Wansu No Tonfa 

 

I have always been content doing what I do. Never sought other training. Never felt it was to be used for competition.

 

This is just what I did.