When I began - part 1

 

 

I already knew something of the martial arts.

 

1.    Before I began college I got the Bruce Tegner book on Karate.

2.    My college roommate studied Shotokan at Temple with Okazaki Sensei, and he used to show me how to form a fist and karate blocking to be able to practice his karate studies with me in our room,

3.    And by the time I began

a.    My youngest brother and sister were studying Shotokan in York Pa.

b.    Another brother was studying Tae Kwon Do in the Jhoon Ree system.

c.     Yet another brother was studying S.L.  Martin in his style the Green Dragon School.

 

So I had some idea of what karate was.

 

I was working construction in Salisbury Maryland when one day I was told there was karate instruction in a barn outside of town.

 

 

The next evening I went there to view a class. All I recall is it was karate instruction. So the next evening I went there again. Finding there was not a class that day, but the instructor Tom Lewis described the program to me. I was told it was instruction in Isshinryu karate. We chatted a while and he invited me to join and informed me when the next class would be taking place.

 

 

When I arrived I joined with the rest of the class in the warm up session. Then I and the other beginners were given to two green belts where they took us to the dojo alcove and taught us the techniques of Chart 1 and Chart 2.

 

I discovered the karate there was very different from that of Shotokan that I had been previously shown. For one thing I would be using the vertical punch not the twisting punch. For another my blocks would be done with the side of the arm, not blocks twisting the arm as they were done.

 

That alone was quite a workout for me as a beginner.

 

The 2^nd class Dennis Lockwood began the beginners by showing us the opening movements of Kata Seisan. Rei, LFF Left side block then Right punch, RFF and left punch, LFF then right punch.

 

At that point Lewis Sensei came out of his office and announced to the class “For the rest of the class you will do the kata you know.” He the proceeded to lean back against the wall and closely watch everyone for the next 2 hours.

 

As I only knew the Seisan opening, I did it over and over for the rest of the class.

 

Then for the 3^rd class after warm up Kumite was announced for everyone.  I was standing off to the side and watched what was happening. Suddenly Dennis Lockwood approached me and told me I was to spar with a younger female green belt (who was 16, almost 10 years younger than me.

 

I had no idea what I was doing. I had no instructions on how to spar or what the rules were. I remember facing her, making a rei to each other and Dennis shouting “Hajime”

 

What happened next was something else. I attempted to keep my hands before me. Then she attacked and attacked. I had no idea what I should be doing. She struck me again and again, I was kicked repeatedly even slapping round kicks to  my face. Nothing I did seemed to work, My attempts at punching never worked.

 

I did learn well that I really knew nothing. I remember being Kathy driving me across the dojo from wall to  wall repeatedly. I remember nothing about the class after that.

 

For my 4^th class I had sweated so much after the warm up that I was told to go and find the mop and clean up the 6 foot puble of swean around me (that would be a standard for many months. I was shown more of Kata Seisan. I also learned there would be more sparring. The white belts would spar with the green belts (every one of them very accomplished) of course that meant more being knocked around (and probably as I was larger than they were) an opportunity to really strike into me. Sparring was explained to me. The rules were body contact to the front of the torso, but all strikes and kicks to the head must be pulled at the last instant.

 

For a long time I was target practice for those green belts. Because I was larger than they were, the repeatedly kicked me with full force, I believe my ribs were bruised for months, but I never stopped training.

 

One of the other white belts and I used to get to class an hour early and use the time to work on the Charts and KoteKitae

 (body hardening by learning how to tighten the muscles while being struck or kicked.

 

Other times we would run circling the dojo chanting USMC running cadances.

 

Class was approximately ½ kata and ½ kumite,  But things were always changing and except for the warm up drills, almost every class followed a different order and there were many unique classes too. There were times Lewis Sensei would talk about his days on Okinawa, other times he might describe the results of strikes to viltal areas of the body.

 

It was never really explained that while almost everyone was welcome to join the club, and maybe 15 or 20 did in a good month. Most good months after several months later, there might just be one who remained training. Not that beginners were not given good instruction,  rather after they felt the training, many chose not to return to class. Thus more of the class was focused on the advanced students.

 

At times the kumite rules might be a tad bent if the facial contact was controlled. Of course the rules were the same for men and women. But I noticed if the women made facial contact they were not penalized. I always thought that was because Sensei wanted the women to learn to strike a man’s face.

 

Class was structured 2 days a week for kyu students. The dan had separate classes one day a week, and they came in from many associated  IKCdojo for those classes. As I only was a kyu in Salisbury I never saw their workouts, but often saw them training after class, kata, bo or sai.

 

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2009/01/kotekitae-art-to-isshinryu-body.html