May the Chi be with you

Thursday, October 20, 2022

May the Chi be with you

It was August of 1989, a Saturday morning where my adult class was being held that day. As everyone went through the day, an idea I had been playing with rolled around in my mind, ‘What would a minimalist karate system consist of.’

Now I had been a black belt for 10 years, pretty much kept my students following the same regime I had been trained in. But for most of that time I trained with many others in many different systems. The Isshinryu I had been taught did not focus on kata technique applications. But I had seen many things how other instructors did or did not use such studies. I was seriously thinking I might work such kata technique applications for myself.

None of those other instructors, many of them extremely skilled really cared about my Isshinryu. I began to work out what was possible.

That morning a new idea hit me, I would take the least impressive martial techniques I had studied and try to work out what was possible when using them.

Andy Ware stayed after class and I began to work it out.

The approach I used was to take movements from many forms, movements I did not think of as having martial uses, and see what I could do with them.

I selected 5 techniques from different systems (Goju, Tai Chi Chaun amd Ghost Techniques of Ernest Rothrock)

What I discovered was the most useless of techniques I picked out had many martial good martial uses.

I decided to name them for my own system as Victor-Te. And as the creator of such system I gave them new names.

The hammerfist strike study from Saifa became ‘The Eagle Swoops Down’.
The pullback became ‘The Snake Retreats’.
The ghost technique became ‘The Ghost Departs’.
The brush knee became ‘The Bear wipes it’s Claws’
The fair lady works shuttles became ‘The Bear wipes it’s Nose’.

Of course I was having fun.

Then later I made more and more such studies. Leading to later I the year to begin to work on 50 different ways to use the Opening of Kata Seisan.

But this story gets more interesting. About a year later I was to give a clinic session at Tristan Sutrisno’s Bushi No Te Summer Camp.

I decided to show them my own system, the applications of Victor-te, all in the name of fun. No one there except my own students cared about Isshinryu, so I decided to do something else.

Among those techniques I would show how I used the Tai Chi Roll Back (pullback), I had renamed it the Snake Retreats.

Well I demonstrated how the two arms would direct a strike beside me ten both hands would roll under the arm, the right arm them rolling over the arm, so both arms had the attacking limb in between them. That would allow me to press back against their arm at its elbow forcing them into an armbar take down.

The Roll Back from Tai Chi, was also part of the two person Tai Chi Da Lu.

I showed them how to do it and the group then practiced it.

Then a young Marine, there from one of the participating schools, spoke up. The Marine , who was 6’6” of vim and vinegar, stated it would not work on him.

I was challenged before everyone. So I asked him to attack mem I stood waiting.

When he stepped forward with the punch, I slipped to the outside and lightly deflecting his arm with the Roll Back, reinforcing his forward ovement. Then I continued forward with the lead hand. Moving the lead hand forward into a fingertip strike into his neck, hard.

He went recoiling back and ended seated on the floor. I then told him “If you remember When teaching the technique I called the movement The Snake Retreats, and also showed you that snakes bite.”

It was a priceless lesson for me.

Of course this is not unique to Tai Chi, here is Seyru Oyata using a similar movement in a demonstration.