When I began - part 2

 

 

When I began I knew nothing of the Isshinryu system

 

I was first shown Chart 1 and Chart 2 of Tom Lewis dojo They covered the basic strikes and blocks of our Isshinryu and the basic kicking techniques.

 

Original Upper Body Combinations

 

1. RFF Right Punch
2. RFF Right Uppercut
3. LFF Right Punch
4. LFF Right Uppercut
5. RFB Left Low Block, Right Punch
6. RFB Left Side Block, Right Punch
7. RFB Left Arm Block, Right Spear
8. RFB Left High Block, Right Punch
9. RFB Left Open Hand Block, Right Uppercut
10. RFB Left Bridge Strike (Nose), Right Punch
11. LFF Left Low Block 5 Punches
12. LFF Left Side Block 5 Punches
13. LFF Right Roundhouse Punch, Left (Same)
14. LFF Left Open Low Block, Right Shuto
15. Break Bear Hug

 

Original Lower Body Combinations

 

1. Front Snap Kick
2. Knee Strike (45degrees)
3. Front Kick (Side)
4. Cross Kick
5. Side Snap Kick
6. Heel Strike (Knee)
7. Knee Strike
8. Rear Kick
9. Side Kick (45 degrees rear)
10. Squat Kick
11. Side Kick (on  Floor)
12. Front Thrust (from floor)
13. Double Jump Kick
14. Roundhouse Kick
15. Side Kick (Rear 45 degrees), Rear Kick

 

There were Dojo Rules posted on a bulletin board inside the door, but no one went over them, expecting us to read them.

 

Dojo Bylaws

Tom Lewis Salisbury Md. Isshinryu Karate Club      1975

 

1.      No Profanity will be permitted.

2.      Remove shoes before entering practice area.

3.      The Chief Instructor will be addressed as “Sensei”.

All other black belts will be address ad “Mister”.

4.      Bow to the opponent before and after practice.

5.      Cleanliness of person and gi is mandatory.

6.      Cleanliness of Dojo is the responsibility of everyone.

7.      Persons under the influence of alcohol will not be admitted.

8.      Boisterous conduct during training will not be permitted.

9.      Senior rank will be recognized and respected.

10.  Senior ranking members will be responsible for junior members.

11.  Public demonstrations of Karate will not be permitted without prior approval of the Chief Instructor.

12.  Dues must be paid promptly when due since the club is non-profit and has no operating capital.

13.  Kumite will be permitted only under the supervision of a Brown or Black Belt instructor.

14.  Fights or other violence involving a member must be reported to club officials within 24 hours.

15.  Misuse of karate knowledge will subject members to dismissal by the board of officials.

16.  Criticism of members will be made ONLY by the instructors.

 

 

 

  

Kata studies began with Seisan kata taught by Dennis Lockwood.  You were taught the kata piece by piece,  Many black belts from other IKC dojo would stop in to visit Lewis Sensei. In turn they assisted the instruction around the dojo. Many of them joined in on different days as I was learning Seisan. It seemed each of them were teaching a slightly different version. Why was not explained. Very quickly I realized when they were teaching I was expected to perform Seisan as they were showing it, never was it explained why there were differences.  Most of the time I was Dennis Lockwood and finally I had the form, then I was expected to work on it and I did.  One day Dennis approached me telling me I had the form down, but now it was time to learn a different variation.

 

As I was taught Seisan each time you turned you moved the following row of techniques slightly over so by the end you would have moved away from the opening rei. However Dennis showed me a different way to turn in the kata. When a turn occurred he had me step ½ the distance from what I had been shown and then continue the turn of the following ½   turning into the new direction. Thus after the turn you were working the original line of the kata. And this meant the entire kata would be performed on the same line. Quite different from what I was originally shown and it stayed that way thereafter. I was promoted to Yellow Belt.

 

 There was another white belt who used to show up an hour before class. We used that time to train together. We would first work the charts, then we worked on something else we were shown. The body hardening drills. First we the arm and body striking partner drill called as we understood it “Toe Tiki Tie” which today I recognize as Kote Kitae.  The set of arm and body striking was to learn how to have the body tighten when struck. Allowing the body, in effect, to strike back against a blow.

 

The 2 person drill began slow but with each repetition of the drill we would strike harder and harder, learning how to deal with the pain of being struck back.

 

Along with that drill there were other drills to accomplish the same thing. There was taking roundhouse kicks with the top of the foot into the abdomen (for beginners we learned to hold your back hand in front of the groin (as beginners often could not kick high enough. Another version involved holding your back hand against your ribs for a side kick into your ribs. Both of those drills had the same purpose allowing you to get used to taking a kick.

 

In time for me it worked. I remember one class I was working with Dennis Lockwood and we were showing a new group of beginners how the drill functioned. Well, working with one of my instructors I was not going to back down. We began the drill. And slowly increased the power in our strikes. Then Dennis realized I was not going to back down and he increased the power of his strikes. I did not back down and went toe to toe with him. Eventually we finished another round and he slapped his hands together and exclaimed “STOP” which I did. I felt I had accomplished something that day.

 

 

After  Seisan Dennis taught me Seiunchin kata. It was taught faster than I had learned Seisan. I now had 2 kata to practice. Almost immediately Lewis Sensei informed us that there was to be a karate demonstration at the Salisbury center and all of us would be in it. Sensei was planning on showing everything that was being taught in the dojo.

 

The yellow belts were going to perform a group Seiunchin kata, and he would instruct the group. Seiunchin kata was to be performed with energetic breathing in portions of the form. Again slightly different from what I had been originally shown. And to top it off the kata was to be performed to the song the Hustle and we would use the music to learn how  to perform group kata together.

 

Lewis Sensei normally only drilled beginners when they were part of the class during warm ups. Most of the time Dennis Lockwood or Al Bailey would work with the beginners. Sensei would concentrate on the green belts and the brown belt as a rule.  Now he was most focused on yellow belts as a group. We drilled and drilled with Sensei on the kata, the intense breathing sections and timing the kata to the music. The hustle was drilled into my brain such that to this day when I do the kata, I still hear that tune.

 

The demo came off and went well.

 

The end result for the next 20 years SeiunchinKata was my favorite kata.

 

Next Dennis Lockwood taught me Nihanchi kata.  The kata was performed side to side and after you learned ½ of the kata, the other half used the same movements just reversed.  In time I did learn a slightly different version (I no longer remember when of which instructor taught me). Over time I ofter would begin with one version but end with the other version. <note I only taught one version my own students. However both of them work.>

 

I was soon promoted to blue belt.  Some time prior to that there was no blue belt in our school. Instead there were 2 green belt ranks. But Sensei said he noticed that our newer green belts were often competing against more advanced green belts from other schools and that was the reason for adopting the blue belt.

 

That followed with Wansu kata. Again it was Dennis Lockwood who taught me the form. Some time later there was an IKC shiai I competed in the Blue belt division. I did Wansu and I won first place. So I was practicing Seisan, Seiunchin, Nihanchi and Wansu.

 

 

I am going to shift direction at this point.

 

I want to talk about my kumite experiences.  From my first experience with kumite, I was probably the worst that ever was. I had no natural ability and was mostly a practice target for the green belts. About my only ability lied in using the profuse sweating created during warm up so when anyone kicked me when they put their foot down they would slip on that foot, often falling to the floor. Green belt, brown belt or black belt made no difference my sweat was my best weapon.

 

When I was  while belt I went along to compete at a tournament in Baltimore run by Francisco Conde. I competed in kata with Seisan, Then I competed in the white belt kumite division. Because of my height I drew another tall opponent to fight in the first round against. I did not know he was a student from Reese Rigby’s Dover IKC school.

 

The tournament kumite rules and been amended that day for the various kung fu opponents in attendance. That tournament would allow controlled groin attacks as they practiced them. Of course through the day no kung fu student actually used dropping groin attacks.  Instead the green belts from or dojo continually scored with them,  They actually trained with them extremely hard, and developed the skills required.

 

So it became time for my fight. The guy I was fighting and I went back and back, typical white belt after al.l  When suddenly he threw a roundhouse kick with the top of his foot. It struck my groin, hard. I was wearing a cup but the pain from the shock of that strike brought tears to my eyes. It was nothing I was prepared for.

 

But the judges called Ippon and declared it was a controlled strike.

 

After that the fight continued and of course in time he won.

 

I remember the long ride back to Salisbury, I know I was quite depressed. No one said anything to me, I felt so humiliated. I vowed to myself I was not going to quit and that eventually I would learn to fight.

 

Back at the dojo things continued as before.

 

It is difficult to explain the Average class structure, but I will try although things changed all the time.

 

Say about 5% of thc class was for warm-ups.

Then about 15% of the class was for other things.

About 40% of each class was given to kata practice.

And about 40% of each class focused on Kumite and kumite drills.

 

Several times a year Sensei would lead us in games for the night, just to keep our minds fresh.

I remember talks by Sensei such as the medical implication of karate blows (and one teenage student passing out during that talk).

There was rarely any talk about Isshinryu history, probably because we were living Isshinryu.

At times we prepared for demonstrations.

And we prepared for IKC shiai too.

 

 

I participated in class kumite. Learned the various drills of kumite technique. I felt the pain from the green belts I fought with. I participated in more tournaments. While I did not win my fights I did become more comfortable with kumite.

 

Then Jhoon Ree came out with safety gear, and we all had to learn how it changed kumite. The tournaments also had to learn how to use it. Before that all tournaments were bare knuckle controlled kumite ( which meant the judges decided how much controlled contact would be permitted and as the tournament went along ofter the judges called more and more contact as controlled).

 

After about a year I was not satisfied with my progress on Kumite. So I worked out a plan. As our classes were on Monday and Wednesday I started to visit other dojo in the IKC on other weekdays. I visited the Princess Ann Maryland dojo of run by Wayne Webster, the Stateline Delaware dojo run by Marvin Jones and the Dover Delaware dojo run by Reese Rigby. At each of them I expressed my desire to get better and each of those instructors permitted me to train with them when I came.

 

The biggest note was when I first went to Reese Rigby to train.

We walked a bit in turn he was most interested in how they were doing the kata in Salisbury. He explained that almost all of he black belts found the kata they studied was slightly different from each others. They had all trained at different years with Sensei. He said Lewis Sensei never explained why what was. Lewis Sensei was only interested in they were doing their strongest performance.

 

So Reese was most interested in seeing what I was doing.

 

After a very lengthy warm up (a trade mark of his dojo), he announced we were going to be sparring that night. I very clearly remember he lined me up with a green belt from his school.

 

He was very close to my size. Reese shouted Hajamie and we began, we traded some strikes, none of them scoring. Then suddenly he jumped up throwing a flying side kick toward me. This was something I had never faced. Without thought my left arm scooped the kicking leg down. That caused him to lose control and fall to the floor with a very loud thunk.

 

I thought I must have killed him automatically.

 

But he bounced up off the floor in an instant with a big grin on his face.

 

We continued sparring, back and forth.

 

Reese told me later while he had earned a green belt in Isshinryu, he already was a black belt in jujitsu. And when I scooped his legs just did a break fall and suffered no harm.

 

 

Whew….

 

 

Sometime later a black belt I did not know visited the club with a friend. I later learned he was Charles Murray who was currently attending seminary close to Philadelphia. Both of them were black belts and came to visit and spar.

 

When they took the floor everyone immediately left.  Now there were vast differences between the Yellow, Blue, Green and Brown belts when they sparred. But this was something else. I did not know Charles reputation sparring, but with his friend this was something way beyond anything I had previously seen.

 

When they clashed it seemed as if someone would break. But they did not they kept fighting and it was magnificent to see and a bit terrifying. I will never forget that night.

 

There were more tournaments, and I have memories of each. In Penna, in Maryland and in Washington.

 

One night toward the end of class Lewis Sensei called me into his office. Charles was sitting there and Sensei began to speak. He said Chares was trying to make money over summer break from his Seminary. What he thought was to run a self defense class at one of the large hotels in Ocean City for the summer. He was asking Lewis sensei to have the black belts of the IKC perform a demonstration showing aspects of Isshinryu and Sensei asked me I would participate, specifically sparring with Charles.

 

Of course I said yes, but left feeling I was surely going to be crushed. And as the weeks passed and the day drew closer I was sure that was going to happen.

 

 

The day of the demonstration we were out in front of the hotel the beach chairs were filled and many people were standing on the beach. I was the only kyu student, the rest were about 30 black belts of the IKC. The event began and demonstration followed demonstration. Then it was time for Charles and I to demonstrate kumite. Of course it was a fair fight, I a blue belt and Charles an experienced Ni-dan. We were to wear safety gear and Charles  had never worn it before.

 

We lined up facing each other then Sensei shouted ‘Hajime’

 

I only realized that everyone, who had instructed me, worked with and I so greatly respected, were watching me. So I opened by aggressively attacking Charles. I knew I had no chance but I also knew I had to try to do my best.

 

So I went in and Charles immediately responded, playing rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat on my body.

 

[Aside: much later I learned that Dennis Lockwood, sitting next to Sensei told him that perhaps the fight should be stopped  because Charles was going to kill Victor. Sensei responded “no, it is going to be all right.”]

 

The fight continues I kept charging in and Charles responded by being all over me.

 

One member of that audience really liked me being pounded, he made a lot of noise on that position.

 

Eventually the demonstration kumite concluded and we Rei’d out.

 

I felt it but was not hurt, Charles had fought energetically but with control.

 

Nobody ever said a word to me about that fight except Sensei and his words were “That was supposed to be a demonstration, of light kumite, not a real fight.” Of course I had never been told that.

 

I guess I kept improving but it was hard for me to say.

 

 

 

I should mention that my  wife Maureen eventually joined the program. I was  a yellow belt at that time. Here is her story.

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2022/03/maurern-smith-wife-and-karate-ka.html

 

 

NYC Sunnyside Gardens 1975 – all Isshinryu

 

I attended the tournament in NYC, ‘the tribute for the Master’.

Honoring the death of Master Shimabuku and to raise money for a statue for him on Okinawa.

 

So many attended, I remember seeing Nagle Sensei, Mitchum Sensei, Long Sensei and Armstrong Sensei. So many competed from other Isshinryu dojo across the country, I remember Sensei performing a great Sunsu kata, though I had not seen it before.  Karl Hovey launched himself with his kicks into orbit while performing Chinto.

 

It was an exciting weekend. I remember Harold Long having lunch with sensei. I saw performance of moving bo-bo kumite. In the evening Shimabuku Kichero performed Sunsu and Kusanku Sai.

 

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/07/tournaments-past.html

 

But as it turned into the summer of 1975 work at the construction site in Salisbury was winding down. They gave everyone a week off and I began to think of what future employment would be for me.

 

Eventually I took her father’s advice and went up to Scranton Pa and applied at a bank there. They offered me a position as a teller trainee, I returned to Salisbury and informed my employer I was moving on, then I went to the dojo and informed Sensei.

 

That last class he began to teach me the opening section of Chinto kata.

 

Then at the end of class he announced my promotion to Green Belt.

 

After that my time in Salisbury ended and I packed to move on.

 

I definitely was moving into uncharted waters as far as my martial studied (Isshinryu) was concerned.