Friday, December 30, 2022

La raison plus fort est toujours la meilleux

 


Back in 1965 I was a summer student of the Foreign Language League school held at the Universitie de Reims. I was there to gain more knowledge of the French Language, alas that probably did not happen.

 

Our class was held in a large hall where classes were conducted in mass.

 

The one thing I remember was he had to memorize a French poem, “Le Loup and l’agneau by Jean de La Fontaine. Sadly as the decades passed the poem was lost in my memory, however I still recall the opening lines.

 

La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure 

Nous l’allons montrer tout à l’heure.

 

One translation might be:

 

The reason of those best able

to have their way is always the best:

 

Looking at the prime meaning is something like this.

 

In a debate or conflict, the winner is always the one who, by nature, is the strongest: whatever the merits of his opponent's arguments, he will get the better of him and will achieve his ends. This proverb implies a "natural" law with which justice has little to do.  Its use, most often full of irony, can reach cynicism. In modern societies, the meaning of "stronger" must now be understood as "more competent", "richer" or "more influential". We then move away from the notion of physical strength.”

 

My suggestion is does this thought drive you?

 

Is this really the way one should live their life?

 

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 Le loup et l’agneau

Jean de La Fontaine

La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure :
Nous l’allons montrer tout à l’heure.

Un Agneau se désaltérait
Dans le courant d’une onde pure.
Un Loup survient à jeun qui cherchait aventure,
Et que la faim en ces lieux attirait.
Qui te rend si hardi de troubler mon breuvage ?
Dit cet animal plein de rage :
Tu seras châtié de ta témérité.
– Sire, répond l’Agneau, que votre Majesté
Ne se mette pas en colère ;
Mais plutôt qu’elle considère
Que je me vas désaltérant
Dans le courant,
Plus de vingt pas au-dessous d’Elle,
Et que par conséquent, en aucune façon,
Je ne puis troubler sa boisson.
– Tu la troubles, reprit cette bête cruelle,
Et je sais que de moi tu médis l’an passé.
– Comment l’aurais-je fait si je n’étais pas né ?
Reprit l’Agneau, je tette encor ma mère.
– Si ce n’est toi, c’est donc ton frère.
– Je n’en ai point.
– C’est donc quelqu’un des tiens :
Car vous ne m’épargnez guère,
Vous, vos bergers, et vos chiens.
On me l’a dit : il faut que je me venge.
Là-dessus, au fond des forêts
Le Loup l’emporte, et puis le mange,
Sans autre forme de procès.

Jean de La Fontaine

 

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The Wolf and the Lamb

 

The reason of those best able

to have their way is always the best:

We now show how this is true.

A lamb was quenching its thirst

In the water of a pure stream.

A fasting wolf came by, looking for something;

He was attracted by hunger to this place.

- What makes you so bold as to meddle with my drinking?

Said this animal, very angry.

You will be punished for your boldness.

- Sir, answered the lamb, let Your Majesty

Not put himself into a rage;

But rather, let him consider

That I am taking a drink of water

In the stream

More than twenty steps below him;

And that, consequently, in no way,

Am I troubling his supply.

- You do trouble it, answered the cruel beast.

And I know you said bad things of me last year.

- How could I do that when I wasn't born,

Answered the lamb; I am still at my mother's breast.

- If it wasn't you, then it was your brother.

- I haven't a brother. - It was then someone close to you;

For you have no sympathy for me,

You, your shepherds and your dogs.

I have been told of this: I have to make things even.

Saying this, into the woods

The wolf carries the lamb, and then eats him

Without any other why or wherefore.

 

https://lyricstranslate.com

Thursday, December 29, 2022

I only taught karate to young or old.

 



I was teaching at the local Boys and Girls Club with my programs.

 

Often at local events parents would ask me where they should take their 3,4,,5 or 6 year old child to obtain karate training.

 

I always told them the truth, they could not get karate training for one so young, and they would be better off getting beginning dance training from a qualified instructor, both the boys and girls.

 

In reality beginning dance is better youth movement instruction for every child, to later be built upon whatever they later choose to be.

 

But especially the parents of boys recoiled at the idea of their son in dance class.

 

Reality my son and my daughter both studied early dance, and when I was young I too had beginning dance.

 

They really didn't want informed advice, just what they wanted to hear.

Monday, December 26, 2022

Saifa Possible Prime Source

 

Master Teruo Chinen "Saifa Kata"



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MSjKvvPWRc


In my early years I was shown various versions of Saifa. Then in 1986 I observed Chinen Sensei perform Saifa at a clinic Rich Bernard hosted in Derry, NH.  


Right after that I chose to solidify the Saifa I would teach. That version was not exactly as I  had been shown various versions.  As I look at the Chinen Sensei version I can see how he influenced my choices.

 

I cannot really source the version I used for us.  Then again I was not beholden to any Goju group.


What I choose was likely a combination of the versions I had learned. Then again I really was  not trying to imitate anyone.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSnrLqIsFxM


Sa





Thursday, December 22, 2022

When you believe it is cold! T'ai Chi weather


I hear most of the country is down to -20f, that was the temp.  When I taught tai chi outside on my driveway back in Derry, NH,  in the fresh derry-aire....

 

A friend stated,  “That’s the kind of cold that kills!”

 

Not if you are dressed for it, in NH that is skiing weather...

 

But those were the days. That cold morning was when Doc joined my tai chi class. He got out of his car warning me he was a surgeon and had to protect his hands. I told him we have a special method in tai chi to do that. It is called wearing gloves.


 True story,  when the guys approached me about beginning the class, I told them in China they do it outside, in hotter and colder weather than were they lived. And that I wasn't going to do less than China,   For 15 years I only cancelled class for rain.Our class temperatures went from -20f to +110f and we always had class.


I always took my tai chi as seriously as I approached my karate.


 

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Kyudokan secrets striking variations

 

My description of striking techniques being shown.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whMspxSM4Yc

 


Against a right punch

1.     Right cross hand open hand parry as the hip rolls back

2.     Then as the hips roll forward left punch to the solar plexus

 Against a right punch

1.     Right foot hi block  then left punch to solar plexus (interior line of defense)

Against a right punch

2.     Left foot forward right hi block, then left punch to ribs (exterior line of defense)

 Against a right punch

1.     Left foot forward right hi block, shuffle in with right descending elbow (exterior line of defense)

Against a right punch

2.     Left foot forward right hi block, right hand grabs their fist, rotate your hand clockwise and down  while your left hand  presses their inside elbow down an the same time (exterior line of defense)

Against right punch

1.      Left foot forward and simultaneous Left Low block and right backfist strike to the head. (interior line of defense)

Against right punch

1.                          1. Left foot forward, right cross body elbow strike into their arm (interior line of defense)

Against right punch

2.                        1. Left foot forward, right cross body elbow strike into their arm then right elbow (backward strike) into their body  or forward right elbow strike (interior line of defense)

Against right punch

1.                                1.  Left foot forward, left inward cross body parry/strike (exterior line of defense)

Against right punch

1.                               1, Left foot forward, left punch to their lower abdomen (interior line of defense)

2.     Or         2.  Left foot forward, left punch to their lower abdomen then right punch to their solar plexus (interior line of defense)


Right foot forward right punch

1.                      1. Left foot forward, left low block to their punch,  Then right palm heel strike to their jaw (interior line of defense)

Right foot forward right punch

2.                        1. Left foot forward, left low block to their punch,  Then right vertical punch to their throat (interior line of defense)

Right foot forward

3.                         1.   Left foot forward, left low block to their punch moving their arm to the outside, follow with a right low forearm strike to the neck behind their head. (interior line of defense)

Right foot forward

1.                         1.  Right foot forward with right outside block, then rotate the right fist open and grab their arm and pull (exterior line of defense ) this is a variation of the sutrisno open hand block rotate hand and grab and pull)

Right foot forward Right punch

2.                      1. Right foot forward with right outside block, then rotate the right fist open and grab their arm and pull , when attacker pulled forward the left flat hand strikes the are and the right spear hand opens and strikes to the face, eyes or throat (exterior line of defense )

 


The 1976 bust of Tatsuo Shimabuku

 


The Isshinryu tournament held at the Sunnyside Gardens in NYC in 1976 was to raise money to have a statue of Tatsuo Shimabuku made to be placed in Okinawa.

 

The tournament was held and brought Isshinryu karate-ka from around the country to compete and support the effort to pay for that bust.

 

See the original blog post I made about that tournament:


https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-tribute-for-shimabuku-tatsuo-in-1976.html

 

Going through my pivatee files I just found a photo of that bust of Tatsuo that was made. I have never seen this posted before.


Unfortunately I have no further details about what happened to that bust.


 

Friday, December 16, 2022

"Analysis of the Bubishi" from KINAWAN BUBISHI


 From KINAWAN BUBISHI by Fernando P. Camara

 

In my article "Analysis of the Bubishi" I classified the basic, technical, and particular teaching of these figures, but in the present article I intend to go a little deeper in this research. We can divide the 48 figures in the following elements:

 

1,Basic blocks:

Figures 25 (mawashi-uke tora-guchi), 32 (crane fist chudan soto-uke), and 37 (closed fist chudan uchi-uke) seem to exist only to remember the basic blocks used by the school represented in the Bubishi.

The jodan-uke block occurs in figures and is performed with both hands (augmented or as X-block). Here it is used to defend a strike above the head or a hair grab. This block is naturally completed with a front kick in the groin of the adversary.

 

2. Hand strikes:

These techniques used along the 48 figures are performed with four fingers (nukite), one finger (ippon-nukite), crane bunched fingers (kakushiken), palm hand (teisho ate), punch (seiken or hiraken?), hammerfist (kentsui), elbow (ushiro hijiate), chokes with fingers and squeeze of testicles and biceps with the fingers. Training of the fingers should be encouraged in that system.

 

3. Kicks:

Front kick is the only kick showed and the kicker always loose (figures 5, 12, 21, 26.

Note that figures 21 repeat figure 12). This show us that kicks were not considered good technique in that school, and perhaps it were used only as a complement of some defense techniques.

 

4. Kyusho jutsu:

We have also figures where the purpose is to call the attention for specific painful points and how it should be manipulated. These are showed figures 14 (insertion of triceps above the elbows), 16 (armpits), 30 (side of the thorax), and 40 (intercostal space below niples). Vital points showed along the 48 figures are testicles, throat, eyes, jaws (side), and carotids (see figure 31).

There are not strikes to back, legs, or arms in the 48 figures. This is an example that "36 kyusho" or "sichen" doctrines were not important, what is important is if the technique works or not.

 

5. Lethal techinuqes:

Most of 48 figures techinques are dangerous, but one of them is particularly lethal: breaking the neck of someone in a close fight (figure 4 and 7, that are the same technique). This is a easy technique, but extremely dangerous and not should be teaching in regular classes.

 

 

 

 

  

A First Generation Student Speaks Out


First Generation Student Speaks Out

____ by Sherman Harrill - Agena Dojo 1959-1960

"I reached a point where I could no longer read the things being said about Sensei Shimabuku, his teachings, or how he promoted his students. The idea that these people felt they knew the way it was to be done, yet never trained under him whizzed me off. I felt it was time the record be set straight."

All I can do is speak of my own experiences as how things happened to me when I trained in the Agena Dojo in 1959-1960

Rank:
Sensei Shimabuku promoted me to green belt after about 6 months with no testing. He just came up to me and said Harryu you catchy green belt. No big deal I then went and bought one. After another six months the same thing was done when he told me to catchy Black Belt.

Upon leaving Okinawa Sensei sat John DeSantis and I down and asked if we were going to teach Isshin Ryu when we went back to the states. At that time I had great hopes of doing just that. Sensei at that time did not promote me to the rank (there is a big difference between a promotion and entrusting) of Roku-Dan, he entrusted it to me. He said after 15 years plus training that it could be used. There was no contract just a handshake and my work. That was good enough at that time.

Things do not always turn out the way we plan, for I didn't open a dojo for a long time. After I did and 22 years later I assumed the rank as I felt that I had done as Sensei had asked of me. Now the big question most people want to know, what was my rank when I left Okinawa. I hope that I might have been a half way decent Sho-Dan but that would depend on what standards were used. One thing you will find out is that I will be able to hit someone just as hard with a white obi on as with a black one.

Secrets:
If there were any secrets I sure in the hell didn't know any of them. I was neither one of Sensei's favorite or better students. I was just one of many young Marines that passed through the Agena Dojo. Almost everything I was shown was very basic, block, punch and kick. This along with a lot of guts or sometimes no common sense made for some very strong fighters out of the Dojo. There was two things that made a big difference in my personal training after leaving; One was having the code broken down by an Okinawan. The second was working on the Kumite that Sensei taught. Kumite was not sparring but what people now know as bunkai.

42 Years Later:
I have seen a lot of comments made by people about Shimabuku, Sensei. Some have been very good, others question his reasons for the way he developed Isshin Ryu and promoted his students. Sensei was just another person and that means that he made some mistakes but NO ONE knows what his plan was except Tatsuo Shimabuku.

I have no problem with anyone who brings new ideas and knowledge into the system as long as you don't break one rule: Don't try to fix something that is not broken. There is nothing wrong with the way our basics or katas as taught by Shimabuku, Sensei. I suggest that if you do not like the way he did things or how he set up the system then look for another style and leave Isshin Ryu alone. 
Tatsuo Shimabuku trained and proud of it. ___ Sherman Harrill, Sensei

Sensei Sherman Harrill Passed Away 10:00 A.M. Monday November 4, 2002
A first generation student of Tatsuo Shimabuku and a personal friend to many of us.

 

Found on an old site no longer in existence

Isshin ryu Northwest

 

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Eihachi Ota Hanshi, performing the kama

 

From 1983 issue of Black Belt magazine, a great article on Eihachi Ota Hanshi, performing the kama. Ota Sensei is one of the premier Kobudo instructors in our Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu system, and has been for over 60 years.

 

Bill George - Kohai

 








Monday, December 12, 2022

THE ORIGINAL ISSHIN-RYU KARATE SYSTEM by Chris Thomas

 

Black Belt Magazine
January 1996

All martial arts change over time. A look at Morihei Ueshiba's Aikido shows that in the thirties, Ueshiba taught a combat art more properly called Aiki-jitsu. The Aikido of today is based on a very different set of values and purposes. Some may argue that today's Aikido is less effective because its fighting techniques have been watered-down. Some may argue it is more effective because achieving harmony is a far more practical life-skill than fighting. Be that as it may, understanding and looking at the early version of the art helps us to have a greater understanding of the whole.


   Isshinryu karatedo came into existence in 1956, the creation of the late karate master Tatsuo Shimabukuro. Recently, Shimabukuro’s son-in-law, the well-known karate-ka Angi Uezu, announced the formation of a new Isshinryu organization. The purpose of this new association is, in Uezu's words, "to insure that Isshin-Ryu was taught the same way that I was taught by Master Tatsuo Shimabukuro, not just the way that he taught when he started Isshin-Ryu karate, but the ways that he taught, and the things that he learned through-out the whole time up and until he passed away."


   The implication of Uezu's comment is this: there is an early, "original," version of Isshinryu, which is different than the art that most people have learned. And if we are to truly understand Shimabukuro's system, we must understand its earliest incarnation.

   To examine nascent Isshinryu, it is necessary to find someone who was there, someone who was an eyewitness of Shimabukuro, someone who has continued to teach and think the way he was taught. It is necessary to talk with Harry G. Smith. Harry Smith was an original student of Shimabukuro’s, and has trained in Isshinryu almost from the beginning of the style. He is largely responsible for many of Isshinryu's top practitioners, and though he is not profiled in the book "Who's Who in Isshin-Ryu Karate," his name appears numerous times as the teacher of many of the notables who are included. Smith was also the first karate instructor of Ryukyu kempo/pressure point expert George Dillman.

   Harry Smith joined the Marine Corp at age 17. After boot camp at Parris Island, he served as an Internal Affairs investigator, posing as a new recruit going through basic training in order to catch Drill Instructors who were abusing the troops and extorting money from them.

After his time on Parris Island, Smith was shipped overseas to Camp Courtney, Okinawa, where he worked as an electrician. During typhoons he would venture out and repair downed wires. During the calm season, his time was his own. It was there that he met a photographer named Art Smiley, who told him about something called karate.


   Just outside the gate of Camp Courtney, was the town of Ten Gen, a meeting place for friends off duty. In Ten Gen, Smith and Smiley would catch a taxi; they called a "jo dematti car." (The phrase "choto mate" means, "wait a minute" and was how a person hailed a cab.) This was a three-wheeled motorcycle, modified to carry six passengers in two bench seats facing each other. With the payment of about 10 cents, the driver, as crazed as any taxi driver in New York, would race down a long steep hill to the village of Agena. From Agena, the two would hop a bus to the village of Tairagawa. About 3/4 mile outside Tairagawa, Smith and Smiley would make their way on foot through rice paddies to Kyan village (now merged with the neighboring village, Chan Nakaname, and called Kinaka), and the home of Tatsuo Shimabukuro, the founder of Isshinryu karate-do.


   Kyan village consisted of about a dozen huts separated by fences marking property lines and providing some semblance of privacy. These fences were made of stone, branches, sticks, and tall weeds. The yard of Shimabukuro’s home was the dojo. The ground was bare, but rocky. And though the rocks were somewhat smoothed, it was still painful to step wrong on one.


   As the town grew, the neighbors became something of a nuisance, watching the training and disrupting concentration, so, the American students helped build a cinder block wall around the yard. This wall was a sign of wealth. At the time, the average annual income of an Okinawan was about $25.00. Tatsuo charged 600 yen (about $4.50-$5.00) per month for karate instruction, and so, enjoyed a higher standard of living than his neighbors.


   The wall had an opening, but no door, with a smaller wall inside which blocked the view of the yard from the entry. The wall blocked out the distractions of the neighbors, though Smith quips, "I think it was (really that) my Master didn't want the people to see him beating the crap out of us."


   While the Shimabukuro family was a farm family, Tatsuo did not himself farm. The family plot was used for growing beans (the whole bean plant, including the roots, was used, with nothing wasted). In the family compound there was also a sectioned off area where two or three pigs were kept.


   Shimabukuro was a small man, but a fierce fighter. "I never had the nerve to put a tape measure to my Master," says Smith. "But he was, ball park, 5 feet tall and around 115 pounds. But, what made him so feared and respected, even by the tough marines?”


   There is a legend that during WW II, Shimabukuro was trying to dodge the draft, so he led the Japanese military in a game of cat and mouse throughout the island of Okinawa. Finally, when both Shimabukuro and the military had grown weary of the chase, they struck a bargain wherein he taught karate to a few officers in exchange for an exemption from military service. Smith, however, does not believe the tale.


   Smith believes that Shimabukuro was in the Philippines during WW II, teaching karate to the Japanese Royal Marines. He was functioning (to use contemporary terminology) as a "special forces defensive tactics instructor," training these Japanese soldiers to use karate to kill. Smith further believes that it was there that the techniques of Isshinryu were perfected -- on U.S. marines.


   In this setting, the art that Shimabukuro was teaching would require two outstanding qualities: 1. It would have to be a straightforward style, which was quickly and easily taught to soldiers; 2. It would have to be absolutely devastating. This is the cauldron in which Isshinryu’s simple, direct and linear approach was developed.


   Because the style was focused on efficiency, the training in those early days on Okinawa was hard, monotonous, and very strenuous. There were no fancy tricks, no excuses and no short cuts. The key to Isshinryu’s effectiveness, according to Smith, is the reaction force of the blow. Every technique is delivered with a strong snapping motion, immediately retracting the fist.


   This means that Isshinryu techniques are not particularly effective on soft body surfaces because they lack penetration. Instead, they are intended to generate shocking force that will destroy hard body surfaces, causing serious, even lethal damage. For this reason, working with a heavy bag does not produce a more effective technique. The heavy bag only serves to strengthen one's own body against the natural reaction force of striking an object.


   To develop this method, Shimabukuro had two makiwara (punching post) set up so that they faced each other. The karate-ka would punch the makiwara to the front, then immediately retract the hand and strike with his elbow to the makiwara in the rear. Standing between these posts and striking forward, then back, one quickly developed a rhythm, which trained the reaction power.


   There was also a strong emphasis on kumite in the early training. Kumite was practiced hard contact, using kendo armor. The headgear ("men") had holes cut out over the ears. Two overlapping sets of chest protectors ("do") were worn. This accomplished two things: first, the kendo armor was designed for Orientals, which is to say, it was too small to cover an American body. Two overlapping pieces, however, did provide adequate coverage. Second, because the two pieces overlapped, they did not restrict movement as much as a single, large piece would have. As the body moved and bent, the armor pieces could slide around and accommodate the action.


   The final two pieces of kendo gear, the gloves ("kote") and the padded skirt ("tare," to protect the hips and lower abdomen, as well as the tops of the thighs) were also used. One additional piece of protective equipment was added, a groin cup ("kin-ate",) which is not part of the traditional kendo ensemble.


   Because the strength of Isshinryu was revealed in kumite, its kata appeared unimpressive.


When Smith left Okinawa in late 1958, he paid $25.00 for a silk dan diploma, consisting of 4 silks measuring 12” x 16” dated and sealed. Shimabukuro also presented him with a set of 3 hand made sai. His diploma states that his rank of 6th degree (black belt) was for kumite. His master told him that the rank would only be good if he trained ten fingers, worth, (meaning) ten years, and then came back to Okinawa. Personally, Smith thinks the $25.00 outweighed the ten years, but he surprised him by showing up in Naha eight years later.


   Upon his return to the United States, Smith began teaching Isshinryu. He taught the art as he had been taught. And he continues to teach the same way today. This does put him at odds with some in the Isshinryu community, because his Isshinryu is not an art or a sport, but a fighting system, style full of the combative realities of the Philippine jungles of WW II.


   Tatsuo Shimabukuro founded the Isshinryu system in 1956, and it was different then, than it is now. Like the JKD community, the karate community might well argue about whether or not "original" Isshinryu is superior to the contemporary version. But, this is not the most important point to be made. The most important thing is that understanding "original" Isshinryu helps us understand where Isshinryu came from, and how (perhaps even why) it has changed.