https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-kobudo-of-shimabuku-tatsuo-tonfa-of.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9yMuuw3L_0
isshin-concentration.blogspot.com
The
Kobudo of Shimabuku Tatsuo – Tonfa of Taira
Andy Sloane Sensei,
"Chiefa" is a misspelling of the mis-translation of
"tsuifa". Even still, the word wouldn't be separated as "Chie
Fa" even if it wasn't a misspelling.
Minobu Miki was Tatsuo Sensei's translator during his 1966 visit to Sensei
Steve Armstrong's dojo. It was Miki-san who wrote the Japanese (and perhaps the
English as well) on the name placards for the kata on the film. Miki-san wrote
"tsuifa" (ツィファー)
in katakana, but Tatsuo Sensei was known to call the weapon "tuifa" (トゥイファー), which is the
main Okinawan-language pronunciation of the weapon. Had Tatsuo Sensei been the
one to write the name placards, he wouldn't have written the katakana
incorrectly. Obviously, Tatsuo did not write the English words.
Part of the problem with this kata for many in Isshin-ryu is that most don't
seem to realize that Tatsuo Sensei made his own shortened version of the longer
Hamahiga nu Tuifa that he'd learned from Taira Sensei. Since there was only the
one kata for the weapon, he simply called the kata "tuifa" as well.
When he would tell the students to do "tuifa", they knew what he
meant. (It was the same thing as when there was originally only one bo kata and
only one sai kata in Isshin-ryu prior to 1958-59. Tatsuo merely called those
kata "boo" and "saya" and the students knew to perform
Tokumine nu Kun or Chan nu Sai without him having to say their formal names.)
On the 1966 film, Tatsuo Sensei was not attempting to perform the longer
version that Taira Sensei had taught him, he was attempting to do the version
that he'd created from Taira's version. He was just out of practice with the
kata and, unfortunately, did make a few errors. However, you can clearly see
him work through those errors and do the moves that he was satisfied with and
then nod and give a "thumbs up" at the end of it as if to say, "Yeah,
that's right -- that's how it goes." (A large part of this confusion could
have been avoided had Sensei Armstrong asked Tatsuo Sensei to do the kata over
again until there were no errors in it.)
Nevertheless, when compared to the Taira version, you can see that Tatsuo
Sensei's version has all the signature movements (some of which he reversed the
order of the sequences on) of the original and that Tatsuo Sensei merely cut
out what he deemed to be superfluous movement.
Some claim to do the Hamahiga nu Tuifa that Tatsuo Sensei taught, and some
genuinely think they are doing the version that Tatsuo Sensei taught. Yet, in
reality, they are actually doing the version that Taira Sensei left in his
Ryukyu Kobudo syllabus whether they realize it or not. I believe those who do
this are doing Isshin-ryu a disservice as the two kata are not the same as one
another. It would make absolutely ZERO sense for Tatsuo Sensei to have made
changes to all the other kata that he included in Isshin-ryu but for him to have
left Hamahiga just as he had learned it from Taira Sensei. No, the overwhelming
evidence indicates that he tweaked everything that he wanted to include in his
own style to his satisfaction, which makes Isshin-ryu a truly unique system.
It is interesting that Sensei Lewis and Sensei Armstrong (and others who were
here with them) did not learn the tuifa kata while here on Okinawa 1959-60, but
that Sensei Ed Johnson and Mr. Bill Blond both did. They all trained here at
the same time, though Sensei Lewis and Sensei Armstrong were a few months
senior to them.
Sensei Lewis and Sensei Armstrong both left Okinawa in October 1960, and Sensei
Johnson left Okinawa in February 1961.
Mr. Blond got out of the Marine Corps in September 1959 and stayed here as a
civilian government employee until July 1967. He knew this tuifa kata as well,
but, as it was not his favorite weapon to perform, he let it fall by the
wayside. When I asked him about it, he said that he would have learned the same
kata that Ed Johnson did. Mr. Blond started training with Tatsuo Sensei 9 days
before Sensei Johnson did in December 1959 and they trained together daily.
Likewise, Uezu Sensei also seems to have learned the kata as well, but by the
time he started learning it, in about 1964 or so, Tatsuo Sensei could have made
further modifications to it. However, films of Uezu Sensei performing the kata
are very similar to the kata Sensei Johnson was required to learn prior to
making 1st Dan in 1960.
Matthew
Blair
Ed Johnson Sensei told me that he was interested in learning Sunsu kata so he
could make sho-dan before leaving Okinawa. He asked Tatsuo Sensei to teach him
Sunsu. Tatsuo had recently purchased several pair of tuifa that were in a pile.
Tatsuo told Johnson Sensei, ' Catchy tuifa first.' The kata he learned was the
version modified by Tatsuo Sensei, not the longer Taira version. Karate was
also business for Tatsuo Sensei , a way to make a good living for his family.
He didn't mind selling a pair of tuifa or two. 🙂
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