Accidental Chinkuchi – Believe It or Not

Shinso and Charles Murray 1972

First let me explain I am not an expert in Chinkuchi, nor did I teach Chinkuchi. I believe in Isshinryu without Chinkuchi, for that was how I was trained.

I believe in Isshinryu Chinkuchi, for one of my instructors, Charles Murray explained how Shimabuku Shinso trained him to develop Chinkuchi, and with all of his kata.

I believe and practiced Isshinryu without Chinkuchi, can whoop Isshinryu with Chinkuchi, for I believe in the training I was given and then learned how to practice.

Let me tell my tale and then you can believe it or not.

Simply put the training I received under the guidance of Tom Lewis did not include Chinkuchi with our Isshinryu studies. Then when I trained as an advanced kyu with Charles Murray, the versions of kata I was taught were as he then did them, but Chinkuchi was not a part of my training. Then I made black belt and nothing of Chinkuchi was part of my testing.

When I started training with Charles he explained as a new black belt serving in the Air Force, he was stationed for a year in Okinawa. When there he trained at Agena as much as his schedule permitted. He described that training, the Marines were not training there, for they had their own dojo on their base. Except for a few Americans who had gone to Okinawa, the main part of the students were Okinawan and they would train after work.

He explained Shimabuku Shinso took an interest in him, and trained hin in Chinkuchi. While I was training toward my black belt test, he did not go into the details of that training. After black belt we were only together a few short months, before he re-entered the USAF. During that time he explained what that Chinkuchi training consisted of and showed me his training the kata with Chinkuchi. But there was not time to train me that way, and after he left me, I choose not to attempt to try and train myself, I did not know enough.

I was quite content with my Isshinryu as it was. I started competing  because there was no Isshinryu in my area, and I competed not to win trophies, but to keep pushing myself against the best competition I could find.

I did travel to train in Dover and Salisbury when possible, but that was a 6 hour drive and it was not possible to do that often.

Those IKC clubs of Mr. Lewis’ students did a great deal of open tournament competition in their area. Open tournament competition being what was most found in Maryland and surrounding states.

So one day after several years I was competing in an IKI Shiai in that area (I believe this was about 1983, when I was 4 years into my own dan). During the shiai Mr. Lewis called for a black belt meeting. I remember him addressing up, “In the tournaments we have been attending, it seems the judges want to see more power in our strikes, I suggest you have your students for competition start sticking their techniques to receive fairer scores from those judges.”

That was all he said, that was all I needed to hear, After all it was from Sensei.

Now I did not change the Isshinryu that my students were studying. And at that time I was studying many things, outside Isshinryu, so I decided it would be a personal study that was for me. The next several months I practiced doing Seisan kata, just that way sticking hard every punch and kick. It was doing Seisan with a different dynamics for the kata.

So privately I practiced what I was going to do.

The day of the tournament arrived, it was one hosted by George Iberl in Southern Pennsylvania. Many of the contestants and judges were from So. Pa. or New Jersey Isshinryu. Some I knew slightly, but I had no real relationship with any of them. On the other hand I knew many of the competitors, regularly competing with them in Pennsylvania.

So I warmed up waiting for my division to begin.

As much as I can remember all of the judges for that division were from Isshinryu (of course different as it was an open tournament, but it did happen). None of them ones I knew. Then in time it became my turn.

I did Seisan kata, exactly as I had trained, sticking every punch, sticking every kick. In time I finished.

I then stood before the judges awaiting my score. What next occurred was something I had never seen. The judges moved together and began a conference, with several of them glancing at me. What was discussed I do not know, I just remained standing. Then after a while they all returned to their seats and announced my score. It was in the mid-range of the black belt scores that day.

I really didn’t attend tournaments for any of the judges opinions. The only opinion I was ever interested was that of my instructor. I was doing it just to push myself, and in this case could I do what Lewis Sensei suggested.

When I then left the ring all the other competitors came up to me. The individuals who saw my efforts on a regular basis. All of them were of the opinion, that was the strongest kata they had ever see me do.

That was nice to hear that from them, of course I did not do it for their opinions either.

Driving home from that tournament it occurred to me that Mr. Lewis was not suggesting the kata be done that way for Isshinryu judges. Instead for the Open tournament judges in that area they were competing (such as Baltimore). I decided I did not need to do it that was again, for I knew I could do it that way anytime I chose.

Now at that time I was instructing youth, it was a time I was studying a lot of other things mostly for my own knowledge. Those studies would have eventual impact on my art, but not at that time. At that time I was not working on kata application potential or other possible Isshinryu potentials.

So for my students and for myself I returned to the way I was originally shown Isshinryu. Time passes, and eventually I began to explore how Isshinryu technique could be used.

Also remembering that tournament version I began exploring other potentials within Isshinryu, and those studies became intertwined.

Over the years Charles and I kept in touch, while he returned to the USAF in 1979 for a career, becoming an officer, etc. We would see each other every few years for a few moments. Each time it was as if he never left. We might spar or do kata. Then he travels went further and further away. Visits became less. Decades later I remember when he went to Okinawa on a TDY for a week. He trained with Angi, visited with Shinso and Mrs. Shimabuku. He remained involved with training no matter where he was stationed. He also informed me he was continuing with his chinkuchi training.

More time passed, then Charles was stationed in Rhode Island, closer to where I lived. I was able to have him attend a clinic with Sherman Harrill there, and later another one I hosted in Derry. Then one day he retired from the USAF, and began a job with a company that had him roughly in my area, and I began to see him more frequently. He began training with us.

I was past the time to change my art as it had evolved over the years, but I often had Charles cover details of chinkuchi for my records, to make available for my students.

One day Charles came to me with a gift. He had located an old movie of him taken while he was training in Agena. And, the kata he was doing, Sunsu and Seisan were being done with Chinkuchi as Shinso had been instructing him. Everything on that film was priceless to me. But more years would pass before I realized how priceless it would be to me.

One day I was watching this youngster Charles Murray performing Seisan outside of the base he was staying. Just a performance of his then Seisan.

Something clicked, and I suddenly remembered that Seisan Kata I had done decades before in that tournament long, long ago. 

Charles 1972 Chinkuchi Sanchin on Okinawa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct2kXNz_yhY

 

 
Charles 1972 Chinkuchi SunNuSu at Agena
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q2JV8RNDB8

There were no movies, nothing but my memory. Charles had not trained me in this version. But as best as my memory recalls I was doing the same thing when I did that kata.
 
So the question remains, did I accidenatly do Chinkuchi, or not? Believe it or not. That is your business.

I believe in Isshinryu without Chinkuchi, for that was how I was trained. I believe in Isshinryu with Chinkuchi.