Sunday, April 27, 2025

The Okinawan Karate and Kobudo Encylclopedia

 7th October 2008

 


  I wonder where the new publication of the Okinawan Karate and Kobudo Encyclopedia will come down as to family systems of study?

Of course it's only available in Japanese at this time and is far from cheap. It would be interesting to see how the Okinawan's address family practices.

 Victor Smith

Bushi No Te Isshinryu


7th October 2008, 04:20

Patrick McCarthy

 

Hi Victor,

Understanding Japanese culture as I do, and looking at who collectively participated in the research and development of this project, and some of what was contributed, I am hopeful that we'll see something fresh and provoking. I would not, however, be completely surprised to see much of the same old self-serving stuff brought together into a single volume. Fingers crossed that I am wrong.

There's talk about an English translation but, from what I heard, argument over copyright, money and who will publish and profit from it has prevented this from happening just yet. Either way, you can be sure that the "good parts" will find their way into English long before an "official" translation is ever sanctioned.


Patrick McCarthy
International Ryukyu Karate-jutsu Research Society
http://www.koryu-uchinadi.com


6-01-2023       To date I have never heard of an English Translation. It makes me wonder if the purpose of the Encyclopedia was just to allow other Okinawan Instructors to know more about other Okinawan systems...VDS

Saturday, April 26, 2025

why always changes take place in kata?

 

 


Kashif Wazeeha why always changes take place in kata?

 

Victor Donald Smith A very good question.

 

The concept that forms are unchanging are just words after all. We really do not know much of the older, and older past.

 

However, forms are really individuals choosing to execute them

 

And clear observation of just the last 100 years, is that forms do move, for a wide variety of reasons,

 

Human differences, different principles being focused on, and of course for many other reasons.

 

Forms were originally meant to be private studies after all.

 

Often when given public performances they were intentionally altered for those performance.

 

It is even possible those altered forms gave others cause to consider new variations.

 

And today, ever more so as the arts moved from several hundred adepts on a small island, to what maybe 90,000,000 around the world, why would one not expect change.

 

Life moves on after all.





Mangetsu no Yuube (On a full moon evening)

 


Dojo TokyoMushinkan

Joe Swift

 

Today Jan-17 marks the 23rd anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. I truly the saw the awesome power of the earth a mere six months after moving to Japan. I was living in Osaka at the time (close to the epicentre) but was in Kanazawa on that day as I was on winter break from college classes. However after heading back to Osaka, I volunteered at the hard-hit areas, translated letters back and forth between children in Kobe and children in San Francisco who had just had a major earthquake of their own exactly one year earlier. I did what I could back then.

 

Humans can not “defeat” nature, nor is there any real meaning in trying to. We can, however, be prepared in order to not be defeated ourselves. As one who works in the field of natural disaster risk, I will continue to do all that I can in order to assist people in this regard.

 

We must also not forget the resilience of the human spirit. Even when disaster strikes, the resilience to refuse to be defeated. On A Full Moon Evening that was written as a requiem to the earthquake teaches us this lesson. The video is my friend Reika Ao and her husband singing this song.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RslkzNV9UIo





Lyrics (Rough translation from the jacket cover of Soul Flower Union greatest hits album, they sang one of the many variations of this song)

 

 

Mangetsu no Yuube (On a full moon evening)

 

A frightening wind is blowing from the dock,
as it's wrapping the ruins of the fire
Every thing is so sad that's it's being laughed away
on a dry winter evening.

 

Crossing time, and standing in the city of rubble,
far away from the "borderline".
The heart's pendulum beating loud,
ticking to the present time.

 

A Shiba dog that's lost it's home
is running the streets while playing with its compatriot.
Everything is set free and being laughed away
on a dry winter evening.

 

YASA HO Ya A song is heard
We're not going to sleep. We're going to dance till morning.
YASA HO Ya The white breath is dancing around the bonfire.

 

Set everything free! Let's laugh with life
on a full moon evening.


 

On Atemi

 





Aikido Atemi




Mumichi, Reach Out and Touch somebody and Kake Uke

 

Lionel Ligbot on the derivation of Mumichi

 

Yesterday, I was talking about the "Uni-Muchi" treat in Japanese. ) the correct name in okinawaïen is " nantu." the nickname " Uni-Muchi / Mochi evil " is not usurped, this treat is evil! It sticks to the leaf of geto (like banana leaf) and then to the fingers it sticks and then to the teeth. Yeah, it's like caramel, let's say... but no, actually!


That's where the karate lesson comes from. In Karate Okinawaïen, we talk about " Muchidi or muchimi ". this is exactly the " Hand / sticky technique " or " sticky body " action to literally stick to the opponent to control it. The " Chisao " of wing chun or " Baihe-Quan " is exactly the same, the caactères who write it are the same.


In addition, there is in my karate / kobudo style (Kingai-Ryu) techniques of muchidi, muchimi, but the kanji of "Muchi" is different. It's the whip. Our hands, fingers, feet / legs are fouettées / released associated with " Hakkei " more known impressive the Chinese name of " Fajin (G).


So, in kingai-Ryu, our muchidi / mi incorporate du / mi and vice versa.

 

 



Reach and Touch Someone

 



 

About 14 years ago I stumbled across this answer. It was worth saving in my notes . It provides a different answer than just strike out.

 

We were working on a basic defensive principle that I teach and I'm not sure if we've discussed in the past.

 

Where one of my students was working grab and pop attack defenses (where the attacker grabs you with one hand and goes to pop you with their other hand - the grab and pop) and using a number of interesting responses the simplest answer came to mind.

 

 Simply reach out and touch your attacker, not strike them.

  

If you simply reach out and press against the middle of their chest they really can't hit you with their other hand. Don't belive me, try it in class next time.

 

Now doing so does root both your feet, but if they in turn try to counter-kick you, you can simply press forward and push them back.

 

Likewise from the press you can readily strike into their throat if a more dynamic response is required.

 

This then opened a line of drills where attacked you immediately press back, and/or slide the opposite foot back, angling yourself away from their attack too.

 

This opportunity allows you to respond to an attack with a less aggressive counter, keeps you somewhat in control of your attacker and allows more aggressive returns if required. A more proportionate response for some situations.

 

Of course if your hand holds a Chintzen Bo, or the equivalent, that will get a heck of a response too.

 

Off hand, this also could be an interpretation of Wandan (Wando?) where you have a left vertical knife hand block followed by a reverse punch. Hence the vertical knife hand block might simply be the press.  And of course if they can't touch you, by appropriate knee release and alignment you can still strike them with the other hand.

 



 

Kake uke

 

Shimabuku Shinsho (Ciso), Shimabuku Tatsuo Sensei 2nd son and me doing kake uke.

 

In this visit, Ciso said his father wanted to teach kake uke to the Marines but they did not have enough time to learn it. I told him I had learned it from his father and then we both did it together

 

 


Friday, April 25, 2025

History of Ticks

 I am not a professional Japanese translator, This is a translation I have obtained with the use of the Bing Translator. Such tools are often flawed regarding martial terminology, but personally I would rather use them gaining whatever understanding presents itself.

 

https://ameblo.jp/motoburyu/entry-12341426637.html

History of Ticks

 

NEW! 2018-01-03 11:08:49

 

 

The front hand thrust is called the tick-butting in the mainland. Is the word "tick" a translation from the boxing jab (jab)? By the way, in this step, in the mainland, "Okinawa Karate was not carved. It is widely believed that the carving was invented in the mainland.



When you try to from the headquarters flow that has been using the front hand thrusting from before the war, "Eh!? However, it seems to be so in general though it is an insistence to be amazed.






From Hand (1926) of the Okinawa Kenpo Tang surgery



By the way, this ticking poking. Then, the Kazumichi flow seems to have originated very much when it examines who invented it in the mainland. There was such an answer to the wisdom of Yahoo! Japan.




Originally, the Kazumichi flow was used.

At the beginning, the Shoto-Kan was in charge of the karate game.

With Lauda.

 

That doesn't work.

The thrust is reversed.

 

He didn't take a point with him, so he went through the name of the Shoto Museum.

It's good to lose, Mr. Otsuka said, and the player of the Kazumichi style is OK.

After losing the foul, and Soke documentation that the Shoto kan else his own technique

said.



I do not know the authenticity because it is information on the net, when you look at the video of the pledge of the hand of Dr. Otsuka Hiroki just in case, tick-poking is certainly used.



From 2 minutes to 40 seconds.



Then, it seems to be true that Mr. Otsuka of the mainland is the origin of the tick thrusting of the Kazumichi style apparently. By the way, Mr. Otsuka is a person who studied the Tang Dynasty on the basis of Headquarters morning. In the old days, Mr. Kouichi Mano, a disciple of Prof. Otsuka, said, "Dr. Otsuka was always the first to be influenced by the group morning." Perhaps, the step thrusting of this Otsuka teacher might come from the front hand thrust of the base morning group.



The posture of the married couple counterparty used by the Promise assembly hand of this Kazumichi style also thinks like the influence of the headquarters morning group. The reason is that the stance of Dr./ms. Funakoshi who had been studied by Mr. Otsuka was the stance of an orthodox lower payment.



Tony K Kawakami ·

Hmmm very interesting.

In chinese martial arts, the movement called “Dian” stands for the brush stroke. The movement is named after the brush stroke as it is a light and quick stroke leaving a small mark. This is likened to “jabbing” “poking” or “pointing”.

In Japanese the pronunciation of “Dian” is “tin”. Perhaps this is just a mistranslation? Most likely, after all the synopsis was either poorly written or poorly translated. I’d like to go with the latter. Though, it’s implied that “Mr. Otsuka” is the originator. I see Motobu Choki is the pictures, is “Mr. Otsuka” another name he went by?

I find the claim that anyone person “originating” a form of human movement is pretty lofty claim. No disrespect intended, but it’s suspect.

 

Victor Donald Smith The Google translation tool is far from perfect, especially about martial terms. But the idea generally makes sense. Unffortunately I cannot answer your questions. But it is provoking.

 

Al Mcgregor it then goes into detail about how to preform. This is just from reading and having studied Japanese at UCLA. The Bing translation is heavily flawed. Use tangorin.com for translations is my suggestion

Tangorin Japanese Dictionary

tangorin.com

 

http://tangorin.com/  Victor Donald Smith I grant the Bing tool I use is quite flawed and if one want more accurate details better translations are required,

Victor Smith

But I am just trying to follow what is being shared to see if there is any similarity to what I do. And I see a bit in something I wrote years ago for my students. https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/.../reach-and...

 

Christopher Clarke Motobu Choki is shown using this punch-stifling technique in several places and passed it along to Nagamine Shoshin who incorporated it into his two-man kumite series. Does anyone have confidence that such a technique is realistic or would really work?

 

Dan Young It looks like boxings "baseball catch" to me where you catch their fist like a baseball mixed with an outside parry, if peo;le drilled it there shouldnt be a problem like all proper technique.

 

Daniel Owens If you're talking about jamming the rear guard down to the hip, like we see in the second image, it's rear arm against rear arm and will work under the right circumstances, but I certainly wouldn't do it on a much bigger or stronger person, because you'll lose on entry (or they may turn that front-arm into a grab) and you're stuck on the inside.

 

Daniel Owens I guess I should point out that this attacker only used one arm -- his front guard -- in the attack. Choki stepped in, switching his guard and bringing his front guard to jam what looks to have have been a circular punch (looks like maybe a temple strike, but I'd have to see the source... it could have just been a straight punch to the face, but I don't think the step, which Choki is using to help "slip" the punch would be safe or effective for a straight punch) at the elbow. The stepping in protects against that front hand swinging and hitting him, given that the jamming arm isn't what I'd call the best structure. You'll also notice that Choki has dropped down substantially.

Victor Donald Smith I believe like most things, it may be situational. My prior piece on reach and touch someone might make some suggestions. It may be possible at the inception of such a punch. very difficult but not impossible.

The first part in parenthesis say it it about the history of Kizami Zuki

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Some far fetched Tournament Thoughts

7-4-2002



Watching the tournament yesterday stirred up old competitive juices and brought back old thoughts.

Perhaps you might find them interesting, some possible ‘different’ competition venues.

First there are several layers of competitors. Those who are in the competition zone, and those who are doing it for the challenge of doing it. While, theoretically, everyone has an equal chance to win a division before it begins, its my observation, more times than not, it really isn’t an equal playing field.

If I can bore you with my own history, of ancient karate, I had the pleasure of competing in the long lost region 10, Penna, Md, NJ, DE or so. In open tournaments there were any number of national champions in kata, kobudo and kumite.  Players like Cynthia Rothrock, Gary Michak (one year in the top 20 in all 3 divisions – kata, kobudo and kumite) and a whole rash of other Shorin, Goju and other stylists.



I was in divisions that the top kobudo prize was awarded to those who had to break ties 4 times (and each time with a different weapon or they were out of it).

Now I reveled in pushing myself against the best, but most of the time I really wasn’t even close to their league, and on the day I finally had my success against with all of their instructors judging me, they had all retired or moved on to national levels. The old guard keeps moving out and a new guard moves in.

Which puts my mind to thinking, here are some special competition thoughts.

Why not have two entirely different divisions in competition. A players division where they can juke and jive and wail away at each other in the highest levels, but also a development division for those who are competing to push themselves.  And in the development division, they don’t get scores, but instead a detailed analysis of what they did right and wrong. So they get the thrill of competition and mayhaps victory, but also skilled eyes (outside of their instructors) looking at all the small details that may help push them further.



Or how ‘bout an instructors kata (or kobudo) division for the real brave ones. They just present themselves before the judges, who randomly select their competition kata, on the spot.  I always wanted in our IKA shiai (the size of medium tournaments in those days) to go before sensei and say ‘Please choose my kata for me’, but I was always afraid it sounded too brazen. But it always struck me that, that would make for a real fire-breathing instructors division.

Or how about developing sparring divisions which only permit kata technique. I know the Ueichi people have been working on that and perhaps it would be interesting to research and see how they’re doing it. That strikes me it would re-enforce our system, versus the standard amateur tournament kumite. I’ve been seeing since day one. I’m not against what is out there, but it does seem that those of us who love Isshinryu might really want to see only Isshinryu kumite.

Or how about a mail in kata/kobudo tournament, where the competitors mail in video tape of their best kata/kumite form. Then a central panel judges them, awards the prizes and creates a master tape for all competitors, with all the forms and comments of why their scores were given.  That would seem to cost an organization very, very little, and still add zest to prepare their best to become better.

Again, I’m just free-thinking, not criticizing. The current venues work. I just wonder if some other things might make it more fun and work even better.

Pleasantly,