Seeing what is not there….

  Age happens and the fact life keeps changing is a reality that is at times not pleasant to face.

 Years ago I did not need glasses, then I did and so shifted into a different universe for the seeing challenged. Then more time passes and new glasses are required. Suddenly you need different glasses, for different distances. One pair was for distance sight when driving.

 Then the universe again changes and I no longer drive, those driving glasses get relegated to the shelf, For now when I use the PC, walk around the neighborhood, and so forth, my sight needs are different.

 
So Thanksgiving we were driving over to have lunch with Maureen’s brother and his wife.

Along the way the splendor of the Arizona countryside was apparent. Distant hills with different colored strata, a distant power transformer station and power towers and their lines coming from there.

 

 

Maureen was driving and then she mentioned a line of hot air balloons in the sky, 7 of them. I looked and looked but could not see them, and she was insisting they were there.

  

I could not see what she was seeing.

 

Then the moment passed and I dismissed it, just remembered it occurred.

 
Again last night, in the cooler night air, Maureen asked me to come out in our back yard.

What she saw was what appeared to be a hole in the moon. Of course an optical illusion, however when I looked up I just saw a blurry double moon, not what she  was describing.

 There was a halo around the moon from ice crystals in the high air, but again no longer how long I looked I did not see the hole she saw.

 

Later in the evening, the senior moment came to me and I remembered those long discarded long distance glasses. I went and got them, I could not exactly see what she described but I did see more.

 

No, I am not going to get new glasses, for everyday reality I don’t need them, Nor do need to view the moon or balloons after all.

 It just strikes me how much this resembles the quote about looking at the pointing finger, and thus missing the heavenly glory.

 

Bruce Lee strikes again.

 

 

 

 

A day in the life

Woke up, Got out of Bed, Dragged a Comb across my Head.

Then went out into my dojo.

 

 I ran Sanchin and Seiunchin kata.

Then I decided to work on Tomari No Rohai a bit.

It is strange, when I think about it,

No Association, no instructor, no reason but my own drive.

 I never studied the form from an instructor,

Rather with a little help from my friends,

I taught it to myself, or rather what I understood the form was about.

 Now I am listening to what my body tells me.

Retaining as much of what I originally studied as I can,

And making a few changes for what I cannot do.

The form appeals to me.

Especially the way the single knuckle strike

Begins it’s descent from a nukite strike.

 My only interest remaining as effective as I can be.

Not to share with others,

Just for myself.

 A chance to remain martially effective.

 

That is what the dojo is about.

Step by Step we Advance

 

Today from home to N. 268th Ave and back, my longest trek yet, and when I made it there, there was another golf hole.

 

 

 

Being that it was my longest walk yet,

I worked out using a variation of my Tai Chi breathing,

To make the length of the walk more bearable.

I began a 4 count pattern.

Inhalation and 4 steps,

Exhalation and 4 steps.

Then continue many times.

 

Then switch to a 6 count pattern.

Inhalation and 6 steps,

Exhalation and 6 steps.

Again continue many times.

 

Then go back to the 4 count pattern,

Somewhat later switch to the 6 count pattern again.

And so forth.

Drawing strength from the inhalation and exhalation to fullness.

 

Fire and Rain

I've seen fire and I've seen rain.

I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend,

but I always thought that I'd see you again

…once, before the end. 

 

You sort through the students to find the Black Belt.

You sort through the Black Belts to find an instructor candidate,

You sort through the Instructor Candidate to find an instructor.

Then the true sorting begins to take place.

 

 When I became an Isshinryu student I only wanted to learn karate,

Isshinryu karate.

When I became a black belt, there were no crowds to congratulate me,

Just my Isshinryu karate.

Then to soon, I was on my own,

With my Isshinryu karate.

 

I was very much in similar circumstances as the original returning Isshinryu students.

Or course it was also quite different,

Karate itself was not unknown,

I just lived where there were no other in Isshinryu around.

 

I thought only of myself, 

realizing I needed others to do my karate with,

I chose to become an instructor.

Not having financial resources to use, nor seeing karate as a revenue stream,

I approached the Scranton Boys Club

 and offered my services as a volunteer instructor for youth.

 

From there I began as an instructor.

Of course all I really knew was to share karate 

at the pace and intensity I just endured.

And beginning with a few students 

who also studied with Charles Murray,

Began my program.

 

And with a few short months everyone except those initial students,

Left the program.

I had a lot to learn,

And quickly.

 My one resource was my wife,

She was a physical education instructor,

And patiently she began to explain

 how to listen to what the students were telling you,

And how to develop their needs.

 So I picked myself up,

Dusted myself off,

And Started all over again,

 

And the program began to be a success.

 

I also learned a great deal

 about what the Boy’s Clubs were about.

And it wasn’t to be a karate program.

It was for the Youth of the community.

To get the kids off the street,

Help them find their purpose in life,

And to have some fun along the way.

 

Isshinryu was what I did.

Karate was simply a tool to help shape some kids,

For life.

 

The Instructor’s Burden

the I who once was

Part of the instructor’s burden is something that did not have as much presence in the past history of karate. I am referring to the availability of the clinic.

 

First, I am not suggesting what I believe is in any way right for your program. Each program has its own history and rationale.

 

However in my case, after intense initial instruction in Isshinryu, I went a very complex course of studies with a wide variety of instructors in many arts. And as a result of the forced instruction in Isshinryu I received, I worked really hard to remember what many others shared with me.

 

When I relocated to Derry, New Hampshire, I integrated some of those studies into my propran, even choosing to honor those instructors by having my students studies include a kata or  form from those programs. There were many other things that were woven into the students studies too.

 

Now at different times I attended clinics with other instructors to see first hand what they were doing (Shimabukuro Zempo, George Dillman and Danny Insanto come to mind) those clinics were just for me. On the other hand those who I had trained with intensively, or had the utmost respect for, did provide several dozen clinics for my adult students. I rarely had the youth attend as the material presented was way beyond their studies.

What I quickly discovered that Tris Sutrisno was presenting material at a very fast rate, really teaching me. The others that gave clinics, Ernest Rothrock and Sherman Harrill were again more presenting material I would get more from in the long run, than the students.

 

By way of example, as my current program had a strong structure, even incredible material often required 5 years of personal study before I found a place to introduce it into the program. That was because the existing material was also good, and nothing was readily set aside, for the new material. Then in time as all became more skilled the time it became appropriate was found in the material they were working on.

 

A different challenge was material such as Sherman Harrill presented, He held nothing back as shared literally hundreds of technique studies. But the same problem existed, what we were already doing was also good, And again 5 or more years would go by before I could use what they had been shown logically in the program.

 

I literally have notebooks of notes from those clinics, and many additional video tape records of things that transpired. But everyone knew I would not forget, and then found it easier to set that material aside, not my choice but one they allowed themselves to make.

 

And so much great material, truly great, that I never found a place for in our studies together.

 

One of the things you realize is you can’t do everything, no matter how good it is. I could never teach out all the kata, forms I studied. No one has that much free time. And being in instructor is working with the possible, not the impossible, no matter what the reason.

 

How others deal with this I don’t know, There is nothing wrong with letting students ‘feel’ what others are doing. It just is not the way I choose to follow.

Even to this day, I am mining those old clinics and offering to many suggestions that they might make.

The instructor’s burden does not end when you step aside from being an instructor.

 

From “Ryuku Oke Hiden Bujutsu: Karate, Bukijutsu”

From “Ryuku Oke Hiden Bujutsu: Karate, Bukijutsu”

(Secret Royal Martial Arts of Ryukyu: Karate and Weaponry)

by Matsuo Kaneori Sakon

 

This sure caught my attention.

 

The secret of “Bu No Mai” the Okinawan dance, is the secret of his art.

The dance can be done with empty or hands,

Or the same movements can be done with weapons.

 

“Bu No Mai” contains punches, kicks, throws, grappling and weaponry.

The point of origin of this secret technique is Tuidijutsu.

Tuidijutsu techniques compound on one another,

Making the possibilities virtually endless.

 

The structure of his art is as follows:

 

If the art of not injuring somebody is tuidijutsu,

Then there is that of tuidi-gaeshi (tuidi reversals)

And even higher is ura-gaeshi (reversal techniques).

Still higher ist the pinnacle, is Ajikata Nu Mekata,

Or the dance of the feudal lords.

 

“In other words, fully developed martial arts

Do not have corners or rough edges,

And look even smooth or weak to the eye.

But for those who have experience with Udondi,

There are frighteningly effective techniques,

that one’s hair stands on end.

 

Ajikata Nu Mekata

Ajikata Nu Mekata

Tada Omote Miruna

Waza Ni Waza Sayuru

Ukudi Yariba

 

“Do not make light of the dance of the Ryukyu Warriors,

For the technique compounds technique,

And the deepest martial secrets lie hidden there.”

 * This was translated by Joe Swift in 2005

 

 

 

Several useful YouTube videos

 

Tachiutushi / Goshin No Mai / Bu No Mai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5CRFMGV9f4&t=283s

 

BU NO MAI - SENBARU EISA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1NhAe70EDQ&t=15s

 

Kobudo / Nuginata no mai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-x292-R9vE&t=402s

 

Uehara Sensei showing how some of the dance movements work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K_XPnTXgUQ&t=43s

 

Tuidi by Uehara Seikichi shinshii

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP9Tqv6PvWQ&t=481s

 

本部御殿手　武の舞　浜千鳥　Motobu Udundi Bunomai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItMOGB1Q6uw

 

Ryukyu Oukehiden Motobu Udundi - 40th All Japan Kobudo Demonstration - 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggmsou6qEW8&t=297s

 

本部御殿手 - Motobu Udundi -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGddheSLJ18&t=44s

 

Uehara Seikichi - Anji-no-mai-no-te Kata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdyD-NFJF1Q&index=6&list=PL406D0348FE2BFC78

 

 

Not sure if these add anything to the topic?

Okinawan Ti Hand Positions in Transition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxgqqXQ-IIY

 

Karate & Okinawa Ti - hand techniques compared

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmlY1nwEcOM

 

Oshiro Sensei and Multiple Striking

Back in 1980 when I first began training with Tristan Sutrisno and his family study of Shotokan and other arts, among the first differences I discovered was a series of drills using multiple striking techniques.

 

They are brilliant, and I incorporated them into my instruction, abet with Isshinryu techniques, with no effort, and I have been teaching them ever since.

 

The concept is quite simple, every strike can change into another strike, flowing from one movement to the next. They were practiced as a 5 count striking drill, and over the years I worked out a number of different versions for my own use.

 

Their use is also simple to understand, although karate striking wants to conclude an attack with a single response, at times that is not going to happen. These techniques shift the countering strike into a 2^nd strike to finish the job, while their focus and concentration are fixed on that first strike which perhaps they countered, or perhaps you were less than perfect (something I have mastered, being less than perfect.

 

I trained many placed and many styles, but I had not seen this sort of training being done. This was a time before Video availability, long before the internet or YouTube. And while I followed the karate magazines rigorously, I had never seen this there either.

 

Then one day Panther video and then Tsunami video came on the scene. Many things were now available to be seen.  For example I had heard of the Goju kata Suparempi, but had never seen it. So one of my first purchases was just that kata. Not to attempt to learn it, but just to see it for myself.

 

So one day I saw a series of videos by Oshiro Sensei on Unichandi. I was intrigued. I got the tapes, not so much for the kata, but to see what it was about.

And the first technique being shown was a multiple strike, in a different system from what I had seen before.

 

There are no secrets, just practices your system might do, yet. Everything old is new again. (Maybe I should write a song about that.)

 

This is what Oshiro Sensei showed:

 

Prior Post from my blog on Multiple Striking:

http://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2016/09/multiple-striking-updated.html