Today marking
what would have been the birthday of Sherman Harrill, I wish nothing but good
memories for his students and friends.
I was not a
student of Sherman Harrill.
In fact one
evening Garry Gerossie walked onto my dojo and asked to attend the class for
the night. Garry was from Concord an hour north of me, and we had met at a few
local tournaments. So I knew him and of course knew nothing of him.
He watched some
of what we were working on then remarked it was similar to what his instructor
was teaching him. He then offered to show what he meant, and showed an
application for Seisan kata, one I had not seen before. Of course we were
intreagued.
Garry then
explained to me he was training with Sherman Harrill from Carson, Iowa. That
and he understood Sherman trained on Okinawa the same time my instructor, Tom
Lewis, trained there. I knew nothing about Sherman.
Garry then
invited me to attend a clinic he was having Sherman teach at, and I decided to
go.
When I got there
at Garry’s school, I met Sherman. He explained that on Okinawa he trained
alongside Tom and that Tom had brought his silks back from Okinawa when his
tour was finished. He also clearly explained he was not looking for new
students. So I responded “that’s ok, for I am not looking for a new Sensei.”
After that
opening, both of us were cool.
And I watched
Sherman, go on and on and on, movement by movement, kata by kata a never ending
exposition of what Isshinryu could do.
I had to travel
for business the next day, as I was doing so I made noted of what I remembered.
It was about 20 applications, strong applications. I would have fun showing
them to the guy’s.
Now I was 25
years into my own study, many of those instructors I worked with were very
impressive in their own right. But the depth that Sherman showed was very, very
impressive too. For the life of me I could never decide which of them was the
better martial artist (For there were 5 of them) each had different strengths.
My own art had
more than enough to keep my busy for a lifetime. But that beginning with
Sherman offered a different direction for my own studies.
It turned out
Garry had filmed that clinic, and a year later gave me a copy. There were many
times more that 20 applications shown by Sherman that day. But as Sherman later
said, it often took people more than one meeting to understand what was going
on.
So Garry and I
hosted a joint clinic with Sherman, On that day he asked what I would like to
see. I told him “Why not some Chinto, Kusanku and Sunsu?”
I remember him
laughing then telling me “any one of them could be an entire clinic, but he
would try.”
For the first
several hours he showed applications for the opening movement from Chinto,
after that he moved on and on and on.
Over the years I
experienced at my location his use for Wansu, Chinto, Kusanku, Sunsu and Bo a
bit. And attended other New England
clinics covering much of the rest. But I realized no matter what I saw he had ever so much more.
Much too advanced to share at clinics where he had not developed anyone to
accept what his students shared. Of course that was logical. You can’t pour an
ocean into a tea cup.
Through my
students and my association with Sherman we developed a real admiration of what
he was doing.
I did not spend
personal time with Sherman on his clinic visits to our area. I did not want to
intrude with his personal time with Garry. And the time Tom Lewis came to visit,
except at the dinner afterward, I let Tom had his time alone with his friend
the rest of the weekend. That dinner was something hearing them reminisce about
times on Okinawa, I heard many things I never heard before.
We also became
aware of health issues Sherman was dealing with, One of my students was a
surgeon, and he tried to assist Sherman over the years. There were times he was
concerned with Sherman health when a clinic would begin, but as the day
progressed and Sherman got further in kata application potential, he also got
stronger and stronger. He could not turn if off at the clinic end and kept
sharing ideas in the changing room. Unstoppable.
At my last
meeting with Sherman, he had heard one of my students, John Dinger, was dying,
John had been his favorite uke for demonstrations in his clinic at our school.
He wanted me to drag John to an upcoming New England clinic for he wanted very
much to see him again.
Unfortunately John passed away first, and then I heard the sad news of Sherman’s death too.
I was very
shaken by this, and as a result began a 3 month effort to gather all my notes
and videos from those clinics together. I began compiling what Sherman showed.
It came to 800 applications for Isshinryu’s kata. Along with a study of the
underlying principles involved. And I knew it was just a piece of what Sherman
was about.
Everyone missed
him and John. The loss made a profound change in my program, but we went on.
That’s what you do in life, keep living.
And 5 years
later I met John Kerker, Sherman’s senior student. Along the way meeting him I
learned a great deal, a very great deal,
about the part of his art Sherman never had the time to share.
I know Sherman’s
art lives on in the outstand efforts of his students and friends.
What Sherman
meant to me was how he shaped my own explorations into the meaning of Kata
movement application potential, and kata movement application realization. That
was a very large legacy to follow.
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