Allow me to
offer some things my one instructor, Charles Murray, learned on Okinawa back in
1972.
He was a new
black belt under Tom Lewis, and was an airman who was stationed on Okinawa.
While there he trained in Agena at the dojo of Shimabuku Tatsuo as frequently
as possible. There were only several other Americans training there at that
time, because the Marines had their own dojo on their base.Then the majority of
those that trained were Okinawans who came to train on their way home after
work.
I can only
relate this how he explained to me, mainly after reaching my own shodan. He
described how Shinso (Ciso) spent time with him, training him in chinkuchi. But my
time with Charles was too short after
that to be able to be trained that way myself. And I did not believe I
knew enough to train that way myself.
Basically the
Isshinryu in which I was trained followed a different paradigm, the same one
Charles had been originally trained in.
When his
schedule permitted he spent as much time training at the Agena dojo as
possible.
And when he
described the dojo he included a specific description of a makiwara for
training nukite.
It basically
consisted of 4 walls with a tire innertube (rubber) stretched across it. The
Okinawans training there would strike it with their nukite strikes.
Now one evening
Charles listening to Shinso describing how he would handle an attacker with his
Isshinryu, made claim that his primary weapon would be the nukite. I believe
Charles showed some mis-belief at that, saying something he did not see that to
be an effective answer.
“Almost in reply to my thoughts,
Shinso struck me twice. With his first blow, a nukite (spear-hand thrust), he
temporarily paralyzed my arm; with the second blow, my leg”.
The manner in which he formed the Nukite strike was
different to me. His fingers seemed to be of equal length, allowing them to
strike as a single line of fingers.
He then explained that I needed to change the way I formed
the nukite. As my fingers were longer in the middle, I should bend them so they
appeared the same length. They also should be held open to accommodate this
structure. This would allow them to strike as if a single unit.
It could be
possible that was behind the nukite use you have been describing.
Believe it on
not. Charles trained me and has never give me reason to consider otherwise. I
know he maintained his chinkuchi training over the decades.
Many years later
he found these videos of his training on Okinawa. They are not the best,
but they are what I have.
Charles in 1972
practicing chinkuchi with his Seisan kata.
Charles in 1972
practicing chinkuchi with his Sunsu kata.
In my years I
worked out different answers. Different time, different place, different
circumstances. I was satisfied with what I did. But that never gave me reason
not to believe what he experienced.
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