Another Journey Around the Sun

 

Yesterday I completed my 73^rd trip around the sun and that means today I begin another circuit.

 

Age is just that age. It does not bring wisdom perhaps a bit of knowledge that few seem to follow, whatever.

Age does mean you have seen ages move from one to another. I would like to talk abet about one of those occurrences.

 

 When I began in the mid 1970s my Isshinryu journey, class was mostly focused on training, lectures not so much.

There was little information about the arts around, at first I found the karate magazines, then slowly some books. Very few as that went, I tended to believe everything in them and accepted those articles were the way things were.

 

Then in time there were more magazines and more books. I noted that events I attended and participated in were not the same as  described in those articles. That was the beginning to understand the need to filter what I saw.

 

Then more time, training in many styles, many more magazines and purchasing almost every book I could find.

 

I began to gain a better filter of what I read, realizing that those articles and books might be what the author saw from their perspective. Yet also began to understand that was not necessarily reality either.

 

Then there were VHS tapes to DVD disks and suddenly almost everything you ever wished to see was available for a few dollars.

 

Then the internet happened, discussion groups allowed you access to MA’s around the world. For example a Japanese translator explained many of those books incorrectly called keri as geri and so forth. So many of those books became suspect, and then more and more.

 

Time moved on and YouTube freed almost everyone to share everything. A Cornucopia of video, tood, bad and ugly became available.

 

The internet moved past discussion groups, where people tried to describe in detail what they saw. Instead they were replaced by Face book and far less discussion and more button clicking like.

 

Most of the magazines are gone. The best of them such the Journal of Martial Arts or Meibukan are but memories.

Likewise most of the books are also gone. In retrospect most of them were one time publications not republished. And so much information was no longer available.

 

Of course the publishing industry has changed, more books print as ordered publications and sold over the internet.

 

There are individuals who are keeping up intelligent martial discussion, but it also seems fewer than in the past.

 

Part of this came from my blog which I created for my students to have available what I have seen,experienced for their future needs. But believing information ought to be shared I have done so with over 600,000 having visited it but there has been little discussion about what is their either. So many like to view.

 

I suspect it will be more difficult in the future.

 

I have always worked hard to see whatever I could see. Now I am awash with some things, but things that mean less to me.

 

So another journey begins.

 

Reflections on 25 Years in Karate

Back in 1997 it occurred to me that with so many different experiences in my near 25 years of training and teaching, perhaps I should record them to be able to refer to those experiences in the future. I had learned a long time before the value of creating notes of my training. Because it is said if you don’t write it down it didn’t happen. And I had notebooks filled with what I had learned and seen.

 

So I began to write and write and write. The completed document was 86 pages long, with an appendix about those who I had trained with. In effect I had written a book.

 

I did review what I typed, manually correcting some things, correcting typos and grammatical errors to some extent.

Then set it aside not looking at it again till now.

 

I find it a fair summation of what I went through, why, how and my opinions on many things.

 

It was not written for others to see, that being so I could be more honest of my opinions about what I experienced.

 

At one level I don’t need this, after all I went through all of this. But as the experiences added up, as the kata/forms learned increased, etc. it is helpful to put all of what happened in the actual time context for my sanity.

 

Of course there are many details that are not there. An example of one of them follows.

 

For example one night with Tristan Sutrsno he was teaching us how to walk silently in a forest ( something he acquired in Indonesia ) to step and not break a twig underfoot. Then to flow your weight on the front foot after ensuring nothing breakable was underneath. Something not normally in karate instruction anyplace I have trained.

But more strange I had already been trained in the process. That training came from the tai chi walking practice taught to me by Ernest Rothrock. The manner of stepping in tai chi was identical to what Tristan was showing.
 

I did not explain that to him, just focused on doing it as he was shown.

 

Over the subsequent years I have not had the need to show my students this. But the memory remains bright.

 

Taking the time to record what one has done can be useful to oneself in the future.

 

And what you don’t take the time to record, why then it may not have happened.

Mubyoshi-Ryu Jujutsu Pressure point & vital spot

Mubyoshi-Ryu Jujutsu 

人体急所図

Pressure point & vital spot

Ankichi’s toe-tip “ashisaki-geri”.

There is not just one method on Okinawa to perform a ‘toe kick’, actually there are many methods. Some still being practiced, some not so much any more. I was reading “Tales of Okinawa’s Great Masters” and in the section of Arakaki Ankichi, one of the more obscure methods was shown on a photograph of his toe kick.

Ankichi’s unique forming of the toe-tip for “ashisaki-geri”.

 

Much more can be found about this kick in a post by Adreas Quast ( a skilled martial historian) at his site. http://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=3104 It makes very interesting reading. There really is a lot of information there.

I have written about this type of kick before. Here is one of my previous posts:

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/search?q=toe+kick

A Japanese journalist opinion first seeing Sanchin kata.

 

Now reading Nagamine Shoshin’s “Tales of Okinawa’s Great Masters” I found this interesting passage about Miyagi Chojun. Page 66.

 

“There is an interesting account of a journalist from the Japanese mainland who, afte watching Hiagonna’s young students demonstrating the Sanchin kata was deeply impressed by the way in which they moved their hips, contracted their muscles, and breathed. The following haku was composed by the journalist.

 

Haku:

Toshu kuken hatsukaminari wa turiosou.

 Translation:

A roll of thunder,

seizing the first bolt of lightning 

with the empty hands.

Mea Culpa – Awareness

 

 I could just use my standard cute answer. “Real Men Don’t Use Spellcheck” then inform everyone all spelling errors are intentional tests for the reader. However that is not true,

 

No matter how hard I try there are mental assumptions where I believe I know what I read and the something else takes hold.

 

Like my use for decades of Funakoshi, Ginchin, where the name should be Funakoshi, Gichin. When I first  read it my mind changed Gichin into Ginchin. Then forever after when I read or used his name because I KNEW the name in my mind was Ginchin that is what I saw or wrote. And that was of course incorrect.

 

There are many other examples of my incorrectly spelling names and words because I KNEW the correct spelling. And knowing what was correct I missed the obvious.

 

This extends into my martial practice. On the whole I have always been able to learn forms/kata/kuen quickly and then retain what I learned into my practice and more.

 

One August in Pennsylvania around 1982 I was at a summer camp where Tristan Sutrisno was sharing the form Nijushiho with the Black Belts there. I retain what I was shown, incorporated the form into my practice and even competed with it one time for fun, just to prove to myself I could do it.

 

About 10 years later when Tristan was up to do a clinic for my students, I told him I was adding a Sutrisno kata as a supplemental kata for my students to honor his sharing with me. I thought Bassai Dai would be a good choice. But Tristan disagreed feeling he should teach them Nijushiho. I filmed  that clinic but as it turned out I never did view those videos.

 

The next day he did, along with his bunkai for that form. I even filmed the day. But as I felt I knew the form that day I worked with the students to assist their learning. The next week I noticed a few changes in their kata from what I recalled so I then worked with them to correct those changes.

 

So that is what the practiced and also taught other brown belts over the next 20 years.

 

Then one day I was transferring those VHS tapes into digital format and finally watched what occurred that day.

Turns out my students were doing what he taught after all. And it was not the same as he taught at that Black Belt Clinic.

 

Slowly I put things together. At that clinic he ‘knew’ we would not remember the form (ahem.. ahem) and following his fathers advice to give those in a clinic everything because they will not remember it. Those in that session were not his students and probably after the clinic nobody worked on that form. I also knew much more about the structure of his system and worked out what happened.

 

When kyu student (brown belts) learn the form in his school they do not worry about applications for the form (kyu students have other concerns to occupy their time. Then at Sho Dan they learn ‘bunkai’ for every movement point of every of their kata studies. Of which there are many dynamic ways to use those ‘bunkai’ to conclude an attack. Another fact at each dan level they also learn a ‘bunkai version of the form’ to aid their practice. This continues for each of the 5 dan levels.

 

As  I see this is what occurred. At the summer camp for all the Dan non-students what he showed was the 1^st level bunkai for the form Nijushiho.  Knowing all would forget the form.

 

For my students he showed the actual form as he taught it, along with some of the 1^st Dan bunkai for those movements.  Then what I did was reverse the form he taught them into the bunkai version I learned.

 

When he gave clinics he never came back to correct what my students were doing, that was my business. So everyone was unaware of what was going on in my group.

 

The differences between his Nijushiho  and his ‘bunkai’ Nijushiho are minor.The bunkai version is taught at Sho-Dan, It does not change the form a great deal. Being more a mnemonic device to assist the dan’s remember the detailed bunkai. We understood the bunkai he taught, but did not teach it, as my long range intent was to use that form for attacks to work to consider with my Isshinryu application studies.

 

Recognizing my differences, I then explained what occurred to my instructors I had trained. Advised them of the differences and telling them to begin teaching the form that way to new brown belts. And let the other version become another study after black belt.

 

I did not change what my other black belts were doing. After all that time it did not really matter for them.

 

So Mea Culpa, when we assume we know it never hurts to keep checking.

 

While I have corrected the latest Ginchin to Gichin, I am not going back to correct former errors. Those remain tests for the reader.

 

Of course any spelling errors found in this piece are intentional spelling tests for the reader.

 

 

 

Funakoshi Gichin and “Karate ni sente nashi”

 

 

In rereading Funakoshi Gichin’s “Tanpenshu” (translated by Patrick & Yuriko McCarthy) I see so much more about what Funakoshi Sensei felt about the Okinawan art than just reading his more martial works about the nuts and bolts of his art.  I recommend everyone should get educated and read it themselves.

But today I am going to focus on just one passages.

 

Fighting

 

From olden times, there has been a valuable message passed on called “Karate ni sente nashi” (there’s no first attack in karate.). It has been passed down to this day and as an important educational lesson for young learners. Without this guidance it’s possible that a contradiction may surface in functional application with things the way they are these days.

 

Preemptive qi control is the most effective strategic deterrent in self defense. However, if you cannot achieve this outcome right away, then you must seek it at the next possible stage of the confrontation. If and when these concepts are applied in karate, a defender can overcome his adversary by first receiving the attack and then countering.

 

However the exception to this….”ni sente nashi” theory is precluded when it is a matter of live and death for our nation, or someone is about to harm or kill one’s parents, wife or children.

 

In the case of street encounters, or even being surrounded by a group of hoodlums, there are many ways to use your skills but I had better not explain such details for young people here &  now.

 

 

I get a feel that this was something that was more for younger students after reading his thoughts. The students having far less worldly experience. Or something useful to explain karate to outsiders worrying about the possible misuse of karate.

 

Of course that is just my own opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further reading from Funakoshi Gichin's Tanpenshu

 

Today I began reading Funakoshi Gichin’s “Tanpenshu”, which I have had over 15 years, but I belive the last time I looked at it was in 2011 when I prepared this brief review.    https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2011/08/tanpenshu-untold-stories-by-funakoshi.html

 

Now many years later I have started to read it again, and once again I have proven my rule it often takes time before you understand what you are reading. I have proven that innumerable times to myself.

 

To clarify I do not represent Shotokan, of course I have read the Funakoshi writings, and many other JKA texts along with many times many articles about Shotokan and even more articles condeming Shotokan.

 

But in reality I have experienced the superior Bushi Shotokan of  Patrick Burns and a very different Shotokan of Tristan Sutrisno. Both of which are examples to emulate IMO.

 

What seems to me is that the critics of JKA Shotokan are not really understanding the very different layers of that Shotokan over the decades.

 

There is the Shotokan Funakoshi Gichin taught in 1922 in Japan, and which he described in his first book.

There is the Shotokan Funakoshi Gichin developed into a 4 year university club program.

An example of what Funakoshi created might be seen in the books of Mutsu in 1933. Expanded kata and extensive application studies.

There is the Shotokan Funakoshi Gichin, imo, nominally headed after the war which became the JKA.

I do wonder if the Shotokan of those University programs, and the instructors they trained for that, differed from the Shokan at their headquarters, for longer term students.

And  we have the JKA Shotokan after Funakoshi Gichin’s time

 

There can be a question if the Shotokan critics differentiated which Shotokan them meant with their criticisms.

 

I have questions if Shotokan teaches the passages from the Okinawan Bubishi, which Funakoshi always included in his books about his karate. I have seen the translations of those texts, but never heard of their inclusion in the various Shotokan programs. Then again I have seen little of Okinawan programs that included studies of the same texts.

 

But this time from the Tapenshu passage I am looking at something else. It contains Funakoshi Gichin’s thoughts on application of technique. Which is also extremely close to some of the Shotokan I experienced (but I am not an expert either)

 

“ Soshiki – Bunkai (I believe the latter term was incorporated by P. McCarthy to aid understanding.)The Systematic Analysis of Techniques for each Dan.

 

Once you have learned technique thoroughly, which are required for each Dan, you should analyze them. For instance: this movement belongs to this, that movement belongs to that, etc.

After completing this process, start training again using each theory. However, in the early stages of training, just relax and focus on learning the order of each technique. The after committing technique in memory you can gradually increase training to 70 or 80% of your power with big movements. If you practice with full strength from the beginning, you will surely have difficulties developing your skills. As your ability improves it will become easier to control your power, sometimes you can use 20 or 50%, etc…However, in the case of public demonstrations 70 or 80% power is suggested.

 

The variation I experienced was somewhat close to this, but with differences too.

 

It is interesting Funakoshi Sensei thought after the Dan learned the technique, then there should be analysis of same.

 

So many things to think on, and I only just saw this.

 

Shorinji Kempo and Haji Takeda

Perhaps 20 years ago when we were living in Derry, NH a group of Japanese students visited for 2 weeks to gain experience in English. They were placed in various homes around town. One of the English teachers stayed at our home. He was Haji Takeda. I very quickly discovered his passion, Harley Davidson Motorcycles and he took me to every Harley dealer in the area over that time, having contacted them before they were all ready for him. He filled his suitcase with Harley parts to take home.

 

We did many things including going on a Whale Watch off of Portsmouth of course after visiting the local Harly dealer first. He even gave me an English/Japanese dictionary he published in Japan for his students.

 

When he was in college he was in a Shorinju Kempo club there. This is not karate but a different art (though there are similarities. No longer practicing he still showed my karate adults an impressive array of locks he remembered.

 

He had never really looked at karate. I was able to show him my copy of the Karate Do Taikan by Nakasone  as he could read Japanese. What interested him most were the chapter by Funakoshi Ginchin.

 

So I explained a bit about what karate was in general.

 

And everyone enjoyed  that visit to Derry.

 

A year later he returned to take a bike trip with friends nearby, to travel to Deadwood SD by motorcycle. He also saw me and gave me a gift. I received a 2 books, 1 a large Japanese book on Shorinju Kempo and a smaller English version of the same book. The large Japanese version is more extensive than the English version. But the English version better presents Shorinji Kempo for me. The Japanese version with more photos and techniques I can follow well enough.

 

The art of Shorinji Kempo if extremely dynamic and contains many karate concepts to think about. For one thing they have no chambering, just strike from position. Another thing is the throws they use coming from their use of their locks, and those throws are extreme for the attacker.

 

 

 

Some thoughts about Motobu Choiki on Kata

We know Motobu Choiki was held in great regard in Okinawan karate because of his accomplishments. He wrote about karate, taught several kata to his students as well as developing some 2 person drills. His main kata study of Naifachin became the basis of his style of kumite. But what he felt about kata, is a bit something else, IMO.

 Found while I was reading “Motobu Choiki Karate My Art” by Patrick & Yuriki McCarthy.

 I want to begin with a quote by Charles Goodin; “With fewer kata, more time an effort can be devoted to bunkai. I do not think that Motobu-Ryu emphasizes bunkai because it has fewer kata. I suspect it has fewer kata in order to emphasize bunkai.” (Setting the record straight, 4^th quarter journal 2001, page 7)

 

Then ‘From Tales of a Great Bujun’ by Nagamine Shoshi, he writes

 Nagamine and Motobu – “The technique of kata have its limits and one must come to understand this.”  The technique of kata were never developed to be used against a professional fighter, in an arena or on a battlefield.  They were, however, most effective against  someone who had no idea of the strategy being used to counter their aggressive behavior. Motobu continued to say, “a small man can improve his technique as much as he can, and discover how it can be used regardless of time, place and opponent. In spite of a street encounter never being the same, the principles of the kata never vary.  However, one must learn how they are applied and how to blend in the winds of adversary.’

 

Motobu also said, “ Kata and waza are limited by themselves unless one learns how they’re applied in context”.

 

I am not a practitioner of Motobu-Ryu, and don’t accept everything even when written, but I think this is worth considering.