You Tube does not always tell the whole story

 

When you are watching a kata performance on YouTube you are not really seeing everything that is being done before your eyes. That is one reason you cannot assume you really know what is happening.

 

A case in point would be the Gohakukai Tomari Rohai

 

From older saved notes I find:

 

“According to Kinjo Akio and Tokashiki Iken, the kata “Rohai” originated from Monk Fist boxing or Lohan Quan. The pronunciation of “Lohan” then became Okinawanized to “Rohai” (ローハイ). When Rohai kata was transplanted to Okinawa is unknown. That said Gohakukai founder Tokashiki Iken states in “Karate-do & Kobudo: A basic investigative report” (pg. 74 to 84) that the Rohai he learned was taught by Matsumora Kosaku (1829-1898) to Iha Kodatsu (1873-1928) and finally inherited by Nakasone Seiyu (1893-1983). He comments that there are ryu-ha (流派）or styles and their off-shoots which use the kanji “Rohai” (鷺牌; heron – sign), but it is uncertain whether these kanji are either ateji (当て字) (Chinese characters selected to fit the pronunciation in question with little nor no bearing on the meaning of the kata) or have some relation with the originator of this kata.”

 

 

Back in the 1980s Joe Swift shared the several different versions of the  Tomari Rohai kata with me on a video tape he sent me. One of those versions contained a form mistake. A shortened version cut short prior to the mistake can be seen here. 

 

 

 

Joe also sent me an article from a Japanese magazine on the form, of course it was only in Japanese, but the accompanying photos were very clear.

 

Then Mario McKenna shared a translation of the article about this kata.

 

It clearly translated that what looks like 3 nukite strikes, as in the Goju Shisochin kata, are very deceptive. For as the empty hand strikes out, at the end of the strike the fist closes to form a descending ippon ken, which you can’t see in the film. While I had the photos I let the video version control my mind  and did not see what was clearly shown on tht article

 

From his translations I taught myself this kata just for fun.   At the time I was first doing so I used lightly the hidden ippon ken (descending single knuckle strike) into the chest of a student. It left a mark that lasted a month.  I knew I really had something there. That practice never became one of our group kata, just something we occasionally fooled around with.

 

When I developed Diabetes II, and was almost immediately diagnosed with Colon Cancer. I began to make many changes to my life, dietary, walking and much more intense training. I also decided to enter a competition, which I had not done for over a decade, to push myself. And to make it more of a push I determined this form is what I would use.

 

 I reengaged with this kata for competition, addressing my declining capabilities, to force myself to higher levels of my own training. Then about a month prior to my surgery I performed it.

 

This is a video record of my performance while at practice about a month prior to the competition. My NO Tomari No Rohai. 

 

I performed that day  and doing so pushed myself to a new level.

 

Of course I did what I did.

 

The lesson is you really don’t know if you are seeing everything on a video performance.

 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An account of my day is found here:

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2019/11/it-all-became-so-much-about-stance.html

Looking at so many who shared with me

Just thought of a different way

to show those who trained with me,

and those who trained with me at dan level.

 

All of them had many impacts on my developing art.

 

Instructors who shared with me.

 

Students who also shared with me.

 

They all played important parts in what I developed.

Ticcu - Tekko / interrelated forms IMO

I can see these being used interchangeably.

 

 

 

Just a personal look at various videos

 

Tokushin No Tichu        

 

                            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsbQIcpDPt0

                               

Tichu Kihon Ichi and Ni

 

                               

                                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_juuc2XVxk                        

 

 

Maezato no tikko

                         

                   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jl7a7YuWuQ       

                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnQWoIGIlcM&t=17s

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KE1hD0SNF0

 

 

Jiffa Kata

                       

                   

 

Jiffa with Tichu  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GshglfMx24Q      

Kata Kyozai

I incorporated 3 supplementary kata for my students prior their Seisan Kata study. Kata Sho (Fyugata Sho, Ananku and Kyozai.  Altered a bit to reflect Isshinryu technique and execution as well as considering newer students abilities.

 

Kata Kyozai -  When I saw this form and understood it was created by teachers on Okinawa as a kata study for gym class, not karate class I became intrigued. Then I noticed it was constructed to pay tribute to many Okinawan systems, so I saw the value to sharing it too.

 

Joe Swift had shared a video of the form with me and I thought why not have my students study what kids did on Okinawa.

 

These are supplemental studies preparing my students for Isshinryu kata studies down the road.

I am including two different videos of students at different levels to show the form.

These were not meant to be perfect performances, just reflection where those student were at that time.

 

 

 

For the record, I was looking for perfect performance

 on their shodan examination in 6 or 8 years of practice.

 

A note for my students about Jim Keenan

 

Jim and I never really trained together.

 

When I first entered the internet age he and I met, discovering he lived nearby in Massachusetts.

 

He came up to watch my t’ai chi group and afterwards we discussed many things.

Here are some of the notes I saved from that meeting. They have meaning but not for now

Over the years from time to time he would visit and we again discussed much. We might watch videos I made, We often watched Chinese movies with  English and Chinese subtitles. Then he would translate what was spoken and what was written in each language, explaining each was saying something different.

And at times we would meet at a mall in Salem and just talk as friends.

 

One time he brought his students up and I gave them a small clinic.

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2020/07/when-jim-keenan-came-to-visit.html

 

Foremost we were friends, and that friendship continued over the years.

 

Then when I became disabled and for a year worked out how to keep doing my t’ai chi, when he saw my video of it, he came up and awarded me a certificacte to teach that t’ai chi version. I never expected anything like that.

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-continuing-challenge.html

 

Another time he came up and showed me how to practice an empty hand version of the opening of Tokomeni No Kon without a bo, just empty hands.

 

Then at the beginning of 2020 as a surprise he put together that book for me from some of my blog posts.

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2020/02/isshin-writings-on-martial-arts-and.html

 

 

Note:

 

Note: where Jim started in Isshinryu in the Pittsburg area, as time passed he studied a great many things.

 

When Jim was stationed in Israel he was able to study Krav Maga with the founder Imi Litchenfeld. While the same art there were two subtle versions. The version for the Israeli military and the version for the Israeli civilian self defense.

 
 

When Imi Litchenfeld died the Israeli’s asked Jim to return and teach the original civilian version to children, as they recognized he was skilled.

 

At one time Jim had an article in Black Belt Magazine about PaQua/BaGua.

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2017/07/jim-keenan.html

 

 

 

 

The “Secret“ Black Belt Manual

 

 

Not to be shared with others.

 

So secret its pages are printed with invisible ink.

The uses of Chambering

 

The issue of whether the Karate chambering of a hand after striking is most curious.

 

For the way I was trained there really was never an issue.

 

For the most part the applications of karate technique were only rarely discussed and kata was always done with chambers being used.

 

The paradigm under which I trained also taught free fighting, were the hands were mostly held in front of you and chambering was not much used. So our kunite (very hard full body contact, no groin or leg contact by kicks, limited sweeps and controlled head strikes was how we fought. And there was no sparring gear which then moved into the use of gear versions of the free style art.

 

When I studied with others everyone even in very different systems followed much the same pattern.

 

Then I had quite of exposure to another karate system. Where prior to 3^rd dan they followed the same striking theory when doing kata. Bunkai was not a study of kyu students, there were many, many other drill studies used. And in none of the classes I ever attended was kumite a part of the training. But in contrast the instructor was a wiz on the tournament floor, and he had many good students follow the same

 

In that system bunkai study began after shodan, Explosive applications that did not follow the kata much, and the kata were used for bunkai application points. There were many many bunkai for each kata.  Then at each dan level an entirely different explosive bunkai was studied, Again hundreds of them for all the kata. That repeated itself for all 5 dan levels in the system Not because you really needed them, but to always keep the mind engages as the decades passed

 

The point was at 3^rd dan onward many things changed.

 

The main point was that chambering was no longer used in any of the bunkai. Instead bunkai were done without chambering, just striking etc, from wherever the hand was. It made responses faster.

 

At a later point time  I began my own exploration of kata technique use. I remained committed the shape of my art would remain focused on the original manner is which I studied kata.

 

I did not see karate for tournament fighting, in fact not for fighting at all. Rather the use of every technique to end an attack, destroy the attack.

 

Chambering, specifically, was used for many things. Among which was the use of chambering to be a rearward elbow strike to demolish someone behind you. From a friend, the late Sherman Harrill,  I saw other uses, like the cambering hand as a slashing strike into the jaw or along the ribs, even as the motion of chambering to slash into a strike from the other side.

 

I am not going into detail, suffice it to say I looked at chambering from many different uses.

 

Of course that is not everything I saw, just a suggestive sample of uses.

No one can do everything; there can be a purpose for everything. We make choices and doing so shape our art.

 

 

References:

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2020/02/mefutode-most-personal-understanding.html

 

http://fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=317

 

Once upon a time in Karate Illustrated

 

I remember back in the 1980’s Karate Illustrated focused more on tournaments, including national rankings by region around the country. Then one day about the mid 1980’s they had an idea and were going to do articles about all the great champions of the past.

 

Then for about 4 issues they selected and interviewed about 4 past champions. The articles were about their past victories and what they have been doing since that time. Invariably all of the answers were it ceased being fun winning and so they discontinued karate. Then the articles stopped.

I guess Karate Illustrated got the idea that they took the time and effort to get real good. They they realized having done that there were other things to occupy their time. That posed a problem for KI, being as they were very involved in the tournament scene, they didn’t want to tell people that the reality was getting so good would cause them to move on. So KI discontinued those articles.

Now this is just from my memory and of course I may not be remembering correctly, but this is what it seemed like to me.

Reality is that is not what happened each time. The example would be those who continued to become instructors making their living by training other people.

But it made me think. I had been competing at a regional level, but when I began many of those competing became national champions themselves.

You worked year after year, then when those others moved on, you became one of the competing seniors. Perhaps your own day would come, and then you would find your own reasons to drop completion.

Most black belts did not compete but a few times. The few worked on their skills and grew better

.

But no one really talks about the numbers and what the average karate-ka of any rank moves on, and they do.

What tournaments mean means different things to different people. At one level they mean income for the tournament promoter, enough so many times the promoter relies on that income.

 

They are not the only thing karate is about. They are what they are. At one day, at one instant, the judges declare someone wins, everyone is other than the winner. That does not mean they are bad, they have a place to be managed in a karate career.

 

 

Origin of the Manji Sai

From  an article on FightingArts.Com titled  Taira, Shinken (1897-??) by Mario McKenna,

 

  

Origin of the Manji Sai

 

It was during his time teaching in Gunma Prefecture that Taira allegedly developed the Manji sai and its accompanying kata. The manji sai is a metal truncheon resembling the shape of a swastika (See Weaponry of Ryukyu Kobudo). Although the manji sai has had a long history in China and Okinawa (where it is commonly employed at the end of a 6' staff and is referred to as a Nunte Bo) Taira's inspiration for the weapon supposedly came after visiting a local Buddhist temple located outside the city to pray for the success of his newly opened dojo. There he saw a large Manji (the ancient Sanskrit symbol of life and rebirth) which resembled in Taira's eyes a Kobudo weapon (Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai, 1977). Almost instantly Taira was inspired as to how to create a weapon from its unique shape.

 

 

Immediately after he returned to his dojo, he formulated his ideas for both the construction of the Manji sai and the sai kata Jigen no Sai. The kata itself is based upon techniques Taira had learned in other sai kata, with one unique difference. The Jigen no sai kata takes advantage of the Manji sai's unique shape (both sides of the weapon having a sharp point) and employs many double handed thrusting techniques (Minowa Katsuhiko, personal interview, 1996).

 

 

It is interesting to note that the kanji that Taira selected for his new kata, Jigen no Sai can be translated as the "foundation of love / compassion". Taira's choice of kanji may be perhaps due to the source of his inspiration: a Buddhist symbol.

 

 

Jigen no Manji Sai

 

 

The article on Taira, Shinken is located at

http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=119

 

Part of the Why

Just a small point for greater clarity.

 

I do not consider myself an expert. There is literally so much I don’t know.

 

My sharing from my blog is not for acclaim I believe do to me.

 

Since I have joined the internet back in the late 1980s, I have shared for one purpose, to try and convince others to share, and perhaps learn a little more.

 

What I have experienced for decades while I know I am being read, the response has been almost universal silence.

 

I have met incredibly friends who have shared so much, but my original purpose has mostly generated silence.

 

I get it, I have experienced what I have experienced, you have experienced what you have experienced. Perhaps I am a bit more free about sharing.

 

When I took Mario McKenna’s advice and start a blog to save material for my students, I continued to share that which I felt comfortable with anyone reading.

 

Of course there are many other things that I share privately with them, most relating to  very personal training I have given to them.

 

So I continue with my mission. I have been sharing some of those blog posts with the hope more discussion might follow.

 

When discussion occurs I then can reorder my thought to help explain what I shared, and in doing so learn more myself.

 

And I expect I will continue this way.