Thursday, December 31, 2020

In an instant….

 

 

In 1981 after training with Ernest Rothrock for several years in T’ai Chi Chaun and having started studying a number of Chinese forms from him.

 

I was not studying applications for any of them. I just wanted to learn T’ai Chi and the form studies were because at times I was called on to judge divisions with individuals performing Chinese forms during tournaments I attended, I wanted to have some knowledge what Chinese form were like myself, to be a more fair judge.

 

So after a time I began to take advantage of the open workout class at his Wilkes-Barre Pa school. There were not scheduled classes then and anyone could just take the floor one after the other and run form aster form all afternoon long…. It was mostly the more advanced students, instructors, and Rothrock Laoshi too.

 

Before class Ernest and I used to talk about many martial arts. He would often ask me questions about my Isshinryu. At time passed I came to realize that his questions were guiding my thoughts about what Isshinryu could do, That became another education it itself. He also explained many things about the arts he was teaching.

 

One of the first Saturdays there as I was running forms I was able to watch Ernest and one of his senior students work on a self defense presentation for an upcoming demonstration.

 

One of those techniques really got to me. When his student attacked what he did was first step across his attack, then spin on the foor that stepped out and that motion of the other leg swept the opponents leg out from under him. Ernest then embraced the floor as his step swept the opponent down, then he rolled over and the foot he spun on became a roundhouse kick to the head of the downed opponent.

 

I watched them several times, though I did not fully understand how he did it. It was nothing I ever studied with him.

 

Then slowly, step by step, I worked out what I thought happened.

I had no one to work it on.It was not something I would teach to the kids at the Scranton Boys Club. So that study was just for my own understanding.

 

Then time passes. Rothrock Laoshi moved to Pittsburgh to take over the school there. While I trained at his local schools in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, it was not the same as training with him either. I did travel the 6 hours to Pittsburgh to continue to train with him, of course as special as those visits were it was never the same thing.

 

Then I too moved to Derry New Hampshire. Far away from everyone I had been training with. I did reestablish my youth program at the Derry Boys and Girls Club. I also started my adult program there.

 

About a year after I moved there, 1996, Tristan Sutrisno decided to have an instructors clinic at my school. There were a number of different instructors from different martial traditions who attended. This was Tristan Sutrisno’s Bushi No Te group which held an annual summer training camp in the Poconos.And among those attending that weekend were Ernest and one of his students from Pittsburgh.

 

What was happening was each of the instructors were sharing part of their arts with all attended. To allow the group to better understand each other arts.

 

 During Ernie’s presentation he demonstrated of the techniques he showed was exactly that move which I had seen 5 years before. And it turned out what I worked out was happening was exactly what he did.

 

I would describe it as the opponent attacks and what he did was use his legs to spin through and take the opponent down to finaly deliver a ko with his foot to the opponents head. Or perhaps he dealt with the attacker by simply stepping through the attack.

 

My description  of what happened

 

Against a forceful grab with the right hand, right foot forward. (alternately a right punch while stepping forward with the right foot equally works).

 

1.Take the right foot and step across the attackers right foot, starting as soon as the enter the attack.

2. Then shift your weight to that right ball of that foot. This is about ½ way through their attack…to consider the timing this takes place.

3. Once your weight has shifted to you right foot, immediately spin on that foot. The spin is counter-clockwise. This allows your left foot heel to become a reap to their attacking leg, and the timing is about ¾ the way through their planned attack.

5. As you spin counter-clockwise and take out their lead leg causing them to begin to topple, Fall down turning to your stomach and embrace the floor. Your hands not breaking your fall, but simply at your chest to push off of. This then becomes a full body breakfall as you opponent is going down on their back

6, Once you embrace the floor you take the counter-clockwise spin of your hips to continue to use the right leg become a roundhouse kick to the opponents head.

 

Of course such a technique is situational, if there other possible attackers the appropriateness of the move might dictate a different response.

 

Should the attack be a left grab with the left foot stepping forward, do not change the response, Of course the reap will then drop the opponent on his face, but the ending movement will remain the same.

 

Regardless of the attack the same response works, you only have to take into consideration how the movement puts the attacker on the ground.

 

The point was often you will only see something one time, but with work you can make that a possibility for yourself.

 

 

Addendum

 

From this single event I gained insight about other potential applications within kata technique.

 

1.    The potential use of kata lower body movement as a weapon.

2.    The use of turning in kata as a weapon system. (45,90, 135, 180, up to 360 degree turns).

a.     The pairing of Isshinryu Chinto and Goju Seipai as an example)..

3.    When I first met Sherman Harrill I understold what was happening by his use of stepping as a weapon system from Naifanchi kata.

 

 

 






Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Hawaii Karate Museum Collection

 


A martial treasure trove.

 

The University of Hawaii has a collection of ebooks of early books on karate that is awesome.

 

https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10524/1054

Hawaii Karate Museum Collection

The Okinawa Collection of UHM’s Hamilton Library received a major donation of books, magazines and multi-media resources (over 700 books and CDs/DVDs/video tapes) on karate from the Hawaii Karate Museum. With this important donation, UHM Hamilton Library has become a major resource for Okinawan/Japanese martial arts. The majority of the books are accessible at the Asia and East general collections (3rd & 4th floors). Over 260 rare books and journals have been placed in the Asia Special Collections (4th floor). Advance appointments are necessary to use materials in the Asia Special Collections. The use of the digitized materials on this website is limited to individual research and study

 

The titles available on line can be found at 

https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10524/1054/browse?type=title&submit_browse=Title

The following specific list for karate can be found at

https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10524/1054/browse?type=title&submit_browse=Title

 

Issue Date

Title

1958

Anata no mi o mamoru zukai setsumei karate gokui kyohan

1948

How to use the yawara stick for police

1966

Kaitei shashin zukai karate jutsu nyumon hyakuman nin no goshinjutsu

1967

Karate hayawakari

1956

Karate jotatsu ho

1959

Karate kenpo: goshinjutsu hiden (Chinese reprint)

1959

Karate kyohon jodoryu

15-Dec-43

Karate nyumon

1955

Karate-do

1957

Kassatsu jizai saishin goshin hijutsu zensho: zukai setsumei danjo oyo kyoteki hisshoho

1952

Kendo to shinai kyogi

1955

Me de miru karate nyumon

1956

Nyumon shinsho zukai karate nyumon: shindo jinen-ryu

1956

Okugi hijutsu karate-do

1951

Raifu gojunen kinen: Hawai Okinawa kenjin shashincho: tsuketari Hawai to Okinawa fukei

1952

The secret teachings of self-defense: jujutsu... of the yamato school

1940

Seinen goshinjutsu

195

She mao he hun xing quan

1959

Shoho yori okugi made zukai setsumei karate-do koza

1958

Tangsoo-do kyobon

1957

Zukai karate-do kyohon

1952

Zukai setsumei goshin-jutsu: kobudo kenpo karate katsuyo

1955

Zukai setsumei karate-do nyumon: hyakuman nin no goshinjutsu

1955

Zukai setsumei karate-do nyumon: hyakuman nin no goshinjutsu

Chinese Karate

195

She mao he hun xing quan

Itosu Anko

1956

Okugi hijutsu karate-do

 

Note these volumes are in Japanese. However when you select to view a specific work it opens a .pdf file to brose a copy of the book.

 

Even if y9u can’t read Japanese you can view the photos of the books or even copy them with tne normal .pdf restrictions.

 

This does not describe everything there.

From Makiwara striking alone

 



The other day I viewed a video shared on the FB Karate group by Lara Chamberland. On that video one of the early American students of Nagamine Sensei shared a very interesting story about Okinawa outside of the dojo that I had never heard before.

 

My synopsis of that discussion on the video follows:


The discussion begins with a story about a someone striking a kid’s arm with a simple flick side strike and when questioned and when questioned the one striking said he did not study karate, rather he worked just at striking the makiwara continuously. That developed his using his full body in his strike.


 Whether this is true today it seems at least in the past it did exist.


The lesson one does not need to study karate to be dangerous.

Someone from that tradition without karate is still dangerous.


 In fact it may have been a reason that body hardening developed as a part of the study.


They have people on Okinawa who do not know martial arts, they have just generation after generation of continually striking a makiwara. In his system everyone strikes makiwara.

 

The story just points out how much we really don’t know about Okinawa outside of our own karate studies.


Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Concerning my paradigm for teaching kata application

 


IMO there are almost an infinite number of paradigms as to how any instructor/school/system approaches use of kata and the concept of bunkai/application of their kata. Each personally believes in their system.

 

Those approaches may be to consciously not teach applications or to teach a formal set of kata applications or to move from teaching formal application studies to more private application studies. There are uncountable answers different instructors use. Each answer being right for the instructor.

 

For myself I came from a blend of different traditions, learning different approaches how to develop students over the range from white belt to ongoing dan instruction.

 

From my beginnings there were no formal kata technique application studies, yet another paradigm. But it was a powerful way to develop karate. Then I saw how different schools used formal wazza studies to develop students, not formal kata application studies. I became aware of approaches used in Chinese systems.

 

I experienced a very powerful system that did not instruct ‘bunkai’ until dan study. That system did not hide the existence of kata technique uses just waited until power, technique and speed had truly developed over kyu studies. Then at dan study the exact bunkai of each kata were studied, One bunkai for each kata movement point during execution, where at that point a string of applications came forth (often having little to do with the kata embusen. And Shodan learn those bunkai for every kata they studied. Then at nidan a different bunkai for every movement point during execution were studied. Again such for every kata. That continued to be the pattern for sandan, yodan and godan. Astaggering number of technique studies, each extremely effective. And that system only had 5 dans, thus it would be a lifetime study.

 

Even more important was what I experienced from Sherman Harrill of Isshinryu who shared with me 800 or so uses for the 8 Isshinryu kata. A true education.

 

Eventually I worked up my own synthesis for my program.

 

I was not teaching self defense, tournament karate, physical education karate, I was simply teaching karate. I had come to realize most students would not reach shodan, And that many shodan would not continue with the study further. Then there were  those who did continue study. Each group had need of effective technique no matter how long they trained. So I made sure we provided what I felt was the best possible training to accomplish that.

 

Then for the serious Shodan the more advanced study that they had begin to be prepare for begun. I began their instruction to work on about 100 application potentials for the first movement series that they were taught.  This was designed to allow them to understand the different principles behind the applications as much as solid execution was needed. More so they would be taking the first steps to realize that there was application potential into the training to make each application realized, a much longer journey.

 

Only at that point would they move into the application potential of their kata movements. But not studied kata by kata, rather experienced by the serendipity of what I was continuing to work on myself. They came to understand those principles they already learned equally applied to all their movements, along with new principles they experienced.

 

This is what karate application came to mean to me.

 

An ongoing step into the infinite well of my own kata studies, Ever learning, ever new,

 

Infinity and beyond.

 

 

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2012/12/bushi-no-te-isshinryu-developmental.html

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/12/bushi-no-te-subsidiary-drills-te-wazza.html

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/12/bushi-no-te-subsidiary-drills-gerri.html

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/12/bushi-no-te-subsidiary-drills-aikido.html

 

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2014/10/brown-belt-and-sho-dan-standards.html

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2015/11/obi-wazza.html

 

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

What color your Gi?

These were the individuals who tested me for shodan in 1979,

But I believe the photo was  from 1976.

 

When I was a kyu all kyu in Lewis Sensei’s IKC always wore a white Gi. But there seemed to be no rule what black belt holders could wear. They just had to back up wearing them.

 

One time a new student showed up in a newly purchased black gi and was sent home to change after being told kyu students could not wear that.

 

When my black belt exam approached, on a business trip to Philadelphia, I bought myself a black gi. Then after I was promoted, the next class that is what I wore. I learned the hard way that a black gi fades within a few years.

 

At times I would mix it up, say black top and white pants or white top and black pants.


In the long run I learned that I preferred the white gi. and that is what I wore thereafter.

 

However my seniors, who wore white gi most of the time, at different times wore many different gi’s

 

One group of my seniors used to have gray gi’s.

 

One of my seniors, Dennis Lockwood, whose mother was a seamstress who made many gi for him, often creating gi in many colors.  One of which was a black and white striped top to be worn with black bottoms (a referee gi). But my favorite gi for him was the paisley gi she made for him.

 

Charlie Murray used to wear a blue denim gi at times. It was very soft, durable and looked good.

 


But of course it is not the gi that makes the individual, it is the individual who makes the gi.


 



 

The value of open karate tournaments

 


By the time I moved to New Hampshire I worked out what the purpose of the open Karate Tournament was to them.

 

I used to tell my students if you want fairness, you won’t find it by competing in an open karate tournament. Consider if the judges you have are all fools and you take first place, then what it means is that fools liked what you did that day.

 

The real person you are competing against is yourself. The open tournament just offers you a place to perform your karate under pressure,

 

You are competing to work to your best  (at that time) under pressure, no matter what the outcome

Sunday, December 13, 2020

A long, long time ago, in a distant land….. All good stories should start that way.

The other day I was reading Mark Tankosich’s paper “Karate Ni Sente Nashi” and was entranced by the story about Choki Motobu.
 
Reading that story triggered a long lost thought of mine about me in another time. 

 When I studied Isshinryu we did not get lessons about Okinawan karate past. There was never enough time for our studies for that. 

Our karate studies were very focused on using our karate with the opponent standing in front of us. 

Then several years went by, I had been reading karate magazines (the internet of that day) and had picked up some information about Okinawan martial history. 

Of course I did not know then what I know better today. 

And in those tender years, I tended to believe everything written in those magazines. (o’ those days of lost innocence.) 

 So what I understood has little to do with the actual Okinawan history, with a huge boost from my imagination. 

I knew there were the current practices of karate, and a foggy idea that there was a karate before that time. I had no idea what the actual history was. 

 I knew Okinawa was conquered by Japan, and some idea karate was preserved for self defense. 

My imagination supplied the rest. I imagined that the conquerors were hanging around everywhere. 

What I worked out is that the best way to make karate work was to look like everyone else. Give out no tells of what you were capable of. Then you could walk past your oppressor not appearing you were going to do anything. This would allow you to strike where they weren’t looking, towards their back. 

For I had worked out the best answer was t strike from behind where they were not looking. 

 This is not far different from what Motobu Choki had done. 

 As time passed and I learned ever so much more about matters martial I never forgot that thought. 

So strikes hardened on the makiwara accompanied with correct alignment, with all the possible force enhancers are among the ways such a strike to the rear could do even more damage. (I have only suggested one answer where there a whole infinity of possible answers. 

 Of course I did not teach this, for I wasn’t interested at creating individuals who would study methods of attack. And what an individual is shown as an answer how a technique should be used, it normally takes great effort so see any other answer for their studies. 

The history was skewered but the inherent principle I worked out remains as sound today as then. Striking below the opponent event horizon.