Sherman Harrill in 1997

 

A simple Sherman Harrill lesson

from a 1997 clinic in Derry, NH.

 

It involves what is within 3 strikes.

 

First some opening detail.

 

The opening left strike/parry is to the area behind the attacking elbow.

 

This is to shorten the following block/strike making it easier to stop the attackers 2^nd right punch.

In effect this is one technique that removes  two strikes toward you.

 

That understood let us look at the full defensive technique series.

 

Next as the left hand strikes downward, the right hand strikes into the neck. (I believe in reality this is a finishing move however the striking series continues.

 

 

Then the right hand continues to block/strike down to control a right strike from the attacker.

 

In my words done as a 1-2-3.

The New Derry Club Bulletinboard

 9-26-2016

1950's Okinawa where we see kuwa, kama, eku, and bo used as everyday tools ~ Colorized

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc3K1iVoLUs

When I began my study of Isshinryu

 

When I began my study of Isshinryu it was just to study karate. I didn’t want any obi, colored or black, just to study karate.

 

When I began the colored rank went white – green – brown – black. No ever discussed what rank meant, especially rank after black belt.

 

Shortly thereafter, Sensei Lewis informed us that green belt (of which there were two levels) would be broken into blue belt and green belt.

 

He also described when he was training in Okinawa the kyu rank was white – brown – black.

 

In time I was advanced to yellow belt and told that at the end of a class. Sensei simply gave me an obi.

 

In time I advanced again and was promoted to blue belt. I did receive a 5^th kyu green belt certificate with the promotion. I hung it on my wall. In fact Sensei had no size 5 blue belts on hand and Maureen knit me a blue obi. I eventually found one to buy at a tournament

 

Finally, I advanced to green belt receiving a belt and a certificate. That was the last night I was training in Salisbury for I had to move to Scranton for work.

 

As I was never from the areas where I lived and trained I had no family in those areas, and no one ever saw my certificates. They were just mine alone.

 

The only serious training in Scranton was in Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan. As it was Korean and not Isshinryu I began as a White belt, but the first evening I was taught 5 of their forms. 3 months later as their regularily testing I was promoted to 5^th Green Gup. And I was awarded a certificate.

 

 To be followed by 4^th Green 3 months later. Another 3 months I tested and was awarded a 3^rd gup red belt and the certificate.

 

That September Charles Murray moved to the Scranton area, to take over a church in Providence, right outside Scranton.

 

As he was my senior I worked very had and convinced him to teach me further in Isshinryu.

 

So my Isshinryu instruction continued. Charles was a black belt under Tom Lewis, back in 1972 I was also able to train with Shimabuku Tatsuo when he was in the USAF and stationed in Okinawa for a year.

 

When we began he kept me a green belt and as time passed he promoted me to 3^rd kyu brown belt. I remember no certificate with that promotion. And again the obi was enough (of course it meant he could hit me harder ((ouch))),

 

About a half year later or so he informed me that now I was a 1^st kyu brown belt. He explained that as we were training so hard he saw no need for a 2^nd kyu promotion, simply waited until I was ready to train as a black belt candidate.

 

Then on January of 1879 I tested for Sho Dan and was promoted. I was handed my black belt and the certificate. (I slept that night with the black belt under my pillow staying in Chares Murray’s family home.

 

The next day on our long drive back to Scranton Charles asked me, “If you are in a crashing plane what is your belt going to do for you?”

 

As I remembered my reply went like, “Well I would jump into my Sanchin dachi and punch at the moment of impact to neutralize the impact with my punch.” Perhaps I was overly optimistic.

 

Back in September of 1979 I began my youth karate program at the Scranton Boys Club. The kids (Club members) only paid a dollar a night (all of which went to the Club.  That continued to be the class fee till 2017 when I left Derry for Arizona. The program was for the kids never to make money.

 

From the beginning I decided to have appropriate certificates for the students when they got promotions. The printer at the bank I worked prepared the certificates.  But promotions were not done by testing, instead by observation of their efforts and were immediately granted after class when the student was ready for the next level of challenges.

 

I would hand them their belt and a certificate.

 

New students were white belts.

Then the student became a yellow belt.

Next came the blue belt, then the  green belt. Finally becme the brown belts..

 

Over time tape was added to the belt to indicate which level of brown belt the student was.

 

And all of them received appropriate colored certificates for their promotion.

 

In 1986 I moved to Derry, NH and began my program again at the Derry Boys and Girls Club. Again promotions accompanied by certificates.

 

In the 1990 when I was driving 90 minutes to work and 90 minutes home again before I taught the classes, one evening I decided to stop awarding certificates and just hand them their obi.

 

I just found it too time consuming to fill out the certificates as there was little time before class would begin.

 

I was prepared to make certificates if anyone asked, kids or parents.

No one ever did. Everyone was just happy for the new obi and no one ever inquired about certificates.

 

When a youth had to leave the area because one of their parents had do move.  I would provide a certificate so they could share it with another program should they decide to train elsewhere.

 

But certificates were never discussed. My students were most happy just to train.

 

What I did with the adult program is another matter.

 

 

 

 

The secret is out

 

John Kerker demonstrates some arm striking options 2008

 

I recorded this at a clinic with John Kerker in 2008.

It took place in Chicopee.

There is no sound with the video

However I believe you will find this most interesting.

 

The Weapons of Isshinryu - John Lennox

 The photocopy that was shared with me is very poor and does not scan well. While Lennox produced a later volume on kata, I don't know where to get a copy of this version. There were 2 volumes, One on kata, One on Kobudo, in this series.

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-writings-of-john-lennox.html

John Kerker - 2009

At a seminar in Chicopee Massachusetts

John Kerker discussed various ways to disrupt

a fist attack.

Use of Kamae

The weapon is what you choose it to be.

 The movement is a weapon,

The lack of movement is a weapon,

The act of turning is a weapon,

Spaces between movements are a weapon.

You are the weapon depending how you choose to be.

The Bo story

 

I really have no more ability to handle a bo with my disabilities.

 

However I remember my training well.

 

I was a brown belt when Charles Murray began by bo instruction. As I was going to study Tokumine No Kun he told  me I should by a bo on an upcoming business trip to Philadelphia.

 

So on that trip I went to the old location of Asian World of Martial Arts on North  Philadelphia, where the store was an old basement store front location. It was there I purchased my first bo and sai.

 

Focusing on the Bo it was of a very dense wood, and where it has been cut from a tree limb, it was slightly irregular as it slightly bent on the one end. The wood was ultra dense, almost as if it had a core of lead. That made it quite heav.

 

That was the bo I studied with.

 

Later my father gave me two bo he had a friend hand turn for him as a gift to me.

My father’s friend who made those bo, swore he would never make another. But I was very thankful he did make them.

 

The size of the bo was identical to what a bo should look like. However the wood was extremely light weight. I kept one aside to use for tournaments and used one as my dojo for study and practice.

 

When I was getting ready for a tournament back in the 1980’s I would practice with the heavyweight bo for weeks, developing my power. Then the week before a tournament I would switch to the light weight bo. It needed practice not to let if fly from my hand as I was conditioned for the heavier bo.  That training worked for me.

 

About 10 years later when I had students training with me, I obtained 3 other light weight bo for use. The wood was denser but the weight was similar to my hand made bo. They were perfect for training, competition and endured bo – bo kumite.

 

In those days my students did compete occasionally at tournaments. They followed my regime. Training with the heavyweight bo and then switching to the light weight bo a week before the tournament to be able to handle it.

 

Some students also purchased their own bo. But all of them trained with the heavyweight one too.

 

About a decade later I worked out the real secret of bo in karate. Really not for rational self defense   ( as who walks around with a bo) rather it was critical in long term ability development. Decades of Bo work  developed arms and hand grips that would  become a valuable force enhancer to add to ones karate usage.

 

There is no rational way to explain to the new brown belt or black belt what bo practice would add decades later.  It would be of incredible value especially to fight dissolution as one ages. There were so many values.

 

When I left karate behind I bequeathed my bo’s to my students in Derry.

 

May they continue to find value in their use.

 

Kenwa Mabuni comment on the Karate being taught in Tokyo

 

′′ The karate that has spread to Tokyo is incomplete. Those who believe karate consists of only kicks and punches, and think that spuns and joint blocks are exclusive to the judo or jiu-jitsu, have been misinformed. We should have an open mind and strive to study the complete art ".

(Kenwa Mabuni, 1889-1952)

 

 

To consider Counter Point

The karate Funakoshi Ginchin spread was mainly for a 4 year University program. Most of the students would then move on with their lives after graduation. Some did continue to train with Funakoshi but I imagine his program was much to develop instructors for the University system.

 

Then after WWII. Funakoshi being much older, the program developed on its own. Much based on the karate developed for the University. Funakoshi always showed the depth of karate in his writings.

 

 But many things shown were IMO not followed up by the developing Shotokan.

My journey with the T'ai Chi Sword Form

 

I began my walk today working Yang Tai Chi Sword, or rather what I can do of it. It was the most difficult thing I ever had to learn and attempt to do correctly.

 

I learnt ½ of it from Ernest Rothrock when I studied Tai Chi with him. During the 2 years when I learnt the Yang Form. For many years I did my best not to do it before him.

 

It was the simplest sword I ever saw him do. I can recall training at his school, practicing at the same time he worked on his daily practice. This was before he began focusing on the Eagle Claw system, Each day he worked on different form sets. On sword day I used to watch him work sword for an hour and it seemed to me that he was not repeating a form.

 

Then one day, after maybe 10 years, when I was visiting him in Pittsburgh. He decided that I had to learn the rest of the tai chi sword form, so that was the challenge for the weekend.

 

Many years later one day when I was teaching a group that was studying tai chi with me, one of the guy’s had a friend visiting from Maine with a tai chi background. He showed me his Yang sword. I showed him mine. He was astonished that what I was doing was vastly more complex that what he had studied.

 

So I struggled through ½ the form. And I remember, remember and dream.

 

A small story

 

Once a friend who was also a Judo-ka invited me to attend a clinic his instructor from New Jersey was having at the Scranton YMCA. The instructor was a long time Judo-ka in his own right.

He explained that his Japanese instructor had waited 20 years to show him this move. It was interesting. In a clinch he pressed down one way and then reversed himself falling to his rear the opposite direction throwing my friend 20 feet the other way. He explained that his instructor choose to teach it at 20 years. Not that that was necessary, as there were plenty of white belts at that clinic and they were working on it too.

Now you can make a point that this wasn’t taught until something was reached. Whatever that was. But he was competently instructing white belts in the technique.

This seems to relate to stories that often non-American instructors (Japanese, Korean and others) did hide material. What you don’t know exists you can’t master. Reminds me of when the American TKD team attended competition in Korea and was whipped out by axe kicks for which they had no defense. Seems their instructors didn’t teach them that kick existed. Oooops.

Hiagonna Morio Goju Keri

 

This listing was from an earlier video no longer available.

1.    Heel Stomp instep

2.    Foot sweep/reap front foot – takedown

3.    Front kicks to ankle of front foot,

4.    Front kick to back knee

5.    Round kicks to both sides of each knee (round kicks) , follow with knee strike to groin

6.    Cross stomp kick

7.    Rear kick

8.    Back side kick

9.    Stomp kick to knee

10.                       Back kick to knee, back kick to groin – takedown and stomp

11.                       Raking groin rear heel kick (as in my black belt keri drills)

12.                       Okinawan version of ax kick (strike with heel)

13.                       Discussion about striking areas’

14.                       Low side kicks, front, side

a.     Applied to inside of front knee

15.                       Sweep back behind front knee takedown then side kick to floor.

Karate Training in Japan from the past

 

Something you have to watch,

I imagine this was training in Japan in the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwgSGiA6liw

 

This reminds me of how my Isshiryu studies went when I was a beginner.

Though some of those drills were similar to how I was trained, many were not used.

The one thing was it always worked up a sweat till my gi was soaked.

 

The reason I like the sweat was when I was a beginner after warmup I always had a 6 foot poll of water around me and I had to run and get a mop to clean up the store. 

In fact I was too ofter a striking dummy for the greenbelts, and my only chance was if they nailed me with a side kick that when they put their foot on the floor they would then slip and fall.

The meaning of the directions in kata is not well understood - Kenwa Mabuni

 

"The meaning of the directions in kata is not well understood, and frequently mistakes are made in the interpretation of kata movements. In extreme cases, it is sometimes heard that "this kata moves in 8 directions so it is designed for fighting 8 opponents" or some such nonsense. I would like to specifically address this issue now.

 

Looking at the enbusen for Pinan Nidan, one can see that karate kata move in all directions, forward and back, left and right. When interpreting kata, one must not get too caught up in these directions. For example, do not fall into the trap of thinking that just because a kata begins to the left that the opponent is always attacking from the left. There are two ways of looking at this:

 

1 - The kata is defending against an attack from the left.

2 - Angle to the left against a frontal attack.

 

At first glance, both of these look alright. However, looking at only number (1), the meaning of the kata becomes narrow, and the kata, which in reality must be applied freely in any situation, becomes awfully meager in its application.

 

Looking at an actual example, the 5 Pinan kata all start to the left, and then repeat the same series of techniques to the right. Looking at interpretation (1), the opponent must always attack from the left, and while fighting that opponent, another opponent comes from behind so the defender turns to fight that opponent. This type of interpretation is highly unreasonable.

 

Looking at interpretation number (2) however, the 5 Pinan kata show us that against an attack from the front we can evade either left or right to put ourselves in the most advantageous position to defend ourselves.”

 

- "Karatedo Nyumon" by Kenwa Mabuni

 

One time I was approached and told by three guy's I was to teach them a bo kata.

 

I never had much experience with individuals approaching me having to learn a specific kata. On the other hand there was this one time…..

Fade back quite a few years there were no videos tapes, no CDs, no YouTube or any internet.

 

Many karate schools did not teach kobudo.

 

But what was available were some books and the karate magazines, and they built interest.

 

Being Isshinryu kobudo was part of my studies. Bo, Sai and Tonfa. And as I began to get around I had many who chose to share what they were doing in part, with me.

 

At the open tournaments you saw many things. People were creating weapons versions of kata, and the judges accepted those as Kobudo forms.

 

Forms like Empi kata versions of Sai and Tonfa, in fact almost any weapon possible was done with Empi kata. And there were many others, as well as forms created for the weapon. In time a lot of this went away once media of what there was became more modern.

 

But at the time I was competing, and just teaching youth at the Scranton Boys Club, one evening three guy’s I did not know came into the club looking for me. I never was charging anyone for instruction.

 

Apparently they were black belts from system, and knew of my  of my kobudo forms from my tournament appearances. I had no idea who they were.

 

Before class they came up to me and questioned me: “Smith, We know you do kobudo? We want you to teach us some kobudo kata!”

 

Just like that no introduction or anything.

 

I started with “Guy’s I don’t know you, nor am in teaching karate to adults here.”

 

“We don’t care, we just want you to teach us.:

 

So I responded, “Well while I am not teaching adults I can make an exception for you. However I only teach anyone in the exact order I was taught. So you would first start with empty hand kata, and once you got through them in 4 or 5 years, it you are ready I might be able to share some kobudo. But I only teach in one order for everyone.”

 

They just turned and left. Guess they didn’t really want to learn kobudo.

 

At different times and different places I did share some things with friends.

 

But those are different stories.

 

 

This song is about Okinawa and is incredible

 

島唄　THE BOOM

 

The song expresses the feeling that "I want many people to know the misery of the Battle of Okinawa".

 

Therefore, please understand that you edited the video with a strong feeling that you should not repeat the war, not the dimension of left-wing or right-wing.

 

 

Thought it might be good to talk about being disabled.

 

Thought it might be good to talk about being disabled. For one thing to make you think about people with disabilities. Not for myself but others.

One of my disabilities is that speech is difficult. So I rarely use the phone. And even less rare does anyone call me. I understand but I also understand how it can affect the disabled. With of course many, many different disabilities.

I am fortunate I can still type which allows me some access to the world.

I do not drive, feeling to exposed to risking others. So what I can do is walk 1-3 miles weather permitting. Which does compress the world. I get out with my wife every few weeks for a ride.

Few take the time to visit. I do understand this, everyone has lives. But when someone can visit it makes the day more special.

I suggest you might take the time to think about those you know who are disabled and spend a little time with them. Doesn’t require much from you, but it would mean a lot to them.