In 1999 I took part in a Goju-ryu Kata
seminar in Sanyo Sports Center, Nara prefecture. Besides practice, everyday
evening lectures were given. The organization was very good.
One day a lecture was scheduled by a Dr.
Tamesue, doctor of medicine and a surgeon, who was flewn in from Tokyo. He was
80+ or 90+ years old. The lecture was labelled "First Aid in Martial
Arts". He turned out to be one of the earliest members of Ritsumeikan
University Karate Club (did you know Miyagi Chojun's original student Yogi Jitsu'ei
was active at Ritsumeikan?).
His lecture covered the parts of the
body, the respiratory system, the organs, ripped tendons, broken bones and so
on. He also gave mathematical descriptions of what is actually happening. For
this he used the math of mechanics, of course.
He had an interesting story about the
tools used by surgeons during his younger years. During Meiji era, he said, and
as everybody knows, Japan adopted medicine, surgeon tools and techniques from
Germany. He said these had been good tools. Later, he explained, the Japanese
began to produce their own tools. He remebered that the Japanese clamps for
shutting off the kidney artery occasionally would jump off. As the pressure of
the kidneys‘ blood-vessels are under high-pressure, the blood would shoot up
right up to the ceiling. He found this was very amusing.
After 2 hours or so he finished his
explanations on First Aid in MA, obligatory closing by asking, "Any
questions?"
So I asked something about the history
and origins of Goju-ryu and while asking I saw a gleam in his eye. He began to
explain, writing the board full several times, drawing connection lines all
over it, wiping everything away, only to start again. Everybody was amazed by
this man. He nearly choked the translator while showing a brutal application of
Tensho, changing from Dr. Jekill to Mr. Hide to become a terrifying martial
artist.
The lecture continued and continued.
Some listeners were already snoring but he finally came to an end. He finished
by asking, "Any questions?"
As I inhaled for my next question
everybody in the room in perfect unison swung their heads around, glaring at me
with the promise of immediate fatal attack in their eyes. I was still quite
flexible in mind at the time and remained silent.
No comments:
Post a Comment