Perhaps it would be interesting to mention the Okinawan instructors I have met.

 

I attended two tournaments for Kise Fusei in Pennsylvania and observed him demonstrate his kata there.

 

 

 In 1984 I was invited to attend a clinic with Shimabukuro Zenpo, afterwards I got to spend a few minutes talking to him. Previously he lived in the Mid West for a few years and knew many Isshinryu instructors from that time. He told me his favorite American things were the beer and the cheese (of no real importance. He also realistically described Isshinryu onOkinawa as then only 3 dojo, as opposed to maybe 50 goju dojo and 100 shorin dojo. It was a most interesting conversation and I got the point he was making. No interest in changing anything, personally I did not care for their shift in stance from shiko dachi into front stance when punching. But overall informative.

 Shimabukuro Zenpo Seibukan Shorin karate

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8N0pm6HAkg

kusanku kata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XGziyoX5E8

   

Years later describing that to a friend, George Donahue,  raised as a boy in Japan and trained on Okinawa,on hearing Shimabukuro comment on there being about 100 Shorin dojo on Okinawa he responded that sounded right about the 100 shorin dojo (as he was a shorin derivtvive himself). But he mentioned the more important thing is to realize each of those 100 dojo are doing something different from each other.

         

 

After I was moved to Derry NH I attended a private teaching of Chinen Sensei to a Goju school in the area, they were using the Boys Club, rented for the event, and the Club requested I be there for them. And I got to observe the whole event.

As part of the training, he ended with a demonstration of his kata Starting with Suparimpe and working his way down, Of course I found the demo interesting.

 

Chinen Sensei (Goju) teaching at a demo in NH, showing all of the Goju kata

Seipai Kata - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBP7Kj3WXvQ

Kata 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqg35Gr6gxc  

          Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNvA_t3Mw7I

          Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk6iAthE2N4

 

That school had been a strong local Goju commercial school in the area for 20 years. Later I learned from one of their san dans who later moved over to my school, while their instructor’s instructor Ron Martin (from Chuck Merriman) the instructor kept changing goju organizations, And the thing was, after the workout with Chinen Sensei, they were told not to practice any of the changes they were shown.

 

Years later they shifted to a Shorin program, and had to shift their kata, that is when that san dan changed to my program. The next year that instructor  was promoted to 8^th dan in two different Shorin organizations. Later 10 dan would follow. While there is a lot more to that tale, the people there were extremely nice people, they just followed their instructor. Lessons?

  

 

 

In 1980 a year after the birth of my son I received an invitation from a Shorin instructor on the East Coast, to attend a kobudo training seminar with Kise Sensei. They taught bo, sai and tonfa. I then made accurate notes, then set those kata aside, gaining some understanding a bit.

 

 

Of course Kise Sensei did not instruct, Greg Lazarus did, he did just watch. I do remember one comment he made, the kama they used on Okinawa, were the ones sold in hardward stores there, as the kama was used in each house for gardening, everywhere. He also mentioned, kids used to carry kama to school to work in the fields after classes. On Okinawa they were having gangs getting into fights with kama, so the police were requesting instructors to stop teaching young people kama at that time.

 

Matsumura Seito Fusei Kise Kobudo

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk6iAthE2N4

          bo basics  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVLPnqj2rPo

          Seisan kata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naCud4qstac