Patrick McCarthy and I

Another telling of my experiences with Patrick McCarthy.

 

Dxxxxx, as you have noticed I have my fingers in a lot of martial discussions around the world, Most of them never reach our classes, much more involved than they are. Then again nobody in the world has had a similar background as I have experienced, and as a result what I teach is not the same as anybody elses has either. Of course all that it matters is what level of skill you reach.



My knowledge of Patrick McCarthy is a complicated story.



Back when I was a new Black Belt I heard of him as a National Karate competitor. Never met him then but I did know people who competed against him.



His back story is the normal complicated story of many from his generation. I believe he was originally with Daniel Pai of Pai Lum Kung Fu. Then he moved west and linked up with a karate dude from Japan, Richard Kim, that led him to other things.



I knew him from his early books, far fewer back then. One of them was a early book on Ancient Okinawan Kata, which were more Kim’s Japanese kata. And he was one of the first to publish books on what the Bubishi was about. I remember buying them and reading them.



He ended up moving to Japan, and linking up with many instructors there, eventually marrying a Japanese wife, and eventually moving to Australia. One of the things he did then was to start his own society called ancient arts or Koryu Uchinadi. He claims his new instructor was an older Okinawan one, and started teaching ancient forms, and he and his wife started translating older books and versions of the Bubishi.



When I joined the internet he was one of the people I first ran into having a large argument with Jim Keenan, who would later become a friend in the area, who was also a Japanese and Chinese translator who worked for the department of defense. They were having an argument over the translation of his new Bubishi then published by Tuttle. I got in the middle chastising them for arguing in public, Jim Keenan was also originally Isshinryu but trained in many Chinese Arts and studied in Israel, with the founder of Krava Maga. Which is very different from the pap versions taught over here.



Long story short another of my friends, Joe Swift, who was also Isshinryu and a translator in Japan, was also a friend of Patrick.



But what he was teaching was dubious. One of the big forms he used was Aragaki Seisan, which he claimed was a very old form. Wrong. He eventually admitted he created itl, and many others, to sell to those who joined his group.



Hearing this I had misgivings about him. For one thing though he traveled the world giving his clinics, I knew you only receive deep instruction if you train with someone full time. Clinics are not bad, just you cannot really get what someone has in a few hours or day. What you can get may be valuable, but not the same thing.



The Martial Arts world beyond what we do  can be very complex.



Well around 1980 Joe had me translate several books by Japanese instructors in French for him. Patrick heard about it, and several years approached me to translate a French book on the Bubishi by a guy who had a different Japanese instructor. So I did it and it took about a year. I got to see a book I could not afford. Patrick wanted the translation for his own purposes. Both of us used each other.



Eventually I did that for several other books for him.



Never joined his group, never was interested for I had more than enough as it was.



That was when I started writing many articles about the Bubushi. More questions from someone who  read various translations. Never had many answers, but because I actually read the book, I found I was one of the major contributors on the Bubishi. What I also found is than almost no one else talks about it. Most are too intimidated about it. Also note the Okinawans do not write books about the Bubishi for the most part. What they see, they do not share, They have written a bit in their encyclopedia of Okinawan Karate, but that has not been translated into English.



Separate take, eventually I learned Patrick used a portion of my translation to publish in his groups magazine, It was under my byline, but I was not in the group and did not see it. Apparently that year I was awarded the groups Translator of the Year honor, but I was never told about it. I learned about it from someone else years later.



Really did not have much to do with him after that.



He continued to sell himself and his group. Finding many who wanted links to older arts, And he continued to translate other early books.



None of this had anything to do with what we teach.



I did think is strange that he kept announcing he was a student of a senior instructor, but never taught that style.



He kept marketing his own stuff, and then started pushing is own fighting technique series, based on what is modern MMA for his version of Karate.



Then 6 or so years ago he was going to be in Londonderry at the House of the Samurai.



There is a lot of side story to that but for simplicity I will skip it.



So that weekend I spent a lot of time with him. We had a great deal in common, knowing many of the same people. And he has a ton of interesting stories about his time with them….. And he likes to talk. I on the other hand was trying to describe my own experiences. But as it turns out he was not really interested in that, just pushing his own stuff.



The clinics on Sat and Sun were general in nature. Some students from a Florida School in his group, were there to help him. They were incredible athletes, went non stop for the two days and not even winded. The clinic was a general introduction to what he was teaching.



He talked a great deal with me, over lunch and in the evenings. Fri and Sat.



I paid a little attention to the clinic, but it was not what I see my karate as needing in the least. A different dimension of karate. Neither good or bad, just different.At heart a focus more for those interested in Karate as MMA fighting.



The end result I got to feel what he was doing.Then again both of us managed to talk past each other. He never really listened to me.



Then he had his wife send me a mess of video’s on his stuff and granted me access to his groups server and stuff,



Of course the real purpose of his visit was to convince a husband and wife to break from Rich Bernard who had trained them since they were kids, and start a new school to teach his stuff. Another long story having nothing to do with us.



As for me he was doing all of it to convince me to join his group, and of course pay the fees for the membership, the clinics, and the dvd’s and the books.  None of which interested me one whit as I like what I do.



I did like the fact I actually got to meet the man, see his stuff, watch his people do it. It was interesting to understand what he was doing.



But when I told him I wasn’t interested in that, that I had no intention of teaching his stuff, nor joining his group. And the biggest heresy that I taught for free, he dropped me like a hot potato. Out of his website, and never heard from him again.



Nor was I disappointed. It is what it is. If that is what one wants, fine.


But it was interested in being in a situation where there was so much discussion, and no listening on either side what the other was saying.


Now I have no problem with you going to that weekend and gaining your own experiences. That is good as you want to do it.


But it might be easier not to mention who your instructor is. Of course that is your choice after all.


Know that I am proud that you are my student.


More than a bit long winded, but it might help you understand Patrick a little bit. The complicated thing is I have friends with very different opinions too. :-)



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