History Hysteria

 

Gentlemen All,


I believe Fred Loese summed the most likely issues on the lack of history in the Okinawan Arts.  Logically I think you can bolster this by considering:


Individuals like Matayoshi, trained originally in the one to one days, and everything was closed door.  His ‘tweaking’ kata for demonstration, most likely was the standard to keep the actual favorite techniques from public consumption.  Why, most likely because he was taught that way.  It take a considerable effort to pass beyond the values you original instructor(s) instilled with you.


When I trained with Tris Sutrisno, much of his Shotokan, Aikido, Kobudo and Tjimande practice were closed door, for the seniors and family only.  In his system Bunkai was mnemonic device to study and retain perhaps several thousand techniques, taught in a fashion that you could NOT ascertain them from the kata themselves.  The student in the Sutrisno family system would never spend their time working on their own Bunkai, they had too much to simply learn itself.


I can recall any number of practices, Bunkai versions of the kata and kobudo kata which he shared with me as being secret (and although I no longer study with him, I respect the secrecy which they were shared with me. Of course when I discover another source showing the same thing I’m quite willing to share that.)  I remember he was showing a Bunkai version of his O’Sensei No Kon Sho (a Bo kata) with altered striking patterns. One of my then brown belts was down training with us and learnt the pattern Tris was teaching.  A year later, the Brown Belt disregarding my strong suggestion that he should never show that version publicly, competed with it, and it was filmed by my wife. Some time later Tris had the chance to see that competition and when he saw my student performing that variation, he 1) questioned where he got it , forgetting he was the one who taught it to him, and 2) he was aghast that his family secret was being displayed openly.


First, I was not practicing that kata variation myself (I’ve since abandoned his Bo studies, my own Isshinryu are more than enough to keep me in trouble, but his kata were extremely logical and nice themselves too. Second, face it NOBODY today at a tournament (open at that) would have the slightest idea of what they were seeing, so nobody was stealing it.  But I understood his concern, it was drilled into him by his father and his seniors.  In Indonesia they keep their secrets seriously.  


Tris taught openly as Dad taught him, the Technique of NO Technique.  When teaching publicly he would teach anything, so much in fact anybody’s head would spin and the next day they would retain next to nothing.  [Unfortunately that was not the case with me <grin>.]
I still have some of those sessions on tape, and as he only showed a move 3 times, then he would go around an correct whatever the participants were doing, 99.999% of the time something different from what he demonstrated.  He did not correct him as he was taught a black belt would never say no, but do.


Anyhow, his tradition, most especially in the small amount of Tjimande was bound in family secrecy. Tris was torn between wanting to show this and his instructions (family and group) not to do so, ever.  I do know I don’t have the slightest idea as to what the depth of his instruction was/is, even with 10 years of association.


That experience helps me understand the older training. They were extremely serious about preserving that which their instructor passed on to them.  Consider now little documentation was done by anybody. Where are the books by Hiagonna, Itosu, Kyan, Shimabuku Tatsuo and so on…… there are none.  The strongest direct literature comes from Funkakoshi, Mabuni and Motobou, and secondary from Mutsu and Nakasone Genwa.


Heck look at how varied Kyan’s teachings became with his direct students. Who actually was the inheritor (if anybody)?  Where’s the proof, and do they want anybody to know so.


Where we wish to preserve this information ourselves, in most cases this was non-existent in their goals.


Even when some of the eldest do share, we are still left scratching our heads whether this is totally true.


I would suggest the best way to handle the oral history is to accept 100% of whatever they pass along (unless there are discounting sources).  You can’t prove or disprove it, so why worry about it.   Simply accept it as oral history. There’s probably more truth in their lies than in many of our current belief’s too.


Speaking of which, Fred mentions Trevor Leggit’s Zen and the Ways.  There has been an interesting discussion of this at E-Budo.com.  Apparently some PhD’s in Japanese History dispute the Samauri ever did associate with the Zen training. But to gain credence in Japan, the Zen adherents did associate with some of the Samauri.  I haven’t followed the whole topic, but it just underscores that we cannot accept even well written books as accurate either. Frustrating isn’t it!


Now for the Chinese, Privately I offer what Ernie Rothrock has shared with me. Everything is held back.  Apparently Ernie is the one Sheum Leung has chosen to pass the whole ball of wax to.  The video’s Sheum has made and sells aren’t correct (nor are they wrong) but entire aspects of the forms and training are not shown or discussed. Sheum never intended them to be a supplement to correct instruction, and most likely only feels a proper instructor can learn it anyway.  The tapes are really more ‘show and tell’ to overview Eagle Claw training.


Ernie sees variations of Eagle Claw at Kung Fu Tournaments, and apparently many are buying the tapes and trying to learn and individualize the forms from them.  And most unsuccessfully too, for there is no record (except in the properly trained student/instructor) of what wrong on the tapes.


Aspects of the system are passed along only to the Senior Instructors, period. Sounds familiar doesn’t it.  No I don’t try to get them from Ernie,  his simplest things are too much to spend time on as I’m not training in Eagle Claw, anyway.

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2024/03/1996-house-of-samurai-tournament.html