After seeing this as apart of a Morio Hiagonna
elbow striking sequence on a Panther promotional tape
This is the
closest I have come to seeing
even a
part of that drill which was longer.
Morio Hiagonna
Empi striking sequence
That Panther video as I remembered it.
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2019/04/an-elbow-striking-drill-remembered.html
Elbow striking from Isshinryu
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2016/09/shimabuku-tatsuo-and-elbow-strike.html
When I began
teaching karate in 1969, it was not so
easy for me. Really not ready and a relatively new Shodan, I was teaching exactly how I had been most
recently taught, as a brown belt. I was
too intense for my students at the Scranton Boys Club, and except for my
original 3 students, the Blackwell brothers who had also trained under my
instructor Charles Murray, my other new students left by the end of 3 months.
Lucky for me my
wife was a Physical Education instructor, her specialty was in coaching girls
swim teams.
She patiently
explained how I needed to listen or hear what my students were actually telling
me and how to adjust the training to what I was seeing.
She then showed
me her college texts on coaching girls swim teams.
Reality check,
the college texts from the 1960's about how to coach a Jr High Girls Swim Team,
my wife studied in college, are still more complete than most karate texts I
have read. She studied those texts back in the 1960s's. Just saying.
Those
Jr. High Girls Swim Team textbooks had a great deal of relevant knowledge for
the students of coaching. Not just swimming techniques. They included coaching
knowledge from across the country being shared to help everyone so trained to
succeed. Not just tips of one coaching style. They addressed best nutritional
practices, anatomy and physiology for the swimmer student, approaches to teaching and coaching the
student.
While the
standard karate text addresses the technical requirements of the style, rarely
are the other issues considered.
The difference
is the sharing of information for everyone’s benefit that the college system
utilizes to develop coaches.
IMO much karate
writing could benefit if such things were shared and addressed.
So I got a new
group of students at the Scranton Boys Club, applied what she showed me to
teaching karate to kids, it worked out and that is how I moved forward.
And I learned a
lesson, one that each student teaches the instructor. For my next 40+ years I
kept learning from students.
Rick
Niemira was a close friend of Tom Lewis.
I first met him as a new student when I attended Mr. Lewis’s dojo summer
party held at a friend of Dennis Lockwood..
But
I remember his best for these two stories.
When
Rick began he trained under Don Nagel down in North Carolina. Nagel Sensei
would split is time between a number of dojo. One night they had kumite and
Nagel Sensei was there. The result was every member ended up in the hospital
from sparring with Nagle Sensei.
The
other story came about at the Bando Summer Camp I attended in 1983. One of the
sessions was on how to break, and the beginners were each attempting to break a
board. The Isshinryu and Bando Black Belts in attendance were watching the
efforts. One of the Bando Black Belts said something, and Rick replied that is
not how I do it.
He
then went out to demonstrate. As my memory remembers it he placed 3 boards atop
the two cinder caps to hold them. Then he placed a thin telephone book atop
them. He got ready but he did not punch down as everyone else was doing.
Instead he slapped the phone book with his palm and the boards shattered.
That
got all the Bando black belts going out there to try to do the break that way.
As I remember it many of them ended up with red hands.
I
remember Rick explaining it took him a long time to learn to do that.
I
thought I might be useful to work up some statistics about how I spent my last
year Since February 2020. You have to know where you have been to work out
where you are going.
A
friend, Jim Keenan, collected some posts from my blog and published the book Isshin – Writings on Martial Arts and Life,
because he felt I had done something unique and felt it should be preserved by
a book.
I
have kept up making posts on my blog – 225 of them for the year. Their primary
purpose is saving studies for my students and much other information I never
had time inc lass to share with them, my personal studies.
I
have always shared more personal studies and like with my students privately.
Years ago I began sending these collections to them under the title Pleasant Isshinryu. Last year there were
editions from 99 to 185 over the past 12 months or 187 editions averaging
between 60 and 75 pages.
Then Larger bit
of information I placed in .pdf form for them. There were 30 of them over the
past year.
Most personal
effort remains finding new application potentials for the Isshinryu kata. I
have made strides in he last year, for example:
Last Saturday afternoon while watching several PBS shows I have seen
before and always enjoyed. Having recorded them I fast forwarded through the
parts I knew too well and really were filler not advancing the story.
Then my mind started working on an application for the 2nd
row of Seisan kata, one I don’t believe I ever did before. My answer worked
right interior, right exterior, left interior and left exterior. That left me
thinking rather well about myself.
I realized then that my answer was a variation of how I suggested
for mawashi-uke. The same answer working for a different technique. The working
point was the way each application fractal can be applied.
Everything
old is new again.
Wonder what is
ahead for the next year, for there is sure more to come.
Back
in 1984 when I moved to New England for work I really knew no one in the area.
For my work I was trained that I really could not talk about what I did for the variety of companies I worked
for. That left me having nothing in common with the people I worked around. I
spent hours commuting to and from work each day. And my free time was spent on
home responsibilities and my passion for my karate activities, which I really
could not explain to others at work either.
Realizing
I had to find something in common to be sociable, I decided to follow the Red
Sox and the Patriots. I choose to become a supporter. At that time neither team
was winning titles, so I took the stand they would win every year no matter
what happened. And I followed the scores of the games, All of that gave me
something to talk about with people. I really did not watch the games much, for
I spent all my free time teaching and training in my karate studies.
Then
the wheel turned and the Red Sox and the Patriots began to win championships..
That gave me more to talk about.
I
did not talk about TV shows, for I did not watch them. Nor did I pay attention to the other ‘popular
events’.
That
lasted until my disabilities began eventually leading to my moving to Arizona.
Then
no longer really associating with others, I stopped paying attention to all the
sports.
It
made no difference in the quality of my life.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So
I spent this afternoon watching several PBS shows I have seen before and always
enjoyed. Having recorded them I fast forwarded through the parts I knew too
well and really were filler not advancing the story.
Then
my mind started working on an application for the 2nd row of Seisan
kata, one I don’t believe I ever did before. My answer worked right interior,
right exterior, left interior and left exterior. That left me thinking rather
well about myself.
I
realized then that my answer was a variation of how I suggested for
mawashi-uke. The same answer working for a different technique. The working
point was the way each application fractal can be applied.
Everything
old is new again.
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/08/mawashi-uke.html
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/01/to-sleep-perchance-to-dream.html
Sanchin Kata -
Under Ice Waterfall - in Japan - Shihan Yasuhara
2013 JKA Karate
Winter Training in Japan - Ice Cold Water
Monk Meditates
Beneath Ice-Cold Waterfall in Nikko, Japan
Karate Training
Waterfall bathing Students 10
** this is Gary and his brother George Michak **
I remember a time back in the early 1980 when musical kata became a division. And at times people did kata that had nothing to do with the music, jhoon Rhee had a team that did forms to classical kata. The best one I ever saw was Gary Michak who did a created musical form timed to Superman. Unfortunately I know of no movie or viideo of his performance. But I can remember that performance.
He performed it at the 2nd youth karate tournament I held. He volunteered to do it for the kids. They went wild, for his leg rose perfectly in time with the music, hither and higher his round kicks went, Finally his last round kick was straight up then he rotatated a quarter circle each time with another vertical round kick while facing a new direction. The whole thing was perfectly timed to the movie Superman theme. Awesome for what it was.
What us real karate has changed over time.
For example before my time Hidy Ochiai of Wahin-Ryu was a tournament forms champion…and his forms often had a trademark back flip as part of his forms. I know he was a skilled technician. Years later I competed at his tournaments in Binghamton NY, trained a bit with one of his students, and was there on the day his students first competed with bo (which was new for them at that time). His students kata was different from his personal competition forms, more in line what you would think of as traditional Japanese forms (no back flips)
He
used to permit his youth students to attend my youth tournaments, All of his
students at every level were extremely
disciplined and solid karate-ka. However I understand in time his son did
include back-flips in his forms.
So
the question of what is real karate is of course a mystery.
Then
step back and think of China. Many of the Northern Chinese systems incorporate
many gymnastic maneuvers in their arts. Cartwheels, kips, All of them to use
against a variety of different attacks in their origins.’
The Chinese then built upon their own traditions and created modern Whshu, creating superb athletes, with dynamic routines of often incredible complexity. Not designed for combat.. however the existence does not detract from their traditional arts performance….The Chinese government seems to have realized WuShu was far more important for China, because of what that training could add to their youths lives and pushed the development of Wushu.
When I started karate, whatever stepped on the
tournament floor was karate, While there must have been private discussion about
what others were doing, those discussions were kept to one’s friends.
Much of the solid karate performance in kata, kobudo
and kumite likely would not pass the sniff tests of many today. But they
trained very hard. And were skilled performed also. They represented many
different arts.
When I was a yellow belt Sensei prepared a yellow
belt demonstration team for a local demonstration. We were drilled rigorously
on kata Seiunchin done to the music of the Hustle. I realize that should absurd
today, but the form was 100% the way we were taught the form then. In fact for
over 20 years that remained my favorite kata. And even today when I tun the
form I hear the Hustle playing in the background.
Sw when around I first saw musical kata at regional tournaments
I did not freak out. Some I did not care
for, some I found enjoyable. Then I saw Gary Michak perform a kata he created, core
graphed with the Music from Superman. It literally was the best musical form I
ever had seen. Each movement was from his art, a bit dramatized but that did
not bother me.
Another competitor from the same time was Canada’s Jean
Frenette musical kata somewhat similar to Gary’s
Perhaps from personal bias, I preferred Gary’s for more.
Musical forms also came out of the Jhoon Rhee system. Such as John Chungs performance of Exodus.
These are but two examples from those years.
I also knew of one youth instructor in Pa. who was
creating dynamic form s for his students in kata competition. I later heard he
had he kids also enrolling in gymnastics classes. Surely a precursor of what
was coming to music forms.
I really stopped most tournaments about 1984 when I
moved to New Hampshire. While I attended
a few tournaments in Massachusetts, most of what I would call traditional
karate schools did not attend. I was less than impressed at what I observed the
judges performance standards. And choose not to participate there.
I did go to several NH tournaments for years. One year I saw there was to be a
musical form competition at the tournament. I like to have fun and seriously
wanted my brown belts to enter the division. I saw them competing with a
traditional stick form as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, wearing boxes painted
as turtle shells. I would have been fun to see the judges faces. Alas I could
not offer any inducement for them to do so. Sometimes being Sensei is not
enough I guess.
Of course it was not traditional kata, but the division was what was. Perhaps more to appeal to the audience who had another thing to be wild about after sitting in the stands for a very long day. It helped the tournament promoter to make money, and for the performers another division to score a potential win it.
I haven’t paid attention to whatever came next.
