Paradigm

2-26-2919

 

 It is quite possible we do not really know what we know.

 

So much has been written in books, magazines and in the internet, repeating the same ‘truths’ that the endless repetition itself becomes a ‘reality’ or current lever of abstraction, not based on reality.

 

Consider that when Funakoshi and Mabuni began sharing a paradigm of what they studied with 4 year university programs, that was something new. They proved that was possible, and trained many who would then go forward in the Japanese society, reinforcing that such things were possible. Quite different from what occurred on Okinawa.  Especially proving new ideas could take hold.

 

I agree I don’t know enough, but from my incessant reading on Okinawan karate history for much of the past 100 years, there was never a focus on Karate systems, just the instructor who shared. That slowly changed more after the war.

 

Consider Miyagi Chojun. He was trained by Hiagonna Kanryo, engaged in further studies, taught mostly individuals and some school karate. For most of his time he trained to what he felt the individual needed, not teaching most everything. Towards the end of his life he changed his mind. Also he never promoted anybody to black belt. Then on his death hos students got together, trained each other in their varied kata studies. And as a group awarded each other dan levels, and from their efforts Goju became a system akin to what it is today. So as we think if a system it was more constituted that was about the mid 1950’s.

 

And Kyan Chotoku never taught a system, just karate. As was normal on Okinawa his students, some of them, became instructors some time after his death. Those that formed schools named them differently. Viewing those schools you can see a bit of commonality which relates back to Kyan, but also veering in different directions, eventually each of those groups becoming systems.

 

 

Then Shimabuku Tatsuo followed much the same path. Like so many others he incorporated kata from several of his instructors. Considered and passed on his own ideas what was necessary. He was willing to take on short term students and adjust his art for the short time they were with him. He was continually considering what was the best way to present what he say, which I believe he got from those who trained him.

 

Realistically he could not really know those short term students would be inspired to spend the rest of their lives doing his karate. He really had no idea that a world spanning organization was needed to consolidate his teachings, then what attepts were  done to do so, did not face the reality that there was so little in place to do so. Each of his students had the grasp of what was his Isshinryu they had seen. That they would perpetuate the name to be a ‘system’ was not the Okinawan karate Shimabuku had experienced.

 

Each of those instructors, with different experiences, faced very different realities when they came back home, Many of them were instrumental in founding Karate in America. And each based off the paradigm that they experienced. Often joining with other karate’s in America forming new, different traditions. But for the most part they kept the name Isshinryu, forging the idea that Isshinryu was one system, and in doing so creating something quite new too, IMO>

 

That there are many different paradigm’s using the name Isshinryu is what I have experienced. I know so little, just what I have experienced.

 

 

1.      The Paradigm I learned from Tom Lewis and Charles Murray

 

 

2.      The Paradigm I worked on myself to study kata application potential.

3.      The Paradigm I created to incorporate various subsidiary kata studies from many who shared with me and became the Isshinryu paradigm I taught.

4.      The paradigm that Sherman Harrill and then John Kerker shared from their studies together.

 

That is a brief suggestion of what I have seen, and I realize there is much more Isshinryu that I have experienced.

 

I have learned not to consider others paradigms as anything but what they represent. There can be many correct answers, based on many different things, and still being effective at the same time.

 

To me it is clear Okinawa paid attention to what Shimabuku Tatsuo accomplished and also learned from that. Perhaps not so public-ally but the reality he created left lessons.

 

 

 

Accidental Chinkuchi – Believe It or Not

Shinso and Charles Murray 1972

First let me explain I am not an expert in Chinkuchi, nor did I teach Chinkuchi. I believe in Isshinryu without Chinkuchi, for that was how I was trained.

I believe in Isshinryu Chinkuchi, for one of my instructors, Charles Murray explained how Shimabuku Shinso trained him to develop Chinkuchi, and with all of his kata.

I believe and practiced Isshinryu without Chinkuchi, can whoop Isshinryu with Chinkuchi, for I believe in the training I was given and then learned how to practice.

Let me tell my tale and then you can believe it or not.

Simply put the training I received under the guidance of Tom Lewis did not include Chinkuchi with our Isshinryu studies. Then when I trained as an advanced kyu with Charles Murray, the versions of kata I was taught were as he then did them, but Chinkuchi was not a part of my training. Then I made black belt and nothing of Chinkuchi was part of my testing.

When I started training with Charles he explained as a new black belt serving in the Air Force, he was stationed for a year in Okinawa. When there he trained at Agena as much as his schedule permitted. He described that training, the Marines were not training there, for they had their own dojo on their base. Except for a few Americans who had gone to Okinawa, the main part of the students were Okinawan and they would train after work.

He explained Shimabuku Shinso took an interest in him, and trained hin in Chinkuchi. While I was training toward my black belt test, he did not go into the details of that training. After black belt we were only together a few short months, before he re-entered the USAF. During that time he explained what that Chinkuchi training consisted of and showed me his training the kata with Chinkuchi. But there was not time to train me that way, and after he left me, I choose not to attempt to try and train myself, I did not know enough.

I was quite content with my Isshinryu as it was. I started competing  because there was no Isshinryu in my area, and I competed not to win trophies, but to keep pushing myself against the best competition I could find.

I did travel to train in Dover and Salisbury when possible, but that was a 6 hour drive and it was not possible to do that often.

Those IKC clubs of Mr. Lewis’ students did a great deal of open tournament competition in their area. Open tournament competition being what was most found in Maryland and surrounding states.

So one day after several years I was competing in an IKI Shiai in that area (I believe this was about 1983, when I was 4 years into my own dan). During the shiai Mr. Lewis called for a black belt meeting. I remember him addressing up, “In the tournaments we have been attending, it seems the judges want to see more power in our strikes, I suggest you have your students for competition start sticking their techniques to receive fairer scores from those judges.”

That was all he said, that was all I needed to hear, After all it was from Sensei.

Now I did not change the Isshinryu that my students were studying. And at that time I was studying many things, outside Isshinryu, so I decided it would be a personal study that was for me. The next several months I practiced doing Seisan kata, just that way sticking hard every punch and kick. It was doing Seisan with a different dynamics for the kata.

So privately I practiced what I was going to do.

The day of the tournament arrived, it was one hosted by George Iberl in Southern Pennsylvania. Many of the contestants and judges were from So. Pa. or New Jersey Isshinryu. Some I knew slightly, but I had no real relationship with any of them. On the other hand I knew many of the competitors, regularly competing with them in Pennsylvania.

So I warmed up waiting for my division to begin.

As much as I can remember all of the judges for that division were from Isshinryu (of course different as it was an open tournament, but it did happen). None of them ones I knew. Then in time it became my turn.

I did Seisan kata, exactly as I had trained, sticking every punch, sticking every kick. In time I finished.

I then stood before the judges awaiting my score. What next occurred was something I had never seen. The judges moved together and began a conference, with several of them glancing at me. What was discussed I do not know, I just remained standing. Then after a while they all returned to their seats and announced my score. It was in the mid-range of the black belt scores that day.

I really didn’t attend tournaments for any of the judges opinions. The only opinion I was ever interested was that of my instructor. I was doing it just to push myself, and in this case could I do what Lewis Sensei suggested.

When I then left the ring all the other competitors came up to me. The individuals who saw my efforts on a regular basis. All of them were of the opinion, that was the strongest kata they had ever see me do.

That was nice to hear that from them, of course I did not do it for their opinions either.

Driving home from that tournament it occurred to me that Mr. Lewis was not suggesting the kata be done that way for Isshinryu judges. Instead for the Open tournament judges in that area they were competing (such as Baltimore). I decided I did not need to do it that way again, for I knew I could do it that way anytime I chose.

Now at that time I was instructing youth, it was a time I was studying a lot of other things mostly for my own knowledge. Those studies would have eventual impact on my art, but not at that time. At that time I was not working on kata application potential or other possible Isshinryu potentials.

So for my students and for myself I returned to the way I was originally shown Isshinryu. Time passes, and eventually I began to explore how Isshinryu technique could be used.

Also remembering that tournament version I began exploring other potentials within Isshinryu, and those studies became intertwined.

Over the years Charles and I kept in touch, while he returned to the USAF in 1979 for a career, becoming an officer, etc. We would see each other every few years for a few moments. Each time it was as if he never left. We might spar or do kata. Then he travels went further and further away. Visits became less. Decades later I remember when he went to Okinawa on a TDY for a week. He trained with Angi, visited with Shinso and Mrs. Shimabuku. He remained involved with training no matter where he was stationed. He also informed me he was continuing with his chinkuchi training.

More time passed, then Charles was stationed in Rhode Island, closer to where I lived. I was able to have him attend a clinic with Sherman Harrill there, and later another one I hosted in Derry. Then one day he retired from the USAF, and began a job with a company that had him roughly in my area, and I began to see him more frequently. He began training with us.

I was past the time to change my art as it had evolved over the years, but I often had Charles cover details of chinkuchi for my records, to make available for my students.

One day Charles came to me with a gift. He had located an old movie of him taken while he was training in Agena. And, the kata he was doing, Sunsu and Seisan were being done with Chinkuchi as Shinso had been instructing him. Everything on that film was priceless to me. But more years would pass before I realized how priceless it would be to me.

One day I was watching this youngster Charles Murray performing Seisan outside of the base he was staying. Just a performance of his then Seisan.

Something clicked, and I suddenly remembered that Seisan Kata I had done decades before in that tournament long, long ago. 

Charles 1972 Chinkuchi Sanchin on Okinawa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct2kXNz_yhY

 

 
Charles 1972 Chinkuchi SunNuSu at Agena
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q2JV8RNDB8

There were no movies, nothing but my memory. Charles had not trained me in this version. But as best as my memory recalls I was doing the same thing when I did that kata.
 
So the question remains, did I accidenatly do Chinkuchi, or not? Believe it or not. That is your business.

I believe in Isshinryu without Chinkuchi, for that was how I was trained. I believe in Isshinryu with Chinkuchi.

Rememberances of Okinawa: Chinkuchi By Lt. Col. Charles Murray (USAF)

 Lt. Col. Charles Murray wrote this article in 1971, when he just came back from Okinawa.

One night after a rather exhaustive workout at Master Shimabuku's dojo, I and several other students were drinking tea that the Master's wife had brought us.  In the course of the conversation that accompanied the tea drinking, the instructor, Master Shimabuku's second son, Shinsho (Ciso), was telling me of how he had once threatened to kill an attacker with one punch.  As he began to tell me this, I smiled.  When he asked me why I was smiling, I told him that I didn't think that anyone could kill another with just one blow. 

As I spoke, I guess that I was thinking that if there was one thing that American karate had taught me was that you could not kill with one strike.  I mean, who is strong enough to do that, who could generate that kind of power?  Did not kickboxing show us that that was impossible, that the "one-strike kill" was just a myth?


Almost in reply to my thoughts, Master Shinsho struck me twice. With his first blow, a nukite (spear-hand thrust), he temporarily paralyzed my arm; with the second blow, my leg.  At that moment, I realized that there are some people who can kill with one strike!  I asked Shinsho, who was now standing and laughing, how he did that.  He replied that his power came from chinkuchi and that he would show me more the next day.  That was my introduction to what the Okinawans call chinkuchi, and I could not not wait to learn it!


The next day I found out that only three Americans before me had ever been taught chinkuchi and out of the three, only one at that time had mastered it.  The man who had mastered chinkuchi was from Florida named Bob Bremer.  Master Tatsuo Shimabuku swore by this man's abilities, and acclaimed him as the best Isshinryu fighter in the world.  He said, "Bremer Number One, Nagle Number 2."  It was funny, but not long after hearing of this man, I saw in a karate magazine where he had beaten Parker Sheldon for the championship of a big tournament in the South.  The article mentioned that Bremer's movements looked slow until they suddenly locked in place with devastating power.  This came from chinkuchi training.


Well, what is this chinkuchi?  I should first say that the word is unique to Okinawan karate and has never been officially defined by even the Okinawans.  It truthfully has no meaning and many meanings. Chinkuchi is both a way of training and what is achieved when one is able to achieve the main physical goal of karate which is to be able to block and counter simultaneously with killing power.  It is the way the Okinawans achieve power through karate-do.


This "power" (chinkuchi) is developed by striking with:

(1)  Proper tensing
(2)  Proper breathing
(3)  Accompanying each movement with what I call "mind control."


Tensing:  In karate when we punch and kick, we initiate a movement by swiveling our hips.  This swiveling creates a shock wave which finds expression through our striking joint (as we lock  our arm or leg into place).  It is then transferred to what we strike; through our striking surface (e.g. first two knuckles, ball of foot, etc.). 


Let me illustrate.  When we punch we "swivel" our hips.  This creates a shock wave which travels from our hips up to our shoulder and as our arm locks into place goes out from our first two knuckles.  This power flow that I have just described, in order to be effective, must be accompanied by such things as:

(1)  Being loose until the moment of contact (30% tension)
(2)  Proper breathing
(3)  Mind control or allowing your ki to flow through the movement.


This method of proper body tensing is an ingredient that must be mastered for a person to have chinkuchi in a movement.


Proper Breathing:  Every Isshinryu student knows that a kiai is among other things a shout of spirit.  It is used because:

(1)  The body's striking movement is always stronger when one exhales properly.
(2)  It has the capability of momentarily stunning an opponent.
(3)  It tightens the abdominal muscles as one strikes, thus aiding in preventing one from experiencing pain from a counter blow.


What few students know is that something like a kiai should accompany every strike in karate (either a silent or audible one).  In other words, with every strike one should exhale from the diaphragm. This is a brief description of what I call "proper breathing."  A further description of proper breathing would be an article in itself.


Mind Control:  The third aspect of chinkuchi and the most important (and least understood) is what I call "mind control."  This is known in other martial arts as qi, ki, inner power, the spiritual aspect of karate-do, etc.  This aspect of Okinawan power training (chinkuchi) is virtually unknown, I feel, by our Isshinryu sensei today.


Last year in speaking with an Isshinryu hachidan (8th Dan), I asked if he had ever heard of chinkuchi.  He said that he had heard of it from Mr. Bremer (mentioned previously), but our conversation revealed that about all he knew of it was the name.  You might ask why this is.  The answer is simple.  Master Shimabuku could not speak English very well so it was impossible to communicate it to the Americans who studied exclusively with him.  All of the Americans, that I know of, who were taught chinkuchi studied with Shimabuku's second son, Shinsho, the only one who could speak English well.


Well, let me get back to "mind control."  This mind control, coupled with proper tension and breathing, give the karate-ka was masters chinkuchi, additional power.  Perhaps the best article that I have ever read on what this mind control is was in an article in Official Karate magazine several years ago by Howard Taque from New York.  In the article, he defined qi, ki, etc. as a form of "self-hypnosis." For more information on this, see the aforementioned article.


But now the question is:  how do the Americans train?  The answer in a nutshell is all differently.  Some Americans achieve power in their techniques by using strength and weight in their movements much like a boxer.  Some try to incorporate tensing and breathing in that they have a vague notion of how they should breathe and tense.  But, truthfully, only a few American Isshinryu sensei that I have seen know how to achieve power in any way, right or wrong, American or Okinawan.  They act like whatever will be, will be.  If their students gain any degree of power from training then that's good; if not, well, it's the student's fault.  The student must not be training hard enough, or something.


The real difference, however, in American power training lies with mind control.  It seems that no one know anything about it.  I have never seen anyone really train to master it.


Well, this is dragging on.  Suffice it to say that there is an organized, proven way of developing power that the Okinawans call chinkuchi.


This chinkuchi is taught to the beginning Okinawan student, but because of communication problems has never been taught to most Americans.


The last question that I will address is:  why was chinkuchi important to the Okinawans?  It was important because Te was developed in Okinawa as the Okinawans were fighting a guerilla war against the Japanese.  I assume that there were times the Okinawans only had one punch or kick to give their oppressors.  If this strike did not kill or disable they were in danger of being either killed or disabled themselves.  It not only was important, it was all-important.


Well, allow me to end this article with the following story that I recently read in Black Belt magazine.  It illustrates graphically what can be achieved through chinkuchi.


One day, an old man walked into a dojo in Hawaii and saw the students hitting the makiwara.  He watched as they continued to strike the makiwara (the "American" way), and he began to smile.  The old man's smiling annoyed the students and they asked him if he would like to try his luck at striking the makiwara.  The old man said "okay," took his stance, and threw his punch.  It broke the makiwara completely in half.  It seems that this old man had been one of Gichin Funakoshi's first students.  Master Funakoshi, an Okinawan, had obviously taught him chinkuchi.
 

Okinawa 1971 – with Charles Murray

But perhaps I'll give you a little glimpse.  He was maybe 17 or 18, a very young USAF airman and a brand new shodan in 1971, when he arrived on Okinawa and took a taxi to Agena.  While he would later be stationed on one of the off shore islands, he first wanted to visit the dojo.  When he did get there what he found was what looked like a garage surrounded with a high wall and broken bottles around its top. 

Apparently Master Shimabuku didn't want neighborhood kids climbing up and looking in.  While the dojo was approximate the size of a garage, there was a small section (approximately the size of a large bathroom) off the side of the dojo where the Master and his wife lived.  That room was essentially unfurnished (they sat on the floor) and they had one faucet for their water.

The Weaponless Warriors by Richard Kim

 

 

A few decades ago I discovered the Weaponless Warriors by Richard Kim and was entranced by the older tales from Okinawa. That is had a footnote mentioning Shimabuku Tatsuo also made me interested even more. I never felt it was a ‘true’ historical record, at the same time then it was the closest I had ever seen to such, This of course was way before the internet..

 

Then in the late 1980s and onward I joined the internet generation. So much so I required my black belt candidates to read it as part of their preparation for better understanding Okinawa.

 

One day. I believe on the CyberDojo. I remember the Weaponless Warriors was being discussed.  Then Patrick McCarthy joined in the discussion. He told us he had been a student for a time of Richard Kim. But that the book was problematical. Apparently Kim had just translated a book by Shimabukuo Ezio and not credited he had done so. Most of his book was actually Ezio’s book.

 

Today checking Wikipedia on Richard Kim I found.

 

There has been some controversy surrounding The Weaponless Warriors, published in 1974, as the bulk of the work appears taken, without acknowledgement, directly from Eizo Shimabukuro's 1963 work Old Grandmaster Stories,^[9] which was translated into English for the first time in 2003.

 

When I discovered this I do not support plagiarism for any reason, so I discontinued having my students read the book.

Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters By Shoshin Nagamine

translated by Patrick McCarthy
 

Part One - Biographies of Okinawan Karate Experts

1 Majabe Choken Okina - A man of great strength
    Dojo dumping techniques
    A heroic episode
    Law and order in the Castle Town of Old Shuri

 2 To-Te Sakugawa - The general of great learning
    Wisdom and courage
    Travel to China, Detention in Bejing
    The Pregenitor of Shiryu-Te

 3 To-To Sakugawa Kanga: The general of Great Learning Wisdom and courage
    A master ofJinjen-Ryu Kenjutu
    The pen and the sword
    Yielding to Winds of adversity

 4 Matsumora Kosao Okina: the ruler who emphasized morality
    Knocking down a stalwart only with a wet trial
    Becoming an expert in bojutsu in stpite of losing a finger
    Pritector if the Nowagumuchi

 5 Itosu Anko Okina: A prominent model of Chivalry
    The model of chivalry
    Revealing the truth of Karate-Do
    The ten lessons of To-Te

 6 Hiagonna Kanryo Okina: The Iron Fist Warrior
    A determined decade in China
    Naha's well known Sensei Bushi
    The restorer of Naha-te
    Hiagonna's advice for using Supplementary Equipmeng for Karate-Do

 7 Funakoshi Ginchin Sensei: First propogator of Karate-Do
    Refusing to remove his topknot
    Tokyo. The foundation upon which Japanese Karate-Do was built
    Spending his life propogating Karate-Do
    Funakoshi Sensei's twenty principles of Karate-Do

 8 Kyan Chotoku Sensei: A tiny man with a self-trained fighting spirit
    The lesson of a strict father
    Karate enlightenment
    The Tiawan incident
    The moto of karate-do
    Highlights of three classical kata

 9 Motobu Choiki Sensei: the Master Fighter
    Motobu "the Monkey"
    The bout against a foreigner
    The enormous power of Keiboken

10 Aragaki Ankichi: The young multi-talented bushi
    Toe-kicker extraordinarie
    A profound knowledge of music, folk dance and classical drama
    Powerful enough to sieze the first bolt of lightening

Part Two - My philosophy of Karate-Do

11 The power of myth

12 Ken Zen Ichinyo (Karate and Zen are one)
    Through true karate only can peace be found
    Musashi and  Teshu both taught the signifance of Zen
    Awakening one's innerself through Zen
    Dedicated to seeking inner Ken Zen Ichinyo

13 Basic Instruction for Zazen
    Placement of cushions
    Positions of the hands
    The lotus position
    Stabilizing the body
    Adjusting the vision
    Initial deep breathing
    Breathing in meditation

Part Three - Tegumi and master grapplers of Okinawa

14 Okinawan Tegumi
    Introduction
    Tegumi and the origins of Okinawan sumo
    Gatherings, venues of the sumo ring
    Differences between Okinawan and Japanese sumo
    Master directors, referees and announcers of Okinawan Sumo
    Principle techiniques of Oinawan Sumo

15 Biographies of Okinawan Tegumi Meijin
    Akarie Matsuzo
    Hawaii's Kawasaki  vs Okinawa's Kinjo: the confrontation    
        Kawaski Kitatsu
        Kinjo Masayuki
        The Kawaski and Kinjo Match
    Uzeu and Ishikawa: A confrontation of small wrestlers
        Uzeu Jiryo
        Ishikawa Seijin
        The match
    Okinawan Sumo in post-war Japan (c. 1946-1956)
    Kushi Jokei: Sumo critic
    Makishingan: The big venue
    The future of Okinawan Sumo


Side Note

In 1974 Richard Kim published in English his book "The Weaponless Warriors", it was about many Okinawan karate experts. Then around 1990 Patrick McCarthy exposed on the CyberDojo that Kim had plagiarized much of his book from Nagamine's book and had not attributed it to the original author.

The Superbowl and Karate

Once again it seems some reflection is in order.

I spend my final days mostly in reflection of my karate studies (as you are reading my blog you must realize that).

I have absolutely no interest in any professional sport, they really have literally nothing to do with my martial reflections.

But, once a year the folderol of the Superbowl makes itself known even to me. It is impossible to ignore it taking place. For one thing my wife is a big sports fan and she watches sports all the time (for her golf, the Olympics, etc.) and of course football and the Superbowl.  I do not watch them but I know they are occurring.

And once again I note I never hear anything happening in the martial arts world, to any level. Nowhere do I see positive notice of karate.

While I hope to believe there are those in karate that are making the world a better place, their efforts are not being recognized on a national of international level.

Literally no movies, no shows, no calls for karate to resolve problems that are occurring.

It makes me reflect on how far karate has fallen below the event horizon.

I suspect karate is only being followed by those using FaceBook or the like.

It certainly does not receive SUPERBOWL coverage.