From “Doka: Poems of Usheiba Morihei

 

From “Doka: Poems of Usheiba Morihei

 

There are several Aikido techniques that move directly into the attack, avoiding collision, and emerging behind the attacker. There is a similar teaching in the Shinkage-ryu sword school.

 

 

The poem reads:

 

Furikaburu tachi-no shita-koso jigoku-nare

Mi-o-sutetekoso ukabu se-mo-are

 

 

Beneath the raised sword/ is like hell,

Throw yourself away/ there may be a way out

“It is like Hell standing beneath a raised sword, be willing to sacrifice yourself, there may be a way out.”

 

 

One can imagine the poet watching a leaf flow downstream only to be pulled into the rapids and then appearing later below the falls. Could this be “irimi-ho,” the entering method?

 

 

A poem that reflects the fundamental element of martial art is probably the following by O’Sensei Morihei Ueshiba:

Martial Truth

 

 Martial Truth

There are times I see something that is outside of my ken, and I too often make comments about it’s potential effectiveness.

 

 

But I think I must do a better job to understand some things.

 

 

1.It is a wide world after all. There are many things I do not know.

2. Many times truth of one art, finds other arts with diametrically opposite standards can yet be extremely effective, There are many ways to thread a needle, and the needle pulling the thread still works.

3. That said there are those who take liberties with what they are really doing.

4. That said I do have more important things to focus on than play martial policeman, If what they are doing is not credible, I should be happy for those so trained ought no be threats to my own students.

5. There is something to be said that individuals can make choices that make them happy even if it is not something I can believe in.

6. My own reality is to continue to work on what I have and improve every day. Age also being a reality the choices I make in training may be able to offset some of the effects age brings.

 

 

Therefore I must work harder at being a better martial artist.

 

My brush with Goju Ryu Karate

 

When I was a beginner no one discussed other systems. We did compete against them at many tournaments.  What we focused on exclusively in our own training.

 

Then I began reading the magazines, and their I heard Isshinryu descended from several traditions. For the most part the Shorin tradition of Kyan, from the tradition of Motobu and the Goju tradition of Miyagi. And that was about it.

 

I saw Goju at tournaments, which only gives you what is seen. I once remember a NJ Goju practitioner request all movie cameras be turned off before he did his kata.  There was no Goju school with convenient  driving distance.

And this was the time before videos,dvd’s, YouTube and all the rest.

 

Eventually I found a Goju kata book published by Don Warner, that gave me some idea what the system was about And that was that,I came to understand their Seisan kata was a 3^rd Dan form and less about the more advanced kata. But besides looking at those kata, I really did not use it much, noting more that Isshinryu and Gojuryu kata used much of the same techniques.

 

It was about 4 years into my first program at the Scranton Boys Club that my wife returned to training now with me. One of her diving students Cindy Robinson also joined the karate program, the summer before she went to Ithica for college. Then at Ithica College she joined their karate club and it was Goju ryu. When she returned home for breaks or summer’s she would resme training with me. Over time she progressed in Isshinryu and Goju ryu.

 

That following year she invited me to dive up to Ithica and see her class and meet her instructor. I did and he was  Ed Savage. I got to see their warm up Junbi Undo. Then he ignored the class letting them run it, and he turned to me.

 

We talked for a while I explained Isshinryu had a Seiunchin and Sanchin kata,  then I showed him my Isshinryu Seiunchin kata. and he showed me his Goju Seiunchin kata. We discussed the differences.

 

After that with great enthusiasm showed me his Saifa kata, then instructed me how to do it.

 

By that time class was over, and as I drove the 90 minutes home I kept going over those two Goju kata in my mind.

 

The next summer Cindy returned home, also returning to train with me. During that summer she told me she hears her karate group was having a training day at the lake  near Ithica Colletge, and she invited me to attend with her.

 

It turned out that she also told Ed I was coming along.

 

Again while the rest trained, he ignored them and spent his time training me. I can only assume other instructors likely did not visit and he wanted me to better understand Goju Ryu.

 

He started by reviewing Saifa kata. Then proceeded to teach me Sanseru kata, to then move on to Shisochin kata. After we completed those kata then he gave me photocopies of those kata from his Goju kata book.

 

I thanked him, realizing that this was priceless. It would enable to work on these kata on my own.

 

And I did, though at that time I was working on Isshinryu, an entire group of Chinese forms and my t’ai chi. Good selection of Shotokan kata and Sutrisno Kobudo. Some Shorin Ryu and some other things. I never intended to master those other systems but I wanted to know more on how to approach judging those styles at tournaments.

So two days and I got the core kata studies up to the Goju black belt, I was never a qualified black belt in Goju, but I understood what a competitor showing those forms should know.

 

Years later I was able to attend a clinic by Chinen Sensei held at the Derry Boys and Girls Club which the host school had rented the club to hold it in. I attended as the representative of the club to see things ran smoothly for the club.

 

I was able to observe what Chinen Sensei ran them through and watched while he ran his kata in reverse order, Supreimpei through Sanchin.

 

It was most interesting and I appreciated Chinen Sensei’s skill.

 

Shortly after I chose to include the supplementary Goju kata  Saifa in my student curricula. I had originally learnt it from Ed Savage, then worked it with Bob Cook, I had acquired a Panther video of the form, somewhere I worked with another as well as having seen Chinen Sensei’s performance of Saifa. All of them had slight variations on the technique and the kata performance.

 

What I chose to teach was how I was working the form. I am sure it is not exactly the same of any of the versions I was shown or saw. However it was sufficient for my purposes with my students.

 

I was not attempting to make them over in any Goju tradition. But as Seiunchin was a longer kata,  After their acquiring Seisan I wanted to give them a shorter kata before Seiunchin and Saifa fit that bill. Then over many years work I developed a greater appreciation of Saifa, seeing the application potential for its movements.

 

I  wanted my students to have some appreciation of Goju, and knowing they even knew a small part of what Goju used, they would not ‘fear’ Goju’s existence if they should compete against them in a tournament.

 

Further value came about later, for as I got deeper into my own Isshinryu application study.  Then  my black belts having developed skilled execution of the form could work their application studies against those techniques. Not play attacks, but skilled Goju style attacks……

 

Then more years rolled by, several Goju dans chose to join my program.

One of those students showed me Seipai, I acquired it and that gave me more insight into Goju.

 

When VHS karate videos became available, I remember purchasing the Hiagonna Supreimpei VHS tape. For one thing I really wanted to see that form. I remember it contained two variations of the form.

 

One Sunday morning how having a solid execution for Supreimpei available to view, I decided to teach myself the form. Again I wasn’t trying to be Goju, rather I was interested to learn the form for it had several techniques I wanted to work application studies against.

 

Now I has long before learnt forms of vast complexity and length if compared against karate kata.

 

I had also remembered reading a British karate magazine interview with Chinen Sensei where he added if he was going to restructure the manner in which Goju forms were studied, he would begin with Sanchin then teach Supreimpei next. He said he felt students might be better served learning it 2^nd as it contained so many of the Goju techniques.

 

So it took me about an hour or so to learn the technique sequence. Then I went outside before my t’ai chi group was scheduled to begin. The student who taught me Seipai came and watched my efforts. He then asked me what I was doing. I told him I had just taught myself Supreimpei and was trying it out.  I recall his eyes bugged out, especially as he never had studied it himself.

 

Outside of teaching my version of Saifa, I never taught any of the other  Goju forms, that was never my intent. But I learned so much by that effort.

 

While my purposes were my own, I do have a story. One time I was visiting a Goju program. I jumped into the class and worked with them. Later in the class the black belts were running Shisochin and I joined in. I believe they were astonished an Isshinryu black belt could attempt the form, much less know it. Then again I rarely forgot what I was shown and then worked on for a long time.

 

 

Footnote: Separate but related, I was shown the Kyokushinkai version of Tensho kata one time by Jesse Knowles.   And of course I practiced it from that time on. Again for my own reasons, At times I had my black belts drill the form, for a variety of reasons. I never formally made it a supplemental kata.

 

------- the Sanseu kata scans given to me by Ed Savage in 1984  ----------

The other part of my life when i was not doing necessary family duties or karate.

 

I see another National holiday is upon us. But the truth was that none of them made much impact on me or my work.

 

 I had a variety of titles over my career in various companies.

I was a Special Assignments clerk and a Benefits Officer in Personnel. I was a worked on the phones as a Customer Support Representative for a Software Firml I was the manager of Payroll for a fortune 500 company, I was the Manager of Payroll Systems for another fortune 500 company. Then I became a Business Analyst for the company that took over that one.  I was a Contract Analyst for another software firm, and finally I was a Senior Quality Assurance Technician for another fortune 500 company.

 

 

All of which used skills I built over my career life, learnt on the job and not because of my education at college . And in none of the above did my Job Description or Job Title really describe what  I actually did.

 

 

Essentially I was not told what I could do, I defined that for myself. In my functions I supported Personnel, Treasury. General Ledger and the Trust Department in my varied roles. Simply put I was an Individual Contributor who could get things done, many numerous things.

 

 

I worked into those positions by not following orders. Instead I got whatever was required done, on time. And frequently I did not follow instructions, just did whatever was necessary.

 

 

Over my career I only hired 4 individuals. Looking back on it those hires would fulfill all affirmative action dreams. But I only hired on competence and no other reason. I did not train anyone else in what I did, None of those companies wanted that. I had no control of what those individuals were paid, just worked to let them do their jobs.

 

 

All of those companies always observed all of the National Holidays. I was never told to work them, But I always got my job done, and have no idea of how many weekends and holidays I did work. I was always committed to getting the job done.

 

One of the positions I was hired for, they had been using the payroll system for 10 years, but in an exceptional minor way. The MIS group installed the system, but the use was up to the division and they had never understood what was actually required. They wanted to use the system for their entire payroll, which was not being fully used.  They hired me to do  the job. I oversaw the system coming up to date, worked with various MIS groups to feed data to the payroll system. Over saw a consultant to develop documentation for use in each payroll location around the company, then I developed a training program for those locations and ran the training programs to teach them how to use the system.

 

 

That system went live on the exact date intended. Then I was overseeing the system function. And of course that was only part of the job.

 

 

To get all of that done that first year I literally went to work 365 days, Ever national holiday in a row. I viscerally remember all of them, even leaving for work on Christmas Day. Losing knowing where I was driving home from work some evenings even to backtracking exits on the  Interstate.

 

 

 

And after that system went up there were even more challenging tasks. One night I drove home after picking up the W-2s at the MIS location to drive into a blizzard. Hours later I reached the Company Headquarters to stop there as the roads were almost impassable, to wait there for 4 hours, then to slowly make my way home for more hours, even passing uncountable abandoned cars on the interstate, till I finally got home.

 

And through it all I still did my share of work at home, and found time to teach 5 karate classes a week.

 

 

Then four months later I received an offer for a better job. When I told my superior about my leaving, he went to the Comptroller, to be told let him go he is not worth the money"". Leaving I still left detained instructions how to get  through year end processing and gave 3 people copies of what they had to do.

 

Later I heard they had to hire 3 consultants to do what I had been doing to keep the payroll going. Before they really never understood my competence with the system, so I built it to allow me to get the job done.

They later begged me to come back and help them through the year end processing. I told them my new position was to challenging to have any time to do that. I then reminded them of the 3 copies of instructions I gave 3 different people including my former superior. All three of then denied them having a copy.

 

 

I have had many other challenging experiences at all my employers. Each one of them unique and different.

 

 

All of them required my giving more time to those companies.

 

 

It is just what I did. That is why a mere National Holiday means less to me.

 

 

Up to the time I has to face disability, my record stood I always got things done.

 

 

Aspects of Toe Kicks from my experience

 

I had been doing Naifanchi for over 9 years when my private training with Ernest Rothrock went around to my studying the Chin Wo version of Tam Tuie used by Northern Eagle Claw. 

There are many versions of that form in many Chinese systems. 

This version was a 10 row one. 

Tam Tuie was performed wearing footwear, and I immediately realized it mad the toe kicks of the form more practical when kicking with the toes. 

Or one thing I made toe kicks work in our reality. 

Different versions of the form use high toe kicks or very low ankle height toe kicks and all ranges in between. 

Here is I doing the form slow to have a reference for the future.

There of course is a 2^nd version of the kick execution to generate even more power that I was once shown. 

I do not believe, as some have claimed, that Tam Tuie was inspiration for Naifanchi or the various Okinawan toe kicks. 

Of course with the shoe use the conditioning of toes to take impact is not required. But consider how strengthening the ankles does make sense with shoe kicks.

 

In a different light I was taught by Sherman Harrill, a different use of Naifanchi footwork against the legs of an opponent, which included shin toe kicks, inside and outside sweeps using Naifanchi footwork, and the use of a Naifanchi toe kick on the outside of the thigh among other uses.

 

Personal historical note on my tonfa practice

 

When I was a brown belt Charles had borrowed the 1966 Shimabuku movies from Sensei for his own study. One day he told me he was giving me one of the movies and his movie editor (which can be used to view the firm frame by frame) and told me I was going to learn the tonfa movie on the film At that time on one in the IKC was doing tonfa.  I purchased a tonfa at Asian World in Phila. And then viewed and viewed that form on working out how to do the form move by move. On the movie the form was called Chifa, so that was what I called it. After watching that movie so many times frame by frame I got to the point I could never really view it again. I did get a form, not really sure how close it was to what Shimabuju did. That was 1978.

 

Then Charles had me teach him. Of course in a week he was doing it better than I.

 

On the day of my black belt test, Howard Mitchum was giving two clinics at Lewis Sensei’s dojo for the IKC. During a break between one of the clinics Charles volunteered me to present my tonfa form. At that time nobody in the IKC was doing tonfa. When Lewis Sensei trained on Okinawa Shimabuku Sensei was not teaching the form. I believe he studied it a year or so later from Taira Sensei. When I finished Harold Mitchum volunteered that when he trained on Okinaw it was not studied then either.

 

So I just worked Chiafa for decades. I used to visit Salisbury one a year or so, always stopping in Dover to also  train with Reese Rigby. One time I did teach him what I was doing too. Years later, after Lewis Sensei retired, Reese went with Angi, even traveling to Okinawa to train with him. I am sure ht adopted the version Angi taught.

 

Eventually I became aware of a Panther video of Angi Uzeu doing the tonfa form. But I really could not watch it closely either.

 

 I just trained.  Eventually I taught the form to my black belt long germ students.

 

One time when Sherman was visiting me he asked to see my tonfa, so I showed him what I was doing.  In turn he showed me his, which he made the point he studied it from AJ Advincula. It was a bit like mine and also different. He never said I was right or wrong, never discussed the name of the form., Just wanted to see what I was doing.. We really never much ever went into kobudo, and when he did, it was on bo-bo and select bo applications.

 

Roll forward to 1990 when I joined the internet age. Remember all my Isshinryu training came from Tom and Charles back in the 1970’s. I discovered that others were calling the form Hama Higa No Tonfa. But as I never studied with anyone of the form decided I would keep the name as it was on the tape.

 

I heard claims what Shimabuku Sensei forgot the entire form, and that he made mistakes. I could not say. To me in actuality it made no difference. Any form is but the form being done. I had no context as to who was right or wrong. Any version can work. Then of course reality sets in.. 

Sure there is a police version, the PR-24, modified to make some tonfa techniques impossible to do for the police. But realistically one can’t carry them around today. 

It time I discovered their real worth was secondary as a long term study  to become another force enhancer for karate practice. The decades of work with the tonfa builds stronger karate technique.

 

This is Chiafa as I taught it  

Back in 1980 I worked up my own tonfa exercise to better work the potential for tonfa IMO  It was how I felt tonfa would be more practical in use. I based it off of Wansu kata.

 

My Wansu No Tonfa 

 

I have always been content doing what I do. Never sought other training. Never felt it was to be used for competition.

 

This is just what I did.

 

How Sherman Harrill increased his power with his strike from Seiunchin kata, what was involved was correct Energy Point Alignment

 

When I described how Sherman Harrill demonstrated how the augmented punch from Seiunchin kata created greater force in that strike at one of his demonstrations, I showed it in this post on my blog.

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-small-point-from-seiunchin-kata.html

 

 

When I described (actually shared photos) how Sherman found increased power with his augmented short punch from Seiunchin kata, by showing how even a light strike moved Garry Gerrosie explosively back from a that strike, I realized there was an explanation of what was happening.

 

In the kata this is where you hold your right wrist with your left hand and then strike forward.

 

What is occurring is that you are placing your full energy point alignment on that strike.

 

When your left  and wraps around your right striking hand what is occurring is that your energy points of your entire body are aligned when that strike lands.

 

Note: this explanation is something I learned from my T’ai Chi instructor, Ernest Rothrock, that when the energy points are better in alignment with a technique the result is a stronger technique. When I learned how this works I immediately realized this is what stronger karate did, by not making mistakes costing power, really not a secret, rather performance that was what was originally studied.

 

That which is occurring is that when the left hand grabs the right wrist it makes the bodies energy points more aligned. When that occurs there is more power delivered to the strike forward.

 

Of course you do not have to touch the striking hand to have maximum power provided you are correctly aligned, it just makes things easier. There are other methods to reach the same goal. However that is not my concern at this point.

 

What occurs is that when the left hand wraps around the right hand, that moves the left side of the torso forward more strongly aligning the energy points for the strike.

 

The hand does not have to wrap the wrist to obtain the same result. The hand or even one of several fingers might just lay across the striking wrist. Then again the  left open hand can just lie atop the right wrist without touching and that can make the alignment of the energy points complete and creating the perfect power in the strike.

 

This does not get into the other uses for this two hand formation, though there are many of them. Rather it is intended to just focus on one of them.

 

That day Sherman gave yet another lesson that keeps on giving.

 

The reality resulting from correct energy point alignment across our Isshinryu is best experienced. Once you are shown the difference it makes, then you are further convinced to work to improve your Isshinryu performance. And it is not magic for after all you are just better, more knowledge about why you were first shown how to perform your Isshinryu technique.

 

Some of my prior posts about how I learned about Energy Point Alignment can be found here.

 

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2017/07/correct-alignment.html

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2013/06/basics-of-energy-point-alignment.html

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-diagram-showing-energy-point-alignment.html