The Canadian Isshinryu Way Everything Karate & Kobudo Volume 8, Issue 4 October 2012
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Isshinryu Canada The Canadian Isshinryu Way Everything Karate & Kobudo Volume 8, Issue 4 October 2012 Get Excited Inside this Issue: Karate can and should be exciting. It has all the components to get your Keep training and working to improve, heart racing, the danger of people trying everyone has things they can improve to hit you, the mental challenge of per- upon and those that aren’t willing to fecting technique and the pure exhaus- accept what they don’t know will rise Generation 2 tion you get a from a good workout. above the rest. Changes All too often, it is easy to become com- Get excited by what you don’t know, Okinawan 4 placent, once you’ve been training for a the less you know, the more potential Kobudo and Is- year, five years, twenty five years or to improve. shinryu fifty, repetition becomes a common oc- currence, you can’t always be doing Ask questions of yourself and find the By Rod Berek something new. answers. Zen and Martial 6 Arts Part 1— As an instructor, I regularly lament that Humilty there isn’t enough time to have my stu- Essential Isshinryu has been dents or myself do everything enough, Released! by Matt Morin no matter how dedicated you are, there For more information on the first is some aspect of your training that gets Canadian Isshinryu book, visit Pieces of Our 7 less than your full attention. www.essentialisshinryu.com! Past By Richard Ruberto Recognizing those shortcomings is a trait of a great martial artist, being Promotions in 8 aware of your limitations, and never ATTENTION NEEDED! Thunder Bay accepting them means what will excite you most is fixing your short comings. The Challenges 10 Do you know of someone great in If a technique doesn’t feel strong, the Isshinryu? If so, please e-mail best answer isn’t to avoid it, but to work [email protected] with the contact de- on it more and more until you under- tails to be profiled in future newsletters. stand how it can work for you. Upcoming Events Seminars Tournaments November 10th— July 1st, 2013 Mission, BC— (Tentative) Isshinryu Advincula Sensei. Championship in Wind- sor, ON Set Goals, Reach Them, Set New Goals, Repeat Page 2 The Canadian Isshinryu Way Generation Changes When many of the current Isshinryu blackbelts te skills to fight a 500 pound tiger in the original first began training, Shimbabuku Tatsuo, the Island of Dr. Moreau. founder of Isshinryu had already passed away, but many of his direct students were still active and training. Again, many of us were lucky enough to train with these great Martial Artists, unfortunately, a number of them are no longer with us. Sadly, this is becoming a more common occurrence as the wide spread adoption of Asian martial arts now extends into it’s seventh decade, our awareness of these masters is greater than ever. Since the last newsletter, at least 3 significant masters passed away. Bob Ozman with Shimabuku Tatsuo Bob Ozman—Student of Shimabuku Tatsuo and founder of Mushin-Gi-Tai. Master Ozman was a student of Shimabuku Tat- Joe Lewis—Student of Shimabuku Eizo and suo and a traditional instructor for many years. legendary Kickboxer (1944-2012) He also was an established actor, using his Kara- Joe Lewis was a legendary American kickboxer and point karate fighter who was extremely successful in the ring in the 1960s and 1970s. He was voted the greatest fighter in karate history two different times and has earned the titles of “United States Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion” and (Continued on page 3) Volume 8, Issue 4 Page 3 Generation Changes “World Heavyweight Karate Champion,” and “United States National Black Belt Kata Champion.” He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1962 and was stationed at Cherry Point. In Okinawa, while serving in the United States Marine Corps, Joe studied Shorin-ryu Karate with Eizo Shimabukuro, John Korab, Chinsaku Kinjo and Seiyu Oyata. He earned his black belt in a mere seven months. He was one of the first Marines stationed in Vi- etnam where he met Rocky Marciano. Joe Lewis dominated full contact karate kickboxing at the time of other legends like Bill Wallace and Chuck Norris. He was one of the true pioneers of Karate in North Ameri- ca, driving it into the public eye. Soke Negishi Yuichi Saiko Shihan—Student of Kenwa Mabuni—Head of JAPAN KARATE-DO SOSEI-KAI An original student of Kenwa Mabuni, who upon his death founded the Sosei Kai He relocated to Uru- guay and was instrumental in spreading Karate in South America. It is important to remember that opportunities in life rarely repeat, when you have the opportunity to train with a first generation student or any mas- ter, seize the opportunity and learn as much as you are able. That is how Karate will stay strong and true to it’s origins. We all play a role in the future. Spring Magic Championships In the Spring Magic Championships held in Rock- land, ON, the following members of the Toshikai Dojo did very well: in the brown belt division, Greg Saxe placed third in Kumite and fourth in Kata, Matt Morin won the weapons division and placed second in kata; in the black belt division, Jack Lafleur placed second in weapons, fourth in kata and third in kumite. Nice results!! Page 4 The Canadian Isshinryu Way Okinawan Kobudo and Isshinryu By Rod Berek Researching the origins of Okinawan kobudo is diffi- culture, the eku (oar). While the empty hand forms cult. There are many conflicting stories, with each were practiced by peasants and aristocrats alike, school of karate tilting the story as they see fit, and the swords and spears were often not possible for there are many legends told as truths. Combine the peasants to own, even if they could hope to af- that with the fact that kobudo knowledge has been ford them. Thus the bladed weapons techniques mostly an oral tradition due to its secretive nature, were predominantly the domain of the rich. Howev- and you have a recipe for inaccurate histories. er, political events would soon change the way that Okinawans practiced with their weapons. One thing is agreed upon, however, Okinawan kobudo, the old martial way of Okinawa, is an es- Repeatedly over several hundred years, Okinawa’s sential and inseparable pillar of Isshinryu and every own leaders, as well as foreign ones, made it illegal other karate of Ryukyu. This is not surprising. to own weapons or to practice weapons techniques. Weapons have been part of man’s life since he has In 1507, Emperor Sho Shin made this edict, and been making tools and any complete method of self almost exactly 100 years later, in 1609, the invad- -defense, such as Isshinryu is, must contain meth- ing Japanese Satsuma clan repeated it. The prac- ods for defending against weapons attacks, along tice of weapons training went underground, and it with the development of skills to wield these same was during this period that Okinawan kobudo weapons. evolved as a separate entity from Te. Since the Stone Age, every culture has developed Without the traditional bladed weapons with which ways to defend itself, and the Okinawans were no to openly practice, kobudo evolved to use an eclec- different. They evolved a system of bare hand and tic range of household items and farm implements, weapons fighting, combining homegrown tech- or weapons that could be easily be explained away niques with combat forms borrowed from their as common objects. Legend has it that this is neighbours, and this system has been handed down unique to Okinawa, and that this was due to peas- to us over a thousand years of development – Oki- ants being forced to weaponize the objects they had nawan Te. This martial arts system was a part of daily contact with. Research does not necessarily Okinawa’s history and culture, and was soon to be support this. In fact, it would seem that the prac- joined by a weapons system with techniques that tice of weaponry remained largely with the elite in also combined skills from several cultures, and that this period. Some reasons to believe this are: flourished in Okinawa in parallel with Te. This was 1) Peasants do not have the spare time to learn to kobudo. use weapons. They have little spare time at all. The aristocrat would. It was tradition in wealthy house- The Ryukyu Islands, of which Okinawa is one, were holds that the eldest son would run the family for- a crossroads and a sea trading center for thousands tune or enterprise, and the remaining siblings could of years. This benefitted Okinawa greatly, but it lead a life of relative leisure, with the time to study also left the island chain open to invasion and sub- Te and kobudo. jugation many times over its history. The peasants 2) Those interested in kobudo, rather than practice and aristocrats alike had to develop fighting skills to in secret, would often travel to Japan, and ultimate- defend their land against the invaders. The initial ly China, to learn the weapons and empty hand forms of self-defense were learned from some of techniques that intrigued them, and to study with the invading cultures themselves. It is believed the masters. This is something that only the rich that early Okinawan Te was based on Chinese could afford to do. The means to travel and sup- quanfa (or kungfu as we know it today) which was port the training in weapons and hand-to- brought to Okinawa by the Japanese.