Keep on Keeping on

I must apologies to those of you that follow the blog, I have been MIA as of late. While I have been busy at work, with some cases and investigations, I have also just been busy training and working on my own karate-do. While I use the blog to express my thoughts and own opinions about karate-do and my own training, and also to update those people that belong to my dojo and inform interested parties about my books and other activities, sometimes you just have to take a break and do your own thing.

With all of that being said, I have found that the last few weeks, I have spent a great deal of time thinking about what it is that I am doing. Where I came from, where I have been and where I am going, as far as, my karate is concerned.  While I am still thinking over some things, I have also decided a few.

In the next few weeks, I will redesign the Yushikan website and move it over to a new server, I may even see about merging the blog into the new site, but am still up in the air on that.

As for karate-do, I have been spending time working on the applications from Sanseru and Seisan, mostly in the context of how to use them in relation to my job. In class we have worked on some kata and have spent a great deal of time working on the tuite and shime-waza found with-in some of the kata.

In the past 34 years, I have trained in many different systems; Judo, aikido, Jujutsu, Kobudo, and several different styles of karate-do. My first style and the one I train in constantly is Okinawan Gojuryu, even gojuryu is divided into several kai-ha (association/factions) and I have cross trained in many of them, but the main lineage I have studied in the most is the Miyazato (Jundokan). 

The older I get and the more years I spent training, the more I find that I could spent another 30 years and probably still not understand everything that is contained in Gojuryu.  If one were to really think about it, it may seem a daunting task, seemingly impossible and you might say, why would you subject yourself to such things? All I can say is that I cannot imagine not doing it.

I am sure that it drives my students crazy that we still do junbi undo, kihon, kata, kumite, kakie in the same manner and that I continue to train in the same things they learned on day one.  Just the other day, I was going through Gekisai Dai Ichi, and one of my son’s said to me “Dad, you have been doing that kata for over three decades, it might be time to work on another one”, I simply said your right but I’m not sure I understand it yet, I thought his jaw was going to hit the floor.

While it may be true that I have learned a lot since I first stepped in the dojo in 1977, I still feel like I have a long way to go, so I guess for now, I will just keep on, keeping on.