Looking Back

Recently I had a discussion with a few former dojo mates of mine that also trained with my father. We had a nice conversation about what it was that my father taught each of us after we started.

My father began learning karate in 1967 at the Jundokan of Indiana/Anderson Gojuryu Club, shortly thereafter named the Komakai Academy of Karate. My father’s sole karate teacher since that time has been Mr. Glenn Keeney. While enlisted in the U.S. Army, my father studied aikido with Tomiki Kenji Sensei.  Over the years my father attended seminars and training camps with several well-known sensei, other than Mr. Keeney’s dojo, my father only trained regularly at the dojos of Mr. Phillip Koeppel and Mr. Mike Awad, back then both were Shuri-ryu stylists.

In his dojo, my father taught a combination of Gojuryu and Shuri (Shorei) ryu Karate, along with some Aikido.  When I started karate training my father said he was teaching me Gojuryu, in the 1980s, he started teaching me Shuriryu, and shortly after that came the Aikido.

My friend told me that during his time at the dojo he learned; Gekisai Dai Ichi, Gekisai Dai Ni, Saifa, Seiunchin, Shisochin, Empi Sho, Bassai Dai, Nifunchin, Dan Enn Sho, Sanchin, Sanseru, Go Pei Sho, Tuse Sho No Kon, Sai Jutsu Ichi, Chatan Yara No Sai , along with 27 two person formal exercises. Another student told me that he learned the same thing in the same order. A third student told me that he did not learn as much as the other two that he only learned Gekisai Dai Ichi, Gekisai Dai Ni, Saifa, Seiunchin, Shisochin, Sanchin, Sanseru, Seipai, Empi Sho, Nifunchin, Tuse Sho No Kon, Sai Jutsu Ichi, Chatan Yara No Sai, and Shuishi No Kon, along with 27 two person formal exercises.

My father taught me the 27 two person formal exercises, aikido and the following kata; Gekisai Dai Ichi, Gekisai Dai Ni, Saifa, Seiunchin, Shisochin, Empi Sho, Bassai Dai, Nifunchin 1-3, Dan Enn Sho, Sanchin, Sanseru, Go Pei Sho, Seipai, Nan Dan Sho, Kanku Sho, Taikyoku 1-3, Wansu, Ananku, Passai Sho, Passai Dai, Chinto, Rohai, Pinan 1-5, Nekobudo 1-5, Hebeno and Shudoso. He also taught me the following Kobudo kata; Tuse Sho No Kon, Sai Jutsu Ichi, Chatan Yara No Sai, Yakka No sai, Soken No Tonfa, Chiken No Kon and three sword drills.

When I was a child, I did not understand that I did part of two styles. It was not until I learned the first shuri kata that he told me the difference. In 1989 I trained with a Jundokan Gojuryu senior and for the first time I learned that there were more gojuryu kata.  I remember asking my dad about this and he said I teach what my teacher taught me. I have always been fascinated by history and researched as much as I could on the history of karate. I began to buy books and ask questions to several seniors. My father said we traced our lineage to Miyagi and Motobu, but ultimately back to Higashionna and Matsumura/Itosu. After I researched the various ryuha, I asked my father why it wasn’t called Shito-ryu or Shorei-Goju-Ryu or even Goju-Shuri-Ryu, since it was a combination of the two ryuha, but neither one completely. He told me that it was the Komakai System, we did what we did and the arrangement was unique to Mr. Keeney and his dojo. After this I asked him permission to go and learn the remainder of the Gojuryu kata and he said yes.

By the time I opened my own dojo in January of 1994, I had learned all of the Gojuryu kata, all of the Shuriryu kata, and until 1999, I taught both styles in my dojo. As I grew and trained, I learned more kata and trained in other ryuha. I had even attained black belts in several of these styles. As this drive continued, it led me to obtain a few Shihan Menjo from different Okinawan Sensei. As I grew older and continued training and teaching I realized that one could learn hundreds of kata, but that if you did not understand the applications of the kata that you were just wasting your time. I learned that Karate is karate and though each ryuha may have some minor differences, basically they have more in common than they differ.

As I look back at what my father taught me and what I teach to my students now, I can see that most people would think that I have abbandoned his teachings, but I am not sure that he would agree.

Taking Stock

Every so often I take stock of what it is that I choose to do with my life involving budo, is what I am doing working, is it showing progress, do I need to change things up, ect. In the dojo I teach the students Okinawa Gojuryu and Ryukyu Kobujutsu, every once and I while I will deviate and show an Aikido or Jujutsu waza, but for the most part it is straight Naha-te.

As for myself, while I spend most of my time on Gojuryu and Kobudo, I do spend a fair amount of time practicing stuff I have learned outside of Goju. Over the past decade I have managed to obtain yudansha grades and even Shihan menjo in several other ryuha; Aikido, Jujutsu, Iaido, shuri ryu, Shorin ryu (Kobayashi, Matsumura Seito, Matsumura Kenpo, Sukin hayashi, Seidokan, Ryukyukan, Dentokan), Shito ryu, Uechi ryu, as well as a few others. Even within Gojuryu I have diversified, while my main study is in the Jundokan method, I have managed to achieve yudansha grades from several of the various goju kaiha.

I guess I just like to train, I never set out to obtain rank in any of them really, it just happened. I catch a lot of grief from some people about training in too many things, “how can you learn all of that and be any good at it?”. I am not sure that I can be, I am not sure that I have any real skill in budo at all to be honest. I am just a guy that keeps going and tries to learn as much as I can and remember it. I am sure if you asked my teachers in these other styles they would say “Oh he is terrible, he has too much goju in his shorin” None the less I keep at it.

I wonder if the founders of the various styles and factions over the years had similar thoughts. After all didn’t most of them train with a few teachers and pick and choose what they wanted to teach in there dojo’s? Isn’t that why we have so many styles, because everyone had their own take on it?

Would it be wrong of me to pick out the kata I like and teach them in my dojo, to mold the curriculum to what I want it to be? What I want to pass on to my students? Is there anything wrong with me teaching gojuryu to my students and then later teaching them Naihanchi, Passai or Gojushiho? Teach them two systems even? A Yushikan curriculum devoid of ryuha?

Seriously what are your thoughts?

Nakamoto Kiichi Sensei

I was notified a few months ago that Nakamoto Sensei would be making a visit to the USA, so I immediately set out to make plans to ensure that I was present. After much anticipation, Jason and I took off for Northfield, Michigan to meet new people and train with Sensei.

Mapquest said it would take just a little over 4 hours to make the trip, we made it in just over 3, after checking in at the hotel we headed straight for the dojo. Upon our arrival, we entered the dojo of Peter Carbone Sensei. It is a very nice traditional dojo, designed by Nakamoto Sensei. Once we took off our shoes and bowed in the door, we were greeted by one of Carbone Sensei students and saw Sensei sitting in a chair, we immediately greeted Sensei and bowed to him, after a few words, we were directed to the dressing room and got changed into our do-gi. After dressing we were shown around the dojo and talked with some of Mr. Carbone’s students and Sensei.

Carbone Sensei came in the dojo and we were introduced, even though we have exchanged communications with each other before, this was the first time we had met. After the bow in, Carbone Sensei told me that Sensei would like to have me work with the students on Seiunchin. I of course was shocked that Nakamoto Sensei had asked me to do so, of course I agreed. Now that I think about it, I am sure it was some kind of test. I must have passed because after getting Sensei approval on Seiunchin, he had me teach both of the Gekisai and saifa. I taught the entire evening course of the seminar. After I was done with each section, Sensei would give me the ok and clap for me. After the bow out, we had a few minutes to speak with Sensei and then he said he was tired and went to bed. Jason and I headed back to the hotel and on the car ride, Jason said “I bet you didn’t see that coming did you” I replied no and he said that he thought it was cool.

I did not sleep at all that night. 

We got up and got ready for the second day of training and headed for breakfast and then the dojo. Day two was spent on Sai and Tanbo. It was a great time and Jason and I both enjoyed ourselves. I had some good conversations with Sensei and he made some minor corrections to kata, we also had some history conversations. It was a good day. After training Carbone Sensei hosted a Greek dinner and a wine making party. We had good fun and learned about making beer and wine.

The last day was spent on nunchaku and tanbo, and then Sensei had me do a review of the Gekisai’s and saifa. After the seminar, everyone left and I got to spend a couple of hour’s one on one with Sensei, he taught me several bunkai and oyo to the gojuryu kata. I got to ask him several questions and he showed me a lot of stuff. To me this was the best part of the whole trip. I an honored to by Nakamoto Sensei representative here in North America.

Rememberance

October 8th should be an important day for any and every practitioner of Goju-ryu Karate-do, regardless of kai, kan or national faction. Today marks the 59th year since the passing of the founder, Miyagi Chojun Kensei.

In my dojo every year on the anniversary of Miyagi Sensei passing we honor him by diligently practicing the art he developed for us, in particular we concentrate on those things that he developed and brought to the style.

It is my opinion that every goju-ka should set this day and the day of his birth aside and devote their training to Miyagi Sensei. These days should be used to honor the founder by training hard in the karate that he left for us.

Goju-Ryu Comes to America

Gojuryu karate-do was first introduced to the America’s by its founder, Grandmaster Chojun Miyagi. Miyagi Sensei was invited by Chinyei Kinjo and the Okinawan News Paper, the Yoen Jiho Sha to demonstrate and teach his art to the Okinawan’s that lived in the American territory of Hawaii. Miyagi Sensei stayed for almost a year and toured the Islands giving demonstrations.

The introduction of Gojuryu to the mainland of the United States was threefold. Peter Urban Sensei was the first instructor to introduce Japanese Gojuryu in 1959. Urban was a student of the famed Gogen Yamaguchi Sensei and was instrumental in establishing Yamaguchi’s Goju-Kai in the United States. Later Urban would go on to form his own American Goju System. Also in 1959 Jack Coleman Sensei introduced Gojuryu to Ohio. Coleman was a student of Kanki Izumikawa Sensei and after his return from Japan began teaching in Toledo, Ohio. Coleman’s efforts helped established what later became the Gojuryu Karate-do Kyokai, and John Roseberry Sensei, a student of Seikichi Toguchi Sensei, began teaching Shoreikan Gojuryu at the Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois.

In 1960, Anthony Mirakian Sensei was the first to introduce the Okinawan Gojuryu Meibukan to Watertown, Massachusetts. Mirakian first trained under Seikichi Toguchi Sensei and later became a senior student under Meitoku Yagi Sensei. Also in 1960 Masaichi Oshiro Sensei, a student of Yamaguchi and Yagi began teaching Gojuryu in Hawaii.  In 1963, Gosen Yamaguchi Sensei (2^nd son of Gogen) established a dojo in San Francisco, making it the first Goju-kai dojo on the west coast.

By 1964, Yamaguchi Gosei (1^st son of Gogen) had arrived in San Francisco and founded the Goju-Kai Karate-do USA. William Rueter, a student of Masaichi Oshiro, introduced Gojuryu to Nevada, Ichiro Takahata begins teaching Shoreikan Gojuryu in Oklahoma and Larry Pickel, a student of Eiichi Miyazato, founded the Jundokan of Indiana. Pickel began teaching in Chesterfield, Indiana. Pickel’s dojo would spawn one of American Karate’s great leaders, Glenn Keeney Sensei.

The late 1960s saw a surge of practitioners from Seikichi Toguchi’s Shoreikan immigrate to the States: 1966 Shoichi Yamamoto in Kansas, 1967 Akira Kawakami in New York and in 1969 Toshio Tamano in California.

In 1968, Motto Yamakura Sensei, a student of Seigo Tada Sensei, arrived in Boston and began teaching Seigokan Gojuryu and John Roseberry begins teaching Shoreikan Gojuryu to Nebraska. In 1969, Teruo Chinen Sensei, a student of eiichi Miyazato Sensei arrives in Spokane, Washington and establishes a Jundokan Gojuryu Dojo. Chinen Sensei remained in the US and eventually founded the Jundokan International. Mike Mancusso Sensei, a student of eiichi Miyazato sensei, returned from Okinawa and began teaching in New York and in 1970 Natambu Bomani sensei, also a student of Miyazato Sensei, returned and began teaching in Ithaca, New York.

Since that time, there have been many people to help spread Gojuryu throughout the United States, some of those people include;

Ichiro Naito, Morio Higaonna, Frank Van Lenten, Robert Taiani, Chuck Merriman, Lou Angel, Jim Weinhoft, Glenn Keeney, Richard Stamper, Scott Lenzi, Anthony Marquez, Roy Oshiro, John Porta, Chuck Phillips, Natambu Bomani, Lloyd C. Johnson II, Lloyd C. Johnson III, Kawasi Mabatu, Kimo Wall, Kow Loon Ong, Chris DeBiase and countless others.

 

Rough Year

This year has been a rough hard year for traditional budo; we have seen the loss of several of the older generation of traditional karate and Kobudo sensei.

Koshin Iha Sensei - Gojuryu

William Dometrich Sensei - Chitoryu
Taika Seiyu Oyata Sensei – Ryukyu Kempo/Ryute Oyata Shin Shu Ho Ryu
Kensei Taba Sensei - Shogenryu
Takayoshi Nagamine Soke - Matsubayashiryu
Giyu Gibo Sensei – Shorinryu Shorinkan
Tatsunori Azuma Sensei - Kobayashiryu
Seikichi Gibu Sensei – Shorinryu Butokukan
Masayuki Shimabukuro Sensei – Seito Shitoryu/ Muso Jikishin Eishinryu

I am fortunate that I have been able to train with several of these great men over my lifetime. We are quickly approaching a time where there will be no pre WWII students that became teachers left. The founders are gone and shortly their first generation will have passed through this life too (a large part of the second generation as well), I am afraid that with these great losses, many of the old ways of karate will also cease to exist in the next decade.

I am approaching the 19^th anniversary of my dojo (January 1st), and 45 days after that I will have my 36^th anniversary of budo training. I have practiced karate every day, with very, very few exceptions, since I began training and I have taught either at my own dojo or my fathers for the last 22 years.  This year has been a challenge for me, not in my training or in my private dojo, but in the politics of commercial dojos,  I have grown tired of teaching people who want everything handed to them, I have done my best to pass on the older ways of karate as I have learned them, but again I fear people may not want to learn them. It may not be the passing of all these great men, but also the attitude of the current generation that is the downfall of true budo.

I recently had a conversation with a with a man that I feel is a good (and old friend) with whom I talked about the very same fear, we discussed the difference in what was being done when we were younger, versus how things seem to be going now. My friend does not have his own dojo, but he visits other people’s dojo for training and teaching. I had discussed with him that even though I had just spent a great deal of time remodeling my dojo that I was at a place in life where I was tired of trying to teach, that I wanted to simply stop. Use the dojo for my own personal training and nothing else, train with the occasional guest and offer advice and corrections to my yudansha level students, but that was it, no more kyu grades. He confided in me that he wanted a dojo, but it would probably have to wait until he retired. We had a lengthy discussion throughout the two day period. One thing that he said to me was “If people like us do not teach, people that have trained with the masters, and have studied traditional karate, then it will die, if we do nothing, and others feel the same way, then it will die and maybe we could have stopped it”. This has really got me thinking and while I have made no decision one way or the other, none the less, he has a great point.

Observations

I recently attended the 23^rd PKC International Karate Tournament, something that I have done for the past 23 years. As usual Mr. Keeney puts on a first rate event.

As I sat and watched some of the competitors perform their kata, I had a few come and ask me for advice, which I tried to give and  I had a few ask me why I wasn’t competing, I told them I still needed more practice, but they didn’t believe me, despite the fact that it is very true.

I always enjoy going to these events to visit old friends and catch up, I do not make competition a part of my training and in fact we do no type of training for tournaments unless a student specifically asks me to help them, because they want to do it.  I like to spend my time training in the traditional methods.

I had a great time and some great conversations with some old friends. One thing I have noticed is how much karate and Karate competition has changed over the years, since I first competed in 1978. It is almost like a different world sometimes. I think one of the downfalls is the commercialization of karate, and the lack of time people spend on basics.

As I was writing this I got an email, that got my attention and I read the article posted by the author, he said what I was feeling and trying to put into words, so I am going to share it here to illustrate my point;

“One of the things I try to constantly instill in my students is the realization that simply practicing a kata over and over again doesn’t necessarily make you better, if what you are doing is flawed to begin with. You are simply repeating bad technique and making it harder to improve past the level of mediocrity. None of us, including myself, is perfect, but the attitude one should take is to never be satisfied with what you are doing, even while acknowledging perhaps that you have moved closer to the ever-moving and actually unattainable goal of perfection.”  - Wayne Muromoto.

I agree with Mr. Muromoto and couldn’t have said it better. As a teacher, I know the pitfalls of trying to keep a dojo running and trying to keep students interested, in today’s world this is hard, and people want instant gratification and not many people are willing to put in the hard work. That is why I closed my commercial dojo and now have only a private dojo. I think it is the responsibility of the sensei, at the very least to instill good basics and moral ethics. If we do not get a hold on the decline of karate in America, who will? I have friends who are excellent karate-ka in their own rights, that choose not to teach, but if people like that who are men (or women) who have walked the traditional path and trained hard, do not pass on what they learned, where will we be?

Not only is the decline of traditional karate a concern to me, but also the moral decay of America. I think it is my responsibility to my students, to not only teach them, but also to instill proper etiquette, morals and behavior in them. Not build tournament champions, but build better people.

I think part of the problem is that students become discouraged with the pursuit of perfection. Perhaps a better solution is to seek progress, to seek to polish the techniques of karate over a period of time. Forget about trying to be perfect, have some patience and try to leave each training session with just a little bit of improvement. In time you will achieve what you once thought was perfection, but by then you will realize that there is still more polishing that can be done.

Dojo Remodel

The weekend of Mother’s Day, we began a remodel of the Yushikan dojo. When I re-located the dojo to its current location I set it up quickly so that we could begin training, my wife (Amber) did not much like it from the start. The dojo interior was plain, the walls had a peg hole type paneling up, and I painted it white, I filled it with awards, certificates, trophies and pictures from over the years, and covered up most of the wall space.  I didn’t give it a whole lot of though; I simply wanted a place to train. Over the years there were small changes, the addition of a matted floor, mirrors, and some re-arrangement of the wall coverings.

I spent a lot of last year thinking about how I wanted the dojo to look and what it was that I was looking for in my own training space. What I decided on was that I wanted it to almost transport the students, so they felt that they may have just walked into a dojo on Okinawa to train.

Entrance to the Yushikan and koi pond

With that in mind, we set out to make some changes to the dojo, what I thought would take a mere two weekends of work, turned into three months of construction. Along the way we had some issues that popped up, as with any project, that presented challenges and caused some modifications to the original plans, but I think they turned out for the best.

I got so busy that I forgot to take a real before picture, so I had to search for something to show you and give you an idea of what it looked like.

 

 

As you can see in the background of the photos, the dojo was plain and cluttered with various things from 35 years’ worth of the clutter of my own ego.

What I set out to do with the remodel was to change the dojo to be simpler, more focused on training in karate, with an emphases on training in the way of karate over a life time, I wanted the dojo to reflect things that were relevant to training and not on me and my accolades from over the years. So what you will not find is a single certificate or award hanging on the wall, you will not see a single trophy or medal anywhere, these things have all be banished to the attic.

What you will find on the wall are things that have meaning, old sayings that have been passed down from the ages, historical photographs, some photos from over the years, hand written kanji that were presented to me as gifts by some great karate masters, things that have importance and relevance in training and for enriching the spirit. You will also find hojo undo training equipment, old tools that seem to be missing in most modern dojo.

While my dojo may not be large and we may not have all of the modern conveniences, what we have is a traditional dojo with an atmosphere that revolves around training. The dojo is always open to those with a sincere desire to train in the older methods of Okinawan Karate and Kobudo. If you are my friend on facebook, you can view the album with all of the construction progress and final results. Album

Gasshuku

This past weekend, I hosted the 3rd International Gojuryu Karate Association Pan-American Gasshuku at my Yushikan dojo. I joined the IGKA in 2007 and was appointed USA director, then World Vice President and Pan-American Director. After getting the association up and running in the Western Hemisphere, I set out to start with the Gasshuku's. So far I have hosted 3 (2010, 2011 and 2012). My main goal for hosting the Gasshuku was to bring together instructors and students who mainly have a lineage back to the Jundokan/OGKK or Miyazato Eiichi Sensei, but may be from dojo's of his students and separated from the Jundokan. Basically to bring together the different branches of the same tree. However anyone is and will always be welcomed at the event, regardless of style or affiliation.

2010 Gasshuku

 The first year, I did all of the instruction over two days and the attendees were my students, or students of my students. We went through all of the kata and two person drills up to their ranks and started them all on new material. I think everyone enjoyed themselves and we had a good time training and socializing.

The second year was a little more diverse; I added a third day to the training, we had guests from Indiana, Texas, Illinois, Alabama, Kentucky and this was the first year our group from Canada attended. The first day I did all of the instructing. The second day I started out instructing and then we had a guest instructor, Lloyd Johnson Hanshi 9th Dan, who was a member of the Jundokan for many years.  Johnson Sensei taught sanchin and Hojo Undo for several hours. After a break I resumed teaching and continued with two person drills and kata. On the third day we held the first IGKA Yudansha testing and several people were issued their IGKA International Dan grade certificates. Again we had a great time and made new friends.

This year we again had three days of training. We had attendees from Indiana, Ohio, Texas and Canada.  Not all of my students could make it this year due to family matters, but we still had a great time. We had another guest instructor this year, Col. Tony Willis from Anyu Shinjo Sensei Goyukan dojo. Col. Willis was present for the first two days. On the first day, not everyone had arrived, so it was Col. Willis, Wayne Currie, Jason Thompson and I. We went over several solo drills and compared kata, had dinner and stayed up until after 3 am talking.  Day two started off with a group breakfast and then training at 9am, this year we took a different approach and broke up into groups with Col. Wills, Wayne Currie and myself teaching small groups and then all of us training together at times. Throughout the weekend we trained on almost all of the kata, Gekisai Kumite, several solo and two person drills, as well as, bunkai. Each student had the chance to have all three of us give advice and corrections on their kata. We also compared all of our own kata with each other and even though we all came out of different dojo, I am happy to report that we are 99% the same . On the third day most everyone had to leave for family obligations and no one was testing, so we trained kata and Kobudo and then had a nice lunch. As always, my wife Amber was a gracious host and provided some great food. This year we also had Gasshuku T-shirts. I had a great time and I think everyone else did as well. I think everyone came away learning something and looking forward to next year. I really enjoyed seeing Wayne again and after 5 or 6 years of communicating with each other, Col. Willis and I were finally able to meet and train with each other. Even though the next Gasshuku isn’t until next year, Col. Willis plans to make some visits for training and Wayne and I have some plans to meet up and attend some seminars later in the year.

Females in Karate

Recently I was accused of being sexist and against female black belts, or females in karate in general. I find this accusation laughable but thought I would pen my thoughts on the matter just because.

First let me say this I have seen some really bad female martial artists, but then again I have seen some really great ones, for that matter the same can be said for men. I have seen some great male martial artists, and I have seen some really bad ones.

Back when I ran the Marion Komakai dojo for my father, I had a female student named Tracy that hit hard. She would get out there and kumite with anyone and gave 100%. Training and teaching at the Komakai Honbu there were several females that made it to black belt, some really good and some not as good, but they all gave 100%. Mr. Eddie Bathea had a female black belt, that used to train with me all the time in the 90s, Ms. Dunn, she was excellent.  I have been out to teach seminars at my good friend Rudy Crosswell Hanshi dojo, he has a female black belt that has exceptional form and technique.

To date in my dojo, I have only had maybe a dozen females join, out of that I have had one make it to 5^th kyu and one to 1^st dan, the rest quit because of their own reasons, but what I guess is because I hold everyone to a standard in the dojo.  I have a high standard that I expect out of everyone that joins the dojo, which is that regardless of how good you are, or think you are, that you always give 100%, that you keep going no matter what.

I have been training 35 years now, last year I went to train with an Okinawan Sensei and he watched my kata and said good, good. I asked him if there was anything I could do to make it better, so he pointed out a couple of things, I asked him sensei, if I had mistakes, why did you tell me it was good? He replied with oh you have good kata, nice kata, but always room for improvement.

When I teach at my dojo, I will watch and make corrections, to everyone. Even my best students will tell you that they get corrected all of the time. When I am a guest instructor, I do the same thing, if I am asked to watch or correct a kata, I do that. If I give a correction and make you do it 100 times, it isn’t because I am being mean to you, it is because you still need the practice, you must do hundreds, thousands of repetitions before you build muscle memory.

The way I see it, I have two jobs as a Karate/Kobudo Instructor, 1. Too preserve the teachings of the old traditions, pass it on to the next generation, and instill good moral attributes and 2. Too teach you a skill that will allow you to at the very least too stay alive if you ever need it (hopefully prevail) and to train you in such a way that you do not fool yourself into believing you can survive a conflict, if in reality you cannot fight your way out a a wet paper sack.

I do not care how many trophies that you win, how many titles you have or how great you think you are in your own mind. What I care about is that you show up at the dojo, that you give me your best effort while you are there and that when push comes to shove and you are in the battle that you fight it with everything you have.  In short, holding that trophy up to a mugger and stating your credentials is not gonna keep you from getting killed. There is no whining or crying, there is no quitting. What I expect is that you pull your big girl panties up and get down to business. I do not care if you are a man, woman, child, white, black, red, yellow or whatever. What I care about is that you come to train, that you give your best, and you act like a proper person your sex or race makes no difference at all to me.

Playing Amongst the Pine forest

I bet someone will say, what is he doing talking about Shorin-ryu, he’s a Goju man. While for the most part that is true,  over the years, I have had an odd fascination   with how  things are done on the other side of the coin so to speak in Okinawan Karate.  So while I have trained more in Goju-ryu than anything else, I have spent a great deal of time over the years “Playing amongst the pine forest” and training in Shorin-ryu as well. 

When I started training under my father in 1977, he taught me Goju-ryu, in 1979, he began sharing a dojo with his friend and I started training in Shorin-Ryu (Kobayashi) on opposite nights, from Mr.  Bud McCollar. I trained with him for a couple of years, before my father moved his dojo again and that was the end of the Shorin-ryu for a while. In 1982 my father started also teaching me Shuri-ryu karate-do, in addition to Goju-ryu.  In the late 1980’s I moved with my mother and step-father to Glendale, Arizona where I continued to train in Shuri-ryu with Mr. Robert Trias, but while in Arizona, I also took the opportunity to visit a dojo that was only a few blocks from my house, the instructor was Mr. Jiro Shiroma Sensei and he taught the same branch of Shorin-ryu (Kobayashi) that I had trained in before, so it was easy to join in and not feel out of place. While in Arizona I also took the opportunity to train in Uechi-ryu under Mr. Al Saddler and Shito-ryu under Mr. Rudy Croswell.

In 1989, my family moved back to Indiana and I resumed training at my father’s dojo and I also began training with Mr. Phillip Koeppel in Matsumura Seito Shorin-ryu and Shuri-ryu with Mr. Mike Awad.  By 1990 I was traveling and training all over, and  I also fortunate enough to be  getting private lessons by Mr. Eddie Bathea in the same branch of Shorin-ryu (Kobayashi) and Kobudo. Mr. Bathea worked in the town I lived in and he would take his lunch breaks and came to train with me, it was a great time and we did this for quit a while. In fact I also got to train with a few of his students over the years. He was very gracious and gave of his knowledge freely.

In 1991, I was able to train with Mr. Shogen Oyakawa also of Kobayashi. By 1992, I was splitting my time between my father’s two dojo, teaching Goju-ryu and Shuri-ryu, but I was also visiting as many dojo as I could. I trained Isshin-Ryu with Mr. John Lennox, Motobu-ryu Seidokan with Mr. Tom Short, Motobu-ha Shito-ryu with Mr. Steve VanCamp. I continued all of these relationships for several years. I also had the opportunity to train with both Fuse Kise and Yuichi Kuda of Matsumura Seito Shorin-ryu.

By the late 1990s I was training in Seidokan with Col. Roy Hobbs and Ryukyukan (Kobayashi) with Mr. Koei Nohara. I stopped training with Nohara Sensei in the mid-2000s, but we are still good friends. I have also trained in seminars with several other people, but as I look back at this ramble, it might seem like I am just name dropping, far from it just trying to give some recognition to those that helped me along this path.

Suffice it to say, I have had the opportunity to train in a lot of different systems over the years and I am grateful to everyone that has taken the time to teach me over the years. The fact of the matter is that I enjoy training to train, I like budo, I do not get caught up in all of this style or that style, I just like karate. Perhaps it was because my father made sure I had a diverse education, that I feel that karate is just karate and style names limit it.

While at my dojo the Yushikan, I teach Goju-ryu and Kobudo, I still maintain my own training in Shorin-ryu for myself, I have never taught it to my students, and even though my father spent a great deal of time teaching me Shuri-ryu, I have not taught it in my dojo since 1999, even though I can still do all of the kata, after all it would be rude of me not to practice something that I was taught. In the dojo there are various aspects of things that I have learned over the years that may not necessarily be Goju-ryu in origin that may creep into the training from time to time, but hey it is Karate after all.

Funny stuff

I ran across this podcast and I listened too not only the first two shows but just listen to the live recording and it was very funny I mean super funny, be mindful that it is adult humor and there is some curse words and sex slang so listen at your own risk

www.wangspodcast.audioninjas.com

What is in a name

Recently I had one of my father’s students ask me why I did not call my dojo by the same name as my father’s dojo. Now I am sure I could answer this a few different ways, but let me give a bit of background first.

My father started his training in 1967 at the Jundokan of Indiana / Anderson Goju-ryu Club. Later that year the dojo name was changed to Komakai Academy of Judo and Karate, and by the 1970s it was just Komakai Academy of Karate.  In 1977 my father asked his teacher for permission to open a branch dojo and use his sensei’s dojo name (Komakai), throughout the years the dojo changed locations, but the name always remained the same. In 1992, my father opened another dojo in Indianapolis and again used the Komakai name. With the opening of the Indianapolis Dojo, I was appointed as Chief Instructor for the Marion dojo, until it was closed in January of 1994. At that point there had been ten (10) Komakai branch dojo.

After my father closed the Marion dojo, I asked my father permission to open the dojo back up, he granted me permission, but said I had to ask Mr. Keeney for permission as well. I went to Mr. Keeney and asked permission and was told that I could use the Komakai name if I wanted too, but then he said to me “Mike, why do you need to use my name, you could use your own name, be your own man.” at the time I thought what, no way, I have always been Komakai, I wouldn’t know what to do without being that. I voiced my concern to Mr. Keeney and he said – Well if you feel that you need to maintain a connection to the name, you could also pick a name and then in smaller print, under your name, you could put the phrase ‘a division of Glenn Keeney’s Komakai Academy’. I then spoke with Mr. Keeney’s teacher, Mr. Phillip Koeppel and asked him what he thought, he advised me to call it Mike Jones’ Karate-do Budokai. So when I opened the dojo in January of 1994 that is what I called it.

On top of all of this in the 1990, I began training and researching my roots of the Jundokan with seminars taught by Morio Higaonna Sensei and also Teruo Chinen Sensei, It lead me to Natambu Bomani Sensei and Lloyd Johnson Sensei, both Jundokan seniors, eventually I was granted permission to open a Jundokan dojo in Indiana, and I have a certificate signed by Eiichi Miyazato Sensei giving me Shibu-Cho status for the State of Indiana. So I could have also called my dojo Jundokan. Over the years I joined other associations and was given permission to use other names, but in the back of my mind, what Mr. Keeney told me always kept popping up. So a short time after I opened the dojo I began using a Japanese name for my dojo and I used that name for 16 years, until someone chose to trademark the name and told me to stop using it. So I could have went back to calling it Mike Jones Karate, or Komakai, but I talked with Lloyd Johnson Sensei and Roy Hobbs Sensei about it. Hobbs Sensei suggested to me the name Yushikan, he said he felt that the name exemplified my character. So after much deliberation, I decided to take his suggestion and re-name my dojo as Yushikan.

Now having said all of that and rambled on let me get back to my point. What is in a name? Why do people get hung up on names, my style is this or my style is that. I am from this dojo or I am from that dojo.  People like a brand, which is the short and sweet of it. People like to feel like they belong to something greater than themselves. 

In my dojo I teach Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do, in the tradition of the Jundokan lineage, however, I have trained in several of the other Goju-ryu kai-ha over the years and like some of what they do, so from time to time, I may show an alteration from one of these kai-ha, as well, I have trained in other systems and from time to time may throw in something not in Goju-ryu proper, does that make me wrong?

What I have learned after 35 years of training is this, to each their own. I have found that my karate is my karate, while I may strive to emulate or even maintain the principles and traditions that I have been taught to me by my teachers and seniors, I also have my own thoughts and ideas, I have my own beliefs, I have come to my own realizations, after many years of training. All of these things combined with the training I have received from my teachers over the years have lead me to be me, lead my karate to be what it is – My karate. I still have a long way to go on this journey and by no means do I know it all, or have all the answers, but I keep trying.

Recent Training

I have not written much lately, I have been busy in my new role at work, getting things in order and attending mandatory training courses. It has been a busy last four months, but I have managed to get things under control and almost too where I want them to be in my professional life, so I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak.

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to spend some time with my good friend, Roy Hobbs Sensei. Aside from talking a bit and catching up some, I was also invited to a private training session at the Denbukan dojo in Indianapolis, where Hobbs Sensei spent a great deal of time training us in the Dentokan (Hakkoryu/Kokodoryu) Jujutsu set of Sandan Gi. Hobbs Sensei is a very detail oriented instructor and if you have never had the chance to share the mat with him, you should, he is an excellent technician. Needless to say some of the students had a rough way to go when trying to use the techniques on me (I guess all of those years of hojo undo paid off), but not Hobbs Sensei, in true form he had me up on my toes.

After the private workout, we went over to the dojo they use for public classes and had an open seminar, there were a few more people at this event then the private workout, and we continued to train in Sandan Gi Tachi Waza.

After training we had dinner with Hobbs Sensei and our host Andy Bryant. My wife was most gracious and agreed to let me attend the event on our 19^th Anniversary; she even hung around and took some pictures for me. Hobbs Sensei also presented me with some gifts that he had brought back from his last trip to Japan.

I had a great time, as I always do, and I can not stress enough that if he is ever in your area, you really should make the effort to train with him, you will not be disappointed. I count myself very lucky to have him as a close personal friend.

The fork in the road

At times one might find themselves at a point where they are at the proverbial “fork in the road”.  Sometimes you may find yourself at this point more than once in a lifetime and possibly for more than one reason, at work, with family or with your training.

I can say that I have found myself at this point many times in life and for different reasons, to go to college or not, to take this job or that one, to change careers totally or not, to move to a different city or not, and I am sure there are other instances I could recall. The fact of the matter is that many times I have stood at the fork in the road and had to choose which way to go. Sometimes you make a choice and everything works out and sometimes you make a choice and it was the wrong one, such is life, it is full of twists and turns, good and bad. The main thing I have found is that even though you may be on a journey, even if it turns out to be the wrong path, it always helps if you have someone to share the journey with.

In my training I have been to this point a few times, trying to decide between a sense of giri to my teacher or what was right for me. Unfortunately there are times when you choose to follow someone or join an association, only to find out that it was not the right choice for you. Sometimes these things happen, what the really hard part is, is having the courage to make that change when you know things just aren’t right.  As a student you should respect your Sensei and cherish the relationship that you have with him, but the same is also true for the Sensei, he must also treat the student with respect and kindness, while he maybe stern and his training hard, he should still treat you with common decency.

Now that I have rambled on, I will get to the reason I started this topic in the first place.  I have found myself at the fork in the road twice already this year, once at work, where I had to decide what I wanted, if I wanted to move up, stay where I was at, or leave and the second time was in my training.

Recently one of my teachers passed away, so I find myself standing at a point where I have to decide what to do next, where to go, who to follow. This is not a choice to be made lightly or overnight. I have to decide if I want to go to Okinawa again to seek a direction,  stay with the association or go with one of the many splinter groups. Perhaps after 35 years of training, it is time for me to just simply keep on keeping on, train in what I have been taught and be content with what I have been fortunate to learn, maybe I don’t need a teacher at this point, maybe I don’t need to line the pockets of someone else.  Then again, I am positive that there is still much to learn, so…

It seems that I have many things to consider and think about, I have been busy this past year, writing the blog, writing books, teaching, training and of course work and family, things have only intensified and become busier these past few months at work, with no sign of slowing down, so I think with my training I will focus on what I need and want, and enjoy the journey, time will tell what it is that I will do and where I might end up, but for now I am just going to train to train.

Koshin Iha Sensei

It is with great sadness that I write this post. Koshin Iha Sensei has passed away. Iha Sensei was well know to most but I thought I would give a small account for those that may not know;

Koshin Iha Sensei was born November 24, 1925.  He began training in Gojuryu karate in 1939 under the direction of its founder, Chojun Miyagi Sensei, he continued to train under Miyagi Sensei until Miyagi Sensei passed away in 1953. Iha Sensei then became the assistant to Eiichi Miyazato Sensei at the Miyagi Garden Dojo.

In 1954, Iha Sensei helped Miyazato Sensei to establish the Jundokan dojo and continued his duties as Miyazato’s assistant. In 1969, he assisted Miyazato in forming the Okinawa Gojuryu Karate-do Kyokai and served as the Vice Chairman until 1999.

In 1971, Iha Sensei opened his own dojo the Shodokan in Tomari, Okinawa. Even though he had his own dojo, he still assisted Miyazato Sensei with classes at the Jundokan. He also helped Miyazato with his book Okinawa-Den Gojuryu Karate in 1978.

In the organizational arena Iha Sensei has held several posts;

1969-1999 - Okinawa Goju Ryu Karate-do Kyokai, Vice-Chairman
1993-2012 - All Japan Karate-do Federation (Goju style), Advisor
2000 - 2012 -Okinawa Prefecture Karate do Federation, Director
2000-2004 Okinawa Goju Ryu Karate-do Kyokai, Chairman
2004 – 2012 - Okinawa Goju Ryu Karate-do Kyokai, Honorary Chairman (Myo Kaichô)

Upon his passing, Miyazato Eiichi Sensei named Iha Sensei as his successor. Iha Sensei assumed the position of not only head of the Jundokan and OGKK, but also of Gojuryu Karate. Iha Sensei retired in 2004 and now serves as the senior most advisor and honorary chairman for the OGKK.

Iha Sensei was very kind to me and accepted me as his student, he will be greatly missed by many.

Hajime Keiko

The author practicing with Nigiri Game

Hajime Keiko is the official start of training in the dojo for the New Year. There are many ceremonial practices at the dojo that take place throughout the year, but this is the kickoff of training.

Every year on New Year’s Day I have always gone to my dojo and have trained mostly on my own, sometimes I have a partner, but mostly it has been on my own. It has always been a personal thing that I have done, as a commitment to my own training. I have done this for as long as I can remember.

Usually a few days after New Year’s Day, I would hold the Hajime Keiko for the students of the dojo. I have tried to express the importance of the first training event of the year to the students, but alas it always seems that there is always something more important going on than Hajime Keiko.

This year I decided that I would hold Hajime Keiko on New Year’s Day, and can you guess what happened? No one showed up for training but me.

I know that my ideas might not be the most popular, and a lot of people do not agree with my opinions, but that is ok this is America.  In my dojo, I do not train people like most dojo. I do not line people up and march them up and down the dojo floor, making them punch and kick. Most of those that train at my dojo already have their black belts, I teach more in the Okinawan fashion, where I present something and let them work on it, I go around and offer corrections and advice, but I do not make everyone do the exact same thing all of the time. In part I leave it up to the student to be responsible for their own training. The harder they train, the more time I take to offer them assistance.

I rarely take on new students, instead most of the people that ask, get sent over to my father’s dojo, where they will be in a class with several other beginning students, it is easier, as most people do not like to train hard and sometimes get bored with working on the same things over and over.

I spent a great deal of time providing instruction to my students and making myself available to them over the years, often times sacrificing time, that I could have used to spend time with my wife or children, or time I could have spent learning something new.

This year, I am thinking that I will spend my time training myself and doing what I want, what I need, developing my own karate. I also have some things I want to change in the dojo, to assist me in my own training. Maybe someone will show up and maybe they won’t but either way, it doesn’t matter, because I am doing what I want to do.