Force Efficiency Drill

This past week I was working in our Oyata Te class (Shihan Dai) with intermediate and advanced principles of Tuite.  During this session we were all discussing the direction the chest faces in relation to the Principle of ‘X’.  This is what we refer to as Force Efficiency and is the sixth basic principle of tuite.  As we discussed how different stances point your chest in a different direction, Becky (one of my higher ranking long term students) recommended when we do our begging warm up drills in class, instead of calling out ‘Right Back Stance’, ‘Left Forward Stance’ and other combinations, I should call out a direction that I want their chest to point to.  BRILLIANT!!!  This is what I love about Oyata Te, everyone throwing out ideas and training together and Becky comes up with one of the most brilliant ideas I’ve heard in a while.  So here is the drill as it is evolving in my head since the brilliant spark of inspiration by Becky.

   

Above are just a few examples of stances and the direction of the chest.  The left one is basically what we call a Left Back Stance or Left Cat Stance position.  You see that, if the top is considered North, then the chest is aimed at North West.  In the middle you have a Ready Position but you could say other stances have this North position such as Attention, Natural Stance, Forward Stance (Seisan) and Horse Stance.  The three above are obviously not all the stances represented and obviously you can reorient any stance to face any direction.

Phase One - Orientation

Armed with this knowledge, it is time to make your students (and maybe even yourself) a little more aware of how to apply their Force Efficiency.  As an example, have all the students’ line up and for the geographically challenged, point toward the North wall.  Or you could just for the exercise name the front of the dojo as North.  Most people are rarely aware of the compass directions once inside a building so it doesn’t really matter.  Now, instead of calling out stances for them to practice their foundational drills, call out directions and explain that when you call North they must pick a stance and have them settle into any stance with their chest square to North.  As a group they may be tempted to mimic each other as typically, instructors call out a stance and everyone does the same thing in formation.  In this Force Efficiency training, every student could be slightly different, as long as all of their chests face the same direction.  Explain this and stress to them that different is fine.  You are trying to make them more aware of their chest direction.  It doesn’t matter if their neighbor is in a different stance.  No cheating off your neighbor. J  Don’t worry about hands.  You might even have them close their eyes then open after they are aligned.  That way they are not tempted to follow their peers.

Phase Two – Hands and Feet

Now that they have the idea down, start everything from the Natural Stance.  We train most of our starting conflict scenarios as starting from a Natural Stance.  The thought is that most confrontations that the average person will find themselves in doesn’t start off like a tournament bout in fighting stances, but that is a discussion for another blog (or just read four or five of Tony’s).  Everyone starts in Natural Stance facing the front of the room.  Pick a technique you are going to practice such as Upper Forearm Strike (Upper Block for those outside our school).  Tell everyone that is the technique and that they will execute the technique while moving into a stance that points their chest to the correct direction you call.  So instead of counting out Ichi, Ni, San, Shi…… I will be calling out directions.  After each call, I will review everyone’s chest position and make any corrections, then state ‘Return’, then they will return to the Natural Stance to simulate the next attack.  There is no ‘wrong answer’ of a stance as long as their chest is pointing to the correct heading.  Well, crane stance might be a wrong answer as it is really only practiced for balance. J

A little background about how ‘maybe’ we have differed for a while than most Karate type schools.  We used to do the standard hand techniques in formation like everyone else.  Everyone standing in a horse stance and doing strikes, punches, blocks and such in horse stance but one day Tony and I discussed how this deep horse stance was rarely ever a stance that you struck from, or at least not in the manner we were doing it.  So we started having the students do it only in formation until they tested for 9th Kyu.  The idea was, they learned early the deep stance and built up a little leg stamina.  Once they reached 9th Kyu, we then moved them to a natural stance, and the instructor would call out what stance we would be moving to such as a Right Back Stance.  They then would pivot back at a 45 degree angle and execute whatever hand technique or even kick we called, pause for a 2 count, then return to Natural Stance.  We’ve done that for quite a while and think it has worked quite well and is more realistic.  It has made our students a little more practiced and relaxed during combination and tuite practice.  Taika would always say, don’t waste your practice time.  So here we are not just making the students do hands only in a deep stance, they are learning from 9th Kyu on to move their body when they move their hands.

Phase Three – Conservation of Motion

At this point, they are hopefully heading in the correct direction but is it an efficient transfer of stances?  What I mean by that is, I can start in a Natural Stance facing North and get the call for North East.  What is the most efficient stance to get me to North East?  I could do my best ballerina impersonation and pirouette 270 degrees to North East or I could just drop my Right Foot back to a Right Back stance and poof, my chest is aligned.  At this point, start to look for not only correct Force Efficiency but also look for time and energy efficiency.  Conservation of Motion.    

Phase Four – Daily Integration

Now let’s start putting my blogs together. J  I’ve spoken about ‘finding time’ to train before.  Whether you are standing on an elevator or standing in the kitchen, finding time to train when you have work, honey does and just ‘me time’ to worry about is sometimes difficult.  Today, I was playing with this while putting the dishes away.  Yes, I know I’m obsessed and probably a tad bit on the crazy side, but as I put dishes away I was going to every corner of the kitchen….every drawer….every cabinet.  Each time I went to a different location, I tried to use a different stance to square my chest to that object.  After doing about every combination of that, I began trying to offset my chest at a particular angle.  So the first few times I faced the cutlery drawer I had my chest dead parallel to the face of the drawer.  Then I began turning my chest at a 45 degree angle to the face of the drawer as if using the Principle of ‘X’.  Yes I know, I’m crazy.  I won’t even tell you about the exercises I was doing to strengthen my calves while doing this…

To sum up, I see great potential in this exercise and am so proud of the spark from Becky.  You never know where inspiration is going to come from.  I truly believe that this has great potential to prepare my students and myself to better apply the Principles of Tuite and Kyusho. 

Chi Balls of Fire

Since Taika’s death, the question of whether he believed in Chi, Ki and Traditional Chinese Medicine has come up.  In fact, I get questions about it every month or two.  To answer my perspective on this question I need to give those that don’t personally know me a point of reference of my relationship with Taika, as well as another student I am going to quote. Lisa Ohmes and I were close to Taika.  And when I mean close, I don’t just mean in proximity though that was a domino that led to the closeness we had.  Lisa and I took Taika to the bank, drycleaners, DMV, various stores and anything else you can imagine.  We took him to restaurants and sat and ate with him.  We spent hours with him a week talking, and handling his daily life and business.  We had constant conversations with him in our cars, waiting in line at places, during all sorts of regular weekly situations.  I spent time teaching him to shoot, taking him to a range where we both had memberships, and shooting guns.  All this is in addition to the time we both spent in his basement, back yard, garage and dojo training in RyuTe®.  We would even talk on the phone at times.  We spent hours in hospital waiting rooms, and even more in hospitals as test after test was run in his final years.  We talked in these various manners about RyuTe®, members past and present, his wishes for his art, life in general, the United States, Okinawa, family (real and extended), other styles of ‘martial arts’, and a myriad of topics throughout your standard encyclopedia. Though some will take it that way, the purpose here is NOT to brag.  It is to specify that Lisa and I talked to Taika on a regular basis and for many, many years.  Though we certainly didn’t know everything that was floating around in his head, we accumulated a lot of knowledge about him over the years.  One topic that came up several times for both of us was the topic of chi, ki and the mystical energy that is taught by many in the industry.  Absolutely, without a doubt, Taika did NOT subscribe to this.  He considered it ‘Snake Oil Salesmen” techniques.  He would bring this up as he was frequently asked about it while teaching seminars.  He would talk to me and Lisa at length about how it wasn’t any mystical energy that caused his knockouts.  He was striking specific locations on the body, with specific amounts of penetration, at specific angles and with specific follow through.  I can remember him talking about these others who taught and delved into T.C.M. and other such stuff he called nonsense.  I distinctly remember someone asking him if he struck pericardium this or triple warmer that or stomach this before he made his neck strike leading to a knockout.  He proceeded to knock someone unconscious without touching any other point on their body.  None, nada, nill.  Others would comment over the years on how the Bubishi referred to specific times of the day to attack certain organs.  He would laugh and say, “You think I no knock you out at night?”  Or something to that affect.  I personally witnessed the same nerve techniques equally affective at any time of the day.  From day class, to night class, to afternoons at his house, to early mornings at a seminar.  His favorite phrases for these topics were, “Bullshit” and This Stupid”.  How much did it bug him?  I’ll tell you this and won’t name any names, but there once was a high ranking instructor in our style.  This instructor had a previous background in a heavy CHI touting style.  He was supposed to be teaching RyuTe® but Taika found out he was having his students dwell into chi and showing them things that Taika viewd as ‘parlor tricks’.  Taika disaproved each of these with science.  For those that don’t know, Taika was actually a well-educated man who went to college, yes college, for engineering.  (Another tidbit from a conversation in a car).    When this instructor didn’t stop these shenanigans, he was kicked out of the association.  Yes, booted.  A long time instructor, and very high ranking, who failed to listen to Taika and stop teaching chi/ki.  If that doesn’t tell you how he felt, I should just give up at this point. Taika believed in body mechanics and science.  He believed in being fluid and relaxed.  He believed in directing your KINETIC energy to a target, and redirecting there.  I’ve had people ask me to explain things like the curling hand motions in Shiho happo no Te which they perceive as ‘gathering ki’.  I can assure you that ki gathering is not what Taika was doing.  These small hand motions are easily explained in grab releases and positioning.  Taika would be very unhappy with any of his followers heading down the wrong path, and even more unhappy if they were leading others down it.  Some people will never believe me, no matter how hard I preach from the pulpit.   At least I got it off my chest and my conscious is clear. Di

Burn Out

First off, don’t fret.  Burn out happens to pretty much anyone that trains in anything.  It happens to us at work, so why should the recreation we love the most be any different.  Recently, a really close friend has hinted about being burnt out.  It has been quite a while since I got this dreaded feeling about the art, or at least the overwhelming feeling.  I believe I get a ‘tad’ burnt out more frequently but the big burn outs have only happened for me once or twice in my thirty some odd years in budo.

Realize that everyone gets burnt out to varying degrees.  You can’t tell me Taika never did.  I know for a fact he quite frequently got frustrated at a myriad of things from student failure to just the repetitive grind of life.  So knowing that you are by no means alone in your feelings can help.  Everyone knows Taika started training just after WWII and trained till he died in 2012.  But not everyone knows that he quit teaching out of a dojo for a while and was a small engine mechanic during that time.  I’m not saying he quit training, but he did quit teaching. 

Next, try to identify if there is a particular thing that is burning you out?  Or a stack of them?  See what you can do to decrease those things.  Is it the grind of kata?  As a new student, sometimes we start studying things like kata and it doesn’t feel realistic and becomes a grind.  I can remember getting bored with things I was shown and being too afraid to ask the instructor about it.  ‘Ask questions freely…..’ is part of our principles of training but we sometimes put the teachers up on such a pedestal that we can’t say anything to them.  I try to give my students a few little bits of bunkai or reality related to each kata the second we get them all the way through it.  That way they have a little glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel.

Is it the negative people around you?  Is it the negative stories?  There are a myriad of things that can contribute to this common problem.  Those last two are there because, since Taika’s passing, we saw his predictions come true.  There have been a host of disrespectful actions, ego flare ups, and negativity spill out all over the place.  Maybe it’s time to unplug those facebook friends, whose timelines are pissing you off.

Try shifting gears.  If you have had one or two primary weapons you train with for a few years, pick something new.  Go into it with a mindset that you don’t have to master this thing; you are just looking for some variety.  I was myself rather burnt out on bo, my favorite weapon, many years ago.  We were not learning anything new with the weapon, and I wasn’t getting any tutelage, fixups or corrections.  Out of nowhere Taika began training me on some amazing tanbo changes that lit a fire under my gi. 

How about a book?  There are tons of aspects of the arts that most students completely neglect.  Stay in the art by reading some cultural books like Customs and Culture of Okinawa by Gladys Zabilka.  It is out of print now, but you can find numerous used copies on Powells.com, Amazon.com and BarnsandNoble.com.  I found that reading books about Okinawan culture, religion and even the language gave me a greater insight into Taika’s world.  I know for a fact that this opened up several doorways with him for me as I would engage in conversations with him while driving him places that he was at first shocked about.  He didn’t think us American’s understood some things about the islands he came from.  This knowledge caused him to open up and tell me stories about Kita Daito where he grew up.  They gave me a different perspective and helped me through my minor burnt sessions.  You can search for online books on Okinawa, Ryukyu, and other key words and find a ton of topics to read that can be a temporary placeholder for the monotony in your training. 

If nothing seems to work and you are still seriously thinking of taking a Burn Out Hiatus, set a distinct goal.  Make it one month, two months, or something like that.  Place your return date on your calendar and have your friends in the art hold you accountable.  Ensure they understand that during your hiatus, you want their friendship but no mention of any drama or other reasons that may have drove you to your hiatus.  One of the biggest problems with taking a vacation from the arts is that 95% of the people that do (highly unproven non statistic based guess from decades in the arts) don’t ever come back.  Many people just get out of the habit and can’t get back, others feel embarrassed as their peers have continued on.  During your hiatus you may lose skills and not keep up with the pack.  It is quite likely that with your new, fresh boost in morale and energy given to you by your hiatus, that you will catch back up quickly upon your return.

Nintai

Non-Linear Striking

I've already posted at length on Taika's view of the Makiwara as a training tool, or rather an attitude tool. And I've already talked about people not listening to Taika's wisdom at length. So those posts are in previous blogs but I wanted to add a little more information, but not totally give away all of Taika's pearls. 

Since those previous posts, I've heard a lot of counter arguments about how the makiwara helps to build power, and yes, indeed it can. One of the problems Taika had with it, and why he preferred newer technologies was the linearly restricted motion it teaches. As Taika became more aware of what worked, and he became an uncertified Dr. of Kinesiology, (the scientific study of human movement addressing physiological, mechanical, and psychological mechanisms) he learned how the body resisted attacks. Simply striking hard and fast in a linear direction, did not achieve the results he was looking for. 

Many of the Six Basic Principles of Tuite have a symbiotic or similar relationship to the Basic Principles of Kyusho and the Basic Principles of Atemi. 

Basic Principle Five: Three Dimensions

If you think about how an opponent reacts to force, a direct linear strike can be resisted…..to a point. Obviously you are not going to hold up well to a .40 round coming out of my Glock. (But think about what a bullet proof vest does to displace that energy and reverse that principle.) We all probably did it as kids; trading blows to the belly, chest or torso. If you tighten your abs, and a punch comes in straight and hard, the force knocks you straight back. To a point, this can be resisted. And keep in mind, yes I am absolutely aware that this isn’t realistic training. So many other things are going on during an attack; body position, Atemi, body reaction, et cetera. But if you play the trading punches game, you can see that you can get pretty good at absorbing a straight attack, depending on your threshold of pain. There are quite a few styles out there that practice this art of absorbing until their bellies (or other items I wouldn’t would want to train with) are black and blue. Did you ever see Taika make a tight fist and punch someone straight in the belly unless he was deliberately showing what ‘not to do’? I didn’t. Such topics were usually followed with the comment, “Dis stupid.” Even watching old seminar videos from my naïve pre-Oyata style days, I have picked up on his different approach. He stressed a lot about being relaxed. But there was some very deliberate attack misdirection along with mental misdirection (he didn’t want to give away everything). 

With Taika, you really had to work at looking at all the little details. If he demonstrated a strike 4 times in a seminar or class, I would pay attention to 4 different things while watching him. Usually, I’d first pay close attention to his footwork. Then maybe hands, then torso, then an overall view. If he continued on and demonstrated the same thing a few more times I’d look at overall head position and all the other little nuances. The great thing about reviewing thousands upon thousands of old seminar videos is the ability to track all these little nuances. Tracking the path of the hands, the feet, and the torso. We have this modern gift of technology. When Taika learned from Uhugushiku Tan Mei and then Wakinaguri Tan Mei, he didn’t have that benefit. I also have thousands of pages of notes I took during training sessions over the course of a quarter century, where I took detailed notes on positions of his body (to the best of my artistic abilities). 

So now back to all the extreme analyzation. Look back at how makiwara are made. They don’t adequately allow for non-linear motion, unless someone has invented a new one I have not seen. The board allows for a forward back motion, and because it is essentially like a lever in the ground, a slight arc as it goes forward and back. Perhaps if the post was on a ball bearing type assembly that could also move up and down, it would allow for more training of non-linear motion. Patent Pending :) I could spend months trying to develop this idea, along with a lot of money, when a Body Opponent Bag will pretty much get me there. I got my first one (slightly used) on Craig’s list many years ago for $70 after conversations with Taika. When Taika would strike me, not mutually exclusive to the torso, it was never in a linear fashion. The strikes would have amazing power, but completely different from a brute force tight fist. 

Power is Not Brute Force

Taika would put fist on my belly, relaxed. He would say ‘Ready’, then go. His fist wouldn’t close. He wouldn’t even really move his body during this demonstration. I would most definitely ‘go’. I would most definitely feel the effects as I went to the ground. I would most definitely feel the power and respect it. I have demonstrated this to student’s over the years and it doesn't ‘make any sense’ in our strength based American culture. We think of Arnold Schwarzenegger when we think of power. We think muscle.  I teach my students from day one, not to think the American way. 

To wrap up another one of my ramblings, be open to new ideas. Analyze, research and try new ways of doing things. We learn in many ways as human beings. Trial and error is one of the main ways. We cannot always be spoon fed, at least not any more. Taika gave up training with the makiwara decades ago and got continually better at striking as he aged. Does that make you wonder? It did me.

Oyata Family Tomb

 

It was mother’s day still in the United States when Lisa Ohmes and I met up with Taika’s Great Nephew Satoshi and Great Great Niece Yuika.  Satoshi is a wonderful person who graciously invited us out for some history and a tour of several important places in the Ryukyu Kingdom.  First stop, we were taken to the Oyata family shinju (haka) tomb. 

The original tomb had been located near Taika’s birth island of Henza, but his sister Tomi had wanted to move it closer to where she was living in her later life.   The old tomb was in need of some repairs and the drive was a bit long for the current family.  Satoshi found a new location early in this century and Taika began bringing money back to Okinawa between 2000 and 2007.  He special ordered marble from China and the new family tomb was finished in July of 2007.  Taika’s parents, and a lock of hair from Taika’s eldest brother Akio, were then placed at this new site.  (Akio was killed during the battle of Pearl Harbor but his mother had a lock of his hair.) Tomi was then laid to rest when she passed away last year.

Satoshi bestowed on us a great honor by not only taking us to the family tomb, but allowing us to take part in the Okinawan custom of paying our respects to Taika’s family.  The rest of the Okinawan family, and Okinawa in general, do this once a year in April.  This is called the Seimei or shimi in the Okinawan language.  It was quite an emotional moment for us all as we gave our offerings of awamori, burned incense, burned our ‘paper money’, and Satoshi said a prayer. 

Afterwards, Satoshi took us a few steps southwest to show us what was so wonderful about this new location.  This location had quite a beautiful view of the ocean and a public park/beach which Taika and Tomi loved.

 Our next stop was to Taika’s birth island, Henza.  As discussed on the history page of ryute.com, Taika was actually born on Henza, which at the time was not connected at all to Okinawa.  Before the island was connected by a bridge, they had to take small boats when visiting the mainland.  Satoshi said that Tomi would talk about how she would be so scared when they would take the trip in a small six person boat.  On this island we drove through the small village where Taika was born, though sadly the original home is no longer there.  Satoshi also took us to the original family tomb.  This was followed by a tour of Henza, Miyagi and Ikei islands.  Shortly after Taika’s birth, the family moved to Kita Daito island.

Satoshi then took us to a wonderful Japanese restaurant where we ate until we couldn’t eat any more.  We then discussed a little about Satoshi’s life and how he works at Kadena air base.  He is essentially a base Police Officer or Base Security.  He has been doing it for 17 years.  Satoshi then took us on a tour of the base and we exchanged police stories. 

He drove us all around the island that day, sharing stories of the family and ending the trip at Okinawa’s new Aeon Shopping mall, a brand new, huge indoor mall in Chatan.  In all, it was a wonderful time, cut short by the impending Typhoon.  We all had to scurry our separate ways to brace for the storm and gather resources.  It is a wonderful thing knowing that Taika’s family carries on in the Isle of Smiles, Okinawa.

Lee E. Richards & Lisa A. Ohmes

May 2015

Failure

Warning: This one may be a bit soap boxish, but that is what a blog is.  And no, I am not without my own failures.  As I revue thousands of hours of videos and thousands of documents, I continually find events I’ve failed to remember.  Things I’ve forgotten.  Et cetera.  I’m not perfect, but I strive to learn from the things Taika shared and hold things that Taika preached as very important to me.  With that in mind, here is my blog on failures.

Failure to Listen

One of the biggest problems with training with Taika I saw over the years was failure to listen to what he was saying.  Whether it was about the martial arts, history, life in general or just some random topic.  He had the ability to overwhelm you during any training session which is why some of us chose to keep notebooks next to us during the majority of training years.   I have numerous volumes annotated and filled with sketches.  On some topics however, people have chosen to completely ignore him.  Alas, here are but a few examples that really crawl under my skin.

Makiwara

I know, I know.  I have blogged about this before.  But recently, a former student had a ventation proclamation calling all of us non-makiwara users wimps and other such names.  He made bold claims about makiwara making people tough and other such nonsense and if we were not using it, it was just because we were measly little cowards and weaklings.  I don’t use the makiwara because Taika proved to me that it was not necessary back in the mid 1990’s.  In fact, for those that don’t believe me, feel free to read one of his books, RyuTe® no Michi which was published back in 1998.  Or in fact, as some of this Makiwara Worshipers have allegedly read it, maybe try to study it.  He had worked on the book for years, and I have the original Japanese notebooks that evolved into it.  He spoke freely of what a poor tool this was as well as wrote about it.

So why did he use it as a young martial artist?  Taika would say quite freely that in his early days, a lot of what he did was about proving how tough you were on the island.  At one point, teaching the art became a job which provided him with income.  The market share of students that were providing his income were the military, predominantly United States servicemen.  Looking tough and feeling tough was ‘the in thing’.  Plus, he would say in his early years he had a bit of an attitude.  So large callused knuckles was a way to show how tough you were.  They were a badge to show off.

Later, when he came to America, he stated that he used it as a tool to weed out the less diligent, and whenever he had someone that was hard headed.  So if you are bragging about how Taika had you continuously work on the Makiwara, particularly after, say the mid-eighties, then that should tell you something about what Taika thought about your character at that time. 

I won’t continue on too much about better tools, but think about it.  A Makiwara doesn’t give like a human.  There are much better tools that give like a human and even feel relatively close to a human.  Think about any one of Taika’s fingertip knockouts, how much strength did he really need?  He didn’t have huge callouses built up on his fingertips.  Any guitarist will have probably ten times the callouses on their fingers and they don’t know how to knock someone out.  Taika didn’t require big callouses to do so and swore that it was more about angles of attack that power. 

Technology has made better tools.  You don’t see US servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting with samurai swords or blunderbusses.  If that makes sense, why doesn’t this?

So am I a wuss for not using makiwara and following Taika’s instructions that are a good 25 years old.  Ask my students.  I continually have bruises where I let my students and peers in KC Shihan Dai beat on me as we research topics left us by Taika.  I continually do things that hurt, over and over again, in the name of training and research.  I don’t use a makiwara, not because it is painful, but because I choose to follow the teachings of my instructor.  There are better training tools.  My choice has absolutely nothing to do with pain.  Pain is an inevitable part of training that I embrace in an endeavor to increase my knowledge, stupidity however…

Bogu and Kicks

Again, a topic I have ranted on before.  Why don’t I do kick to the head and why don’t I bogu?  Because Taika found these things in the last years of his life to be counter to his philosophies on training.  AND I truly believe his logic.  High kicks screw with your balance.  His philosophy of kicking below the belt doesn’t work when the rules of a tournament require you to kick in complete contrast to Taika’s teaching…..above the belt.  Oh, and good luck performing Tuite or Kyusho or even Atemi with a huge set of gloves on your hands.  But hey, I must just be scared to get hit?  Oh wait, I covered that.  I stand there and let me students and peers hit me over and over again in most every spot you could imagine in the name of learning.  But go ahead, call me a coward.  Bogu does not further my knowledge, I have done it and had fun back in the day.  But I choose to listen to Taika’s teachings and not waste my time when my training time is so precious.

Birth Year

Taika was fifteen years old at the end of the war and that is pretty young.  An age that would be difficult for people to believe of someone that was uneducated in certain topics, to of done the things he did.  In the United States, no 15 year old boy would be tossed into the war and trained to ride a suicide torpedo or anything else for that matter.  Americans would have trouble believing such a story.  Taika spoke openly about changing his birthday around, during his younger years, trying to explain away his age.  In his final years on this earth, he confessed that he was actually born in 1930.  He said this openly and repeatedly in his Kansas City class as well as at other gatherings and yet some people still didn’t believe him.  He told us these things and some of us took him at his word, but when he died many people would not believe it.  In fact, some people got down right snotty about it.  Knowing that some people wouldn’t believe Taika’s word, I got proof from his sister.  Prior to her death she verified for Mrs. Oyata and the Association that Taika was indeed born in 1930.  Taika’s sister, who knew him her entire life, verified that Taika wasn’t mad, out of his mind, crazy.  He indeed was born in 1930.  This was published on the RyuTe.com history page.  And yet, some people refuse to snap out of their coma, and even are getting snippy about it.  They fail to believe. 

Bo Length

In a class there was a big discussion about 5’ or 6’ bo for a certain kata.  Taika arrived and one of the students performed the kata (so there was no doubt in Taika’s mind which kata was being discussed).  He said that this kata was supposed to be done with the 5’ bo and that he just allowed everyone to use the 6’ bo on it for decades because everyone had a 6’ bo, nobody owned a 5’ bo.  That same person then started to argue with Taika that he was wrong and Taika got quite angry.  “I say 5’ bo!”  He got really angry that he was not believed.  After class, that student and another continued talking about how Taika must be confused.  Later, after he died this same kata was taught at a National Conference in Kansas City.  I made a bunch of cheap 5’ bo for the conference for people to learn it (so they wouldn’t’ have to pay for airport fees) and got no end of grief over it and still to this day people don’t believe me or Taika.  The two people that argued with him during class and argued after class still don’t believe what they were told and added to the confusion at the National Conference.  They fail to believe.

Dojo Kun and Kokore vs RyuTe® Motto

Taika didn’t make the Dojo Kun.  He didn’t make the Dojo Kokoroe (Principles).  Those were Nakamura’s.  Some of his early students who trained with him during the days in Okinawa were the ones that brought those scrolls back to the United States setup the sales and propagation of them into the art, not Taika.  Taika did sell copies of them in their original form, to make money.  Later he cut off the original kanji that said Karate Do and added the kanji for RyuTe.  But later in his life he came up with the RyuTe® Motto, “To strive to attain true moral goodness and express it through ones every action.”  THIS was his.  THIS was what he wanted us to memorize and enact in our lives.  NOT Nakamura’s legacy.  Again, some fail to believe this as it was published in Tasshi Logue’s book. 

During the last couple of years of Taika’s life, Tony Skeen and I were working on a project with Taika to reprint the Dojo Kokoroe.  Believe it or not, there were several errors in the one that had been reprinted since the 60’s that Nakamura had penned.  Yes, I said it.  Nakamura had made mistakes.  He had even crossed out kanji on that print and put in other kanji above kind of like we’d spell something wrong and ‘x’ out the wrong letter putting another letter above it.  Not exactly a pretty product when you look close.  AND it had no reference to RyuTe®.  It referenced Nakamura’s organization and the style of Karate Do.  So Tony would brush a principle and I would scan it into Adobe so make the graphics into mathematical equations.  But that is a topic for later.  In short, I’d bring these large prints to Taika to discuss the positioning and ensure all kanji were correct.  This is when he talked to me with Lisa and Marvin around about how it was ok to do this (the Principles Project) and sell these, but this was NOT his.  This was Nakamura’s.  Ok for history, but NOT his view, his life, his work.

Live Taika’s Motto, Not Nakamura’s.

I’m sure I could go on and on forever but let me skip to the one that is really chapping my arse.

Family

One of the really wonderful things about Taika’s art over the years was the price tag.  Look at how many years we paid a mere $50 for our annual membership.  Look at the low price of seminars, particularly the ones that were outside Kansas City, the smaller ones.  Yes, a shodan test could be expensive for students that had to pay airfare, hotel, conference and testing fees; but a student should have had years to put money in the piggy bank.  That is if their instructor was preparing them in advance for this, and if their instructor wasn’t pushing them through to test in just a couple of years or less.  Taika never had a retirement fund.  He didn’t have a pension plan to take care of his family when he was gone.  His thought was he’d always be fair to his students in pricing, and they in turn would take care of him in his retirement years and his family thereafter. 

For years I would hear some dojo owners whine about how much money they had to pay for each student.  Really?  $15 or $20 a year for a student (Depending on the point in history).  Divide that by twelve and add it to your student’s yearly fees.  It is next to nothing.  A student wouldn’t bat an eye at an extra $1.25 in their dojo fees in one year.  Particularly the ones of them charging hundreds of dollars a month. 

Taika never retired.  How many of you want to work in your 80’s?  He still trained every day, even when he was sick.  He still did seminars.  He still taught.  His students kept demanding more of him and regrettably many cheated him financially.  Luckily, those people showed their true colors and have left.  But Taika’s retirement and pension plans were his extended family, us.  And what has happened to this plan.  Many people feel that supporting Taika was one thing, but the family is different.  The thing to remember is, Taika supported us for decades.  We were his extended family.  Robin, Masaki, Masami and RyuTe® in general are his family.  We should be supporting them by continuing to support the association.  THIS was the pledge that so many made to him in so many conversations.  This to me is one of the greatest failures.

So many people went to seminars and trained with Taika.  But so many people failed to listen to him.  Failed to listen to his words.  Failed to listen to his philosophies.  Failed him mentally and physically.  They took what they wanted, and stored what snippets they wanted in their brains.  They failed to move past his early teachings.  They failed to move along, to bigger and better things.  They failed themselves.  And now they are failing his family.

Please do some hard thinking, look at your failures, and try to overcome them.

Pinan Schmidan

 Pinan Schmidan

The Pinan 平安 are a mentally painful set of kata for students to learn and more particularly, retain.  Itosu, Anko apparently carved up at least two larger kata to form these smaller versions.  They were introduced to the Okinawa school system in the early 1900’s.  So if school kids can do them, why do they torment so many people?  The kata all have very similar or exact motions in the other seven introductory (kyu) kata in our system.  Thus, when students reach the Pinan, their bodies have trained the other motions so much that when they get to a point in a Pinan which is familiar, they side launch into a different kata.  This requires a little more attention and focus when performing the Pinan.  Students it seems, are always concentrating and rarely seem to feel natural when they perform these.  I see students get to the point in the other seven where they can do them in their sleep, but rarely so with the Pinan.  I have even seen yudansha, trained in this art for years, completely forget their Pinan.  Thus I continually tell my students, you have to really spend some time analyzing them, dissecting them, and coming up with interesting pneumonic devices to retain them.

Unlike most people in our art, our school teaches the Pinan as the last five kyu kata.  We feel that the student should have more years of experience in Passai, Kusanku and Niseishi by the time they reach their shodan test, than in the five Pinan.  We therefore place the confusion on the Pinan, not on the ‘higher/longer’ kata.

A note on the descriptions below: First off, we don’t use the term BLOCK.  We use FOREARM STRIKE.  Tony and I have both blogged on the why of this so dig deeper for an explanation if you desire.  Also, if you have trained in some other system on these same kata, there is enough difference that the written explanations will probably not make sense.  The purpose of this blog is to help my students.  The terminology will be familiar to them.  If this aids or spurs some thinking by others, then great.  Also, the names of the kata are different in other systems (or sequence) so that might also confuse those that are not in this style. This is a quest for patterns and analysis.  Note exactly best formatting options for me with the blog tools online, so I apologize if this isn’t as ‘pretty’ as I’d like it to be.  And my apologies for any typos, I’m sure there is something in there though I’ve gone through each section several times comparing to kata video and comparing to kata in my head. (At least there is something in there).

Patterns in the Midst

Pinan Shodan	Pinan Nidan		Pinan Sandan	Pinan Yondan		Pinan Godan
All five start the exact same way, they all start with your standard Attention, then move with the right leg to a Ready Position.  Taika would explain that traditional kata moved the left foot first, non-traditional moved the right.
Next, all five perform their opening strike to the left.  Only the second one starts with a different stance.
		Beginning
·       4 Start with Cat Stance – 1 with Side/Horse Stance ·       4 Start with Left Outside Forearm Strikes (of sorts) – 1 with Down Forearm
CAT	HORSE		CAT	CAT		CAT
Right Cat Stance for the old school or Hourglass - Left Outside Forearm Strike, vertical fist to the side with Right Upper Forearm Strike	Left Side Stance (horse stance looking left) - Left Down Forearm Strike		Right Cat Stance for the old school or Hourglass - Left Outside Forearm Strike	Right Cat Stance for the old school or Hourglass - Left Outside Forearm Strike, vertical fist to the side with Right Upper Forearm Strike both Open Hand		Right Cat Stance for the old school or Right Hourglass - Left Outside Forearm Strike then Right Middle Punch
	CAT		Attention			Attention
	Right Cat Stance – Left arm circles around and down forearm/hammer fist		Step up to Attention (though flexed knees) – Two Double Forearm Strikes			Bring Right foot to Left to Attention (Flexed) – Left cross forearm
				CAT		CAT
				Left Cat Stance for the old school or Hourglass - Right Outside Forearm Strike, vertical fist to the side with Left Upper Forearm Strike both Open Hand		Left Cat Stance for the old school or Right Hourglass - Right Outside Forearm Strike then Left Middle Punch
	Forward		CAT
	Right Forward Stance – Right Punch		Turn Clockwise to Left CAT – Right Outside Forearm Strike
			Attention
			Step up to Attention (though flexed knees) – Two Double Forearm Strikes			Attention Bring Left foot to Right to Attention (Flexed) – Right cross forearm
			CAT
			Turn Clockwise to Left CAT – Right Outside Forearm Strike	Left Cat Stance for the old school or Hourglass - Right Outside Forearm Strike, vertical fist to the side with Left Upper Forearm Strike both Open Hand
			Attention
			Step up to Attention (though flexed knees) – Two Double Forearm Strikes
All do a series of attacks left, then turn 180 degrees right and repeat them.  They then turn 90 degrees left to face the original direction you were when at attention and enter the Straight Phase
Straight Phase
·       1 Starts with Attention – 4 Start with Forward Stance
Attention/Cat	Forward		Forward	Forward		Forward
Stand and Tuck, then back kick, then land in right Cat or hourglass	Left Forward stance with down forearm strike		Left Forward stance in Seisan style pose	Left Forward stance with cross double forearm strike		Right Forward stance in Seisan style pose
Two c-steps with double knife hand	Three steps with upper forearm strike		Forward stance, with spear hand.	Right Forward stance in Seisan style pose		Left Forward stance with cross double forearm strike
Fourth c-step into spear hand.			315 Degree counter clockwise spin to left side stance (horse) with left down forearm strike.	Stand Up Right with Tuck, Side Thrust Kick and backfist, Land in Left Forward Stance, Smash		Pull back, crossed hands to right side, right back stance.  Open, flip, roll, left punch
			Three Forward Stances with Middle Punches.	Stand back Left with Tuck, Side Thrust Kick and backfist,  Land Right Forward Stance, Smash		Right forward stance, right punch, wrap with left foot behind.
				Chi ball, Kick, wrap, two punches
Back Corner Phase
·       3 have Back Corner Sections – 2 have no Back Corner Section
Two knife hands to left 45, two to right 45, all forward stances.	Turn Counter Clockwise, One down forearm strike to left 45		No Back Corners	Turn Counter Clockwise, Left Forward stance with cross double forearm strike at left 45, then open.		No Back Corners
	C-Step to Right Forward Stance - One high punch (Repeat at right 45)			Right kick to forward stance, left then right punch (Repeat at right 45 – opposite)
Return Trip
Return to middle line - Left Forward Stance, Right Arm Wrap	Left Foot Returns to Mid-Line, Left Forward Stance, Left Down Forearm Strike		Turn 180 Counter Clockwise, pulling right foot to left, to Attention (Flexed) – Hands to Hips	Return to middle line – Left Forward Stance – Seisan Hand Positions		Turn 180 Counter Clockwise to Right Cat – Left Down Forearm Strike with Right Outside Forearm Strike (Behind)
Right Kick to Right Forward Stance – Left Punch to Left Wrap	C-Step to Right Forward Stance – Right Middle Punch			C-Step to Right Forward Stance – Seisan Hand Positions
			Right foot forward, turning Counter Clockwise to Side Stance (Horse) – Right Fist to Belly, Outside Forearm, Inside Forearm, Return
						Right step to left 45 corner, dropping Left knee to ground – Double Cross Strike at 45
	C-Step to Left Forward Stance – Left Middle Punch			C-Step to Left Forward Stance – Seisan Hand Positions
Left Kick to Left Forward Stance – Right Punch to Right Wrap
	C-Step to Right Forward Stance – Right Middle Punch			Hands up, pull down with Right Knee Strike – Land Temporary Cat		Right up and C-Step to Right Forward Strike – Seisan Hand Positions
Right C-Step to left Corner, Seisan Arm Position			Left foot forward, turning Clockwise to Side Stance (Horse) – Left Fist to Belly, Outside Forearm, Inside Forearm, Return
			Right foot forward, turning Counter Clockwise to Side Stance (Horse) – Right Fist to Belly, Outside Forearm, Inside Forearm, Return
			Remain in Side Stance – Chamber Fists
			Left foot crosses to Left Forward Stance – Left Middle Punch.
			Right Foot up to Ready Position
Turn Around
·       2 Forward – 2 Cat – 1 Side/Horse
Forward Stances	Cat Stances		Side Stances (Horse)	Forward Stances		Cat Stances
180 Degree Turn Counter Clockwise, to Left Forward Stance – Left Down Forearm Strike	Turn Counter Clockwise to Left-45 into Right Cat Stance – Double Knife Hand Low		Turn Counter Clockwise to Side/Horse Stance – Right Elbow Strike, punching over left shoulder.	Step Forward to Left Forward Stance – Middle Double Knife Hands		Turn Counter Clockwise to Cat Stance – Leave Right Arm in place, Left Down Forearm Strike
Continue at 45 angle with C-Step to Right Forward Stance – Right Upper Forearm Strike	Step forward to Left Cat Stance – Double Knife Hand Low		Right Straight Kick to Left Knee, Shuffling Right to Side/Horse Stance – Left Elbow Strike punching over right shoulder.	Step Forward to Right Forward Stance – Middle Double Knife Hands		Pull Left Foot to Right for Attention Position (Flexed)
Pull Right Foot back, turn 90 angle clockwise to Right 45 to Right Forward Stance with Right Down Forearm Strike	Pull Right Foot Back Slightly then Turn Clockwise 90 to Right-45 in Left Cat Stance – Double Knife Hand Low					Open Left Heel to make room for Right Foot to come forward at 45 to Left Cat Stance – Right Down Forearm Strike, Left Outside Forearm Strike (Behind)
Continue at 45 angle with C-Step to Left Forward Stance – Left Upper Forearm Strike	Step forward to Right Cat Stance – Double Knife Hand Low
Ending
·       3 Left Foot Returns – 2 Right
Pull Left foot back to line right is on, end in Ready Position, then Attention	Pull Left foot back to line right is on, end in Ready Position, then Attention		Pull Left foot sideways towards right, end in Ready Position, then Attention	Pull Right Foot Back to Ready Position, then Attention		Pull Right foot back to line, end in Ready Position, then Attention

I could stand to do a lot more analysis, but will leave some for another day.  The formatting alone has worn me out.