RyuKyu Kingdom Sui-Di Bujutsu 琉球王朝首里手武術 Authentic Okinawan Karate

“Cultivate a heart that cares about other people through karate. If you want to be better, you must have a partner. You might want to get better, but if your partners don’t like you how can you grow? So you need to learn how to adapt and flow with another person. Otherwise you will have regrets.” Iha Sensei, spoken when he was 90.

On the class after class

Some of the best discussions and instruction with Iha Sensei occurred while he sat on the bench after class. We would usually gather around and stretch while a few students practiced what they had been working on during the session. This ambiance was fruitful for discussions and demonstrations and always a reminder that Sensei was a teacher of deep experience and insight. It was also a time that individuals would follow up with questions about their own particular karate. This was instructive to all of us, because Sensei would give specific and often unique instructions; what one student could do or had an apt for he would build upon. His karate was not one size fits all. The idiosyncrasies of each of us became his canvas and we saw that the class curriculum was a foundation, not a ceiling. Something might work for one student but not another, and that was normal. He would often say, “Show me how you do”, “You have to figure out” and “Do your homework”.

He was also genuinely interested in our own opinions and perspective to “make more better”. If we did something he liked, he would say so; if not, he would smile and say something like “I don’t know”. If we could pull it off well he might say to keep trying. And he always followed up. Sometimes a week or more later he would ask us to demonstrate what we discussed to see if we did our homework.

Sensei’s own teacher, Gusukuma, would usually have tea and sweets after instruction for the students who wished to stay for a while. Iha Sensei said that one of his regrets was the long trip home from Gusukuma’s because he often had to leave shortly after class. There were times, however, when he could stay and Gusukuma would share stories about his own teachers (Itosu and Higaonna) other contemporary teachers, living or recently passed (Motobu, Kyan, Miyagi, Chibana and so on) and his karate perspective in general.

Miyahira Sensei likewise enjoyed after class tea, smoking and discussions, which is pictured here. Sensei remains in his gi, while Miyahira Sensei has already changed.

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Miyahira Katsuya Sensei on Changes in Kata

“Kata is never concrete in performance or interpretation. It changes either knowingly, unknowingly, or through the passage of time. Sometime the changes are small, like changing the emphasis of punching to kicking or to quick movements or to slow, steady movements. An instructor may favor one technique over another and tell his students to emphasize it more than it was originally taught. The kata is still the same but a change has now taken place either consciously or unconsciously. These minor changes have not really changed the style. These changes cannot be prevented either, for in most cases the change occurs over a long period of time.”

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗪⁣
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Good memories at the St Albans Yanagi Te Ju Jitsu dojo. ⁣
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Kyoshi Ron Wright asked me to teach his students full contact karate sparring and the whole Albion honbu dojo come across to train there on Thursday nights. ⁣
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The training was hard, the training was relentless and we ended up making a special team and made a huge statement in full contact karate competition in Melbourne.

Especially seeing we trained Okinawan karate which is self defence based where our training schedule only had a fraction of time focused on kumite training compared to budo karate yet we dominated in our respective divisions so much so the father of kyokushin karate in Australia Hanshi Eddie Emin complimented us in 2004 saying “where did you boys come from? The mountains?”

This was my first time teaching outside of the honbu dojo with Hanshi Abet’s approval and the start of a blessed journey teaching martial arts.

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-Duško⁣
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𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵: 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘳𝘨, 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘐𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘻𝘢, 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘌𝘴𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳, 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘶, 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪ć. 𝘉𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵: 𝘋𝘶š𝘬𝘰 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘪ć, 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘧𝘶𝘮𝘪 𝘕𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘮𝘢, 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘬𝘰 𝘠𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢, 𝘒𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘴.⁣
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