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(Okinawan Village Training Hall)
It is vitally important that every student understand the true purpose of a Karate training hall (dojo). You may think that the dojo exists in order for you to lean the art. If you think this, you are wrong. There is one major fact that you must keep in clearly in mind; a traditional genko ki or dojo is not there just to teach. The prime objective is to perpetuate and disseminate the art of Karate. It is to the style and it’s progenitors that your Sensei has given his loyalty. In order to preserve the style he is obligated to teach the art to someone else, but exactly who it will be is left up to him. He has not the moral or ethical obligation to teach you in particular.
Take a look around the genko ki and you will see that the membership is comparatively low to that of other dojo. This isn’t because this is an unsuccessful school, it is because the instructor really does not want more students than he can teach properly. He actually wants low numbers. This is a concept that commercial schools can never come to terms with. Genko ki are relatively new to the USA because the style was only recently introduce to the America 1989. However, were you to see the inside of a long established genko ki you would see that the rank structure is very top-heavy in comparison with the typical school. In other words, there will be a lot more black belts than white belts in attendance. If the dojo has been established for any length of time the vast majority of students will be seniors, possibly all of black belt ranking. The instructor may well have already chosen his successor, along with several back-ups, so he doesn’t need any new students. The fact that a new student wants to study with the style really does not concern the Sensei at all. As stated before, his duty is to the style.
The fact of the matter is, that beginning students are a lot of trouble for the Head Instructor and the rest of the staff, generally more trouble than they are worth. For example, say the entire dojo is humming along nicely with the members busily at work perfecting the techniques of their art, and then along comes a beginner. This means that everybody has to slow down to keep from hurting the newcomer and waste a lot of valuable time teaching things that they already do by instinct. The newcomer may not realize it as such, but his problem lies in convincing the instructor that disrupting the entire operation for his benefit is going to be worthwhile. The instructor doesn’t really want to, but if he is approached in the right manner and he sees potential, then he may accept a new student. Upon doing this, he will quite honestly feel that he is doing you a great personal favor. If the new student is wise he will agree, and spend the rest of his life repaying the debt. One must remember that a Sensei has to bear the disappointment of seeing literally hundreds of students give up. Very often, a student will give up without saying a word, just leaving and never coming back. This is like a slap in the face to the Sensei. The effort and time put into that students training is lost to the genko ki forever.
The Hakutsuru genko ki is not a commercial school. The money collected goes into the running of the dojo, producing first class journals, and paying for the senior’s to go meet the style’s masters or to bring the masters to the students. This is an enormous financial burden for a private group. All the instructor gets from the deal is the satisfaction of seeing the students progress. As it happens, this IS a great deal to him, and he treasures the success of his students as they progress through the grades. It is little wonder then, that the teacher is not always enthusiastic about newcomers. Some instructors even have a policy of putting off students requiring that they "Come back next month." just to make sure they are serious. Most, however, will be able to make up their mind about the new applicant within the first few seconds of the initial meeting. No matter what the art, the mental image of a "proper student" tends to be very similar. The instructor is looking for a strong personality, someone sincere with enthusiasm, determination and considerable courtesy. This person must be prepared to train hard, learn and remember.
The relationship between the traditional instructor and his student is closer than that of commercial schools. The Sensei looks upon his students as his personal family. Clearly, he will be looking for someone to whom he can relate and to whom he feels some affinity. Questions may be encouraged, but the student should be wary not to fall into the trap of asking questions about what will be done in class or how long does it take to learn. The student just does what he is told to do. What the student wants to do, has absolutely no bearing on the program. An uninformed student may ask how long it takes to learn the style and be told, "The rest of your life. Which will not last long enough to complete the task."
In actuality, things are not as bad as they sound. Most Sensei realize that their ways are somewhat strange to outsiders and are willing to pretend they do not notice all but the most glaring of insults. These principles of etiquette are Ryukyuan (Okinawan) rather than Japanese. Today Ryukyu is part of Japan, but there are still fundamental differences. The Japanese etiquette tends to be very militaristic, and very precise when approaching budo. The Ryukyuans, on the other hand, demand total commitment but tend to be more gentle in their approach. The training will still be very, very hard but there is a compassion and understanding within the Ryukyuan Tuti oriented Sensei. This may all seem very strange to a Westerner, even ridiculous to many. This is the point. Those who feel that it is ridiculous have no business in a traditional genko gi. The instructor of such a dojo isn’t satisfied with having you like the place and stay. He is looking for love at first sight because he knows that if you truly join a dojo you in a sense marry it. This requires a major spiritual commitment that is too much for most potential students.
So if you are going to train in a traditional genko ki, don’t expect it to adjust to it’s customs to fit your wishes and philosophy, after all, they were there first!
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Matsumura and Nomura Clash
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It was common for the Samurai class to play a musical instrument called the "Samisen". It is a three stringed banjo-like musical instrument, the strings being plucked with a large bone plectrum. Sokon Matsumura was one person who played this instrument, but the one who played it better than anyone else on Okinawa was a samurai named; Nomura. Even today there is a style of the samisen called: Nomura-ryu.
Both, Matsumura and Nomura, studied Karate. Nomura was a gentleman, however, he wanted to find out if he could beat Matsumura in a shiai. One day he asked Matsumura for a shiai and he agreed. Now they hadn't decided on a date, and time went by. Nomura figured that if he waited long enough that Matsumura would forget about it.
After six months or so, Nomura asked Matsumura to get together with him and play the samisen. Some say he challenged Matsumura to see who could play the instrument better. Matsumura agreed and they met at a specified time.
When they met Nomura made it a point to sit on Matsumura's right-hand side. When songs are played with the samisen one usually sings at the same time. Okinawa songs last a long time and vocal pitch can be quite high. Nomura was to use this to his advantage. He and Matsumura were to sing in tune together, and when they were both at a high note with the air exhausted from Matsumura's lungs he would attack. Nomura thought he would be able to overcome Matsumura at this point because his lungs were in better shape.
Patiently, he waited until the last high note of the song. As soon as Matsumura hit the top of the high note. Nomura stood up on his right leg and at the same time thrust his samisen towards Matsumura's head. Now, Matsumura was always cautious and reacted instantly to the attack. As soon as he saw the samisen coming he jerked his head back and out of the way, at the same time he slapped the samisen with his right hand and deflected it.
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He was successful. Had he moved any other way or tried to stand up it would have been to late. He immediately countered with a backfist to the face of Nomura, but instead of hitting him held back his fist a hair from Nomura's face. At that instance Nomura froze and knew he had lost. He slowly backed away from Matsumura and bowed deeply then said; "I am no match for you. You have won". Matsumura was a gentleman and showed mercy by not attacking. For he thought it better for Nomura to learn from the incident than to kill him outright.
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Stories of Matsumura November 2002
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Soldier Matsumura
About Matsumura, most people know him as a Master of Karate. He became a bodyguard for Ruykyu King. It is common that there is some odd thing in genius people. Matsumura was one of those genius people. Following story explains about Matsumura some odd part. As he got older, his Martial Arts got deeper, more variety. His daily life was no exception either. Even though he was over sixty years old. Matsumura was in his living room and asked his wife who was in the kitchen for fire for his tobacco.
So he threw the tobacco box to his wife who was in the kitchen. His wife put a burning charcoal in the box, and she threw it back to him. He received with one hand without spilling anything. His back was toward his wife.
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On Karate history in RyuKyu there was no other person like Matsumura, who mastered Karate. Following story is from Mr. Myoshi Kayou who lives in Minatagawa Urasoe Village in Okinawa. He was seventy- two years old, and he is a relative of Matsumura. He was also invited to the special sixtieth birthday party (Matsumura’s) when he was eleven years old. Matsumura’s real name is Chikutouno Shinun No Kami Matsumura, and he was called Matsumura No Tanmee means an old person in Okinawan dialect. On 1827, Nakayama’s seventeenth king, Shoukow retired from king’s position, because he couldn’t handle the pressure from Satsuma, China and Western countries. (Satsuma is the old name for Kumamoto prefecture now).
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The king pretended that he became mental ill patient. However, there was not historical evidence to back up this fact. Matsumura was still a young man when he was the bodyguard of the king. The king moved to his vacation house in Minatogawa Urasoe Village.
First story is when Matsumura Tanmee was working at Shuri Castle. One day the short-tempered king got upset with Matsumura. The king told him “you can not work at the castle anymore”. So he was walking out from the castle gate to the stone road, he saw a young farmer walking toward him with bare feet. When he saw the young farmer’s muscular body and noticed the smooth body movement, Matsumura tightened his body. As he thought, the young farmer was Kuchigawa Uehara who lived near the stone gate of Shuri castle and he works at a gold workman shop. At that time, people were speaking about that who is the stronger man between Matsumura and Uehara. Matsumura had never met him, but he had known about him. After they passed each other with strong tension Uehara nervously opened his mouth “Hello ----“ after Uehara had a big argument with his brother, Uehara left home with the mind of death. He thought, “If I’m going to die anyway, I rather die while I’m fighting with Mr. Matsumura.”
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Uehara told Matsumura that he wanted to have one fight. For himself, Matsumura was trying to get the chance to have a fight with this famous young man. After Matsumura thought a while, he agreed to have a fight with Uehara. Great masters fight broke the peaceful day air, and deadly hands movement were flying. When soon after Matsumura defended Uehara’s punch, and Matsumura prepared for his secret punch, Uehara said, “Wait,” He put his head down and said, “I lost.”
These two great masters were parting on their own way with good feeling after they recognized each other’s Karate Skill.
The second story is when the king changed his house to Urasoe. The king heard the rumor that Matsumura was having relationship with king’s concubine. With the thought of killing Matsumura, the king asked Matsumura to have a wrestling match with a mad bull. After dodging the rushing bull two or three times, he twisted his body. That moment the bull’s forehead was broken and the bull fell on the ground.
On another day, the king said that he wanted to see the farmer’s karate dance for him. However Matsumura told the king that his karate is a martial art not a dance, the king got mad and said “If you can not dance for me now, you are a fool!” When Matsumura heard this he got sick about the king having a bad temper again. Matsumura suddenly jumped like a bird into the big tree next to the king. Matsumura next kicked one of the high branches of the tree and it fell by the king. This incident calmed down the kings bad temper.
Matsumura was training his fingers and hands always. He could chip the edge of the bowl on the table without moving it. He easily cut the beef that was hanging from the ceiling with one stroke.
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The next story is before he (Matsumura) became a bodyguard for the king. While Matsumura was training his Karate in Shinan China where the best place for Karate, his Karate ability exceeded his teachers. One day he had a karate match with the Chinese person who we are told was the strongest in China Besides, that there was one condition that was added to the karate match. One week before the match, they both started to stay in jail without eating and drinking. When the day of the match came Matsumura felt dizziness because of hungry stomach. On the other hand, the Chinese opponent looked good and was full of vitality. In order to show the pride of Chinese Karate, Chinese person had been getting good food even though they planned to win over Matsumura, the match was even.
Matsumura was buried in Shuri, but there is no evidence to support it.
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Energy Training in Naihanchi November 2002
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Energy training in Naihanchi, the following is a general description of the energy circulation etc..
The hand over the fist opens the Dan Tien, and starts the Microcosmic Orbit (n Up on the back and down through the front), then raising of the left fist to the armpit and the right hand so called block opens the third eye, the left eye and the right eye. The elbow strike opens the trough and sends the energy to the heart organ.
Then the low block to the left opens the left lung, while the horizontal right fist stick opens the right lung. At that point the right hand outside block opens the liver. The wheeling hands with left arm going upper block while the right goes down block opens the spleen and, with the front hand strike, the pancreas!
At that point the step to the left takes the energy through the sexual organs and with the double handed (or fists to the left) releases the energy and as the Kata moves to the right, by stepping and repeating the movements to the other side, it starts reversing the cycle in order to keep the energy going deep within the organs.
Each major organ that is touched in the original motion also goes to the corresponding organs in the centerline and in the spine in a very particular order.
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