October 17, 1997: If you have been
following developments in the Forums, you may have read about Taekwondo receiving lots of
good press recently. Just yesterday, one of the news services announced that TKD has been
selected as an activity to ". . .help foster self-esteem and confidence and educate
at-risk youth about drugs and violence." Brockton has been chosen as one of 4 cities
in Massachusetts to be part of the Governor's Martial Arts Youth mentoring program.
Although I'm very pleased that TKD is being viewed in such a positive light nationally and
locally, I'm disappointed that the publicity excluded any other martial art. TKD wisely
included the term Karate as part of it's name during the time it was introduced and is
still on most TKD signs. It is interesting, now that they are receiving some good press,
no reference to "karate" was mentioned. With this trend, I won't be surprised to
see some changes on the "macdojos" signs: "Karate/Taekwondo now being
served"!
In Ron's forum, a hypothetical question was raised about
"legitimacy" in connection with dantests. Basically: Why do teachers register
their student's rank with Okinawa and if they don't, are the ranks "legitimate".
I read the post with interest and promptly filed it under "things to think
about" in the future. However, a couple days later I heard about a new "Uechi
Association" being formed, by an individual with a highly suspect Uechi background.
Unless he actually joined a Uechi dojo in the last 20 years, his rank must be the same as
it was then. . . non-existent!
All of a sudden, the forum topic took on a different meaning.
When I initially read the post, I assumed that the hypothetical question involved
legitimate teachers, honestly questioning the relevancy of the Okinawan certificate. But
what about the "teacher" who learned his Uechi from my first book. . . or worse
yet, from the teacher's teacher who learned it from my first book! I bet you are laughing
at this point! But you shouldn't. There are quite a few Uechi dojo out there with teachers
whose only qualifications are that they can read, follow foot charts and have extremely
creative imaginations. In some cases, these instructors have created trips to Okinawa
where they have studied with non-existing Uechi teachers. In other cases, they actually
want us to believe they studied with Master Uechi. Invariably these encounters took place
in the 40s or 50s. . .supposedly before any documentation of rank was instituted. Of
course, no Okinawan ever saw or knew who these individuals were.
There is a documented history of "Mushindo" in England,
totally created from the fertile imagination of Terry Dukes after he purchased, read and
studied "The Way of Karate" back in the mid 60s. Another interesting case is Ted
Kresge, a soldier stationed in Germany who learned Uechi-ryu from the "Way of
Karate" and actually started a chain of dojo and wrote a book on the subject. . .
having never studied the style from a teacher! To Ted's credit, he did visit dojo(s) often
and picked up lots of Uechi in the process. Many individuals learned about Uechi-ryu from
these individuals and have since opened dojo and joined other organizations or styles. Or
Not!
Back to the question at hand: Should a sincere, dedicated student
who receives a shodan certificate from an individual or group that is not one of the
current major Okinawan Uechi/Shoheiryu associations be recognized as a
"legitimate" shodan? Where is the line drawn? Does the group have to be Okinawan
or imbued with some other traits to warrant this privilege? Should the individual teacher,
regardless of rank or ability, issue his/her own certificates? And if issued, should they
have recognition by the rest of the Uechi/Shoheiryu community?
I guess it all boils down to what the belt represents to the
holder. The black belt meant a great deal more 40 years ago than it does today. But will
or has the belt's reputation sunken to the level of a "certification of merit"
or "good attendance award"? If so, then why should we pay homage to the style's
guardians for the dubious honor of a signed Okinawan diploma, when in the public's mind,
"all belts are the same"?
Perhaps the belt represents what the holder wants it to
represent. In some cases, it merely signifies that the individual has achieved some
measure of competency in self defense and in the process has gained confidence and lost
weight. In other cases, which I believe represent the majority of us, the belt represents
the history of the system and symbolically creates a link with the teachers that have
traveled the path earlier. I like the old custom of teacher taking off his/her black belt
and tying it around the student's waist after an important promotion. In a sense, the
teacher was giving part of himself to the student. . . a part that wasn't simply physical
skills or technical proficiency. To me it was a passing along to my student the tradition,
history and honor that the system represented.
Much of the politics in the martial arts involve power and money.
In Uechi-ryu's case, the power is mythical and the money minuscule. We read about the
TKD's leaders pocketing huge sums of money, earmarked for Olympic programs and other funds
diverted to finance lavish lifestyles. You won't find this happening in the Uechi-ryu
world! The fees paid for rank certifications are fair and extremely reasonable when
compared to fees paid in other martial arts and/or professional organizations. Hardly
worth the justifications created for issuing one's own certificates!
And most important, for that small fee you are maintaining the
image and remaining prestige of the single greatest motivating influence in a prospective
(and new) student. For many, it is the focal point representing all the reasons they are
joining a dojo. Why further diminish this mystique by informing your students that
"The tradition of the belt begins and ends with me!" Not many students will
complain, but it will get them to thinking and many will lose their incentive for
continuing. Perhaps these "doubters" are not "worthy". Perhaps!
Click on Ron's forum and let us know
how you feel about the subject. Also. . . how should we handle the out and out frauds in
Uechi-ryu? Ignore them? Publicly denounce them?
October 12, 1997: I was able to post
the new "Healing Arts" Website today.
Check it I forgot to mention that the New England Uechi-ryu Dantest will be held at Mike
Murphy's Randolph, MA dojo on Sunday, November 16th at 10am. Lots of have you new mail. And. . . seen the Forums lately?
October 11, 1997: This has been a
very busy week, but also a very productive one. I've confirmed the date of November 23rd
(Sunday) for the "Healing Arts" Forum. I've decided to hold the Forum at the
Sheraton Needham Hotel. (right off Route 128) This site is convenient to all of New
England. There is quite a lot of interest in this program. I've already confirmed nine
presenters, including two Acupuncturist, a person who "heals" with touch, a
TaiChi and Qizong expert and a person who practices "Reflexology". This is in
addition to many of our Uechi friends who practice and teach the healing arts. I'm looking
for someone familiar with magnets as a healing aid. I'll keep you posted as things
develop. Meanwhile, plan to attend.
The "buzz" around the Uechi world is the TaiChi article
knocking the "external" arts, using Uechi-ryu as one of the examples of an
external system. The author didn't do a very good job researching his subject and the
publisher must not have read the article very carefully before publishing it. I'm
surprised in this day and age of communications, the author or publisher would not have
taken the time to make a few calls or better yet a few visits to reputable dojo
representing the arts they are writing about. I began to highlight the sections in the
article where mistakes were made, but found nearly the whole article was in yellow by the
time I finished reading the three pages. How about this bit of wisdom:
"The practitioner of the external arts generates power
by means of local tension. That is, the power behind a punch or a kick comes from those
muscles that control the limb that delivers it. This power propels the arm or leg, which
in turn transmits it in the form of kinetic energy."
I really wish the author would try to block a kick or punch
thrown by any reputable black belt in Uechi-ryu! He'd change his opinion pretty fast! I'm
sure the author was trying to explain a "focus", which takes place at the end of
a punch, block or kick. But it is kind of ridiculous to assume that the source of energy
isn't the same as TaiChi or any other martial art. We all have different training methods
for achieving our goals. TaiChi does it one way, Uechi-ryu another way. Boxing still
another way. But when the action takes place. . . for real. . . we all use both external
and internal power and skills! In this sense, we all come from the same roots.
The article was filled with garbage. Certainly not the kind of
journalism that promotes good will or understanding among the martial arts. Check out the
mailbag for more on the subject.
October 8, 1997: I understand from
email received, that Taichi Magazine published an article back in August, with some
negative comments about Karate generally and Uechi-ryu Sanchin specifically. I called the
magazine tonight and confirmed that such an article was printed and should have the issue
in hand in a couple of days. Meanwhile, if anyone has seen the article and would like to
comment, please email me ASAP.
The "Healing" Arts have been growing in popularity at
the camp and is a reflection of the explosion of such arts throughout the world. My own
interest in these arts prompted me to explore the possibility of conducting a Forum on the
subject this Fall. A tentative date has been set for the 23rd of November, which is a
Sunday. I'll have more information on program later in the week, but if you live near New
England and would like to attend, please keep the 23rd date free.
October 3, 1997: Check out the October Mailbag. Also, an interesting submission by Charles Roberts
that I've posted to the articles section. I haven't been able
to attend the chat sessions very much last month. Will try to get on tonight at 8pm. Hope
you can join us.
September 30, 1997: I'm very pleased
to announce that Wes Tasker has joined our "On-Line" team. Wes will be heading
up the "Healing Arts" Forum, which
promises to be very educational and entertaining. In Wes's own words:
Mission statement for "Healing & The Destructive
Potential of the Martial Arts"
"A one sided coin is useless..."
My Sensei of Tenshin Shintai Ryu left me with these words. I have often pondered over
them. One of the main points he wanted to get across was that inherent in most
"traditional" martial arts was the ability to kill, maim, etc., and the ability
to heal. The particular style that I was fortunate to study had a large number of healing
arts as well as destructive arts contained within it. Even in Uechi this dualism existed -
Uechi Kanbun, when he was in China, was a practicing herbalist. One does not become an
herbalist in Chinese Medicine without extensive knowledge of healing arts.
The purpose of this forum is to discuss, among other things,
healing arts as they relate to practice and application of martial arts. By 'healing arts'
I want to include not only things like massage therapy and chiropractic as well as western
medicine, but also anatomy, physiology, etc. - from both eastern and western points of
view. The first topic I would like this forum to address is 'Kyusho'. Recently this topic
has been one of great interest to many martial artists due in part to the efforts of such
teachers as George Dillman Sensei, Erle Montaigue Sifu, and Seiyu Oyata Hanshi. Kyusho
('pressure point striking' - Dim Mak in Chinese) exists in most legitimate martial arts as
higher level or secret teachings. Why?... Some believe that Kyusho should be taught and
practiced at every level. Others believe that it should be reserved for advanced students
and not actually applied in training due to its potentially harmful and long-lasting
effects on the recipient.
I would like to invite opinions on this subject as well as any
other thread that might develop within the scope of this forum.
Domo arigato gozaiimasu
-wes
Wes Tasker has been a student and teacher of Tenshin Shintai
Ryu (a classical Japanese Bujutsu founded in 1688, by Koyama Oguri Dai Sensei) for 14
years, in which he attained the rank of yudansha-dai. He has trained in a variety of other
arts, including Kempo Karate (Shodan), and various Filipino martial arts (Guro Lakan under
Bruce Juchnik). His healing arts experience includes being certified as a massage
therapist within the National Assoc. of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. He has also
trained in shiatsu, sotai, anma, seifukujutsu, and herbology.
September 22, 1997: Don't forget to
attend Jay Salhanick's tournament this Saturday. Lots of celebrities attending, including
Bob Campbell. Jay runs a first class event that deserves our support. See you there.
Boston is going through all kinds of "serious" problems
with their professional teams. Mo Vaugn is upset at only earning 6 mil per year from an
ungrateful Red Sox team and is threatening to take his bat and glove to another, more
grateful team! And the Patriots are threatening to move a couple of miles south to Rhode
Island if the Boston taxpayers refuse to build them a new stadium. I think all the rich
martial artist on-line should start a fund for Mo and the Patriots. Buzz Durkin works
harder than any person I know and he makes a good living while providing a valuable
service to his community. Although Buzz drives a nice car and eats in fancy restaurants
once in awhile, I bet he doesn't take home as much money as the poorest paid athlete on
the Red Sox or Patriot's team. Yet, I hear lots of people complain about how certain
teachers have commercialized the martial arts. . . cheapening the art while getting
"rich"! Well, now is the time to even the score. Lets contact all these wealthy
martial artist and have them contribute to the Mo and Patriot fund.
September 18, 1997: Check out the "mailbag". Lots of new and interesting letters. I was
especially pleased to hear from Harry Brawley, an old student from the Columbus Avenue
era.
Rather than complaining about AOL and the other browsers that
don't support Java, I decided to try a new "HTML" live chat program. It works
with everything that uses any type of browser. It pulsates when new messages are loaded,
which is a bit primitive compared to the Java chat programs. But at least everyone can
participate. Why not drop in and say hello. Whenever I'm
working on the website I load the chat programs as a window, which allows me to monitor it
without interfering with my work.
A big welcome to our newest corporate sponsor. E-K Video will be a major sponsor of this site
for the next 12 months. If you or your company is looking to duplicate video, please check
them out. And please tell them you heard about them from the Uechi-ryu website.
September 15, 1997: After answering
numerous complaints by AOL users about not being able to join the Live Chat Sessions, I
decided to use one of the 50 "free hours" aol disks mailed to me over the past
few months, to check them out! In order to use the various programs they offer, I
initially installed the basic program for Windows. I quickly found out that the vanilla
version doesn't offer a browser capable of surfing the Internet. But to be fair, they did
tell you this right away and offered to load the Microsoft Explorer at no extra charge or
usage fee. However, this basic browser for Windows 3.1 does not recognize the Chat
program. You get the opening window, but no "applet".
Since I have Windows 95, I decided to upgrade the AOL to the
Win95 version. Although this process took about 20 minutes total, after I finally got it
installed, I was able to get onto the chat program. The machine I loaded AOL onto is an
older 486 IBM compatible, with 16Meg of Ram. Although the chat program ran, it seemed to
be a lot more sluggish than when I run it on my Pentium laptop. But it does run! Now if
any of you computer buffs know anything about AOL, please let us know any secrets you
might have for fine tuning the browser to run Chat with Windows 3.1 and with older
machines. Thanks...
Susan and my Newton/Natick students really pulled a
"gotcha" on me Saturday. My 60th birthday was Friday and I was suspecting that
if any surprise birthday party was planned, it would be that evening. Susan suggested we
go to Christo's for dinner. I said that it would be nice to have Italian food and the best
in the area is Noceras in Stoughton. "No problem" she said. "Its your
birthday, we'll go wherever you wish!" Satisfied that I was to escape the trauma of a
surprise party, I had a great evening.
Saturday night we were supposed to attend a small private party
for a group of Lebanese from Fitchburg. It was to be held at Phoenicia, my favorite
restaurant in Brockton. Nanette invited Susan and me and said it would be all right if we
invited a few friends, since she had extra room. Nanette even gave me a couple of the
Lebanese group's flyers! At class last week, I even announced it in class!
Saturday night, I walked in to a packed house. . . Susan pointed
to the far wall where a big sign hung... "Gotcha!"
September 12, 1997: I wish to thank
Evan Pantazi, Steve DiOrio and the staff (read Lisa) of "Inner Secrets" Video
Series for becoming a major sponsor of the site this month. I pride myself on selecting
only the very best products and services before allowing them to participate in our
sponsorship program. Evan and Steve's video is professional quality and contains nearly
two hours of extremely interesting and informative "Kyusho" material. I do not
recommend that viewers practice this art on one another. But I believe it is necessary for
all serious martial artist to be aware of the destructive potential of what many of us
formally took for granted or were totally unaware of.
In the near future, we will be conducting a forum on the subject
of "healing & destructive potential of the martial arts" to be headed up by
Sensei Wes Tasker. The Kyusho tape on Sanchin would be an excellent beginning in your
participation in this forum.
September 8. 1997: I was very busy
this weekend and wasn't able to get the new forums on line. Hope to have it completed this
week however. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we have dojo in Yugoslavia and
Greece. (Check out the Dojo/Instructor listing and the Sept mailbag) If your dojo is not
listed, please send the teacher's name and a telephone number/fax and email where the
teacher can be contacted.
September 4, 1997: The Newton, Mass
Uechi-ryu children's program will resume on Sept. 22nd. The program will be held on
Mondays and Fridays and will be instructed by Michael Aceto. Contact me if you have any
questions.
We are very fortunate to have Sensei Michael Fournier of the
"Defender's Group" joining our On-Line Magazine family. Michael will be in
charge of a new Forum dealing with self defense. Check out Michael's background and plans
for the forum in this month's mailbag.
Allen Moulton's computer crashed. . . (know that feeling well!)
and would like you all to know that is why there was no update last week. Check out his
letter in the mailbag.
I'll be on the new World of Martial Arts live discussion site
tonight and Friday evening at 8pm. Hope you can join me.
September 1, 1997: Finally got our
chat page up and running yesterday. A number of well wishers joined me at 3pm and 8pm for
the Grand re-opening Celebration. I'll be there again today, same times for anyone in the
area, with nothing to do on this Labor Day weekend.
Started the September mailbag. Many thanks to all of you who sent
in notes of congratulations on my birthday and promotion. I'm really pleased that so many
of you took the time to contact me. Thanks again. GEM
August 30, 1997: Just posted the
second batch of Summer Camp '97 photographs. Click here to check
them out.
NEWS FLASH!!!
Subject: An Addition to the Uechi Ryu Family
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 97 22:36:19 UT
From: "Steve & Lisa DiOrio" <Uechi-Sensei@classic.msn.com>
To: "George Mattson" <gmattson@uechi-ryu.com>
Sensei George,
Great news! Alexander Joseph DiOrio was born at 3:05 AM Wed. 8/27/97 ! He weighed a
whopping 7 pounds 7 oz. towering at 20 inches. He and his mom are doing wonderfully after
a short but grueling labor during which his mother preformed flawless Sanchin breathing.
We Are all soooo happy!
We would like to extend an open invitation to our friends in the Uechi community to attend
a Bris (Jewish ritual circumcision) at our home on Tuesday evening, September 2nd from 7
– 8:30 in the evening. We will be assisted by Uechi brown belt, Dr. Richard Fraser
who will be serving as Mohel. For the squeamish amongst you, the ceremonial part of the
event will conclude by 7:45 after which we will have a brief "Welcome Baby/Open
House". If you plan to attend, please call at 270-9553.
Regards,
Steve & Lisa DiOrio
E-Mail Uechi-Sensei@MSN.COM
August 29, 1997: Thanks to Barry
Bomzer for taking over a hundred great photographs at camp this year. It took us awhile to
put a new section together, but part one of three has been posted today. Click here to go there.
I cannot receive mail on USA1 anymore! If you've sent out any
order forms in the past week to the USA1 address, I did not receive it. Please resend all
email to the new @uechi-ryu.com address. If you haven't caught up on reading all the
Forums, do yourself a favor and check them out. Some really interesting material being
discussed. Also, let me know if you are not able to use the new "chat" program.
I understand there are still some servers/browsers that cannot accept Java programs.
August 26, 1997: As promised, a new
and easier to use Chat/Conference Center has been created. Thanks to Harry Skeffington for
the use of his Server and to IBM engineer Qing Gong (AKA King Kong) for helping me
configure the program and establish a new IRC server address. Simply click on the "Chat" option in
the table of contents, fill out a username and whatever other information you chose to
include, then click on "GO". After a week or so, we will resume our scheduled
programs which you can check out in the "Conference" page. I'll be running the
chat page in a "floating" window while I'm logged on the Internet and will be
happy to hear from you. Tell your friends about the new page.
Lots of new mail. Many new and
interesting topics on the forums. Should keep you busy during
these last days of Summer! Have fun.
August 24, 1997: Thanks to Sensei
John Hassell for letting me know about the live Internet video coverage of the Okinawan
Championships earlier this weekend. Unfortunately I couldn't get information on-line
before the coverage was over. Does anyone have any information on the event and the
winners? Please e-mail me ASAP.
Looking for ideas for new forums and people who can administer
them. I still get lots of mail from people looking to increase their dojo's student
enrollment and ways to keep students. Buzz Durkin would be a perfect choice and he did
volunteer for the job a few months ago. At the time he was just getting on-line and wanted
some time to familiarize himself with his new computer and internet service. Should be an
expert by now! If you talk with him or see him, pass along the message.
August 20, 1997: Received a very
nice e-mail from the Midwest NAC group this morning, reporting their activities this
Summer. Since Ron and his students joined forces with NAC, they constantly amaze me with
their energy, enthusiasm and positive attitude towards the martial arts. I have a
difficult time focusing on a few activities and projects at a time. Besides holding down a
full time and very demanding job, Ron dedicates himself to dozens of other difficult
committees and activities, all the while teaching a full time schedule of martial art's
classes and maintaining another full time schedule learning and honing his own skills.
NAC is very proud to be associated with Ron and his hard working
group and wish to congratulate them on their many accomplishments this Summer. Check out
the report in the "Mailbag" and the Midwest schedule of coming events by clicking here.
I've been receiving many requests to gain access to the NAC
Forum. Please include your dojo's information and instructor's name in your request.
Anyone interested in working on the Private "Publication
Review Committee", please email me a username and a password. I must record this
information in the forum "permissions" file before you can gain access. We are
looking for writers, editors and idea people who wish to help publicize Uechi/Shoheiryu to
the outside world. I have publications looking for articles and need people who can help
research, write and edit the articles.
August 18, 1997: Lots of new mail...
and I've had an opportunity to transfer the old forum messages into the "Point of
View!" forum. Some great information here. Check it out.
p.s. Just came from the forum section. Finally found the time to
enter the NAC private forum passwords. Myrna will have the camp meeting minutes,
resolutions and future projects entered by the end of this week. All NAC teachers and
students are able to monitor progress while the various committees work.
Pleased to see Paul Giella's Forum taking form. I'd like to post
his first topic here.
"Let's start up a thread... I am interested in a
discussion about our relationship to the whole concept of authority in the teaching of
karate... how does it help us,and, even more intriguing, how has it hindered us over the
years? Someone once said "it is much harder to get the old ideas out than to get the
new ideas in"... let's talk about this."
Paul Giella
August 14, 1997: WoW! What a week.
Packing off the last of the houseguests tomorrow and should be back to a normal schedule
by the weekend. Uechi Sensei had a great time again this year, thanks to all the students
and teachers who helped make his stay exciting and enjoyable. David Hovey was in charge of
finding the very best Japanese restaurants around. For this task, Dave is a 10th dan! Gary
Khoury gave up much of his weekend to make sure sensei had transportation and a place to
stay before the camp and at the end of his stay. Nestor Folta also helped Kanmei feel at
home by inviting sensei to his twins birthday party on Friday evening. (we call them the
"Summercamp twins" since they were born during camp.)
Back to web business: Please make sure you address all e-mail to
my new home: "gmattson@uechi-ryu.com"
(without the ""). Hopefully I will continue to receive mail at the old usa1
address, but don't count on it.
Due to a glitch in my web editor, a couple of files got lost in
the move to "websunlimited". If you find any pages missing, please let me know.
Mostly, its because the file names were originally saved in capital letters, and the links
in small letters. The new server won't recognize files unless the letters are all the same
in the address.
Also, a couple of files were cut off while editing in html. I'm
not sure why this happened, but it probably has something to due with the size of the
files. The "Whats New" page is the first one I fixed, but there may be more.
Again, please e-mail if you find any problems.
We are working on the chat page. The new server is somewhat
incompatible with the program and some modifications must be made, which the tech people
from Ichat and the server are working on.
August 12, 1997: Check back in a
couple of days for a more complete report on the camp and pictures taken by on-line
reporters. Sue and I are going to take it easy for a couple of days before getting back to
our regular schedule. (Don't worry Barry, I'll be at Wednesday's class!!)
I wish to thank everyone who supported the camp and made it such
a huge success. Also thanks to Al Moulten and Jay Salhanick for their camp coverage on
their sites. GEM
August 4, 1997: Posted a detailed
camp schedule for FRIDAY, SATURDAY
and SUNDAY. Check it out. There are a few mistakes, which will
be corrected during the week. I just received confirmation that J. MacCrindle will be
teaching two Taichi classes a day, which aren't listed yet. Quite a few Uechi seniors have
not been posted to specific slots either, since many of them did not send in their seminar
summary sheets. As in past years, we will assign specific Uechi seminars at the camp to
supplement the posted schedule.
I'd like to formally welcome Mark Mirski and his Anshin (top of
the line) uniform company to our growing list of sponsors. Mark and his associates will
have a booth at the camp this year, displaying his fine line of products. Check out the Anshin banner ad and follow the link to their site. If
you are thinking about purchasing a new gi and want to buy the very best at a reasonable
price, you should check out Anshin!
August 2, 1997: Happy to report that
Wes Tasker will be at the camp all three days. This year, Wes will be teaching "Largo
Mano Escrima". This Filipino martial art is characterized primarily by stick and
knife fighting, which uses a three foot stick, or Baston. Because there are not very many
different techniques in Largo Mano Escrima, it is possible to learn the rudiments of the
system in a fairly short period of time. Two seminars of this extremely effective fighting
system will be offered at the camp each day, on an alternating basis. Sticks will be
available at the camp for use and/or sale.
Sensei Kanmei Uechi will be arriving in Boston on Monday and will
be conducting seminars at the camp in traditional Uechi-ryu. He will be assisted by his
talented son Kanji, who now speaks excellent English. As usual, they will teach a special
children's program on Saturday.
Still time to register for a daytrip, but you'll have to bring
your own food! Call Susan at 508-586-3969 to register.
Jim Witherell will be conducting two levels of stretching at the
camp on Saturday. Jim's seminars have been very popular at past camps and I highly
recommend Jim's safe and effective approach to this subject.
August 1, 1997: Lots of application
to the camp still coming in! John Spenser forgot to contact me, but when I called him he
stated: "But of course I'll be there! I thought you would simply 'know' this"!!!
John will be conducting his Kanbun Uechi history lesson, which has been extremely popular
in the past. We will have at least four Wa Lum practitioners attending. Also, Dr. Ann sent
in her seminar topics: "Injury Prevention and Optimum Performance Nutrition" on
Friday and Saturday. 3pm on Friday, she will be conducting a special "Female Optimum
Nutrition" course. Dr. Ann and her associates will also be available for consultation
as in past years.
Brooks Bowen called and said he would like to teach
"traditional" Uechi-ryu kata all three days. I'm working on the schedule
handout, which will be given out when you register Thursday evening or Friday morning at
check-in. For more details on the courses to be available, please check out the July and Aug Mailbag and the
"Camp/Festival" section. Had a few minutes tonight, so created the Aug Mail
section.
We're still working on the "real-time" chat program.
Hope to have it going soon. Check out the site during camp, if you can't make it. Trying
to set up some live pictures to be sent over the site. This is too "high tech"
for me, but a couple of students are trying to pull it off.
July 28, 1997: Received quite a few
messages from people, telling me the new e-mail address does not work. Turns out that
there is a period of time that "Internic" (the organization that controls web
domain names) takes to make any change in web sites. This interval can be anywhere from a
day to a month. Then, after Internic finalizes the process, there is more time involved in
having this change take place within the individual servers. Bottom line. . . until all
this happens, you will have to continue using gmattson@uechi-ryu.com to reach me. I'll let
you know when its safe to use the new address.
Also quite a few calls, faxes and email regading directions to
the Mass Maritime Academy. I've created a special page with maps
and directions. Click here to bring up this page. Call me if you have any late
applications to get in. We have a few extra spots to fill.
July 25, 1997: Larry Tan just called
to let us know he will be at camp this year. This is good news to all who have attended
his sessions in the past years and were asking if he would be returning this year. Simon
Lailey called this morning, telling me he will be arriving at the camp on Thursday
evening.
I'll be teaching a class at Raffi Derderian's dojo in Rhode
Island this evening from 6-8pm. If you wish to participate, give Raffi a call at
401-946-0384.
I'm pleased to announce a couple of new website sponsors. Anshin
top of the line Gi will be part of the Uechi website and will also be displaying their
products at the camp this year. Jose Ramos is a professional photographer who will be
available at the camp on Friday and Sunday to take pictures. For the low price of $26 you
can have a package consisting of: 1-8X10, 2-5X7, 4-4X5 and 8 Wallet sizes portraits.
The official camp picture will be taken by Gary Geddes on
Saturday.
Check out the Forums. Lots of interesting comments being posted.
Working on the Chat page and should have it back up sometime next week. For the time
being, continue to send e-mail to gmattson@uechi-ryu.com. Later. . . GEM
July 13, 1997: Haven't had much time
to work on this site, Summer Camp is keeping Susan and me very busy. Don't forget the July
15th deadline for applications. After that you must pay the full price for overnight
programs. (No discounts for "daytrippers")
My Internet provider, USA1, has been experiencing ongoing growing
pains which has resulted in extremely poor service to the Uechi site. Because of this, my
Forums and Chat page has been down quite a lot and things don't look to improve soon. I've
been very loyal to them over the years, but feel like it is time for a change. Please
check here regularly for the next couple of weeks for announcements regarding this move.
Because of the nature of changing things on the Internet, the process is painful and slow.
Although the name of the site remains the same, the address will change. Until your server
is updated, it will continue to point at the old address. I'll keep a link to USA1 as long
as possible, but I can't promise anything short term. Most important, my email address
will be changing next week. I'll post it as soon as I know it!
July 8, 1997: Mailbag is overflowing
with new and interesting letters. This year's camp should be fantastic! We will definitely
have a record number of participants and many new and exciting seminars. Our Native
American members are attempting to set up a three day "sweat" hut for the camp,
to be located on the beach. If we can pull this off, everyone is in for a real treat. I
enjoyed my first "sweat" at Jim Maloney's Van Couver facilities a couple of
years ago and am looking forward to another session.
A couple of seminar presenters will be stressing aerobic
conditioning at the camp. Although a part of most Uechi training, these sessions will
focus on specialty areas of your training that you might not have considered. Nestor Folta
recommends taking his "Conditioning for Kata Power" early in the morning, while
the students are well rested! "Never again run out of gas during your kata - but if
you ain't exhausted after on kata, see why you should be! This seminar includes maximizing
your endurance, making your kata explosive, breathing techniques that really work,
transitions for more power, increasing your speed and achieving maximum focus".
Nestor, who is a 7 time World Champion, is THE man who speaks
from experience.
Sensei Anne Radke will coming all the way from Tallahassee,
Florida to teach a special karate aerobics class. Karate aerobics has become very popular
throughout the country as a way to attract new people to your dojo. Anne will show you why
this class is so popular and how you can incorporate the program in your dojo or home
workout.
This year Doctor Ann will again be teaching and demonstrating the
art of reflexology while presenting the latest information about different health issues,
including weight management, injury prevention, osteoporosis, detoxification and various
other topics. She will be assisted by Dr. Richard Brown and others.Finally, while I'm
discussing aerobics and good health, I'd like to thank Charles Roberts for sending me a
copy of the Royal Canadian Air Force 5BX Plan. I'm not sure when this program was
introduced, but I do remember that many health and fitness experts endorsed the merits of
this program. After the camp I will scan this document and upload it to this site.
I've just registered our "World of Martial Arts"
Discussion site with a number of outside martial arts groups. Hopefully this will increase
the activity there and promote more Uechi/Shoheiryu interest. Drop in and say hello. I'm
on whenever home and try to be there at 7pm most evenings.
July 4, 1997: Lots of new mail
containing seminar summaries for this year's camp. Check it out. Also, Angel Lemus sent me
the following news release which I'd like to share with you:
From The Okinawa Times:
On June 17 1997, Kinjo Seichou, Director of Okinawan Prefecture Cultural Preservation
Society, proposed to the Okinawa Educational Committee that Okinawan Karate and Kobujutsu
be considered as an Okinawan Cultural Intangible Asset. The said proposal was made to
Amuro Hajime, head of the Educational Committee.
It was also proposed that Okinawa recognize and honor those who have been selected to
preserve this culture. Should the Educational Committee decide to recognize Karate and
Kobujutsu as cultural assets, then this would be the first time the such decision would be
taken. There has been no precedent regarding such action throughout Japan.
The three selected were, Nagamine Shoshin (89 yrs old), Matsubayashi-Ryu, Yagi Meitoku (85
yrs old), Goju-Ryu, Itokazu Seiki (81 yrs old), Uechi-Ryu. The Prefectural Cultural
Society realizes that Okinawan Karate has captured international interests. Therefore, it
is important to preserve their cultural heritage and legacy.
The categories of selection were based on the following recognition and achievement;
Nagamine known for his Shurite and Tomarite; Yagi for his Nahate; Itokazu known for
histraditional Uechi style.
For a long period of time, before WW2, the three recommended candidate were leaders who
were instrumental in preserving Karate.
Translated by Misao Sakamoto and Naoko Ganaha
July 2, 1997: Received many letters
from both students and teachers regarding the subtle and sometime not so subtle inference
that some martial artists possess mental powers which can be combined with physical skills
to injure or control others. In China, words like "chi" were used to
collectively represent power developed through the study of martial arts, which could not
be explained scientifically. Modern martial artist also use such terms to describe maximum
efficiency of energy, motion and techniques when performing their art. Bruce Lee called
his powerful 6" punch the result of his "chi". Art Rabesa calls it
"explosive" power. Danny Pai also called his "no-touch" ice break a
result of his "chi" energy. (He never told the audience the ice was precut and
collapsed from its own weight!) I've seen enough circus tricks to know that we should be
very skeptical of anyone claiming to be able to read minds, control another person through
"mind power" or in linking this "magic" with the physical art of
karate.
One letter in particular got my attention when it came in this
morning, since it gives us another view into the subject:
Dear Mr. Mattson:
WOW. That could have been one of my former students who sent you the note on some sort of
magic martial arts secret thing. When I returned to school, and left teaching Uechi Ryu,
some of my former students associated themselves with an individual who spent most of his
time hypnotizing the class. In addition to hypnotism, he also, I am told, focused on
various religious dogma. He also had a code sexual conduct and essentially demanded
obedience to his interpretation of how one should lead ones life. This instructor also
took money from the students, and there was some rumor of improper conduct and contact
with female students.
How was this man able to accomplish this. The answer, quite simply, is that the students
were so eager for answers that they were willing to take any answer given them from a
person willing to take a position of authority. I suppose it really boils down to trust.
As martial arts instructors, we are given almost instant trust by our students. It is an
awesome power, and a power that is as seductive for many instructors as it is for the
students. It is not uncommon to hear students talk about what their sensei so-and-so said
about any topic as if they were quoting religious scripture or citing an infallible
source. It is sad.
This is such a joyful art we share. It can be and inspiration and a model for how we
conduct every aspect of our lives. But, this very quality seems to be a double edge sword
that is so open to abuse by the unscrupulous or the unwary, that one really begins to
question the entire system we have created for perpetuating our art. Well enough rambling.
My best wishes to the student who wrote to you for a speedy recovery.
Peace.
Robb in Sacramento.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I often get calls and letters from people who can't believe such
things are happening. I can assure you they are happening! It is the responsibility of the
various martial art organizations to bring these topics out into the open so students will
be better informed and the teachers warned. Sweeping problems under the rug only works for
the short term.
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