Uechi-Ryu.com

_ By Bob Campbell_ Hanshi Kyudan

Motion & Physics Applications
From his Writings – Keeper of the Dragons Beard

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Van

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Van

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Van

Bob Campbell sensei, welcomes any and all questions.
Let us take this statement

What questions should quickly come to mind here?

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Van

Please give Bobby my best. It's been way too long...

- Bill

I will see him on 9-22 at the Halifax Country Club for his yearly fabulous Dinner Party, Bill, and will pass on your salutations.

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Van

I had some time to think about Bobby's posts, Van.

For clarification purposes... For the rest of you, it's Mr. Campbell until he tells you otherwise. For me he'll always be Bobby. I first met him 35 years ago on a motorcycle road trip (with pretty lady in tow) up to the Cambridge and Hancock dojo (May, 1977). He spent time in the 1980s with me on a visit to UVa where I boarded him in a room on Thomas Jefferson's historic lawn near the Rotunda. We've seen each other only occasionally, but have known each other through several lifetimes. Or so it seems...

I have an interesting relationship with George, and I can say the same for Bobby. Our brains operate in different domains. But there's a respect there that transcends that which divides us.

What I love about Bobby is knowing his martial genius, and seeing how he articulates that via the English language. As a scientist, I have to squint my mental eyes to get what he's saying. It's all there... in a kind of stream of consciousness language. It makes me wonder how a brain like Bobby's works when he does what he does.

In a way Bobby has a more yin way of thinking. A yang compartmentalizes. A yin draws from way too many centers of the brain at the same time, and it all comes out in words as a bit of a mess. But by god, it's all there! And really... it's how the world works. Sometimes when daydreaming a female friend will ask me what I'm thinking. I'll look to her, and say I can't put it in words. Sometimes the brain thinks serially. When I'm in my creative mode - something necessary for my line of work - I'm parallel processing the way my Unix servers do when I unleash a multivariate analysis on millions of records of data. Try putting that parallel thinking down in a sequential human construct we call the English language. It's tough...

Anyhow, I just thought I'd share that.

- Bill

One the good - and bad - things Okinawa has done to Kanbun's style (in my opinion...) is breaking things down in what we do. They've taken a reductionist approach to our material. The individual elements are there. The individual elements are clear.

What I haven't seen a lot of is the ability to put those elements back together again, and in countless permutations. Bobby's great at that. Unlike many in the martial world, he moves and does at the same time. That's really the holy grail of martial arts, and most other sports activities for that matter. The pieces have to come together in an essential synergy where the whole transcends the individual parts.

Breaking things down is necessary. So is putting it back together again. The former is very Okinawan. The latter seems very Chinese.

Being able to operate back and forth from one domain to the next is key. Teaching with that in mind is so important. Few teachers have that gift. It's one I strive for, and take pride in when I pull it off.

When you read Bobby's writing, he has it. His language comes out in a way where everything's there but it takes time to appreciate that. It reflects both his baseline personality and his eclectic lifetime martial experience.

- Bill

What we see all too often is the statement " this is what I was taught what this technique is for" and that person is comfortable with being pigeon holed and not exploring further. Kick punch YA YA YA!! Let's get strong and hard and we can do anything? A the risk of over simplifying something there is a simple progression that I teach. 1. What you need to do (not get hit) basic drills, what you can do (avoid the first consistently through training) kata, bunkai and yakusoku then what you want to do (tactics). How many really understand what Uke means. To receive, redirect, and suppress. According to Itokazu Sensei this eventually happens in smooth sequence with finely tuned timing. Early training is one, two, or one two three. Eventually it is onetwo or onetwothree. He would have me punch and then using mawashi uke and it would be rat,tat,tat and you were hit. Some times he would voice dadada as he smacked me. It became apparent that the importance of timing between the Uke and counter was crucial. Three strikes your out. Four strikes your history.
"Tosh's favorite teacher was Takara Sensei. A student once asked Tosh what would happen if he had to fight Sensei Takara. Without blinking Tosh said that "he would kill me easy". The student asked you mean beat you up and Tosh said no "die".
Steve B has an interesting story about Takara Sensei. If he is willing to share.

Enough rambling, as Bill has stated before we need to look at the moves between the moves. We need to see that what looks like a furi higi can be part of a grapple not just an elbow strike. Kata gives us direction and a vast variety of technique. It is up to us to recognize the myriad of possibilities in between. "Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all of the Heavenly glory"

PS: Talking about efficiency in striking I once was finishing my Makiwara routine and told Tosh that I didn't feel that I was progressing with my power. He laughed at me and said that I was hitting it harder than I thought and that I was learning how to not let it hit back. HMM, Leaving on target?

Great post Rick, thank you.

It is the evasive footwork we have in our hojo undo and kata that does not receive much attention, stuck as most of us are on 'standing our ground' ...

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Van

post removed and put elsewhere

It is an interesting question Van. When I first started training I was told to keep my breathing low as a baby's does. If you notice them as they sleep, their stomaches- not their chests move in and out. That is the natural way to breath and if practiced over a period of years a persons center of gravity naturally lowers. That breathing also increases the amount of oxygen the body can take in allowing much more time between breathes in combat. I found that a side benefit of this breathing allows me to float in the water no matter salt or fresh.
It is also said to sink the Chi and allow that force to be used in striking. As far as how light weight people should act toward a much bigger opponent it should in my opinion go without saying that the fight is forced upon the person and with that in mind all is brought to bear on that opponent and all open handed techniques apply as needed to defend yourself. If one uses the skills used in Uechiryu and the targets of weakness in the body I believe the defender has better a than average chance. Of course with that said, it all depends on the first second or 2 of the fight does it not?

E.

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To Know and Not Do is in fact Not To Know.
E.

Good post Rick and I agree...surely Bob Campbell will also, as he has put all of this into action as the head of President Marcus' body guard unit, and as a trainer of the Honk Kong police. I have some stories...

TRIVIA

Bob Campbell, on his mothers side, Mary Bixler ( his Mom's maiden name, a very beautiful woman ) ...is directly related to the famous American Outdoorsmen, Daniel Boone, the man that discovered the Cumberland Gap, thru the Appalachia Mountains. Bob's cousin did the research and she got most of the documentations from the Mormons Library in Salt Lake City.

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Van