Uechi-Ryu.com

Wow, where do I start?

First...
I'm glad I went to Winterfest. Even when things are a bit strange, camp is generally a good thing to experience. If you don't get out of your dojo and mix it up with people who think differently, then your training and your ideas get stale. That's a recipe for plateauing and eventual quitting. Somebody out there sees things differently and is going in a new direction. It's good to stay in touch with that. And I mean LITERALLY in touch.

Second...
George asked me (among other things) to teach the Fuzhou Suparinpei at this camp. For those who don't know, this is a long-assed form that requires a modicum of athleticism. That's a good thing except... Just before camp I came down with a case of plantar fasciitis. I very well may have a bone spur to boot. (See this thread.) Coming right up to the day before camp I couldn't jump on my foot (for a month) and yet this form has two jumps in it that I must do again and again and again to teach it.

Like a professional athlete who gets hurt but is paid to play or a parent who has a family crisis but is paid to work, sometimes you just have to suk it up and find a way to "just do it." Give me credit for having the knowledge and the tenacity to know I could do it. But I am indebted to Dana Krolick (RN). I arranged to fly in first to Tampa where she picked me up, and she drove me to camp. Between the two of us we figured out how to keep me on the playing field. Many NSAIDs, ice baths, massages, exercises, and orthotics later, I had managed to get a few people all the way through this (3-minute long) form AND be better after the camp than before.

I caught a lot of sheet not attending parties while Dana, John Spencer and I were in the hotel room either helping me or cheering me on with my therapy. But the job got done. And I owe Dana for the help and thank John for the story-telling audience. (Long story... Let's just say you had to have been there.)

Thanks also go to Crystal McKinney (CNA and athletic trainer) who gave me some toys to work with before camp. That set me up to the point where I at least had the confidence to go forward.

Third...
Roy Bedard is a great martial artist, fantastic teacher, and great human being. For ME personally, he was the highlight of my camp. He was my partner Saturday morning while a Wado Ryu master had us going through his partner exercises. What a treat! And later on he gave some entertaining AND informative classes both in traditional and sport karate.

Roy manages to do what many cannot do - entertain AND get people actually to DO something.

Fourth...
Dana warmed us all up both Friday and Saturday morning with some Pilates. Personally I've been working a lot on my core strength, so had little problem except for doing some exercises on the hard floor were my hip bone was talking to me. Other than that, my core was burning and very happy.

And Dana managed to make a couple of "karate masters" look very mortal. And you know what? That isn't such a bad thing.

Fifth...
When you've been in this business long enough, you can get set in your ways. In the case of having done your homework and having done the time, that is NOT a bad thing. It's fair to say that I listen to what others have to say and don't necessarily buy it all. Some things said are downright infuriating. But... As they say you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince. And you have to do a lot of "shut up and listen" time to pick up a good idea. And so... I shut up and listen. And now and then I learn something.

And finally...
Of course George ran a good camp - in spite of all the hiccups. He's still got it as a teacher and uber organizer. Kudos to "the man."

- Bill

I almost forgot...

Fedele is one of the few (along with 3 others) who made it all the way to at least walking through the 3-minute-long Fuzhou Suparenpei. You don't think of him as the kind of guy to do such a thing, but he did it. George told him to, and he listened. But seriously...

Fedele did something that few have the cahones to do. As I was teaching the form, he spoke up in a most direct way. "I don't like learning this way; I like learning that way!!!" That's a generous translation. And you know what? That's a good thing.

As teachers we can make a mistake taking ourselves too seriously. Teaching accomplished artists isn't an easy thing. As George reminded me and I remember from my experience with several talented people I've worked with in the past, sometimes you need to let people do more of the discovery on their own. First walk them through things. Then talk about it later.

I like it when people tell me what they think. And because of our direct communication, we accomplished something pretty neat.

As a group.

- Bill

It was a great camp. . . and everyone enjoyed themselves while learning how to "empty" their cup while practicing new and very much related material to our beloved Uechi-ryu.

A wonderful opportunity to regenerate our batteries while looking forward to getting home to put this new data into practice!

I've found some new video on Superempi that I'm going to post on utube this afternoon. I also watched the first video and interview I did with Simon Lailey. If you haven't seen it yet (to other readers), you should. The information Simon provides, shows a very direct link to Kanbun Uechi and Shushiwa.

And good job Bill. . . four more teachers now able to demonstrate and teach this excellent kata.

_________________
GEM
"Do or do not. there is no try!"

If possible please post the link for the interview

Best always

_________________
Léo

You've been doing this for a good while now Doc.. If you could name the top 3 things that you pulled out of it that you learned something new, what would they be? I was talking to Potrekus Sensei and he said he had a great time... Thinking of coming myself next year or maybe even Summer Fest...

Hey, Stevie!

Are you talking about the Fuzhou Suparinpei?

- Bill

George said he was going to post on utube, but all I see is Goju.. Maybe because it was just put up... But more so, just wondering if there may be a few things that put a different idea in your mind towards the way you trained yesterday, as to what new you may try tomorrow?
Ps.. If George has posted can you post a link here Please?

Stevie

First... I had a professional cinematographer film me doing this form from 3 different angles, and a second film me talking people through it at Summerfest. So if you want to see what the form looks like, it's available for sale on this site. (I make no money off the effort.)

As for the form, here are the highlights.

It's LONG!
That's the first impression you get when doing it. When timed, the form done at proper speed takes about 3 minutes to do (plus or minus a few seconds). If you do it the way most people do their Uechi kata (ichi, ni, san....) well it'll take much longer and you'll tire yourself out.

What that does is force you to find a way to flow from movement to movement. I've pretty much figured out what all the movements do, so the logic of the form also makes you flow. That logic and the flow cause you to do the movements as complete martial sentences rather than one ... martial ... word ... at ... a ... time. You get the idea.

The "logic" if you will comes from how poking at certain parts of the body cause you to respond. If you know that poking someone at point A makes them bend a certain way, then you will know that opportunity B will suddenly appear right there in front of you. Hit point B right when it opens up, and then the body bends yet again to present opportunity C to you. Hit point C right when it opens up, and you know what? You have flow!

It's variations on a Kanbun Uechi theme
Having worked with Shinyu Gushi and his interpretations of Uechi kata have helped here. I'm not talking about the standard vanilla Seisan bunkai interpretations of Uechi that Okinawa has the gaijin doing. Instead I'm talking about the movements in groups interpreted as sequences designed to kill someone on the battlefield. A good example is the turn, block, kick, knee, bend-over, thrust sequence in Uechi. Buy a Gushi tape and see how he interprets it. Then do this form and you'll see ANOTHER way to accomplish the very same idea Gushi proposes rather than the less probable interpretation of someone grabbing at your knees.

It also compliments Sanseiryu. The shoken sukuiage uke of Sanseiryu is much easier to do after doing the dynamic tension shoken wristy twisty sequences in this form. And there's more time spent in the deeper stances.

It makes several of the Uechi Ryu "bridge kata" seem appropriate
Did you ever wonder where techniques like the foot blade kick and the wrist movements come from? Maybe they were common Okinawan karate techniques absorbed into Kanbun's style. Or maybe Kanbun hated doing the longer form, but taught some of the cool techniques from it that weren't in The Big Three. And then just maybe they made their way into a group of smaller "bridge kata."

In other words... it's a logical sequential fit to The Big Three.

And finally...
Ever had a Uechi karate master tell you that your Sanseiryu was too stiff? Not enough "mochi"? (Stretchy rice cake dessert) Well... This form helps you find your Sanseiryu mochi. I am indebted to it in that regard. And how? If you do it the way it's supposed to be done, it's very 3-dimensional. A vertical element comes into a common sequence that is repeated over and over in the form. That same vertical element by the way is in another repeated Sanseiryu sequence, but most people just lock down in a horse stance and let their arms do the work.

To do this right, you need to work on some plyometric training. Once your legs and your core get it, then the Fuzhou Suparinpei comes alive. And once you do that, then you'll go back to your Sanseiryu and do it the way it was meant to be done.

Hope that helps.

- Bill

Oh yeah takes up a lot of bytes in this guys brain ...I started learning the kata from my sensei (Victor) in NS but had to relocate before I could imprint the kata to memory.






Started to get that without learning the complete kata, it broadened my thinking of what a kata can tell us.




It did wonders for my Seichin and Konchin esp...Hard to put in words but some sequences are so subtly changed that I`m likely the only one that knows I`m doing something different...yet it`s a mayor difference to me.
The "horse stance" in seisan (elbow, back hand...shoken) involves slight but constant adjustment of the stance to keep generating a flow of power. Again...difficult to explain but once felt it is an eye opener.



Watching someone doing this kata with understanding and plenty of hours under their belt reminds me of watching a ball expanding and contacting in slow motion. Contact to the floor or stance as we call it generates power and movement without become static.

_________________
Léo

Yes I will order a copy.. Very interesting.. I worked with some Meibukan guys from Ikimiyagi Sensei's Dojo over there quite a bit on base. They always thought that there was a 4th Kata that Kanbun never really taught.. Shinjo Sensei told me that his Father always said that Kambun never taught full kata very much.. Just one part at a time, so the reasoning definitely fits.. I work Plyometrics a lot.. But am always looking for new ways to strengthen and always looking for more Mochime..

Sorry for the delay in posting. I've been fighting a computer virus for over a month and finally had to reformat my hard drive yesterday. Reinstallying programs and recovering data off backup will take me another four days.

I'll get the interview up asap.

_________________
GEM
"Do or do not. there is no try!"

_________________
Léo

OK... Now that is wild... I didn't think the stories were true, but that couldn't be anything but from the same system in China.. Really does make sense... Thank you very much guys!

Oh yes... Hey I don't don't no who the young fella performing is, but he did a pretty good job....

Considering he is a couple years older than I am, and I was around for Sputnik launch...he will enjoy the compliment

_________________
Léo

That is an amazing form. From a mere Shodan's point of view.......can you imagine how long it would take to learn that simply one piece/section/technique at a time as newer students are apt to learn. About thirty years lol. And I can see how this form would help make other forms more "flowing".