Matayoshi Bo Kata

[RACastanet]

When I go to the batting cage, do I try to stand at the plate like Johnny Damon?

I emulate the late, great Wilver Dornel Stargel! Sports Illustrated Co-Man of the year, with Terry Bradshaw, in 1979.
He extended his arms and put the fat part of the bat on the ball.

Rich

[Stryke]

Who do the masters emulate when they walk out there .


it`s good to emulate mechanics but never people , were all different .

those who follow never lead IMHO

[Glenn]

What I find interesting about the original statment of the performers on the video being

primarily Kobudo students first and foremost, and therefore the technique was particularly correct and not influenced by a Karate style

is that the current head instructor of the Matayoshi Kodokan in Okinawa has a higher rank in karate, Konan (Uechi) Ryu, than he does in kobudo.

When Shinpo Matayoshi died in 1997, the Matayoshi family selected who would succeed him to lead the style and headquarters dojo (Kodokan). Initially Yasushi Matayoshi became Soke and Yoshiaki Gakiya became Kancho (head instructor) of the Kodokan.

In 2001 Gakiya retired as Kancho of the Matayoshi Kodokan and the Matayoshi family appointed Seisho Itokazu to that position. Itokazu holds a 7th dan in Matayoshi kobudo and an 8th dan in Konan Ryu (which is a version of Uechi Ryu).

Yasushi Matayoshi's role as Soke seems unique, since he is not also the Kancho:

After the passing of Matayoshi Shinpo Sensei in 1997, his second son Matayoshi Yasushi, inherited the leadership of the Kodokan Dojo to continue the work of his father. His title of Soke of the Dojo reflects the wish of his father. His function as head of the Kodokan is very important since he provides guidance and spiritual support for the Dojo to enable it to operate under the same guidelines that Matayoshi Shinpo Sensei established. His work is directly related to support Itokazu Sensei since (Itokazu) is the technical director of the Kodokan.

References:
http://home1.gte.net/neilsaaa/kobudo_history.htm
http://www.bushikan.com/Kobudo/KobudoHistory.htm
http://www.bushikan.com/Events/KobudoEv ... shuku2.htm

[John Giacoletti]

Alan Dollar relates that after Seiyru Shinjo moved to Kadena Shinyu Gushi trained in Wakassa under Seiko Itokazu. For ten years he taught classes and performed demonstrations at the Naha Ginza dojo.

The focus of this group on weapons, on conditioning showmanship and the original three kata was therefore a different focus than the orientation towards sport karate and teaching servicemen a modernized version of the Uechi canon.

Dollar goes on to say that Sensei Matayoshi " also taught a handful of Pangai-noon ryu sensei, most notably Seiki (sic) Itokazu and Takashi Kinjo. Kinjo celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of his jojo, the Konan Ryu Karate Kobudo Kobukai in 1995."

And finally, Dollar adds later, "Itokazu passed his kobudo teachings on to Shinyu Guishi of Uechi Ryu."

So, thus, we have another Itokazu surfacing in the Matayoshi line per Glenn's account. Guishi moved to California in 1988.

Guishi's bo kata Chowun No Kon and Sakagawa No Kon which he learned from Itokazu are identical to the kata performed by the Matayoshi senior students in the DVD.

Nishiuchi who learned from Kinjo is very similar but has some variations from Matayoshi and Guishi. Guishi's oar kata differs from Matayoshi's but adheres to the same pattern.

Even so I basically feel comfortable with Nishiuchi's style in contrast to the same kata performed by George Alexander, 9th Dan, International Shorin Ryu Karate Kobudo Federation and the same kata on tapes sold by okiadventures.com in Jamestown, NY, whose karate style is Goju based. The kata are significantly different variations of the "island" format.

Alexander is very proficient but some of his movements are restricted IMHO by excessive upper-body bulk. I don't care for the okiadventure tapes at all as they appear stiff and elementary to me. Even so, being elementary, they have value to a student just learning the basic geography and movements of the bo kata whereas the Matayoshi students in the DVD are not performing instructional versions for teaching purposes.

A point made in the narrative on the DVD is that the palace guards in Okinawa in the 19th and early 20th century utilized Chinese weapons such as the double broadsword, bow and arrow and halbard axes but they were proficient in the use of the native Okinawan tool-based implements because for defensive purposes they had to be able to defend against rebellious citizens who were armed with agricultural tools.

The courtly dances therefore probably derived their karate and kobudo moves from the palace guards and the village folk dances preserved the fighting styles and weaponry traditions of the local serfs and peasants.

[John Giacoletti]

The kobudo sections of this Boston school are superior:

http://www.kodokanboston.org/index.html

Who is Kimo Wall? He must be quite elderly now.

In Kodokan, our kobudo comes from Kimo Wall sensei, and from our instructors’ training under Matayoshi sensei and other of his senior students. Kimo sensei began studying Kobudo in the 50’s in Hawai’i, and later continued his studies on Okinawa. He was ranked nana-dan (7th dan) by Matayoshi sensei.

The following quotation seems to sum up the data on the Matayoshi bo kata:

There are 5 basic classical kata for the bo in the Matayoshi syllabus. They are: Shushi no kon, Choun no kon, Sakugawa no kon, Chiken (or Tsuken) no kon, and Shishi no kon. Shushi no kon is the basic kata for the system, and is common to most Okinawan kobudo systems, in slightly different iterations. Choun non kon is a slightly less common bo form on Okinawa, being done in Yamane Ryu and some Taira linage schools, and is said to be about 250 years old. Sakugawa no kon is named for its creator, "Tode" Sakugawa, a very famous Okinawan martial artist. Tsuken no kon is named for the island it comes from, Tsuken jima, a small island off Okinawa. It is also common to a couple of Okinawan systems. Shishi no kon is the last kata in the system, and is also taught in some Taira lineage schools, possibly coming from Yabiku Moden. It is supposedly named for its creator, though a stone reference in the name also refers to the technique of tossing small stones with the feet that is contained in the kata.

[Glenn]

Who is Kimo Wall? He must be quite elderly now.

I have never met him, but I am familiar with Kimo Wall as a Matayoshi Ryu instructor. I believe he was at a few of George's summer camps in the mid to late 1990s, I seem to recall one member of my dojo talking about attending some of Wall's kobudo workshops during that time.

Here is Wall's website:
http://www.kimowall.org/
He apparently lives in Guatemala now.

[Bill Glasheen]

Kimo Wall was for a while an instructor of my Goju and kobudo teacher (Steven King). Kimo did indeed show up at George's camps for several years in a row. While probably in his sixties, he still moves well and as far as I know still teaches.

Here's an old photo of him. He's the American fellow in the center row, slightly to the right.



In addition to teaching Goju and classical kobudo, he and his cohorts seem particularly adept at either finding or choreographing these long, continuous weapon kumites. They're similar to bunkai kumites choreographed for the classical Goju forms in that many of the movements from a particular kata are in the "battle" but not in the order of the kata. These little ditties were a lot of fun to do, and made for good demos.

Kimo's bunkai were a reason why my former Goju teacher left his instruction with Yamaguchi Gosei, and studied for quite a while under Kimo. (Southern California in early 1970s)

- Bill