October, 2003 mailbag

Note: In the course of a month I get literally thousands of e-mail. I don't normally place correspondence in the "Mailbag" that are either labeled "personal" or contain information of a personal nature. As I read and answer mail, if I find a letter that I find interesting, amusing, topical or educational, it gets filed in my "mailbag" for future use in this feature. I try to edit out any personal information like addresses or telephone numbers, unless the writer specifically requests that I publish it.

I welcome all e-mail and will answer everyone in as timely a manner as possible. Don't be surprised if you find (or don't find) your message in this section. However, if you are concerned about your letter finding its way into the "Mailbag", simply include in the header or at the beginning of message "personal" and I will honor your request. GEM

Hello,

My name is James Karvelis, I am a probation officer, and I am looking to study uechi-ryu for personal protection...I live in weymouth and the two closest schools are William Repoff's and Jack Summer's schools...I am a highly ambitious individual and wish to learn the right way..which school would you recommend?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

James Karvelis

You can't do better than working out with Jack Summers. Please say hello to him for me and good luck with your training. GEM.

Mr. Mattson,

Your name was given to me by Robert Patton as someone in my area (Boston) who may be able to help me locate an instructor. I have no martial arts experience, but have always desired to learn. I have decided to begin hopefully this fall/winter. I have identified Okinawan Kobudo as something that strikes my interest in many ways. Robert's reply is to follow this message, but as he indicates, he does not believe that you teach this style, but may know of someone in the area that does. Any help you could provide to me would be most appreciative. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Ross D. Hogan

Hello Sensei Mattson,

I’m a student of Ed Huff in Boston, currently an Ikkyu rank. I was wondering if you know when the next dan test is scheduled, or approximately when that would be. I did not find it on the uechi-ryu.com site.

Thank you,

Michael

IUKF Fall dantest will be held on Sunday, Oct 19th at Mike Murphy's dojo in Randolph, MA. GEM

Hi George:

I thought you might find this article interesting. Hope you are doing well. I am hoping to get back to see Charles for his 40 year anniversary in downtown Providence at the end of the month. Hope to talk with you soon.

Peace Robb

http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2003/09/15/story4.html

Folks,

We have some important Dojo events coming up this Fall which offer us rare opportunities! Some are free and some cost a certain amount based on instructor fees, travel arrangements, and so on. Please take a look at what's going on below and RSVP.

Class Saturday 9/20 so that I may teach a Reiki workshop in Bethesda. There is still an open slot; see my earlier e-mail for full details or call me if interested.

On Sunday 10/12, There will be a celebration in honor of Folta Sensei's 50th year of life and 20th year in Uechi-Ryu. There will be training all day followed by a dinner. This promises to be lively, good training and fun-filled! See my earlier e-mail with full details or contact Folta Sensei (at NFolta@erols.com) or myself for more info. This one requires prompt RSVP action.

Kay Losciuto Sensei from the St Louis Kenyukai Dojo of James Foley Sensei plans to visit us on Monday 10/20 while in the area on business. Her plane arrives at BWI around 5 p.m. so her timing will be tight. She has visited us before and it is always a special pleasure to have her join us.

Sensei Gustavo Gondra from Argentina arrives at our Dojo on Monday November 03 and he will stay here for several days as he travels from his students in Canada to those in Florida. There will be extra training that week and some special social events. One evening will include training in a larger facility (such as a local school gymnasium) so our friends from other regional Dojos can easily join us without crowding; but guests are welcome here any night we train! This should work out particularly well for our more local Uechi friends in the region. There is a $30 contribution for the week's events; or $20 just for the regional evening (exact time and place TBD). Stay tuned!

Ninth Dan, Shinyu Gushi Sensei will be the focus of our premier event of the season! Gushi Sensei is a living treasure and his training goes back many decades in both Uechi-Ryu Karate and Kobudo. He trained for a good while with Shinjo Seiryu Sensei and now lives in Pasadena, California. As most of you know, I have attended his seminars in Connecticut annually for more than a few years (and visited his home ) and they were all deeply insightful events. Gushi Sensei will visit our Dojo Friday December 04 through Monday December 08. I am planning for a full Saturday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) regional event followed by dinner that will hopefully draw the entire region from Philadelphia through Richmond! We'll definitely rent out a school gymnasium for this event on Saturday 12/06. To defray costs, I am asking $50 to defray his fee, travel, and living expenses for the all-day Saturday event. Kyoshi John Spencer (my Sensei) will be here that weekend as well and maybe a few others from Connecticut will join him. Stay tuned; more details to follow soon!

OK, mark those calendars and RSVP please! PLEASE RSVP TO RikLostritto@Comcast.net and NOT to UechiRik@aol.com. Domo Arigato!

Rik

There is a 20/50 Celebration/Regional Workout on Sunday October 12, in Springfield.VA (About 10 minutes drive south of Washington, DC. - you and your students are invited to attend!) We need more people. Tickets need to be purchased by this Sunday. You can contact me directly for ticket commitments/reservations (email above or 703-628-4006). Please pass this email to your students. For details of the 20/50 Celebrations (Hoshukai Seminars and Dinner Show) visit www.AWCNF.COM and click on coming events for detailed times, locations and map. [Note: the website was down today for a while. I hope to have it back up during October 2.]

We have more than 100 students in our school, about 50 youth and 50 adults. This is the largest undertaking that we have tried. This event is put on by our students and for the students. It is a not for profit event.

We are not a big private karate business school that gets $110 to $130 per month from each student. This is the national average cost for karate schools. Our school costs you much, much less, and is a much greater value compared to these private karate businesses. Our professional standards meet or exceed most of these private schools in quality of instruction, quality of curriculum, quality of rank promotions, facility, and individual student care.

This event is perfectly safe and a very positive environment - for all ages.

Adults normally pay significantly more than $80 for 12 hours of any kind of training and entertainment and meals. Additionally, add in the freebee's such as Lunch, T-Shirt, Water Bottle, Boards for safe breaking, autographed photo of Master Folta, and great doors prizes that include $150 Chiropractic service, $180 Conditioning Jars, $50 Hand Weapon.

Lastly, but certainly not least of all, add in top quality instruction from the finest high-ranking Uechi-Ryu Karate Instructors in the Mid-Atlantic Regions. You should make a very strong effort to train with this stellar group of senior ranking instructors that will give you valuable tips and insight into great self-awareness, self-defense:

- 7th Degree Black Belt John Carria (Woodbridge, VA)

- 7th Degree Black Belt Bill Glasheen (Richmond, VA)

- 7th Degree Black Belt Karl Hovey (Isshin-Ryu, Stafford, VA)

- 6th Degree Black Belt Tsukasa Higa (New Jersey, NJ)

- 6th Degree Black Belt Shelly Dunn (Baltimore, MD)

- 6th Degree Black Belt Nestor Folta (Oakton, VA)

- 5th Degree Black Belt Earnest Sumpter (Philadelphia, PA)

- 5th Degree Black Belt Rik Lostritto (Gaithersburg, MD)

- 4th Degree Black Belt Stephen Drehobl (Collegeville, PA)

The Seminar topics are made to help you, be lots of fun, and will give you a great workout!

- Do I think that each and every one of you will benefit from attending this event? - You bet I do.

- Do I think that this is one of the best returns on you investment of time and money? - You bet I do.

- Do I think that our students have put a lot of effort into pulling together a great event? - You bet I do.

- Do I think that the success of this event will impact our schools overall success in the region? - You bet I do.

- Do I think that you should attend? - You bet I do.

Ticket sales will close this weekend. Tickets will be sold by the students just outside the classes or you can contact me directly. Please put forth your best effort to attend all day or even just a portion of the event - especially the high quality Koshukai Seminars. We appreciate you making your payment in cash. Thank you in advance for your support.

VR, Master Folta,
Owner/Head Instructor Academy of World Champion Nestor Folta (AWCNF.COM)

Hello George Mattson,

I have some curiosities about Pangainoon, please help me:

What's happened with pangainoon in China after the criation of Uechi Ryu?

Pangainoon followed your own way and was practed like Kanbu learned or disappear with the time and now it's only practed by Uechi Ryu?

Pangainoon have others katas? Exist pangainoon techniques that not have in Uechi?

Please give me some details about it.

Best, Wesley Brasil

Hi Wesley:

"Pangainoon" is not the name of a style. The term refers to a "characteristic" of the style.

Because of the language differences and barriers, many practitioners of this style, gave it names based on different aspects of the style.

Think of baseball or football. (like karate and kungfu), where a Chinese person tried to identify the style of football or baseball based on the way teams played.

People who named the style "pangainoon" are saying that the style's name is

"Hardness within softness" or "Softness within Hardness". . . Hardly a style name.

No one can do things exactly like Kanbun, just as no one can hit the baseball like Babe Ruth.

However, all baseball hitters use a bat and swing it in some manner. Coaches will teach different approaches, which, I suppose, could be likened to "styles".

I do the kata of Kanbun, but after so many years, the movements are mine and not Kanbun's.

Good luck with your training.

George Mattson

Hello, George, from 'nother old fart. I still remember going to the Franciscan Restaurant in San Francisco and their insistence on loaning you a tie so you could meet the 'dress code.' I still laugh about that. San Franciscans can be so stuffy and silly. How about the current governor non-sense. Some times I think we have all the nuts in the US here.

Since those days I've divorced and remarried, retired from San Jose PD in Jan. 1994. While there I got involved with Robert Koga and studied Aikido with him for some 20 years. It was the closest thing I could find around here to the principles of Uechi-ryu that you taught me. All the principles about not directly opposing force with force, round movements, defense - protecting self from injury as opposed to attack to defeat the opponent, meditational states during movement, etc., etc.

The Akido training was very useful in police work. Saved my body from harm many times. Two times were when I fell off a motorcycle at over 100 miles and hour in each incident. One on the highway from a police Kawasaki and once at Laguna Seca Racetrack from a 600 cc. Kawasaki of the Calif. Superbike school. The thousands of times I had to fall in Aikido training taught me to fall with grace and dignity, so neither time resulted in any serious injury.

I'm not riding these days. I spend a lot of time in a sea kayak, looking for whales, etc. in Monterey Bay. My main avocation is my Mac computer where I seem to spend most of my time on the web, traveling the virtual world and also video chatting with people around the world.

What initially prompted this note was that my wife, Joella, and I were having shrimp curry and I was telling her about the best curry I ever had, in Harry Brawley's apt. in Boston. I did a Google search on Harry Brawley, and found your mention of a letter from him among other possibilities.

What part of the country are you in now? Do you have Harry's e-mail? Are you still running a dojo or have you cut back a little? Still in contact with Walter 'no-relation' Mattson? A while back I saw that he had a dojo around Boston somewhere...

Fair winds and happy bytes,

George : . . .

If you get out our way and feel like a little kayak trip I have two, one has outriggers that make it 7 feet wide so you can actually stand up in it. Great for looking thru' binocs and if one is a fly fisherman, terrific for that. I paddle that one when I'm going to be trying to look thru' a camera finder or binoculars a lot. Also perfect for anyone who has never paddled before. You can look at it at:

http://www.tribalance.com

My other one is a Cobra Expedition, a tupperware (polyethylene) cruiser, 18 feet long and 24 inches wide, fast and a little tippy with lots of storage room.

I've enjoyed reading the forums and posted a couple of messages. One thing I know a little about that they are discussing is gun take aways. I've practiced that so much I guarantee that if anyone gets close enough to touch me with the gun I will soon have it in my hands. The farther away they are the chancier it gets, but if they haven't started to pull the trigger before you start to move you have a pretty good chance of surviving up to about 6 feet away or so. Personally I feel it is better to go out trying than standing there sniveling. :-) I've been very lucky. I've arrested dozens of people who were carrying firearms, and they never tried anything before I disarmed them. As I said in one of my msgs on the forum, I think your training and my later practice in Aikido allow the sending of a body language msg. that deters assault.

If you glance at some of the pictures on my site (below) you'll get an idea of what I'm up to these days.
Fair winds and happy bytes,
Dave Flory

Thanks for the card, George. I read the Tribute to Bally, yes you know how we feel right now. To top off the loss of Dakota, we have two English Cocker Spaniels left with us. One of them lost both her eyes to benign tumors and glaucoma, and the other had a malignant tumor removed from next to her colon. She just 'graduated' from X-ray therapy and goes in for her second chemo in two days. She's full of it and eats like a pig, so we hope she'll be around for a year or two more. The 'engies' are litter mates and are 13, so probably have a couple of years of loving left in each. One never knows, tho', we had one 'ANNIE', that died two years ago at 20 years and 9 1/2 months, pretty ancient for a dog. I hope I go the same as she did, healthy and full of energy up to about a week before the end. Then she just seemed to slow down over a weeks period and died in the night. Joella has quite a collection of little boxes of ashes, all her dogs from back when she was 20, all to be mixed with her after she dies. Part sad, part wonderful, no human ever loves you quite as completely as a dog does.

You know, it just struck me that both my martial arts instructors are married to a Susan, Bob Koga's wife is Susan, too.

Keep well and enjoy,
Dave Flory -- Check out the marine mammals @ <http://homepage.mac.com/dflory/Menu5.html>

Hi George,

Do you know where I can buy a copy of your book, "Uechiryu Karate Do" that won't cost me an arm, leg and a kidney? :) Also, what is the difference between the yellow cover and the red cover editions?

Thank you,

Dana

Hi Dana:

Unfortunately, the book is now "out of print" and is increasing in value. Peabody has a few left, selling for $100. I've seen Barnes and Noble selling them for over $400.

The cover color represent different printings. The original edition had a yellow cover and contained a listing of black belts as of 1974. That book is very rare.

You might check ebay and some of the other auction houses. The book shows up now and then. You might get lucky.

I wish I could have printed more, but the plates were damaged and the cost of redoing them wasn't possible. I'm working on a new book which should be ready in a year or so. Until then, I highly recommend the "Black Belt Test Guide", published in 1984 and also available in the "store".

Best, George Mattson

Dear Sir, I am a Uechi Ryu practitioner (currently graded Sandan) and train in London, England under Sensei Terry Daly. I would like to purchase your books but am having a lot of difficulty in getting hold of them. Please can you advise me on the best way of ordering them. Yours in Karate,

Mr Kuda Edward Adams

I saw my article and was thrilled to see it on your web. It looked good and your editing made it even better.

Learning Karate involves so much more than just the movements of the Kata. It really does involve mind, body and spirit. Had anyone told me I would write an article when I started studying Karate I would have told them they were crazy. I became aware, after I received my Shodan, that I have finally been able to take every thought except Karate out of my mind when I step onto the Dojo floor.

My only focus is on Karate and I find that the time I spend on the Dojo floor is the most peaceful time of my day. I realize more everyday how Sanchin is truly a moving meditation. George, I believe you once told me this when I called to ask you how you were able to be so calm. I think I am learning how you do it. I am not there yet, but I learn more each day how to achieve this. Things that happen now I no longer go ballistic over as I would in the past. I can read something sent to me now, that two years ago would have had me raging, analyze it and then toss it in the circular file and think no more about it. You have no idea what an accomplishment this is for me.

Thanks to Karate, my Sensei Steve Drehobl, you and the fantastic masters you have come to Summerfest every summer I am developing into a better person. Your summer camp is such a positive influence on my life. There is nothing I can say or do to be able to come close to thanking you for how my life has changed.

George,

On the chance that you hadn't seen this, I thought of you. Hope all's well with you and Susan. All's well here, and our Uechi group is taking an eight week Kobudo course on the Bo, at UCSD. Good instructor and a chance for us to learn some of that most practical of weapons....the broom-handle. We do an abbreviated workout in the main gym before the weapons class, and that gives bystanders a look at Uechi. Maybe we'll add some students.

Take care, and best wishes,
Paul Haydu

Subject: The Facts About Golf!

Ever wonder why golf is growing in popularity and people who don't even play, go to tournaments or watch it on TV? These truisms may shed light on reasons why.

Golf is an honorable game, with the overwhelming majority of players being honorable people who don't need referees.

Golfers don't have some of their players in jail every week.

Golfers don't scratch their privates on the golf course.

Golfers don't kick dirt on, or throw bottles at, other people.

Professional golfers are compensated in direct proportion to how well they play.

Dear George,

I read your posting and want to notify you and all other Uechi-ryu practitioners that the "silent sensei" has devised a new and secret quiet kata. Unfortunately, like most of my work in Uechi-ryu, virtual karate in a website forum on body mechanics is unable to fully transmit the truth, effectiveness and beauty of this new and secret kata. When you come to Toronto, I shall however, unveil it and dispel all mysteries surrounding this new and significant direction!

Love,

David Mott

Dear Mattson sensei

How are you, Sir ? Today, I would like just to say hello. Everyday I check out Mattson seisei's Home Page. I am glad to know that annual summer camp was great success ! Sometimes I remember last summer camp in cape cod. It was very great camp ! That is my precious memory.

A month ago, I met with Keisuke Fujimoto sensei in Yokota Base (U.S. Air Force). He welcomed me. His students work in U.S. Air Force and they respect and admire you very much ! Fujimoto sensei said that Mattson sensei was very kind and gentle, Mattson sensei helped him by e-mail. We talked a lot about Mattson sensei . We had great time.

Anyway, I would like to go to Boston again ! I hope to meet you again soon. I will keep touch with you.

If you need my help, please don't hesitate to ask me.

Please my best regard to Susan san.

Best regards.

George,

It appears that the summer camp was a success. Steve Vosa came back with many great tips and new takes on old exercises. It is always nice to get some insight from back east. I would of really liked to have attend but the airline industry was not cooperative. I check your web site regularly for opportunities to go back east and attend a camp or seminar. I am keeping my eyes pealed for winter fest especially. I think this will be my best bet for a dan test and to enhance my training.

Speaking of summer fest, I just loved the logo for the shirts. So much so that I couldn't pass up purchasing one for my collection. I ordered the shirt Aug 30 but have not received it yet. I checked the status of the order via the web and was shocked to see the order had not been shipped. I tried to send an email to peabody@uechi-ryu.com but all my attempts came back undeliverable. I know you are extremely busy but I do not know who else to contact. Could you please help me out or point me in the direction to get a status. Thank you very much.

Dan Maestas

Sorry about the "bounced" e-,ail address. Since I subscribed to MailBlocks, some of my addresses haven't been included. I'll fix this today. We sold-out the SummerFest tshirts, but the new order is in and shipped for those who ordered them before deadline. GEM

Dear Mr. Mattson,

I see that you maintain an online directory of Uechi schools. I see that you provide the name, address and phone number of the Nancy Gavenda Uechi Ryu Karate Academy. I see that you do not link to her website. If it does not cost anything, please link to her website below.

http://www.angelfire.com/biz7/nancygavenda/

If you link to her website, I will put a link back to your home page on our "interesting links" page.

Thank you very much!

Hello! Just wanted to notify you of a change for your NY State listings. The dojo in Guilderland, NY (under Christina & Mark Rose) is closing this month. Their are no new owners, so it can just be removed from your list.

Thanks very much,

Christina Rose

Please add the following information to the dojo directory.

Terry Lantz Lunenburg, NS (902) 527-2774 www.lunenburgkarate.tk

I took Uechi for many years in Hanover, Mass. and have since moved to North Carolina and stopped training all together. Although it's been over 15 years since I've stopped training, I miss it and would like to start again. I looked at your site and noticed only 2 teachers in North Carolina. Both are located more than 1 1/2 from me. I live in Raleigh. Do you know of any other teachers or sister systems that I might try?

Thank you for any information.

Sincerely, Kristine Flora

Hello, Mr. Mattson.
My name is Casey and I recently moved to Georgia from Okinawa (where I studied Shohei-Ryu). I am very interested in continuing my study. Do you know of any place in Georgia that teaches Shohei-Ryu? If so, please inform me of its location. It would be greatly appreciated. If not, thank you for helping me out. Thank you in advance,
Casey

Sensei,

The subject line may be strange but it is also true.

Some of you have probably worked out with one of my teachers, Sensei Charles Blackmon.

This is an important message about Charlie. This message has been authorized by his daughter Dionne.

One of my instructors, someone a great many of us love deeply, Charlie Blackmon, has had a horrible turn of events.

Near the end of August, 2003, Charlie suffered a couple of strokes and has been in the hospital. He has now been relocated to the Orlando area for rehab. The Orlando area is where many of his family are located.

The favor I hope that you will consent to is for you to write, email, or video tape a few messages to Charlie... words of encouragement....

I am hoping that Charlie will take your words of encouragement and strive to recover beyond what the doctors are leading us to expect (about 30% recovery)

My most recent contact with Charlie was Tuesday, September 16th, while he was still in the hospital in Tampa. (as I mentioned he's now in a rehab in Orlando) At that time they managed to get Charlie to sit up. He was able to maintain his balance after a few seconds. Then they managed to get him to stand!! Charlie has had difficulty communicating but he understands what you say when you talk with him.

Since that time he has continued to progress!! Below is the address for the rehab Charlie is at.... At this time messages on Tape or CD or Video would be a better choice than email. As time goes on I'm sure the email option will be possible as well...as Charlie's recovery continues...

Florida Hospital South Rehabilitation Center. 601 E. Rollins St. Orlando, FL 32803 room 1409 Bed 2

Thank you.

Rick (Ross Michael Wiseman) Liebespach

Mr. Mattson,

I see from your web site that you are a very busy man. I would like to take a minute out of your day and tell about an idea of mine. I call it "Hangman’s HORSE STANCE". Here is the idea as follows:

There is a method/tool that can be made to help in developing a horse stance. The martial used is a piece of rope. At one end of the rope tie a loop using a blowing knot or some other knot that will not slip. Place the loop around your chest and the other end of the rope around the hinge of a door. Now get in the horse stance while letting out the rope until you are in the horse stance. Pull on the rope just a little bit and hold on that end of the rope. By using this method you can take most of the force off your legs. Then as time goes on you can release some of the rope by placing more force on your legs. Which will help in the strengthening of your legs and help you develop a strong horse stance in time.

I hope you fine this interesting. Also how is the tool I sent you working?

Thank you for your time and peace be with you.

Sincerely Charles Roberts

Here's an idea for practicing your Uechi hand strikes. Many people use the heavy bag for practicing hand strikes. I generally do about 100 strikes left, right with a seiken fist, then do combinations in threes also with a seiken fist. I will then usually practice shuto left and right on the edge of the bag and pushkin strikes to the sides of the bag. Everyone knows Mr. H. Bag never quits.

All that is pretty ordinary for a martial artist doing solo work. So what do you do when your Not at the dojo in a class, or working out on your own? With a busy schedule or a regular job do your time for additional training is scarce and the risk of creating problems increase. Or do you just want to gab your was to greatness over a couple of lattes? Here's something that worked for me.

Write down 3, 5 or even 10 of your favorite hand strikes. Currently I chose Seiken, Shuto, Pushkin, Shoken or Hiraken. Write them down in a couple of different sequences. As you say the names shift your hand from one to the other strike positions. Sensei Mike Aceto once described a good fist as a "snug fist" I think he got it from Sifu Calvin Chin. That to me, is a good description of a desirable position, not straining more like fitting into a good position or groove. After a while you might find it surprisingly difficult, and find flaws in your hand positions and other weaknesses. Go from one to the other for a few minutes or a much time as you have. Maybe before meditating or in bed before you go to sleep. If your mate is sick of karate stories tell them that you are practicing sign language for a deaf co-worker.

This creates a low level training technique that requires little prep and can be done at any time even traffic stops, for example. The idea was inspired by reading Toughness Training for Sports by Jim Loehrer a sports psychologist who works with pros. I recommend his book, his description of what to do with your down time, like in between points in a tennis match is valuable and gets the idea across. The result is I found my self much more confident trying different strikes or more target specific strikes, say in a light sparring contest. It works, your hands flow into position much more naturally. I would bet that the health benefits of this type of training are there as well. Have to check with a TCM practitioner though, to be certain….

Uechi-Ryu Supplemental Exercises No. 2

In the words of Rocket J. Squirrel, as moose searches for the elusive rabbit in a magicians hat;

“Now here’s something you’ll really like!” You might find -- like Bullwinkle, did. --- You don’t know your own strength.

The following exercise was inspired in part by Sensei Van Canna’s TC class that was brought to Newton from Brockton. I was able to train in both places briefly and took a lot away from it. However parts of this exercise should be familiar to many Uechi-ryu practitioners through their practice of the hojo undo set.

The repetitions for this exercise are 5, 10, and 5. First 5 are warmup, second set are vigorous and the third set are cool down. Warm up and cool down are performed with relaxed strength for fluidity. 2^nd Set is performed for power and precision. This format is repeated for four variations. The goal is finish in less than 15 minutes. No turning back, you got it or you don’t. The exercise is can be done daily in a short break in your daily schedule. Here is the exercise:

In a left sanchin stance start with your hands in post position. Sliding step forward bringing both your hands down and up in a palm up, double strike to the eyes. As you finish the step your strike should be completed.

Then slide back into the left sanchin stance and repeat the strike. This is one repetition. Complete 5, 10, 5 the first and last five the emphasis is on a sliding step. In the middle set the sliding is replaced by a more percussive step. Strike and step in the middle set is sharper and requires more strength.

In the left stance again, you start in a post position, change your hands to Seiken fist and lower them to your body. As you slide forward raise the double strike, seiken to throat or eye targets, finish the strike with focus by shifting the hand position to hiraken strike. As you slide back change your hands to seiken as you lower the fists and raising them up strike to the throat or eyes once again changing hands to hiraken.

This exercise is designed to be to whole body exercise incorporating major to minor muscle groups and shifting to opposing muscles through the stance change. The sliding step warming up, and cooling down is similar in style to the Judoka sweeping foot, the percussive step used in the middle incorporates the TC principles of Sensei Canna. Use good judgment with your breathing. Focused breathing is part of this training but do not practice that if it causes pain. If you think that will occur exercise breathing normally. Ideally this exercise is to be done daily to augment your training without damaging your body. Train in loose clothing if possible, but it is also a good experience to drill this in a business suit. This is a technical exercise in the way the hands shift and in the elliptical loop that the arms must make to complete the strikes while moving backward and forward. You will notice as you do this vigorously that you will experience discomfort if you are not in good alignments. This is especially true in the shoulders, neck and lower back. So make sure your position is a good one.

Two ways of thinking of the middle set: One-Way is to push off with your feet and try to “roll” the force up and out into your fingertips. More consistent with the TC training is to “split” your force at the midsection causing more explosive strike with the hands and using a percussive or “stamp” like step to fulfill a sharper strike.

I was moving in a mock scenario of being attacked. I found that I was pulling my arm back in the ready position or elbow strike as in the kata. That bothered me, I thought ohh great when I get into a surprise attack for some unknown reason because I am not a person that looks for fights, then I will pull my arm back and lag in attack time instead of snapping into the punch. I will be working in the kata not pulling back in the punch but doing this. If someone was to hand you something then you would reactively reach to for it; you would not or even think to pull back and set for the taking of the object. NO! The hand goes out. That is how I want to punch... You may be thinking, yea! and... See that is what I am thinking and I just wanted to say hello.
Ken Lookingglass, Jr.

Hello Mr. Mattson,

Though I am not a Uechi-ryu practitioner, I have always been intrigued by the style. I was wondering if you could shed some light on some questions I had concerning kumite within the system. Does Uechi-ryu engage in full-contact sparring sessions as part of their course curriculum? I understand sparring training can differ from dojo to dojo, but I was particularly wondering if the hombu dojo in Futenma and various dojos on Okinawa train in this manner. I also read somewhere that some Uechi-ryu schools on Okinawa engage in bogu sparring. Does this bogu include the use of headgear to allow for face strikes?

Sir, I understand you must be a very busy man and I truly appreciate any response given.

Akira

Hi Akira: Sparring, like other aspects of our training, is left up to the individual dojo/instructor. You might check out the "ViewPoint" section of the site where this topic was discussed. If you have other questions, please post to the Forums. GEM

I saw your "feedback" on hardbox. Wondering if you know who this person is?

I just received a call from a customer of hardbox who received "all" of my instructional CDs (Uechi-ryu) from this person. I'm assuming all the products being sold are "bootlegged" as well. I'm trying to get as much info as possible before contacting ebay.

Thanks, George Mattson

Subject: Your copyrighted material

Mr. Mattson, As I reported to you on the phone, the hardbox.net internet sellers are offering an uechi-ryu "training cd" containing your videos. I've created and attached a directory of the files on the CD for comparison to your website.

Not all of the videos are from your site. Some of the videos have the names such as "space coast","Anthony Licalzi", and "Eastern Arts and Humanities Center, Inc."

Please feel free to contact me if I can assist you in stopping this unethical and illegal practice. My contact information is below. Thanks, Ron Calvaneso

Thank you Ron.

All of this material was taken off my website: http://uechi-ryu.com .(The video section)

I'll contact my lawyer to see what can be done.

Meanwhile, I'll send you one of our "grappling" dvd for being a "good guy" . :)

Best, George Mattson

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Subject: RE: Question from eBay Member Importance: High

George, You are correct this guy is a thief, he takes mpeg's off Martial arts sites and put them on a CD as a "collection". I am pretty sure that he has a website as well. The Item I bought was "JIU JITSU_JUDO_K-1_COLLECTION" a total piece of Junk. I would not be surprised if this guy was bootlegging your stuff. Here is the e-mail that I was sent by e-bay

Fran

October, 2003 Mailbag

Uechi-Ryu Supplemental Exercises No. 2

Copyright 2002 Eastern Arts & Humanities Center, Inc. All rights reserved.