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Ryusyokai England     琉 翔 会 英 国
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Okinawa Goju Ryu Karate     沖 縄 剛 柔 流 空 手
"Cherish the Old but Embrace the New"   Gichin Funakoshi
The Christmas and New Year celebrations are now upon us, so it’s that usual time of year when we all
wind down, relax, party, and enjoy the festive season for all the good it has to offer us.  Most of us tend
to make that extra bit of effort to enjoy the company others, the same in indulging, or at times over
indulging, in some good food and the odd drink or so too.

For me personally, the whole concept of maintaining an even balance whilst always looking at the
whole picture is so important to understanding the ways of the people of Okinawa, together with the Art
that they have quietly practised diligently with dignity through their generations, as in Karate. Today
they also freely pass on these practises and methods to those of us who are both interested and wise
enough to listen, if the Okinawan quality of, and longevity of life is anything to go by, we'd be foolish
not to listen wouldn't we?

The true value of anything is always more appreciated if it is truthfully witnessed and fully understood,
as an example, if you miss out a vital ingredient whilst baking a cake, it either tastes funny or it just
doesn’t work out as it should do. Karate really is no different, but it’s surprising though how many
practising Karate Ka either fail to see or truly comprehend the value of some of the related or essential
components in their understanding of the true value of Karate. Do they know less? Do they know
better? Or do they just wish to have their cake and eat it regardless of the ingredients inherent.

The video clip i have put up here for you to watch and enjoy is taken from the excellent Gateway to
Okinawa.  This is centred on the Okinawan Instrument, as in the Sanshin, being played by Matsuda &
Higa Sensei’s I believe, (Senaha Sensei is at the rear clapping). The thing that is striking is the relaxing
and enjoyment that is taking place, the social interaction, the sharing of good company, good food,
and the odd beer or two enjoyed.  

All work and no play, or even all training and no relaxing is not good for any of us, again something we
are all guilty of at times especially in such a pressure based society that most live in. I have most
certainly come across many Budo Ka over the years who just can’t seem to let their hair down (well I
used to ha ha ha) or relax like this, at times they give me the impression that they feel it is wrong,
constantly being switched on in seriousness, to the point of being psyched or wound up. With thoughts
of joking, laughing out loud and having a few relaxing alcoholic beverages as wrong and contradictory
to the Bushido Way.  Strange but it's not uncommon I can tell you..........

At the end of the day it is a well known fact that if anything, including the mind and body, is under
continued excessive pressure, then something will eventually have to give. Yes! Stress is as we know
one of the biggest killers, it’s our enemy within, so as the Okinawans know well, it’s no good just
training hard and feeling strong or indispensable externally, as in time it will do you or us no good at
all, and you will lose to yourself.

This does not mean that we should lack respect or courtesy, or that we don’t train regularly and hard,
or that we should be lazy. Of course not! But to achieve a balance by relaxing, laughing, joking, whilst
also partying and sharing good company is what we should all be doing more of.

So there is method in the madness, we need to do more Sanchin training in the Dojo and equally as
much Sanshin type training outside of the Dojo too.

So have a good Christmas & Best Wishes for the New Year from Myself and the Family.

(Thursday 22nd December 2011)
Sanchin & Sanshin    " An Even Balance"
Those of you who have read my blog ramblings for a while now may well remember that I used both
the same photograph and the same heading this time last year. Why? Well it just still feels so right,
again, it is actually done for three good reasons.

Firstly, the well known phrase of the Okinawan Karate Sensei “Shoto” as in Gichin Funakoshi, is
something that all Karate Ka should look at and reflect upon, especially so as they approach the
New Year. It is as good a time as any to do this is it not?

Secondly, I just love this photograph of Naminoue Temple. I took it myself a few years ago and it
always stands out for some unknown reason, it seems to strike me as being fresh, bright, colourful
and so positively up lifting, which of course sets us or me off with a positive mind and clean outlook
for the New Year.

Thirdly, The New Year does bring about varying customs on Okinawa, (just as they do over here in
England) with family visits to temples like Naminoue. Together with the customary ringing of the bells
108 times to bring in the New Year as one prays for good luck and fortune, whilst warding away any
bad or evil spirits. So in many ways these thoughts and memories do bring things closer to home to
Karate Ka all over the World, directly from the home of Karate.

The New Year really is a good time for us all to sit down and reflect and evaluate, not only our
Karate training of course, but our lives in general too. To make arrangements, set goals, challenges,
and being positive and optimistic as we plan for the New and coming year, it is something that we
should all do, especially more so if we have had a particularly bad past year. Some just talk of New
year resolutions, but in truth we should be thinking much deeper than that.

It is quite surprising really how many negative e mails I receive from people saying that they wish that
they could practise more often, or they wish that they could find a good true Karate Teacher/Sensei,
or they now train in Karate a certain way, but they have trained far too long to change now (usually
with a high rank), but they so wish that they could change. Or they wish that they could go to train in
Japan or Okinawa….. You know what...  They Could! Usually quite easily, they just need to be
positive and set out to achieve realistic goals without putting excuses in the way all of the time.

I will of course, just like you all, see this opening of the New Year as a time to be evaluating both my
own Karate training and other areas of my life too, not for the sake of it of course, but to see where
improvements can be made, standards raised with more enjoyment achieved. As I know as well as
most, life can throw you a bad or raw deal at times, but in other ways our life and Karate of course, is
what we set out to make it too.

The past year did customarily see a couple of people leave my Dojo, be it by their own choice or
otherwise, this natural process from my experience is always really good for the remaining students
as the group then becomes more closer and harder working than before, together with the inclusion
of one or two new hard working students to take their place.

This year will most certainly be a testing one for the dozen or so students who have in the past
frequented my Dojo, As I now positively make changes and move forward and on in 2012.  I have
also started to put pen to paper on a work that I hope will one day do my Sensei proud. Anyway, I will
let you all know how things turn out and develop, together with which of my present students have
stood the course later on in the year.

So I wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. But in addition to this I wish to send
out a more worthy New Year message. Which is to encourage all of my fellow Karate Ka to

“Cherish the Old but Embrace the New”

Now sit back and relax for a while and decide which direction you wish for your own personal Karate
training and life to go in 2012

Kind Regards Glyn     (30th December 2011)
"Karate Training & Transmission"
As we now commence training again for another Year, I do honestly believe that it is a time that we
should all be evaluating our own Karate training or teaching methods.

1; Are we practising our Karate as often as we should do?
2; Are we training as hard as we really should do?
3; Are we training in the Style or System of Karate that we have unconditional belief in?
4; Are we with a Dojo/ Sensei that trains and guides us in the direction that we honestly wish
to go in?
5; Are we surrounded by good quality training partners and fellow students who push us to
improve?
6; Are we 100% satisfied with our practise and understanding of Karate training in all areas?  
Yobi Undo, Kata, Kumite, Imi, Machiwara practise, etc, etc….  (No one should answer Yes
here!).

There are so many questions that as serious Karate ka we should take the time to think over, as for
the sake of a few changes and tweaks here and there, it may be quite surprising what a vast
difference this can have on your own personal Karate training, together with the enjoyment and
benefits gained.  It is your precious time; it is your Karate, so one must use/do this wisely.

Any Karate Ka who researches the way that the Sensei have transmitted their art on Okinawa
through the generations, or the way in which students have practised Karate, will find that the
following guide is not to far away when concluding how Karate was passed on from Sensei to
Student on the island, obviously of course there were and are some exceptions to the rule, but
generally this is a good little marker.

1; Students are encouraged to focus on their own studies.

2; Students work hard together and learn from each other.

3; The Teacher will provide regular guidance and correction to their students.

4; If class sizes are over 15 or 20 students, standards will not be improved or rise, regardless
of the teaching and training methods used. Cutting the class sizes will makes no difference
and standards won’t rise if the class size still remains over 20 or 15 students.  Standards will
only be improved and achieved through lowering the Student numbers to below 15.

These are the measures now known and proven to increase performance in the Dojo, sorry, in all
areas of instruction and teaching transmission.  

You may be thinking that I’m making my own claims and statements here, but you would be wrong, in
fact this is analyzed evidence gathered from thousands of studies involving millions of students all
around the world.
Sorry I forgot to mention… This information is from a paper that was recently released by academics
at Durham University, who looked in to the most effective and efficient ways of teaching and the
different measures used, concluding that all schools should seriously consider introducing thus
methods to improve their overall standards.  

Did the Okinawan Karate Sensei and Dojo of old not know this all along?

(Wednesday 4th January 2012)
"Following the Way of Funakoshi & Miyagi - I just Wonder"
A few days ago I had made arrangements to train at another Karate Dojo. A Special little Dojo that I
knew would offer an experience and a training environment that would be refreshingly dissimilar to
training in my own Dojo, whilst bringing about a beneficial evening of Karate practise. So yesterday
evening I set off on my 30 minutes or so car journey to the Dojo, arriving a few minutes earlier than
our arranged meeting time of 7pm.

Upon arrival I quietly made my way through the side gateway to the rear of this Karate Ka’s family
home, not wishing to disturb others within. As I walked down the pathway towards the Dojo that is
inaudibly situated at end of the rear family garden, I could see that there were no lights on in the
Dojo. It is actually still very dark and bitter cold in England at this time in the evening, so just for a
brief moment thoughts of incorrect arrangements being made did cross my mind, fear not, as I
approached and got closer I could hear the familiar sound of controlled breathing, whilst seeing a
glimpse sign of movement through the thatched blinds of a Karate Ka practising under dim candle
light, it was Sanchin!

I politely waited outside for a few moments until I knew that the kata had been completed, I then took
my shoes off, knocked the door and quietly entered. I bowed to the Dojo Shomen, brief greetings
were exchanged, a quick change in to the old Keiko Gi, and then an evening of practise between two
Karate Ka commenced.

We begun with Yobi Undo, moved on to Sanchin kata and then even more repetitions of Sanchin
kata, the same with Tensho and Saifa katas too as we repeated things over and over again. I did
smile at one point as my training partner for the evening spoke up, “I am going to have to open a
window, there is no air in here I just cannot breath”.  “Of course please do” I said “it is of course your
Dojo”. I was actually also very grateful to feel the cool fresh air enter the Dojo.  We then spent the
last half hour or so going over Ippon kumite techniques as taught to me by my teacher. Two hours
had now passed from when we had first begun, but it actually seemed like a few minutes in all. We
had both worked hard and pushed each other as we practised.

After bowing out to the Shomen and to each other, my training partner hurried off to make us a pot
of tea, so I made sure that the Dojo was all clean and tidy, I was the guest it was my duty. We then
both sat in the Dojo for half a hour drinking tea, talking Karate and generally putting the world to
rights. I raised the point yet again of the beautiful Dojo floor that we had just trained on, and were
now sitting on, I say it each time I visit this Dojo but in all the years of training I have never trained on
a better surface, it’s exceptional! All was now over for the evening, we had worked hard and we had
done our best, which is all we can do. We said our farewells and I departed, returning home some
three hours after I had first set out for an evening of training.

You may be wondering where I am going with this post or what point I am trying to make here,
especially so considering the heading. The thing is the simpleness, the humility, and that no matter
how much people try and change things to suit or wrap things up, this is what true Karate is all
about. The Karate practise!

What I did not previously mention is that the Dojo I was invited to, visited, and had an excellent
evening of train in was that of a friend and a student, one who has only trained in Karate for around
5 years or so, and holds his suit together with a brown coloured belt. Some may be surprised by this,
but why? As what did get me wondering as I travelled my journey home was how many so called
Karate Ka or teachers miss out on wonderful training experiences like this solely due to inflated
egos, status and fame?  They lose sight of what Karate is all about. No money changed hands on
this evening, the guy was not training for anything special like a grading, and there was no special
preference or treatment asked or given for my many more years in Karate practise, of course I
offered guidance at times as is only natural, but that was all.

I just wonder how many of those Karate Ka who claim to follow the ways, or maybe even worship the
teachings or likes of say Funakoshi or Miyagi, truly do these teachers of past a service, by honestly
and truly simplifying things to this level, without having to have other motives or thoughts that
complicate things or distort the true teachings and value that Karate has to offer.

I was richer for the experience of yesterday evening, and duly honoured and happy to have received
the invite to accompany this fellow Karate Ka for training.  Is this not what the Karate of Okinawan
Sensei like Funakoshi and Miyagi is really all about, practise and training?  A photo of these
teachers at the front of the Dojo, or claims of practising their style will do them no service at all if the
Karate practised is not true and honest.

(Saturday 7th January 2011)
"Flowing Water of a River Never Competes with Anything"
The title “Flowing water of a river never competes with anything” is of course the well known statement
and kanji scroll of Meitoku Yagi Sensei. It is a saying that has varying definitions, whilst offering the
serious Karate Ka a valued lesson for guidance, but only if they take the time to gives thus the deep
thought and consideration it deserves.

Strangely enough I have been reminded of this saying, in similar ways, but on two separate occasions
over the past few days.

The first instance was by a Karate Ka friend who I spoke with last Sunday, during our conversation it
came as no surprise to myself when he told me that he was presently laid off from his Karate training
due to a bad back, with him being in that much pain he has been forced to receive treatment from a
Chiropractor. I then mentioned to him, just as I have done on several previous occasions and
meetings, that the way he is training it was only a matter of time before he caused himself an injury. Of
course we can all get injured, I know that. However,  I do believe that he's pushing his luck and needs
to do his Karate more naturally aligned, relaxed, and flowing. Not always so firm, hard, rigid and tense
as he practises like things are moving like rusty old cogs that are grinding and out of time. I know I’ve
been there! 1988 to be precise, in my case I put it all down to youthful enthusiasm and poor guidance,
but either way it resulted in months of treatment from an osteopath. This may sound strange, but it
was a good experience that I am pleased that I experienced, as this made me revaluate my training on
many fronts and change direction in my Karate training.  In my friends case though he’s in his 50’s.

I also mentioned to my friend that I believe his Karate will actually become more effective than what he
is presently doing now, even though he probably believes otherwise. It’s just like the natural power
and force of the flowing river, he has no need to feel the force and the power, the opposing force or
opponent should do just that. I also mentioned that in the long term he is on the road to considerably
hindering his own health through Karate training, as just like most things with Karate, at times there is
a very fine line between good and bad, effective and ineffective, real and imitation, unfortunately
though he is crossing it in these areas. Trying to be effective through tension is actually a road to
being more ineffective (Was it Egami Sensei who said that the only time the body should be rigid is in
death), and instead of Karate practise being beneficial to his health, it is actually going to be
detrimental to it. Not nice words to hear I accept, but hey he knows me……….

The footage that I’ve put up here is of the well renowned Hirokazu Kanazawa Sensei of the Shotokan
way of Karate. I actually came across this whilst browsing on you tube and instantly thought that it fits
well. Plus it brought back a few memories too, as coincidentally I was actually sat there right at the
front all those years back to personally witness this demonstration first hand. I’m not 100% sure of the
event details as I was travelling all over the place to attend courses during this time, but I believe it
was around 1990 and filmed in London, maybe Harrow, with the Uke of Kanazawa Sensei being the
ever formidable Terry O’ Neil Sensei.

I trained under Kanazawa Sensei on many occasions back then when he visited the shores of the U.K.
Usually at such big events. This may sound strange, but I never did see Kanazawa Sensei in the same
way that I believed many others around him seemed to, and probably still do I suspect. This is not
defamatory, quite the opposite in fact as I have always had nothing but the highest regard and
respect for this excellent Sensei of Karate, and would jump at the chance to train under him again if
the opportunity ever presented itself. Some areas of his training though were not for me and never
really struck a chord at all, especially the over exaggerated movements. Maybe it was just my lack of
understanding and I missed the point.

The thing with Kanazawa Sensei is that there are many areas of his persona and Karate that just can’t
help but impress and inspire you, he is a man of Karate that we could all learn many lessons from.
From my observations he always seemed to have a relaxed friendliness and calmness about him,
unlike many other Japanese who I trained with at this time. But..... Within a split second he could
switch movements on at full speed to produce a dazzling display of effectiveness. For fluidity of Karate
movements there are few better examples than Kanazawa Sensei who is still doing his stuff in his
eighties. The memory I have of this Demonstration has stayed with me to this day, I remember
thinking, how does a man in his sixties move around like that? I for one wanted this longevity that
Karate training had to offer, and yes I still do! And it’s all to do with training in Karate correctly and
naturally. Ho, and safely and wisely whilst acting your age of course..


Enjoy the lesson of the flowing water theory from Kanazawa Sensei.

(Thursday 19th January 2012)