3 Yoshukai Kata

Here are the official counts for Yoshukai Karate Mugen, Sanchiryu and Kusanku kata, demonstrated on March 18, 2017 at a Yoshukai Karate Instructors seminar in Dothan, AL.





 Mugen - open hand, by Mr Tony Adams



 
Sanchiryu by Mr Dennis Trawick


 
 
Kusanku by Mr Josh McCullars

Practice...

3 Short Stories

3 short stories on the same theme. Can you figure them out?

Last Monday evening, after Karate class, we sat in Zazen from 8:00 to 8:30. While we were there, a thunderstorm broke up. Before our Dharma discussion, I went outside to close the cars windows. And there, no Mugen (my dog). The furry little bastard (one of his nicknames - another one is Houdini) was gone. Jumped through the window. So, no Dharma discussion that night. We all go out in the dark and rain, trying to find him, no Mugen. I roamed the neighbourhood until 11:00. Still no dog.

Tuesday morning, after a short and agitated night, I asked Gerri to take over the Tai Chi class while I went looking for him.As I had almost given up, my phone rang, he was at the fire station, right beside the Dojo... I went there, thanked the firefighters (great guys) and took him back home with me.

Two monks traveling on a trail arrived at a river. Waters were higher than usual. On the bank, a young woman was hesitating and asked the younger of the two monks to help her cross. He exclaimed, 'Don't you see that I am a monk ? I took a vow of chastity and cannot touch you for women are unclean'

'I require nothing bad from you, but simply to help me to cross this river,' replied the young woman with a little smile.

• "I am sorry. I can do nothing for you," said the embarrassed young monk.
• "Don't worry about the vows" said the elderly monk. "Climb on my back, I'll carry you to the other side".

Having reached the other bank, the old monk put down the young woman and she thanked him with a broad smile. She went her own way, and the monks theirs. 

After a while, the young monk who could not stand it anymore and said, ' How could you dare carry this unclean woman on your back? It's against our rules.'

 'This young woman needed help and I carried her down to the other bank. You didn't carry her at all, but she is still on your back,' replied the older monk.

Once upon a time in Thailand, a Lady saw a Monk sitting in meditation under the sun in the middle of summer. The Monk was very thin, he looked starved and sickly, sunburnt and bitten by mosquitoes and other pests, but there was a saintly aura about him as he sat beautifully and still in the middle of this ordeal.

Impressed by his dedication, the Lady invited the Monk to rest at her house. She served him food and tea and he ate and rested for several days. The Lady and him spent lots of time talking about the teachings and practice of Buddhism, and the Lady was thoroughly enjoying his company

She built for him a small temple and a shed at the top of a hill she owned, so he could practice in decent conditions and would not have to beg his way out in the world. Everyday, a servant would bring him some food. The Monk got better. At times, the Lady would come speak to him and he would preach the Dharma to her.

After several month, the Lady's Granddaughter came to visit her. She was lovely. There was a special bond between the two ladies, they both were beautiful, charming and generous, and deeply loved each other. As she thought the Monk would also enjoy meeting such a charming and lovely young girl, the Lady asked her grand daughter to bring the Monk his food.

That evening, when the Lady visited the hermitage, she asked the Monk how he had felt about her beloved granddaughter.

The Monk answered : "An other walking sack of shit."

The Lady told him : "If are not able to see and appreciate beauty when it is there for you to see, you don't deserve it. Leave now !"

The next day she burnt the hermitage.

Mugen and Yosei no Sai : Yoshukai only Kata

Yoshukai Karate has numerous open hand and weapon kata.

There are however 2 Kata that are purely Yoshukai.

MUGEN  - 無限 - means Endless, or Infinity. This open hand Kata was created by our Grandmaster Katsuoh Yamamoto.

YOSEI NO SAI was created by Sensei Hiroyuki Koda (1944-1997). 

"Yosei" has 2 meanings. One is "Ocean". But "Yosei" is also an other way to read Sensei Koda's first name "Hiroyuki". 

So that "Yosei no Sai" means "Sai of the Ocean", and it also means "Hiroyuki's Sai".(Sensei Koda's Sai)

This was explained to me by Sensei Hiroaki Toyama at the Yoshukai Winter Camp in 2011.


(And Mugen is also my Dog's name...)

JUTSU, DO, MU

An inscription by Nobuhide Ohama on Gichin Funakoshi's memorial erected by the Shotokai at Engaku-ji, a Zen temple in Kamakura reads:

Funakoshi Gichin Sensei, of karate-do, was born on June 10, 1870, in Shuri Okinawa. From about eleven years old he began to study to-te jutsu under Azato Anko and Itosu Anko. He practiced diligently and in 1912 became the president of the Okinawan Shobukai.

In May of 1922, he relocated to Tokyo and became a professional teacher of karate-do. He devoted his entire life to the development of karate-do.

He lived out his eighty-eight years of life and left this world on April 26, 1957. Reinterpreting to-te jutsu, the Sensei promulgated karate-do while not losing its original philosophy. Like bugei (classical martial arts), so too is the pinnacle of karate “mu” (enlightenment): to purify and make one empty through the transformation from “jutsu” to “do”.

Through his famous words “Karate ni sente nashi” (There is no first attack in Karate) and “Karate wa kunshi no bugei” (Karate is the martial art of intelligent people), Sensei helped us to better understand the term “jutsu.” 

In an effort to commemorate his virtue and great contributions to modern karate-do as a pioneer, we, his loyal students, organized the Shotokai and erected this monument at the Enkakuji.

“Kenzen ichi” (“The Fist and Zen are one”)

The above is the English translation of the Japanese text.

Because some of the Japanese words or expressions do not have an accurate translation in English, and are (or should be) well known by practitionners of traditional Japanese arts, (DO, JUTSU) the translator chose to not translate them. But when it came to MU, he did however between parenthesis his own interpretation : "enlightenment".

Why did he chose "enlightenment" when Mu is generally translated as "Emptiness" ?

Enlightenment : to make oneself empty through the transformation of Jutsu into Do...

How can I transform Jutsu into Do ?

The Search for the Mighty Pillow

Last night my dog Mugen escaped to go visit with his friends...
Awaken early this morning by the chickens squaking at him I got up to let him back into the house, then decided to get back to sleep.

I got in the bed, and there, Rage and Despair ! Could not find my pillow.

I looked everywhere around, under the blanket, on the floor around the bed. I just could not find it!

Puzzled by this disappearance, trying to think about what could have happened, I realized it was just there lying behind my head.

For all this time I had been searching it far from me, even out of the bed, I had not let my neck relax and was unable to feel it.