Yoshukai Karate en Tchequie

Le 5 Mai dernier, je suis arrive a BRNO en Tchequie apres un voyage de 14 heure en voiture, train, metro, avion et bus ! 

Le but de ma visite la-bas etait d'aider au lancement d'un dojo de Karate Yoshukai. 

J'ai passe un excellent week-end dans une belle ville, en compagnie de gens charmants et tres motives par le Karate. Comme c'etait un long week end, nous avons pu nous entrainer dans une salle habituellement convoitee par d'autres groupes. 7 heures de Karate en 2 jours, Un bel effort.

Nous nous sommes concentres sur les  kihon, kata de base, Ippon Kumite, et quelques conseils de bases sur les methodes d'enseignement. Et puis, pour le plaisir, un peu de Kobudo de niveau superieur avec Sai tai Bo...

 

Charish et Jason Rainwater ont commence a enseigner le Karate Yoshukai de Katsuoh Yamamoto a Brno. Nous mettons tout en place avec la World Yoshukai Karate Kobudo Organization aux Etats Unis. et le dojo devrait ouvrir officiellement cet ete en Tchequie.

Ils se rendront au Camp d'ete Yoshukai de Eufaula en juin prochain et a leur retour nous organiserons la suite des evenements pour cette annee.

Katsuoh Yamamoto dans la Pop Culture Japonaise

Une video un peu decousue et assez amusante, en Japonais, sur certains episodes extraordinaires de la vie de Katsuoh Yamamoto, fondateur du Karate Yoshukai, qui nous a quitte il y a bientot 5 ans en Fevrier 2017. 

 

Katsuoh Yamamoto était l'un des derniers maîtres de karaté Japonais ayant etudie avec les Maitres d'Okinawa qui avaient apporte, au debut du XXeme siecle, le karaté au Japon.

J'ai eu la chance de rencontrer et de m'entrainer de nombreuses fois avec Sensei Yamamoto aux Etats Unis de 1993 a 2016 et j'etais present a certains evenements figurant dans cette video.

Tenshin Ryu Kenjutsu : one origin of Yoshukai Iai

In 2014 I spent 2 hours at Mr Culbreth's residence with Soke Yamamoto to discuss Yoshukai Iai with him.

Soke showed me some bunkai for several of the waza and we also discussed the origin of Yoshukai Iai which he had not learned Iai from Dr Chitose but from 2 different masters from Kyushu. 

Although I am not exactly sure I fully understood Soke Yamamoto, I believe he had been training in Kumamoto in the 2 styles of Tenshin Ryu and Jigen Ryu, until one of the masters he was training with quit teaching.

In this Tenshin Ryu video, you can see where some of the Yoshukai Iai moves probably come from.

Although Tenshin Ryu Nodachi is much longer than the regular Katana used in Yoshukai iai, the waza at 1:40 is very close to the Yoshukai Waza #8, and the next one at 2:00  is very similar to our #7. 

Also, Chiburi and Noto are the same. 

I teach Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaijutsu at the Yoshukai Karate Dojo in Dothan , Alabama. You can contact me at 334 798 1639 or by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com

TENSHO DAI

Tensho Dai, a tonfa kata, was created by Master Yuki Koda (1944- 1997) the late head of US Yoshukai Karate.

Tonfa were originally handles used to turn the top stone of a traditional Okinawan rice grinder.

Okinawan Rice grinder with its Tonfa wooden handle

Here the kata is demonstrated by Shihan Mike Lilley at the World Yoshukai Karate &  Kobudo organization summer camp in Eufaula, Alabama, USA on June 17, 2017.

 Enjoy and practice...

RIP Katsuoh Yamamoto, 1938 - 2017

It is with much sadness that we share the  information  that Soke Katsuoh Yamamoto, founder of Yoshukai Karate passed away on February 12, 2017 in Japan.  Born on July 10, 1938, Soke was 78 years old. His long and courageous battle with cancer finally came to a peaceful end.

 

One of the last masters who learned from the pioneers who brought Karate from Okinawa to mainland Japan, Soke Yamamoto acquired and honed his skills under Sensei Tsuyoshi Chitose, founder of Chito Ryu Karate, before founding Yoshukai Karate in 1963. 

He touched many lives and inspired many people with his bravery and strength of mind, keeping with this legacy through his last and most difficult battle against cancer. We will now carry on his legacy with pride, not forgetting the many teachings and lessons we all gained from him.  

Over the course of the last 23 years I had the honor to meet and train under him many times. I will miss his courage, integrity and kindness.  

Osu!

Natural Selection

A classical story about the birth of a Traditional Martial Art goes this way :

A young lad's father or family are killed by people from another clan. The young lad wants revenge, but he is not strong enough. So he gets into a sort of mystical training quest - in Japanese "Shugyo". Gets alone in the mountains, trains hard during the day. Prays or meditates at night. Finally one day, a supernatural creature (God, Demon, Tesshu...) appears to him and grants him his wish : he teaches him a wonderful technique, or a set of them, that will allow him to overcome all his opponents.

We have multiple examples of these  : Hayashizuki Jinsuke, Founder of Hayashizaki Ryu and Eishin Ryu Iaijutsu, secluded himself in a Shito shrine to train and pray.

Ittosai Kagehisa. Founder of Ono Ha Itto Ryu. secluded himself in a temple to train.

Closer to us, Katsuoh Yamamoto, Founder of Yoshukai Karate, travelled to some mountains and woods to practice by himself...

We could go on for a long time. It is a common story , many people founded their own victorious way by secluding themselves, getting a fantastic idea, coming back to the world and winning everything.

But... We do not hear about the other ones, those who also secluded themselves, had (what they thought was) a fantastic idea, came back to the world, and died when they tried their (not so fantastic) idea. 

This is Natural Selection. Bad techniques, and those who invented them, do not survive the battlefields.

It does not matter what kind of great idea you have. You need to test it, against an opponent. If you win, good, find a mightier opponent to test it further. If you lose, well, it was not such a good idea. 

You can also train with a master, someone much more advanced than you, who will tell you how he feels about your ideas, in a non-lethal way. This is why we get teachers and masters. To help us on the road. I recommend this way...

And THIS is true for everything. It is true for Martial Arts, for Cuisine, for Ballroom Dancing and for Zen. The other day, this brilliant guy was explaining on Facebook how just Buddha had found enlightenment by himself so would he do the same and not rely on any master. Just that ! Arrogant prick ! Even Buddha trained under several Yogis before he went on his own.

Today, there is no shortage of Self appointed Martial Arts Masters, 9th degree black belt in numerous styles - some of these styles do not even grant Dan levels... There are also quite a few Roshi's - Zen Masters, with very questionable lineage... And this is regrettable.

Whatever you want to learn, find a good master, someone with credentials from an established, reputable lineage. Short of this, you might get hurt...