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We’re back training Karate in Japan in 1973 in Higaonna Sensei’s Yoyogi Dojo, the free training after the last evening class, the actual ‘looking forward to’ part of the day because of more one-on-one tuition from Higaonna Sensei and more ‘Bigger Picture’ opportunity!

Also getting to know Sensei’s senior cadre better and personally. Not a big group then and most of them could only make this session, as distance from the Dojo and rush hour travelling were factors stopping them from the normal classes.   After the Friday evening sessions, we usually went to the izinkaya or Dojo pub where some would share stories of training in Okinawa at some stage or another. Kokubo Sensei remembered that all he did for two weeks was Sanchin!   He just pointed to his shoulders and shivered, and we got the message!!

I am going to jump ahead in time a bit to later in the year for today’s story!   In early September, Sensei announced that Yoyogi will field a contingent of volunteers to participate in the 20^th Commemoration of Miyagi Chojun Sensei’s death arranged by the Jundokan group of Miyazato Sensei.  Needless to say, Pat, Denis and myself were in, Denis already having been there previously with Terry O’Neill for their ‘Fighting Arts’ magazine! 

We would travel by boat to Naha, spend just over a week there, culminating in the Commemoration, an all-day event of demonstrations from all Goju Ryu groups. Yoyogi Dojo would perform a group Kata demonstration, Higaonna Sensei his favourite Superinpei Kata and Bunkai and Sensei asked me to perform a self defence against a knife demonstration he saw me do in South Africa the previous year and to use Pat as a partner. 

It was a big honour – exactly how big, I would only realise when we got to Okinawa!  There was a problem – you could not buy an actual knife for this anywhere in Tokyo, so we used a short stick and thought it would not be a problem to get a knife in Okinawa!  

The group from the Dojo were about twelve altogether – Black and Brown belts, with Kokubo and Terauchi Sensei familiar names.   I cannot remember the exact port of departure, but I do recall travelling by trains for quite a while getting to the port in the early hours of the morning for a journey of just short of two days, weather depending!

The boat was not very big, I guess one third of the size of the boat that I went to Japan with!   We would spend a night on board, and I had this picture in my mind of a cabin, with a few persons sharing, but – surprise, surprise!    We travelled 2^ndclass and the 2^nd class ‘cabin’ was one big dormitory with everybody accommodated in one big area with a tatami floor and one tatami bed space per person with about a meter of free space on either side!   You got a futon, a blanket, a bamboo pillow to rest your head on and a round silver dish in case of seasick!   Nighttime was another surprise – the bright dormitory overhead neon lights stayed on!  Apparently to safeguard against pick pockets and harassers! 

Higaonna Sensei travelled with us and after the excitement of leaving the port, we had something to eat in the cafeteria and then chilled a bit after the early morning get-up and rush.  The ocean was like a mirror or swimming pool – calm, smooth and beautiful – after my experience in getting to Japan, I could not believe it! 

Late afternoon, we gathered on the upper open deck with Sensei and did light training and stretching and practiced the demonstration Kata – Seiyunchin – and Pat and I our demo.   Sensei also made us do Seiyunchin kata starting with the opposite hand and foot – to this day, still one of my own ways to practice the Kata when by myself!

Sleeping was a challenge with the lights on, but Japanese people are well disciplined – after No Noise time, everyone adhered! You put a towel over your eyes and with the heavy ocean air, you slept!

When we reached Naha, the apprehension was big for those who have never been there and there was Miyazato Sensei welcoming the group and immediately the relaxed Okinawa way was visible!  We bowed and shouted Onegaishimasu and Miyazato Sensei just waved his hand and casually said Hallo, Welcome!  Before we left, Pat, Denis and I got Miyazato Sensei the customary gift – real Scotch, which we found in the Ginza area – a bottle of Johnny Walker!  We handed it to him and he half-smiled and said Thank You in English!   We stayed in a high school dormitory, all in one room. We went to the Jundokan for training the next couple of days at various times to rehearse – quite an interesting experience!

I must clarify here that to me, to this point, it was not a ‘Wow! experience, as my ‘Wow! was Higaonna Sensei!  I was also not too clued up on Okinawan Karate history and the many names in Okinawan Karate. 

Being 24 years old, my philosophy then was to just train and not worry too much about theoretical stuff and ‘What Was’ more of ‘What Is Now’ and ‘What Will Be’ – still my motto today!  

Denis Martin explained a lot of the different schools and names to me from his research with Terry for their magazine a few months before.

But, to see, touch and handle the original Chi’shi from Miyagi Sensei’s Garden Dojo, was something special though!   Interesting aspects of the training in Okinawa were that there were no formal classes like in Yoyogi Dojo or back home – the training was in small groups of between two and maybe five or six persons – Sempai and Kohei groups.  We met another Gaijin there – Mark Bishop, who wrote a book with interviews with various Okinawan fighting arts celebrities. 

While preparing for the demonstrations, we saw a group of about eight Godan – very senior grades then – rehearsing Sepai Kata and arguing amongst themselves about movements and techniques in the Kata!  

In other words, there was no standardization, which is good in a small context, as you adapted the Kata to your own body and abilities, but not good in an organizational context, I guess.  Okinawans did not buy into the idea of an organization big time then – My Dojo, My Sensei, My Sempai – that was it!   Also remember that none of them were professional Karate men – they did Karate for themselves – totally parttime.   But unfortunately, the reality is that Karate would have been extinct by now if it had not been for full time professional sincere Teachers! Commercialism is a double-edged sword – it can be good or bad, depending on the integrity of teachers!

Some of the older members, when we were introduced, pointed to me and I heard ‘Chojun Sensei’ – Pat explained that they were saying that I had a very similar build to Miyagi Chojun Sensei, so, he was not a small person!   Also, quite a few of the younger bucks in the Dojo came up to me and wanted to smack my forearms – Ude Tanren – the forearm condition – to test me – they soon smiled, made sounds like whoaah, fingered my arms and shoulders, bowed, and wanted ‘oshashin’ – a photograph!  No mobile phones then, but they all had cameras!   It even happened at the socials, when Awamori courage kicked in and they would come up to me and wanted to do Ude Tanren!

There was an official welcome dinner for seniors – being the most senior from Yoyogi Dojo group, I went with Sensei and sat down close to the top of the table and it was a privilege to meet names such as Uehara Ko, Meitoku Yagi, Iha Koshin Senseis. 

We also did the tourist thing.  It was not that easy, no Ju Ju monorail – it was busses and taxis to the sites!   Walking down Kokusaidori, was interesting, ironically when I walked down there again in 1981 and to this day, just about nothing had changed! 

Shuri No Mo gate was still the original one, not the current restored one and Shuri Castle was a piece of wall a couple of meters long!  All that was left of it after so many wars on the island!  It was nice to see the replica in a later visit in 2002, but sadly that also burnt down recently!

Visiting the underground headquarters of the Japanese Imperial Navy, close to present Oroku station and the Cave of the Virgins and Suicide Cliff touched me deeply considering the totally unnecessary and barbaric suffering of innocent people all over for thousands of years during conflicts with which the average person had nothing to do!

Came the day of the demonstrations! We could not find a knife to buy in Naha either, just a smallish tanto, not as spectacular, but it worked!  

The demonstrations went on all day from early in the morning to 18h00 and it was interesting to see all the famous names I mentioned previously, performing Kata on the day.

I thought they were really not bad for ‘old guys’, but later I realized they were mostly in their late 40’s early or mid 50’s!  Yamaguchi Gogen, just made a speech in ‘old’ Samurai, Shigin style – sounding like aggressive shouting!

Without prejudice, Higaonna Sensei’s Superinpei and Bunkai on Ito – who flew in just before – was by far the highlight!  

Pat and I also got lots of compliments, as 99% of the demonstrations were either Kihon, Hojo Undo, Sandangi, Sanbon Ippon kumite, Sanchin, Tensho or a Kata – sometimes up to three and more Sanchin in succession – Yamaguchi Goju Kai group demonstrated some tournament fighting, but a little over choreographed while Higaonna Sensei and Pat and I actually demonstrated the practical using of Karate in conflict situations!

We had to move out of the high school dormitory the next morning, and we spend one last evening in a Ryokan and then it was time to go back! 

Standing on the deck of the boat leaving Naha, I did not realize that it would be eight years before I would be there again!

When we left, the sea was as calm as anything – until about eight hours out! I noticed we were starting to get swells and the boat started heaving up and down considerably!  The swells became bigger and bigger by the hour!   By nightfall, we were fully in the center of the storm, the swells were coming over as high as the ship’s bridge! The cafeteria was closed, and all doors, windows and portholes latched down, and everyone constricted to the dormitory!    It was rough, people were turning green in the faces, so the silver buckets were filling up quickly!  

I also felt a bit uneasy and just laid down and try to go with the up and down heaving of the boat.  At one stage, I was counting the rising and falling in seconds and from the moment the boat reached the top of the swell and started to go down to the bottom, I counted between 28 to 33 seconds!  Hitting the bottom felt and sounded like every rivet in the boat was being torn out of the structure!   This went on all night and at one stage I tried to go a side hatch just to look out – it was locked off course – in the center was a pole which I held onto. I would see my feet parallel with my face to my left heaving down and then again parallel with my face heaving upwards! I got a bit worried, when I saw one of the boat’s crew in the toilet being sea sick!

There was no food available, just free potato crisps in packages on the floor of the cafeteria, so that was dinner for me! Most of my comrades were not in a mood for eating at all though!   This went on until we were about five hours out from Tokyo, when suddenly, we were in the swimming pool ocean again!  It was crazy – going from popping up and down like a cork in a whirlpool the one moment, to as flat as a table top the next!    We looked back and could see the storm behind us!   Everyone was shaky and some still very green, but things got back to normal again and we arrived back in Tokyo in one piece, but a challenge to disembark, as people were still swaying while walking on land because of the motion of the boat in that terrible storm!

What I saw and experienced in Okinawa would only sink in and make sense through the passing of many years – even to this day, but the main message I got, was that Karate was personal, but it needed sincere devo ted full time professional teachers to continue developing!  

Be sure to visit my Global Virtual Dojo, at

traditionalschoolofkarate.com

Music by Basson Laubscher

As I promised before, in this podcast I am going to recall a traumatic incident where I needed to and used my Karate training to actually come out of a very awkward situation alive and in the process actually saved a person’s live during my Military career.

But be aware – this is not an ‘attacked by five persons with machetes and sorted them all out’ heroic kind of situation – I have had that – attacked with a knife, mae geri, man down, grabbed the knife, neutralized him and handed to the police – will tell you the story over a glass of wine maybe some time, but not worth sharing really – Karate is much more than that!

But first, some background. As I mentioned before, all young South African men had to do compulsory Military Service after completing Senior High School or when they turned 18 years of age and afterwards serve in a Reserve or Citizen’s force for a period of seven years in which you needed to do annual service of up to three months, depending on the operational situation, so it happened that you had to leave your friends and family during the Christmas holidays to run around in Khaki, not fun! As you were in for it for seven years, it was a good idea to make the best of it and actually volunteer for extended service, whereby one could qualify for a rank, with all the benefits, so it came that I eventually stayed in this Citizen Force regiment for 14 years, went through the Non Commissioned Officer  ranks,– from a plain Gunner to Battery Sergeant-major (in USA, I guess – called a Master Sergeant). 

After being a bit of a rebel most of my life, probably from entering life prematurely – see podcast 009 – (it still comes through now and then though!), I have learned early in life that it is better to be in a position where you are part of decision making, become a leader, than just merely being a complaining squealing follower of the decision makers and leaders! 

After studying Human Movement Science at university, I started school teaching, holding temporary or relief posts, which enabled me to have some food on the table without tying me down, still teaching Karate after hours and be able to save some money to go to Japan!

After getting married end of 1977, our first child coming along a little more than a year later, I realized that I would require a more permanent source of income – still not be dependent on Karate as an only income, as this could mean that I might have to compromise my Karate teaching to keep food on the table!

In the beginning of 1981, after returning from the great International IOGKF Gasshuku in Okinawa – which definitely has a bearing on this story – I was informed of a position in the Military Permanent Force or Regular Force which entailed a non-combat career as a staff officer for Sports and Physical training and I jumped at it, as it meant a reasonable salary and great benefits and the Military would allow me to practice my Karate unrestricted.  They even allowed me to travel overseas and teach, so a great step forward in my life. 

The post was in the Corpse of Professional Officers, with starting rank of Captain at an Air Force Base close to home, so I needed to change from brown to blue, so to speak.  I needed to do a basic orientation course and a two-month Air Force officers’ course before becoming substantive!

So it came that at the age of 33, I was sent to the Air Force Gymnasium in Pretoria for the two week basic orientation course.  During the course, you are treated as a total recruit, with rank of Candidate officer and you were instructed in theoretical and practical components, from parade ground to classroom!  

On the parade ground, the instructors were young 20, 21, 22-year-old Rambos who loved drilling you till your tongue hung out – the same for the Physical Training, every afternoon and by the second week, the PT instructor was as bored with us as we were with him!

So, one afternoon, we were doing the normal chase parade – push-ups, sit-ups, carrying each other, running the obstacle course and because the rest of the group were younger than me, barring one older gentleman, we were not really going red enough in the face to our young instructor’s liking!

We were running in a squad and singing and then we got to a narrow gravel road with a pipe going underneath the road, which was about four meters wide and the diameter of the pipe just enough for one person to crawl through with your shoulders touching the sides and your back touching the roof.  Mr Rambo made us crawl through the pipe to the other side, one by one!

Not a big deal – Except!!! I suffer from serious claustrophobia and cannot really handle confined spaces!!

But I calmed myself with the fact that it would only take about ten to fifteen seconds, breathed deep as in Sanchin, with Okinawa still fresh in my mind, and I did it and showed nothing to the instructor, but inside, my heart was beating at a rate of knots!

The instructor was a bit disappointed that we came through this apparently without any problems, so we continued running and then he halted the squad and ordered us to crawl again through another storm water drainage tunnel  – only problem – this tunnel was about fifty meters long and about three meters down – we had to climb down an inspection vent with a steel ladder and then start crawling when you got to the tunnel!

The older gentleman refused point blank and stood aside, but I guess my echo probably overrode my common sense!   I did not want to show cowardice but knew I would have to use inner mind control – such an integral part of Karate training – like never before!! 

So I immediately started breathing Sanchin style again by myself and forced my mind to relax and clear completely – not easy!

We were eighteen guys in our squad, and I was about number 12 in the line. The first guys climbed down and started crawling, almost face to backside, depending on the speed of the guy in front of you! 

Your shoulders were touching the sides, but with about 20cm space on both sides and from your back the top as well – but it was manageable, just the thought that you were three meters down!  Luckily it was not rainy season, so there was no water in the pipe. 

This was a really Bad Dream! 

As I climbed down the ladder and went down on hands and knees, I was hit by the damp, rotten smell of a low oxygen and the BO of the guys in front of me, but …. – off I went!   The most horrifying was that it was completely pitch-black dark once you were about five meters in – no light you could focus on to the front or to the rear to indicate how far you have gone and how far you still had to go.   I just went into a complete blank relaxed state, as I realized that, if I panicked now, I would be dead – and there was no turn back with guys behind me!

About twenty meters in, I guess, suddenly – there were some moans and mumbling coming from the front and the crawling speed slowed down to literally inches at a time!  

The Bad Dream turns into a Nightmare! 

Another Instructor had sent his squad in to crawl through from the opposite side and the first ones were making contact with our front guys!  The second instructor did not see that a squad was already in there, as it turned out later in a debriefing!   

In the tunnel – to pass one another, both parties had to turn sideways, and when the first one came past me, there was this human touch and smell and – it just kept on getting worse and worse and the speed of moving was almost zero!

But – Sanchin, relax, realizing that any panic by anybody now, would turn this situation into a possible disaster, so we continued! Still completely pitch dark – everyone was talking softly, so you picked up when the next guy is coming from the front!

Then the Nightmare turned into a full-on Horror Show!! 

The guy in front of me stopped altogether, the guy behind me getting his nose up my backside.  I asked ‘what was happening?’ He replied: ‘the guy in front of me has passed out and is lying motionless!’

I realized this was a very dangerous situation and someone needed to take control, so I spoke out loud, not yelling, as it could cause panic and I asked my squad as well as no 2 squad to relay the message backwards and forwards that we have this situation and that everyone needed to stop, to allow us to get the guy out!  Everyone responded almost instantaneously, positively and stopped!  

I told the guy in front of me to crawl over the unconscious guy, put his one arm between his legs and grab the guy’s T-shirt to pull on while crawling forward while I would push his feet, this way dragging him forward.  I also asked no 2 squad still waiting in front of us, to help pull as we passed each one.  So, we got going – me and the guys pulling, working on a count of three ‘One, Two Pull!  Relax, One Two Pull, Relax. We were going very slowly, and it was incredibly demanding to crawl and push, I was soaked in sweat by now, but we were slowly making progress – for a while!  

Then the Horror Movie turned into ‘Apocalypse Now!!!

All of a sudden, we stopped moving and when I asked the guy in front what was wrong, a No 2 squad member from the front replied – ‘he has pushed off!’ (he did not say ‘pushed’ – use your imagination!)  – He had just let go of the unconscious guy and pee-ed off, just concerned about himself getting out!

Sanchin, deep breathing, calmness!! I told the guy behind me that I would crawl over the person and pull from the front, which we did, and with the help of No 2 squad guys, we were slowly moving along. I did not have the energy to try and keep the unconscious guy’s face to the side as we dragged him, I realized though that it would scrape the skin of his face, so asked no 2 squad guys to turn his head to the side as we passed them – feeling for his face in the dark, and turning it. After what felt like hours, but concentrating so much on One Two Pull, Relax, I noticed faint light appearing from the front, becoming stronger as we got to the end of the tunnel!  

Then it was a process to get the unconscious guy up the three-meter ladder, but luckily the guys that were out already gave a hand.   I collapsed on my back and someone was doing CPR – and after a couple of minutes, the guy came to, looking very bewildered and his face scraped, he was taken to the medical facility on the base.  

Our instructor came over to me with a very worried look on his face, as he must have wetted himself realizing what an unfortunate unforeseen turn of events just happened!   He was also aware that I could lay a charge against him and No 2 Flight instructor that would end their careers right there and would even mean court martials, military prison and criminal records.

I just looked at him and realized the stupid things I have done in my live and realizing that I have a two-year-old son back home, so I called the No 2 Flight instructor over as well, stepped away from the rest and gave them a stern but fatherly speech, told them I would not lay charges but made them promise me that they would never do anything as stupid as this ever! I did lay a charge against the guy who was in front of me who just took off and he was court martialed and dishonorably discharged the next week.

To conclude – Karate is not just about being Macho, it is like an Iceberg – 80% is below the surface! It needs to manifest in your Karate!

Be sure to visit my Global Virtual Dojo, at

traditionalschoolofkarate.com

Music by Basson Laubscher

Welcome back to the continuation of my Podcast series and thank you so much for the enquiries and encouragement to resume! Note that the  podcasts will appear fortnightly on a Wednesday.

In the second series, I will again recall some general memories of staying, getting around and training in Japan in ‘the early days’ – training in Higaonna Sensei’s Yoyogi Dojo, as well as some personal ‘off the Karate track’ experiences whilst staying and training over there, my first visit to Okinawa as part of a small Yoyogi Dojo contingent for the 20th commemoration of Chojun Miyagi Sensei’s death and some various other relevant topics, experiences and observations!

From my previous podcasts, you would by now have the picture that it was very different visiting and training in Japan in the early 70’s compared to today, because of the language and 180 degree cultural and social differences to one’s own background and upbringing.   

You must also appreciate the fact that there was no Internet, no Google very limited International Television News like today – in fact, South Africa did not have any television then – no ‘Global Village’ concept like presently, where something happens in a country and the rest of the world has access to that within hours! 

The dimension I would like to touch on today, is more the ‘outside the Dojo’ scenario for individuals training and staying in Japan back then – note individuals! – in groups, one still moved within one’s own culture and comfort zone, as we experience when going to Okinawa to attend Budosai and Gishiki!

So, once the initial amazement of the new ‘cosmos’ sunk in, there came times when one needed to want to speak to someone who would understand your own background and culture! The longer one stayed, the more frequent these needs became!

Conversations with locals were very superficial, using ‘pidgin’ Japanese and receiving ‘pidgin’ English back!  And … mostly Karate related!   

Even here, it was difficult to understand the intent of the words without a translator such as Pat around, so a lot of the Karate teachings only sunk in after many repetitions and explanations – some … many years later!! 

Even with Pat and Denis, it was difficult, as we came from very different backgrounds, and we basically met up at the Dojo and the odd socializing outside the Dojo – we stayed quite far apart in Tokyo, so difficult to regularly interact socially. 

The inevitable result was something that not many ‘macho’ Karate Ka these days will confess to – homesick, feeling lonely, sometimes feeling depressed! 

I have had this before though, during my compulsory Military service back home in 1966 

But, back in Japan, it happened to me from time to time. 

Moving around on the trains and stations and in public, Gaijin or western foreigner faces were very rare back then – you would maybe see one in one week! In areas where foreign diplomats and tourists hung out such as the Ginza, one would see a few, but moving to and from the Dojo, it was rare!

So you always had the subconscious ‘I am an Alien’ feeling inside!

Another factor, I guess, that subversively worked on one’s subconscious, were the facial expressions of locals everywhere one went, especially the trains, where one spent a lot of time daily – Japanese faces in public were ‘no show’! – no expression at all, just empty ‘Mushin’ masks all around you. Never looking at you directly but curious nevertheless! 

It was a kind of a game of mine to sit and look at the floor on a train and suddenly look up into a face opposite me and catch it staring at me and quickly looking away – young ladies sometimes blushing visibly!  Except little kids who would openly stare at you, sometimes!

In early August I experienced a bit of a funny hostile feeling from time to time when people looked at me while commuting to the Dojo. At first, I thought I was imagining things, but being a sensitive person (I can see some of you grinning!) I picked up that, especially older people, were giving me kind of unfriendly stares.

It was the 6th of August – the commemoration of the bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, but I did not know this! 

When I got home that evening, Mrs. Fukazawa was watching a very somber old black and white television documentary program with images of the destroyed city, landscapes, fleeing people and dead bodies.

Mrs. Fukazawa translated bits to me and I felt very deeply for the Japanese people!  It turned out that on the day of the commemoration we were watching, the 120 000^thperson had died from radiation received as a child during the original explosion! 

This explained the kind of anti-western vibe I picked up whilst moving around in public – the next week, al was back to normal again – the normal ‘no-show’ faces again.

We have to speak seriously to the powers controlling nukes presently!

One time, when I got the longing for back home quite intensely, Mrs. Fukazawa became worried about me being very quiet and reserved for a few days and brought home one of her music colleagues who could speak a little English.  

I heard them discuss something, occasionally looking my way (I was watching a Samurai series on TV in Japanese, just admiring the fighting and typical revenge scenes of the series) and after quite a discussion between the two of them, some stop-start conversation with me, they asked me if I was ‘Koi Wazurai’ looking in the dictionary, it meant ‘Love Sick!’ I just laughed and denied and after more discussion, they had the prognosis -– Homu Sicko!

It probably sounds a bit weird in present day context, as not many people experience this nowadays when going to Okinawa in groups and staying in hotels with air cons and many people in Okinawa being able to help you in English, but Tokyo was very different then – WWII was only 25 years before, and some Tokyo Nihonjin not over excited about Gaijin!

Many factors can lead to this Homesick state, from a few bad days in the Dojo, injuries, not getting your techniques going, to external factors, such as hearing music that is popular back home!

Mrs. Fukazawa’s had a Hi Fi system in the living room, and in the mornings, before leaving for the Dojo, I would listen to whatever Japanese station that played music. Being a 24 year old, obviously I messed around with it and one day, on shortwave, I got hold of the US Forces Far East Network, – English radio! 

The most popular songs trending on the network at the time, played basically every morning – were Grand Funk Railroad’s We’re an American Band’, Chicago’s ‘Feeling Stronger Every Day’ – which cheered me up a bit but then again Diana Ross’s tearjerker ‘Touch me in the Morning!’, which was popular with homesick Gi’s it seemed, and good stuff to help one crawl into your own shadow!

To get some kind of ‘in touch’ with the outside world, I would occasionally, between training sessions, visit the famous Kinokunya bookstore in Shinjuku – only two stations from Yoyogi, where there were some ‘  in English and a reasonable section of English books and magazines!   

Browsing through their music section, I one day bought an LP (long playing, vinyl record for millennials and later generations!) of Neil Young – called Heart of Gold.

The problem being the song After the Gold Rush on that LP!  ‘I was lying in a burned-out basement, with the full moon in my eyes, I was hoping for replacement, when the sun burst through the skies …!  It was my go-to homesick song and I still to this day remember that feeling when hearing the song!  I still have that vinyl!

I guess, because of the ‘Homu Sicko’ conversation with Mrs Fukazawa, she arranged to take me out of the city a bit for a long weekend to the Izu peninsula in the Shizuoka area to the town of Atami, not far away from the port of Shimoda, where the first American Trade Mission arrived under Commodore Perry with his so-called ‘Black Ships’ in 1854, an era which marked the end of Japan’s isolation period. 

Japan was an unbelievably beautiful country once one got away from the city, and I guess that Izu area is probably one of Japan’s most beautiful regions to visit, we stayed close to the ocean and enjoyed fresh seafood daily.

Her cousin, Dr Wakabayashi – a medical doctor specializing in pathology, and wife and two young boys joined us. 

The dictionary conversations over seafood dinners to try and find out exactly what I was eating, was very entertaining and enjoyable, but the walks along the pristine beaches and volcanic rocky inlets, were Nirvana!

Being an avid Rock and Surf angler and snorkel diver myself – have a look at my Facebook Page – I went up to some anglers I spotted out on protruding reefs and rocks in the Bay to ask the standard angler-to-angler ‘Caught Anything?’

Again, I was totally shocked when I saw what they were catching – small little fish, about four to six inches in length! 

The surrounding oceans have been cleaned out!!  I observed that the reefs which were laid bare during low tide had just about no more noticeable seaweed and kelp covering the reefs, let alone shellfish, mussels, cockles, scallops, octopus and other reef creatures! 

Again, a wakeup-call to appreciate what we’ve had back home then!

Apart from the Karate training, there were other experiences which I could not have had back home! 

Pat and I went to see the Bee Gees perform live in Sjinjuku in a concert Hall and paid the ‘after-show-started’ low price to sit on the stairs between rows!  

As soon as the show started, everyone was on their feet in any case, waving hands to Massachusetts!  Boy, that brought on the homesick even more!

On another occasion, we went to the Tokyo Budokan and sneaked in for the free last part of Deep Purple’s concert jumping up and down and screaming to Smoke on the Water !  

Another time, to listen to Carlos Santana performing Black Magic Woman with a full band of about thirty persons in the same Budokan! Unbelievable!

Back in Tokyo, training went on as usual, I was totally acclimatized and feeling relatively in good condition and had started to build some relations with a few of the locals.

I felt very weak one morning waking up, Mrs Fukazawa had left long ago for her school and as I ate my tofu and cold eggs and seaweed for breakfast, I felt a bit of a headache coming on! 

Still, I went to the Dojo and after training in the early afternoon class, I felt something was up!  It was a Friday and I spoke to Sensei and he told me to go straight home and relax.  I got home early, ate, and excused myself and went to lie down. 

During the night, I woke up in a puddle of sweat – it was summer, I sweated every night, but this was crazy – literally a puddle of sweat, right through my futon and into the tatami! Then came cold shivers, then sweat again. I have had flu back home, but that was yellow belt compared to this Rokudan bug! 

Mrs. Fukazawa came in in the early morning when she heard me groaning and quickly called her cousin, Mr. Wakabayashi, the doctor, and his wife.  

He checked my temperature, which was sky high, and wrote something on a piece of paper, obviously a prescription – and went off to work.  

I knew I needed Codeine and or Aspirin to break the fever, but the language problem! 

Mrs. Wakabayashi left and arrived sometime later with the prescription.  I said ‘great, let me drink it now’, but there was a bit of a problem!!

Let me explain, in South Africa at that stage, suppositories were only used for hemorrhoids, and I had no previous experience! 

So, the explaining started!  It took quite a while for me to catch on and when I did, I was horrified!  That was a no 1 no-go area! 

They changed my bedding, moved me to dry tatami and placed towels underneath my futon and I feel asleep.   I was a bit delirious at stages, but sometime in the early evening, the two ladies arrived again with some tablets, it was a kind of Aspirin, I took it and within the next 12 hours, the fever broke, but it came with puddles of sweat again!  

The next afternoon, Higaonna Sensei came to see how I was doing and obviously they told him about the suppositories, – I could see because of their hand gestures behind their backs in the downtown area! 

Sensei laughed and told me to stay down. It took a full week to recover and then slowly got back into training.

Today I just gave you some personal ‘off the Dojo’  scenarios, to illustrate how life was when training in Japan in those days and that everyone is still only a human being!

In the next podcast, I will share with you an incident when I used Karate to stay alive. 

Be sure to visit my Global Virtual Dojo, at

traditionalschoolofkarate.com

Music by Basson Laubscher

In today’s episode I’m going to attempt to give some perspective on the attitude required to be successful in the martial arts, specifically in my craft, Traditional Karate.

Let me begin by saying or stating that the first step to being a skillful and successful and later maybe even a formidable Martial Artist, is to reset yourself completely and clear your mind of any previous skills or qualities you profess to have, as these would only inhibit yourself and your future progress!  Your own ego is the biggest obstruction in your path to really becoming something more than ‘just another Karate Ka!’

There are many iconic sayings in the Martial Arts guiding or advising one to this state of mind – ‘A Mind like the Moon’  A Mind like Water’, etc. but according to Don Draeger, it comes down to three prerequisites – a Passion for your Art, a strong Will to endeavor the rigors of your Art and an uncritical Respect for your Teacher or master! He has walked the road before you, he has encountered all the deviations and distractions and understands the dangers one could encounter along the road such as certain mindsets, wrong technique which could break down instead of building up! 

It is therefore really important to realize in perspective, one’s own place in the Martial Arts Universe and to clearly realize, understand and appreciate that the Martial Arts existed centuries before you were born and will continue to exist centuries after you have died!

Many persons have gone before you, hacking their way through unchartered waters and have subsequently, through the centuries, smoothed out the road ahead for you, enabling you enjoy a much more enhanced and refined Art from the moment you started!

I mentioned in a previous Podcast that I only learned the Renzoku Bunkai forms for Gekki Sai Dai Ichi and Ni after nine years in Goju Ryu! 

I also mentioned that in the present, knowledge that took literally a few decades to discover, develop, enhance, is now available at a click on your computer or mobile phone! But is it appreciated and valued?  One appreciates the things in life that you had to work the hardest to achieve, not so?

So one needs to realize that, throughout these centuries preceding you, in an evolutionary way, the martial arts kept on developing and improving by various skillful practitioners developing processes and systems to ensure the longevity of this Art – just think about our Kata system, our Junbi Undo system, our Hojo Undo system, etc.

I know that very few of them would call themselves Masters, although they certainly are and are regarded as such by their students, following generations and the Martial Arts community.

Also be appreciative of the fact that developing these processes and systems, came with personal sacrifices and it also entailed loss of lives – yes, people lost their lives to ensure that we can experience this phenomenal art today! Our responsibility in turn, is to preserve the essence and to promote it in a sensible manner to future generations!

So, once we have reached this realization, we need to define our own motives for wishing to pursue this martial art.   In most cases such as in mine, as I have previously explained in a podcast, it originated from fear, the fear of being bullied physically as well as mentally – the two usually goes hand in hand.

After one has overcome the first hurdles because you realized that you actually and really do have the tenacity and Will to endure the physical demands of the pursuit, and as you start progressing in your pursuit, a bigger and wider picture and panorama starts to unfold, and one starts to alter your objectives and motivation as a deeper lying Passion for the art starts developing!

Pursuing a Martial Art such as Traditional Karate does come with many challenges on a daily basis! It has the ability to take you down, right down, to the starting point the moment you start thinking that you are maybe getting on top of things!

All of us has at one stage or another, made a mistake or got stuck in our Kata, or a demonstration – incidentally, if I can share something with you, I cannot remember when I ever did a demonstration that did not need instant improvisation! 

But that is a Martial Art – you practiced for a situation, but all of a sudden, your body sees the situation being slightly different, and instantly adapts and reacts – remember my explanations about developing motor reflexes by loads of Kihon training – in line with Higaonna Sensei’s methods? The higher level reaction is for your body to continue and fix things in another way!

So this ‘back to the starting blocks’ phenomena, does inevitably happen to a serious pursuer of Traditional karate from time to time, as your ambitions and ego sometimes overrides your abilities, and, or perhaps you became too tunnel visioned and forget that live is always supposed to be balanced – Ying and Yang, Alpha and Omega! Karate and Life!    

A fanatical pursuit is self-destructive!   

I have often explained at courses that I have taught at, and maybe some of you attended, that applying even a Kiai incorrectly, can be harmful to you and your body!  A Kiai must be a very positive action, originating from the building up of positive energy and culminating in an awesome sounding aggressive, but positive energy release! TheKiai must send a message to your body that what you are doing, is good for your body!  Sometimes I hear someone do a Kiai that sounds like somebody stuck a knife in his chest! This Kiai is telling your body that you are punishing your body and doing bad things to it!  Inevitably, your body will respond with a cramp, or injury to stop you from punishing it more!

So this ‘Back to the Starting Blocks’ is one of the best qualities of a true martial art because it is similar to what happens in an actual combat situation!  

General Helmuth von Moltke, a Prussian Military Commander in the early 1800’s, used the phrase ‘No Plan Survives the First Contact in battle’! a quote that I often use to describe a real combat situation. He signifies with this, that one cannot have a single battle plan, you need backup plans as well – nowadays we refer to Plan B, C, etc.!

To put it in another way, in a real contact situation, up to 80% of your training goes out the window, the moment the first punch is thrown, or the knife appears!  The 20% you have left to use, should be sufficient to get you to come out on top!  

Again, we’re back to the method behind Higaonna Sensei’s madness of loads of repetitions ‘Mo Ichi Do’ – ‘One More Time!

But let me qualify – what I have said above, the realizations and knowledge, came to me over the course of the past almost sixty years! Throughout this period, I made many mistakes and deviated down the wrong road quite often, but luckily had the savvy to realize my folly and correct it!

If I can go back in time to the end of the seventies, beginning of the eighties,  just after the IOGKF was established in Poole – my country, South Africa was banned from all international Sport because of the demonic, inhuman apartheid system of our government.

This to me was detrimental in as far as my Karate career was concerned – I was not allowed to go overseas for Karate, but….. I could still go as a tourist!  Apparently, our money was still good enough!

So I would attend IOGKF events, such as the 1981 Okinawa International Gasshuku, 1983 in Spokane USA, etc. as a tourist without embarrassing the hosts.  These times also brings back unpleasant memories, as some IOGKF members objected to me being at some of these events, but that’s water under the bridge!

So the situation was that I basically only had contact with Higaonna Sensei an average of every two years.  Here, I must express my gratitude to him, because Sensei came to South Africa to teach – as a tourist, despite the risk!  But he came and played a role in uniting the people of the country by teaching everyone – SAGA, or IOGKFSA has always been open to everyone from 1966 when it was formed contrary to government policy – I myself had encounters with security police because of me teaching everyone in my Dojo, but that’s a story for another day!

Also appreciate that there were no Internet and YouTube in those days, so the only input I got from Sensei, was maybe two weeks every two years!   So, I used every second – and still do – when I was in Sensei’s company to absorb and memorize every single instruction and teaching, he did, as I did not know how long it would be before I will have contact with him again.

It also forced me to become independent, so to speak, of being spoon-fed by seeing Sensei regularly.  I was forced to train every day in order for my body and my mind to remember everything, every little detail, of Sensei’s teaching.

It was incredible rewarding for my efforts and my dedication to see Higaonna Sensei after a period of time and get the approval from him that I was improving and still on the right track!

So, the attitude of a Martial Artist starts with a motivation – Fear, and that Fear should always be there, but of course, one develops the ability to control it and apply it as positive energy!  Tenacity and willpower drive the serious Martial Artist to make progress – as opposed to making excuses – and with this progress, Passion starts to develop and just increases with every training session!

The lesson of ‘keeping your feet on the ground’, comes around in regular cycles and it forces one to have enough reserve in the tank, so to speak.

A Martial Art starts and ends with Respect and your Teacher is the one deserving of that respect!  The more you appreciate and value and unconditionally trust your Teacher, the sooner you become a Martial Artist and not just someone doing Karate!

In conclusion – no matter what level you are – you always remain a student! Every Gasshuku or class I have ever taught, I learned something new!  As I explained above, when the bigger picture starts becoming like a panorama, you realize how much there still is to learn, hence the fact that you are still sweating every day after almost 60 years!

A last thought: Confucius mentions in relation to the ‘Superior Man’ – ‘He acts before he Speaks, and afterward Speaks according to his Actions!’

This concludes the first chapter of my Podcast Series.

In the next Series, starting off in a month’s time, I will again cover topics such as training in the old days, my first visit to Okinawa in 1973 and I will share with you an incident when I used Karate to stay alive. 

If you are interested in the Global Virtual Dojo, visit 

traditionalschoolofkarate.com

Music by Basson Laubscher

Through the years, I get a lot of questions during my teaching travels, locally and internationally, from serious Karate Ka along the line of ‘What was typical training all about with Higaonna Sensei in 1973’, What was general training like then?  What were the standards like then?’  One hears so much about famous or well-known names from back then – what were they like?’  What did Sensei focus on most?’ What was it like in Okinawa in 1973 when you went there for the first time, and many other in a similar vein, the common denominator being ‘what kind of stuff did you?’, 

Let me elaborate on these remarks:  

One can have the most beautiful looking techniques, but if you cannot knock someone 10 kg heavier than yourself down with it, it’s not going be much use to you in a real situation.  

The main object of practicing a Martial Art such as Karate, is to survive in a civilian environment when you are under threat and your person is in danger of either being seriously injured, or even killed!   I might sound a bit macho here, but please do realize here that I live in a country with an average of 59 murders every day, so to me I don’t play Karate – I do it!

Strength and speed are related to size and this is the beauty of the art of traditional Karate (as opposed to Sport Karate) – you develop these according to yourself.  To illustrate what I’m getting at in layman’s language, would be to have a body of say, 70 kg, but your power output is actually 90kg!   One can immediately think of Higaonna Sensei, as an example of this statement.

So in the Dojo, as I mentioned in the previous Podcast, Higaonna Sensei had two very favorite English words which he used a lot during teaching – ‘More Powa!’, ‘More Speedo!’

The factor of stamina is probably the most important part of a Martial Artist’s make-up, because of the simple fact that if you have to concentrate to stay alive for the duration of a class, you will not improve, as you are not pushing yourself to become stronger and faster – you can only push yourself if you have enough fuel in the tank, so to speak!  

It is also linked to your ability to concentrate on your execution of the techniques and skills – doing techniques with only the body, will not improve you – setting yourself a goal of for example, of doing 100 Katas is good for you only in the sense that you can say ‘I did it!’  It is better to do five Katas or three or one with 120%+ concentration on speed and power in every technique, if you want to progress seriously!    One needs to concentrate your mind on every technique and movement in order for that technique to become stronger and faster, judged by the ultimate criteria – effectiveness!

So in the Dojo, we quite regularly did things like combining push-ups with for example punching – ten push-ups on the knuckles, then get up and do ten punches with each hand flat out, again ten push-ups, ten punches – varying between three to ten sets of these. 

Another one was to do combinations of squats and Mae geri.  Ten full squats – squat down to your heels – then twenty kicks – ten with each leg. Again, it could be between three and ten sets of these.

Hojo Undo was done after or before classes – there were not enough Chi’shi for a whole class, but there were barbell weights, dumbbell weights and a Kongoken and of course, the Makiwara and bag. It was expected that you do these by yourself – there was no standing around and chatting before or after classes – you did something, such as Hojo Undo, stretching, going over stuff from the last class, going over your Kata, a person who maybe missed the previous class, asking someone to bring them up to date, etc. 

If one really goes flat out and really push yourself ‘far beyond your own limit’ so to speak, from time to time – take note – not every day – until you cannot do another push-up or squat, it is amazing the difference you feel in a week or two’s time regarding the increase in your own power, speed and technique levels!  

This is the whole motivation behind the word Gasshuku – intensive, over the top, crazy, using more energy than what you have, put into your Karate for the duration off a Gasshuku!  

Incidentally, in Japan, this is what a Gasshuku is all about – going away for a week or two away from family, friends, luxuries, pubs, restaurants, technology such as TV, Internet, etc. and just do, eat, sleep, dream Karate 24/7!  

Gasshukus have taken on a more social flavor in recent years since the foundation of the IOGKF in 1979 and I like that – fanaticism has never appealed to me and social interaction is the glue of an organization – it would be interesting to see the aftereffects of the lockdown on our Gasshukus for these two years in future!

To get back to training, secondly, we did loads of Kihon repetitions in every class, no matter what the level of the class was. Punches, strikes, kicks, blocks against these – loads of it! 

From my Physical Education background, and also being involved at university in a ‘high performance’ program for athletes of all kinds of sports, I realized that the essence here was the fact that in combat, you could not rely on your brain to get messages to your muscles quick enough – you only had motor reflex to rely on and the only way to develop motor reflex is to do many, many repetitions so that your body execute the movement before your brain catches on. 

I have explained this many times at just about every course I’ve taught using the example of an attack coming, your body reacting, blocking, countering, do what needs to be done and when it’s all over, your brain asks, ‘what happened there?’  

Again, this is Martial Arts training – the swordsman does not have time to think when his opponent attacks, or when he senses an opening – his body reacts because of hundreds and thousands of repetitions. 

An easier example to understand, is when one knocks a glass of wine of the table by accident and without thinking, you catch the glass before it hits the floor – without any wine spilled!

Apart from the solitary Kihon training, we also did loads of Yakusoku Kumite type training with the same system – repetitions, changing partners all the time, so one got the chance to work against different persons, so got used to different types of attacks from different persons – and by the way, the hardest was against lower grades, as they were still pretty uncoordinated, and you needed to concentrate extra against them – an intended chudan punch could end up in your face!  We did lots of Sandangi and as I mentioned before, free parring was mainly in the free training classes which sometimes included Brown as well as Black belts.

We did not do a lot of Kakié training, maybe once every two weeks or so.  I do however remember that we had a Brown Belt who was a Tongan and originally came to Japan as a Sumo wrestler, but his stable closed down and he trained Karate. A Kakié session against him had the result that I could hardly lift my arms for two days!  His arms were literally thicker than my legs!

A point of interest here was that Kakié was done for power development – we did not do a lot of fancy tricks and stuff, you just pushed as hard as you could to develop power, timing and balance and in the process, you strengthened your shoulders and core muscles, legs, balance and feel for directing or re-directing power – the basis for all your Karate techniques.  I often remark ‘It’s training For close fighting – it is Not close fighting!

To me, Karate is punching, kicking and blocking, counter attacking combined with smooth and swift movement and body positioning – not wrestling!  You have to keep a foe away from your close person with punches, strikes and kicks – wrestling and grabbling is absolutely Plan C. Against a knife, you use kicks as you move out of range – against a stick, you use punches, shuto, nukite and elbows, moving into the attack to take away the advantage of the stick’s range.

Thirdly, we did Kata.  And Kata and Kata! Again, the refrain in the Dojo was ‘Mo Ichi Do’!  ‘Mosh To’ ‘Mo Ikai’ – ‘one more time’ or Sensei’s other favorite English word – ‘Again!

We usually started of doing the Fukyu Kata then, which was like preceding or basic Kata and was seized altogether later, as it was very basic. Then the Gekki Sai Dai Kata – Ichi and Ni. Another point of interest is that we did some of the other Gekki Sai Dai Kata here and there, but mostly Ichi and Ni and since the end of the 70’s, just those two.  The rest of the more senior Kata was according to the level of the class.

The evening classes usually had more high grades, so we did more senior Kata up to Seiyunchin and Shisochin. Sanchin and Tensho was done mostly in the evening classes but more intensely during the free training sessions.  We did the occasional Shimé, but I cannot actually remember doing it frequently. It was a different scenario in Okinawa, however, but more of that in another episode!

We rarely did the basic Bunkai for the Kata as well, more Ojo Bunkai in practical, self-defense manner.  If I can share something with you – I actually only learned the Renzoku Bunkai for the Gekki Sai Katas in 1976, when Higaonna Sensei came to South Africa with a Japanese team – almost ten years after we changed to Goju Ryu. I mention this fact because we are very much spoiled these days with an overflow of knowledge available at the click of a finger on a keyboard, knowledge which took us ‘old schoolers’years to learn and figure out in line with Higaonna Sensei’s philosophy of ‘just do it , soon you understand!

One of the moments in my Karate career that I will never ever forget, is one evening, there were just one or two persons for the free training, Higaonna Sensei came to me and said – ‘You Superinpei!’ and taught me the Kata himself, personally. He would take me about every two weeks or so and made me do it to see how I was getting to grips with it, corrected me, advised me!

So that was basically what training was all about – to get physically stronger, faster, more skillful and the same mentally – stronger, faster and more skillful!  And the buzz word – repetitions! One More Time!

Repetitions, apart from developing the motor reflexes needed as I explained, is the one way to develop mental strength – thé most important factor standing between victory and defeat in a real situation!

I have brushed here and there on the training at Yoyogi Dojo in 1973 and to maintain perspective, one has to realize that a lot has happened in the almost 40 years since then.  

If one just ponders upon the magnitude of knowledge available presently on all aspects of physical well-being, research into sport science on how to get the best performance from every aspect of your body, such as nutrition, the most scientific ways to develop strength and conditioning, power, speed, endurance, recovery combined with the research into the mind – sport psychology with all the different components of motivation, mental preparation, how to enhance your concentration, it is amazing that a few factors from the ‘old days’ still proves to be the difference between a Master and just another good Karate Ka.

If you are interested in the Global Virtual Dojo, visit 

traditionalschoolofkarate.com

Music by Basson Laubscher

I have jumped around a bit with the chronology of the Podcasts series for a good reason – preventing listener boredom!

So today I’m going to talk again a bit more about training in Japan and what training actually consisted off in Higaonna Sensei’s Yoyogi Dojo in 1973 and relate and share to a rather ‘never to be forgotten’ night of training with Higaonna Sensei one evening! 

I was getting used to life in Japan by now – the diet, customs, sitting cross legged and getting used to the little kids close to where I stayed calling out ‘Henna Gaijin’ – which means funny or weird westerner every time they saw me walking past to the station to go to the Dojo!

You will recall from previous episodes that I touched here and there on the training we were doing in the different classes – I mentioned the warming up or Junbi Undo, the occasional running through the streets of Tokyo, Makiwara training and Kihon and Kata training.

In the classes, which were between one and a half hour and two hours long – I cannot remember exactly which was which – maybe Sensei Kokubo would be able to shed more light on that – the training pretty much varied from class to class and there was never a chance to get bored with Higaonna Sensei!

All classes started with the Junbi Undo, which by the way, was nowhere structured as it is today, it pretty much differed from individual to individual, no apparent standardised format or structure or system with the different presenters, which were usually Brown Belts but also Black Belts  such as the Uchi Deshi, Kokubo Sensei, each one having his particular fancy – some would just do loads of calisthenics, another would fancy abdominals so we would literally do tons of different sit-ups.

Another one would like squats and we would do tons of that – Bunny hops were a favorite all around and the fact that Gaijins was not too crazy about it, made it more popular, I guess! One guy was a bit of a Yoga fundi, so we would do a lot of stretching and breathing. 

No Dr Google then, so we did many things maybe in ways that was actually not so good for the body, especially the knees, shoulders and back – the common complaint amongst Karate ka!  But there was a basic direction in the sense that we warmed the body first and then did the conditioning stuff and finished off with the breathing exercises.

This was pretty much the situation still in 1978 when I returned to Tokyo.   In 1978 the Junbi Undo was still very unrefined, and the parameters of the system were still very vague and overflowed, depending on the different presenters.

I should explain!   The standardization actually happened in 1979 in Poole when the IOGKF was established during a two-week International Gasshuku. The International Gasshukus were all two weeks in the beginning – the first week was only Black Belts and then for everybody the second week.

Higaonna Sensei took time the first or second morning in Poole to explain Miyagi Chojun Sensei’s Junbi Undo and to actually teach it to us. He would provide the guidelines so to more or less standardize the Junbi Undo in the different phases and explaining the reasons for the different phases – first, warming up and stretching starting from the toes and feet – the furthest point away from your heart, joint by joint working up to the neck and head eventually, then the conditioning or strength building phase concentrating on the main muscle groups that stabilizes the body and karate techniques and finally the breathing phase using the Palm of the hand strikes combined with Muchimi and Kimé.  As a person with a university degree in Physical Training, this is what I wanted, as it made sense and tied in with modern principles.

To make sure the format was imprinted in everyone’s memory – remember, no YouTube, and videos then – you had to remember it – we did it every morning of the Gasshuku in the same manner. An interesting point here is that the Neko Undo was called Tiger Stretching by Sensei – he explained as he went down that ‘Tiger look forward and growled (breathing out) Tiger looked Left and growled (breathing out), Tiger looked Right and growled (breathing out) then stretched back and breathed in and out suddenly!  

He emphasized that the Junbi Undo is an integral part of the Goju Ryu system, not a ‘loose standing’ warming up activity.

Back to training in Yoyogi!

Another interesting point to illustrate that things we today accept as given, such as modern gymnasiums and sports halls with beautiful floors and cloak rooms were very much non available then, was the fact that before every class, the floorboard nails in one section of the Dojo had to be knocked back in again – it was an old floor and building and the nails could pop out during classes and could cause injuries by cutting your feet, etc., so whilst the cleaning of the floor was in progress, someone would also check the nails! 

After the warming up, we would do Kihon. As I mentioned before, Higaonna Sensei loved Kihon – he was 34 years old at the time, a ball of energy, and we did loads of Kihon every session!  

Another interesting factor to be understood here, was that all the classes were conducted exclusively in Japanese – I mentioned before that Sensei spoke very little English – five words would be over exaggerating, one or two of the students understood a little bit of English, but could not speak it, so Pat had to translate to me after classes if there was something I did not understand clearly!    I made a point of trying to learn Japanese as fast as I could, especially Karate ‘language’, but when things happened fast, I had to ask Pat! 

The different Karate and other ‘slang’ words used, threw any ‘How to Speak Japanese in 10 Lessons’ or ‘Everyday Expressions in Japanese’ out the window whilst on the Dojo floor!  So you picked up the Motto Hayaku, Yukuri, Kime, Mo Ichi Do (which was mostly used as ‘Moshto), Kondo Wa, Tsuyoku, Nagai desu, Shotu, Ashi Kotai which got you through most of the basic stuff! Words Sensei used a lot which were more clear in it’s intentions, were ‘Mo Speedo’ and ‘Mo Powa’!

It was standard practice or customary to do one technique many times, Sensei would count initially and we Kiai’ed every tenth technique. Sometimes, we would go around the entire class, each one counting in succession to ten with each hand or leg – sometimes a few times around the class! Average attendance was about between fifteen and twenty, so it could become a marathon sometimes!

The day I was referring to as a ‘never to be forgotten’ session – right up there with the Makiwara story – was the last session one evening when it so happened that Higaonna Sensei looked a bit pee-ed off by some of the students not cleaning the floor and Dojo properly before class, so, after a very short Junbi Undo – cut short by him – we started the class by standing in Heiko Dachidoing Mae Geri – kicks – not the usual Zuki or punching training first!  

I tried not to look at Sensei but from the odd glimpse and from the tone of his voice whilst counting, I could see that he was a bit irritated – to put it mildly – and we kicked and kicked!  

After twenty minutes, he explained that we must kick harder and Kiai (the shout of spirit) on every kick!   By now, my legs were on auto pilot already and I thought this could be the end phase coming up!  Surprise surprise! 

We now started going around the class, everyone counting 10 with each leg and when someone messed up the count, that person had to start again from one.  

When Sensei finally said Yamé, one’s legs could not stand still! Most of the class were stumbling around a bit!  So, minus the ten-minute warming up, we kicked for an hour and forty-five, fifty minutes!   I remember us finishing off with the Fukyu Kata – just one repetition, and it probably looked like a comedy movie to an outsider with no one able to maintain directions. You went one way and your legs went the other way! 

Not many students from that class came back the next day or the next week to the Dojo!

I had trouble taking the trains home that evening!  I knew if I sat down, I would probably fall over trying to get up, so I just hung on the overhead straps, the downside to this being that my legs were complaining about carrying my weight!  Changing trains in Shinjuku Station was hell, as one had to rush between trains – the train leaving on the Keio line which I had to take, had a ten-minute window to catch and I had to go down a length of stairs and up another one, then scramble for the nearest coach.  

I had to use the rails up and down the stairs and I missed the train and it took a while before the next one!  But it was still paradise compared to when I got home to Mrs. Fukazawa and she was still awake and had prepared some food for me and I had to sit down cross-legged in Agura!

Mrs Fukazawa would wait up every night for me to come home, no matter what time, and always had something prepared for me to eat.  I felt so sorry for her, as she had to get up really early the next morning, but my Japanese was not of such a level yet that I could tell her to please go to sleep!  

One evening, as she was watching a Japanese program on TV, I got out my airmail letter and started to write home.  Remember, no internet, mobile phones, text messages, social media – just Air Mail!  A letter took about one week to South Africa by Air Mail, Surface Mail was about three to four weeks, so Air Mail was the option!  

As I placed the letter down, she immediately said something with the word Tegami (it means letter) in it and excused herself and went to bed!  The gap was there – I realized she felt that writing a letter had to be done in private, so from there on, when I came home and saw she was really tired, I just said ‘Tegami’ and she would bow and excuse herself and go to bed!

Back to Karate – the real test was actually the next two days, as my legs were so stiff – I shuffled to the station, shuffled to the Dojo, struggled to sit down anywhere, battled to do Seiza in the Dojo, felt every muscle in my legs complaining when I tried to move or kick! There were only me and Pat in the classes that day who were there the night before for the kicking marathon and off course, the fresh ones smirked at the Gaijins struggling!

The message of the whole experience was emphasizing again that we are practicing a Martial Art, not a sport or a game. A Martial Art such as traditional Karate, is a serious matter, as your life could depend on it at any time!

If you are interested in the Global Virtual Dojo, visit 

traditionalschoolofkarate.com

Music by Basson Laubscher

In this podcast I’m going to describe some of my early days of training Karate and some of the background and circumstances that got me and kept me on this road which I have been pursuing for nearly six decades now. 

In episode two, I described my motivation to begin Karate as a means of staying alive, so to speak, by holding my ground, first in boxing and later Karate against the military university students staying at my mother’s boarding house in the university town of Stellenbosch.

It actually goes further back than this to when I was five years old!   As most of you have noticed, I do have a pair of rather ‘bigger than normal’ ears!  Incidentally, Bakkies is my nickname and in my language, Bakkies has two meanings – it can mean soup bowls – reflecting directly on the size of my ears and secondly Bakkies can mean a funny face! You decide which one makes sense to you!

My father worked on the railways and this meant that he was transferred occasionally. I was born in a very small town called Bethlehem in the central part of our country, the Free State province. 

At the age of three, my father was transferred to another small town in the semi desert or Karoo area of the country, called Colesberg.   

My father and my mother were working so my younger sister and myself were left in the care of our housekeeper during the day.  Apparently, I was a bit of a handful toddler – handful as in extremely naughty, according to some of my uncles, aunts, grandfathers and grandmothers!

So, one day I played with matches, striking them and lighting them while standing on a chair to get to the windowsill where the box of safety matches was kept – supposed to be out of reach to me!  

As I was playing with the matches, I set fire to the curtains in the window!  Luckily, our housekeeper smelled the fire and came running and managed to pull me clear from the windowsill from the chair and put out the fire with a bucket of water as it was starting to lick a bottle of methylated spirits kept in the window!

My parents decided there and then that I was impossible to be left at home and after negotiations with the local school principal, I was sent to school at the age of five – not a pre-school, a real school! 

The school going age by law was seven, so I was obviously the smallest and weakest kid in the class!  

What happens to the smallest and weakest kid with big ears in school – you get your ears pulled, your sandwiches taken and you get thumped by older, bigger bully types!  

There were no psychologists and counsellors in those days, and your teacher and parents could not protect you 24/7, so you had to become streetwise to survive, such as becoming friends with the bigger guys in school for half your lunch sandwiches and fruit!

I was in fights at school many a day and usually the loser!  I joined the school’s wrestling club, and I tried hard, but was not strong enough for my older peers and I was basically a practice bag for the other kids, although I did learn some defensive stuff that helped!  

This all just made me more and more determine that, one day, I will be on top! This went on to my late Primary school days – 9, 10 years old, when I became quite a rugby star in the schools under 75 lbs team, my ears got pulled less!

When I entered senior high school, I was the youngest boy in the entire school! Boy schools are usually a ‘survival of the fittest and strongest’ scenario – initiation by the seniors was prevalent, teachers tended to ’look the other way’, all in the name of ‘school spirit!’ similar to ‘Tom Brown’s Schooldays!  

The ‘being everyone’s punch bag’ started changing when I was taught boxing by the Military students and joining the Karate club and I actually started coming out of encounters alive and actually the winner! 

Strangely, this ‘winning’ did not really make me feel that good!  

Let me explain, to this day I hate conflict and would do everything to avoid it, but when there is no other way, you need to do what you have to do! 

I still have the inscription in my High School Dairy that reads ‘Violence is the Last Refuge of the Intellectually Defeated!’ One of the credos that I still live by! 

Back to Karate!  During the first and second years of training, doing a very unrefined version of Kyokushinkai, we received classes in Stellenbosch twice a week, and it was adequate for me, as I was involved in other sports, Rugby and Cricket – I played 1^st IX cricket in my final two years at school and had the highest batting average in the team!

Frequently, Japanese ships would dock in Cape Town Harbour in those days and occasionally someone who knew some Karate drifted into the Cape Town Dojo and was immediately asked to show us stuff, no matter what grade or style, we wanted to see Japanese doing Karate movements!  

An interesting fact at this point is the fact that An’ichi Miyagi Sensei was a sailor in those days and he once told me how his ship came to Cape Town in the 1950’s and he actually taught Gekki Sai Dai Ichi at a well know Judo institute in Cape Town. It was way before Karate was known in South Africa, but he said they enjoyed it and treated him really well!  

Big changes came in beginning of 1965, when we changed from the Kyokushin Style to Shotokan and affiliated to the largest Shotokan organisation – the Japan Karate Association or JKA. JKA send four of their top instructors to promote the art in South Africa for a period of more than six months – in a previous podcast, I mentioned Senseis Kasé, Kanazawa, Enoeda and Shirai.  Sensei Kasé came to Cape Town first and stayed for about a month, after which he left for Durban and Sensei Shirai taught in Cape Town.

It was by far the largest and probably the first Karate organisation in South Africa with intangible roots in Japan and all the prominent Karate men in South Africa were part of this – names such as Sensei James Rosseau who founded Higaonna Sensei about a year later and so started to spread the popularity of Higaonna Sensei’s Goju Ryu worldwide, as I touched on in a previous episode 

The first time I saw and was taught by Sensei Kasé, I was totally blown away!  He was of similar build to Higaonna Sensei and incredibly powerful and fast!  Interesting, he did Kokutsu Dachi with the heel up, similar to our Neko Ashi Dachi! 

Sensei Kasé left after a few weeks for Durban and Sensei Hiroshi Shirai came to Cape Town – a previous All Japan Grand Champion, similar to Senseis Kanazawa and Enoeda.  His training was slightly more athletic, compared to the raw power of Kasé Sensei, but also unbelievable technically and physically and mentally tough.

And we learned the word Ossu!!   Many theories on the origins, but the most likely two would be that it is a slang abbreviation for Onegaishimasu or Arrigato Gozaimasu or even Ganbarrimasu.

 Nevertheless, it was used for any reply such as ‘Yes’; ‘I understand’ ‘Thank You’, ‘Goodbye’ – a good technique that got past you by an opponent – Ossu – basically for everything!  The golden rule was not to use it when addressing someone senior to yourself or elderly persons.  

It could really be killing to be in the company of a group of university students in Japan, such as at a baseball tournament – hearing ‘Ossu’, ‘Ossu Sempai’ all day long!

So, classes were Tuesdays and Thursdays in Stellenbosch and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in Cape Town.  Luckily, one of the military university students Dojo members staying with us, drove through to Cape Town – about 45 kilometres from Stellenbosch – on Tuesdays and sometimes on a Thursday and Fridays as well, and I could hitch a ride by donating about 20 cents for fuel – it would buy about two gallons of fuel for his VW Beetle!  

I could not get enough of training, although my arms had permanent blue patches because of blocking and both my shins the same from being Ashi Harai’ed constantly!

The problem for me was the few Thursdays and Fridays that we did not go because of his studies, so, I made a plan! 

I would tell my parents that I had an opportunity into Cape Town and back with someone else from the Dojo.  

I would then hitch-hike to Cape Town – absolutely forbidden by my parents – no highways then, the road to Cape Town was through the suburbs, so not too difficult to get a ride, but of course dangerous – but try to tell a 16-year-old about danger!

After class, which stopped at 20h00, I would rush down to Cape Town station and catch the last train from Cape Town that passed Stellenbosch – it was a combined long-haul goods and passenger train.  A few times, I would not have any money for the train back, so I would sneak into an unlit compartment and when I heard the conductor coming, would just sit in the dark and hoped he did not see me!  Fortunately, this did not happen too often!

Training sessions were about ten minutes of warming up, lots of basics, standing, moving, mainly straight linear and at least half the class time was sparring – from basic to moving, Ippon to Sanbon to Jiyu Kumite.

A favourite type of training of both Kasé and Shirai Senseis was ‘line Kumite’. 

One person would stand with the back against the wall in Kamae and a line of anything from three to ten or more persons would attack you with one attack and you had to block and counter. 

Mostly Yakusoku, so you knew what attacks to expect and the attacker would shout ‘Jodan’ Chudan’ Mae Geri’ shortly before attacking, but sometimes it was Jiyu or free, so any attack could be expected!  Hence the blue marks on my arms and legs! We would also do it in a circle, where one guy fought the circle, then the next one in, etc.  

Higaonna Sensei also liked the circle training when he taught in 1972 in Cape Town and we did a lot of that!

Then free sparring at the end – also sometimes in a circle, and then we finished off with Kata – the basic Heian Kata and then usually the Kata for your next grade.

I still credit my long moving ability to my Shotokan days, but adapted it to more angular and circular moving in line with Goju Ryu style.

In July 1965, I, along with three others, were invited to test for Shodan and after a cruelling session, I was awarded my Shodan – I still have it signed by  Nakayama Sensei, dated 30 July 1965 and although only 16 years old, it was a senior Shodan, I also went on to become the Cape Open Grand Champion later in the year, again in a senior division.

I personally embroidered my first Black Belt with the Japanese Kanji for Kara Te by hand! I still have that belt, to give you an idea of what a milestone it was for a little guy with big ears!  Reflecting back, I was a little disappointed, as I thought that I was not really that good at that stage, so I guess this was the starting point of my quest to just simply get to be the best I could by constantly and unconditionally pursuing excellence forever, driven by my resolution when five years old that ‘One day, I will be on top!! 

I’m still getting there!

In this podcast I’m going to describe some of my early days of training Karate and some of the background and circumstances that got me and kept me on this road which I have been pursuing for nearly six decades now. 

In episode two, I described my motivation to begin Karate as a means of staying alive, so to speak, by holding my ground, first in boxing and later Karate against the military university students staying at my mother’s boarding house in the university town of Stellenbosch.

It actually goes further back than this to when I was five years old!   As most of you have noticed, I do have a pair of rather ‘bigger than normal’ ears!  Incidentally, Bakkies is my nickname and in my language, Bakkies has two meanings – it can mean soup bowls – reflecting directly on the size of my ears and secondly Bakkies can mean a funny face! You decide which one makes sense to you!

My father worked on the railways and this meant that he was transferred occasionally. I was born in a very small town called Bethlehem in the central part of our country, the Free State province. 

At the age of three, my father was transferred to another small town in the semi desert or Karoo area of the country, called Colesberg.   

My father and my mother were working so my younger sister and myself were left in the care of our housekeeper during the day.  Apparently, I was a bit of a handful toddler – handful as in extremely naughty, according to some of my uncles, aunts, grandfathers and grandmothers!

So, one day I played with matches, striking them and lighting them while standing on a chair to get to the windowsill where the box of safety matches was kept – supposed to be out of reach to me!  

As I was playing with the matches, I set fire to the curtains in the window!  Luckily, our housekeeper smelled the fire and came running and managed to pull me clear from the windowsill from the chair and put out the fire with a bucket of water as it was starting to lick a bottle of methylated spirits kept in the window!

My parents decided there and then that I was impossible to be left at home and after negotiations with the local school principal, I was sent to school at the age of five – not a pre-school, a real school! 

The school going age by law was seven, so I was obviously the smallest and weakest kid in the class!  

What happens to the smallest and weakest kid with big ears in school – you get your ears pulled, your sandwiches taken and you get thumped by older, bigger bully types!  

There were no psychologists and counsellors in those days, and your teacher and parents could not protect you 24/7, so you had to become streetwise to survive, such as becoming friends with the bigger guys in school for half your lunch sandwiches and fruit!

I was in fights at school many a day and usually the loser!  I joined the school’s wrestling club, and I tried hard, but was not strong enough for my older peers and I was basically a practice bag for the other kids, although I did learn some defensive stuff that helped!  

This all just made me more and more determine that, one day, I will be on top! This went on to my late Primary school days – 9, 10 years old, when I became quite a rugby star in the schools under 75 lbs team, my ears got pulled less!

When I entered senior high school, I was the youngest boy in the entire school! Boy schools are usually a ‘survival of the fittest and strongest’ scenario – initiation by the seniors was prevalent, teachers tended to ’look the other way’, all in the name of ‘school spirit!’ similar to ‘Tom Brown’s Schooldays!  

The ‘being everyone’s punch bag’ started changing when I was taught boxing by the Military students and joining the Karate club and I actually started coming out of encounters alive and actually the winner! 

Strangely, this ‘winning’ did not really make me feel that good!  

Let me explain, to this day I hate conflict and would do everything to avoid it, but when there is no other way, you need to do what you have to do! 

I still have the inscription in my High School Dairy that reads ‘Violence is the Last Refuge of the Intellectually Defeated!’ One of the credos that I still live by! 

Back to Karate!  During the first and second years of training, doing a very unrefined version of Kyokushinkai, we received classes in Stellenbosch twice a week, and it was adequate for me, as I was involved in other sports, Rugby and Cricket – I played 1^st IX cricket in my final two years at school and had the highest batting average in the team!

Frequently, Japanese ships would dock in Cape Town Harbour in those days and occasionally someone who knew some Karate drifted into the Cape Town Dojo and was immediately asked to show us stuff, no matter what grade or style, we wanted to see Japanese doing Karate movements!  

An interesting fact at this point is the fact that An’ichi Miyagi Sensei was a sailor in those days and he once told me how his ship came to Cape Town in the 1950’s and he actually taught Gekki Sai Dai Ichi at a well know Judo institute in Cape Town. It was way before Karate was known in South Africa, but he said they enjoyed it and treated him really well!  

Big changes came in beginning of 1965, when we changed from the Kyokushin Style to Shotokan and affiliated to the largest Shotokan organisation – the Japan Karate Association or JKA. JKA send four of their top instructors to promote the art in South Africa for a period of more than six months – in a previous podcast, I mentioned Senseis Kasé, Kanazawa, Enoeda and Shirai.  Sensei Kasé came to Cape Town first and stayed for about a month, after which he left for Durban and Sensei Shirai taught in Cape Town.

It was by far the largest and probably the first Karate organisation in South Africa with intangible roots in Japan and all the prominent Karate men in South Africa were part of this – names such as Sensei James Rosseau who founded Higaonna Sensei about a year later and so started to spread the popularity of Higaonna Sensei’s Goju Ryu worldwide, as I touched on in a previous episode 

The first time I saw and was taught by Sensei Kasé, I was totally blown away!  He was of similar build to Higaonna Sensei and incredibly powerful and fast!  Interesting, he did Kokutsu Dachi with the heel up, similar to our Neko Ashi Dachi! 

Sensei Kasé left after a few weeks for Durban and Sensei Hiroshi Shirai came to Cape Town – a previous All Japan Grand Champion, similar to Senseis Kanazawa and Enoeda.  His training was slightly more athletic, compared to the raw power of Kasé Sensei, but also unbelievable technically and physically and mentally tough.

And we learned the word Ossu!!   Many theories on the origins, but the most likely two would be that it is a slang abbreviation for Onegaishimasu or Arrigato Gozaimasu or even Ganbarrimasu.

 Nevertheless, it was used for any reply such as ‘Yes’; ‘I understand’ ‘Thank You’, ‘Goodbye’ – a good technique that got past you by an opponent – Ossu – basically for everything!  The golden rule was not to use it when addressing someone senior to yourself or elderly persons.  

It could really be killing to be in the company of a group of university students in Japan, such as at a baseball tournament – hearing ‘Ossu’, ‘Ossu Sempai’ all day long!

So, classes were Tuesdays and Thursdays in Stellenbosch and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in Cape Town.  Luckily, one of the military university students Dojo members staying with us, drove through to Cape Town – about 45 kilometres from Stellenbosch – on Tuesdays and sometimes on a Thursday and Fridays as well, and I could hitch a ride by donating about 20 cents for fuel – it would buy about two gallons of fuel for his VW Beetle!  

I could not get enough of training, although my arms had permanent blue patches because of blocking and both my shins the same from being Ashi Harai’ed constantly!

The problem for me was the few Thursdays and Fridays that we did not go because of his studies, so, I made a plan! 

I would tell my parents that I had an opportunity into Cape Town and back with someone else from the Dojo.  

I would then hitch-hike to Cape Town – absolutely forbidden by my parents – no highways then, the road to Cape Town was through the suburbs, so not too difficult to get a ride, but of course dangerous – but try to tell a 16-year-old about danger!

After class, which stopped at 20h00, I would rush down to Cape Town station and catch the last train from Cape Town that passed Stellenbosch – it was a combined long-haul goods and passenger train.  A few times, I would not have any money for the train back, so I would sneak into an unlit compartment and when I heard the conductor coming, would just sit in the dark and hoped he did not see me!  Fortunately, this did not happen too often!

Training sessions were about ten minutes of warming up, lots of basics, standing, moving, mainly straight linear and at least half the class time was sparring – from basic to moving, Ippon to Sanbon to Jiyu Kumite.

A favourite type of training of both Kasé and Shirai Senseis was ‘line Kumite’. 

One person would stand with the back against the wall in Kamae and a line of anything from three to ten or more persons would attack you with one attack and you had to block and counter. 

Mostly Yakusoku, so you knew what attacks to expect and the attacker would shout ‘Jodan’ Chudan’ Mae Geri’ shortly before attacking, but sometimes it was Jiyu or free, so any attack could be expected!  Hence the blue marks on my arms and legs! We would also do it in a circle, where one guy fought the circle, then the next one in, etc.  

Higaonna Sensei also liked the circle training when he taught in 1972 in Cape Town and we did a lot of that!

Then free sparring at the end – also sometimes in a circle, and then we finished off with Kata – the basic Heian Kata and then usually the Kata for your next grade.

I still credit my long moving ability to my Shotokan days, but adapted it to more angular and circular moving in line with Goju Ryu style.

In July 1965, I, along with three others, were invited to test for Shodan and after a cruelling session, I was awarded my Shodan – I still have it signed by  Nakayama Sensei, dated 30 July 1965 and although only 16 years old, it was a senior Shodan, I also went on to become the Cape Open Grand Champion later in the year, again in a senior division.

I personally embroidered my first Black Belt with the Japanese Kanji for Kara Te by hand! I still have that belt, to give you an idea of what a milestone it was for a little guy with big ears!  Reflecting back, I was a little disappointed, as I thought that I was not really that good at that stage, so I guess this was the starting point of my quest to just simply get to be the best I could by constantly and unconditionally pursuing excellence forever, driven by my resolution when five years old that ‘One day, I will be on top!! 

I’m still getting there!

I recently launched my Traditional School of Karate Global Virtual Dojo. For information, visit https://traditionalschoolofkarate.com

Back in the Dojo, I was in my third week and slowly getting used to conditions and training. Still battling with the completely different diet and really longing for a big juicy South African Steak, to which I was accustomed!     The larger parts of South Africa were meat producing areas and meat, mutton, pork  and beef was very much staple food for us – for salad, you would have chicken!    But steak was unaffordable in Tokyo!   A 500gram steak in South Africa in 1973 would set you back roughly USA$2.00, but in Tokyo, at very selected restaurants, a 200gram steak would start around USA$40 – rough! 

So it was noodles and rice from street café’s to fill up with and edamame, pork and chicken for protein – and the odd Big Mac (which had probably more soy than actual meat in the patty! !  

I went for my fist Sushi with Denis Martin and some guys from the Dojo and was horrified!  Raw fish!  Only cats ate raw fish in South Africa in those days – totally unheard of back home!  Remember, the world was young and South Africa had no television before late 1977, 1978. 

Little did I know how crazy I would become about this dish until I went of grains completely – a story for another day – but I still am nuts about Sashimi!

At this time, I was delighted to learn from Terry  that some South Africans would be coming to Tokyo!  The big JKA Shotokan organisation was holding their annual ’World Tournament’ in Tokyo and some of my Shotokan friends from South Africa were going to be there – amongst others Karate legend – the late Sensei Stan Schmidt and the late Eddie Dorey – the reason why I wear a moustache – later more on this one – the late Ken Whitstock and my good friends Norman Robinson and Robert Ferriére.   

   It is interesting to comment at this stage that really good friendships was prevalent between individuals of the different Karate styles in South Africa at that stage – I am still friends through all these years with many of those guys.  

I would believe that a few factors contributed to this.   Most of the senior guys in South Africa from the different styles with roots in Japan, could physically handle themselves in a fight.  Sandans, Yondans in the major styles in those days, could actually fight when it came down to it – that’s why most of us started Karate – to take care of ourselves in the street!  

So when we had an All Styles tournament, such as trials for a National team, it was rough!  We really threw everything we had at each other during tournaments, as we realised that anyone could beat anyone on a given day. 

To give you an idea – also keep in mind that fights were Shobu Ippon in those days, the first one to score a full point, wins –  in 1969 in a South African National Games tournament, I cracked an opponent’s ribs with a Mae Geri – the front kick, through his gedan block – knocked him down! 

The head referee called Yamé and called up all the other referees as we knelt down, my opponent holding his ribs but maintaining himself – showing pain or fatigue to an opponent, whether in the Dojo or in a tournament, was totally against the codes we lived by then!  

I could hear the referees discussing the possible point or disqualification.    I clearly heard one referee remarking that the kick was not too well focussed – more of a push, so they only gave me a Waza Ari or a half point!  The other guy could not continue, had to be helped off, so I was awarded the fight!  We kind of fought for real!    And we respected each other’s abilities, styles and Teachers.

When Higaonna Sensei visited South Africa and stayed over in Johannesburg before coming down to Cape Town, he was always invited by the late Sensei Stan Schmidt to teach a seminar or session at the JKA Dojo!  Similarly, Terry O’Neill trained at Yoyogi Dojo when he visited Japan, as he had tremendous respect for Sensei – some of you will remember him from the 2016   Budosai in Okinawa as Higaonna Sensei’s guest.  Yoyogi Dojo was frequented by persons from other styles, some on a regular basis, Shotokan, Wado Ryu, Shito ryu Goju Kai, etc., as I mentioned in the incident with the Shito Ryu Champion previously.

As I recall, I think there were basically seven major styles of Karate in South Africa at that time in four major style blocks and it’s interesting to note five decades later, how these major styles splintered up through the years!  Goju Ryu alone now has about 30 different organisations in South Africa at present!   This is also an international phenomena.

There are many reasons for this, but I guess commercialism must head the list, apart from personality clashes, ego and politics and don’t forget plain stupidity!    The Martial Arts unfortunately has the ability to attract – apart from top quality, real sincere persons –  really weird individuals as well!  One also has to guard yourself constantly that you yourself do not become bigger than the Art!    In a later episode, I will elaborate more on this statement.

Back to the upcoming tournament in Tokyo!    South Africa had a team of five persons there in total, and Sensei Stan Schmidt asked me to be their reserve in the team event, in case someone had to drop out because of a serious injury. Nobody got injured, but it was a good experience and again showed the goodwill between major styles!

I have seen and met one or two of the top Japanese in Paris the year before at the 1972 WUKO World Championships, where the JKA style team represented Japan according to their national selection system. They were a bit notorious afterwards as they caused quite a stir by walking out of the tournament after being beaten by England in the preliminaries of the team competition.  

So it would be interesting to watch them participate on their home soil – well-known names like Tanaka Masahiko, Oishi Takeshi, Abe Keigo, Yahara Mikio – a good friend of Terauchi Sensei!. Another exciting event would be demonstration fighting bouts by some of the senior Senseis such as my previous JKA teacher, Shirai Hiroshi and Karate icons Kanazawa Hirokazu, Enoeda Keinozuke  and although demonstrations, their quality was obvious! 

After the tournament, being the reserve, I went to the Sayonara Party, enjoyed the company of old friends and just stuffed myself with so much free food and beer!!

It was a bit sad to be alone when the South Africans and Terry had departed – just Pat Telsrov and Denis Martin speaking English at the Dojo! Training was great, intensive and the summer was now really kicking in – the heat went up even more!  

In the Dojo there were also some other interesting characters – one, the Uchi Deshi – literally translated ‘living in’ or apprentice instructor assisting the Sensei, none-other than Kokubo Jiuici Sensei currently from Peru!    He was a Nidan I guess and he was responsible for the neatness and discipline in the Dojo and to take some classes for Higaonna Sensei to help out. There was also an obnoxious, well-built and strong for his size Brown belt – Terauchi Kazuo Sensei!  He did not like Gaijin, but we got to understand each other in due course and are friends to this day!  

Let me describe the cloakroom – it was no room, it was a walkthrough between two buildings about three meters wide with some kind of a roof on the Dojo side. You only changed in and out of your Gi there and it was customary to hang your Gi there after training to dry out before the next day. The few senior black belts – Sandan and Ito had a separate tiny room inside the Dojo, but I was not invited to use it in 1973 – that came later on a return visit – again more about this in a future episode!

Interesting to note was the fact that after a week or two in Japan, your sweat was pure water and did not smell much, so you could leave the Gi hanging in the cloakroom until the next day – at your own risk!   The risk being Kokubo san walking through the cloakroom and throwing out all the smelly and obvious dirty looking Gi’s as well as those of people who have not trained for a long time, into the small passage in front of the Dojo to the side!  

A very strange and unpretentious guy and still a great friend of mine to this day!  He was a fitness fanatic and loved running  

Occasionally on Friday and Saturday evenings, he would take the last class running as part of the class or after class to nearby Harajuku or Yoyogi Koen or Park, where the 1964 Tokyo Olympics were held.

It was not so far to run, but a couple of things complicated matters:

One – We ran in a bundle, almost military style; Two, we ran with our Karate Gi’s on and Three, we ran bare feet through the streets, which were quite busy  on a Friday or Saturday evening! 

During the first run, Denis and I were really tired afterwards, as we ran quite far before turning around at an awkward slow pace and constantly taking care not to step onto someone’s foot, etc.  We had blisters on the feet afterwards – so more uncomfortable training the following week!  Pat had been there longer than us, was as tall as the locals, an ex-marine so he just did what he was told to do – sir, yes sir!

So Denis and myself strategized – the next time, we made sure that we were in the front and were the pace setters!  We used our long legs to stretch the strides and went a lot faster in the process than what the Japanese were used to!  A lot of complaints came from the pack behind us, but we played deaf!  So the command to turn around came a lot sooner than previously!  This would be our tactic in future to ensure coming back at a reasonable time and not forty minutes after the class was supposed to end!

Living and training in Japan in those days was a lot different than today, when everyone goes to Okinawa and stays in air conditioned luxury hotel rooms with breakfast and all amenities – internet, emails, etc and the hardest part is the training itself!  Back in the 70’s, the training was just another and often, the easier to cope with, hard part of being there!

After explaining the harmony between the different organisations and styles, and the top quality Karate Ka in all of these, I want to conclude with the statement that a style and organisation is not as relevant as your actual Teacher!

It’s Not the Style, it’s the Teacher!

I’ve recently launched the Global Virtual Dojo, have a look at https://traditionalschoolofkarate.com

Today I am going to discuss the Pursuing Excellence Mindset – how I perceive this and how it has influenced and directed my life and the practise of my craft -Traditional Karate Do.

So how should one approach this – how will you know what Excellence to be Pursuing?

If you want to become successful at anything in life, it is important to study successful people in that field and to observe the factors that made them successful – the internal factors, which they can control or manage and of course, the external factors, the opportunities they grasped and obstacles they faced and overcame to become successful. 

Very early in my life, in fact I was 14 years old and had just started doing Karate, I read an article on an interview with the most successful, self-made, South African businessman in the post-World War Two era, and obviously one of the questions by the journalist was ‘what contributed or what did you do differently to become successful’?. 

One of the first sentences in his reply, was Attention to Detail! 

Subsequently I studied – and am I still doing to this day – successful persons from all spheres of life – pioneers, explorers, sportspersons, empire builders, military commanders, unique business persons, artists, musicians, company founders and CEO’s and this factor of ‘attention to detail’, usually appears in some form or another somewhere in most of their biographies. 

Later, in my military career – I spent 33 years altogether in the military – originally for compulsory national service where I served in a field artillery regiment – and later in the permanent or regular force as a staff officer for physical training and sport, the factor of attention to detail was, of course, prevalent in all aspects when you prepare and plan to win a battle – from team to personal planning such as cleaning your boots, taking care of your health, making sure your weaponry is always clean and ready to use and most important – that your mind was kept healthy, alert and focused!

Back to Karate – in previous podcasts describing my training experience in Japan, I mentioned the free or self-training in the evenings after formal classes, which could continue usually to about 10:00 o’clock, after which the few seniors, would go for a beer and something to eat before I would take the train journey back to the apartment where I stayed.   

Sometimes, usually on a Friday or Saturday evening when there was no training the next morning, or relax Sunday the next day, the beer and something to eat, could run into extra overtime and I would make the last train home of the evening! Taxis were expensive!

The last train in the evening, especially on Fridays and Saturdays would usually have a couple – ranging from slightly too heavily intoxicated, people on board and because it was the last train, it was usually pretty crowded!   The station platforms and dustbins would be the prime targets for vomiting and spitting!  

But the next morning, that station platform and dustbins would be spotless again!

One Saturday morning, I had to catch an early train for some reason or other. The neighborhood station where I lived, was relatively small and from there I would transfer to the main lines. 

As I was waiting for the train to arrive, I noticed the person cleaning the dustbins.  

It struck me that he had three different brushes and four different rags for cleaning the dustbin!  He would start off on a very dirty, messy dustbin with a brush or scraper, then change to another brush and then to a finer brush. After that, he would start with his rags – wiping, cleaning and polishing that dustbin until it was shining like a mirror. And it all happened at a very past tempo!

Even at the age of 23, it impressed me tremendously that someone would take so much pride in what he was doing and his focus on the details of his job, probably regarded as an obscure job in most societies! 

So in pursuing excellence, firstly, your mindset needs to be aware, alert and open to observe all the detail of your craft which you would need to advance, and take your personal ability in your craft to the highest possible level of excellence!

To support this, you need a set of values and qualities upon which your approach is based.  

We are all familiar with the Dojo Kun which is displayed in our Dojos, usually framed and artistically displayed against the Dojo wall and in some Dojos recited after training. 

The Dojo Kun is pretty worthless if only displayed and recited without it becoming an integral part of one’s own way of life!  The talk needs to be walked for it to be more than just a display or a recital!  

The Dojo Kun should not stop the moment you leave the Dojo!

A tall order by any standard and that’s why I used the phrase pursuing excellence – emphasis on the word pursuing! 

Higaonna Sensei’s Mokuteki, or Teaching Purpose is developing the body and mind through Karate Do to cultivate an indomitable spirit with a continuous strive for self-improvement of character and body through diligent training and his underlying core values are Honesty, Loyalty, Respect – unilaterally from top down and bottom up and laterally to your colleagues.

Saturdays and Sundays   were off days at the Dojo with only the one class late afternoon on Saturday, so opportunity for self-training. 

One would usually just find one or two students there at various times through the morning and early afternoon. One Sunday, I went for some self-training and only Higaonna Sensei was in the Dojo at the time doing self-training and I watched him perform the same sequence of three movements from one of our senior Kata – Superinpei – nonstop for an hour and 40 minutes with varying speed and power!

So, the pursuing excellence mindset is to continue to strive for perfection in one’s craft. But because we are practicing an art – a martial art – we are also aware that in an art you can never reach perfection, but the strife to perfection is the fulfillment!  To use the popular cliche – it’s not the destination, it’s the journey and another popular cliche if you focus on one tree, you will miss the whole forest! 

I often make the statement in class or during seminars that I teach, that one is as good as one’s last training session! 

The motivation for pursuing excellence in a martial art is to develop and strengthen the qualities needed for survival in combat. 

The first priority is to clear your mind of all previous knowledge, inhibitions, pre-conceived and conditioned ideas (we always did it like that …)!  Start off from the understanding that you know nothing and that anything is possible and – maybe more important – never to consider yourself better or cleverer than anyone else or your craft superior to any other!  

The biggest danger to yourself is yourself thinking that you know!

In a conversation once with Don Draeger a slightly derogatory, jokingly remark was made concerning another system. Don Draeger smiled and use the well-known martial arts cliche ‘Remember, a broken-down Clock is still correct twice a day!’

The number one quality needed to succeed in combat is Discipline and the most important discipline is Self-discipline. Self-discipline starts by living the Dojo Kun! 

More qualities are Tenacity and Anticipation – 

Tenacity is to never give up, mostly referred to in a physical sense but more important your Mind. But at the same time, never bite off more than you can chew. I cannot fight five persons armed with submachine guns, so another important quality appears – Anticipation – never be in a situation to be facing five persons armed with submachine guns!  

For me personally, the most important quality in pursuing excellence is Passion!  You need passion for your craft and then will follow Commitment!  Commitment as opposed to involvement! And the most superior form of commitment is GIVING! 

It is the custom in many martial arts schools by the Master to withhold information from his students, which is understandable because he is giving them information and techniques with which they can kill him. 

And it is understandable when the student is at junior level and the Master not yet sure of trust and commitment. So out comes the popular cliche ‘one day you will understand!’  There is also the well-known Kung Fu expression ‘I have taught you everything you know but I have not taught you everything I know yet! ‘

I should share with you an incident which happened in my Dojo one time after a question from one of my students, when I made the statement ‘just keep training and one day you will understand!’ Another student raised his hand and said ‘Sensei you don’t understand – we are getting attacked in the streets now, not one day – we need knowledge now to survive!   I laughed at this, but it also made me think! 

I personally don’t hold back on information or techniques to my students – depending on their level of course! 

I regard the fact that I give them my knowledge unreservedly when they are ready for it, to be a great motivation to myself. The harder the push is from below me, the higher the desire becomes to drive myself harder to improve – to really continue pursuing excellence! 

Still the principle mentioned in a previous podcast remains however: ‘Teach students what they Need to know, not what they Want to know!’

So to conclude, Pursuing Excellence in my craft of traditional Karate has two dimensions:

A Physical Dimension – to train your body and reflexes sensibly to reach and maintain the highest possible standards of your Karate Skills. 

And a Mind Set dimension – the desire to be the best you can be at what you are doing by setting very high but realistic goals for yourself and continuously striving to improve yourself by improving your mental strength. Paying attention to detail will help you focus on the correct priorities!

Enhance a ‘Never Give Up’ attitude but maintain a completely open and flexible mind to evaluate present and possible future situations objectively and to be able to accept, decide and adapt to new ‘better’ ideas when required for survival.  

I finish with Higaonna Sensei’s statement that ‘Every day you need to Challenge Yourself!