House Of The Pure Martial Arts - Martial Mindfulness · the various unarmed systems of Okinawan...

WWW.MEIBUKANMAGAZINE.ORG No 9 SEPTEMBER 2007House of the Pure Martial Arts

MEIBUKAN MAGAZINETHE INTERNATIONAL WEB BASED MARTIAL ARTSMAGAZINE AS A PDF DOCUMENT No 9 SEPTEMBER 2007

House Of The Pure Martial ArtsMEIBUKAN MAGAZINE

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Interview with Mikhail Ryabko

SeibukanFear!

Matayoshi Kobudo

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MEIBUKAN MAGAZINENo 9 SEPTEMBER 2007House of the Pure Martial Arts

Meibukan Magazine is published several times a yearin an electronical format with an attractive mix ofsubjects and styles. Each issue of at least twelvepages is published as pdf-file for easy printing. Publishededitions remain archived on-line.

Readers of the webzine are enthousiasts and practi-tioners of the spirit of the martial arts world wide.

Editor in chiefLex Opdam

Meibukan Magazine is pleased to submit views, con-cerns and experiences on any subject matter IF re-lated to the mission statement expressed by theMeibukan Magazine. Therefore articles, photographsand illustrations are welcome, although MeibukanMagazine is selective and can not guarantee that sub-missions will be placed. Submission can be mailedto our P.O. Box by floppy, CD or DVD, or can besent to our e-mail address.

MISSION STATEMENTMeibukan Magazine is an initiative of founders LexOpdam and Mark Hemels. Aim of this web basedmagazine is to spread the knowledge and spirit ofthe martial arts. In a non profitable manner MeibukanMagazine draws attention to the historical, spiritualand technical background of the oriental martial arts.Starting point are the teachings of Okinawan karate-do. As ‘House of the Pure Martial Arts’, however,Meibukan Magazine offers a home to the various au-thentic martial arts traditions.

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ColumnCreating chances for experience

FeatureMatayoshi KobudoFred Lohse carefully exames the history and content of Matayoshi kobudo.

InterviewInterview with Mikhail RyabkoKevin Secours sits down with Systema master Mikhail Ryabko duringthe Summit of the Masters.

FeatureFEARThe duality between the old and the new, the primal and the cognitive brains,often creates much confusion when addressing the role of fear in combattraining. Kevin Secours on fight, flight or freezing responses.

FeatureSeibukan: The Shorin-ryu karate of Zenryo ShimabukuroJohn Sells delves into the sometimes confusing but always riveting past ofone of Okinawa's leading Shorin-Ryu karate styles; 'Seibukan: The Shorin-Ryu karate of Zenryo Shimabukuro.

FeatureThe Physiological Cost of HarmKevin Secours discusses Lt. Col. Grossman’s five stages of Harming andhow we can prepare ourselves for the undeniable physical and phychologicalresponses of our body to the act of harming another human being.

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ContributorsFred LohseLex Opdam

Kevin SecoursJohn Sells

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Matayoshi KobudoA Brief History and Overview

While there are a number of books and numerous articles aboutthe various unarmed systems of Okinawan martial arts, there islittle quality written material in English about the various armed

arts of the island. There are a small number of sources looking atthe performance of various kata, and some on application of these

kata, but there are a dearth of sources that clearly examine thecontent and history of any of the island's major weapons systems.

This article is an attempt to begin to fill some of that gap in theliterature by more carefully examining the history and content of

the Matayoshi kobudo.

- Frederick W. Lohse III -

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The armed arts of Okinawa have alwaysbeen an integral part of the martial heritageof the island. Indeed, an earlier term forthe Okinawan martial arts, Tode, makesno distinction between armed and un-armed technique. Along with the unarmedarts, the island’s bushi have always passeddown a variety of armed techniques.Many remain extant today, ranging fromthe bojutsu of “Tode” Sakugawa to thebo and sai of Chatan Yara, the bo and ekufrom Tsuken jima, and to a number ofChinese based weapons techniques prac-ticed on the island. Traditionally, theseweapon skills were passed down alongwith unarmed technique, preserved andtaught (and adapted) by various individualteachers. Also, much like the island’skarate kata, many exist in a number ofvariations, passed down by different tea-chers but connected to the same root. Inthe mid-20th century this more organicmethod of instruction began to change. AsOkinawa’s karate began to be codified in“ryu”, or formal lineages, the same thinghappened to the weapon arts.

While there are a number of lineages stillextant on the island, many, like theHonshin-ryu, Yamane-ryu and Ufuchikukobudo, remain very small, even afterhaving been codified. Still other weaponskills remain small parts of individual karatesystems, preserved but having littlecommunal impact. These techniques andsystems remain a valuable part of Oki-nawa’s martial heritage, no matter how

limited their provenance. However, start-ing in the middle of the last century twomain lineages of weapon arts developedon the island, and, along with attractingtheir own body of students, started to drawstudents from karate lineages that had noarmed component. Shinken Taira, origi-nally a student of Ginchin Funakoshi,began collecting various kobudo kata andtechniques in the early 20th century. Hewent on to found the Society for the Pre-servation and Promotion of Ryukyu Ko-budo (Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai),now well known world-wide. Earlier, inthe late 1800’s, another lineage that todaypractices primarily armed technique beganto develop, the Matayoshi family kobudo.This is the other main armed system on theisland.

Creating chances forexperience

Several weeks ago I organised a workoutreunion for my former and present karatestudents and the focus of this special workoutwas on close combat mass attacks.During the workout I slowly worked towardsa fighting scenario where we ultimately hadhardly any space to manoeuvre, often standingshoulder to shoulder as in a huge packedcrowd of hundreds and where everybody wasfighting everybody. At its climax people werepushed back in the fighting crowd when theyescaped the centre of fighting and medicineballs were constantly being thrown in to addanother dimension. A scenario with an extre-mely chaotic and uncontrollable nature. Someof my former students were not familiar withthis type of mass attack training where allattacks can be initiated at any time, totallyunexpected and unseen. A direct and for somea new confronting way to see in which direc-tion fear leads them, being it fight, flight,freezing or flow, as described in an excellentarticle from Kevin Secours in this edition.In experiencing close combat mass attacks itbecame very clear to some of my studentsthat they used their body differently thanexpected and often differently than they weretrained to do. Some students told me that,among other things, they used more basicmotor skills than any complex motor skillsand in order to survive’ used more of theirnatural and instinctive way of reacting thanthey ‘normally’ were used to. The mostimportant thing and my primary goal, wasthat they learned something about themselves.Why things were different, what fear did tothem in this setting and at the point of self-defence, what changed their way of reactingcompared to others scenarios. To be short,what reflection they received from thisexperience.From the point of self-defence, I think thatevery martial artist should train or at leastexperience all kinds of possible self-defencescenarios if the opportunity exists. Expe-rience is our best teacher and it gives us adirect feedback. Personally I think that everymartial art school should do more to let thestudent experience out the box practise, whichbroadens our view of things and even givesnew insights into our self and our martial artsystems. I hope the mass attack scenarioexample sparks some of our readers toexperiment.

Lex OpdamEditor in chief

“While it has spread world-wide, and hashad a profound affect on the Okinawanmartial arts, most available informationabout the system is hearsay, or a smallsmattering of book chapters, short articles,and biographies on websites.”

Little exists in English, or in Japanese,about the Matayoshi kobudo system.While it has spread world-wide, and hashad a profound affect on the Okinawanmartial arts, most available informationabout the system is hearsay, or a smallsmattering of book chapters, short articles,and biographies on websites. Some of thisinformation is contradictory, and some is


WWW.MEIBUKANMAGAZINE.ORG No 9 SEPTEMBER 2007House of the Pure Martial Arts 3

incorrect. While this article is not meantto be definitive, it is an attempt to morecompletely convey some of the historyand content of the Matayoshi kobudo. Inwriting it, I draw from my more than 20years of experience in the system, underShinko Matayoshi in Okinawa, underRyugo Sakai- a student of Sensei Mata-yoshi from the early 1960’s- in Japan, underYoshiaki Gakiya, and under Kimo Wall, astudent of Sensei Matayoshi since 1962.It is informed by numerous casual conver-sations with all of these people, as well asmore directed questions about the contentand history of the system, including aplanned interview with Sensei Matayoshifor another project in 1995. Finally, it drawson the small amount of written information

about the system in Japanese. It is my hopeit will add clarity to the existing informationabout system, and help to bring a treasure ofOkinawa’s martial heritage more fully intothe light.

BackgroundThe Matayoshi family traces its lineageback to a famous figure in Okinawanhistory, Shinjo Gima, or Mashi Shinjo GimaOyakata (1557-1644). (ab cd)Gima was a descendant of Anshi Oshiro(Ufugushiku), the head of the family line.While not known as a martial artist, Gimahad a profound effect on the developmentof the island. He was a noble in the Ryu-kyunan feudal government, an official ofRyukyu Agriculture (Smits, 1999), and wasthe patron of Sokan Noguni, who broughtthe sweet potato back from Fujian, Chinain 1604 (see Kerr, 2000). Gima took theproduct his vassal brought back and pro-moted its development as a crop. Withina few years, it became one of the most im-portant crops on the island. From Okinawa,it was later transplanted to Japan. Gimaalso imported and propagated sugar cane,as a cash crop. These two imported plantsdramatically changed the course ofOkinawan history, the potato providing asecure sustenance crop suited to theclimate and high in nutritional value, andthe sugar cane providing a valuable cashcrop, jump starting the island’s economy.

Gima and Noguni’s reputations haveremained important on the island. A

monument was built to them in a park inNaha in 1937, to honor their work forOkinawa, and Gima’s tomb, which wasmoved from Cho Sumiyoshi in 1959 tomake room for the expansion of a USbase, was rebuilt in 1993, using state funds.The current Matayoshi family is a collateralline of the Gima family, splitting off some16 gene-rations ago. Many of the malemembers of the family retain the shin (c)character from Shinjo to honor theirfamous ancestor; this is the shin in Shinkoand Shinpo. (Interview with ShinpoMatayoshi, 1995.)

At some point in their history, the Mata-yoshi family became associated with themartial arts. It is unclear just what thisassociation was- they were not famouson the island as teachers, or closely asso-ciated with the Ryukyu government ormilitary- but by the time Shinko Matayoshiwas young there was a long tradition of

Kokusai Karate Kobudo Renmei main dojo Founding Members, December 17, 1962. Taira Shinken,seated 2nd from left. Higa Seiko, seated, center. Matayoshi Shinpo, standing 4th from left.

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martial arts within the family, a traditionstretching back an unknown number ofgenerations. Sensei Shinko’ Matayoshisfirst teachers were his father, ShinchinMatayoshi, and his paternal grandfather,Shintoku Matayoshi. They initiated him intothe family Kenpo and weapon techniques.According to the family, Tsuken Akachuno Eku di is a good representation of thesefamily techniques, and was the techniqueShinchin Matayoshi was most proficientin.

The current Matayoshi kobudo has its startwith Shinko Matayoshi. He was born inthe Kakinohana area of Naha, on May18, 1888, and grew up in Shinbaru village.He was the third son of Shinchin Mata-yoshi, and the only child to take a deepinterest in the martial arts. As a boy, hebegan studying under his father andgrandfather, learning (among other things)Tsuken Akachu no eku di, and from his



(shuriken), as thrown weapons wereessential to how the group hunted andfought. This was a very austere time inShinko’s life- the living was hard, and it issaid he also learned a great deal aboutactual combat at this time.

After 2-3 years with the group (it isunclear how long he stayed in Man-churia), he moved south. Stopping first inShanghai, he practiced a form of ShaolinKenpo for a time, though it is unclearexactly what this was. It is possible hepracticed at the famous Jing-wu asso-ciation as some authors have said, but asthe Jing-wu was founded in 1909 or 1910,that seems unlikely. From there he headedto his initial destination, Fuchow city, inFujian province. At the time, there was alarge Okinawan community in the tradingport, and it is unclear why he took such aroundabout way to get there when travelwas common between Okinawa and Fujian,but eventually he arrived at the addressGokenki had given him for the familyhome. There he met Koki Go, Kenki Go’sfather, and soon began to receive instruc-tion in Fujian Shaolin Fist from him. An-other in the long list of connections in Shin-ko Matayoshi’s training was soon made,and seeing the promise in the young manKoki Go introduced him to a friend, a wellknown martial artist called Kingai.4 RoshiKingai was an older man, a lifelong studentand teacher of the martial arts, and is saidto be a senior to the same Zei He Zhou(Shushiwa), who taught Kanbun Uechi.(ZOKR, 1999.)

1999). Along with his martial studies, atthis time he also began learning acupunc-ture, moxibustion, and Chinese herbalmedicine from Kingai.

In this period, Shinko traveled to Taiwanto see their martial arts, and returned toOkinawa for a few visits between 1910and 1918. In 1915 he was invited by Gin-chin Funakoshi to demonstrate kobudo onthe mainland, possibly the first demon-stration of Okinawan kobudo in mainlandJapan. Then, sometime around 1920, hetook up residence again in Okinawa for anumber of years. At that time, he acted

father the bo kata Kubo no Kon, Yonegawano Kon, and Yara no Kon. (ZOKR, 1999.)Later, his father introduced him to a friendand training partner of his from Gishikawavillage, Chokubo Agena, who was alsoknown as Tigaguwa Gushikawa and Higano tanmei. From Agena he learned sai andkama techniques, and deepened his know-ledge of the eku and bo. He continued hisweapon studies with another family ac-quaintance, Okina Ire, (old man Ire, alsoknown as Moshigua Jitoudi), from Nozatovillage in Chatan.1 Under Irei, he studiedthe tonfa and nunchiyaku.

Throughout his childhood and teenageyears, Shinko Matayoshi focused ex-clusively on the martial arts. He continuedto seek out different teachers, and throughthis pursuit became friends with a Chinesetea merchant, Wu Hein Kui, called Gokenkiin Japanese. Go was proficient in a Chi-nese form of White Crane Kenpo, andshared what he knew with the youngMatayoshi.2 Shinko had heard stories ofthe great martial arts of China from hisfamily, and from Gokenki, and with thelatter’s encouragement he decided to goabroad to study. In the Spring of 1905, atthe age of 17, he left Okinawa for Hok-kaido, planning on entering China throughManchuria.3 He traveled through Hokkai-do and Sakhalin Island on his way and inManchuria, at that time a rather lawlessplace, he joined a group of mounted no-mads for a while. Some stories suggestthese nomads were also bandits, andwhile living with them Shinko learned howto ride, and use the lasso, bola (suruchin),and various other throwing weapons

Shinko Matayoshi.

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“This was a very austere time in Shinko'slife- the living was hard, and it is said healso learned a great deal about actualcombat at this time.”

“In 1915 he was invited by FunakoshiGinchin to demonstrate kobudo on themainland, possibly the first demonstrationof Okinawan kobudo in mainland Japan.”

Roshi Kingai called his style Kingai Noon,or Kingai-ryu (efg). He said thename implied Kin (e)- reacting supplyto change, and Gai (f) - hard or solidlike metal; therefore it embodied the hard-soft ideal. (ZOKR, 1999.) The first is anidio-syncratic reading of the character,which is usually translated as metal or gold,and the system has also been referred toas a Golden Bird style. Kingai’s instructionwas very severe, but Shinko felt lucky tobe learning from such a great master, andapplied himself to the practice (ZOKR,

as a Chinese doctor to the Okinawancommunity, and founded a martial artsstudy group (kenkyukai) that broughttogether a number of the famous martialartists of the day. It is probably at this timethat he trained with Sanra Chinen (1842-1925)5, Ryoko Shishi (1852-1925), and ChojoOshiro (1887-1935), all of whom he lear-ned bo techniques from. In 1921, alongwith Chojun Miyagi, he participated in ademonstration of Ryukyu martial arts forthe then crown-prince Hirohito in the grandhall of Shuri Castle. In 1929 Shinkoparticipated in a memorial demonstration forEmperor Meiji, at the Meiji shrine inTokyo as a representative for Okinawaprefecture; he did kama and tonfa tech-niques and Ginchin Funakoshi did karate,and he was presented with a medal bythe government for this demonstration.6Shinko was married during this time inOkinawa, and his son, Shinpo Matayoshi,was born in 1921.

In the late 1920’s or early 1930’s he retur-ned to Fuchow to see his teacher RoshiKingai again, and to further his studies inthe armed elements of the system- tinbe,nunti, sansetsukon, and suruchin. Beforehis return to Okinawa he was given twoscrolls about the style from Kingai, whichthe family still has; the upper and lowerscrolls of Taigen Roshi Kyomo (Guang-ming Da Yuanshuai), Kingai-ryu’s patronsaint.7 He returned to Okinawa for goodin 1935.



nization, a group dedicated to the practiceand preservation of the Okinawan weaponarts. In 1969 he opened his dojo, the Kodo-kan, which he named in honor of his father,taking the ko (h), meaning light or bright-ness, from his father’s name as the firstcharacter.

In 1970 he renamed his organization theRyukyu Kobudo Federation, and in 1972it became the All Okinawa Kobudo Fe-deration (Zen Okinawa Kobudo Renmei),and received official recognition in Okina-wa and from the Dai Nippon Butokukai.Shinpo became the president of the Ren-mei, and the Kodokan dojo the main dojo.

After his return to Okinawa, he lived inNaha, and opened an import/exportbusiness. He continued to act as a Chi-nese doctor, and started another martialarts research group. He also taught the artshe had learned, working them into thesystem that would become Matayoshikobudo, and running dojo in Naha, Chatan,and Kadena. He was very highly respectedin the Okinawan martial arts community,and was given a variety of nicknames, in-cluding Shinbaru Mateshi (Matayoshifrom Shinbaru), and Kama nu ti Mateshi(Matayoshi of the Kama)8. He passedaway in May of 1948, at the age of 59,and his passing was seen as a great lossto the Okinawan martial arts community.

After his death, the leadership of thesystem he had founded passed to his son,Shinpo Matayoshi. Shinpo was born onDecember 27, 1921, in Yomitan. He begantraining under his father when he was 4years old. His father also furthered hismartial education in much the same wayhis had been nurtured, introducing Shinpoto a number of his friends and fellowteachers. In this way, Shinpo began stu-dying under Chotoku in Kyan 1928, at age8, as well as briefly under his father’sfriend Chojun Miyagi, and then with SeikoHiga, with whom he became close friends.In 1935, he also began training with hisfather’s old friend Gokenki.

Shinpo maintained this training until theend of WWII, when he moved to Kawa-saki city, in Kanegawa prefecture, alongwith a number of other Okinawans. Oki-nawa was a very difficult place to be after

It was well entrenched with the localpopulation, and had been gaining popu-larity with foreigners, in particular theAmerican servicemen stationed on theisland, for years. However, it did not seemthat the armed arts of the island were get-ting the same level of recognition. He feltthis was a loss to Okinawa’s martial heri-tage, and began working to counteract thistrend. By the mid-60’s he had gatheredtogether a number of kobudo practitioners,and was teaching in the Higa dojo as wellas a number of other places. In the mid-60’s he founded the Ryukyu Kobudo Orga-

“In this way, Shinpo began studying underKyan Chotoku in 1928, at age 8, as wellas briefly under his father's friend MiyagiChojun, and then with Higa Seiko, withwhom he became close friends.”

the war, and he made the move in orderto make a living at the time. While inKawasaki, he taught kobudo in the Oki-nawan community, and practiced with anumber of other Okinawan martial artistswho were also living there. He finallyreturned to Okinawa in 1960.

When he returned to Okinawa, he firsttook up residence in the dojo of SeikoHiga. His first students on the island weremembers of Higa’s dojo. In 1962, Higafounded the Kokusai Karate KobudoRenmei (International Karate KobudoFederation) , and Shinpo became a member,along with another noted kobudo instructor,Shinken Taira, who was vice president ofthe organization. Shinpo lived in the Higadojo for a number of years, teaching inthe dojo, outside in the yard, and at variousplaces around the island. He also spent agood deal of time traveling about theisland, talking to and training with variouskobudo practitioners, in particular otherformer students of his father. Martial ar-

tists who knew him at that time, like SenseiKimo Wall, recollect that it was very im-portant to him to reconnect to people heor his father had trained with before the war.

Over time, Shinpo saw that the island’skarate was getting more and more popular.

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Kimo Wall and Shinpo Matayoshi with Manji sai,Massachusetts, 1995.

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Shinpo also believed in the importance ofmaintaining connections across Japan. Hewas instrumental in developing Okinawa’sconnection to the Dai Nippon Butokukai,acting as the Okinawa representative, andhis dojo and organization were recognizedby that body. In 1987, he was formallyrecognized for his ability and his efforts inpromoting and preserving the Okinawanmartial arts, receiving his 10th dan onOctober 10th of that year, from His Impe-rial Majesty Jigo Higashi Fushimi, Pre-sident of the Dai Nippon Butokukai. Hewas also recognized as an importantcultural treasure by the Butokukai. Addi-tionally, he was an active member of theadministrative council of the Japan Kobu-do Foundation.

Through his efforts both in Okinawa andabroad, Shinpo was instrumental inbringing the weapon arts of Okinawa intomore public prominence, and in promo-ting them around the world. Shinpo be-

A number of other dojo, mostly of hisstudents and training partners, immediatelyjoined. In the years leading up to the foun-ding of the organization Shinpo and thesenior members of the Renmei, studentsand training partners of his, had spent agood deal of time refining and formalizingthe system, and it is this formalized systemthat became the kobudo of the Zen Oki-nawa Kobudo Renmei.

Starting on his return to Okinawa in 1960,ShinpoMatayoshi was a very importantfigure in the Okinawan martial artscommunity. Of course, he was primarilyknown as a martial arts instructor. How-ever, he was also a well known publicfigure in the martial arts community. Heparticipated in virtually every importantpublic event in and about Okinawa, mostnotably demonstrating at both the galaevent in Kagoshima to celebrate Okina-wa’s return to Japan, and the athletic andsports festival on the Ryukyu island ofAmami Oshima to commemorate the sameevent. His dojo and Renmei maintained asteady schedule of demonstrations, tele-vision appearances, and other publicpresentations throughout his life. Hebelieved the Okinawan martial arts werean integral part of Okinawan culture, andshould maintain their connection to thelarger community, and their visibility in it.To that end he also stayed active in anumber of Okinawan organizations, inclu-ding remaining active president of theRenmei he founded until his death, Kan-cho of his dojo, a member of the OkinawaKarate-do Federation, and acting as anadvisor to the Naha City Karate KobudoAssociation.

practitioners. A number of traditional dan-cers trained in the dojo, and Shinpo sup-ported their artistic efforts, for exampleworking with Eiko Miyazato to developthe “rope kama” dance that has becomefamous over the years.

One hallmark of the traditional teachingstyle he saw essential to the art was crea-tivity. He was a creative and open practi-tioner, working with his seniors to conti-nue to develop and grow his art right upuntil he passed away. He also encouragedthis in his students, working with them todevelop kata and application. This re-quired a personal knowledge of the ma-terial, an ability to be creative with it, anda close personal relationship with SenseiMatayoshi. This is a traditional form of

“Matayoshi Shinpo was primarily knownas a martial arts instructor. However, hewas also a well known public figure inthe martial arts community.”

lieved both in the deep connection betweenthe Okinawan martial arts and Okinawanculture, and that the pursuit of these artswould lead to a better human being. TheRenmei he founded was dedicated to pro-moting and preserving the Okinawan wea-pon arts, and to that end did demonstrationsaround Japan and the world, as well asteaching students from many countries.

He maintained a close connection to thetraining methods of the past, and to thatend resisted the push towards display andcompetition that started becoming popularin Okinawan karate in the 60’s and 70’s.He also was considered a hard taskmas-ter, pushing the students in his dojo hard,and training with a deep intensity. How-ever, he was open to the changing world,inviting in new training methods like thesets of kihon he and his students developed,and open both to bringing his art around theworld, and to inviting international studentsinto his dojo. He also deeply believed in themartial arts’ connection to Okinawanculture, and to that end fostered relation-ships with Ryukyu dance and music

Shinpo Matayoshi, Houshu Taira, Seiko Kina,Seiko Higa, Kanki Izumigawa , Seiko Fukichi.

Photo commemorating Izumigawa's departure.

Shinpo Matayoshi with awards from theButokukai.Zen Okinawa Kobudo Renmei patch.

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training, and one that centered around thetype of relationships through trainingSensei Matayoshi wanted to build, morelike an apprenticeship than the strictlyhierarchical student-teacher relationshipmore common in, say, a western classroom.

Shinpo Matayoshi, Soke of the RyukyuKingdom Period Weapon Arts (Matayo-shi Kobudo), Soke of Kingai-ryu TodeJutsu, and Soke of Nanban Shorin Haku-tsuru Kenpo Tode, passed away on Sep-tember 7th, 1997. His death was a blowto the Okinawan martial arts community.He will be remembered as an importantfigure in the development of the Okinawanmartial arts after the war, and in main-taining Okinawa’s connection to its martialheritage. He left behind a number of seniorstudents who carry on the tradition, andthe formal leadership of the system (soke)was passed to his son, Yasushi Matayoshi.In 1997, the title of 3rd Kancho of the Ko-dokan, the teaching and technical head ofthe dojo, was passed to Yoshiaki Gakiya,a long time student. The leadership of theZen Okinawa Kobudo Renmei passed toShoshin Miyahira, a member of the Ren-mei for many years, around the same time.

Technical DevelopmentIn many ways the Matayoshi kobudo tra-dition is a classic example of the syncreticdevelopment common to most Okinawanmartial arts. The technical elements of thesystem have their base in the Ryukyu King-dom period martial arts that Shinko Mata-yoshi studied. These have their base in thefamily traditions, including ekujutsu fromTsuken jima and Okinawan bo forms like

unarmed and weapon techniques frommaster Kingai, including the nunti, tinbe,sansetsukon, and suruchin. Shinko Mata-yoshi took these disparate elements andforged them into a more coherent whole, abody of knowledge that he passed on to afew students, and to his son.

However, the development of the systemdid not stop there. Much like his father,and indeed like most every founder ofOkinawa’s current systems, Shinpo alsohad a number of teachers. From his fatherhe took the various Ryukyu kingdomperiod techniques, as well as Kingai’s mate-rial. From there he studied karate and bo-jutsu with Chotoku Kyan, Goju with Miyagibut primarily with Seiko Higa, and WhiteCrane with Gokenki, as well as participa-ting in a variety of exchanges with different

practitioners around Okinawa, includingother students of his father. When he cameback to Okinawa in 1960, he began to shapethese various influences into the more co-herent system that was current in his dojoin the last years of his life.

While the development of the system be-comes easy to understand by simply statingthat Shinpo Matayoshi got it from his fatherand taught it to his students, that eliminatesmuch of the true depth and cultural value

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“He maintained a close connection to thetraining methods of the past, and to thatend resisted the push towards display andcompetition that started becomingpopular in Okinawan karate in the 60sand 70s.”

“One hallmark of the traditional teachingstyle he saw essential to the art wascreativity. He was a creative and openpractitioner, working with his seniors tocontinue to develop and grow his art rightup until he passed away.”

Yonegawa. Together with this are the sai,kama, bo, and eku techniques from Agena,the tonfa and nunchiyaku from Ire, andbo techniques from Yamane, Shishi, andOshiro. However, added to the more nativeOkinawan elements are the techniquesShinko learned in Manchuria, whateverhe studied in Shanghai, the White Craneof Gokenki, and most importantly the

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in it. In years leading up to the founding ofthe Zen Okinawa Kobudo Renmei, Shinpoand his students and training partners spenta good deal of time refining and formalizingthe system. A few of the original members

dents relate that the tinbe, sansetsukon,and possibly guwa forms were developedearly in this period, from the body of tech-niques passed down to Shinpo. Indeed,many students from the early days havedifferences in how their kata appear. Sen-sei Matayoshi encouraged creativity in hisstudents (particularly at demonstrations,so video references often show a great dealof variety in performances9), working withthem to develop the kata and applications,and students may have taken differentthings from their training, particularly ifthey trained with him at different times.Ryugo Sakai, for example, taught a slightlydifferent sai and kama kata. When I askedhim about this, he told me “the techniquesare what Sensei Matayoshi taught me, butthere were so many I wanted to keep theones I thought were the most important inthe kata I did. Also, some of these kataare not so old, they were being worked onwhile I was a student, so I think its okay toadapt them to maintain techniques in thisway. That’s what Sensei did.” (Conver-sation with Ryugo Sakai, 1992.) SenseiMatayoshi also worked with his students tohelp them learn- for example he wouldsometimes allow students with a strongkarate background to use their karate stan-ces in the kodubo, though these stancesare different to those of the Matayoshitradition.

This more creative approach to workingwith the material is in many ways a hall-mark of the system. The process was alsoa continuous one: a shorter sansetsukonform was developed by one of SenseiMatayoshi’s students teaching in France,and Matayoshi liked it enough to have itdemonstrated at a number of major eventsin Okinawa, and in the late 90’s one of hissenior students was working with him ondeveloping a kata from the techniquespassed down for the kudamonbo. Conti-nuous growth was a part of the training,

and understanding the material well en-ough to work with it, not just on it, is a coreelement of the practice and teaching ofthe system.

Unlike many kobudo systems, paired workis central to the practice of the Matayoshikobudo. If you can’t apply it, you can’tdo it would be one way to state thetraining ideal. An essential part of thisemphasis on application was the waymuch of the paired work was developed.Instead of simply teaching a uniformpaired set, many of the kumi waza wouldbe developed by two or more studentsworking together under the guidance ofMatayoshi. They would create, he wouldmake sure the content stayed true to thesystem. This engendered a deep under-standing of the material, and also requireda very close relationship between studentand teacher. While formal pared sets forthe bo kata eventually became morestandard, the paired sets for most of theweapons in the system remained fairlyindividual between students, and betweendifferent teachers in the Renmei.10

This variety existed during Shinpo Mata-yoshi’s lifetime, as evidenced by diffe-rences in syllabi and content in differentdojo in the Renmei. In looking at the syllabiof other senior students, people like Katsu-yoshi Kanei, one can see kata created orchanged by these teachers with what theyhad been taught, kata like the jo form Kaneideveloped, the slightly different kihon setsdifferent teachers use, or the differentintroductory kata a number of studentshave created. While in some organizationsthis type of variation might be seen asmoving away from the core, provided thatthe base technical elements and kata werepreserved and done properly, within theZen Okinawa Kobudo Renmei, it seemsto have been treated more as a strength.

This creativity and variety is, I believe,evidence of a system true to Okinawa’smartial heritage. Change has been a con-stant in systems on the island, and the

had trained under his father, or under otherstudents of his father (for example SeikichiOdo was a student of Mitsuo Kakazu, astudent of Shinko’s), as well as under otherkobudo teachers. Others had been trainingwith him for more than a decade. WhileShinpo was the leader, main teacher, andtechnical director, at this time there was agood deal of collaborative work on the con-tent of the system. Together, under his direc-tion, they formalized the kata system, madedecisions about what was going to beincluded and excluded, and put togethersets of kihon for the basic weapons, amongother things.

Some of the decisions made at this timeare rather surprising. For example, mem-bers of the dojo in the start of the 1960’s,people like Kimo Wall and Ryugo Sakai,remember 10 or 11 bo kata being taught,but by the mid-70’s the dojo had refined thisto the 5 that were taught in the late 90’s.At the same time, certain students werebringing different forms in for examinationand practice. Jyosei Yogi relates that heand a number of other seniors went atMatayoshi’s direction to a member of hisUechi dojo to learn the kata Ufutun bo, whichthey later modified to fit the characteristicsof the Matayoshi methodology.

A number of kata were formalized in theseyears, or even created out of techniquesthat had been passed down. Some stu-

“Sensei Matayoshi encouraged creativityin his students (particularly atdemonstrations, so video references oftenshow a great deal of variety inperformances ), working with them todevelop the kata and applications, andstudents may have taken different thingsfrom their training, particularly if theytrained with him at different times.”

“In years leading up to the founding ofthe Zen Okinawa Kobudo Renmei,Shinpo and his students and trainingpartners spent a good deal of time refiningand formalizing the system.”

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strong technical base of this system allowsfor innovation without altering the core.This technical core also allows for interpre-tation and creativity with the materialwithout needing to leave the system, provi-ded the practitioner truly understands thecore material and its principals. Essentially,

Gakiya. Shinpo Matayoshi, unlike manyother Okinawan teachers, was not overlyenthralled with creating clear and conciselists of material, or of who knew what.According to his seniors, he was con-stantly working with his material, growinghis technique, and would add to it fromthe store of what his father taught him.At the end of his life, a number of hisseniors state, there were still many thingsthat he had not taught anyone. Indeed,some of the weapons listed in the RyukyuKingdom Period Weapon Arts seem to becurrently unknown on Okinawa.

However, by the late 1970’s, the bulk ofthe material in the Kodokan dojo wasfairly well formalized, and remainedessentially the same until his death in 1997.This is the material presented here.

BoThe bo is the base weapon of the system.Technically, it forms the foundation formost of the other material, and it has thegreatest amount of material associatedwith it. It also forms the closest connectionbetween the Matayoshi lineage kobudoand the other kobudo schools on the island.All the kata taught are taught in different

unclear exactly who. The sets of hojoundo are practiced both solo and paired,giving a basic understanding of some ofthe movements in the kata.

Shushi no kon: This kata is said to havebeen made by “old man Shushi” (Shushuno tanmei), a Chinese Kenpo and bojutsuexpert who immigrated from Shanghai toNaha in the early 1800’s, and lived nearShugen temple, in Anzato, Naha. The katais named after him, and it is the first kataof the system.

Choun no kon: The characters for Chounimply interrupting or ending the morningmist. This kata was created about 250years ago by a warrior from Tomari knownas Oyakata Choun, and it is named afterhim. He passed this kata on, and it becamepopular both in Tomari and with militarypersonnel, as it was thought to give tech-nical advantages when faced with oppo-nents on three sides.

Sakugawa no kon: This kata was deve-loped by Aburaya Yamashiro (Chinen Kana).

“Unlike many kobudo systems, pairedwork is central to the practice of theMatayoshi kobudo. If you can't apply it,you can't do it would be one way to statethe training ideal.”

it is a living martial art, one that is beingadapted and changed in small ways bythe senior practitioners. It is attached tothe technical base and dedication to pre-servation passed down from the Mata-yoshi family, but is also alive, able to giveits practitioners material with which togrow and develop, to express their under-standing of it, not just copy the previousgenerations.

ContentAs noted above, the content of the Mata-yoshi kobudo system has always been aslightly shifting thing. Here, I will presentthe content of the system as of the mid1990’s, near the end of Shinpo Matayo-shi’s life; a snapshot, as it were, of it atthat time. This snapshot is of the systemas taught at the Kodokan dojo, as at thistime there were already differences be-tween different dojo in the Renmei. Depen-ding on how you look at it, it may repre-sent the peak of the development of thesystem; after Sensei Matayoshi’s deaththe cohesion between different studentsdeclined, and there is no longer a singlegroup that can be said to solely representthe tradition, to the exclusion of other dojo,the way Sensei Matayoshi himself could.

As an aside, it is interesting to note thatthere are also some discrepancies betweenwhat the family published at ShinpoMatayoshi’s death, and what was taughtdu-ring his life. Looking at the list on page9, taken from page 25 of the pamphletpublished for Shinpo Matayoshi’s memo-rial celebration, a number of these wea-pons said to be preserved from the RyukyuKingdom period were never seen by anyof the seniors I know, including the tech-nical successor to the system Yoshiaki

“As an aside, it is interesting to note thatthere are also some discrepanciesbetween what the family published atMatayoshi Shinpo's death, and what wastaught during his life.”

versions in other systems, much as diffe-rent versions of the karate kata Seisanare common to Goju, Uechi, and Shorinschools. While at times much is made ofthe differences between the variousOkinawan methods of bojutsu, the con-nection they have in content points to, ifnot a common ancestor, a great deal ofcross-pollination over the years.

The material taught in the Matayoshisystem includes:

Kihon/Hojo Undo: There are 3 sets of 5techniques taught as basics with the bo.These were drawn from the base classicalkata, and were formalized some time inthe early 1970’s. They were developedby Shinpo Matayoshi, working with anumber of his senior students, though it is

Ryukyu Kingdom PeriodBuki Jutsu

Kata

Bojutsu (3 shaku, 6 shaku, 8shaku, 12 shaku)

Shushi no kon Sakugawa no kon

Choun no kon Tsuken no kon Shishi no kon

Eku jutsu Tsuken Akachu no eku di

Kama Jutsu I cho gama (nagagama no ti)

Ni cho kamaSuki kama jutsu (chichi)

Tonfa justuSai Jutsu

Ni cho sai San cho sai

Suruchin jutsuUni suruchin jutsu

NunchiyakuSansetsukon (dai, chu, sho)

YonsetsukonKudamon bo

TinbeiTekko Jutsu

Tecchu Jutsu

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Shishi no kon: This kata is said to be over300 years old, and to have been createdby Oyakata Shishi, a daimyoko (noble) andmartial arts instructor to the Ryukyu king.It was passed down only within the familyand to the royals, and Shinko Matayoshilearned it from a descendent of the Shishifamily, Ryoko Shishi.12

Kumi waza and Oyo: paired sets for Shus-hi, Choun, and Sakugawa were done inthe dojo regularly, and sets for the otherkata occasionally. There were also bo vs.bo sets using techniques from various katathat different students developed withMatayoshi, varying in length from completeruns through the kata to ippon-styletechniques. Except for the kihon, thepaired sets were considered less formalthan the kata. Along with the longer pairedsets, short sets of paired techniques weredeveloped at different times, and muchattention was given to the individual tech-niques in the kata.

There were, at different times, other bokata taught also by Shinpo Matayoshi, orpracticed by his students. These included:Kubo no kon (named after the Kubo areaof Gushikawa village), Yone-gawa no kon(named after the Yonegawa area of Shuri),and Yara no kon (possibly a variant ofChatan Yara no kon), all taught by ShinchinMatayoshi, the Tokumine no kon ShinpoMatayoshi learned from Chotoku Kyan,and Ufugushiku (Oshiro) no Sakugawa,a variation of Sakugawa no kon that camefrom Chojo Oshiro. At some point ShinpoMatayoshi decided to stop teaching thesekata, though some teachers retain one ormore of them. Some seniors of the dojoalso practiced Ufutun bo, a village kata afew seniors of the dojo learned from alocal teacher. At the time of Shinpo Mata-yoshi’s death, only the 5 main kata wereconsidered formally part of the system.

The Matayoshi system also includedtechniques for an 8 or 9 foot bo, whichwas occasionally demonstrated usingSakugawa no kon, though this kata doesnot represent all the variant techniques forthe longer weapon. Some dojo in the Ren-mei also maintained a jo form that wasdeveloped by Kanei Katsuyoshi, with inputfrom Shinpo Matayoshi.

SaiThe sai techniques taught in the Matayoshisystem stem from those taught to ShinkoMatayoshi by Chokubo Agena. A set of10 kihon was developed for the sai, and

was taught solo and paired. There arethree kata taught- ni cho sai, san cho sai,and Shinbaru no sai. Shinbaru no sai isalso sometimes called Mateshi no sai orMatayoshi no sai. The first two, ni- andsan- cho sai, were created as training formsby Shinpo Matayoshi sometime after thewar, and the third by Shinko Matayoshi.San cho sai and Shinbaru no sai are bothpracticed using a full set of three sai. Allof the forms include one or more throwingtechniques, and while they are aimed atthe foot, Matayoshi also taught that thesai could be thrown into the body. This isjust very difficult to practice in the dojo.

The Matayoshi system also works with amanji sai, though this is something only afew seniors have learned, and is not com-monly taught. In this tradition, the weaponis built like a normal sai with a handle onone end, but with one tine turned down,covering the handle of the weapon. Thereis no separate kata for the manji, though itis sometimes practiced in Shinbaru no sai,and there are a few separate techniquesfor the weapon. Except for the kihon,paired work was less formal and moreindividual for the sai.

TonfaThe tonfa techniques in the Matayoshisystem come from Irei Okina. The imple-ment is also called a tunkuwa or tuifa, andit is said the pronunciation of the charac-ters for the weapon comes from theFuchow dialect. A set of 10 kihon wasdeveloped for the weapon, taught solo andpaired, though in practice other basicswere sometimes added. There is one base

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“This kata is said to have been made by"old man Shushi" (Shushu no tanmei), aChinese kempo and bojutsu expert whoimmigrated from Shanghai to Naha in theearly 1800s, and lived near Shugentemple, in Anzato, Naha.”

He is said to have researched village botechniques. His technique was greatlyrespected by the ruler at the time, and hewas given the nickname “Sakugawa”,after his teacher of that name. ShinkoMatayoshi learned this kata from SanraChinen (Chinen Yamane).11

Tsuken no kon/Tsuken bo: This kata waspassed on by Oyakata Seisoku Tsuken andwas compiled by fishermen from Shorenvillage on Tsuken island. It is said tocontain reverse techniques, and tech-niques for fighting against a spear. Mata-yoshi Shinko learned it from ChokuboAgena.

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kata for the tonfa, Tonfa dai ichi. There isalso a second kata, tonfa dai ni, that isvery similar and was developed as a de-monstration form. Various senior studentsalso worked with personal variations onthe tonfa forms and other short kata, butthe Kodokan taught only dai ichi, and daini for demonstration purposes.

NunchiyakuThe nunchiyaku techniques were alsopassed down by Okina Irei. The pronun-ciation for the characters (which readsosetsukon, or two piece stick) is also sup-posedly of Fujianese origin. A set of kihonwas developed for the weapon, but wasrarely practiced. The kata, Matayoshi noNunchiyaku, is sometimes called Nunchi-yaku San Dan. Supposedly it went througha number of slight variations in the 1960’s.

Three section nunchiyaku, like a verysmall sansetsukon, were also occasionallyworked with in the dojo, but while they

called Tsuken Akachu no Eku di, the Ekutechniques of the “red man” from Tsuken.Akachu Tsuken was a fisherman fromTsuken named Azato who was nick-named Akachu due to his sunburned face.He learned bo techniques from an exiledwarrior- Tsuken Oyakata Seisoku- andfrom them developed these eku tech-niques, including the signature techniqueof tossing sand into the eyes of the oppo-nent with the blade of the eku. Shinpo Ma-tayoshi considered this his favorite form,and it was usually what he demonstrated.

NuntiThe nunti-bo is a roughly 5 shaku bo with anunti-sai affixed to the tip. It was taught

as a set- the nunti-bo and two nunti sai,which are kept in the belt. The techniquesfor the nunti came from Roshi Kingai,though they are also said to be influencedby Ryukyu nunti techniques from Tsukenisland. The nunti sai are not used as handweapons -though they could be used muchlike manji-sai- they are throwing weapons.The throwing technique is included in thekata, and much like the sai though it isalways aimed for the feet it could bethrown into any part of the body. Therewas one kata taught in the dojo, Nunti no ti,in the 90’s. However, in demonstrationsvariations on this kata were also done, andstudents from the early 60’s rememberpracticing the weapon with bo kata, in

had a few separatetechniques, they had noseparate kata.

EkuThe eku techniquestaught in the Matayo-shi kobudo come fromtwo sources, the Mata-yoshi family- whosetradition maintains thatthe eku was ShinchinMatayoshi’s favoriteweapon- and AgenaChokubo. The kata is

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Eku.

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Nunti and Nunti-sai.

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particular Tsuken no kon, properly adaptedwith nunti-specific techniques.

GuwaThe guwa, a garden hoe, is unique to theMatayoshi kobudo on Okinawa. Thetechniques are influenced by Chinese arts,as the hoe is used as a weapon in China aswell. The kata, Guwa no di or kuwe nu ti,was developed from the techniques passedon in the family, according to some of theseniors by Shinpo Matayoshi, though thereis no documentation on this either way.

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TinbeTinbe is the name of a pair of weapons-the tinbe, a shield made of cane and usu-ally covered with a thick tar-like sub-stance and a layer of animal hide and thenpainted, and the seiryuto, a short heavysword or machete. The metal tinbe mostoften seen now were developed in the70’s, and allow for paired work withoutquickly destroying the tinbe. ShinpoMatayoshi would also practice the weaponwith a butterfly sword, much as the set isused in a number of southern Chinesesystems. The Matayoshi tinbe comes fromRoshi Kingai, and is properly called theSouthern Chinese Shaolin (ChugokuNanban Shorin Ken) Tinbe. It is also saidto be influenced by Ryukyu tinbe tech-niques. The kata for the set, Tinbe no ti orMatayoshi no Tinbe, is said to have beendeveloped by Shinpo Matayoshi out oftechniques passed from his father.

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SansetsukonThe three section staff, also called theChinese Shaolin Sansetsukon (ChugokuShorinji Sansetsukon), taught in the

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KamaThe kama techniques taught in the Mata-yoshi system come from the kama techni-ques taught to Shinko Matayoshi by Cho-kubo Agena. Shinko Matayoshi was nick-named Kama nu ti Mateshi, and was verywell known for his skill with the kama.The kata is called simply Kama nu ti. Anumber of variations exist among the seniorstudents, but the form as taught in the 90’swas standardized in the dojo.

A variation on the kama, a kama with astring attached, was practiced for a periodin the 60’s and 70’s, primarily as a demon-stration or dance form. It is sometimesknown a Shimotsuki no kama, but was notconsidered a formal subject in the dojo.

Kudamon boThis weapon is essentially a large flailderived from a rice or wheat threshing tool.In the 90’s Kenichi Yamashiro was wor-king on a kata for this weapon with ShinpoMatayoshi, based on techniques passedon in the Matayoshi tradition. The katawas demonstrated a few times, but wasnever formally added to the system.

SuruchinThe suruchin in the Matayoshi systemconsists of a length of rope with a rock ateither end, though students from the 60’salso remember Matayoshi teaching asuruchin with only one rock. The length

Matayoshi system is based on techniquesfrom Roshi Kingai. There was one kata,possibly developed by Shinpo Matayoshifrom the techniques taught to him by hisfather, taught in the 1990’s, a long katacalled simply “Sansetsukon” or “Sanset-sukon no ti” that was not done at demon-strations. It was not taught to many stu-dents, and was hard to practice in the dojodue to the space needed. A second shorterkata, called Hakuho, was developed byone of Sensei Matayoshi’s students livingin France, and gained some popularity inthe dojo in the 80’s and 90’s. It is this katathat was usually demonstrated and is onthe video the dojo published.

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Kama.

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can vary, but is usually 6-9 feet long. Thetechniques for using it came from RoshiKingai, but were supposedly also influen-ced by native Ryukyu techniques. Whilethere were a variety of specific techniquestaught for the weapon, and differentseniors strung these together in variousways for demonstration and practice pur-poses, there was no formal kata for theweapon.

Other WeaponsThere were a number of other weaponsin the dojo that had specific techniques,but no actual kata. These included thetekko, ticchu, gifa (kanzashi), nagagama,and a variety of Chinese weapons thatSensei Matayoshi would occasionally de-monstrate or show, but never taught. Noneof these were considered formally part of

the system.

Paired WorkAs stated above, most of the paired work,outside the kihon, was created by variousstudents with Sensei Matayoshi’s gui-dance. At times, these sets would beshared with other students, but none reallybecame formal subjects at the dojo. Therewas a great deal of emphasis on paired

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work, and instruction in kata usually in-cluded instruction in various applicationsof the sections of kata, but again this wasnot formalized. Paired work was usuallydone with the bo against any of the otherweapons. However, some students alsoworked on paired sets between variousweapons, like tinbe and sansetsukon, oreku and guwa.

Empty HandThe Matayoshi tradition includes at leasttwo different empty hand systems- theempty hand portion of the Kingai-ryu, andthe empty hand portion of Gokenki’sHakutsuru Kenpo. While Shinpo Mata-yoshi practiced both, he taught neitherpublicly. A number of senior members ofthe dojo, as well as various karate friendslike Seiko Higa, learned variations onKakuho, also called Hakaku or Hakut-

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“There was a great deal of emphasis onpaired work, and instruction in katausually included instruction in variousapplications of the sections of kata, butagain this was not formalized.”



suru, from the Gokenki lineage. A few alsolearned variations internal to this form, andother individual kata from both systems.However, while a few students studiedthis material, it was considered private,and was not taught as part of the systemin the Kodokan dojo.

While Matayoshi could probably haveattracted a body of karate students byteaching Gokenki’s Hakutsuru Kenpo orthe Kingai-ryu as a separate art, or by ma-king them a part of his kobudo system, heelected not to. He never made either ofthese arts a formal part of his system, andnever taught either publicly. It is unclearwhy this is the case, however the emphasison both native Okinawan arts and on pre-serving the armed element of Okinawa’smartial heritage may be the best clues tothe reasons for this decision.

As a whole, the amount of material, evenjust the formal material, in the Matayoshitradition is formidable. There are 4 sets

of kihon covering 45 separate techniquesfor 4 weapons, 16 kata covering 11 wea-pons, techniques and modified kata for atleast 8 other weapons, a few accessorykata, and of course paired work for allthe weapons and kata. This does not in-clude any empty hand material, katadeveloped by senior students in the dojo,or anything not formally taught by SenseiMatayoshi. This amount of material alone,particularly given the attention to detail inperformance of technique and the needto be fluent enough with each weapon toact creatively with it, is enough for a lifetimeof study. The fact that Sensei Matayoshiknew even more than he passed on is yetanother tribute to the depth of knowledgehe possessed.

Matayoshi Kobudo TodayAt the passing of Shinpo Matayoshi in1997, an era in Okinawan martial artsended. Matayoshi was a very public figurein the Okinawan martial arts community,maintaining a high level of visibility, wor-king to link together practitioners acrossJapan and the world, and practically throughforce of personality maintaining the linksbetween the various members of the orga-nization he founded, limiting by his seniorstatus the inevitable disagreements overdifferences in technique and performancethat developed over the years. In manyways, through encouragement of creativityin his students, an ability to teach withindifferent people’s methods of movement,

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Yoshiaki Gakiya with Suruchin, Okinawa 2006.

and the continuous development of his ownpractice, he fostered the variations inpractice that different generations of hisstudents show. However, he found a wayto make these differences less importantthan the personal and technical elementsthe practitioners shared.

When he passed away, the formal leader-ship of his dojo passed to his son, YasushiMatayoshi. Yasushi is not able to train dueto a handicap, but it is very common inJapan for the leadership of family-basedorganizations to stay within the familyregardless of technical proficiency. Hewas assisted as advisor by Sensei Mata-yoshi’s wife, and per Sensei Matayoshi’sinstruction the technical leadership posi-tion, 3rd Kancho of the Kodokan, passedto Yoshiaki Gakiya, who had been doingthe bulk of the teaching in the dojo for anumber of years. The leadership of theZen Okinawa Kobudo Renmei was givento Shoshin Miyahara; it is a separate bodyfrom the Kodokan dojo, which is a member.

This situation continued until 2001, whenYoshiaki Gakiya left the Kodokan to formhis own organization, the Okinawa KobudoDoushi Rensei Kai. At that time, the po-sition of technical director of the Kodo-kan was given to Seisho Itokazu, anotherlong time student. The Renmei remainedunder the same leadership, and a numberof Shinpo Matayoshi’s former studentsand their organizations, people like TakashiKinjo, Koki Miyagi, Katsuyoshi Kanei’sJinbukai, Kenyu Chinen, Shushi Maeshiro,and Kenichi Yamashiro remained mem-bers of the Renmei, though not of theKodokan. (Many had not been membersfor years.) Adding complexity to this pic-ture, there are also a number of seniorteachers, students from as far back as1960, people like Kimo Wall, who are notformally part of any larger organization,but who maintain the Matayoshi traditionas they were taught it by Shinpo Matayoshi.Although due to the vast amount of mate-rial the system contains there are only afew teachers who maintain and teach theentire syllabus as it was at Sensei Matayo-shi’s death, these different factions allrepresent facets of the Matayoshi tradi-tion. Coupled with this are various ancillarylines, like that of Seikichi Odo, whocombined the Matayoshi kobudo with thatof other teachers. Taken together theC

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system is what it was at Sensei Matayo-shi’s passing and the head of the systemis either his son or Sensei Gakiya, dependingon how one looks at it. However, workingwith the simple answer also eliminates muchof the complexity in the situation, andtherefore some of the living nature of thepractice. It takes a vibrant and living prac-tice and fossilizes it at the death of ShinpoMatayoshi.

Certainly there are many teachers outthere who make claims of mastery of thesystem that do not warrant such recog-nition. However, the main lines of thetradition are fairly clear, maintained bystudents with long relationships with ShinpoMatayoshi and teaching an unadulteratedversion of the art they studied. Throughthese students the impact of the Matayoshitradition on the Okinawan martial arts, andon their practitioners, remains strong, anda living treasure of Okinawan martialculture is being maintained and passed onto the next generation of martial artists.This, I believe, is the true heir to theMatayoshi tradition- the many studentsacross the globe practicing the art that thefamily developed, continuing its traditioninto the future.

Notes1 This man is often confused with MatsutareIre, a famous martial artist known for his kamatechniques, and living at roughly the sametime. According to what the family has written,this is a different person.2 Gokenki had moved to Okinawa in 1912, hadmarried a local woman by the name of MakatoYoshikawa, and had taken the Japanese nameof Sakaki Yoshikawa. He was well known inOkinawan karate circles, having a stronginfluence on many of Okinawa’s most famousmartial artists, including Chojun Miyagi, SeikoHiga, and Juhatsu Kyoda.3 The Russo-Japanese war had ended, andJapan’s influence over Manchuria made thata likely way to enter China for many Japanese

at the time.4 Many sources state that Roshi Kingai livedin Shanghai. The documents the Matayoshifamily published at the death of ShinpoMatayoshi state that he taught in Fuchow.(See ZOKR, 1999: pp. 19-26.)5 Sanra Chinen was also called Chinen Ya-mane, and was nicknamed Sakugawa. (Kodo-kan, 1994.)6 Some sources give this date as 1915, but thedate given in documents published by theMatayoshi family is Showa 3, 1929. 1915would be Taisho 3, and that may be the reasonfor the confusion. The family still has themedal given to Shinko Matayoshi.7 This generalissimo Guanming may have alsobeen a historic figure in China.8 The term (ij) ”nu ti”, also written “no ti”or “no di”, translates directly as “of the hands”,so one way to write the nickname could be“Kama hands Matayoshi”. However, in theOkinawan martial vernacular, the term “nu ti”does not actually refer to the hands at all, butto technique. It is also used in the names ofkata, like “kuwe no di”, or “hoe technique”.9 This public variation was done for two rea-sons. As Sensei Matayoshi said to me at ademonstration for TV in 1990: just have fun.Having fun at public events was a goodreason to play with the techniques. The otherwas secrecy. Some of the material he consi-dered private, and so he would play with it inpublic, and especially when being filmed. Asan example, much of the material for thevideos he did in the US in the mid 1990’s hemade up on the spot, just for the films. Hewas sometimes able to tell if people hadlearned from video this way, noting to some-one who did a crane form for him once thatthey must have learned it from a film of a certaindemo he did, as that was the only time he hadever done the form that way.10 It is important to recognize the differencebetween the Kodokan and the Renmei. WhileShinpo Matayoshi was president of both, he

Matayoshi family tomb.

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“Certainly there are many teachers outthere who make claims of mastery of thesystem that do not warrant suchrecognition. However, the main lines ofthe tradition are fairly clear, maintainedby students with long relationships withShinpo Matayoshi and teaching anunadulterated version of the art theystudied.”

various factions and ancillary lines, andthe large body of students they represent,demonstrate the deep impact on the Oki-nawan martial arts community the Mata-yoshi family, and the system they taught,has had.

Moving into the 21st century, that impactcontinues. The fragmentation of the sys-tem after Sensei Matayoshi’s passing doesleave the system with no clear and solesuccessor. Yoshiaki Gakiya perhaps hasthe best claim as a teacher, as he was ap-pointed technical successor at the deathof Shinpo Matayoshi. However, this iscomplicated by the Soke title and with itformal responsibility for maintaining thesystem remaining in the family, and thefamily currently supporting Itokazu Seishoas technical director of the Kodokan dojo.It is further complicated by the number ofother students with a great deal ofexperience in the system (some senior inrank to or having started before bothGakiya Itokazu and) teaching on their own,or as part of the Renmei. In many ways,this resembles the break up of Goju-ryuafter the death of Chojun Miyagi: a numberof senior students, all with excellent teach-ing credentials and fantastic technique,each going their own way once theirleader passed on. In many ways it also,through the sheer number of very seniorpractitioners alone, demonstrates the depthof the Matayoshi tradition, both on Okinawaand around the world.

In my opinion, the living nature of theMatayoshi tradition is continued in thismanner. This fragmentation is in manyways inevitable. There were already dif-ferences in how certain things were donebetween different dojo in the Renmei beforeShinpo Matayoshi’s death. These havecontinued to develop as time passes andindividual seniors continue to develop boththeir own training and the way they aremaintaining and passing on the system.(Even the Kodokan has changed itstraining, adding kihon since Sensei Mata-yoshi’s passing.) Fragmentation of this sortis also inevitable because the system is aliving one, the technical core of which isdeep enough to allow for its practitionersto work within it and experience it directly,as opposed to simply mimicking the lastgeneration. The simple answer to thequestion of succession could be that the

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Fred Lohse, is a 5th degreeblack belt in Goju-ryu karate andMatayoshi kobudo, and has beentraining both for over 20 years.He lived in Japan from 1990-

1992, and has master's degreesin Japanese Studies and

International Education fromHarvard University. He trains andteaches karate and kobudo with

Kodokan Boston, in Boston,Massachusetts. You can find out

more about the dojo at:www.kodokanboston.org.

do Kobudo Kihon Chosa Houkokusho. (Ka-rate do Kobudo Basic Investigative Report.)Okinawa: Bunshin Insatsu Shushiki Kaisha.Okinawa Kobudo Doushi Renseikai (OKDR).(2004). Kata no Shurui to Rekishi. (Classi-fication and History of Kata.) Okinawa:privately published by OKDR.OKDR. (20042). Okinawa Kobudo DoushiRenseikai Enkaku. (History of the OkinawaKobudo Doushi Renseikai.) Okinawa: pri-vately published by OKDR.Zen Okinawa Kobudo Renmei (ZOKR),Kingai-ryu Matayoshi Kobudo Soke HonbuKodokan. (1999). Kingai-ryu Tode to Mata-yoshi Shinko. pp. 19-25 in Matayoshi ShinpoSensei Tsuitou. (Memorial for Sensei Mata-yoshi Shinpo) Okinawa: Zen Okinawa Kobu-do Renmei.Smits, Gregory. (1999). Visions of Ryukyu:Identity and Ideology in Early-ModernThought and Politics. Honolulu: Universityof Hawaii Press.Taira, Shinken. (1964). Ryukyu KobudoTaikan. (Encyclopedia of Ryukyu Kobudo.)Ginowan: Youjushorin.Watatani Kiyoshi and Yamada Tadashi. (1978).Bugei Ryuha Daijiten. (Encyclopedia ofMartial Arts Styles.) Tokyo: Tokyo KoppiShupanshu.

Special ThanksYamashiro Kenichi, Nagai Hiroko, ItokazuSeisho, Koshin Kamura, Ishiki Hidetaka, andespecially Jyosei Yogi, the late Ryugo Sakaiand Shinpo Matayoshi, Yoshiaki Gakiya, andKimo Wall for their instruction, and for sharingtheir knowledge of the Matayoshi Kobudoand their recollections with me. Also, a specialthanks to Mario McKenna for help withsource material.

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was the sole teacher in the Kodokan, whilethe Renmei was an affiliation of a number ofkobudo students, all practicing the same sys-tem but often with different “flavors” indifferent dojo. In reality there was no “Mata-yoshi Kobudo” until Shinpo passed away,just the Kodokan and the Renmei, both teach-ing the kobudo of the Zen Okinawa KobudoRenmei.11 Most histories credit “tode” Sakugawa withthis kata, but the Matayoshi tradition dates itfrom his student. (OKDR, 2004.)12 The history given for Shushi, Choun, andShishi no kon is from written materials fromthe Matayoshi family and Yoshiaki Gakiya,and from conversations with Shinpo Matayoshi.There are also alternate histories on Okinawafor a number of these kata. Masahiro Naka-moto (1983, pp. 95/172)) credits Sensei Soeishi(Shishi) with creating Choun and Shushi fromhis studies of Soeishi no kon. Shinken Taira(1964, pp. 38) credits Choun to Soeishi, andthe Bugei Ryuha Daijiten (1978, p. 911) alsostates that Shushi was founded by Soeishi. Itshould be noted that all this information stemsfrom the Taira lineage- Nakamoto is a studentof Taira’s, and the BRDJ information wassupplied by Motokazu Inoue, a student ofTaira’s and Murakami, a student of Inoue’sand Seitoku Higa’s (Yamani-ryu).

ReferencesBishop, Mark. (1989). Okinawan Karate:Teachers, Styles, and Secret Techniques.London: A&C Black.Bishop, Mark. (1996). Zen Kobudo. Rutland,VT: Tuttle.Hokama, Tetsuhiro. (1984). Okinawa Karate-do no Ayumi. (A history of Okinawan karatedo.) Okinawa: Seihonshu Minami Purinto.Hokama, Tetsuhiro and Kinjo Masakazu.(1989). Okinawa no Kobudogu Tanrendogu.(Okinawan kobudo gear and physical traininggear.) Okinawa: Ryukyu Shinpo Sha.Hokama, Tetsuhiro (Translated by Joe Swift).(2007). Timeline of Karate History. Okinawa:Ozato Print Co.Hokama, Tetsuhiro (Translated by Joe Swift).(2005). 100 Masters of Okinawan Karate.Okinawa: Ozato Print Co.Kodokan Dojo. (1994). Ryukyu Ocho JidaiKobudo Tode; Kata no Shurui to Rekishi.(Ryukyu Kingdom Period Kobudo and Tode;History and Classification of kata.) Pamphletaccompanying video tape published by theKodokan dojo.Kerr, George. (2000). Okinawa, History of anIsland People. Rutland, VT: Tuttle.Miyagi, Tokumasa. (1987). Karate no Reikishi.(History of Karate.) Okinawa: SeihonshuNansei Insatsu.Nakamoto, Masahiro. (1983). Okinawa DentoKobudo: Sono Rekishi to Tamashi. (Tradi-tional Okinawan Kobudo; its History andSpirit.) Okinawa: Okiinsha.Okinawa Ken Kyoiku Iinkai. (1998). Karate

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http://www.kodokanboston.org



The Russian martial art of Systema first appeared outside its country’s borders back in 1993. Whatfollowed was nothing less than a martial invasion. Spearheaded by Vladimir Vasiliev, the charismaticand masterfully skilled former operative from the Russian Special Forces, this unique art spread itsroots wide and deep throughout the international community. With its heavy penchant for unorthodoxtactics, like all things different and new, Systema was quickly on the receiving end of its share of skepticismand debate. Compounding this was the style’s long history of classified use by Soviet Era military. Still,its efficiency could not be stifled and quickly, leading martial artists and novices alike were turning outin droves to discover the power of this incredible art for themselves.

- By Kevin Secours -

Interview with Mikhail Ryabko

Like many great masters, Mikhail’soutward appearance belies his incredibleabilities or the extraordinary experiencesthat have forged them. Born in 1961 inBelorussia, the Mikhail of today is farremoved from the chiseled athlete whowas inducted into the Russian SpecialForces at only 15 years of age. His robustbuild and happy smile remind me more ofa favorite uncle than they do an elitesoldier, yet this is a man who until recentlywas an active Colonel of the Special For-ces. A man who had survived every man-ner of crisis from hostage situation tocovert military operations, and who hasworked as a personal advisor to the Minis-ter of Justice. On the training mat, eventoday, Mikhail enjoys a reaction speed andgrace of motion that you would expect froma much smaller man. Beyond his obviousexperience however, it is most often hishumility, humor and generosity that leavethe most lasting mark on his students.

“Why did you start training in the martialarts?”“My father was a great master of unspeak-able ability. He taught me from a very earlyage. Then when I entered the military,what he had taught me became a matterof life and death.”

“What drove you to enter the military?”“I was asked if I wanted to be a hero andto meet women. Of course I did. (laugh-ing). Once I joined however, there wereno women and everyone seemed to bebeating me up. Seriously, it was my dutyas a citizen to support my country. I joinedfor the same reason every soldier joins.There was nothing special about me.”

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“Did you have a sense of where yourtraining would take you when you firststarted?”“Not at all. My only goal was to stay alive.I trained to survive. If I became good inmy training, it is only because I wanted tostay alive.”

“Can you describe what your earlytraining was like?”“It was brutal. Very brutal. We had a veryspecific goal and people were dependingon us to succeed, so we did what we thoughtwas necessary to become ready.”

“Can you give us some details of whatthis training was like?”“People often ask me about this. They wantto know specifically what I did as if byknowing this they will have a perfect road-map that will bring them to the exact placewhere I am today. But training does notwork this way. Every path is as differentas the individual is. People must trainaccording to their own situations, accor-ding to their own needs and circum-stances. Just because I did something inmy own training does not mean that it wasnecessarily right. We all do what we areordered to do or what we think is best atany given time, but we all make mistakes.What I know for sure, is that there weremany people who trained much harder

than I did. I also knew many people whowere great heroes in war. I am not a hero.I’m just lucky. Everything that I have I oweto God.

“How has your training changed since then?”“Obviously, my goal is different now. Onone hand, I am still deeply involved withteaching professionals. Every day, securityagents, law enforcement officers andmilitary personnel walk through my door.They seek me out because of my repu-tation and because I’ve worked in thesame situations as them. They know thatwhat I’m saying is not just a matter ofopinion. If I tell them something it’s becauseit’s worked for me and the teams that I’vebeen involved with. On the other hand,we also teach many civilians. Systema isa very inviting method of learning for bothadults and children. It teaches more thanjust how to fight—it teaches people howto make themselves stronger and how to

“What I know for sure, is that there weremany people who trained much harderthan I did. I also knew many people whowere great heroes in war. I am not a hero.I’m just lucky. Everything that I have Iowe to God.”

Mikhail Ryabko seen in his young military service.

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protect themselves, physically, spirituallyand psychologically.”

“What about your own personal training.What does your personal daily routineconsist of now?”“I am very much a student of movement.I always study how people move. Our ownbodies are always changing, so every dayour body’s work changes with it. I teachat my school in Moscow and also inter-nationally. To be perfectly honest, I amvery lazy by nature (smiling). I wouldrather eat than train, but good people cometo me and ask sincere questions. Becauseof my experience, I have answers forthem and an obligation to help guide them.Systema is too important for it not to beshared.”

“There are many misconceptions aboutSystema. For example some peoplewrongly believe that it is against other artsor methods that are not Russian.”“Some people look for controversy. It’shuman nature to sensationalize things.Systema has it’s roots in Russian Or-thodox Christianity. The influences of thisreligion on our art are well known, andreligion helped carry the art and keep italive, but we don’t require our students toconvert to one faith or another. Our stu-dents and instructors come from allbackgrounds and beliefs, male and female,young and old. Just look at the teachersthat we’ve promoted and how diverse theyare. Systema is a universal gift.”

Perhaps one of the biggest areas ofconfusion regarding Systema is the roleof psychic energy. Can you describe tothe reader what this refers to?In training, we use this term to refer toanything that involves the psyche of your

partner. This simply means anything thatis not purely physical. I realize that thisterm has a different meaning here, but wedon’t mean to imply anything magical ormysterious by this. For example, in boxing,if one fighter fakes the other boxer andcauses them to lean back without actuallythrowing a punch, they have just con-trolled them without physical contact. Thiscan make them more vulnerable for strikesto other areas. They are playing with theiropponent’s psyche. Or, for example, if youare driving on the highway and you areable to steer your car without hitting othercars, this is a form of psychic work. Youdon’t need to hit each car as you pass it toknow that it’s there. You can feel it andmaintain your personal space intuitively.People use psychic energy every day with-out realizing it. In Systema, sometimes wesimply address the role these fears andour responses to them can play in fighting.”

What are the applications of this work forreal combat?“There are many. If you are trying to avoida fight, how you position your body andmove your hands will play a veryimportant role. The words you use andhow you talk, even the way that youbreathe and use your eyes can make thedifference between avoiding a fight orvolunteering for one. These are all thingsthat we study. Most of us will not beattacked every day of our lives but we dohave to walk through busy crowds andstreets. By studying how to work without

contact, you learn how to control your bodybetter and to move through situationswithout aggression. This is better for yourhealth and calms your spirit. If you keepbumping into everyone, eventually you willabsorb a lot of aggression and find fightseverywhere you look. Of course this isonly one part of training.”

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“To be perfectly honest, I am very lazy bynature. I would rather eat than train, butgood people come to me and ask sincerequestions.”

Many people have seen video clips on theinternet of “touchless work” and theybelieve that there is something super-natural occurring or else something fake.What do you say to these people?The purpose of training is to make studentsstronger, not weaker. To become readyfor combat, you do need to experience con-tact and resistance. Ask anyone who hastrained with me (laughing)—there iscontact, but it’s not healthy to do this alltime otherwise you will tire and injure thebody. Everyone respects boxers for therealism of their training because theyunderstand the fighting that they see. Whenboxers fight, they actually hit each other,but this is only the smallest part of theirtraining. Most of the time that a boxerspends training is not spent in the ring. Aboxer will run and skip rope, or practicefootwork or shadow boxing. When theyfight, sometimes it is very soft. Even boxers

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understand that you can’t go hard all thetime. Sambo fighters will do the same. Theywill roll with each other and practice givingeach other openings to practice locks andholds. They do not try to break each other’sbones with full force all the time. This wouldmake training impossible. If you were tryingto learn how to fall, you might put a chair oranother obstacle in front of you and jumpover it until this became comfortable. Itwould not be necessary to have theseobjects thrown at you with full force or topractice jumping out of cars. What we aredoing is the same, except we are not concer-ned with sport. We are dealing with every-day things and aggression on the street.Sometimes, we give our partners a certainthreat or obstacle, like a slow strike whichthey can safely move around. We give themthe time to study the attack and their re-action to it. This helps them build confidenceand study movement. It is only one very

at the Summit and being introduced tomany of us for the first time. How does itfeel to now see your son following in yourfootsteps?”“My son is training because it is requiredin his work (Daniil Ryabko is a lieutenantin the law enforcement sector of themilitia). Like me and my father before me,he will grow to understand the true depthand importance of this art and so too willhis understanding grow.”

“As the art does continue to grow, do youworry about its quality deteriorating or arethere any plans to standardize the curri-culum or establish testing and teachingstandards?”(Smiling and laughing) People are so con-cerned with this idea of ranks and levels.These things don’t matter in Systema. Allthat matters is that you learn about your-self, become a better person each day andshare what you learn with those aroundyou. In this way, the System protects itself.The right people understand this, areattracted to the style and will stay withthe practice. Those who are malicious orlooking only to harm others will not findpeople who will want to train with them—they won’t be able to improve. This is thenatural way of things.”

How would you describe Systema to some-one who has never seen this art?“As you’ve said, we try to address allaspects of life—not just fighting or combat.We’re not trying to be an art. We don’tcare if our movement is fancy or beautiful.We also aren’t following someone else’sspecific instructions. There are no patterns

Systema is based on the idea of what yourefer to as “natural movement”. Many peoplemight assume this means that any actionthey make is natural, but that’s not whatyou mean by that term. Can you explain thisin more detail?When we refer to natural movement, we’rereferring to the unique ways that everyindividual moves when they are relaxed andfree of tension. Everybody has a differentway of moving. When you train in Syste-ma, you begin to discover your own perso-nal reflexes. Realization is the first step.Then, you can begin the work of learninghow to make those reactions better bylearning how to relax.”

What are the key components of learninghow to relax in a fight or a crisis?It all comes back to the basic principles.Breathing is the foundation of everything.We all knew how to breathe perfectly aschildren but when we entered the world,we encountered shock and stress. Thesecan steal our ability to breathe. Systema teach-es students how to breathe despite beingstressed or frightened. Everything elsefollows from that. Correct body form andposture are also very important. When youslouch or stand in a stance, you can putyour body out of balance, add stress to themuscles, and through this, unbalance thepsyche. A correct posture means that every-thing is doing what it is supposed to do—the skeleton is giving structure, musclesare relaxed and only exerting force whenthey must and the joints are loose and elastic.

Too often breathing is looked upon as onlybeing mechanical in that people learn tobreathe in the upper chest or in the lowerstomach, but breathing is more than this.Breathing is physiological. When youbreathe, you fill your blood with oxygenand this gives you more strength and endu-rance. In Systema, we learn how to breathe

“Most of the time that a boxer spendstraining is not spent in the ring. When theyfight, sometimes it is very soft. Evenboxers understand that you can’t go hardall the time.”

small part of our training. The best wayto understand this fully is to simply trainwith us and feel this firsthand.”

“You’ve often said that the secret to thisart is precisely that it is a “system”—thatits addresses all levels of the individual:the mental, the physical and the spiritual.Since it is so complete in your opinion, howdo you feel about people who borrow onlya handful of concepts or ideas from itrather than dedicating themselves to thecomplete art?”(Mikhail holds up an apple he has beenholding and rubs it on his shirt.) “It’s likethis apple. I am openly offering this appleto the world. I am telling people to take itall. I am telling people how good this appleis. I am telling them what this apple hasdone for me and what it can do for them,but still, some insist on only taking a smallbite. What can I do about this? It’s theirchoice. In the end, I prefer to eat the wholeapple (smiling).”

“Recently, your son has been teachingmore. He is with you and your family here

Mikhail Ryabko punching. Photo taken inMoscow.

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Mikhail Ryabko striking senior Systemainstructor Martin Wheeler.

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or fixed forms in Systema, just goodmovement. Since we all have differenttypes of bodies and different abilities, wealso express Systema differently.”



Kevin Secours is a certifiedinstructor of Systema under

Vladimir Vasiliev and the Directorof the Montreal SystemaAcademy. He interviewed

Mikhail Vasilievich Ryabko, thedirector of the world wide

Systema family and teacher ofVladimir Vasiliev, on August 16th

2006, at the inaugural Summit ofthe Masters.

For more information about Systemaplease visit:

wwww.RussianMartialArt.com

to relax, to give us more power and toheal ourselves. This is very important.Training should be something that improvesas you age.”

Systema has become legendary for itsstriking power. Is breathing the key todeveloping it?Relaxation is a big part of it. Tension,malice and ego can rob you of power. Ifyou can’t control your own mind and body,you’ll never be able to control an attacker.Breathing and structure also play an impor-tant role. There is no secret to our striking.It is all actually very simple. It’s just goodmechanics and allowing the body tobehave in the way it was designed to func-tion. When you are tense, you corrupt thealignment of your body whereas whenyou are relaxed, you allow every body partto do what it was intended to do.

Systema has so much to offer beyond itscombative applications, are you surprisedthat not more people are attracted to it forits health benefits?Interest is always growing. In the begin-ning, people only focused on our militaryroots and associations, but now, more andmore, people are learning about the healthpractices the system has to offer. We recent-ly produced a book just on our approachto breathing. This is based on Russianscientific research and has been used totreat people for medical conditions in Russia.Systema is still new outside of Russia. Everyday, new students are realizing for them-selves the incredible benefits that thesebreathing techniques have brought to theirlives. That alone is rewarding. Like any-thing new, it will take time for the word toget out correctly. As more and more peo-ple benefit from these techniques, the wordwill spread. I am just thankful to be in aposition to share what I know.

Can you give the reader a basic idea of whatan average Systema Class is like?Training is always different. You mightbegin with a basic warm-up. Systema hasmany unique exercises. These can be breathwork to prepare the psyche and body. Itcan also be more strenuous work, likepushups or resistance exercises or bodyweight exercises. It’s important to allowthe student to improve their ability to controltheir body and to increase their sensitivity.Then we might do drills to educate the body,learning how to move naturally againstpushes, strikes, grabs or weapons. Stu-dents will work slowly to discover theirreactions and correct them. When demon-strations are given, the teacher might explaina principle and show many ways it couldbe applied, but students are never expec-ted to duplicate a specific technique. Theyare encouraged to experiment and to workin their own direction and the instructorguides them. Then as the comfort level in-creases, contact and resistance can be intro-duced. In this way, every class mirrorsthe ultimate growth of the student—begin-ning slowly and simply and getting morereal as you advance.

Many people marvel at your personal abi-lity. As someone who has trained with manymasters in different arts, I am always struckby how much you seem to know and byhow willing you are to share that know-ledge. What do you attribute this ability to?(Laughing). Everyone has potential. Everystudent that enters my school has the abi-lity to become much better than me. TheSystem is very effective. I simply respectthe same basic principles that I teach andpractice it honestly. Whatever strength Ihave comes from being the most honestand genuine person that I can. And of cour-se God has given me this opportunity tolearn and to teach and I am very thankfulfor this. It all begins with being a goodperson. The rest follows naturally.

Where would you like to see Systema in10 years?God willing, the art will continue to growas it has. I believe that everyone can bene-fit from the system.

Do you ever feel pressure to perform andto continue meeting challenges as thedirector of Systema?I am always happy to show what I know.I’m not looking to compete with others orto put myself above them. Earlier today,you and I trained together. You experien-ced contact didn’t you? Yet still you cameaway from that experience unhurt and actu-ally understanding more about your ownbody and your own potential. This is be-cause I was not trying to defeat you—Iwas simply showing you what could bedone and now you feel only good emotionsand there is no malice.”

“There is no secret to our striking. It is allactually very simple. It’s just good mecha-nics and allowing the body to behave inthe way it was designed to function.”

That’s definitely true. So by entering intosituations with this humility you eliminatethe pressure of the fight itself?“Ego can certainly add pressure. When Itrain with students, I do what I can. If oneday I get cut with a knife, then I know Ineed to train harder. If God chooses not totake my life and gives me the opportunityto continue learning, then I will take it anddo my best. (smiling) I have been cutbefore.”

Highly religious, Mikhail Ryabko is shown herein his private chapel.

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Mikhail Ryabko striking.

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Fear is the evolutionary birthright of all survivors. Hardwired into the darkest corners of our primitivebrain, deep in the shadows of the genetic ancestry we carry inside of us, are those basest, simplest andcrudest survival reflexes that untold trials and experiences have branded into our nervous system.Walter Cannon coined the term “Fight or Flight” to describe the natural physiological changes thatoccur in our bodies when a serious threat is perceived, including increases in heart rate and arterialblood pressure, cortisol and adrenalin levels and a host of other changes in the sympathetic nervoussystem. Essentially any species that can inflict damage and experience pain will be heir to these fearresponse.1 After all, these natural reactions have helped carry us this far on our journey as a species. AsMichael Friedman said:

“The scientific name for an animal that doesn’t either run from or fight its enemies is lunch.”- By Kevin Secours -

Fear

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That we experience this fear howeverdoes not necessitate that we must feel fear.As Laurence Gonzales noted in his bookDeep Survival, our reflexes have beencreated from the general experiences ofour species as a whole. They are simplythose responses which served the majorityof our ancestors best in most circum-stances over a very long period of time.They are not necessarily going to be thebest response for an individual today whenfacing a dangerous threat. Grasping asharp knife by the blade, stepping backwith fear down a flight of stairs freezingduring a verbal exchange are all commonexamples of basic reflexes that weredesigned to protect us overall but which caneasily sabotage our survival odds in a self-defense scenario as we will see.

The advantage of our highly evolvedhuman brain is that we have the ability toconsciously direct our actions. We aremeta-cognitive—we can do more thansimply perceive and know things; we canknow that we know.2 The difficulty is thatthis knowing is not always clear cut. Itmust constantly do battle with an under-lying current of primitive fear. In the end,our brain is fundamentally like an old housethat was renovated a number of times,well beyond the considerations of the

original blue print. The oldest portion ofour brain is essentially still not far removedfrom what you might find in your everydaylizard. It’s a primal brain, focused on pri-mary survival. As evolution permitted andnecessitated brain growth, new portionsdid not replace the old, but rather wereslapped on top of them. As Arthur Koestlernoted:“…we would expect an evolutionarydevelopment which gradually trans-formed the primitive old brain into amore sophisticated instrument—as ittransformed claw into hand, gill intolung. Instead, evolution superimposeda new, superior structure on an old one,with partly overlapping functions andwithout providing the new with a clear-cut hierarchic control over the old—thus inviting confusion and conflict.”3

It is precisely this duality between the oldand the new, the primal and the cognitivebrains, that often creates so much confu-sion when addressing the role of fear incombat training.

While much has been written on the roleof fear in a warrior’s personal preparation,in this article, I will be approaching the topicfrom a slightly different perspective, anddiscussing how fear and an understandingof basic fear responses, can be used tooffensive advantage in combative terms. Iwill be basing this perspective on theapproaches used in the Russian MartialArt of Systema as practiced by MikhailRyabko and Vladimir Vasiliev.

Not All Fears Are Created Equally:Certainly, a great degree of fear can beovercome through effective training.Training that permits the practitioner tomindfully explore different stimuli, to growfamiliar with it and then to build theirconfidence through varied repetitionagainst increasingly complex and resistantthreats, will go a long way to overcomeprimitive brain responses and allow theindividual to maintain conscious control

“In the end, our brain is fundamentallylike an old house that was renovated anumber of times, well beyond theconsiderations of the original blue print.”

“It is precisely this duality between theold and the new, the primal and thecognitive brains, that often creates somuch confusion when addressing the roleof fear in combat training.”

during a crisis, but regardless of how muchwe train, we will always be subject tosome degree of fear. There will alwaysbe some stimuli, some circumstance, somesituation that we are not entirely preparedfor. Since the newest architecture of ourbrain is built over ancient survival struc-tures as we’ve seen, there will thereforealways be a chance that the primitive brainwill kick in. In short, if you have an under-standing of how the fears are triggered,you can both train to minimize their onsetin yourself, while maximizing their onsetin your opponent. Essentially, you can learnhow to flick the switch inside your attack-er’s head from cognitive, to primitive brain.

Fear can be grouped into 2 sections:innate fears—those fears that we carry



in our basic hardwiring from the experienceof our species, and learned fear—thoseunique experiences and phobias that wehave experienced as individuals. We willbegin with a consideration of the role ofinnate fears. Simply put, any stimuli thatis too fast or too unfamiliar can cause ourbrain to revert and trigger what is often

act. If there is not enough time for aconscious reaction (what Joseph Ledouxtermed a “high road response”) theprimitive brain will intercept and interruptconsciousness with a “low road” reflexaction. This “minimum processing time”can vary individual to individual. Percep-tiveness can vary and can be affected bysurrounding, including low-light settings,crowds or loud noise, familiar or unfamiliarenvironments and a host of other cir-cumstances. Beyond all of these however,one of the most easily manipulated devicesin combative terms is distance. Like anygood driver knows, the more space youkeep between the front of your car andthe back of the car in front of you, the moretime you will have to react. The same isobviously true in combative terms. LawEnforcement Officers in particular are ri-gorously trained to maintain distance whenapproaching and interviewing a suspect,with attention being paid to partner work

within range, without alerting them of ourintent?

First, direct, linear entries will rarely workunless they are explosive and sudden. Ifyou catch an opponent in a moment ofimbalance and rush directly in, you maybe able to overtake them, but if youropponent is vigilant and maintain thedistance between you, lurching forwardand testing the range will likely only agitatethem further and cause them to increasetheir defense. You will often see this typeof nervous “feeling out” process in boxingand MMA matches, when 2 fighters taketurns testing the range between them.

In Systema, attention is paid to reducing

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“Regardless of how much we train, wewill always be subject to some degree offear.”

termed our “startle-flinch” response. Theearliest form of this reflex emerges in uteroat only 9 weeks of age. Known as the“Moro Reflex”, this natural response tostress stimulates the production of adren-alin and cortisol. If you’ve ever seen thestartled look and flailing arms of an infantthat is shocked by a loud noise, you’veseen this reflex in action.4 If we jumpahead to adulthood and place an individualin a combat situation, this same basic star-tle reflex can easily be seen in baiting andfaking strategies.

Faking and Baiting:The brain needs a certain minimum amountof time to process any stimuli. The sensesmust notice the stimuli, feed the signal tothe brain and then wait for a response to

“Beyond all of these however, one of themost easily manipulated devices incombative terms is distance.”

and complimentary flanking. The same istrue of well-trained fighters. Offensivelyspeaking, however, how can we invadean opponent’s personal space and get

Example 1

Have a partner stand directly in frontof you; keep your chests parallel toone another and a comfortable dis-tance between you (perhaps 5-6 feet).Have one partner remain still whilethe other casually encroaches, onestep at a time. Try to stay square atall times. If you proceed slowly andhonestly, you will notice a sense of com-pression occurring between you notunlike the feeling of magnetism youfeel when you slowly move the palmsof your hands together withouttouching. There is a natural aware-ness and eventually uneasiness thatoccurs at a subconscious level. Thisis a very basic way of making youaware of your body’s intuitive senseof distance.

This same drill can be heightened byadding roleplaying. Have your sta-tionary partner escalate theiremotional state, focusing on aggres-sive thoughts, accelerating theirbreathing and heart rate. You willnotice a much clearer sense of this com-pression as you approach. Then,practice simply blading your body,taking a casual step back on one sideand tilting the face of your torso. Youshould notice immediately that thiswill provide a sense of releasing thepsychological pressure and helplessen the sense of confrontation be-tween you both.

During striking drills, have your partner experiment with short punches that beginjust in front of your body and larger punches that start from further away. Much ofyour flinch response is controlled by sight, therefore the more time you have to see

the fist coming, the more potential there is for you to brace yourself and becometense, making the effects of the strike worse. The key is to remain committed to

correct posture and to breathe out only at the moment of impact.

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Short Punch and Big Punch



the sense of tension that both partiesexperience. Beginning with simply movingaway from the center line of the aggressorand even angling or “blading” your ownbody, will go a long way to reduce thesense of hostility you are projecting at abody level (see Example 1).

Often, we take these subtler conside-rations for granted. Proxemics (thescience of personal space and the psycho-logical affects it carries) is hugely impor-tant in combative terms. Remember, it’simpossible for you to not communicate.Even if you do not speak, your body langu-age, gestures and emotional state are con-stantly conveying signals to the peoplearound you. Studies on “backward mas-king” have shown that a single emotio-nally arousing visual flickered on a screenfor a millisecond amidst a sea of neutralimages can elicit a physical, emotionalresponse, including increases in heart rateand sweating, even though the consciousmind does not register it.5 This is the verybasis of subliminal advertisement. In a

oppositional manner while trying toverbally engage your aggressor.

Which of these 2 situations is likely toinduce less aggression? Obviously, thesecond one contributes far less aggres-sion. While there is no guarantee that thistype of behavior will have enough effectto allow you to infiltrate your aggressor’srange on its own, strategically speaking Ithink it is clear that it is your far better option.

Psychologically speaking, this drill alsobegins to highlight an important distinctionin our fears as a species—specifically, thedifference between random violence(someone who is close to you, within yourpersonal space and who may hurt youaccidentally, like someone who runs intoyou in a riot or who is being crushed intoat a concert) or someone who is inten-tionally trying to harm you and who istargeting you as a victim. Konrad Lorenzwas among the first to distinguish betweensurvival instincts (what he categorized ashunting) and true aggression (which isviolence directed against a member ofyour own species).6 Simply by experi-menting with this drill, you can begin tofeel the difference between neutralencroachment (someone coming uncom-fortably close to you without apparentintent) and invasive encroachment (some-one coming too close with obvious ag-gression in their body language) will havea profoundly different effect in yourphysiological responses. Fighting to protectyourself or your loved ones against anundirected threat could be termed a

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“Remember, it's impossible for you to notcommunicate.”

more escalated combat state, consider thefollowing options:

Situation 1: You oppose your opponent,squaring off directly, holding a rigid stance,aggressively jerking forward, twitchingand bobbing as you grimace and grunt;

Situation 2: You acknowledge youraggressor and no matter how fierce theybecome, you maintain a calm but defen-sively sound posture, moving your handspassively between you, making efforts toblade your body and avoid standing in an

Example 3

P1 sheaths a training gun on theirbelt. P2 stands roughly 6 feet awayfrom them.

-Phase 1: At their discretion, P2 rush-es their partner. P1 tries to draw theirweapon and fire before their partnercan close the distance, smother themand take them down. If the empty-handed attacker is able to do this withsome success, increase the distanceslightly until it becomes difficult toenter without getting “shot”

-Phase 2: At this point, maintain the“difficult” distance, but consciouslyadd the element of moving off of yourattacker’s center line as you enterrather than rushing directly in. Thiswill force the gun wielder to repro-cess and recalibrate, creating a valu-able delay in their ability to process.You can also play with changing theheight of your entry, dropping yourhead as you rush forward. It’s idealif you can add this element withoutwarning the gun wielder what youwill be doing to get a true indicationof the advantage this provides.

-Phase 3: Create an immediate dis-traction. A quick shout or loud scream,spitting, or ideally throwing a smallobject or (faking a throw) as youmove off the center line and dart incan give you even more reaction timeand help interrupt the armed partner’sresponse time. This triggers the cor-neal or “blink” reflex.

Example 2

Stand in front of your partner.Partner 1 places their open palms onyour shoulders. Partner 2 lets theirarms hang loosely by the side. Whenready, P2 tries to punch P1 withoutwarning. P1 uses their contact withP2’s shoulders to read the musculartension and “intention” of the strike.P1 may move their body and pushon P2’s shoulders to deflect incomingforce. The goal is to minimize if notto completely avoid incoming strikes.With practice, this drill will teach bothparties the importance of relaxationfor non-telegraphic movement.

Try performing this drill first withneutral emotion, then in an escalatedstate. Even performing it in a peace-ful and quiet setting, versus a settingfilled with loud music, can makeachieving efficient motion more chal-lenging. Remember, the key to ma-king training effective is to first achie-ve success and then to make thechallenges more complex and re-sistant. Be creative when applyingthese drills.

“neutral experience”. It can be easier tostay focused when the attack is notpersonal. Aggression however can bepsychologically far more unsettling. Thisis why so many professional fighters tryto get under each others skin. Theyunderstand that an angry opponent isemotional and unbalanced. Fortunately, asFrans de Waal noted, while survival isinnate, aggression is “triggered”—it isnot necessary. Since it requires a catalyst,it’s possible to learn how to predict thecues that precede it and to avoid or resolveit through other means.



Once you are inside your aggressor’srange, other considerations include usingthe most natural pre-emptive strikespossible. If you intend to move pre-emptively, learning to move your bodyefficiently, without excess tension, isabsolutely essential (see Example 2).

Beyond subtle invasions of space, quick,ballistic entries can also be highlyeffective. Consider the following:·- Motor skill begins to erode as the heartreaches about 115-120 bpm. This beginswith basic hand-eye coordination but atabout 150 bpm can mean the completeloss of complex motor skill.- At 175 bpm, tunnel vision occurs, depthperception falters and cognitive processesbegin to shut down as the primitive brainstorms the castle and over-throws themetacognitive brain.- By 185 bpm, “tonic immobility” orfreezing can occur as the body instinctivelytries to play dead to avoid predators.

This rapid jump from the most relaxedresting heart rate to being frozen in terrorcan occur in an instant. Sharp motionstowards the face, feigning the throwingof objects from a distance, spitting or evenshouting, can all cause the defender’s brainto temporarily freeze. Even within thedomain of functional responses defenderswill often back-pedal in desperation as

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“Regardless of how little or how muchdistance you have between you and youropponent, how you act will largely affecthow you are perceived by your oppo-nent.”

Have your partner place their hands on your shoulders. Make an effort to strike your partner. The moment your partner sensesyour intent to move through your shoulders, they should try to jam, block or shove your shoulder to unbalance you and nullifythe strike. If you strike with demonstrative, muscular effort, your partner will be able to easily intercept your actions. Throughpractice however, you can learn how to bypass the need to cock and load the arm and simply fire the punch without telegraphing

your intent in the shoulder.

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Pre-Emptive Drill

their vision tunnels and they struggle toregister their attacker in their range of sight,not unlike a photographer staring throughthe lens of a camera who has zoomed outas far as their lens will permit and whomust then physically back up in order tosee their subject more fully (see Example3).

Behavior:While the idea of behavior was addressedin the previous discussion of distance, I’dlike to reiterate a few key points here withregards to behavior. Regardless of howlittle or how much distance you havebetween you and your opponent, how youact will largely affect how you areperceived by your opponent. As I’ve

becomes easier for them to justify theirresponse with less evidence and to respondwith more certainty and aggression. Evenif you are attacked and fully justified inretaliating to defend yourself, if yourespond in an excessively aggressivemanner, you risk triggering a defensivefear responses in your attacker that mayescalate their response and actually givethem more power and strength (to saynothing of the moral and legal ramificationof excessive force). Studies have showthat fear-induced self defensive fightingis generally more injurious and even morelethal than undirected violence.7 It’s thedifference between 2 dogs getting into alight scuffle to define their territory andanother dog mauling a human who hascornered them.

One other factor to consider regardingbehavior and fear response is the idea ofcongruence—that is the relationshipbetween your actions and your opponent’sexpectations of your. If an attacker targetsyou, expecting a victim and you suddenlyand ferociously retaliate, you can certainlysurprise them and scare them off. Therisk also exists however, that in the caseof a brutal retaliation, one perhaps wherethe defender is pursuing their attacker,perhaps blocking any opportunity forescape, and causing injury and pain, thevery real risk exists that the predator will

noted, there’s a difference betweenundirected violence aimed only at survivingand true aggression, directed backspecifically at opponent. Offensivelyspeaking, this means that if we positionourselves, physically and psychologicallyin an antagonistic or predatory manner,we give our opponent emotional fuel. It



Example 4

P1 stands naturally. P2 stands to theirside, off of their center line. Thishelps both to diminish the psycho-logical intimidation generated in thisdrill for the recipient while reinforcingthe importance of staying outside theopponent’s center line in the puncher.P2 gently and naturally strikes thepartner’s stomach. It is important tostrike for the recipient’s benefit andpsychological exploration and not forthe striker’s ego or self-gratification.

After each strike, allow the studentthe time to explore the effects of thestrike both on their body and theirpsyche. It can be helpful to imaginea line on the ground. To receive theirnext strike, the recipient must bestanding on that line. The momentthey step away, they are afforded thetime to recover themselves. It isessential that the recipient is giventhe time to recompose themselves.

It is essential that strikes are receivedwith a straight back. Even theslightest leaning forward will weakenthe abdominal muscles and cause thestrikes to enter far more easily.

Example 5

Practice striking your opponent withthe smallest and least telegraphicmotion possible. See how little poweris truly required to affect your part-ner when the strike is hidden and thereceiving muscles are ambushed andunprepared.

Now practice the same drill, but nowmake your motions large and delibe-rate. You still want to emphasize effi-cient motions here, but stand furtheraway or provide a slight indication ofyour intent before you strike so thatyour partner can see your work. Thiswill usually add tension to your part-ner’s body before the strike even lands.

There are many combat applicationsof this type of work. For example, ifyou need to enter in on an opponentwho you can see is slightly beyond yourstriking range, you can throw a largeand deliberate strike, full of intent, totemporarily freeze them with tensionand follow up with quick follow-upstrikes on a ½ or ¼ beat after youhave spanned the distance. Similarly,in grappling scenarios, a spastic con-traction in one direction can causeyour partner to contract and bracethemselves, allowing you to quicklyswitch positions for a throw, sweepor takedown.

We must be careful here not to over-idea-lize this concept. Certainly, violent encoun-ters can be vicious, requiring resoluteresponses. Moreover, they can escalatequickly from a seemingly safe and in-nocuous situation, to a life-and-deathexchange. What I would simply like toemphasize here is that in your training, bemindful of the degree of aggression youare injecting into your actions. The goalmust always remain to protect the self andnot to hurt the other.

Dealing With Strikes:As infants in the womb, we are pre-conditioned to equate curling our body intothe fetal position with a sense of security.From the moment we are born, the bodystruggles and explores with reversing thisposture, straightening and stretching.Roughly 3 months after birth, the bodybegins to manifest the transition that willbe necessary for bipedal movement as thechild begins to arch backwards whenplaced on their stomach, extending theirneck, head and arms. This is known asthe Landau Reflex.9 As Thomas Hannanoted, much of our lives can be seen as aconstant battle between these 2 extre-mes—the security of the Fetal position and

the exploration of the Landau reflexes asour bodies struggle between correctposture and slouching, alignment andsubmission to gravity.10 Systema practi-tioners are taught to deeply explore thisstruggle directly through the absorption ofstrikes (see Example 4).

This simple striking drill is a core exercisein Russian Systema. It carries a massivelycomplex array of psychological impli-cation. Some practitioners are imme-diately “flinchy” and unable to even volun-teer for strikes. Even those who are highlyfamiliar with the exercise and well condi-tioned mentally and physically, will have abreaking point that, after which the merepromise of the coming punch can maketheir body fold in anticipation. This is anexcellent example of where innate fear

now regress into their own survival modeand retaliate more resolutely against youthan if you had simply been content toscare them off. Hormonal factors, theinfluence of drugs and alcohol and socialreinforcement also play important roleshere.8 What is important however is torealize that excessive force, in any form,is immediately and tactically dangerous foryou within the context of that fight.

Systema always emphasizes attackingand defending without indulging in ag-gression. The goal of practitioners is torespond to the necessary degree, withoutmalice or brutality that would otherwiseescalate the dynamic. That being said,there are of course exceptions to everyrule. Role-playing, deception and relatedstrategies can still be used to temporarilytrigger aggression in an opponent, butgenerally speaking, the greater goal is toreduce aggression in every situationwhenever possible and not to add to it.

One great exercise to play withyour own tension and fear responseis to have your partner wrestle withyou using full tension, strength andexcited breathing. In this most im-mediate and intimate level of contact,try to remain as relaxed as possible,remaining committed to steady andcontinuous breathing and fluid mo-tion. Grappling involves a number

of deep fears, including smotheringand suffocation, compression and

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Wrestling Drill



Example 6

PHASE 1P1 attacks his partner with a trainingknife. Emphasize using short, sharpslicing and stabbing motions and tryto agitate and excite your partner’spsyche. Your goal is to bait them intoreaching for your training weaponand to then cut their outstretchedhands and inner wrists when theyreach for you. This simple exercisewill teach the defender the impor-tance of working close to their ownbody. It will also show the danger ofgrabbing the knife and the risk ofgetting the hands cut by doing so ver-sus the advantage of deflecting withthe outsides of the forearms instead.For the knife-wielder, this drill willalso teach how to transfer panic intothe defender.

PHASE 2Put the knife aside. Practice wrest-ling with your partner. P1 looks for“grips” on their partner, using thesame energy and motions they usedwhen attacking with a knife—it otherwords, attack with quick reaches andsnatching grabs. P2 defends againstthe grips, again working close to theirown body. The goal is to try to avoidbeing contaminated by the attacker’sagitated motions and try to avoidreaching, lunging, lose their balanceand losing control of their breathing.No matter how agitated the attackerbecomes, stay focused on your com-bat goals.

PHASE 3More subtle still. Engage full out inwrestling with your attacker. Taketurn “acting out” roles. P1 is tenseand aggressive and trying to over-power and crush P2. P2 tries to staylose and relaxed, maintain control oftheir breathing, form, relaxation andtheir overall cognitive state. Ideally,P1 should become exhausted farmore quickly and have limited suc-cess. P2 should learn that by notindulging their own overall grasp andclench instinct, that they can avoidobsessing their focus and wastingtheir energy.

When facing an armed attacker, avoid leaning forward, becoming rigid in a stance ortrying to reach for the weapon. Ultimately, these responses will only offer your limbsto your attacker and get you cut. Instead, stay back, try to remain relaxed, keep your

hands close to your body and submissively postured or else moving calmly andjustifiably within the context. The extra inches you will gain in distance between the

blade and your body will translate into essential milliseconds of reaction time thatmay mean the ultimate difference between survival and defeat.

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Flinch and Passive Stance vs. Knife

overlaps with learned fear. Initially, prac-titioners will have differing levels of innatefear to the punch—in fact much of whatthey assume is innate has actually beenlearned through their individual lifeexperience.Then, within the context of effectivetraining, often in very little time, practi-tioners learn to overcome this fear. Eventhen however, within the context of asimple exercise or sparring match, a solidhit can immediately bypass their trainingand make the body subject to fear. Thiscan be seen in a boxing or MMA matchwhere one fighter is injured and thenstruggles to protect their body.

To discover and explore your own fear response to strikes, practice having a partner stand toone side of you. They should begin with light strikes, working up to your capacity. Wheneverthe effects of a strike are too severe for you, your partner should wait and allow you to restore

your breathing, form and focus. Much of the drill is developing the confidence to step backinto position for the next hit.

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Punch Absorption

Strike absorption is an excellent drill toteach both how to use and how to counterour basic fears. The punch, at its core, isa primal human weapon. Forged in ourprimate ancestors’ long histories of tree-dwelling, humans evolved with multi-directional shoulders from hanging and fiststhat just as readily could close around abranch to swing as they could into fists topunch or around the handles of createdweapons.11 The mere dominance of thefist in most martial traditions further atteststo this. As the Systema practitionerevolves, the drill can grow to encompassall aspects of strikes, from kicks to gouges,and ultimately evolve into free-flowing



Have your partner stand before you with a training gun tucked in their belt. The moment you make an effort to approach them,your partner should try to draw the gun and level the barrel at you. Begin at roughly 2 meters (6 feet) and work further andfurther away. You will quickly see that there is a point where the likelihood of entry is very low. At this point, improve your

response by first stepping off the opponent's center line as you enter. This will give you slightly more time to respond. Furtherdistraction can be gained by gesturing, faking, shouting, screaming, or distracting your partner with a thrown object.

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Gun Draw Drill

“While many styles seek to indulge flinchresponses and the fear that often accompa-ny them, Systema instead seeks to erodethem, reinforcing relaxation and mindfulcontrol.”

combat drills against one or multipleopponents (see Example 5).

The Grasp Reflex:The reflex to grab is one of our most basicinstincts. In the womb, at only 11 weeksof age, we can see the first signs of grabbingactions. By 2-3 months after birth, infantsgenerally start to explore this further, usuallyprioritizing the first three fingers (The Pal-mar Reflex).12 By 36 months, this same reflexevolves into the pincer grip reflex (definedby the use of an oppositional thumb).

From a purely biomechanical perspective,this simple reflex is hardwired into theactual of our bodies—the forearm musclesthat control the bending and clenching ofour fingers are usually far stronger thanthose that are responsible for straighteningand extending them. In fact, electricians work-ing with live current are trained to under-stand this well. If electrical current entersinto the body, it will trigger contraction in

all of the muscles in the body, with thedominant muscles winning. This meansthat if an individual were to grab a livewire, the current will cause the hand tonaturally close around it, severely worse-ning the shock.13 This involuntary musclecontraction is referred to as tetanus. Froma psychological perspective, it could beargued that this reflex also carries a very

strong fear response. Dating back to ourancient tree-dwelling again, a simple slipor misstep would be reason for extremeconcern. When we fall unexpec-tedly, wenaturally flail and clutch at the air insearch of something to hold us up. Infact, Carl Sagan even goes so far as tospeculate that primate ancestry as tree-dwellers is likely the reason why the mostcommon dream across all cultures is thefear of falling—it’s a throw back to one ofour most ancient defense mechanisms.14

So how does this tie into offensive combattraining? How can we use our oppo-nent’s ancient grasp reflex to our advan-tage? (see Example 6).

Conclusion—Fight, Fight, Freezeor Flow:As we’ve seen, researchers on aggressionhave determined that when we encoun-ter a serious threat, our instinctive reac-tions are to move either towards a fight,flight or freezing response. RussianSystema acknowledges these naturalreactions, but rather than indulging them,it seeks instead to reinforce a fourthreaction state—flow. In Systema, alltraining focuses on exposing the prac-titioner to stressful yet manageablechallenges and situations. As the studentadvances, the degree of resistance andcomplexity should also increase, so thatwork remains challenging and relevant.In all aspects of training, emphasis isplaced on relaxing the psyche, emotionsand body, optimizing biomechanics andcorrect breathing. While many stylesseek to indulge flinch responses and thefear that often accompany them,

Systema instead seeks to erode them,reinforcing relaxation and mindful control.The end result is a more cognitive warriorwho has replaced fear with familiarity andwho has learned to use the naturalchanges of their body to their fulladvantage and against their opponents.

References1 Scott, J.P. The Control of Violence: Humanand Non-Human Societies Compared In: A.G.Neal (Ed.), Violence in Animal and HumanSocieties. Nelson-Hall, Chicago, pp. 13-34.2 Schwartz, J.M. & Begley, Sharon The Mind andthe Brain Harper Collins 2002 p26.3 Koestler, Arthur The Ghost in the MachinePenguin Groups, England 1976 p281-282.4 http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003293.htm.5 Ledoux, Joseph Synaptic Self Penguin GroupNY 2002, p208.6 Ury, William L. (Ed.) Must We Fight Jossey-Bass, 2002 San Francisco p13.7 Rasa, O.A.E. Territoriality and the Establishmentof Dominance by Means of Visual Cues inPomacentrus Jenkinsi (Pisces: Pomacentridae) pp.825-45.8 Archer, J The Organization of Aggression andFear in Vertebrates P.P.G. Bateson & P.H. Klopfer(Eds.), Perspectives in Ethology, Vol. 2. 1976Plenum Press, New York, pp. 231-98.9 http://ecatp.usu.edu/resources/general/atdatabase/positioning/lan_reflex.htm.10 Hanna, Thomas Somatics: Reawakening theMind’s Control of Movement, Flexibility andHealth Perseus Books, MA 1988.11 Wrangham, Richard and Peterson, Dale DemonicMale Apes and the Origins of Human ViolenceHoughton Mifflin Company, NY 1996 p180.12 http://www.indtireland.com/reflexes.htm.13 http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/2.html.14 Sagan, Carl Dragons of Eden: Speculations onthe Evolution of Human Intelligence.



THE SHORIN-RYU KARATE OF ZENRYO SHIMABUKUROShorin-ryu karate is like a stout tree with many branches. Its base is firmly rooted in the karate that

developed in Okinawa's old Shuri City and Tomari Village over a century ago. While mechanically sharingthe same foundation, each branch points in a different direction, having been guided by varied influences.

One of the largest branches, really an elemental division of the main trunk itself, is that line represented bythe Shorin-ryu styles who trace their lineage to Chotoku Kyan (1870-1945), one of the true founders of

Okinawan karate as it is known today. And it is directly from Kyan that the karate of Zenryo Shimabukuro(Nov. 14, 1908 - Oct. 14, 1969) comes.

- By John Sells -

Seibukan

Any explanation of Seibukan must start withChotoku Kyan, who was the son of ChofuKyan, a high-ranking official in the Okina-wan royal court. Chofu was in fact a ste-ward to the Okinawan king, attending tothe lord of Okinawa personally. Though,by the time of Chotoku’s birth in the Gibovillage area of Shuri, the kingdom of Oki-nawa was already in transition. A transitionthat would see the end of the pretense of

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a kingdom that Okinawa had been sinceits subjugation by the Satsuma samurai in1609. In 1872, the monarchy was dissolvedby the Japanese government that had itmoved from the feudal era under theleadership of Emperor Meiji in 1868. Thenow former king and his family weresubsequently brought to Japan where theycontinued for some time to live an aristo-cratic life. Accompanying the king weresome of his old retainers including ChofuKyan who brought his twelve-year-old sonto be educated in Tokyo until he was six-teen. But Chofu’s service to the former kingsoon ended and the Kyan family returnedto Okinawa to a land where much of thegentry class, the very people who develop-ed karate, had fallen on hard times; theirfeudal largess having ended when Okina-wa was made a civil state of Japan andthe kingdom-period ended.

Still, young Chotoku Kyan was to receivea remarkable martial arts education fromsome of Okinawa’s most prominent mar-tial artists. Though he was a small, slightindividual, he nonetheless overcame hisphysical size by training arduously, oftendevising new techniques to enhance theart itself. Techniques that he perfectedunder the guidance of such men as:Sokon Matsumura, the leading Te expertof Shuri, from whom, according to publish-ed accounts of some of his students, Kyanlearned the old Te training routines or kata:seisan, naifanchi and gojushiho; KokanOyadomari of Tomari, another former high-ranking official, who taught him passai kata;Kosaku Matsumo, also known as one ofTomari’s leading martial artists, whosechinto kata (or at least some form of it)Kyan often demonstrated in his later years.

These men had been secured by Choto-ku’s father to teach his son from the ageof twenty.

“Kyan amassed a wide array of know-ledge from some of the best sources in old-style Okinawan karate. With this exper-tise and knowledge, Kyan became a soughtafter and acknowledged master of the art.”

Zenryo Shimabukuro.

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Chofu Kyan.

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By the time Chotoku was thirty, he hadbecome well known as a skilled Te himself.He also sought out others whose know-ledge and expertise he could benefit from.These included: Maeda, another formerofficial from whom he learned the wanshukata; Yara of Yomitan village; a descen-dant of the earlier Chatan Yara who wascontemporary with Matsumura’s allegedteacher, Sakugawa, from whom he learneda beautiful, long version of kusanku kata;Tokumine, the banished Shuri officer whois said to have taught Kyan his bo (six-



foot hardwood staff) kata now know as toku-mine no kon (though Tokumine may havebeen dead by the time Kyan visited one ofthe small Yaeyama islands south of Okina-wa where Tokumine had been banished bythe old regime).

It has also been said and published manytimes that Kyan was a student of Sokon Mat-sumura’s most famous protégé, Anko Itosu.However, Kyan’s own students steadfastlymaintained that Kyan never studied withItosu. Nonetheless, Kyan amassed a widearray of knowledge from some of the bestsources in old-style Okinawan karate. Withthis expertise and knowledge, Kyan becamea sought after and acknowledged masterof the art. He was famous for his kicking

skills and fast, light but effective move-ments. He was supposedly challenged manytimes and was able to emerge victoriousthroughout it all.

By the 1920s, Te was entering the modernera and within a few short decades wouldbe popularized around the world as the art ofkarate. Many of the old masters who taughtKyan’s generation were dead and timeswere difficult for many who had belongedto the old privileged class. Quite a few ofthem began to work out with each otherand give demonstrations together. Kyan,along with others began teaching at variousschools and institutions of higher learning.New territory was opened up by the expan-sionist Japanese government, including theisland of Taiwan, where Kyan went for atime accompanied by it seems at least twoother karate adepts, Ryusei Kuwae andKori Kudaka (a.k.a. Hisataka). Upon retur-

not survive the war’s end. Kyan was oneof these, dying in 1945 of starvation, aftergiving what little food there was to children,so that they might survive.

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“Many of the old masters who taughtKyan's generation were dead and timeswere difficult for many who had belongedto the old privileged class.”

“.... many of the old karate masters didnot survive the war's end. Kyan was oneof these, dying in 1945 of starvation, aftergiving what little food there was tochildren, so that they might survive.”

Chotoku Kyan.

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Sensei Shimabukuro poses in a movement from the'Yara' Kusanku which he learned from Chotoku Kyan.

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Sensei Uragami seated in front. Behind him (left toright) are Zenpo Shimabukuro, Uragami and Zenjiwho founded the Renshinkan Dojo in Osaka, Japan in1961. Uragami was the All-Japan full contact (Bogu)Karate champion during the late 50s and early 60s.

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ning from Taiwan, Kyan began to teach anew kata called ananku, he had evidentlydevised as a basic kata from techniques de-veloped from or inspired by his adventureson Taiwan. Kyan also took part in the famousmeeting in 1936 that essentially decidedthe future course of karate and officiallyendorsed the change the art’s name from“karate” (a contemporary pronunciationof an earlier tode), meaning “China hand,”to an alternative rendering of “karate”meaning “empty hand.”

It was during these times that the seedsof Seibukan were sown when Zenryo Shi-mabukuro, who had moved to Chatan Villageand set up a bakery shop, became a studentof Kyan. Of course, in those days, notjust everyone was admitted into a master’scourse of instruction. But after a formalintroduction and much persuasion, Zenryobecame a student of Kyan. He was to staywith Kyan for a total of ten years andeven began teaching his own students untilthe devastation that punctuated the finalyears of World War Two ended all trainingfor some time. Not only did training end,but many of the old karate masters did

After the war, karate as we know it todayreally began to take shape. Of course, karateinstruction and training did not immediatelybegin anew in the devastated towns ofOkinawa, but by 1947, a few of the sur-viving instructors began to revive their ownclasses. Zenryo Shimabukuro was one ofthese, and though he continued to ply histrade as a baker, he began to give lessonsin order to perpetuate his teacher’s karateto a few young school age students thatwould by the 1950s include his son Zenpoand nephew, Zenji. Like most Okinawankarateka of that era, their “dojo” was theopen air, usually at Shimabuku’s house,



but anywhere a space could be found totrain in would suffice. Gradually, Zenryo’sstudent group grew, as did his reputationas one of Kyan’s most senior survivingstudents. A position in which he felt honorbound to continue the legacy of his latekarate mentor’s karate just as it was passedon to him. This meant that students learnedKyan’s curriculum, the katas ananku, wan-shu, seisan, naifanchi, passai, chinto,kusanku and gojushiho. It also meant thathe trained his students in hard, practicalkarate.

and hard sparring at that. Something manyof the other karate leaders did not agreewith. In fact, when the original OkinawanKarate Federation was first organized, itseems that Shimabukuro was not invited tobecome a member. Though his longtimefriend, Chibana was a leader of that group,Shimabukuro was still not included. Thisevidently did not sit well with Chibana andwould be one of the contributing factors toChibana withdrawing from this organizationwithin a few years.

The birth of the seibukanBy the end of the 1950s, the various karategroups who traced their lineages back towhat we now generally refer to as Shuri-te and/or Tomari-te of the Okinawan King-dom period became generically known asShorin-ryu. The group headed by Chibanaused a different variation of the Chinesecharacter for “sho” than the original cha-racter, which represented the Chinese“shao” as in Shao-lin Temple. However,many of the Kyan-derived groups wereusing the term Shorinji-ryu to describe theirstyle. This, before Shorinji-ryu became theofficial name of one faction under Joen Na-kazato, another student of Kyan’s who wasjunior to Shimabukuro. By the end of the1950s, several groups had emerged callingthemselves Shorin-ryu or Shorinji-ryu, butthese terms were often used synonymouslyas the solidification of the various styleshad not yet been completed. The Shorin-ryuof the Kyan-derived groups was also referredto generically as “Sukunai Hayashi,” anotheralternative rendering of the same Chinesecharacters used for writing Shorin-ryu.

Things began to change rapidly during thistime, for around 1959, a group of Americanmilitary personnel stationed nearby heardof Shimabukuro’s reputation for being a

leading karate teacher. These soldiers werefrom the 2/503 Airborne Battle group (whichlater became the 173rd Airborne that sawheavy action in the Vietnam War), paratroo-pers who wanted to learn the Okinawan’skarate. Rebuffed at first, the young trooperswere quite persistent and finally persuadedShimabukuro to take them on as students.This was at a time when the American forcesthat had occupied the island since 1945were increasing in numbers and some ofthem were naturally drawn to the Okinawanmartial arts. Up to this time, native Okina-wans kept their martial arts pretty muchto themselves as they attempted to rebuildtheir lives and their island. Also, Okina-wans as a rule were not allowed free accessto the U. S. military bases, thus there wasnot as much interaction with Americans

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“Like most Okinawan karate-ka of that era,their "dojo" was the open air, usually at Shi-mabuku's house, but anywhere a spacecould be found to train in would suffice.”

Sensei Shimabukuro and members from the 2/503 Airborn Battle group (which became the 173rdAirborne). The master's son Zenpo is seated to the far left (1961).

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Very rare photo's (1961) of Sensei Shimabukuroactively teaching in a class at the Army Barracksin Mashisato, Okinawa. The Seibukan dojo was

not yet built at this time..

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A treasured historical photo of Shorin-ryu Sensei's atthe Seibukan dojo. Front row left to right: ShinsukeKeneshima, Tatsuo Shimaburuko, Zenryo Shimaburukoand Chozo Nakama. Back row left to right: ZenjiShimaburuko, Isamu Tamotsu and Joen Nakazato.

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As the 1950s wore on, Shimabukuro wasto become an acknowledged karate leader,though not a strident one. He was goodfriends with some very prominent karatepeople such as Chosin Chibana, one of theisland’s most senior leaders, and ShigeruNakamura, originator of what is knownas the Okinawa Kenpo system. His perso-nal friendship with Chibana was forgedover the years they had often demon-strated karate together. Shimabukuro,representing Kyan’s style and Chibana,Itosu’s karate. Nakamura and Shimabu-kuro had been friends for most of their lives.Each believed that karate should be realand taught their students accordingly. BothShimabukuro and Nakamura encouragedtheir students to practice freestyle sparring,

as one would tend to think given the num-bers present on the island.

A little known piece of history is that itwas due to the efforts of one influentialU.S. Army Sergeant-Major named Fuller,that actually first enabled the Americansto have access to Shimabukuro’s karate.The random forces of serendipity broughtShimabukuro to attention of this army ser-



geant, who was evidently convinced enoughof the native karate man’s abilities to goout of his way to secure permission forany GI who wanted, to train with the quiet,yet charismatic Okinawan. Fuller was alsoable to get the use, on occasion, of emptybarracks or other facilities on the militarybase to facilitate these new karate classes.Still, Shimabukuro and his American stu-dents were often left without a place totrain as other groups with higher prioritycould and did bump them out of on-basefacilities. One of these places was the al-ways popular Field House, an on-base

“Field House” classes, and Edward Takae,a Special Forces soldier who would servetwo tours of combat-duty in America’sconflict in Vietnam.

By 1962, Shimabukuro decided to take agamble that would become part of his lega-cy. He arranged to borrow money, purcha-sed land in Chatan and had a dojo built.During construction, Shimabukuro’s mixof Okinawans and American soldierscontinued to train outside, usually behindhis house. They often did kata on thegrounds of a grave area or tomb that wasright in the middle of their training area.After the dojo was built, they often stilltrained outside on weekends and at night.At that time, Shimabukuro’s dojo was oneof the largest in all of Okinawa. He namedit the Seibukan or House of the Holy Art.

Politics and organizationsMore changes were to occur in the firstcouple of years of the 1960s. One changewas led by Isamu Tamotsu; a formerstudent of Shimabukuro’s who had beenliving in mainland Japan. Tamotsu returnedto Okinawa as the representative of a

mainland group called the All Japan KarateFederation (the AJKF), an organizationthat was headed by Kanken Toyama andTsuyoshi Chitose, two Okinawans whohad migrated to Japan decades before andestablished influential karate styles there.Originally the All Japan Karate Federationincluded Gichin Funakoshi of Shotokan,Kenwa Mabuni of Shito-ryu and SekoHiga of Goju-ryu. But by 1960, it wasprimarily a Toyama and Chitose group.

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“Both Shimabukuro and Nakamuraencouraged their students to practicefreestyle sparring, and hard sparring atthat. Something many of the other karateleaders did not agree with.”

A typical 'Kampai Party" at the Seibukan dojo. This one took place in 1962 to celebrate the grandopening of the dojo. This photo clearly illustrates a strong camaraderie and there was also a time to let

your hair down and have a "good time". Back row far left: Ben Schwartz, Walter Dailey, ZenryoShimabukuro, Shigeru Nakamura and Joen Nakazato. Front row seated: second from left Chozo

Nakama, third from left Zenpo Shimabukuro and fifth from the left a very young Fusei Kise.

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Sensei Zenryo Shimabukuro awarding a rank diplomato Mike Richardson in September 1962. Richardsonreturned to the US and opened up a dojo in Texas. Un-fortunately he died in a car accident in the early 70's.

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Tamotsu wanted to organize karate inOkinawa under the AJKF banner in Oki-nawa. He held a series of meetings withvarious Okinawan karate leaders includingShimabukuro, whom he persuaded to takea leading role. Out of this, the All JapanKarate-do Federation/Okinawa Branchwas chartered in May of 1960. Its officerswere Zenryo Shimabukuro as president,fellow Kyan style teacher, Joen Nakazatoas Vice-president and the active participa-tion of Shigeru Nakamura, Shinsuke Kane-

athletic facility for the military. Off base,they trained where they could, Okinawansand Americans together; anywhere, inclu-ding local graveyards. Included in this firstgroup of Americans were Walter Dailey,who joined Shimabukuro’s karate at the

“Off base, they trained where they could,Okinawans and Americans together;anywhere, including local graveyards.”

shima of Tozan-ryu (a style technicallyvery similar to Shorin-ryu), Tatsuo Shima-buku who founded Isshin-ryu, Tatsuo’sbrother, Eizo who would found Shobayashi-ryu Shorin-ryu and Yonamine Seigyu, alsoof Shorin-ryu. These karateka, along withsome of their senior students who hadbecome karate instructors themselves,made up the bulk of the AJKF on Okinawathough many others had been invited tojoin. It was to be a somewhat amorphousgroup in membership as some Okinawankarateka only participated initially and didnot continue the relationship for long.Shorin-ryu Sensei's gather at the Seibukan dojo to honor it's grand opening. Left to right: third from

left: Chozo Nakama, Shigeru Nakamura, Choshin Chibana, Zenryo Shimabukuro, and Joen Nakazato.

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All of the Okinawans were invited to Japanby Kanken Toyama to participate in anevaluative conference to be officiallyacknowledged and cement relations withthe headquarters of the AJKF. But Eizo

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factions related technically to it), Goju-ryuand similar groups. In this affair, Shima-bukuro showed the strength of his low-keyed leadership style. Sensei Zenryo wasto also receive the 10th Dan from theAOKF, making it his second such award.

Seibukan is exported to the outsideworldSeibukan began to grow by the mid-1960s.This era saw Shimabukuro adopting theofficial emblem or patch of his organizationthat is known today. It was devised in Japanby a friend of Shimabukuro’s who waspart of a dojo organization run by a karateinstructor affiliated with Tamotsu. Anothermember of Tamotsu’s group was Uragami.Uragami also maintained strong ties to

“At that time, Shimabukuro's dojo wasone of the largest in all of Okinawa. Henamed it the Seibukan or House of theHoly Art.”

The first Seibukan dojo in the United States wasfounded by Walter Daily in 1962 at Norwood, PA.

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Students of Sensei Shimabukuro would oftentake him to the Kadena Air Force Base Officer'sClub for dinner. This picture was taken in 1963

in front of the newly built Seibukan dojo prior toan evening dinner at the club. Sensei wouldalways dress up and wear his favorite hat.

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Zenryo Shimabukuro (center) displaying his10th degree certificate from the All-Japan

Karate-Do Federation in 1964. Seated to hisright is Shigeru Nakamura and to his left is Joen

Nakazato and Seikichi Odo.

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Shimabukuro was one of the very fewwho answered the call and went over tothe mainland at this time. For which hewas rewarded with a 10th Dan (10thdegree black belt) by Toyama. After this,the AJKF soon became embroiled ininternal politics and only lasted a few yearsas a viable, functioning organization onOkinawa. Many of the Okinawans distrus-ted the motives of the mainland-sponsoredinitiative and the AJKF competed with thealready established OKF, which naturallymade for an unstable situation on the smallisland of Okinawa. One of the technicaloutcomes of this relationship however, wasthat some of the Okinawans adopted theuse of full body protective gear for spar-ring (bogu) that was popular in the karateschools of southern Japan. Shimabukuroand his friend Nakamura especially likedthe gear and adapted it for use in theirclubs. By 1962, Shimabukuro and Naka-mura formed their own training group, theOkinawa Kenpo Federation. Not a styleoriginally, but a training organization thatconcentrated on the sparring aspect ofkarate with bogu gear.

Gradually, because of bickering and a dis-trust of the mainland Japanese, the All JapanKarate-do Federation, Okinawa Branchwithered. However, not before its boardof directors conferred the 10th dan onZenryo Shimabukuro as one of its leadingexponents. And in Japan, the organizationcontinued on (when it declined on Oki-nawa) still under Toyama and Chitose’sleadership. Isamu Tamotsu, who had leadthe organization effort, organized what hecalled the Shorinji-ryu Renshinkan in

Kyushu, crediting Joen Nakazato as hisinstructor rather than Shimabukuro. Ofcourse Tamotsu had trained under Shima-bukuro, but had been sent to Nakazato byShimabukuro to learn the bo kata, toku-mine no Kon, which, according to Shima-bukuro, Nakazato had taken pains topreserve exactly as Kyan taught it.

This was also the era that saw the riseand formalization of other familiar karateorganization along more stylistic lines.While all of the groups descended fromKyan still looked virtually identical, andmost had come to use the general nameof Shorinji-ryu to label their style, eachgroup began to spin off on its own andadopt new names. By the mid-1960s,Nakazato had taken the name Shorinji-ryu as his own; Shimabukuro’s group wassometimes referred to by the somewhatgeneric label of Sukunai Hayashi-ryu.However, by 1966, Shimabukuro’s systembecame widely known as SeibukanShorin-ryu, as it is still called.

Personally, Shimabukuro has been des-cribed as a quiet man who disliked callingattention to himself. And for that reason,not that much has been publicized abouthim in the West. However, he was highlyrespected in his own time, even by thosewho originally ignored him in the oldOkinawa Karate Federation. After thedemise of the AJKF on Okinawa, Shima-bukuro began to quietly lobby for theformation of a new, more inclusive orga-nization to unify Okinawan karate. In theinterim, he maintained his relationship withNakamura as part of the somewhat infor-mal Okinawa Kenpo Federation, but by1967, Shimabukuro and many of the island’smainstream karate leaders formed thenew All Okinawa Karate-do Federation(AOKF) and Shimabukuro was named

as one of its vice-presidents. This was asignificant event as the AOKF becamethe leading organization of the so-called“mainstream” Okinawan karate styles andincluded representation from KobayashiShorin-ryu, Uechi-ryu, Sukunai HayashiShorin-ryu (Seibukan and “Shorin-ryu”

Sensei Yoshimitsu Takenouchi controls a full contact"Bogu" match at the Seibukan in the early 60's.

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“By 1962, Shimabukuro and Nakamuraformed their own training group, theOkinawa Kenpo Federation. Not a styleoriginally, but a training organization thatconcentrated on the sparring aspect ofkarate with bogu gear.”

Shimabukuro and had hosted Walter Dai-ley in 1962 when the latter was sent toOsaka, the headquarters of Tamotsu’sRenshinkan, as Shimabukuro’s represen-tative. The Seibukan emblem is steepedin symbolism and has significant meaningto the “old timers” of the organization. Itwas in Japan actually that Dailey receivedhis black belt, as issued by the All JapanKaratedo Federation. Shortly afterward,Dailey returned to the States and openedup the first Seibukan club outside of Japanin the state of Pennsylvania. It was toremain the only other school for yearsafterward. Dailey returned to Okinawain 1966 and found that the terms Shorinji-

Walter Daily and Zenpo Shimabukuro in thesummer of 1965 at the Daily residence in

Pennsylvania.

Edward Takae and Zenryo Shimabukuro afterTakae won the All-Okinawan Karate Champion-

ship in 1964.

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The flag for the "All Japan Karate Do Federa-tion". The bottom kanji reads "Okinawa regionalspecial headquarters" reffering to the Seibukan

dojo.

Zenryo Shimabukuro and Shoshin Chibana atChibana's backyard in October 1966. They werealways close friends. This photo was taken afterSensei Chibana underwent cancer treatment in

Japan for the mouth and throat.

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ryu and Sukunai Hayashi had been sup-planted by Seibukan Shorin-ryu.

Edward Takae, originally from Hawaii,was another American active in Seibukankarate at this time. Significantly, Takaewon the All Okinawan Karate Champion-ship held in Nago on May 17, 1964. Thisevent was a rough affair and showcasedthe bogu type sparring. After serving mul-tiple tours of duty with the American ArmySpecial Forces, Takae later went on toestablish another Seibukan branch in theUnited States.

However, back in 1963, Zenryo Shima-bukuro sent a kind of gift to Walter Dailey,whom he had given the adopted name ofYoshihide (also pronounced Zenshu), andwho now represented Shimabukuro as anaffiliate of the All Japan KaratedoFederation. This “gift” was Shimabuku’s

19 year old son, Zenpo. Zenpo was sentto live with Dailey, staying for three years,helping to organize and teach his father’skarate. During his stay in the States, Zenposuccessfully competed in several karatetournaments including the 1963 Pennsyl-vania State Championship, the 1964National Kata Championship and the Ca-nadian International Championship, alsoin 1964. Finally, after this highly successfulsojourn in the US, Zenpo returned to Oki-nawa in 1965 to help his father run theSeibukan dojo.

By 1969, Zenryo Shimabukuro and hisSeibukan karate were continuing to gainrecognition and influence. In October1969,Sensei Zenryo was invited to the Japanesemainland to give a demonstration of hiskarate. He was scheduled to perform hisseisan kata. But on the ship crossing thesea from Okinawa, Shimabukuro wassuddenly stricken with appendicitis, andon October 14, 1969 he died. He was buriedin an old-style Okinawan tomb in Jagaru,Okinawa, near his dojo. Succeeded by hisyoung son and the senior members of

Seibukan, the style has flourished world-wide ever since. Zenpo became not onlythe leader of the style, but a successfulreal estate developer and leader within theOkinawan karate community.

Organizationally, the modern Seibukan“movement” is now dominated by four

groups. These four independent “ha” (fromryu/ha—style/branch) or branches includethe original or central organization, theInternational Seibukan Karate Associationstill headed by Zenpo from the head-quarters dojo. There is also the allied, butnot interoperable except at only the highestlevel, Ed Takae’s North American Branchof Seibukan. Also in the States, there isthe Zentokukai, an independent Seibukan-based organization formed by Tim Rogersand Angel Lemus, former students of EdTakae. This organization eschews



“In his day, Kyan had quite a reputationas an accomplished kicker and his stylewas light, quick and practical. It was alsofairly straight forward and sought tomaximize the potential of practitioners ofa relatively smaller stature.”

Left to right: Tim Rogers, Walter Dailey (Zenshu-Ha) and Angel Lemus during 1st annual

Zentokukai training in 1997.

33

This article first appeared in the formerBugeisha Magazine no. 5 (1998).

Bugeisha Magazine back issues and/or CDare available from:

Rising Sun Productions.Contact information: (818) 891 – 1133

www.risingsunproductions.net/catalog/

John Sells holds ranks inseveral traditional martial artsstyles. Most notibly are his8th Dan degree in Shito-ryuand a 6th degree black belt

in Okinawan kobudo.He has been publishingpapers on the history ofkarate-do since 1976.

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emphasis on the sports aspect of karateas does the technically related Zenshu-hagroup formed in the 1990s by Seibukansenior Walter Dailey. From the beginning,the Zenshu-ha, as an independent branch,maintained that it represents the originalSeibukan group outside of Japan as autho-rized directly by Seibukan originator,Zenryo Shimabukuro in 1962.

The technical aspects of seibukanAs a karate system, Seibukan has beenhistorically described as an example whatwas often referred to in post-World WarTwo Okinawa as the Sukunai Hayashi(“Young Pine”) branch of Shorin-ryu. Aterm that was specifically applied to thekarate legacy of Chotoku Kyan. As suchthe kata are a mix of what is now retro-spectively termed Shurite and Tomariteas inherited from Kyan directly by ZenryoShimabukuro. To reiterate what hasalready been stated, the kata emphasizedby Kyan were ananku, naifanchi,passai, seisan, kusanku, chinto, wanshu,gojushiho, and the one bo staff form,tokumine no kon. These were the formalexercises taught by Sensei Zenryo fromthe beginning. However, Sensei Zenryodid not emphasize the tokumine no konkata and was known to have sent students,including Tamotsu, to Joen Nakazato foradvanced instruction on that long-staffform.

In his day, Kyan had quite a reputation asan accomplished kicker and his style waslight, quick and practical. It was also fairlystraight forward and sought to maximize

At the Seibukan after a testing and promotion session. It was this day that Walter Dailey was awardedhis Yondan (front row wearing a headband next to Zenryo Shimaburuko). Visiting that day and

participating in the testing panel was Shosei Kina 10th dan (a close friend of Shimaburuko). Thewearing of the headband has a special meaning in Okinawa, it promises the Sensei and everyone in

the dojo that you are devoting yourself to train very hard.

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that Kyan had personally developed intoan original kata he called wanchin. Thoughnot a long form, Shimabukuro put someunique and advanced concepts into wan-chin not commonly found in most of theolder Okinawan karate kata, such as block-ing and striking or punching and kickingsimultaneously. He devised this kata during

the time when the AJKF was just gettingstarted and the old OKF had not yetrecognized him due, or so it is said by someof his earliest students, to his emphasis onhard fighting. Ironically, in the world ofthe AOKF that Zenryo Shimabukurohelped organize, it was to be light and non-contact sparring that would become thedominant method.

Shimabukuro maintained his relationshipwith other well-known karate teachers.Some of these friends were legendaryfigures in their own right such as the afore-mentioned Chosin Chibana and the oldtime Chibana student and associate ChozoNakama, who was a very close, family friendof Sensei Zenryo. It was from Nakamathat Zenryo’s son, Zenpo adopted the fivebasic pinan kata, as well as the passai-gua, naifanchi 2 and 3, and a sai kata.These kata were added to the Seibukan

curriculum in the early years after SenseiZenryo’s death.

But the Seibukan, regardless of branch orfaction, still holds to the principles andreflects the legacy of Zenryo Shimabu-kuro. This very quiet, humble and self-effacing man was a proponent of strongkarate developed through solid basics, anattention to the detail of kata (practicedwith an emphasis on each individual move-ment and hard, sharp execution), andforceful, power oriented, head-to-headfighting. In physical stature, Shimabukuromay have been a small man, but his forth-right character, toughness and dedicationto his art made him a giant in the karateworld.

the potential of practitioners of a relativelysmaller stature. Kyan himself was veryshort, possibly shorter than five feet tall.Shimabukuro was only somewhat taller,at 5’2". Sometime around 1961, Shima-bukuro put principles that he’d learnedfrom Kyan and some special techniques


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34

Karate Masters Volume 2by Jose Fraguas

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After the acclaimed success of the firstvolume of Karate Masters, the authorproudly presents “Karate Masters 2,” witha new repertoire of historical figures, suchas Mas Oyama, Keinosuke Enoeda, Rich-ard Kim, Shinpo Matayoshi, TsutomuOhshima, Yoshiaki Ajari, Goshi Yamaguchi,and other world-recognized professionalmartial artists. In this second volume, newinterviews with the world’s top karatemasters have been gathered to present anintegrated and complete view of the empty-handed art of fighting, philosophy, and self-defense. It’s a detailed reference work, anda “must have” addition to your personallibrary.

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With information that has never appearedanywhere before, the author brings to lifeVolume 3 of the acclaimed “Karate Mas-ters” series, including twenty-three exclu-sive interviews with legendary masters, suchas Gogen “The Cat” Yamaguchi, TeruoChinen, Jiro Ohtsuka, Shojiro Koyama,Ryusho Sakagami, Anthony Mirakian, andother karate giants. This volume containsintriguing thoughts, fascinating personal de-tails, hidden histories, and inspiring phi-losophies, as each master reveals his truelove for the art and a deep understanding ofevery facet associated with the practice andspirit of the Japanese art of Karate-do as away of life. This invaluable reference bookis a “must have” addition to your personallibrary.

Jose M. Fraguas is an internationally rec-ognized martial arts authority well-knownto the world’s top masters. He is a prolificwriter and publisher, rooted in the desireto integrate martial arts philosophy andvalues into everyday thinking and life, thenecessary motivation for writing. Originallyfrom Madrid, Spain, he currently residesin Los Angeles, California.

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This work reflects the system of educationfrom the School of Dai Sensei Meitoku Yaginamed Meibukan. The Meibukan, in an edu-cational sense, originated from the teachingsof "the Empty Hand" that Chojun Miyagiadopted in his Goju-ryu Karate system andpassed over to his students in turn, MeitokuYagi. Sensei Yagi developed the system fur-ther and gave these teachings a personal in-terpretation. The reader will find many his-torical photographs of great Okinawan Goju-ryu karate masters who were the pioneers ofthis unique martial art. The syllabus in thisbook serves as a technical manual in whichhistory, origins, practice, and techniques arearranged in an orderly way, allowing theindentity of the style to emerge. This sylla-bus offers deep background that not only willserve beginning karatekas by giving them arational framework to grasp this martial art,but also more experienced karatekas who mayreinforce or augment their existing understand-ing of the style's subtleties.

Lex Opdam has been teaching Goju-ryu Ka-rate-do as a black belt since 1988. After sev-eral years of experience as a teacher in karate,and working as a self-defence and fitness in-structor, he joined the police force and is nowa full time police instructor in the Nether-lands. Lex Opdam received the title and rankof Renshi, Rokudan, Sixth degree black belt,by his teacher and Karate pioneer Sensei An-thony Mirakian.

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- By Kevin Secours -

The Psychological Cost of Harm

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)has long been the buzz word for thepsychological consequences of exposureto traumatic events. As a matter of refe-rence, the Department of Veteran Affairsclaims that more than half of all VietnamVets suffer from Post Tramautic StressDisorder.1 Many feel that this is a conser-vative estimate at best, with some esti-mates placing PTSD rates as high as95%.2 Worse still, in the current war inIrag, thanks to improved medical treat-ment and advances in body armor, it isreasoned that while soldiers may physicallysurvive the hardships of war, that PTSDrates may now climb even higher.3

Professionals in Law Enforcement, themilitary and security fields, are likelyalready well-versed in the dangers of

35

"Therefore, when warriors go out successfully and come back unhurt, they understand the art of war."-Sun Bin-

In making preparation for realities of violence, it can be natural to fixate on our capacities to harm-militarily, this might include the acquisition of territory, the development of new technologies or thestockpiling of weapons. As martial artists this might mean more specifically the improvement of our

conditioning or the acquisition of new skills or techniques. And while these areas as obviously essential,the enlightened warrior has long realized that attention must also be dedicated to safe-guarding the

individual for the after-effects of harming.

absorb every day of our lives. It brings tomind a quote from writer Oscar Wilde:

“As long as war is regarded aswicked, it will always have its

fascination. When it is looked uponas vulgar, it will cease to be popular.”

I can remember the sight of war veteranscringing at the sound of a 21-gun salute ata Memorial Day celebration. I can stillsee the face of a holocaust victim I oncemet describing the pain he had endured in

a concentration camp. I have a numberof friends who have seen active dutyoverseas in Bosnia and Kosovo and I’veseen the change in them after serving in

“There is more to surviving a street fightthan simply getting out of the immediatephysical danger.”

“When our senses are subjected to astimuli that is unfamiliar or too sudden tologically process, our body will revert toit’s ancient, automatic reflexes.”

Cover of ‘On Killing’ by Dave Grossman.

combat stress, but as martial artists, theneed for an increased awareness is noless significant. While the likelihood ofactually encountering violence for a civilianmay be far lower than those brave indi-viduals who guard and protect our safety,the potential for psychological damage isevery bit as severe should it arise.

There is more to surviving a street fightthan simply getting out of the immediatephysical danger. You must also be able tofunction normally after the fact otherwise.After all, what is the point of survivingphysically if the self you were seeking toprotect is destroying emotionally andpsychologically? Popular consciousnesswould have us believe that violence andspecifically the act of harming, is some-how glamorous. We are inundated withthis message in the entertainment that we

the theatre of war. This is the true face ofviolence and each time we allowourselves to glamorize the act of hurtinganother human–even when it is a justifiedact of self-defence—we only succeed indistancing ourselves further from our ownhumanity.

Oscar Wilde.



release of his debut work “On Killing”2.Currently a professor of Psychology atWest Point, Grossman is considered a lea-ding expert on the roots and effect of vio-lent behaviour.

Grossman divides violence into 5 distinctstages:

1 – Harming2 – Exhilaration3 – Remorse4 – Rationalization5 – Acceptance

In the hopes of expanding the reader’sunderstanding of the ramifications of har-ming, I will briefly summarize some of Gross-man’s findings and assertions here anddiscuss how they can relate to the modernmartial artist.

For our concerns here today, we will con-sider the first step, the actual act of har-ming, a technical issue best left to our own

adrenalin rushes—in sport or competition,when studying for exams, during a crisis,even during an intense action movie or ona roller coaster. When our senses aresubjected to a stimuli that is unfamiliar ortoo sudden to logically process, our bodywill revert to it’s ancient, automaticreflexes, which includes flushing itself withstress chemicals that heighten our resis-tance to pain, increase our strength andendurance and help focus our resourcestowards the solitary goal of survival. Wehave experienced this and know it to betrue, yet when we consider the reality ofthese same reflexes occurring during aviolent encounter, our primitive inclinationsoften collide with our evolved, cognitivereason. The thought of becoming thrilledby the act of harming can be repulsive tous. It clashes with our most sensitive ide-ologies. Many martial artists shun the sheernotion that they could ever be brought tosuch a base level, to actually feel excitedor attracted to causing injury to anotherperson, even in the most justified situation.The biological reality however is that theseintentions, as well-intended as they maybe, do not correspond to our biology.

What we must understand is that chemi-cally, our body is designed to survive. This

our understanding of this rush all the moreimportant, but even an acceptance of exhi-laration is not enough to safeguard usagainst guilt. The first step is to acceptthat there is a natural inhibition hotwiredinto biology to make harming our fellowspecies distasteful. Think of this from apurely evolutionary perspective. A speciesthat doesn’t have the good sense to pro-tect it’s own kind from predators has lesschance of surviving that one that stickstogether. At it’s core, this protection of kin-dred biology is a survival safeguard.

This is what author Richard Dawkins hasdubbed “the selfish gene”—the fact thatin a battle between our genetic program-ming to survive as a species vs. the politicsof violence and inter-group aggression, thegenes win.4 That being said, this safe-

Grossman’s 5 Stages of Violence.

“Remorse is the result of emotions over-riding your logical ruling power. This is pre-cisely what you are training to avoid. Yourintelligence must help to guide your emo-tions.”

“Exhilaration is both the anaesthetic thatstaves off remorse and the trigger thatbrings it on.”

Today, few researchers are as committedto the study of the effect of violence on themodern warrior as Lieutenant ColonelDave Gross. A retired U.S. Army directorand former Army Ranger, Grossman firstcame to international prominence with the

includes the very real and altering role ofstress hormones in our body during a crisis.The more closely our training is able toemulate the components of the stressfulenvironments we will be facing, the morefamiliar this can ultimately become, butwe will nevertheless prone to the after-effects of these chemicals and these caninclude the very really sense of illation,excitement and empowerment. It is essen-tial for us as modern martial artists to ex-pect it and accept it.

Exhilaration is both the anaesthetic thatstaves off remorse and the trigger thatbrings it on. By understanding thatexhilaration is normal in controlled doses,you take the first step towards under-standing what will happen and accepting

and processing it.

Tightly connected to the exhilarationphase is Remorse. The act of harming,even when it is justified, can leave long-lasting scars on our psyche. Experiencingthe exhilaration mentioned above, canmassively compound the sense of guilt weultimately feel after crossing the thresholdof harming a fellow human, which means

guard, like any other can be bypassed.

Circumstantially, factors including the sizeof a culture or tribal party can add pres-sures that can cause aberrations to thisrule. Likewise the scarcity of certain re-

“The first step is to accept that there is anatural inhibition hotwired into biology tomake harming our fellow species dis-tasteful. ”

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman.

individual training. Our focus today will berather on the post-combative rather thanthe combative.

The second stage, exhilaration is anatural response. We’ve all experienced

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sources necessary for survival and terri-toriality with other groups can heightenpressures that can leads us to harm ourown.5 This is only an exception howeverto the dominant principle of natural se-lection. The sheer bulk of the time, mostof us instinctively choose to avoid ag-gression and just get along. Specifictraining can likewise be used to overcomeour inhibition to harm as Grossman hasshown in detail throughout all of his work.

reality of our psyche’s. Our conditioningas a species will likely override our trainingand beliefs and objectives as an individualunless we are highly and correctly trained.

After the fact, the effective resolution ofremorse comes from the active analysisof your responses. Ask yourself: why youhave acted the way that you have? Evenin your preparatory training, during role-playing and visualization, you shouldforesee the by-product of guilt followingany response (even when justified). Moreimportantly, see yourself successfully re-solving that guilt just as effectively as youhave physically survived the altercation.Remorse is the result of emotions over-riding your logical ruling power. This isprecisely what you are training to avoid.Your intelligence must help to guide youremotions.

The fourth step, rationalization, is largelywhat I’ve been doing throughout this ar-ticle. Rationalization before an instance ofviolence is important for 2 reasons: first, ithelps guide your training in a correct direc-tion, setting relevant goals and objectivesfor your work. A failure to cultivate rationalskills can misdirect your pre-conflicttraining. Many martial artists remain lostin this limbo, pursuing illogical practices,and never encounter violence in reality orpressure-testing in their own training toknow what they are reinforcing is flawed.Second, rationalization in a pre-combatsetting, lays the foundation for these sameskills to re-emerge in a post-combativeenvironment. By approaching your trai-

of rational skills also risks over-indulgingthe remorse stage and can create a hyper-sensitivity to the act of harming—thePTSD we discussed at the opening of thisarticle.

Finally, after these four stages of pro-cessing, comes the end act of acceptance.Each of the stages mentioned has theirspecific dangers. Grossman states that forsome, the exhilaration and the chemicalsproduced in the body can become addic-tions as real as any drug. Historically, oneof the most powerful therapies for traumastemming from war has been and stillremains the recognition and acceptanceby the public or the soldier’s community.Awards, memorials and parades are allexamples of this type of reinforcement.These vital components help provide theveteran with closure. The Vietnam Waris an excellent example of the danger offighting an unpopular war. Soldiers wereoften condemned for their participation

“Historically, one of the most powerfultherapies for trauma stemming from warhas been and still remains the recognitionand acceptance by the public or thesoldier’s community.”

“An act of urban rage holds little publicimportance. A modern martial artist isunlikely to earn a reward or to be honour-ed with a parade for surviving an urbanattack.”

and deprived of any sense of honour intheir actions. As a result, rates of post-traumatic stress disorders sky-rocketed tounprecedented levels.2

The martial artist is not privy to these formsof closure. An act of urban rage holds littlepublic importance. A modern martial artistis unlikely to earn a reward or to be ho-noured with a parade for surviving an urbanattack. At best, they might earn them-selves a quick mention on the eveningnews in a small city and total neglect in alarger one. For the individual involved inthe violence however, the attack carriesthe same traumatic potential as anywartime combat experience might for asoldier.

Grossman additionally notes that subju-gation to a chain-of-command can be animportant release mechanism for thesoldier. He suggest that knowing that youhave been ordered to do something, thatyou were following the direction of a high-er authority which through training you

“Many students wrongly believe that theywill somehow be immune to the inhibitionto harm. Since I find it unlikely that all ofthem fall into that exceptional minority ofpsychotics and pre-trained professionals,I must conclude that they are mistaken.”

ning with a sense of logic and structure,with a critical and scientific eye, you willin effect be rehearsing the same skillsthat you are ultimately hoping to makereflexive and available in the aftermathof having harmed. Those that do encoun-ter true aggression, who are harmed andmade to harm, then are less likely to findthemselves in strange territory, ill-equippedfor the aftermath of real violence. A lack

Moreover, psychology abnormalities cancreate individuals who are void of suchreluctance (such as psychotics).2

Many students wrongly believe that theywill somehow be immune to this inhibition.Since I find it unlikely that all of them fallinto that exceptional minority of psychoticsand pre-trained professionals, I mustconclude that they are mistaken. In fact,the shock recounted to me by many seniormartial artists over the years when theythemselves suffered from this inhibitiondespite years and even decades of trainingwhen the time came to finally use theirskills confirms my belief even more deeply.

One basic exercise that I often have stu-dents perform is to imagine the mostjustified self-defence scenario possible.Deeply visualize a dynamic wherein youhave absolutely no doubt that you aremorally and legally fully within your rightsto retaliate. It could be anything: a lethalattack on family or on your self, where therisks to your own life and the lives of yourloved ones are beyond question. Now ima-gine retaliating, protecting yourself. Evenimagine that you somehow have thepresence of mind to control your temperand your use of force to minimize the harminflicted on your attacker. Although youfeel fully justified in responding with farmore force, in your wisdom, you simplydo not. Now imagine that despite all ofthese precautions, you somehow still feelremorse. Imagine that after all these goodgraces and control mechanisms, despitebeing fully justified, you feel guilt. This is



Cover of ‘Code of the Warrior’ by ShannonFrench.

“We cannot simply expect that everythingwill be alright and that our body will takecare of itself. We must pre-evaluate ourmoral limitations. We must give somethought to what we are willing to do.”

“A warrior never “just takes orders”.They are always acting according to theirown values and beliefs. They are themasters of their own fate.”

have come to deeply respect, helpsabsolve much of the individual’s sense ofpersonal accountability.2 A relatedexample of the power of delegatingaccountability can found in the militarypractice of the firing squad. It was oftencustomary to load one rifle in a firingsquad with a blank cartridge during exe-cutions. In this way, each gunman canconsole themselves in the face of any guiltfor their participation with the thought thatperhaps their own gun was unloaded.Historically, this has also been used to curbpublic backlash in the event that the victim

of the execution was popular, much likehooding an executioner in earlier centuries.Since it was impossible to be sure which gun-man was “innocent” it was impossible toallocate blame.6

This simple, seemingly absurd trick wasintended to lessen the guilt the soldierswould feel. It is easy to dismiss this idea.I’ll be the first to admit it does seem ridi-culous. After all, how can you expect asoldier who is well versed in the use of agun, to not know if they had in fact hittheir mark? A sniper knows when they’vehit their mark in a military context evenwhen an entire war is raging on aroundthem. In fact, this is precisely my point.Even an excuse that is this transparentand cosmetic can be enough to allow themen to fire with less regret. Even thoughthe men in the firing squad will know with

some degree of certainty whether or notthey are in fact innocent or guilty, it is thesocial face-saver, and the public excusethat helps them manage their grief. Theyare allowed to be innocent. While this isan extremely simplified version of diffusingresponsibility, it still illustrates just howeasily our brains can be directed.

Each of us may be called upon to use le-thal force to protect ourselves or our lovedones at some point in our lives. If we are,we are unlikely to have the benefit of achain-of-command to defer responsibilityto. Alone, in a darkened parking lot, fightingoff a would-be attacker, we are in effectlike the Ronin of ancient Japan—master-less samurai. Like the Ronin, we seek topreserve our own unique individual values,without enjoying the advantage of beingable to delegate responsibility for our deci-sions to our leader. Instead, we are left toour own devices, armed only with our be-lief system to mentally and emotionallysurvive the act of harming.

In previous work, I have said that for thisprecise reason, one cannot wait until theyare at the point of a mugger’s knife tocontemplate the moral ramifications ofharming. We cannot simply expect thateverything will be alright and that our bodywill take care of itself. We must pre-eva-luate our moral limitations. We must givesome thought to what we are willing todo. While it is impossible to prepare our-selves for every eventuality, we can at

least lay the groundwork. Every horrificstory of urban violence on the eveningnews that would otherwise poison ourmindset and fill us with fear, can insteadbe transformed into a lesson to help guideour training. Every event can be posed asa question that we must resolve, before-hand, in the safety of our homes and ourtraining environments. Beyond going along way to replace fear with familiarityand increased confidence, this behaviourreinforces our basic reason for training(our motivation will always be more important

than our method). It helps set clear guide-lines, crystallizing in our mind’s eye whatwe truly believe. In the end, obeying yourown pre-established principles, your rulingpower, your warrior’s code, is the martialartist’s best way to defer responsibilityfrom your emotions to your logical fa-

culties. Be careful here not to confuse sub-jugation with self-deception or irrespon-sibility. I’m not talking about lying toyourself. An honour code is quite theopposite. A warrior never “just takesorders”. They are always acting accor-ding to their own values and beliefs. Theyare the masters of their own fate.

This is a time-tested and essential elementof every warrior tradition in the world. Inher book The Code of The Warrior, Shan-non E. French, assistant professor ofphilosophy at the United States NavalAcademy in Annapolis notes that it is theduty of the warrior to:“employ mental discipline to remindourselves how we felt before the worldconspired to alter our perspective.”

She notes that we must make ourselvesimmune to the influence of evil and freeourselves from the emotion of violence,seeing that evil as something both com-monplace and impermanent.

“The soul should use times ofsecurity to prepare itself for harsh

circumstances.”—Seneca—

References1 http://www.newszap.com/articles/2007/06/19/az/east_valley/aj03.txt2 Grossman, On Killing Little, Brown & Co. 19953 http://www.amconmag.com/2007/2007_07_02/feature.html4 Dawkins, Richard The Selfish Gene: 30th

Anniversary Edition p 2-35 Wrangham & Peterson, Demon Males: Apes andthe Origins of Human Violence New York, 1996 p24, 636 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firing_squad


House Of The Pure Martial Arts - Martial Mindfulness · the various unarmed systems of Okinawan...

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