Shoshin Ryu Yudanskakai Newsletter

Transcription

1 Shoshin Ryu Yudanskakai Newsletter The official newsletter of Shoshin Ryu Yudanshakai Volume 32, Issue 2 May/June 2014 A List of ALL the Reasons Why You SHOULD NOT Go to Ohana 2014 By Professor Bryan Stanley Inside this issue: Reasons to not go to Ohana Yudansha Notes 2 Demonstration Arts Clinic 2 Words of Wisdom 2 Why You SHOULD go to Ohana Ohana Esoteric Principles, One Man s Opinion 5 Kata Contest Flyer 6 Kata Requirements 7 March 22, 2014, Sumo contest 8 Promotions 10 Advertisements: Ohana Page 4 History of Shoshin Ryu - Page 10 Danzan Ryu Bookstore - Page 10

2 Page 2 Shoshin Ryu Yudanskakai Newsletter Yudansha Notes I do plan to be in attendance and teach at the Ohana and look forward to teaching my class and interacting with all my friends, old and new. - O-Sensei Glenn Medici. Get Well Soon O- Sensei Medici O-Sensei Glenn Medici is a long time friend of Shoshin Ryu. He was vital back in the day in introducing Professor Joseph Holck to all the members of Shoshin Ryu. With that in mind, it was both troubling and relieving to read that he had been both in and out of the hospital for a heart procedure. In his own account, he says that he feels better even though after the procedure he felt as though he had gone fifteen rounds with King Kong. His hope was that he could put off the what had to be done until after Ohana 2014, but his heart would not wait. In any event, he says that he will be ready to teach in June and plans to be at Ohana. Just goes to show that even a heart issue cannot keep people away from Danzan Ryu s Seminal event. Fourteen courageous black belts and brown belts from around the southern California area, braved the hot, dry, desert-like climatic conditions of Rancho Santa Margarita on Saturday, March 29, to learn and review the Danzan Ryu Demonstration Arts. The clinic was held at Professor Len Riley s dojo, and it was, as always, a very nice place to have Demonstration Arts Clinic a clinic or event. Professor Bryan Stanley taught the clinic and no one was hurt or maimed. Going over the techniques was an enriching experience for both the first timer and those who had done the techniques for years. Unfortunately for Professor Stanley, a video was made of the clinic. If you ever get to see it, make sure to stick around after the movie and see the blooper reel. Those who attended had a good time. The best moment of the day was when Professor Riley explained a technique in crystal clear terms, This is one of those Danzan Ryu techniques where you kill the guy, then do more stuff to him. Words of Wisdom Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. - Grandma Moses You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result. - Gandhi You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself to be. - Lou Holtz

3 Volume 32, Issue 2 Page 3 All the Reasons Why You SHOULD go to Ohana 2014 By Professor Bryan Stanley On page one of this newsletter I listed all the logical reasons that one should miss Ohana The list was thorough, extensive, and, If I do say so myself, irrefutable. In order to be fair to those people who have struggled and worked to make sure that Ohana 2014 is going to be a big hit, I feel it is necessary for me to list all the reasons why one should go to Ohana 2014, after all, it must be done in order of afford equal time to an opposing view point. The first thing is the amount of time necessary for the event. It starts on Friday and ends Sunday. If you play your cards right, you ll be back home on Sunday night before the sun goes down. This condensed format is going to make the time even better since there will be almost no down time for forty-eight hours. Then we have the clinics. Two days of clinics with some of the finest instructors in Danzan Ryu. The instructors list is like a modern day Danzan Ryu Hall of Fame: Professors Willy Cahill, John Congistre, William Randle, Rory Rebmann, James Muro, Sam Luke, Bill Fischer, Dan Saragosa, and Larry Nolte. The list continues with more and more superstars of Danzan Ryu like Professors Ken Eddy, Jason Spencer, Doug Kiehl, Ron Jenning, Sue Jennings, Bob McKean, Janice Okamoto, Jon Jacques, Hans Ingebretsen, and a whole host of others. One of the highlights of the weekend is the opportunity to learn from Professor Harold Akira Horiuchi, one of the few people left who learned from Professor Okazaki. If you have not been to an Ohana day of clinics, be ready for a smorgasbord of Danzan Ryu. Still Ohana 2014 has more to offer. The American Jujitsu Institute is celebrating its 75th anniversary on the weekend of the Ohana celebration. The party is going to happen on Friday night, and the institute has promised an evening of entertainment and fun. For a paltry twenty-five dollars, you can be a part of the celebration for the oldest organization in Danzan Ryu. It will be fun. More? Is there still more? Of course! Sunday morning for all you competitors will be the start of the Ohana 2014 National Jujitsu Kata Tournament. The juniors will go first in the morning and the senior students will participate in the afternoon. So find yourself an uki, polish up your best techniques, and make a run at a national championship. What the heck! You miss 100% of the shots you don t take. One of the unmeasurable benefits of going to any Ohana is making friends. One thing that Professor Bill Fischer has said is You can learn more about someone during five minutes on the mat, than you can during an hour of conversation. During the clinics you are going to work out with and make friends with people from all over the United States. As an example, at Ohana 2012 in Honolulu, Troy Bertrand from Huntington Beach, California, spent the morning working out with Lester Kiehl from Pennsylvania, then they sat down and had lunch together. That kind of thing happens all the time. That is the joy of Ohana. On Saturday Night all of the attendees can be part of the Ohana 2014 Banquet. Be part of what is traditionally an evening of hobnobbing with the movers and shakers of Danzan Ryu. It is an opportunity to spend time with all the members of the Danzan Ryu community and celebrate the best within us. More fun exists I did not touch on any of the entertainment places around the hotel suffice to say, that Ohana 2014 is going to be a raucous good time. One that you will want to be a part of.

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5 Volume 32, Issue 2 Page 5 The Esoteric Principles, One Man s Opinion (part one) By Professor Bryan Stanley Esoteric: intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest. By definition then, The Esoteric Principles of Judo was written for us. The small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest is the people who study and practice Danzan Ryu Jujitsu. Although the Esoteric Principles could be applied to a larger body of people perhaps the entire world could learn from Professor Okazaki it was written for those of us who practice Danzan. Philosophy should be a central part of any martial system. Without it, all a person is learning is a series of moves that are meant to harm another person. Professor Okazaki wrote his philosophy for the future of Danzan Ryu and it has been the cornerstone of the art ever since. In case you have not read The Esoteric Principles of Judo, it is a quick read, only a page long. It has the word grateful three times and is filled with other words such as love, harmonious, family, gentle, modest, polite, honesty, kindness, amiability, simplicity, fortitude, and manliness. With such words, it is not a manifesto that calls for violent, relentless, bloody armed combat, but rather a document that asks us to be humble and modest, think not of ourselves but of others. By cultivating those afore mentioned traits and acting in a responsible manner, we will learn not only the secrets of Judo, but what it is to be the best human we can be. The first paragraph of the Esoteric Principles has two sentences. The first of which is Since the fundamental principle acquired through the practice of Jujitsu has been elevated to a finer moral concept called Judo, The Way of Gentleness, it may well be said that the primary objective of practicing Judo is perfection of character. He is writing about the philosophy judo, not the martial art judo. Fundamental (adjective): a central or primary rule on which something is based. Principle (noun): a truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning. Moral (adjective): concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character. Concept (noun): an abstract idea; a general notion. Primary (adjective): of chief importance. Objective (noun): a thing aimed at or sought; a goal Perfection (noun): the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects. Character (noun): the mental or moral qualities distinctive to an individual. The first sentence could be could be explained in the following manner, Since the basic truth that one gains from practicing jujitsu is a higher understanding of right and wrong, which can be explained as Judo or the way of gentleness, it may well be said that Judo s main goal is to help you develop mental or moral qualities that are as free as possible from flaws or defects. An interesting point in that first sentence is the use of the word Judo. Professor Okazaki writes that by practicing jujitsu, we come to understand judo. He is writing about the philosophy judo, not the martial art judo. That would be like saying that if we learned how to ride a bicycle, we would understand how to drive a car. Those two things are incongruous, just like saying that if you learn jujitsu you will also know how to do judo. (Continued on page 9)

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9 Volume 32, Issue 2 Page 9 (Esoteric Principles, from page 5) In fact what Professor Okazaki wrote was that if one learns jujitsu, then one can come to understand the way of gentleness or the philosophy called judo. For that matter, a person who studies karate can understand the way of gentleness as can someone who knows, Tae Kwon Do, Sambo, or Savate. To get back to the earlier comparison, a person who rides a bicycle can understand the same sensations as a person who drives a car. They can both understand the feeling of movement and the understanding of freedom. Those are universal ideas that can be applied to any sense of moving. That same universality holds true for Professor Okazaki s Esoteric Principles of Judo and the martial arts community in general. The last part of the first sentence is about the perfection of character. Again, remember, that the word judo means the philosophy of judo not the martial art. What Professor Okazaki is saying is that by practicing the philosophy of the way of gentleness, we can refine and improve our character. To summarize the first sentence, if we practice jujitsu, we will learn the philosophy of the way of gentleness, and by practicing that philosophy, we will improve our character. The second sentence of the first paragraph reads, And to perfect one's character one must be grateful for the abundant blessings of Heaven, Earth, and Nature, as well as for the great love of parents; one must realize his enormous debt to teachers and be ever mindful of his obligations to the general public. In the second sentence, Professor Okazaki is pointing out how to improve character. It is not about doing a better hip throw or knowing seven ways to put on an arm bar. To improve character, one needs to be appreciative for all the blessings of Heaven, Earth, and Nature. He makes no mention of martial skill. The idea is to be thankful on a basic level, thankful for all the things that are part of the Earth. In essence, be thankful for existence. He drives the point home by writing that it is important to be thankful for the love of parents. It is an easy concept to forget. Parents love their children more than anything else on the planet. It is the kind of love that transcends time. It is the love makes people run into burning buildings or stare down an angry bear. Be thankful that parents have children, care for them, nurture them, and eventually set them free. Be thankful that that kind of love exists in the world. The word debt is used in the second half of the sentence and it has two important definitions that fit this particular section. The first is Something that is owed or due, the second is A feeling of gratitude for a service or favor. Professor Okazaki wrote, one must realize his enormous debt to teachers That could be the type of debt that is repaid or the gratitude for a service. In either case, the word debt is all together fitting. In a lifetime one has many teachers. They come with the title in an institutional setting. Others come as physical or spiritual guides. Some come in the form of friends, relatives, or fellow students. Whatever the manner a teacher shows up, if someone is willing to impart knowledge, they should receive gratitude for the service, repayment many be nothing more than passing that knowledge on to others. Learning a lesson, then being grateful for the knowledge is part of what makes up The Way of Gentleness and the manner in which one can improve character. The last part of the second sentence states, and be ever mindful of his obligations to the general public. Mindful means, aware of something. The word obligation means, an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment. In Professor Okazaki s philosophy of judo, it is imperative that we are aware of our commitment to society. Being part of a society brings with it responsibilities. One must obey laws; join in defense; join in celebrations; and contribute time and energy to see the society survive. So the last sentence of the first paragraph is saying that by being thankful for existence, being thankful to parents for their love, being thankful to teachers for their lessons, and being aware of the role one plays in society, one can perfect their character. *Editors Note: Look for Part 2 in the next newsletter.

10 Shoshin Ryu Yudanshakai To join the Shoshin Ryu Newsletter mailing list, send an to: Shoshin Ryu Yudanshakai: Dedicated to the art and principles of Danzan Ryu Jujitsu The History of Shoshin Ryu, Vol. 1 The History of Shoshin Ryu is now available on Amazon.com and on the OutskirtsPress websites. It took nine months to write and was produced through countless interviews with Professors Mike Chubb, Bill Fischer, Len Riley, Jon Jacques, Kevin Dalrymple, Steve McMillan, Roger Medlen, and a host of others. For some it will be a trip down memory lane, for others it will be an essential part of understanding the roots of Shoshin Ryu. bookstore/ html Click the book cover to go to Amazon.com Join us at Friend us on Facebook Be Sure to visit the Danzan Ryu Bookstore at See what Professor George Arrington has to offer! Promotions 10th Kyu: Avalon McNary BCJC Jordan Quintana BCJC David Rivera BCJC Caleb Walker BCJC Hayden Walker BCJC A Look at the Past Pictures like this should remind us that giants have walked among us. Many of them still do. For that reason we are all blessed. 9th Kyu: Michael Bagley 8th Kyu: Carson McCoy 5th Kyu (Gokyu): Sydney Burkholder 3rd Kyu (Sankyu): Lynda Burkholder 2nd Kyu (Nikyu): Joe Davis, Jr. BCJC BCJC Goldenwest Dojo Goldenwest Dojo Goldenwest Dojo