On Okinawa

Raining heavy outside. I'm just waiting for a break so I can get on my bike and get down to the gym.  Bit annoying as there was a Kobudo teacher I wanted to see at the Budokan this morning.  Alas, it is not to be :(

Yesterday was a well needed day, a chance for my body to unwind and relax a little.  Did some stick work, both Escrima drill and bo kata.  Two very different mind sets, but it loosened me up nicely, got a nice sweat on too.

Ended up on TV as well last night: there was a local TV magazine show interested in the Jahanna-Kippan shop, whihc meant that they were interested in Hisano and James.  Ended up being a big segment on James coming to Okinawa and learning the mystical secrets of Okinawan sweet making (tm).  And some clips of him training.  In the training clip there I am, butchering a basic movement drill! Ahhhh, fame!

Anyway, went to Karate last night and worked on my katas.  I do love the little karate dojo, I love the training there.  I shouldn't, it is in no way a contact art, but the pursuit of the perfect movement is something I find myself enjoying tremendously.  The old guy that teaches us, Arakaki Sensei, he has three gold bars on his black belt.  In the UK, that means he's a third dan black belt, and that's what I figured he was. They do things differently in Okinawa, though; they don't get caught up so much in system as we do in the West.  Out in the West, everyone wants to be a 9th Dan Grand Master Ninja Sifu Death dealer and advertise it so everyone knows  (Okay, not everyone, but a lot of people).  Here it isn't about advertising what you can do, here it's about just doing it.  Japan seems different to Okinawa, Japan's belt, rank, belt rank; Okinawa is more a case of... this is what I can do.

I'm rambling.

Where was I going?

Oh yeah, Arakaki Sensei.  He's a 9th Dan and, for a small 67 year old, he's a bit of a monster.  His punch is... his punch is like a whip uncoiling from his body.  You look at him doing it and it's like his arm bends in on itself like a whip and flicks out.  Fast, and at the last second his whole body finalises its structure and delivers the power straight to the tip of the punch.  I really want to figure out how he does that.  I think I'll ask him on Tuesday.  The three bars don't stand for 3rd dan, they stand for teaching titles.  Shihan, Kyoshi, Hanshi.  You get one bar for each teaching title.  Notice no Renshi title.  So, up until you get to 6th dan, there's no additional marks on your belt.

The belt system, the ranking system, it's a very Japanese thing, and the Okinawans have it, but they haven't internalised it the way the Japanese have (you can even get black belts in sushi making!).  But there are some stark differences between the Okinawans and the Japanese, and it's silly to view the Okinawans a Japanese.  True, they are Japanese citizens, but they are Okinawan people - slightly shorter, darker, stockier, more relaxed.

I'd spent years hearing, "Etiquette, Etiquette, Etiquette", how important it was, why we needed to do it, the formality of what we did... and then I walked into an Okinawan dojo, expecting the same and... and it's like a BJJ dojo, sort of.  Everyone stands around, smiles, laughs, chats.  The class begins with seiza and mokso, but there is a very relaxed attitude.  If you make a mistake, no one has a pop at you, we stop every so often to chat about random things (politics, the weather); half way through we have a water break (water is supplied); at the end of the lesson we show what we've learnt, we bow to one another and then we sweep and mop the dojo.  Arakaki Sensei is Sensei, not Hanshi, not any other grand title, he's just teacher.

There seems to be a lot of bullshit in the Japanese etiquette system, bullshit that we in the West have only added to (I once heard of a karate club where the students were expected to bow to their instructors if they met them in the street!); the Okinawans seem to take the whole thing with a pince of salt.  Don't get me wrong, respect is important, and respect is definitely shown, but it's true respect, not respect supported by an artificial etiquette frame work.

Maybe I'm wrong, I'm just visiting.

In other news, I've taken to whoring myself out for money, hence the new links. If you buy anything or click on things from here I get .0005p or something.  It seemed worth a try.

Currently I'm reading this:

(God I'm a whore)

It's a really good book that looks at realistic violent situations and how to deal with them (often by avoiding them).  Unlike some martial arts teachers, there's no gung ho break the enemy to pieces attitude; it's common sense stuff that seeks to avoid violence and then, if it has to happen, how to deal with it and, importantly, it's aftermath.


Anyway, take care all.

Euge

PS
If I'm talking out of my ass regarding Okinawan/Japan etiquette etc., please correct me below.