Who's who ?

I mentioned to a Karateka the other day that it was sad to hear of the passing of Kanazawa Sensei...... who's that ?  was the reply.

Serenity....as I see it...

When studying anything, the whole thing should be looked at, and not just some of it.
A bit like the black belt I mention in my recent post
' Fake ' .....
.... it's no good just learning the physical aspect of Karate. An understanding of where, why and how it came about should be sought as well.

At the beginning of my study I was a Shotokan man, but I still knew of the other prominent Sensei of other 'styles'. Even of styles I had never heard of, because that's what study does. It broadens knowledge.

Without academic study and only knowledge of the physical, then training in the Art of Karate-do is incomplete. To know of the guy on YouTube demonstrating Kata and not of the forefathers or of the Sensei that disseminated Karate across the globe is really quite sad but is a common enough story in karate today.

I've have been training in Okinawan Goju Ryu now for nearly 8 years, not long by any means, but this said, I have not forgotten where it all began. My KUGB roots in Shotokan are still there, though over shadowed now by my Goju Ryu training it was, for me, never about the style but moreover, about Karate itself. Beginning Goju Ryu opened my eyes to other aspects of training long since abandoned in Shotokans methods. One of the many differences between Japanese and Okinawan Karate yet borne out of the same beginnings.

I will be forever grateful at the opportunities presented  and the generosity that was extended to me by those whom I have been able to call Sensei.....generosity that I will never be able to repay other than in that of trying to be a good student.

I now enjoy the serenity of the uncluttered Karate I practise and enjoy....a serenity similar to that depicted in the wall hanging, pictured above.

With Karate as it is today it needs good students. ( what is a good student? More on this later ) It needs it's history to be kept alive.

"To search for the old is to understand the new, the old the new, this is just a matter of time." .....Funakoshi wrote....
Funakoshi, who's that ? you ask....   Never mind !