text:
On Friday, I was speaking to a Karate and Kobudo instructor who was visiting from Okinawa. During the course of our conversation I said, "Only two things matter in Karate: character and skill."
I write and speak about Karate a lot, but that statement was short and sweet!
Character and skill.
Charles C. Goodin
Only Two Things Matter
On Friday, I was speaking to a Karate and Kobudo instructor who was visiting from Okinawa. During the course of our conversation I said, "Only two things matter in Karate: character and skill."
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Sunday, December 30, 2007
Guest Posts By Sensei Pat Nakata
These are Guest Posts by my friend and senior, Sensei Pat Nakata. Nakata Sensei is the head of the Okinawa Shorin-Ryu Karate Association in Hawaii. He was a student of Chosin (Choshin) Chibana in Shorin-Ryu, and also studied Ryukyu Kobudo under Sensei Fumio Nagaishi. When he was a young man, he studied Wado-Ryu Karate under Sensei Walter Nishioka.
- Until I Get It Right, February 21, 2011
- Makiwara, March 3, 2009
- Repeated Rambling on Kata, February 21, 2009
- Seize and Control, October 27, 2008
- Kamae, September 14, 2008
- Stepping Back, August 27, 2008
- Transition, May 1, 2008
- The Mirror, March 19, 2008
- Terminology, December 26, 2007
- Kata A Waste Of Time, December 24, 2007
- 100% Application, December 24, 2007
- Kata For A Lifetime, September 12, 2007
- Kiai and a Barking Dog, May 10, 2007
- Mada, Mada, Mada, May 9, 2007
- Menjo, Menkyo, Kaiden, May 9, 2007
- Kime, Kikomi, Kimochi, December 26, 2006
- Budo, June 21, 2006
Guest Post: Terminology
This Guest Post is by my friend and senior, Sensei Pat Nakata. Nakata Sensei is the head of the Okinawa Shorin-Ryu Karate Association in Hawaii. He was a student of Chosin (Choshin) Chibana in Shorin-Ryu, and also studied Ryukyu Kobudo under Sensei Fumio Nagaishi. When he was a young man, he studied Wado-Ryu Karate under Sensei Walter Nishioka.
In April 2007, I visited Yonamine Kousuke Sensei's dojo at his home in Sashiki, Okinawa. The night we (John Oberle and I) visited Yonamine Sensei, he was preparing his students for their Shohei-Ryu (Uechi-Ryu) promotion testing. As I was observing his review of Karate terminology, I realized that this was jargon even for Japanese (Okinawan in this case). It is difficult for even Japanese students to remember terminology in Japanese. What advantage would it be for American students to memorize the terminology in Japanese? Wouldn't it be more advantageous for American students to use or be taught Karate terminology in English?
As soon as I started learning from Chibana Sensei, I noticed that he used very little terminology, choosing to demonstrate instead. Discussing this with Chibana Sensei, he pointed out that in the old days (when he was a student), there were no set terminology. Teaching was done with standard conversational Hogen (Okinawan) or Japanese. Actually, there were very little explanations, because as much as possible all techniques and movements were demonstrated.
Some terminology examples are; yoko-te (side of the hand) became shuto (shu[hand], to[katana or sword]), yubi-saki (finger tips) is now nukite ([penetrating] spear hand), yoko-ashi (side of the foot) is now called sokuto (foot sword), mae nagai-dachi (forward long stance) now referred to as zenkutsu-dachi (forward bent knee stance).
Knowing the meaning of the terminology is not enough, the term must be demonstrated for new practitioner to visualize the term. In comparing some of the old to the modernized Kata, it seems that when in the old version of a Kata a move or stance did not fit into the new terminology, then that move or stance was modified: For example; the first move in Naihanchi Sandan.
Among the most confusing terms is yoko-geri (side kick). Originally, it was called yoko-ashi yoko-geri (side of the foot kick to the side), now yoko-ashi (sokuto) geri (keri) is simply called yoko-geri. The tsuma-saki (tsuma [toe], saki [tip or front] geri is referred to as a mae-geri (front kick) either because you are kicking forward or using the front part of your foot. In Shorin-Ryu there is a yoko tsuma-saki geri (side kick with the toe), but many schools only call a tsuma-saki geri, a mae-geri and a yoko-ashi, a yoko-geri. In the Kata where it is a tsuma-saki yoko-geri, the move has been altered in that the performer turns to face the side, so as to execute a mae-geri. To eliminate confusion (a little) we dissuade the use of the term mae-geri and yoko-geri, and use instead, tsuma-saki geri and sokuto geri, or toe kick and side (foot) kick. On the side kick with the sokuto (with all the toes curled down) is usually a striking (uchi) kick, while the thrusting (tsuki) kick uses the kakuto (kagato, heel) with the toes curled down except for the big toe that points up and the forward part of the foot is pulled backward stressing the heel. In other words, a thrusting side kick in this manner can be called a yoko kagato or kakuto geri, or simply in English, a side heel kick. Most of the side kicks in Shorin-Ryu is with all the toes (including the big toe) curled down for a striking and thrusting kick.
Another confusing term in Shorin-Ryu is shuto-uke (sword hand block). In Shorin-Ryu there is no shuto-uke, it is rather a shuto ude (forearm) uke, the ude, in this case, is the outside wrist or just below the wrist. A better term for this is wanto (sword arm). This explanation may help the reader to visualize the part of the arm that is being used, but the proper execution or application would have to be demonstrated.
After Karate was introduced to the public, practice became more militaristic where classes were conducted and directed with commands (gorei). Some of the terms were ki-o-tsuke (attention), rei (bow), yoi (get ready, prepare), hajime (begin,start), yame (stop, end), naore (relax, gather yourself) or naotte which is softer and less of a command. The enunciation of these terms when used as a command is very curt. For instance, ki-o-tsuke would be enunciated in the manner it is written if it was softer, but as a command it would be more curt, sounding like "kyoske" (ten-hut).
It seems like in our Ryukyu Kobudo practice we use the modern (militaristic) commands, as follows: "Kyoske", rei, yoi, yame (parade rest), rei (at the end), and naore (fall out).
In Shorin-Ryu, we do not call a rei at the beginning of the Kata nor at the end, it is an option and left to the discretion of the performer. We do not call out a yoi, because when a Kata is called, we go into the ready position to start that Kata. The only time Ki-o-tsuke is called, is the first movement of the Kusanku Dai Kata and it is not a "kyoske" like calling one to the attention position, but rather, "put yourself on alert". Yame is used only in the Kihon Kata after the last back step, to come back to the original starting position. We do our Kata (with count or no count [kazoenashi]) to the end position, which in most case is the starting position (the exception is Naihanchi Shodan and Kusanku Dai), because even returning to the original starting position, you should be ready. After completion, we call, naote.
Would the command and direction terms be easier if it was given in English? I think it should be left to whomever is conducting the practice and to that person's preference.
My biggest hang-up is the word, "snap". I don't know the meaning of "snap". I think when practitioners use "snap", they are referring to kime or focus. I can speak to someone about focus, kime, or kikomi. But "snap"?
Speaking of kikomi, I am often asked about this term. Chibana Sensei normally used the term kime, but when he spoke of penetration, he used the term kikomi. In other words, kikomi is kime plus penetration. With this understanding, kime is the better universal term, because kikomi still involves kime. I use kime and focus interchangeably.
Some of the other terms, I use interchangeably are osae and press, hara with lower abdomen or center of balance, uchi and strike, tsuki and thrust, koshi and hip, uraken and back-fist, imi and meaning. When I can remember to, I use English for the various terminologies. After all is said and done, this whole discussion is on communication and the most effective way to communicate.
Pat Nakata
Which Writer Do You Pick?
Who would you rather read a Karate book by:
(A) A famous master who knows 100% of the art but can only describe and convey 20% of it; orEven though a reader, would get 30% more with choice (B), but I suspect that most people would select (A). Fame sells.
(B) An instructor who knows 50% of the art and can describe and convey all 50% of it.
Knowledge of the art and the ability to communicate it are two different things.
Charles C. Goodin
Martial Arts DVDs
Like most martial artists, I enjoy watching martial arts DVDs. I like DVDs of all arts, not just Karate. Right now, I have been watching early footage of Aikido. I also really enjoy any DVDs about Penjat Silat and related arts.
I believe that DVDs are worth what people are willing to pay for them. If someone wants to pay $100 for a DVD, that is his business. But I don't think that price and quality are necessarily related. Some excellent DVDs are very inexpensive and some terrible ones might be quite expensive. It all depends.
But here are my two gripes. I don't like 30 or 45 minute DVDs. I appreciate it when a DVD is an hour or two. When DVDs are really short, I get the feeling that they are trying to get people to buy many different ones. Film quality is certainly not the issue. DVDs can easily hold more than an hour of very good footage.
Also, I don't like music. When I practice Karate, there is never any music (not even in my mind). Why should there be music when we watch the old masters? I'm sure there was not music back then either. And the music tends to be pretty stereotypical. If it is Japanese, the background music has to be shakuhachi. Sanshin (shamisen) for Okinawan things.
As far as YouTube goes, I always wonder whether the footage is authorized by the owner. That is why I rarely post YouTube links here.
But I do enjoy browsing YouTube from time to time. Do a search for Shioda. Gozo Shioda was such a remarkable Aikido Sensei!
Charles C. Goodin
Koshi Is Important When...
Koshi is important when you do not have it. If you do not have it, you will want to devote all of your effort to attaining it and, to the extent possible, to mastering it. But once you "have" it, you will not think much about it at all!
It might still be important in the sense that you will need to be able to teach it to students who do not yet "have" it, but for yourself it will just be another aspect of your training.
Something is important when you do not have it.
If you hold your breath for a long time, you will want air more than anything else.
I may have written that I think that koshi is 20% of Karate training. I cannot remember the actual percentage I might have stated because it changes in my mind. If you are learning koshi, the percentage will be much higher. If you have already learned, practiced it, and applied it to all of your movements, then the percentage will be much less.
There are movements that cannot be done well without koshi. Koshi is the threshold for certain types of movements. Of course, you can do the movements without koshi, but they will not be very effective.
But even if you have a great koshi, you might be a poor fighter. Think about it -- no one defends himself with koshi alone. You still have to know how to properly block and strike. You still have to know how to transfer power. You still have to condition your hands, feet, and other striking points. You still have to know how to take or slip a punch. There is a lot more to Karate than koshi alone.
But koshi will make it possible to do many of these other things better.
If your Sensei works on something, you should realize that it might be because you don't have it yet. He will make it seem important because it is exceedingly important to you. You will not try hard if you don't think that it is important. But once you "get" it, it will not seem so important. You will take it for granted.
Then your Sensei will emphasize the next important thing.
Learning in Karate is cumulative. One block is built upon another.
Charles C. Goodin
What Did They Do With It?
Who is better -- a 2nd dan who teaches a small class for children or a 5th dan who teaches no one and hardly trains?
This is a question that a Sensei must sometimes ask himself. I have had many students and have promoted many of them to the yudansha level. I promote them based upon their skill and effort, but I can never tell what they will do with it.
You have to realize that it takes tremendously more effort to produce a 5th dan than it does to produce a 2nd dan. This effort is not only the yudansha's -- it includes the effort of the Sensei as well as the other instructors and students in the dojo. What should we be able to expect in return for all that effort?
I am not talking about money. I never expect money in return for teaching. Payment in our dojo is a token only and yudansha do not pay tuition at all. But I do expect that students will do something with their training.
If you walk by a shack along the road, you might not be surprised if no one lives there. But a vacant, brand new 5 story building would seem like a terrible waste. Why build it if it won't be used?
Or it is like a person obtaining a degree in law or medicine but never using it. This sometimes happens. There was probably competition to get into that law school or medical school. Wouldn't it have been better for a student to have been accepted who would have used the degrees? Society is not helped by skilled people who do not use those skills.
With a 2nd dan, a Sensei is just happy to see the student training and helping to teach. But with a 5th dan (or higher) the expectations are much greater -- there is an element of waste.
So much work goes into making a senior yudansha. A student who has reached this level should do something positive with it. The best way to repay this debt is to teach the juniors and help to pass on the art.
I often ask myself what I am doing? What am I doing to repay my Sensei and contribute to the art?
What are you doing?
Charles C. Goodin
Karate And Regularity
Karate training is a little like going to the bathroom.
If you don't go to the bathroom regularly, you get sick. If you don't train regularly, you get junk (in Hawaii, "junk" means "not good," "bad, "poor.")
The secret to Karate skill is to train regularly. Anyone who trains regularly will improve with time. But even a gifted student who only trains from time to time will not improve very much.
Regularity is important.
Charles C. Goodin
Guest Post: Kata A Waste Of Time
This Guest Post is by my friend and senior, Sensei Pat Nakata. Nakata Sensei is the head of the Okinawa Shorin-Ryu Karate Association in Hawaii. He was a student of Chosin (Choshin) Chibana in Shorin-Ryu, and also studied Ryukyu Kobudo under Sensei Fumio Nagaishi. When he was a young man, he studied Wado-Ryu Karate under Sensei Walter Nishioka.
I do agree that Kata is a waste of time for tournament competition, because many of the techniques in the Kata are outlawed. Tournament competition, dojo sparring, and self-defense or street fighting are all different.
In my close to 50 years of teaching and observation, I believe that Kata training will develop a strong fighter, but not necessarily a strong tournament competitor. I have always said that I could build a strong competitor in 1 year with just basic drills, but it would take me 2 to 3 years to build an equivalent strong fighter with Kata training. Where the competition trained fighter may peak in a few years, the Kata training fighter keeps growing. I have observed that in the majority of cases, the strong fighters all had strong Kata, even the strong tournament competitors. It is sad to see that many excellent Karate practitioners, who believe that Karate begins and ends with tournaments. As Chibana Sensei often said, "The way (path) of Karate is training. Karate training is Kata training. From Kata training one reaches self-realization".
Many times the quest to become a champion is nothing more than the search for one's true identity (ego) or the proving to one's self of one's ability, thinking all the while that being successful in competition will clear self-doubt and thus, develop confidence. This is not to be, for real confidence does not come from winning, but the acceptance of defeat. When we accept defeat, we remove that fear of losing. Now we fight with true confidence, because we have nothing to prove and with nothing to lose, we are Fearless.
Kata is fighting, yet Kata is Kata and fighting is fighting. If you do not know how to fight, you will have difficulty understanding Kata. If you don't know the fighting applications within the Kata, then Kata is a waste of time.
Pat Nakata
Guest Post: 100% Application
This Guest Post is by my friend and senior, Sensei Pat Nakata. Nakata Sensei is the head of the Okinawa Shorin-Ryu Karate Association in Hawaii. He was a student of Chosin (Choshin) Chibana in Shorin-Ryu, and also studied Ryukyu Kobudo under Sensei Fumio Nagaishi. When he was a young man, he studied Wado-Ryu Karate under Sensei Walter Nishioka.
Last Class of the Year
Last Wednesday was the last class of the year for our dojo. We tend to take off the last training day before Christmas Eve. This is the talk I give to my students each year:
This is the last class of the year. I want to thank all of you who have come out to train. I know that Christmas is a very busy time of the year. We all have parties and events to attend.Too many people are just going through the motions of doing things. Too many people are in one place, but thinking of another. Too many people are in a dreamlike state.
In Karate, and martial arts in general, it is very important to end well. You have trained hard this year. By being here, you are ending the year well. Try your best today and finish with a strong spirit and good attitude.
It is also important to begin the year well. Our first training of the New Year will be on January 7th. Please try your best to attend class that day.
We should always begin and end the year well. And for that matter, we should try our best on every day of the year.
We should always try our very best, in Karate and in all things.
But it is especially important to begin and end well. If you do a good job but show a bad attitude at the end, that is all that your boss will remember.
Begin with a good spirit and attitude, try your best at all times, and end with a good spirit and attitude.
In Karate, we should have a firm conviction, a focused mind, a strong body, and the will to succeed and overcome adversity. If we learn that, we can do anything.
The self-defense aspect of Karate is just a small fraction of the art.
Being and end well.
Charles C. Goodin
All I Want For Christmas...
Today is Christmas Eve. More than any other year, I have looked forward to Christmas this year. In previous years, I did not enjoy the Christmas songs on the radio. They always seemed to start weeks and months too soon. As soon as Thanksgiving passed, the Christmas songs would begin.
But this year, I could not wait for the first Christmas songs. I was happy to hear the first one and every one that played afterward made me feel that Christmas would soon be here.
I could not wait for Christmas this year.
As I sit here writing, my wife is downstairs at the oncology clinic receiving her last scheduled chemotherapy treatment. She started in September and we have looked forward to Christmas Eve because it is her sixth and hopefully last treatment.
All I want for Christmas this year is for my wife to be healthy and never to need to have chemotherapy again.
Charles C. Goodin
Karate Obstacle Course
On Saturday I discovered a very challenging obstacle course for Karate students and instructors. I went to Costco for my wife to pick up some food items she needed for Christmas week. Here is the challenge:
Run around Costco looking for things on a shopping list without getting hit by a shopping cart of hitting anyone else with your shopping cart!I am serious. It is nearly impossible. People are everywhere and the bottom of the shopping carts seem to be designed to hit you right in the Achilles Tendon!
And there are so many things for sale. My wife knows where everything is, but I only know how to find electronics and tools.
But I shouldn't complain. At least I was lucky enough to find a parking space!
Charles C. Goodin
Aikido Stress
When I trained in Aikido, I was a white belt. There were no colored belts. I did not become a yudansha in Aikido.
I loved Aikido training. It was always "hands on" -- we threw and got thrown. Because I had studied Judo in northern Japan as a child, falling was no problem. I enjoyed falling and fortunately never got hurt by taking falls. Actually, it was not just "fortunately' -- it was because of the rigorous breakfall training we did in Judo.
As much as I enjoyed Aikido training, I also found it extremely stressful. It is something of a paradox -- Aikido teaches peace and harmony -- but in some ways it is the most political and stressful of the martial arts. The break-up between Osensei and Tohei Sensei took place here in Hawaii at the Oceania floating restaurant. I was not there -- it was before I came to Hawaii -- but I heard about it from people who were there.
There was always an undercurrent of "group dynamics" (to say it nicely). Because Yoshioka Sensei was a senior, he had to attend to many "group dynamic" functions. I would hear about it from him and also observe it.
Even though I was a junior, I would get really stressed out! I even had heart palpitations at times! If I had to come to class late because of school or work, I would feel stressed. If I did something wrong, I would feel stressed. If there were larger problems, I would feel stressed.
Of course, this could have been my own creation. I am half-Japanese, and seem to have gotten shame and guilt with that half! I could have been projecting my own internal stress on Aikido. But I think that it would be fair to say that Aikido was pretty stressful (not physically).
Perhaps when you teach peace and harmony, it brings about the opposite. Perhaps when you internalize things so much, the result is externally opposite. I do not know.
However, I have tried to make my own Karate dojo, over the years, much less stressful. I am much more likely to overlook small breaches of etiquette and try to spend more time explaining little things to students so that they can avoid making mistakes. Mistakes still happen, but I do not view them as being earth shattering. Making mistakes is human.
My good friend, Sensei Gary Omori, teaches Aikido in the same facility as our dojo. His Aikido dojo is all on its own. It is not part of a national or international organization. He has a close group of students. I think that this environment is the best one for teaching Aikido or any martial art. When I see him and his students, they are always happy.
By the way, Omori Sensei was also a student of Yoshioka Sensei many years ago (before my time).
Martial arts should not be overly stressful. The martial arts are not a punishment or a bad tasting medicine. If martial arts do not make you happy and healthy, there are many better things to do.
In the end, we all grow old and die. It would be nice to do so gracefully and to bring as much joy and kindness into the world as possible. We should encourage our students with gentle nudges and shelter them from senseless politics (group dynamics).
Charles C. Goodin
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Don't Do Anything
Writing about Sensei Sadao Yoshioka made me remember something he often told me. I started training under him when I was a student at the University of Hawaii. I was already a yudansha in Karate and taught my own classes. However, I was very young and foolish and did not understand the customs and etiquette of Aikido. As a result of my youthful enthusiasm, I often did things that were inappropriate or impolite and received good scoldings for it! Of course, I deserved it.
Yoshioka Sensei would tell me in private that I did things with good intentions, but still did them the wrong way. Wrong was wrong, intentions or not.
He told me this, "If you are not sure about what to do in the dojo, don't do anything. Just stand or sit there."
This was good advice for several reasons. If I did nothing, perhaps I could observe the situation and the proper course of action would become more obvious. Also, a senior might act, making it unnecessary for me to act. I could learn by watching the senior. Or, I could ask a senior about the right course of action. Later, I might also ask Yoshioka Sensei in private.
Yoshioka Sensei's advice is still good today, "If you are not sure about what to do in the dojo, don't do anything. Just stand or sit there."
Watch and learn.
Charles C. Goodin
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Kanreki of Sensei Sadao Yoshioka
Around 1982, I attended the kanreki (60 year old birthday celebration) of Sensei Sadao Yoshioka. This must have been after I returned to Hawaii after attending Northwestern University (for graduate school). I believe that the celebration was at the Natsunoya Teahouse. At that time, I must have been about 25.
I did not think that much about the celebration at the time. I vaguely knew that Japanese men celebrate their 42nd (yakudoshi) and 60th (kanreki) birthdays. I now know that they also celebrate their 88th (beiju) birthday.
But at that time, it was just another party. Sensei was 60, which seemed pretty old to me then. I was just of many students and instructors attending. I was one of the junior students.
But over the years, I have often thought how fortunate I was to attend Yoshioka Sensei's kanreki. I admired him greatly, but could never quite fit Aikido into my life. Nevertheless, he influenced my thoughts and feelings about the martial arts. He is one of the Sensei I would like to be more like. Sometimes I would stay after class and speak to him (especially at the Waialae dojo). One time I visited him at his home and stayed so long that my wife thought I must have been in an accident!
I will tell you a funny story. Sensei had an old car. It was light blue. For some reason I think it was a Valiant (I am not sure about this). I drove with him a few times to select wood for making bokken. One time, we drive to my wife's family's office in Pearl Ridge. Sensei drove the wrong way down a one way street! Actually, I think he did not drive too well. But as his student, I always felt completely safe -- as if his ki would protect us.
Sensei was almost old enough to be my grandfather. Even as he aged, he remained in excellent condition. The things he would do in the dojo were simply amazing! But as much as he taught technique, he also taught lessons of life. Lecture was a part of every class he taught.
Sensei passed away from cancer in 1990. I had resigned from the dojo years before, but often thought about him. My brother-in-law was a yudansha in the dojo and at one time served as its president.
I wish that Yoshioka Sensei had lived to 88 and that I could have attended his beiju celebration. This year he would have been 85.
If you have a great Sensei, please don't take him for granted. Every minute you have with your Sensei is truly a treasure. Every day should be a celebration.
Charles C. Goodin
30 and 60
This is a story.
There was a Karate expert. At the age of 30, he was fast and strong. At the age of 60, he was just as fast and strong. He moved exactly the same at both ages. It was truly remarkable!
One person commented, "It is amazing that he has maintained his speed and strength until the age of 60."
Another person commented, "He has truly discovered the fountain of youth."
A Karate master listened to the comments and replied, "You are both wrong. What is amazing is that this man has not improved at all in 30 years. Remaining the same is not the objective. We must improve each and every day. When you put money in the bank, you expect to be paid interest. When you plant a seed in the ground, you expect it to grow. All this man has done is remain the same."
We should get better with age.
Charles C. Goodin
Rank or Ability?
Professor Rick Clark visited Hawaii and I had the opportunity to meet him and his family for lunch at a Chinese restaurant.
At one point we were discussing seminars and I raised the subject of whether most people would be more willing to pay to receive rank or to improve their ability in Karate. Rank or ability? Given the choice, what would most people select?
It sounds like such an easy question. Of course a person would choose ability. If it was possible to improve one's ability, any reasonable person would do so.
But if a promotion was available.... hmmmm.
I know that some people might be thinking -- you could get both. I know that is true but I am framing this question in the alternative -- rank or ability?
My own experience in Karate over the years is this: when you already have had enough of rank, you crave ability. This is especially true if you have had the misfortune of seeing rank without ability. Rank without ability is truly sad. Ability without rank is still ability. And in the final analysis, rank is not necessary for self-defense or self development.
Still, it helps to have rank if you are going to run a school or dojo. I realize this.
But it may surprise readers to hear that many people do think a lot about rank. And I imagine that if someone could go from say 7th degree to 8th degree, that person might be willing to spend quite a lot to receive it. At least some people might.
For me, ability comes first. That is why we do not emphasize rank in my dojo (in fact, I have a hard time getting the yudansha to wear any belt at all).
In a perfect world though, rank and ability would be directly related. Come to think about it, in a perfect world rank would not be necessary.
Charles C. Goodin
"Not The Same"
Sometimes a new student in our dojo, when being taught a particular movement or kata, will comment "but that's not the way that John taught it to me." (John is just a make believe name in this case.)
To be honest, this really drives my sons and me nuts! The way we were brought up the dojo, students simply do not say such things. Students learn quietly and withhold most comment (because they recognize that they are beginners and should know their place). Such a comment is considered to be rude.
But the comment reflects an assumption about Karate -- that movements and kata will always remain the same and be taught the same. This is an incorrect assumption, however, it may be true in some schools.
In our school and style generally, there is not one and only one way to do things. As the student advances, he will learn many different ways to do things. When he was a beginner, he could only move like a beginner. But at each step of his advancement, his ability to move improves. At each point, the instructor will add to or modify the movements and kata. You could say that there are 100 ways to do things, and the instructor needs to know each of these, and when to introduce them to each particular student. It is a very individual process (not good for large, commercial schools).
A beginner should move as a beginner but an advanced student should move as an advanced student.
It is important for students to understand this. That way, when they learn something "differently," they will realize that this is part of a natural progression. They will not compare what they learned from John with what they are learning from Sally. John was right. Sally is right.
In fact, when the student learns something "differently," he should be happy -- it menas that he is progressing. In fact, if a student always learns things the same way, it might mean just the opposite -- that he has not progressed.
A bab has to crawl before he can walk. But a good parent knows when to help the baby take his first steps. Soon he is running.
Learning is a challenging experience. Sometimes when I learn a new concept, it takes several months for it to "set" in my mind. But I keep working on it until I get it -- or put it aside for a while if I gives me really bad problems. But I will keep working on it.
I always say, if my Sensei can do something then I should be able to do it too, if I am willing to work on it as much or more as he did.
Different is good.
Charles C. Goodin
Sanzinsoo's Blog
I have added a link on the right side of this blog to Sanzinsoo's Okinawa Goju-Ryu and Karate-Do Blog. He has translated and written some excellent Karate articles.
Please have a look!
Charles C. Goodin
Can You Talk About Karate?
Because of my work with the Hawaii Karate Museum, I am interviewed from time time. Last Monday, I was interviewed at our dojo.
I think that I spoke for about an hour and 10 minutes with no notes or outline. It has become easy for me because there is so much to say about Okinawan Karate and its history in Hawaii. Actually, several hours would not be enough time.
But I wonder, have you (yes you) ever given a speech about Karate? Have you ever written a report, or given an exhibit?
Could you, without any preparation, give a lecture about Karate and your specific style? -- an informative and accurate lecture? Do you know who you teacher is, his, his, his, and where they all came from? Do you know about their lives?
I am serious. Could you? If you are instructor, the time may come when you will have to do this. What will you say if a television reporter is standing in front of you? Will you emphasize the positive aspects of the art or focus on the negative things you have seen? What will you say and how will you say it?
For many of you, this question has already been answered because you have already had to do it. Many of you can easily do this. But for many instructors and students, speaking in public is one of their greatest fears. And even if you can speak comfortably, can you properly organize your thoughts and express yourself intelligently? What you say and how you say it will reflect on the art.
It is a challenging thing. Learning to move well is challenging. Learning to teach well is a challenge. Learning to be able to inform the public about Karate is also a challenge.
I will say this -- if we stand by let people speak and write about the sport and commercial aspect of Karate, then that is what people will hear and read. If we want to emphasize the character building aspect of the art, peace, health, self-defense, restraint... the virtues of Karate, then it is up to us to speak and write about it. We should not complain about the modernization of Karate if we are not willing to inform the public about the traditional aspects.
It is up to us. The more voices and views the better.
Charles C. Goodin
Chasing My Sensei
I have mentioned at least a few times that my Sensei in Okinawa is 18 years older than me, and that I will try to "chase" him -- to try to become as skilled as he is. I can imagine that some readers might think that this is an arrogant statement. I can understand this. In a way, it is an arrogant thing to say.
I do not believe that I will ever be as skilled as my Sensei. I could say that I will spend the rest of my life trying to be 1/2 as skilled as he is, but I don't think that he would like that. Why should a student aim low? I am sure that he would want me to become the very best that I can be.
A Sensei always hopes that his students will become more skilled than he is. A traditional student always hopes to learn just a small part of what his Sensei knows, and to become able to do a just a fraction of what his Sensei can do.
If you think about it, I should have an advantage because my Sensei can teach me what he knows. I do not have to grope in the dark. My own sons can easily do things as young men that I could only do in my 40s. They have a huge headstart because they have learned from me and also from my Sensei when he visited Hawaii.
A student should have a tremendous advantage.
Still, it seems to me that my Sensei is so far ahead. He is like a parent speaking slowly so that a little child can understand him. I am such a child.
Even when he moves in a way that seems so impressive to me, he has had to exaggerate his movement so that I can see it and begin to understand it.
I do not think that my Sensei is a god. If he were a god, I would have no chance. But since he is a human being, I should have a chance to catch him.
Of course, he is moving ahead too. He is not standing still. So I will always be running behind him... but I will be chasing him (in a respectful way).
Charles C. Goodin
Fifty Years Old!
Last Monday, I turned 50. I have been preparing for this for about 10 years. My Sensei have told me, "Get into the best shape possible before you turn 50. It is natural that we decline physically as we age. But if you start from a higher point (by getting into the best shape possible), and keep training, the decline will be much more gradual."
I am in pretty good shape -- for me. That does not mean that I am as strong or fast as other people -- just that I am in pretty good shape for me.
My resolutions for training, upon this little landmark, are to train smarter. I want to better understand body mechanics so that I can move better and teach others how to do so as well. I am very fortunate, because my Sensei concentrates on body mechanics. He has taught me a great deal and is an excellent model for me to copy.
He is also 18 years older than me. I always say, "if he can do it, I should be able to do it too if I practice diligently."
He is not only a model for me of how to move, but of how to age. This is extremely important in Karate.
I mentioned not too long ago about Karate instructors who are like fruit that rots on the tree. This means that the instructor reaches an age when he stops training seriously and busies himself with other activities, such as business or politics. Soon, he can't do it. This especially happens to instructors who only learned how to move like a young man. A 50 year old cannot and should not move exactly like a 20 year old. In fact, a 50 year old should move better! And a 70 year old should move better still!
At 50, I feel that I am beginning my Karate training anew. My first 50 years were largely spent looking for something. Having found it, I now have to work on it!
There is another thing I have noticed at this age. When I was younger, I would try to accomplish things, whether in technique, research, writing, collecting historic materials, etc. Even though I would immediately forget about accomplishing something once I attained it, I would also immediately set about to accomplish something else. I still do this, to some extent.
But now I enjoy stepping back and applauding the accomplishments of my children (in my family), my students (in my dojo), and of my Karate friends. I enjoy the role of saying, "Great job! Keep at at!"
Earlier this year, I put my second son, Charles in charge of my dojo. It was the best thing I could have done! It has allowed me to teach better, while giving him the chance to learn about overall responsibility for a dojo and students. Teaching Karate is not about maintaining power, but about empowering others.
I am not targeting the age of 60. By that age, I would like to complete my work in establishing the Hawaii Karate Museum and its various collections. I then would like to turn that responsibility over to others.
And it is my sincere hope that I will one day be able to teach my grandchildren Karate -- both the boys and girls. By that time, I also hope to have improved so that I will be a better teacher for them.
50 down, 100 to go!
Charles C. Goodin
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Friday, December 07, 2007
Really Tough Guys -- Why?
Shihan Bobby Lowe recently returned to Hawaii from Japan where he attended the 9th World Karate Tournament of the International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan. He was kind enough to give me a tournament journal -- the highest quality such journal I have ever seen! It looks like the catalog for luxury cars or expensive handbags. Full color, glossy, even metallic covers.
But what interested me most was the listing of the top 8 competitors. I understand that this was on open tournament with no weight categories. Almost 200 competitors from around the world participated. The top places went to competitors from the following countries:
- Brazil
- Czech Republic
- Armenia
- Russia
- Russia
- Spain
- Brazil
- Japan
Why is this? The reason is obvious, these particular competitors are really tough. People who practice Karate in these countries train extremely hard. They probably are not spending time playing video games and going to movies -- they are training!
I recall reading that Choki Motobu mentioned to a student that you would expect that there would be better fighters in countries such as the United States, because its population is so much greater than Japan's (or Okinawa's). With so many Karate students around the world, you would expect that international students would do well.
Karate is not based on country. It is based on hard work and dedication.
One of my good friends in my style of Shorin-Ryu lives in Slovenia. I have always been impressed by how hard he trains. When we met in Okinawa earlier this year, I might have mentioned to him that it took me 12 hours or so to get to Okinawa from Hawaii. It had taken him an his students 3 days to get to Okinawa from Slovenia.
I have it easy in Hawaii. There is no snow. It is warm all year long. In other parts of the world, dojo can freeze in the winters and be unbearably hot in the summers.
When it is so easy to train, we take it for granted. I have a feeling that the international competitors in the Kyokushinkaikan tournament take nothing for granted and train harder than most of us could ever imagine.
Of course if you have read this blog for a while, you know that I am not a fan of tournaments. I am a big fan of hard training and respect students and instructors around the world who dedicate themselves to rigorous Karate practice.
Charles C. Goodin
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Friday, December 07, 2007
Look At The Feet
When an instructor demonstrates a punch or block, we tend to look at his hands. Hands are definitely important, but at an advanced level, it is also very informative to look at his feet.
If you have the current issue of Classical Fighting Arts (Volume 2, No. 12, with Sensei Morio Higaonna on the cover), look at the photographs on pages 20 and 22. Now look closely at the feet. On page 22, Higaonna Sensei executes an arm bar. He is stepping on the attacker's right foot and checking it with his knee. He is not simply executing an arm bar.
When we practice basics, we tend to ignore the feet. For safety reasons, we do not like to step on each other's feet or jam our partner's knees. But these are very effective techniques.
My Sensei here in Hawaii used to step on our feet when we attacked him. I would punch and he would block and enter while stepping on my leading foot. This really messed me up! I could not back up or go forward. I was sort of paralyzed. And at the same time, his counterattack (a big fist) would be shaking in front of my face.
My attention was split. I was contending with the block/counter and also having my foot stepped on and trapped. It is very hard to move when your attention is split.
If I paid attention to my feet, I would get hit. If I paid attention to the counter, I would be trapped.
And there are many more things to do with the feet than simply step on the attacker's foot or check his knee. All sorts of bones and joints could be broken or strained.
When you watch a demonstration of a technique, do not neglect the feet. Most people miss much of what is actually going on. But then again, depending on the instructor, nothing might be going on.
In Karate, you must defend and attack with your whole body in a coordinated manner. This will give you an advantage over an attacker who moves in a disconnected manner.
Charles C. Goodin
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Why Goju-Ryu Is More Dynamic
In Power Generation -- 99% and 1%, I stated, "It may seem strange to say, but I see this more often in Goju-Ryu and related styles than my own Shorin-Ryu." In my experience, Goju-Ryu people, in general, are very good at generating and transferring power.
I have thought about it and think I know the reason (or at least one reason) for this. Goju-Ryu people wind up and then strike or block. Shorin-Ryu people tend to throw from the hip.
What I mean by this is that Goju-Ryu people generally do not just block or strike. Before doing a particular movement, they often perform a circular or partial circular parry or grab (or some other technique), and then they block or stroke. The preparatory movement enables them to compress and coil their body (or the muscles inside their body) which then enables them to move in a very dynamic way. Coiling leads to explosiveness.
When Shorin-Ryu people block, they tend to "throw" from the beginning. The movements are sharp, rather than coiled. If a block is two step (like a shuto uke), the first part of the block is done sharply as is the second. The body and muscles do not have a chance to coil.
I believe that the Kishaba Juku form of Shorin-Ryu that I practice is a little bit like Goju-Ryu in Shorin-Ryu clothing. What I mean by this is that our power generation is somewhat like Goju-Ryu, while we perform the kata and techniques of Shorin-Ryu.
Of course, I could be wrong about this. I understand that Sensei Seigi Nakamura learned other forms of Karate than Matsubayashi-Ryu. It may have been that he learned Tomari-Te and Goju-Ryu as well. Styles are not natural -- they are created by people. All styles of Karate are simply different interpretations of Karate.
Perhaps it is that the core of power generation and transfer found in Goju-Ryu (and related styles) is very similar to the way we do things in Kishaba Juku. Whether that is because of some overlap in the past or a coincidence, I cannot say.
I should add that I have also seen poor Goju-Ryu movement. Certainly, not all students of Goju-Ryu are exceptional. What I am saying is that of the exceptional people I have seen, many are students of Goju-Ryu (and related styles). I have also seen exceptional Shorin-Ryu students. But in Shorin-Ryu, students tend to become "choppy" because of the way that they throw techniques. Goju-Ryu students have an advantage in that they coil or wind first.
This is just my impression.
Before anyone feels upset that I am favoring one style over another, please keep in mind that if anyone can do something better than you, you must find out why. If they can do it, why can't you do it? If a Goju-Ryu person can do something better than you, you cannot simply ignore it because he is outside of your style. Karate is not style dependent. If someone is better than you, or can do something better than you, you better figure out why. What if you had to defend yourself against that person? You could not call a "time out" because of a style conflict.
Karate is Karate and martial art is martial art.
We all have to figure out how to best generate and transfer power.
One way to do that is to recognize and study exceptional Karate students and instructors.
Charles C. Goodin
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Wednesday, December 05, 2007
About the Sensei
I received a question from a reader (D.M.):
Could you elaborate about the relationship between the student and his sensei? Was it kind of a servant master or slave master relationship? Was the character of the sensei to be taken up by the student? Did the student worship the sensei?
Of course, the relationship between the student and his Sensei will differ depending on the type of Karate being learned, where it is learned, why it is being learned, when it was learned, etc.
I will address myself to my understanding of the relationship between a student and his Sensei in traditional Okinawan Karate. My own two Sensei of Shorin-Ryu are both Okinawans (one lives in Okinawa and one lives here in Hawaii). I am not Okinawan. I am half-Japanese and half-Caucasian.
The first part of the questions asks "Was it kind of a servant master or slave master relationship?" In my experience, the answer is no. There is no sense of master or slave/servant -- quite the contrary!
A Karate Sensei has a wonderful skill that he can impart to students who are willing to work very hard for a long time. In the process of practicing Karate under a wise Sensei, the student will realize many things about life and himself. In this process, he will become a more well rounded human being, a better person. Karate works on the character as much as it works on the body -- or at least it should.
The student is in a prison of sorts. The Sensei helps the student to escape, to climb out, to become free. The Sensei is not a master and the student is not a slave.
Or, perhaps the student is a slave -- to laziness, arrogance, pettiness, weakness, etc. The Sensei tells the student, "You can become free from these things. " Practicing Karate will make you strong, both physically and with respect to your character.
Now it is possible that there are Sensei who are masters and students who are slaves/servants. I have never desired to train under such a Sensei, not have I ever desired to be such a Sensei.
My own feeling about my Sensei (plural) is that they are like my own uncles, even my own fathers in Karate. I respect them so much, but not in a formal sense. I respect, admire, and appreciate them in a family sense. My Sensei gave me my Karate life! How can I ever repay them for such kindness -- especially since I was such a poor student?
The next part of the question is: "Was the character of the sensei to be taken up by the student?" Hopefully so. The Sensei is a role model for the student. The student does not only learn to move like his Sensei. Hopefully, many of the Sensei's positive traits will rub off on the student by years of training. But the student should not merely become a clone of the Sensei. The Sensei helps the student to realize his own best traits. The Sensei helps the student to become the best he can be -- not the best that the Sensei was.
The last part of the question is: "Did the student worship the sensei?" I'm sure that some did (and do). If you think of your Sensei as a god or deity, then it is natural that you will worship him. But since Sensei are humans, it is foolish to worship them. Should we worship humans? I'm sure that there are some Sensei who like to be worshiped and are happy to accept money and presents too!
The feeling I have for my Sensei is gratitude. If not for them, I would have not learned Karate -- or I might have learned a limited or negative form of Karate. Because I am grateful to my Sensei, I do not want to let them down. I have to try my best.
I cannot repay my Sensei, because they do not need or want anything from me. The only way I can repay them is by trying to be a good Sensei myself. If they teach me and I just keep it to myself, so what? But if they teach me and I teach someone else, then the line continues. Karate skills and attitudes are things that you have to pass on.
These are just my own thoughts. I think that I have the best Sensei in the world! Every lucky student thinks that he has the best Sensei in the world. It is natural.
Having great Sensei does not make me great -- it makes me humble. But it does give me one advantage -- a great Sensei understands Karate, can break it down into its smallest parts, and teach each and every detail, all directed to maximizing the student's body dynamics and movements. A great Sensei can explain what each movement means. It really helps to have a great Sensei!
A great Sensei can help a student to become free, both in movement and thought.
Now that was a good question. Thank you very much to D.M. (whose grandfather was a truly great Sensei)!
Charles C. Goodin
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Karate and Mental Health
I received the following question from a reader (S. S.):
"I have a suggestion for a Karate Blog post if you can find any information and or research into this. Karate students and/or teachers, past and present, that have had or still have mental health issues and how karate has helped them cope with their problem."
Speaking purely as a layperson, however, I can say that some of the Karate instructors I have met are the most well adjusted, kindest, and wisest people in the world, while some others are the craziest! Regarding the latter, some Karate instructors become extremely egotistical, petty, controlling, power hungry, etc.
One of the old time teachers explained to me that in the old days, an instructor could not simply hide behind his rank or title. An instructor who could not back up his Karate with fighting skill would be challenged and beaten. Most instructors, thus, were not boastful or arrogant as this would attract a challenge. Of course, some instructors were boastful and arrogant because they welcomed challenges.
Today, challenges are rare (even illegal) and instructors can pretty much boast freely. There are so few limits on the ego! Perhaps it was better in the old days.
When I state that some Karate instructors are crazy, I do not mean to equate that with mental health problems. They are crazy in the sense that they are out of control and have not pursued Karate for their personal development as well as self defense skills.
And, for every rough stone you find in Karate there are many more gems.
Charles C. Goodin
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Tuesday, December 04, 2007


text:
Later Tagalog arrivals would sail up the Pásig to Laguna de Baí, on whose shores would rise their bailiwicks and colonies. Their capital was the town of Baí; and so all this lake country —and the lake itself— became known as Baí. —Nick Joaquín—
It's not unusual for married couples to be on a huff with one another. Well, that's what happened to me and Yeyette last month (11/06/2010) when we attended the birthday of a friend who lives in a residential area for military peeps in Ciudad de Taguig. You know, the usual tampuhan. And it's funny because, although we've been together for more than a decade, and already with four kids, we still behave —and quarrel— as if we're college sweethearts, haha! Not that I'm complaining. I even think it's better that way. Perhaps it keeps us young. I don't know. Sometimes, I do feel that we're going over the edge. But at the end of the day, the crumples on our shirts are always ironed out (I'm trying to invent an idiomatic expression here; hope that one's not yet patented).
So how did I fix the mess?
We were both silent in the jeepney on our way home after the birthday party (say… that rhymes!). It was already early dawn (11/07/2010). To break the ice, I nonchalantly suggested to her that because it was still dark, perhaps we could stroll in Bay, La Laguna for a while so as not to disturb our four kids and their yaya who were still sleeping. And also for us to have a breath of fresh air (and I have not yet blogged about that town, LOL!). I honestly never expected her to say yes, although the traveler in me had wanted such a reply. I just wanted her to speak up. Silence is so awkward for lovers who have a misunderstanding.
Surprisingly, she answered: "¿Gaano ba calayo yon? (How far is it?)". That was an indication that everything was getting OK, hehe!
Fortunately for us, the jeepney driver, who was driving all night long, lives in Santa Rosa, La Laguna. And he was raring to go home that dawn. That's why we didn't have to transfer from one jeep to another.
We reached Santa Rosa shortly after six in the morning. We took another jeep going to nearby Calambâ where we got off to a jeepney terminal situated in a crowded place which Calambeños call "Crossing". We had to wait for our jeep (going to San Pablo, La Laguna) to be filled up with passengers before going to Bay. In a matter of minutes, we were already zooming through the highway surrounded by spectacular views of mountains and greenery.
Bay is the town right after Calambâ and Los Baños. It used to be the capital of the whole province of La Laguna. But the capitolio was later moved to Santa Cruz.
The jeepney driver dropped us right in front of the church. We were just a few minutes late for the 7 AM mass.
Iglesia de Bay
The church is dedicated to one of the greatest philosophers and theologians of all time: Saint Augustine of Hippo Regius (in present-day Algeria). He is, incidentally, the patron saint I chose when I reconverted to the Catholic faith a few years back. He, too, was a convert to Catholicism, having lived a hedonistic life in his youth. Well, it's not that I had lived the same life he had experienced. But he was a sinner before he became a saint, not unlike most Catholic saints that we have who had lived chaste lives throughout most of their existence.
The first church was founded by Augustinian monks in 1571 led by Fr. Martín de Rada (an off-on-a-tangent trivia: my mom grew up in a street in Tondo named after this friar). It was made of nipa and bamboo in a place called Aplaya, a corrupted Tagalog version of the Spanish la playa meaning "beach". This means that the first church made of wood used to be in front of Laguna de Bay. It became a full-fledged parish on 30 April 1578. Being the founders of the church and the Christianized town, it was only natural for the Augustinians to administer Bay. One hundred fifty-nine years later, it was transferred to the care of the Franciscans. The patron saint and the church's name, however, remained Augustinian.
In 1804, the church was transferred to its present site in the the población or town proper. The new church was made of stone and was supervised by Fr. Gerónimo Hervas. The construction was finally completed after 60 years, but a strong earthquake in 1880 destroyed its roofing. In 1884, Fr. Jesús Lillo had it restored. The restoration work was finished by Fr. Celestino de los Huertos in 1889.
All these restorations and constructions were put to naught during World War II. Sadly, the church and its accompanying convent were completely wiped out. Eight years after the war, Fr. Alejandro Vermorel resurrected the Parish Church of Saint Augustine. He had the façade patterned after the architectural styles of the Early Renaissance period. It was simple in design, with a semicircular door and window openings. The church's pediment is also adorned with a circular window in its tympanum.
The church's interiors are very modest. Not surprising since the original church was destroyed by brimstone and fire due to man's folly (i.e., war). Aside from a chapel dedicated to the Divine Mercy apparition, it has nothing stunning to offer, architecture wise. Even the retablo is not that "loud" with design if one is to compare it with other antique Philippine churches. But the faithful, particularly its senior womenfolk, are a sight to behold: many of them still wear veils on top of their crowns. That's the way it really should be with female churchgoers regardless of age.
The town proper, with its narrow roads and small stalls, somehow reminds me of Unisan. The only difference is that Bay is bustling with vehicular energy, not to mention noise. Its because its main thoroughfare serves as an entrepot between Los Baños, Victoria, Pila, and other lakeshore towns of La Laguna province.
Bahay na bató
We also noticed that there are a few Filipino houses, commonly known as bahay na bató, in Bay. If the town church was profaned by bombs, guns, and fire during the last war, obviously the rest of the town burned down with it. And of those very few old Filipino homes we found, only two stood out: The Marfori and Peláez ancestral homes. Unfortunately, we have not gathered much information about these two handsome houses. There's not even a soul inside the Marfori house, this according to the people around it.
Laguna de Bay
Our journey around Bay would not have been complete without a short stop to the lake —the largest in the Philippines— whose name was taken from the town itself.
It was the Spanish conquistadores led by Juan de Salcedo and some Augustinians who renamed this trilobate lake after the town of Bay (sometimes spelled as "Baé" or "Ba'i"). Renamed, because it has been called "Tadlác ng Ba'i" by its Tagalog-speaking settlers before the white men arrived. Or maybe "translated" is the better term instead of "renamed" because "laguna de Bay" and "tadlác ng Ba'i" have the same meaning, anyway.
Laguna de Bay, being trilobate, is composed of the west bay, east bay, and central bay. Isla de Talím, the largest of the lake's nine islands and which is very visible to the town of Bay (from Barrio San Antonio), is right between the west and central bay.
But why did the Spaniards named the lake after Bay? Why not Laguna de Tabuco, or Laguna de Pinagsañgahán (Pagsanján), or some place else? It's because Bay was then the largest settlement along the lake. It was large enough to attract Chinese merchants who were docked in Bahía de Manila. They sailed through the then crocodile-infested waters of Pásig River and the menacing Paso Diablo (or the "Devil's Pass", Laguna de Bay's deepest part which is near Alabang, Ciudad de Muntinlupà) just to trade with the Tagalog tribesmen of Bay. After the trade, these Chinese go back to Manila bay, bringing with them boatloads of forest products.
This trade between the Chinese in Manila Bay and the first folk of Bay, by the way, will also help explain why Tondoc (now the Manila district of Tondo) and Santa Ana de Sapa (now the Manileño district of Santa Ana) were major ports during that time. That trade was a vital factor as to why these two places were populous when the Spaniards led by Miguel López de Legazpi (Salcedo's grandfather) arrived. Bay, in a way, had a hand in it. =) As a matter of fact, Bay, for a time, was even considered a part of the old Kingdom of Namayan whose capital was in Santa Ana de Sapa.
It was truly an enjoyable morning we had in Bay! We had a wonderful time searching for history, food tripping, and nature tripping. It was a wonderful and unforgettable trip. Sans the motor vehicles, For a "laywoman" like Yeyette, it was educational, as well. And most important of all, little did we know that our petty "lover's quarrel" dissipated over time! We were like foreigners in another country. We were like kids, even, when we got near the lake and enjoyed its flora!
And because everything was OK between the two of us, we agreed to proceed to Victoria the soonest possible time!
Heck, no. Not the motel. I meant Victoria, La Laguna, the town north of Bay and Calauan. Cayó talagá… We hope to get there (again, Victoria, La Laguna) this month or in January.
Till next time, Filipino eReaders! =)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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|Elk Grove Village, IL
|High School:
|Elk Grove
2008: Honorable mention All-Ivy selection in the outfield... Led team in batting (.377), hits (52) and stolen bases (11)... Her .377 average was seventh in the Ivy League and the 10th best in a season in school history... Finished fifth in the league in stolen bases and tied for sixth in hits, despite missing six games with an injury... Led team with 17 multi-hit games... Had a season-long seven-game hitting streak to open the season... Went 4-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI in a victory over Wagner.
2007: Enjoyed an outstanding rookie season, earning first team All-Ivy honors... Led the Ivy League in triples with four and in stolen bases with 18... Her 37 runs scored were the second most in a season in school history... Led team in batting (.348), hits (49), runs and stolen bases... Had a team-high 15 multi-hit games, including a four-hit performance against Marist... Named Ivy League Rookie of the Week after Yale's doubleheader sweep of Marist... Played an outstanding centerfield... Made only two errors in 59 chances.
Before Yale: A three-time all-conference and all-area selection at Elk Grove High School... Holds the Elk Grove record for most hits in a season with 61 and is the school's all-time leader in stolen bases with 78... Batted .500 with 23 stolen bases, 26 RBI, 36 runs scored and two home runs as a senior... Elk Grove won four MSL East Conference championships and three regional titles during her career... Played travel softball for the Elk Grove Heat.
Personal: A member of Timothy Dwight College... Daughter of Steven and Susan Sloan.


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|2007-07-13, 22:59
|Link #42
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
But were do i find the game at?
|2007-07-14, 04:43
|Link #43
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
okay seriously, Read the posts before you spamm about where to find the game.
Its still under development aparantly so there is no game out there! In this forum they are discussing posebilities and new things to add in the game that the devolopers have their hands on, which is probably just the alfa version of the game.
You also don't need to quote the whole post just to ask where you will find the game because hey!, the whole thread is about that!
It also seems very dead on this forum since a reply comes like once a month now
|2007-08-13, 21:16
|Link #46
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Yo, been a minute since I been here. We are no longer developing the game in RMXP, it's too limited. So we're using a mainstream coding language that 'businesses' use (an example, of course), so we can do damn near anything.
An update: our new site is http://lastninjaonline.net, paid for by Don Andy. Our forum is a vBulletin (best of the best :P)
We have also started our sprites from scratch using a smaller template, due to most ninja in Naruto being quite young.
An example of our smaller sprites in our Akatsuki robe:
Updates are sure to come, as we're working extra hard. One spriter, Kimimaru, has created something ground breaking that has inspired the other spriters to work even harder.
Until next time everyone, Khengi out. :P
|2007-08-23, 22:10
|Link #47
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
okay so will we be able to create our own jutsus!!! that would be awsome!!!and also do you guys have a release date? and will you be able to travel to the different lands? Will the characters have headbands and at the starting will you have the option to choose you're village? Will you start out at the ninja academy and work your way up to jonin or even the hokage? Will you be able to have three man squads? Will you be able to take the chunin exams? that would be awsome if all those were possible
Last edited by What-A-Drag; 2007-08-23 at 22:15. Reason: i didn't finish my statement
|2007-08-28, 18:52
|Link #50
~~Dont hassle the Hoff~~
beenin development awhile to not even havre a alpha nor a beta and three man squad would be cool but to many sprites would need to be made to make your own justsu cause its limtitless possibility's the people making the game should be kage's
yea and make a npc as a chuunin exam proctor forest of death would be cool and how could you do sharingan? just make the mmove in slow mo on your screen but you move normal speed? hopw it releases atleast a beta soon
|2007-08-28, 20:48
|Link #51
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
I have made a few demo game with rpg maker xp as well as 2000 and 2003 i can sprite i can do some programming i can work pretty good with the program email me at
|2007-08-29, 10:21
|Link #52
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
|2007-09-08, 03:31
|Link #54
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Each handsign (twelve I think) are in the game. We're going by Wikipedia's guide on how each jutsu is governed by handseals. There's... about 200+ jutsu on that page.
Making your own jutsu would be tough, and we may or may not have it. At the moment, no, for sure. But not forever! The only hard part would be making animations for each custom jutsu, that's the only reason why.
Also! We're not in RMXP ANYMORE!
We are and are not using our own engine (bit of both) and we're very hush hush on what we're doing. No more Ruby Code.
Any questions, forward them to this topic of on the forum, or by PM to me.
|2007-09-08, 20:50
|Link #56
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Yup. LNO will ALWAYS be free. Always, no matter what happens.
Now, we've gotten many donations in the past which helped us buy our forum, but the donations are for in game/LNO based things. We'll never, ever, EVER use LNO for our own gain.
We usually don't even allow donations, though, due to us not truly needing them, but they have their benefits. Nice ones, actually.
And you do, Koto. But you don't have to be just a ninja... even though that's what most people are going for.
Click the link that says LNO, and you'll see what I mean.
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Valentine Day is closer. My situation is that my wives stay in separate homes and I have to buy everything double. I was buying the other day two pairs of heart shaped plates and two pairs of heart shaped bowls and everything else two times. The guy behind me noticed that and made some positive comment (something like "I'll impress my partner"). I was not sure what he was thinking but I was hoping he doesn't think I am cheating (because I am not). It was a strange sensation to have the door to my closet a little bit open. I wish I could live my life openly. Anyway, how do you deal with Valentine's Day?
Views: 255
I often give candy to both of my partners.
You shouldnt worry about what strangers think. It might even be fun to find a way to mess with their heads a little bit.
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Entries which fail to observe the above will be removed and will not be eligible for the prize.
Monday, 19 March 2012
Week 45–Bingo
Monday, 5 March 2012
Week 44–Get in Shape!
Thank you to all that entered our last challenge White + 1, wow the entries were amazing! Apologies again for the problem with the linky, seems it was not behaving itself this week and if your entry was lost and you did not get a chance to enter we do hope you will try your luck again this week.
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This week our challenge is "Get in Shape" so we would like to see you use at least 3 different shapes on your project, and we have two amazing prizes up for grabs
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Friday, 2 March 2012
Current challenge linky lost


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G. Gordon Liddy: listening to Hitler "made me feel a strength inside I had never known before"
Research ››› ››› KATIE BARGE
Radio host and former Nixon administration official G. Gordon Liddy discussed environmentalism; how Adolf Hitler inspired Liddy in his youth; the Vietnam War; child-rearing; Watergate; and his 1994 advice to his listeners to shoot agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in an interview with columnist Johann Hari, published November 22 in the British newspaper The Independent. According to Hari, Liddy called environmentalists "fanatics" like Al Qaeda, claimed that the "official version of Watergate is as wrong as a Flat Earth Society pamphlet," and said that if U.S. policy during the Vietnam War was up to him he would have "drowned half the country and starved the other half." In discussing Hitler's personal influence upon him, Liddy said that "at assemblies where the national anthem is played, I must suppress the urge to snap out my right arm."
Following are excerpts, grouped by subject, from Hari's November 22 article, titled "G Gordon Liddy: Voice of unreason":
G. Gordon Liddy is vibrating with rage. "Environmentalism is a form of pagan fundamentalism. These green wackos are fanatics like al-Quaida. Just like them," he quivers. "Osama believes there are 72 virgins waiting for him. The environmentalist believes human beings cause global warming. They both want to wreak havoc because of their mad beliefs. What's the difference?" I am lying on a hotel bed in New York City listening to Liddy's radio show and trying to figure out how I can possibly interview this man in half an hour. "Why should we listen to these fulminating feminists, proselytizing poofters, the environmentally ill, these multilateralist UN one-world government worshippers and other politically correct castrati?" he is demanding. "Why?"
"Yes, there is such a thing as global warming," he admits. "And there is such a thing as global cooling too. They happen in great eons-long, periodic swings, and it has to do with the activity of the sun, not of humans." Really? You know better than 99 per cent of physicists and environmental scientists? "Environmentalists are like a guy who pisses into a river at bedtime and then blames himself for the flood the next day," he says mysteriously, before saying that we should embrace global warming as a Good Thing. "The effect of warming is to quintuple the yields of US crops and double our life expectancy! Bring it on!"
He boasts that he drives a massive SUV "which can carry three quarters of a ton, [has] 300-horsepower, and burns more gas than you could ever dream. If somebody in a little environmentally-friendly car crashes into me, it's all over. For him!" He also, for some reason, violently despises airbags, which he calls "killers." He brags he would like to "invite Ralph Nader over so I could serve him Spotted Owl Stew."
Hitler as an early political hero
The Fuhrer was G Gordon Liddy's first political hero. Liddy was a sickly, asthmatic child when he grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey, in the 1930s. The town was full of ethnic Germans who idolized Hitler. Liddy was made to salute the Stars and Stripes Nazi-style by the nuns at his school; even now, he admits, "at assemblies where the national anthem is played, I must suppress the urge to snap out my right arm." His beloved German nanny taught him that Hitler had -- through sheer will-power -- "dragged Germany from weakness to strength."
This gave Liddy hope "for the first time in my life" that he too could overcome weakness. When he listened to Hitler on the radio, it "made me feel a strength inside I had never known before," he explains. "Hitler's sheer animal confidence and power of will [entranced me]. He sent an electric current through my body." He describes seeing the Nazis' doomed technological marvel the Hindenberg flying over New Jersey as an almost religious experience. "Ecstatic, I drank in its colossal power and felt myself grow. Fear evaporated and in its place came a sense of personal might and power."
A-ha. So, Mr Liddy, do you feel that your early, formative love for Hitler shaped your political behavior later in life? "Oh, no," he says somberly. He renounces Hitler's war against the Jews as "evil" and flaunts his support for Israel's hard right as evidence he is not an anti-Semite. "It was part of my childhood, that's all," he says.
Really? That doesn't seem to match the historical record. In his autobiography, Liddy admits that, after reading the writings of the notorious anti-Semite Charles Lindbergh, Liddy decided to pick his wife on eugenic grounds. He held out for "a tall, fair, powerfully built Teuton." Isn't that behavior at the very least in the shadow of Hitler?" Of course not. Genetics is accepted by everyone." But a Teuton? My dictionary defines it as "descended from an ancient Germanic tribe. Often synonymous with Aryan." He waves his hand and says, "That's how we spoke then. This is political correctness."
Okay, so how about your fanatical Nietzschean emphasis on Will-power? He has written, "If any one component of man ought to be exercised, cultivated and strengthened above all others, it is the will; and that must have one objective -- to win." He used to take his kids to see Leni Reifenstahl's Nazi propaganda movie 'The Triumph of the Will.' When he was a kid himself, he went to insane ends to test his will-power. He stood in front of approaching trains, telling himself he would not die because "I am a machine too." During lightning storms, in order to demonstrate to himself to power of his will, he would climb onto tall trees and yell, "Kill me! Kill me!" He even trained himself to kill animals in anticipation of becoming a brutal soldier. He describes beheading chickens with glee: "I killed and killed and killed, and finally I could kill efficiently and without emotion or thought. I was satisfied; when it came my turn to go to war, I would be ready. I could kill as I could run -- like a machine."
While the Nixon administration was spraying tonnes of napalm and poison over Vietnam, he complained the policy was "too soft." He says now, "I wanted to bomb the Red River dykes [sic: dikes]. It would have drowned half the country and starved the other half. There would have been no way the Viet Cong could have operated if we had the will-power to do that."
But what about the millions of innocent people who would have been murdered? "Look at Dresden. Millions of people died there too." And it hits me: he just can't see them. They are un-people, specks of red dust on a distant map, obstacles to his Will. Their suffering is as irrelevant as that of the chickens he decapitated with such glee sixty years ago in New Jersey. "Once you start a war, you have to win," he continues. "Look at the time some of Julius Ceasar's emissaries were sent into Gaul, and they were killed by bandits. Caesar sent Roman troops to slaughter all the men who were left alive in Gaul. He sold all the women and children into slavery. From that point on, nobody touched a single one of Caesar's emissaries." I pause. Let me get this straight -- you are advocating the selling of women and children into slavery as US policy?
"No. What I'm saying is we had better embrace the horror of war. If you aren't tough, if you don't pull out all the stops, you lose." So all of the conventions created in the wake of the Second World War - the Geneva Conventions, the very concept of war crimes - these are all just polite fictions to be crumpled? "Of course. The Seventh Infantry Division in 1945 used to drive their tanks around with the heads of defeated Japanese solders displayed proudly on the front. That's what we need to train our present-day soldiers to be." Returning to Vietnam, he adds that the French -- the colonial power preceding the Americans -- succeeded in Vietnam because "they were using the Foreign Legion, then manned almost completely by veterans from the most disciplined, ruthlessly efficient practitioners of all-out warfare in history: the Waffen SS."
He is famous in the US as the most fiercely loyal of Richard Nixon's "plumbers", one of the agents sent to illegally burgle, drug and libel the President's internal opponents. "The war in Vietnam was fought on the streets of America too," he says. "It was lost here at home, by people who didn't have the Will to win. We had to get the people who wanted America to lose." Including killing columnists? "If they were traitors as Jack Andersen [sic: Anderson] was, directly helping the enemy, then yes."
And so we are back to Him, the dictator who hangs over Liddy's life like an old, angry ghost. Liddy's seems to believe -- as his childhood icon did -- that life is an eternal war against Absolute Enemies. There are no rules. There can be no restraint. Kill them or they kill you. This mindset is revealed neatly in the advice he gave to his children from the time they were toddlers. He told them to start fights or they would be beaten. When the kids' school explained that they had a strict non-violence policy, Liddy replied, "In the late 1930s French children were taught that philosophy while German kids were taught to be fierce in battle. Given the destruction of the numerically superior French armies by the Wehrmacht in about thirty days, I prefer the German approach. The school will just have to live with it."
Does he regret burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and setting in chain the resignation of a President?
A vein twitches angrily on one of his scales, but he replies in a level voice, "No." He has a bizarre revisionist take on Watergate that places the blame for the disaster entirely on another Nixon henchman called John Dean. "The official version of Watergate is as wrong as a Flat Earth Society pamphlet," Liddy says, referring me to a conspiracy-theory book called 'Silent Coup: Removal of a President' by Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin. Its thesis is stark. The Watergate burglars - including Liddy - believed they were breaking into the offices of the DNC to plant a bug so the Republicans could hear the election plans of George McGovern. They were duped. The book's authors claimed John Dean -- Liddy's immediate superior and the man who gave the orders to commit the burglary -- ordered the burglary for his own reasons, nothing to do with Nixon. The DNC had evidence that linked Dean's then-fiancee with a prostitution ring -- and Dean wanted it back. So -- hey presto! -- Nixon was innocent, and the victim of a wicked coup d'etat. Liddy has convinced himself he served five years in jail for nothing.
Advising listeners to shoot BATF agents
Liddy urges his listeners to show similar 'strength' in their own lives. He was condemned even by most of the American right in 1994 when he advised his listeners to deal with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (a strange, obsessive focus of hate on the American right) with "head shots, head shots ... Kill the sons of bitches ... Shoot twice to the belly and if the does not work, shoot to the groin area. Arm yourself. Get instructed in how to shoot straight. And don't register [your weapons] either." His caller replied, "And I'm aiming between their eyes." Liddy replied, "There you go. That way their flak jackets won't protect them."
Liddy's philosophy is a strange mixture of an anarchistic hatred of Government in the abstract and a cult-like worship of government when it is in the hands of the right. How can he be so fanatically patriotic yet believe in killing the agents of his democratically elected government? He claims he was only advocating the killing of agents if they illegally broke into somebody's home. "All I was doing is stating the US law," he says. "I never counseled anybody to shoot a BATF agent or anybody else who did not need shooting." His fans hear his clauses. For example, J.J. Johnson, the head of the far-right Georgia Republic Militia, welcomed Liddy's comments, disagreeing only about the head-shots. "With the right kind of ammunition, it doesn't matter where you hit 'em." After the Oklahoma bombing, many Hate Radio hosts toned down their statements. Liddy stepped them up: he declared that he used a cardboard cut-out of Hillary Clinton for target practice.
Liddy's radio show is syndicated by Westwood One Inc. According to his website, major stations on which The G. Gordon Liddy Show airs include: WWTN-FM, Nashville; KCAA-AM, Los Angeles; WALR-AM, Atlanta; WTNT-AM, Washington DC; WCBM-AM, Baltimore; WTAR-AM, Norfolk, VA; and WAPI-AM, Birmingham. All station affiliates nationwide that carry Liddy's show are listed here.
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Monday, October 31, 2016
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I work as a professional artist. I have had exhibitions in New York, Italy, Sweeden and Denmark. This blog is about my paintings and poetry and to tell a little about me and what inspire me as an artist. I hope the love and good energy wich I try to cach in my work, will reach out to each of you.


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"Downton Hall [in Downton, Shropshire], the seat of Sir William Rouse Boughton, Bart., to whom the whole property belongs, is a handsome mansion, approached by a beautiful avenue two miles in length, on a gradual ascent, from which the scenery is extensive, romantic, and mountainous, embracing the Titterstone and the Clee hills." [2]CITATION[CLOSE]
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
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Another Friday – and time to share the delicious recipes that made my to-try pile (or pin boards) this week. There are some really yummy ones today.
{Note: All images are from the original blogger; please pin the source!}
Blueberries & Cream Coffee Cake – Vanderbilt Wife brought this recipe to the Blueberry Ingredient Spotlight this week, doesn't it look incredible?! Now, we just need some overnight guests.
Rhubarb Ice Cream – Doesn't this look like the perfect summer dessert! I am so excited about this recipe from Authentic Suburban Gourmet. Yum.
Mexican Black Bean Pizza – She Wears Many Hats nearly had me at hello with this pizza. What's not to love about a delicious black bean pizza covered in tasty veggies?
Oatmeal Cinnamon Banana Cake – This reminds me of baked oatmeal, a breakfast we love. But, since it's a cake, I can serve it for dessert too! Diane has a fantastic recipe and I'm pretty sure I'd eat more than 1 piece in sitting. Shhhh. Don't tell.
Feel free to follow me on Pinterest to see more of my finds from this week!
If you were featured, feel free to grab the button below!
What did you find this week?
Please link up to a post containing your list of recipes to try -- do not link up individual recipes, or recipes that you've already made, your links will be deleted. Be sure to leave a link back here to Finding Joy in My Kitchen.


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Will buzz about Cruz end at birth?
Ted Cruz may have the aura of a future presidential contender, but is he even eligible to run?
The newly sworn-in Texas senator and rising Republican star was born in Canada, to a mother who was born in Delaware and Cuban father. That's triggered a debate about whether he's eligible for the nation's highest office — nevermind that he's been in Congress less than a week.
Story Continued Below
While there's no legal precedent for Cruz's situation, most constitutional scholars surveyed by POLITICO believe the 42-year-old tea party sensation would be OK. But there's just enough gray area to stoke controversy, as Cruz learned during his campaign for Senate last year.
( PHOTOS: The 12 newly elected senators)
The U.S. Constitution states: "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President…"
"The question ultimately is, What do we mean by a natural born citizen?" asked Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman.
"The problem is, no one knows what a natural born citizen is," agreed University of California, Davis law professor Gabriel Chin, who argued in 2008 that Sen. John McCain was not eligible to be president.
The discussion may seem premature: Cruz is still learning his way around the Senate, his first elected office. Yet his appeal to activist and establishment types — and his Latino roots in a party desperately seeking to expand its reach — make for a rare combination in the GOP.
And his arrival on the Washington scene hasn't exactly been unassuming: On Sunday, Cruz accused gun control advocates of exploiting the Connecticut school massacre and said Barack Obama's expected choice of former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense suggests the president is "high on reelection."
So, early or not, the Cruz-in-2016 speculation is under way.
( PHOTOS: 2016 Republican contenders)
Advisers to Cruz — a Harvard Law-educated appellate lawyer who has argued dozens of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and knows a thing or two about constitutional law — say that because his mother had U.S. citizenship at the time of his birth, it transferred to him on foreign soil.
"Ted is a U.S. citizen by birth, having been born in Calgary to an American-born mother," said Cruz spokesman Sean Rushton, who declined to elaborate on the matter, saying his boss is focused on his work ahead in the Senate.
Temple University law professor Peter Spiro said Cruz has a "very strong argument" that he is indeed natural born.
While the 14th Amendment to the Constitution grants citizenship to anyone born inside the U.S., children born to American citizens outside the country attain citizenship through a law passed by Congress, according to Spiro.


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Always give credit. Always indicate where sources of information in your paper came from. Giving credit to the source is what is meant by citing the source of information.
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Plagiarism Tutorial by San José State University.
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