“If we look at Uechi dojos across the globe, there are many organisations with some very talented instructors/coaches. If we stood all these side by side and watched their kata, they would all be recognisable as we would expect, but closer viewing shows us some minor nuances influenced by the individual’s journey of exploration of their martial art, whether it be from cross-training or from research. The IUKF embraces this and, through seminars, encourages the sharing of ideas. Uechi by rote is where they want to be; others will want to explore connections and objectivity none of these should stop an association or federation from growing.
Influences on our preferred art also come from outside the dojo; for example, many of us are business professionals, and we will be aware of the 5 whys, which is an iterative interrogative technique used to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem. The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root cause of a defect or problem by repeating the question “Why?”. Each answer forms the basis of the next question. The “five” in the name derives from an anecdotal observation on the number of iterations needed to resolve the problem.
Not all problems have a single root cause. If one wishes to uncover multiple root causes, the method must be repeated asking a different sequence of questions each time.
The method provides no hard and fast rules about what lines of questions to explore or how long to continue the search for additional root causes. Thus, even when the method is closely followed, the outcome still depends upon the knowledge and persistence of the people involved.
An example of analysing a kata
Why? – do we do the kata this way. (First why)
Why? – does this move show a technique one way in kata but different in bunkai
Why? – do we do the same move in different directions
Why? – don’t we look at the relationship between kata and Bunkai
Why? – is my kata not effective
I would wager that we do this unconsciously, and many simply view this as ‘My take on it.’ In my opinion, this is the key to the enjoyment and usefulness of seminars, where we can explore our own training against an alternative view.
I really appreciated your email to the rest of the Uechi Ryu community and me. Your comments represent what it takes to lead an organization such as IUKF.
Your words, comments, perspective, and thoughts represent for me what I have been thinking all through my martial arts training. First, my 50 years in Isshin ryu and my five years in Uechi ryu. For myself, I train both styles as pure to my original teachings as possible. I have, however, moved on to incorporate all things learned into my own personal style that is designed only for myself. My slight build is suitable to Ip Kai Man’s Wing Chung’s style. I have also undertaken to teach myself these forms to incorporate into my own personal style.
There are other thoughts. One major thought is that of: If I am a high-ranking individual, should this play any part in whether or not I could defeat a superior opponent? There will always be someone better than oneself. Our ranks and defeating an opponent, for myself, are of two different dimensions. I train for my higher rank, and I also train in my own personal style to fight a superior opponent. They, of course, both merge into what I call “Heaven and Earth.” This is my own personal style. A balance of the Tao and all things learned and given to us by heaven and earth. There are other thoughts, but the above thought surmises what your thoughts brought out from my inner thoughts.
Please continue in your writings to us as all things lead us to our own personal balance between Heaven and Earth.
Kind Regards, John Blacha Okinawan Academy of Martial Arts Waterford, Michigan Krakow, Poland”
This is a message to all IUKF dojos and its members. The IUKF is doing great, and membership is growing by the day. I want to reiterate that the IUKF is a supportive organization for all Uechi-Ryu dojos throughout the world. We encourage all practitioners to train and develop the art to their individual needs and benefit as we understand that all practitioners are not the same.
We are not hindered with tunnel vision and mandate that each of us need to be a carbon copy of one another. I will not dictate to anyone how they should train or make demands on changes. After 60 plus years of continuous training, I do not know everything. I welcome ingenuity and fresher, younger, smarter minds with hopes to learn more from everyone’s individualism.
All our IUKF masters have much-accumulated expertise and are willing to share within our IUKF Family. Whatever they share can be included in your training or remain stored knowledge. Your early training should always conform to the direction of your chosen sensei. However, we are not duplicates of one another with nothing to enhance our training. We do not meet at dinners to tell each other how great we are and promote everyone to ridiculous high ranks with little to show other than a mouth full of food and a pat on the back.
Personally, I believe that during our formative years in training, we should all learn “root” Uechi-Ryu. That is the movement and understanding deriving from the many diverse teachers in Okinawa. As we grow and if we mature as individuals, our training should have molded us. If we indulge in other martial arts systems, they too become an intrinsic part of who we are.
Please realize martial arts is not a hand tool to be picked up and used if we choose to. With proper, continuous training, movements become instinctive and a part of who you are. However, improper training, a lack of training, or bad muscle memory could be detrimental and completely useless to you.
Your art will excel as your Uechi-Ryu movements conform to your individual body, adapting to size, speed, and comfort of motion. That is why continuous training is paramount as we physically and mentally change from moment to moment.
Many feel change is not good. Many would say if you do not train as I do, you are corrupting the system. If that was true, why would we invite other masters to teach in our dojos? Why are we paying money just to have another sensei come to our dojo and repeat what we are already teaching? Or are we welcoming new ideas and more concepts? Are we beyond learning anything different and new? Are we afraid of the fact there could be something more sensible and practical than what we are presently teaching?
Let’s examine the fact that Leung Tak Wing was Chan Wah Shun’s Wing Chung teacher. Chan Wah Shun added many adaptations to Wing Chung, which he learned. Chan Wah Shun was Ip Kai Man’s teacher. Ip Kai Man not only created many adaptations, but he also rearranged the complete form and sequences. Ip Kai Man was Lei Sill Lung (Bruce Lee’s) teacher. Bruce Lee added so much more to the Wing Chung system, including many high kicks, which was not very prevalent in Southern Kung-Fu.
One of the original Kung Fu systems was White Crane. Practiced by the Shaolin Monks and developed by a woman named Fang Qiniang. She morphed this style from a Neanderthal practice of hard robotic movements to a more universal smooth, flowing system fitting all possible practitioners. The evolution did not stop there. There are now 5 major systems of White Crane depending on the needs of the practitioner. These 5 are Sleeping, Crying, Eating, Flying, and Shaking Crane. They each have their own nuances to fit the individual practitioner.
Please understand one method is not better than the other. They are just slightly different to fit the individual needs of the practitioner.
The IUKF supports all our dojos and each individual practitioner. I will never insist anyone train my way or use our Uechi-Ryu movements as I use them.
I have and will always encourage you to be the best you can be and train in whatever way you choose. I will never stop sharing knowledge and new discoveries in the martial art world which I encounter. I believe in training with no restrictions or mandates.
Train diligently and always strive to be the best that you can be. If I can be of assistance for your training in any way, please let me know, and I will try to be there to support you regardless of organizational lines.
Let’s be very scientific and logical regarding our understanding of the differences between our “hard” and “soft” training. There are distinct differences, and it’s about time all our Uechi-Ryu practitioners follow science rather than a religion like “blind belief.” I hear many references to the soft aspect of training: breathing, spiritual, soul refinement, meditation, and a host of philosophical, non-sensible bedtime stories.
Why can’t soft Uechi-Ryu be just that? Why can’t we just understand that there are hard ways of delivering effective movements and a similar soft way of doing the same? Why can’t we differentiate between what movements are soft and what movements are hard? It is so simple to see and as clear as night and day.
After all these years of training in a system originally called “hard and soft,” most of us look like Neanderthals beating each other on the head with clubs. Even they look more educated in soft as their swing looks less rigid than most of our katas. I’ve heard people say, “the harder and more rigid you are, the better your kata.” Are you kidding me? How do you fight while being that rigid?
One of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard is kata is kata and not fighting. If our kata is not fighting, why do we practice kata? Isn’t karate a fighting art? Does kata not teach us the techniques within our style and how to use them? If katas are not actual fighting techniques, why are we trying to develop muscle memories we can’t use while fighting?
I’m also told our movements in kata are neutral movements providing options to be used in many different ways as needed if we are engaged in fighting. That says to me, these people are not fighters and haven’t practiced a lot of fighting. Please realize fighting is not methodical, and each step is planned. Let’s not confuse actual fighting with yakasuko, where every attack and defensive reaction are orchestrated. Fighting is instinctual and reactional. Your expected scenarios will change in a nanosecond, and you’ll have no idea what to do except getting ice for your black eye and paper towels for your bloody nose.
If you need to think about what to do when someone is attacking you, consider yourself beaten. When someone is throwing a punch or a kick, and you are there scratching your head deciding what to do from your neutral muscle memories, you don’t belong in that situation. If you need to think about what to do every time you have an altercation, you must get beaten up a lot.
In a real scrimmage, you need to stay fluid. Allow yourself the ability to attack at every opportunity quickly or to softly and quickly step out of reach of your attacker if necessary. That is some of the most important aspects of being soft, speed and agility.
Please do not misunderstand the value I place in soft to discredit the hard aspect of martial arts. Regardless of how soft we want to be, there will always be a presence and a degree of hardness in everything we do. Just as when we try to remain as hard as a rock, we need to soften a little just to move. Has anyone ever seen a statue throw a punch? The majority of us perform our katas as if we are statues.
Let’s get to the more scientific idea of hard and soft movements. The entire study of karate as a science is to understand how our body will generate the greatest and most effective force during combat. As we’ve learned in grade school, force is mass times acceleration (F = m x a). A more complicated formula
Is FNet = Fa + Fg + Ff + FN. Net force is when a body is in motion and other forces are involved like gravitational force Fg, frictional force Ff, and the normal force. This applies to both hard and soft techniques.
Let’s first discuss the use of hard, which we all prescribe. Hard techniques require more mass. It is the mass behind our projected weapons, be it our hands, our feet, or whatever we choose to use to hit. That is why linear (straight motions) are usually hard techniques. The less circular our movements, the more we can retain our body’s mass behind the strike.
Remember FN, which is normal force, can only be obtained by allowing ourselves a certain degree of softness to accelerate our weapons to achieve maximum force. Retaining your extreme tightness can only slow your acceleration which reduces your ability for maximized force. Please be mindful your mass is constant. To maximize force, your only option is to loosen up and increase your acceleration.
I would also like to mention another teaching we’ve received that doesn’t make much sense. This idea that our body needs to be perfectly square to the front as we punch, kick, and block. What are the benefits of that? What do we gain if our body is not engaged as a part of our entire fighting machine? How do we develop muscle memory elements like timing, balancing, anchoring, speed, and fluency if all aspects are not engaged together?
The benefits of a rotation are so overwhelmingly obvious to a student who follows science with an open mind. Most important of all, this rotation allows the inclusion of our mass to be injected into the force of the attack. This rotation also allows us to retain our upright posture as we strike. Has anyone noticed our current Uechi-Ryu students performing kata and demonstrating this slight body bounce and leaning in the direction of their strike? Take a close look. You’ll see many of our masters rank still doing that. There is little mass being used, and we are leaning forwards off balance. Is that good karate? Is this what we are teaching our students? Do you really believe this training is better than a slight rotation, including more mass for power, more speed for power, and better balance?
I will now address my understanding of our soft aspect of Uechi-Ryu. The power of soft in China is referred to as “ging.” Ging is the force you are delivering while hitting soft and quick. That is the entire premise of Yang Tai-Chi. If we hit someone with a stick, we will leave a bruise. If we tie a rock on a soft rope and spin that rock in a circular motion and contact our opponent, we will break his skin, causing much external and internal damage. That is only one example of softness.
While engaged in a fight, and we remain hard and unmoved, getting hit due to our lack of movement or our inability to move, neither one walks away unscathed. We are conditioned on getting hit, so we can say, “this didn’t hurt.” Maybe mentally you’ve conditioned yourself to believe you can take this bruising. However, your body, with its black and blues marks, says differently. You’re still bleeding internally, and that is never “good.” If you’ve developed an understanding and use of being soft and fast, you may be able to avoid much of these damaging contacts.
Soft movements are more sophisticated and skillful, as it requires timing and positioning. As soft techniques use less mass, they will require more speed. We need to determine which Uechi-Ryu movements have less mass support. I would suggest we consider our circular movements. Circular movements (like that rock on a string) comes around quicker and have a better chance of hitting their mark. Remember, speed is what gives soft techniques its force; we need to soften up to generate more speed.
While I work with people during kata, I’ve always asked everyone to feel their movements and feel the power they can generate with their movements. That is how you can understand and learn how to work with your body to gain strength and speed in your movements. Your body needs to connect with every moving part and feel the flow and the ease of movement. If your body moves rigidly and not working cohesively together, you are restricting and fighting yourself. You’ll never reach or recognize your full potential.
When and if we become masters, what are we mastering? Are we mastering the movements? After 11 to 15 years of training, we should have learned every movement and technique in the system. Why is there such importance in “time in grade”?
Time in Grade offers us the development of our minds and bodies to the many movements and options to the many techniques we’ve learned these formative years. The time in training during each of the master ranks helps develop and heighten our physical and mental attachment to our movements. Every one of our movements, while continuously training, becomes more uniquely part of who we are.
Those who rush to promotion and speedy advancements only demonstrate their lack of interest in the honor and respect for the arts. It certainly detracts from their mind, body, and spirit.
How are we masters of an art rooted in understanding “HARD” and “SOFT” when all anyone sees is hard?
Happy July to all; I hope that summer has been most pleasant for everyone!
Thank you to Sensei David Mott
The IUKF would like to this update by thanking Sensei David Mott, now retired, for all his years of service to our organization. Sensei Mott has traveled extensively throughout Canada to teach and educate Canadians on honor, respect, and dedication to our art.
Sensei Mott has instilled in his students and associates the importance of learning and forwarding the art that we’ve invested many years of our lives to train and study. He has honored the belief that our belts should honestly signify our steadfast training and accomplishments, that we should not give belts, wear them to impress others, or use them to pat your ego.
The IUKF invites every Uechi-Ryu dojo to continue with the IUKF, where we honor, respect, and protect the sanctity of our art and the ranking which follows steadfast guidelines. All IUKF members can wear our belts with pride, knowing we have earned them and not offered them as a signing bonus.
Please contact Sensei Dan Maestas email dmaestas@hotmail.com to inquire about listing your dojo.
Belt Certificates
The IUKF realizes you’ve worked diligently for many years to earn your belt legitimately. The IUKF will no longer require a fee for your certificate as you’ve earned it through your dedication and hard work. However, there is a small administration fee of $100 USD, which includes the printing, mailing, listing, and other costs associated with delivering your certificate to you.
Additionally, the IUKF will send you an autographed copy of Sensei George Mattson’s Black Belt Test Guild free of charge, which we strongly encourage dojos to follow to maintain quality students. The IUKF will also arrange for a promotion board for each individual dojo with international, master ranking board members.
Master Rank Testing
All testing from Shodan to Godan will be individual dojo testing. All master testing will be through an international IUKF master board. You will be tested as a master should; the IUKF will not give you a master rank just to join our organization. Masters are required to know and be capable of performing all our Uechi-Ryu katas, followed by a demonstration of their personal interpretation of our movements. One needs to prove they’ve mastered the system of Uechi-Ryu.
Winter Fest
The IUKF will also pay the attendance fee for all IUKF dojo owners attending Winter Fest, where you will meet, learn, and exchange the many fantastic and different ideas from all over the world. Winter Fest 2022 will include masters from the UK, Germany, France, Cuba, Brazil, Bermuda, and Argentina. Hopefully, Canada can be included in that list. There will be attendees from throughout the USA. People from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Colorado, New Mexico, Kentucky, Mississippi, California, Alaska, Hawaii, and most unquestionably, Florida.
Also, be informed, all IUKF members are welcome to work out in any IUKF affiliated dojo at no charge throughout the world. Please do not hesitate to contact me regarding any matter concerning the IUKF. I will be happy to hear from you.
