On October 24th, Steve Vosa’s dojo in Albuquerque, New Mexico hosted Sensei Darin Yee to share his Uechi Ryu concepts with various Kung Fu interpretations with students. Sensei Yee had the opportunity to workout with IUKF members, Mia and Trevor Parker, along with our gracious host Steve Vosa.
At the seminar, attendees participated in drills and discussions from Sensei Darin Yee. Darin Yee would like to thank Steve Vosa’s students for their gracious hospitality and the opportunity to share these concepts.
Sensei Darin Yee wanted to share a few words on the seminar, please read below:
“I appreciate the fact
Mia and Trevor traveled a great distance with a large number of students and
stayed in hotels to participate in my multiday seminars.
Trevor and Mia were also
accompanied by a few junior students who’d appeared to have had an excellent
time.
Although Sensei Steve Vosa was extremity busy with personal matters, Sensei Steve Vosa was most hospitable. Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to repeat my visit when Sensei Steve Vosa can extend my stay with more intense workouts.”
On Saturday, March 14, and Sunday, March 15, from 9 am to 6 pm a seminar will be held at the Kanshukai dojo with Sensei Luiz Monteiro. All Uechi-Ryu students are welcome to attend.
These seminars will feature IUKF Grandmaster, Sensei George Mattson, teaching Uechi Ryu principles and IUKF president, Sensei Darin Yee, also a master of several kungfu systems teaching Chinese understandings and usage for our Uechi Ryu movements.
Sensei Mattson and Sensei Yee will be there several days after the seminars. They will be available to work with individuals or groups. Arrangements with either sensei are required.
The cost of these seminars is $60 Brazil currency or approximately $15 US.
(Please note that this message was translated and may not be 100% accurate!)
On Friday, March 13, SenseiCecilia Salbuchi traveled to Brazil to represent Uechi Ryu IUKF on the occasion of the seminar that SenseiGeorge E. Mattson (10th Dan) and Darin Yee (9th Dan) were going to offer that weekend. Abruptly the event had to change its organization due to the expansion of the coronavirus in America. That same week, with very little notice, the senseis from the United States had to suspend their trips on medical advice first and because the airlines began to suspend their flights.
Because Argentina and Brazil continued with their open borders within South America, the event could be held with only the delegations of Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Buenos Aires. Attentive to the provisions of the government of that country, no training was carried out in closed dojos, only in open spaces (courts and public parks) and the recommended hygiene measures were adopted.
SenseiSalbuchi shared exercises and concepts that were demonstrated in the previous WinterFest in the USA where she had traveled on several occasions, in order to be faithful as possible to the style that characterizes IUKF. In the general seminar on Sunday the importance of practicing Sanchin was discussed to strengthen the body correctly, without doing harm and at all times helping the practitioner to overcome their own limits. They carried out practical exercises of pressure on the practitioner who executes Sanchin, with the focus placed on achieving a strong skeletal-muscular structure and the rooting-based balance that characterizes this kata.
Then we worked on different levels of bunkai of the Kata Kanshiwa, stressing the importance of the black belt always having a different training from the colored belts, so we exercised a level of analysis in the way we call bunkai Ura or Tori Te. At the end of the seminar, some varied endings of Yakusoku Kyu Kumite were seen and various ideas were discussed around it.
Representatives of dojos from different locations within Brazil were present at this seminar, as well as Sensei José Vieira, President of the Federação De Karatê Dos Estilos Okinawanos – FKEO, who was very satisfied with the holding of the event despite the vicissitudes of public knowledge.
The rest of the classes that were held were attended by the brand new IUKF representatives in Brazil: Senseis Luiz Monteiro, André Tavares, Paulo Monteiro, and Wesley Almeida. We had the opportunity to review concepts, train all the katas of the style and enrich each other by sharing Danish training methods. Each of these teachers has knowledge that makes them unique and valuable, and that they shared with humility and generosity with their Argentine counterpart.
We also have videos that Sensei George Mattson sent us sharing some of the material they offered at the Winterfestheld a week before this event, as well as videos sent by Sensei Darin Yee about their notions of the soft side of our style.
From Argentina, as representatives of IUKF and also of FAKKO, we appreciate the hospitality and warmth with which the representatives of IUKF Brazil and FKEO received us.
We wanted to share with you this message of thanks from Whidbey Island, where Darin Yee oversaw the black belt testing and taught a fantastic seminar.
“Hi Mr. Yee, We met while you were visiting in Washington during the Black Belt Test at the winery. We just wanted to thank you so very much for teaching my wife and I, before the test and before the seminar. We deeply regretted not being able to stay for the seminar, but we are both very grateful for the wisdom you shared with us while we were there. It gave both of us a new way to look at the thing we do and opened a door to a better way of thinking about the things we do. We just wanted you to know how much we appreciated the time you took and the knowledge you shared.
