A Karate Story

by Seamus O'Dowd

  Kanazawa Sensei may have sensed my panic, because as Garry prepared to attack again he said, ‘OK, so today not so much time to teach everything, so we will skip number 4, and just demonstrate number 5.’ Phew! Garry and I exchanged a quick look of relief, and maybe a little grin, as we went ahead to finish the demonstration. We had a good laugh about that later, but we were worried at the time.

  During a break one of the senior black belts came over to introduce himself. His name was Jim Shea from SKIF-USA and he had seen some of my interviews in Shotokan Karate Magazine and wanted to meet me. This was the start of another great friendship, and it created the opportunity for me to attend some fantastic training in the USA over the following years.

  Later in the seminar Kanazawa Sensei wanted Nobuaki Sensei to demonstrate some of the more advanced partner work, the jiyu-ippon kumite, or semi-freestyle. I was asked to partner with Nobuaki Sensei. I was attacking, and he was demonstrating the various defences. We had done this a few times before already, so I was reasonably comfortable with it. I always liked partnering with Nobuaki Sensei.

  We demonstrated defences 1 to 5 as usual for each attack, which is what we normally did, and what I was used to. Then Kanazawa Sensei announced that we would now demonstrate defence number 6. Again, I panicked. I didn’t even know there was a number 6! What would I do? Then I remembered that I only had to attack, just as I had done for the first five defences. It was up to Nobuaki Sensei to perform the defence itself. Not knowing what was coming was liberating in a sense. There was no anticipation, and no holding back or protecting myself from the counter-attack in any way. I simply launched my strike with full speed and power.

  I didn’t even see him move. I felt the kick on my left cheek and only then saw his foot – on the way back down. Before I knew it, he was standing behind me. I was so impressed at the speed, control and movement that I involuntarily uttered the word ‘sweet’. All the students in front of me laughed. Fortunately for me, Kanazawa Sensei was behind me, and so now was Nobuaki Sensei, so they didn’t hear me and simply thought the students were showing appreciation for the technique. In a way, they were, but part of their appreciation for the technique came from seeing my reaction to being on the receiving end of it.

  After the weekend seminar in London it was time to travel to Stirling for Nobuaki Sensei’s seminar there. Sensei Ray, Garry and I took a flight to Edinburgh, and were collected at the airport by one of the locals. We stayed that night in Edinburgh, and then travelled to Stirling the following day.

  We had a great time in Scotland. In fact, the whole trip was simply fun. For example, in Stirling we stayed in a B&B where we shared a room with three single beds. When we went to bed one night, we were still talking and joking so late in the night that we thought the landlady would come in and scold us like naughty children. Fortunately she didn’t and we eventually turned out the lights and settled down. Suddenly, Sensei Ray started chuckling to himself again. When we asked him what was so funny now, he replied, ‘Ye are too quiet!’ and we all started laughing all over again. It was just a silly moment, but it captured the tone of the whole trip.

  Nobuaki Sensei was pleased that we made the effort to go to Scotland to train with him. He had taken a train to Blackpool from London. He had taught in Blackpool on the Monday evening, and then travelled to Stirling from there. We told him that if we had known his schedule, we would have travelled with him on the train.

  It dawned on me that travelling karate instructors have a difficult life. Their schedule is set by others, both on and off the dojo floor. Where, when and how they travel is usually organised by someone else. The host dojo or organisation sets the training schedule, and sometimes even tells the instructor what they want them to teach. Even where, when and what they eat is often selected by the hosts. I am not saying that it is all bad: of course they are well looked after and are shown a great deal of respect. But a travelling sensei is always working to someone else’s schedule, and is certainly not his or her own boss.

  I was talking to a famous instructor about this once, who agreed, saying that it could be difficult, what with long flights, jetlag and living for weeks out of a suitcase also being things that people sometimes don’t think about. But then he said that the most difficult part was being away from his family so much. He told me that there were times when his children would cry as he left to do an international tour because they knew he would be away for several weeks again, and that he was often in tears when leaving. Being away from home for several weeks at a time – and several times per year – is difficult, no matter how well an instructor is looked after where they go. More and more, I appreciate the sacrifice these professional instructors make to help spread the benefits of karate to those who wish to learn from them.

  33. VALDOSTA

  In 2004 my company set up an office in the USA, based in a small university town in Georgia, called Valdosta. I really liked it there. The people were friendly and helpful, and it had a good community feel. I tried to visit two or three times a year and looked around for a karate club each time I was in Valdosta, but at first I couldn’t find any. Then, a couple of years later, one of the staff said there was a guy teaching karate at the university who was a professor in the Physical Education faculty there. I made contact, and was invited to go and meet him.

  Professor Waggener had an unusual first name: Green. And his middle initial was T. The irony was lost on no-one. He told me he liked to be called Tee. Sensei Tee was a 4th Dan in the JKA at the time I met him (he graded to 5th Dan later), under the guidance of Mikami Sensei, based in New Orleans. His wife was Japanese, and she was also a black belt.

  I was readily given permission to come and train with them. Sensei Tee kept apologising that their group was mostly made up of university students, many of whom were beginners, but I told him I just wanted somewhere to train, so I didn’t care. Actually, there were a few other black belts that used to come along for training too, so we usually had an hour of basic training for the low grades, and then another hour of advanced training for the black belts.

  Sensei Tee and I became good friends over the next few years. He often asked me to teach part of the class when I was around, or he would teach a kata and then ask me to show the differences in the SKIF way to do the same kata. He showed me around the university Phys. Ed. labs, and told me about the research they were doing on power generation in the body. He was very interested in the Bo-Jutsu work I was doing with SKIF, and I was often asked to teach. Sensei Tee even gave me a gift of a jo (a short staff) that he had hand-carved out of purpleheart wood. It is one of my favourite weapons.

  On one of my visits Sensei Tee told me that Mikami Sensei would be visiting Valdosta for a weekend seminar the following year. I decided to make sure that I was in town for Mikami Sensei’s visit, as I was keen to meet him. I also asked Sensei Tee if we could get permission for me to interview him for Shotokan Karate Magazine. Permission granted, I booked my trip and prepared for a good weekend in the company of another of the original JKA masters.

  We collected Mikami Sensei from Jacksonville, Florida, on the Friday evening. He had been travelling most of the day, having taken two flights to get that far. He was hungry, so we took him straight to dinner, which a local karate instructor with us had booked. After I was introduced to Mikami Sensei he quizzed me intensively about my background and my training with Kanazawa Sensei. I felt like I was the one being interviewed, but I figured he just wanted to be comfortable with me before he opened up.

  I was right. By the time we had started the main course at dinner he turned to me and told me I could start the interview. I took out my notes, turned on the recorder, and started what turned out to be the longest interview I had ever done. We talked through dinner that evening, and then through the entire two-hour drive back to Valdosta. Mikami Sensei and I were staying at the same hotel in Valdosta, so we met for breakfast and continued the interview there. During the training he made some interesting points as well, so I to
ok notes after each class to include these in the interview. We talked between classes, and we sat and talked together at every meal.

  I apologised to Sensei Tee that I was taking all of Mikami Sensei’s attention, but Sensei Tee told me that he was delighted because he was hearing new stories and opinions from Mikami Sensei, and that this was a great opportunity to get him to really open up about many topics.

  We talked about his training while Funakoshi Sensei was still alive. We talked about the famous final fight between himself and Kanazawa Sensei at the All-Japan Championships. We talked about some of the pranks and practical jokes they played as trainee instructors, including one time when they put a snake in Nakayama Sensei’s bed because he was afraid of snakes! We talked about his relationship with Nakayama Sensei and other great masters. We talked about his move to the USA, and how he survived, then built his organisation there, and the more recent struggles after Hurricane Katrina decimated his adopted home of New Orleans. We talked about some of his controversial opinions on sport karate, other organisations and the openness (or lack of openness) at the JKA. And we talked about a great many other things besides.

  I also really enjoyed the training. Mikami Sensei was not a young man, so he didn’t do a lot of demonstrating. He gave instructions, and detailed explanations of what he was looking for. It was a very good, technical seminar. But the most memorable part was speaking with him so much, and gaining some real insights into the history of the JKA and his opinions and insights into karate.

  The average length of any interview I had done previously was around 3,500 words. When I finally typed up all the notes and recordings and put it all together, this one was over 9,000 words long! It ended up being split into two separate interviews, both of which were published in Shotokan Karate Magazine.

  34. 2007 – DERRICK’S FUNERAL

  It was June 2007 when I happened to go to my office one Sunday evening and found several missed calls from Sensei Stan on my voicemail. Sensei Stan was now living in Australia, and it was unusual for him to call me at the weekend. There was also an email from him. I knew before I read it that something was wrong.

  The email was brief and urgent. Sensei Stan had just been told that Sensei Derrick Geyer had died suddenly, and that he was on his way to the airport to fly to South Africa. Sensei Keith, Derrick’s brother, was travelling with him. I was stunned. Sensei Derrick was a great karate-ka, and as solid as a rock. When I had seen him last he was full of life and mischief. I hated and loved partnering with him at the same time. He was a good friend. I tried to ring Sensei Stan’s house, but he had already left for the airport. I then tried to ring Sensei Dave Friend in South Africa but again I got no reply. I had to go home and wait until the next day to find out what happened.

  When I spoke to Sensei Dave the next morning he told me that there had been a terrible tragedy and that not only had Sensei Derrick died, but also Sensei Gordon Royffe, who was a little younger than me, and with whom I had sparred on a number of occasions. I felt sick as I listened to the details of the car accident that ended their lives so suddenly. I told Sensei Dave that I was booking a flight immediately, and would be on a plane the following day. He told me that Sensei Gordon’s funeral would be on the Wednesday. He offered to collect me at the airport and invited me to stay with him.

  The following day I flew from Dublin to London Heathrow, and from there directly to Johannesburg. True to his word, Sensei Dave was there to meet me, but unfortunately my luggage didn’t arrive. The airline assured me that it would be there the following day. But the luggage didn’t arrive in time for the funeral, so I had to borrow a suit from Sensei Dave’s son. When we arrived at the church there was a large crowd from SA-JKA, as would be expected. They were all wearing their blazers and ties, and it was an impressive sight. I was surprised that so many people remembered me: after all, I had not been there for five years, and it was ten years since I made my first trip. Yet they treated me like I trained with them every week, and made me feel like part of their grieving family.

  Sensei Stan asked me to sit with him in church. The service was in the traditional Africaans language, but Sensei Stan translated for me throughout. It was a very sombre affair. Sensei Gordon had a wife and young family. It was all very sad.

  My luggage arrived in time for Sensei Derrick’s funeral, so I was able to wear my own suit. This funeral was even bigger than the one for Sensei Gordon. It was held a couple of days later, and people had travelled from all over the world to be there – from Australia, Europe and the USA – to pay their respects to a man who had helped set the standard for hard training in South Africa. I often had said before that Sensei Keith was the toughest man I had ever faced in the dojo, but Sensei Derrick was the hardest. Where Sensei Keith gave the impression that you could hurt him as much as you liked, but he wouldn’t care, Sensei Derrick simply gave the impression that he couldn’t be hurt. His arms were like iron bars, and his eyes were like cold steel.

  Sensei Keith was naturally devastated at the loss of his brother. They had a very close relationship, even after Sensei Keith had moved to Australia. Everyone wanted to spend time with him to pay their respects, so I just kept in the background to allow him be surrounded by those closest to him. Later in the day Sensei Keith came over to me and we spent some time just talking, like old friends.

  Sensei Stan and I went to his house after the funeral. As an outsider, it was interesting for me to see that, even so soon after the funeral, some people were already starting the political manoeuvres to try to get Sensei Stan’s blessing to take over from Sensei Derrick’s position of chief instructor, which he had held since Sensei Stan moved to Australia. Several people called to the house that afternoon to have a private word with Sensei Stan in order to ‘pitch’ for the position. I was surprised firstly at how many people felt that they were the best person to take on such a role, and secondly at the insensitivity of the timing of their canvassing. I was also interested to note that none of the most senior people in the organisation were among the ‘candidates’. I mentioned my thoughts on this to Sensei Stan. To lighten the mood, we made a joke about it. We decided that Garry Cashman would be the best man for the job, so we rang and asked him if he would like to be chief instructor of SA-JKA. Garry accepted immediately, in the spirit of the mood, and we all had a good laugh.

  The Honbu Dojo was closed for the week out of respect. Although we did not train together while I was in South Africa, I spent a lot of time with Sensei Stan. It was good to just talk and be together. I was staying at Sensei Dave’s house, and he has his own dojo there. I got up early some mornings and went into the dojo by myself. Each morning I took a couple of minutes just to sit on the dojo floor, contemplating the events of the week and trying to make sense of a senseless, tragic, situation. Then, I would train as hard as I could. It is funny how we can close a dojo and not hold any training, or we can train very hard, and both are perfectly appropriate ways to show respect for the passing of a karate-ka.

  I stayed for a few more days after the funeral, attending classes at Sensei Dave’s dojo before I left. It felt good, and right, to be getting back to training. Sensei Dave even asked me to teach a class, which the students seemed to enjoy.

  A few years later I was having a conversation with Murakami Sensei in the USA, and he told me that he had meant to tell me before that both he and Kanazawa Sensei were glad that I had gone to those funerals, because it was good that SKIF was represented at them. They knew and respected Sensei Derrick also.

  35. USA

  Speaking of being in the USA with Murakami Sensei, Brendan transferred to his company headquarters in Boston, so he and his family moved there for three years. Although there are SKIF dojos in Boston, none of them were close enough to be convenient for him to attend on a regular basis, so he ended up joining a Shorin-Ryu dojo instead.

  That is one of the things I respect about Brendan: whenever he has moved to a different area, he simply has tried to find the best martial arts tr
aining in that area and learn from that, rather than insisting on ‘Shotokan or nothing’. I am certain that many others, possibly myself included, would have just stopped training when there was no Shotokan available. Brendan trained as a white belt in that dojo for over a year (another quality I like in him: he has little or no ego), before they promoted him to brown belt, and eventually he earned his black belt in their style before he returned to Ireland.

  I knew that Kanazawa Sensei regularly visited the area to teach seminars, so I gave Brendan the contact details of Sensei Jim Shea, who has a dojo in Boston. Brendan was invited to go and train on a seminar with Kanazawa Sensei in Rochester, New Hampshire. He got on well there, and they made him very welcome. I decided that I should make the effort to attend the next one. Murakami Sensei was scheduled to teach the next seminar in Rochester, so I arranged a work visit to my office in Valdosta beforehand, and then flew to Boston from there. Brendan collected me and we travelled to the seminar together.

  The seminar was jointly hosted by Sensei Jim Shea of Boston, Sensei Mike Cook of Maine and the local instructor, Sensei Steve Warren. They are great guys, and we got on very well from the start. Murakami Sensei kindly agreed to allow me interview him on that trip, so he and I sat and chatted for a couple of hours in his hotel room. Brendan and Sensei Jim were there also, and we were all enthralled with the stories that Murakami Sensei told us. After we finished the interview, Murakami Sensei took out some cheese and drink that he had been given at his previous location and said, ‘Now we can relax and just talk. We don’t get to see each other so often, so it is nice to catch up.’ (It was during this conversation that we talked about my trip to South Africa to attend the funeral.)