{"id":28,"date":"2004-07-26T21:00:34","date_gmt":"2004-07-27T02:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=28"},"modified":"2006-01-13T18:07:52","modified_gmt":"2006-01-13T23:07:52","slug":"how-to-or-not-to-start-your-own-martial-arts-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moroha.net\/blog\/archives\/28","title":{"rendered":"How to (or not to) Start Your Own Martial Arts Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was going to just write this as a comment to my earlier post<\/a>, but there was a lot I wanted to say, so I’m just writing it as a new post. I mentioned how Oyata-sensei has had a problem with most of his students no longer being associatied with him. Here I will talk about three of his former students and compare\/contrast what they have done since.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Albert Geraldi has been associated with Oyata-sensei as long as anyone one has. Raul Perez, one of Geraldi-sensei’s students, said this in a comment to my former posting<\/a>:<\/p>\n

From what I have read and heard from his association he is\/was Oyata\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most senior student. He was an Okinawan full contact champion himself and one of the people who brought him back to the US. When Oyata\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s son died (not the one mentioned in your second post) he went back to Okinawa. Geraldi was one of the people responsible for convincing Oyata to come back to the US. Jim Logue and Albert Geraldi trained in the Manchiminato dojo together. But I believe Albert Geraldi was Oyata\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most senior student.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I heard pretty much the same thing about Geraldi-sensei when I was studying Ryu-Te. From what I heard, Geraldi-sensei is still on good terms with Oyata-sensei, he just wanted to do his own thing instead of being in Oyata-sensei’s organization. I can’t seem to find a website for Geraldi-sensei’s organization, which is called Zenkoku Ryukyu Kenpo Karate-Do Renmei (I assume that’s \u00e5\u2026\u00a8\u00e5\u203a\u00bd\u00e7\u0090\u2030\u00e7\u0090\u0192\u00e6\u2039\u00b3\u00e6\u00b3\u2022\u00e7\u00a9\u00ba\u00e6\u2030\u2039\u00e9\u0081\u201c\u00e9\u20ac\u00a3\u00e7\u203a\u0178, which is very similar to the old name of Oyata-sensei’s organization, which was Zenkoku Ryukyu Kenpo Karate Kobudo Rengokai \u00e5\u2026\u00a8\u00e5\u203a\u00bd\u00e7\u0090\u2030\u00e7\u0090\u0192\u00e6\u2039\u00b3\u00e6\u00b3\u2022\u00e7\u00a9\u00ba\u00e6\u2030\u2039\u00e5\u008f\u00a4\u00e6\u00ad\u00a6\u00e9\u0081\u201c\u00e9\u20ac\u00a3\u00e5\u0090\u02c6\u00e4\u00bc\u0161.) There is a website<\/a> for the Millenium Martial Arts Fitness Center, which is run by an Anthony Carnemolla, who seems to be one of Geraldi-sensei’s students. (Someone correct me if I’m wrong here.) <\/p>\n

Even though Geraldi-sensei is no longer directly associated with Oyata-sensei, he evidently gives Oyata-sensei full credit in training him in his diagram<\/a> of martial artists. Even without any bio\/resume on the web site, there is a lot of other information we can assert from it. On the page explaining the guiding principles<\/a> and the dojo kun<\/a>, I recognize the copy of both of them as the same copy that was in my own Ryu-te dojo. Also, both of them are signed \u00e8\u00a6\u00aa\u00e7\u201d\u00b0\u00e7\u0153\u0178\u00e6\u2030\u2039\u00e6\u00b3\u2022(Oyata Shin Shu Hou, the name for Oyata-sensei’s style and techniques that he developed himself and are only taught to students above shodan). Additionally, the English translations on both of these pages are the translations that Oyata-sensei himself has authorized as his official interpretation.<\/p>\n

Another nice thing I noticed from looking at the page is that Geraldi-sensei simply refers to himself as Kyoshi (\u00e6\u2022\u2122\u00e5\u00b8\u00ab, which simply means teacher) instead of something pretentious like ‘Professor’ (this one always cracks me up when martial artists use it) or even ‘Grand Master’. (I don’t care who you are, you are full of yourself when you call yourself by this title.)<\/p>\n

\n2<\/strong>. I mentioned in the earlier posting how Shiro Shintaku (\u00e6\u2013\u00b0\u00e5\u00ae\u2026\u00e5\u203a\u203a\u00e9\u0192\u017d) had been Oyata-sensei’s top student while I was studying Ryu Te<\/a>, but had a falling-out with him and they have now parted ways. I was wondering whether he was still in the States or had returned to Japan. The answer, or course, was only a google away. It seems that Mr. Shintaku is in Maryland and has started his own style, which he calls Tenshin Ichi Ryu<\/a>(\u00e5\u00a4\u00a9\u00e5\u00bf\u0192\u00e4\u00b8\u20ac\u00e6\u00b5\u0081).<\/p>\n

In the about page he starts explaining his history of training in martial arts like this:
\n(update:<\/strong> this quote is from July 26, 2004, when I originially posted this. The bio page on Ten Shin Ichi Ryu has changed. If you want to see the page I’m quoting from, the wayback link is here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Doshu’s martial arts training began in Japan during the early 60’s where he vigorously studied Goju Karate and language at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. In 1971 he came to the States to further his language studies and taught Karate at Berkley University in California, and then later at Anderson College in South Carolina. Returning to Japan in 1976, Doshu studied Aikido from Morihei Ueshiba’s 10th Dan – Hikitsuchi Sensei.<\/p>\n

Through this daily training experience with Hikitsuchi Sensei, Doshu learned of the deeper concepts of Aikido the founder had emphasized. It was also during this time he studied Iaido, Bojitsu, Kendo and Jujitsu.<\/p>\n

Doshu returned for the second time to the States, and after nine additional years of teaching in South Carolina, his quest for martial arts perfecton lead him to study karate and other weapons from an Okinawan karate master for approximately 9 years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nothing particularly noteworthy here. A martial artist that has trained several different styles throughout the years, puts what he’s learned together and founds his own school. Martial artists have been doing this for centuries, and that’s pretty much how all martial arts schools started. An important part of this is that you are able to trace back who you trained with in order to show your credibility. This is especially so in Japanese society, where a person’s academic history (what school they attended, etc.) is more important than what you actually know in many cases. But in martial arts you can still make a name for yourself, even if you don’t have great credentials, providing that you have outstanding technique. (Or at least are able to convince enough people that you have outstanding technique. More on this on the next person, George Dillman.)<\/p>\n

Where it gets interesting is in the fact that he fails to even mention Oyata-sensei’s name, even though he is eager to point out that his Aikido teacher was Hikitsuchi-sensei, one of O-sensei’s (Morihei Ueshiba) top students. Not to mention that Oyata-sensei has been deemed a “living national treasure” by the government of Okinawa for his contributions in preserving and teaching the Okinawan martial arts. You would think he would mention his name at least, wouldn’t you?<\/del><\/p>\n

So what is up with this? He was Oyata-sensei’s most trusted student for several years, in fact at the time, he was the only one of Oyata-sensei’s students authorized to teach Shin Shu Hou (\u00e7\u0153\u0178\u00e6\u2030\u2039\u00e6\u00b3\u2022). He trained with him for nine years, and he doesn’t even mention his name in his bio\/resume? I find that a little odd. It does lend credibility to the rumor that he parted ways with Oyata-sensei on less than friendly terms, though.
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