On January 15, 1956, Tatsuo holds a
meeting and names his style of karate Isshin-ryu karate. Eiko Kaneshi his
right hand man said, "Why Isshin-ryu, why such a funny name," and Tatsuo
replied, "Because all things begin with one."
Much of what most Americans know
about Sensei Shimabuku has been passed down to them by those who studied
with him on Okinawa. Most of these Americans were marines with a few Navy,
Army and one Air Force serviceman. The majority of them studied on one tour
of duty with a tour being less than eighteen months. None got to know him
very well, but some came back and stated they were his top student, number
one student, senior student, or best student and one claims to have been
Okinawan champion as a white belt beating all of Okinawa's black belts. Many
times I'm asked if such things happened or what do you remember.
Each of us remember his own story
but ever since I've started I've been taking notes, photos,
recording, filming, and now video taping all interviews.
Many told stories or tales that
never happened. Others exaggerated and told unbelievable feats for example;
I heard that one person stated that he saw Tatsuo drink boiling hot tea
from a tea kettle. Another high ranking person who was never on Okinawa says
he personally saw Shimabuku climb upside down up a flagpole at or near the
dojo. The thing that's wrong with the first story is its not believable,
and the second story about the flagpole that makes it made up is that there
was no flagpole.
Known facts are that Tatsuo could
drive a 16 penny common nail into a 2x4 with the edge of his hand and with
the heel of his foot. I've observed both these feats. Sheisho Tokumine who
started with Tatsuo in 1951 says he saw Tatsuo chop the tops off of the neck
of a glass bottle, and saw him climb up a telephone pole head first near
Agena dojo and come down the other side head first. Art Smiley who started
in 1956 said he also saw Tatsuo climb a telephone pole in Agena and said he
filmed it.
Tatsuo always said the reason for
being able to do these feats was that he was in good physical shape. The
training he did to drive a nail through a 2x4, was to hit the edge of his
hand on the edge of a tapered 2x4 for about twenty to thirty minutes each
day.
Tatsuo was an innovator and not a
perfectionist. He believed in being natural and spontaneous. This is one of
the reasons that he rarely did his kata exactly the same way each time. He
also believed in change and being a sumuchi, another name for a fortune
teller, that uses ancient books from China to tell fortunes shows he was well
versed in the
I Ching. The
I Ching is The book of change. Tatsuo while
explaining the 5th verse of the Kenpo gokui said. "All things in the
universe will change, and you must accept and go with change. "This is only
one of his interpretations of this code.
He always stated not to be rigid in
body or in life. He said to go with the times and be happy and joke for he
liked to joke. Major Mike (Maekawa) who started the same time Tokumine did
said, "Tatsuo liked to drink sake (liquor), eat yaki soba (fried noodles)
and tell jokes." Major Mike recalls that Tatsuo asked him if he thought he
was good in karate and Major Mike said yes. "Get a gun," Tatsuo replied to
Maekawa's answer.
Eiko Kaneshi Tatsuo's right hand man
who started in 1947 said that he had studied karate from others including
Shoshin Nagamine of
Matsubayashi-ryu karate but no one had
chinkuchi (technique, controlled power, ki or chi) like Tatsuo.
Tatsuo's feelings were hurt by some
of the senior Masters from Naha who did not agree with his new style of
karate. Once while sitting in the dojo after class several of us were
sitting and drinking. Tatsuo liked to drink
Awamori an Okinawan distilled
alcohol made from certain type of long grain rice which comes from Southeast
Asia. There were many bottles of awamori, pine juice, and beer of various
sizes on the table. Others present were drinking beer or mixing the awamori
with pine juice a pineapple juice. Tatsuo asked the students "Which is the
best bottle?" Those who were drinking beer stated the beer bottles, others
picked the largest bottles, and some chose the smaller bottles. Shimabuku
said all the bottles were good. All of them served a purpose: to hold what
they were intended to. "There is no best bottle," he said. What Tatsuo was
saying was each had a purpose and all were good. He was relating this to
karate.
Not all of the other martial arts
masters disagreed with Shimabuku. He was good friends with
Kanei Uechi of
Uechi-ryu and did demonstrations with many of the other top masters.
Isshin-ryu stems from three
different styles of martial arts. As one of his interpretations of the three
stars in the Isshin-ryu
Megami stand for,
Shorin-ryu,
Goju-ryu, and Kobudo.
Tatsuo said that Shorin-ryu's
naihanchi was the mother, and Goju-ryu's
Sanchin was the father, and from this union the offspring was Isshin-ryu. At
age 51, Tatsuo begins to learn
Shinken Taira kobudo and incorporates it into
Isshin-ryu. Prior to learning from Taira, Tatsuo taught a sai kata now known
as Kyan Chotoku no sai or for short Kyan no sai. He also taught Tokumine no
kun which he learned from Kyan.
Tatsuo Shimabuku in 1951 taught
these following kata according to Tokumine and Major Mike:
Seisan,
Seienchin
(Seiunchin),
Naihanchi (naihanchi shodan), Wansu,
Chinto,
Kusanku,
Sunsu,
Sanchin, Sai kata (Kyan No sai),
Kusanku Sai,
Tokumine No Kun.
Around 1959-61, he adds from Taira's
kobudo,
Chatan Yara no sai,
Urashi no kun,
Shishi no kun and
Hamahiga no Tuifa.
In 1971, Tatsuo retires from
teaching karate and kobudo but still gives out promotions or attends some
dojo functions. His last official act in martial arts was to attend the
grand opening of the Isshin-ryu Headquarters Dojo in Kinaka in April of
1975.
On May 30,1975, the dragon of
Isshin-ryu died of a stroke. Some say from a broken heart. From his
students, all we can say is, thank you Sensei for teaching us.
Let us in Isshin-ryu commemorate the
birthday of one of the first modern karate masters who looked at change in a
positive light.