Came to karate by the kyokushinkai at the age of sixteen in 1973 with Jacques Legrée shihan Today 8th Dan Iko (The organization led by Matsui Shokei Kancho), Fifty years later I remain all the more attached to this school than to the ACBB dojo (1) are also taughtAikiken (2) and taïchi chuan (3). I practiced in particular the shotokan during a few periods of work abroad when the kyoku was not represented, As for my very modest school practice uechi-ryu She started during the "confinement" COVID.
Apart from the old memory of a brief and impressive sequence of training with Takemi Takayasu sensei who already knew and appreciated Mr. Legrée, I had no experience from the school founded by Ueschi Kanbun – Whether it's the current branches kenyukai or shubukan.
Or, Faced with the hermetic clogging of dojos and the impossibility of training outdoors in a collective way out of the medical medical (4), the community of teachers of shubukan (in France and, for Spain, to Barcelon) began 2021 the happy initiative to offer training via «Zoom».
An educational option obviously not one of its kind, but built and falling.
At the time, The very idea of an initiation at home by video was able to put off : Still, you have to replace yourself in this exceptional health context, in which everyone was led to adapt to sudden and radically limited training methods.
Through these bi-Hebdomedar meetings that are both studious and relaxed, Then over a few sessions uechi-ryu At the end of successive periods of confinement, The rare newcomers in the circuit uechi-ryu quickly reinforced the relationship with this particularly active martial community.
It's about Okinawa, "Karate cradle", that an alignment of the planets between
- Firstly, The ancient dream of going to train "at the source", born in contact with my first and "historic" instructor then returned himself from a stay as uchi-deshi (pupil) in Japan to contribute in France to the swarming of kyokushinkai (5)
- on the other hand, the fine knowledge that has, martial practice on the archipelago (6), This group of French teachers uechi-ryu.
From, over sixty-five and once retired, I was able to make two stays uechi-ryu :
- The first end 2022, Six weeks in Okinawa with Shimabukuro (7) Haruyoshi sensei (8th dan)
- The second end 2023, Four weeks in the Grand-Tokyo with Shimoji Yasuo sensei (10th dan).
Almost quasi-quota or even bi-quotidian training, While these dojos naturally are not formally open seven days a week ? Is that, parallel, I had the great chance of being able to frequent – in Naha as in Tokyo – Another group of dojos.
Respectively, Absolutely the best of the world shihan (personal initiative, validated as such by my shihan French) The Hajime Kancho (With the support of Grégory Burgel sensei, His friend and representative in Europe) : Shichinohe et Kazumi, fabulous ex-champions kyokushinkai, of different generations, Meanwhile spent on organizations other than IKO, Exceptional transmitters.
However, We focus here on the component uechi-ryu.
No doubt it is not to specify, A stronger As part of a testimony on martial practice in Japan, that going in parallel in two separate schools was possible because :
- The approach was completely transparent, open, confident on both sides
- Referents in France (uechi et kyoku) had been the minimum consulted, even facilitators
- the sensei Japanese concerned knew each other at least reputation, and estimated each other.
Except exceptions for whom a soul of ronin (8) with a form of independence legitimized by an individual martial course TRAPU, generally only such a convergence of favorable elements makes it possible to split your training program thus.
At least, From the moment this program (individual, Grouped outdoor visit of the “Martial Tourism” type of Dojo in Dojo) has been established on the basis of personal recommendations for access to such sensei.
On this point however, I owe the truth to report :
- have heard from one of sensei that I was free to do what I wanted, Insofar as I had only made this long trip in order to train with sincerity. But it would be unlikely to forget the slight margin that can exist between the Japanese courtesy of a sensei high volley and its deep thought, On this subject precisely.
- to have been admitted to one of the dojos after having simply presented myself spontaneously. But specific circumstances have been able to play including, exactly, The luck factor having led me to this address.
My two experiences uechi-ryu in Japan (Okinawa a Grand-Tokyo) were allowed, via activation of their contacts before the two trips, by Grégory Burgel and Didier Lorho.
In both cases, The welcome in the dojos was warm – Attendance and motivation helped for the future.
Useful precision for whom, like me, Could/can feed fears about this : if he is (allusively) reported, the possible physical handicap is – without problem – taken into account by the teacher.
As in any dojo it is better, simply, do not make an argument to avoid, during exercises, To constantly seek the orange zone – Between the green (Indolent comfort) and the red (Physiologically contraindicated torture ... Enducting offices of course, since they are the salt of theuechi-ryu !
Strive to do like the others, observer, imitate or (before/after the course) question, Strengthen to suffer without grimacing, If we were able to arrive in advance to discreetly work on your ranges (Mongo Makiwha, kata, renzoku, bag), be curious about, Avoid annoying by comparing all the time with what you know or believes that ..., Normally, is enough to promote integration.
On this subject, wear a white belt (and stick to it) is a good passport.
In theory, The itinerant practitioner must abuse her as soon as he trains outside his dojo or the organization to which he is attached : excellent principe, that simplifies everything.
Trick, In case the Japanese instructor visited enjoins – At the end of the first training – to "put the black belt" during the next lesson.
Deliberately from France without the said departed from the parent in luggage : So even not even to lie to answer him respectfully that, For this simple reason, This will be impossible.
The sensei will smile, eventually will give the dogi of the school that naturally we wanted to buy out of respect for the reception dojo.
And keep the bowl.
Small observation : If the "black belt" opens the practitioner to new freedoms, Whether in its intimate research or as part of the martial microcosm, The "white" is ideal for freedom in learning or re-learning.
Not just for the gaze of others – in a subliminal way : To be forgiven for beginners approximations.
It is also, for oneself, reflecting an approach to learning may still be deeper : Very natural behavior ultimately, in a situation where we "discover" – the spirit "empty" of prejudices and the senses "on the lookout" (between MU and zanshin ?), to try to better capture what is partially or completely new.
Of course, The limit is that of mudity and/or unnamed "grade".
For that as for almost everything in a dojo, The best is to comply with the recommendations of senpai and the instructor.
Which does not prevent, including as a foreigner, to give free rein to personality elements : It can be humor or on the contrary a big seriousness (non incompatible), and undoubtedly depends on its own stage of maturation – in life in general, and in martial practice in particular.
To have been trained in France in a dojo kyokushinkai where teaching is almost "like in Japan" helped me not experiencing any difficulty other than pure form to adapt to variants uechi-ryu In terms of label : Salvation differs, the dojo kun Also (Failing to learn it illico in Japanese language, We can at least be interested in its content), and from one dojo to the other, including inside a school there are slight variants.
The order in which students take place is strict here, almost indifferent there – The density of the present workforce sometimes plays, Besides, dojos uechi-ryu frequented in Naha as in the big suburbs of Tokyo are not large rooms.
Each honbu dojo is a treasure in itself, As for the elements constituting its soil (traditionnel, wooden) as its decor.
Co-existence, Sometimes, of an extremely symbolic and orderly part and a clearly more bric-a-brac part is funny, Even if everything is potentially dangerous : formidable techniques transmitted by the great masters of the past whose portraits are displayed, traditional weapons very diverse on display or stored, Accessories dedicated to hardening of the body ...
Out-of-room, The atmosphere is polite during training.
Punctuality is, as much as possible, of the foreigner welcomed… Yet, The very long journeys interconnected in the Grand-Tokyo may include unpleasant surprises regarding the schedules.
And kaoli, especially in Minami-Dojo, Adult students sometimes arrive ... when they were able to free themselves from their professional obligations, priority.
It also happens that Shimabukuro sensei to Naha lets the chain connected hifi broadcasting his favorite modern music : Signs of relaxation confusing at the start, rubbing shoulders with the greatest rigor when sensei for example ruthlessly repeated such kata until its execution is considered passable – at least, at the time, Because one thing is certain : the next time either, He will not let go !
Same requirement in Shimoji sensei in son honbu dojo d’Hashimoto, Who so kindly receives his wife with Miyuki, and close up on the transmission of fundamentals.
By his close team of veterans, notably : Summary seventies, Both guardians of the temple and taking on a manifest pleasure in continuing to practice roughly.
Kata side but, Also, side coat kitae – A standard test in uechi-ryu : For the poorly sharpened and/or training practitioner, The pain is lively.
To the point that tears are flush, facing senpai Metronomer remaining marble.
We guess the impenetrable face of sensei presiding over exercise, his determination to undergo this rite of passage… and his satisfaction when the foreign beginner has, Lily or prou, overcome a test necessarily associated with large bruises.
A Okinawa, Thanks to Shimabukuro Haruyoshi sensei I also experienced three things remaining for me as privileges : attend a passage of grades in the presence of up (Uechi Kancho), Visit the private honbu dojo then disused (Before Complete Renovation Site)and participate in the big dinner of the Okinawa karatés in the presence of sensei adults surrounded by their disciples.
Of course, In many other circumstances as a solo traveler I have all more intensely tested with strong emotions :
– à Okinawa, Train at the traditional Budokan and frequent the most recent Karate-Kaikan overflow (Doyns, Mega-passage of grades kyokushinkai, musée, reading room, Personalized dating) is not exceptional since these places have been designed for this, but constitutes for the foreign practitioner a must; be invited to the personal home of a senpai is rare, all the more with a traditional Japanese house with a label to respect; The attentions of Shimabukuro Daiki the son of the sensei, modern heir as much as superb fighter; the frank smile accomplice of senpai In the harshness of training; Go pay tribute to the founder Uechi Kanbun in his birth village northwest of the island, Not far from the erection statue of which the French association contributed…
– in Tokyo too, the educational handling of gaijin (foreigner) by senpai; the generosity of the street restaurateur who provides bento (Box meal) On the return from training after a late and a half hour of public transport; Shimoji Yasuo's extraordinarily courteous patience of Shimoji Yasuo sensei Ensuring the car journey himself between station and dojo…
Each day, A happy surprise – purely martial or, more broadly, human.
These numerous opening elements received during the two martial stays were the expected response to the questioning that everything practicing as much invested : Karate in France, He knows otherwise a radius, at least a small piece… more, How is it in Japan ?
To have been trained by instructors who have themselves experienced and/or stirring to faithfully reproduce (without singing it) The Japanese way to train and transmit is an asset.
This does not decrease or the intensity of the astonishment once there, nor the need to adapt.
As much as, from one dojo to another and a sensei to the other, even within the same school practices are certainly uniform but not at all monolithic.
It becomes even more true when the experience of “Okinawa karate " (that it is practiced on the island, à Tokyo, or in France as part of the FFK) is extended to other schools – For example : Short-Ryu or goju-ryu.
Ainsi Oshiro Zenei sensei in Paris (goju-ryu) inlaid--the, he too, with the students of his dojo Shodokan In any case, This mixture of technical rigor and didactic bonhomie.
It is obvious that the age and the cumulative years of Franco-Niptons martial exchanges are for something in the transmission relationship : All the "stakeholders" cultivated the constant concern to adjust to each other – without letting go of the Okinawaiian authenticity.
This high level of a karate stamped "original", sometimes flexible sometimes rough, is that the issuers have to distill and the receptors to preserve.
As much as possible, Because it is not for self : for a practitioner who remained fundamentally learning, limited by age or specific constraints that do not allow to play matamores in randori or in Kumite, Karate called "contact" also must remain a kind of approval : etymologically a "conversation", with yourself as with the opponent-partner.
In addition to contributing to initiate a disabled or elderly audience to internal or external martial art, The DIF (9) granted by the FFK serves in this case to show and perceive precisely this image : Karate can be, really, A vital and lasting practice.
Testify, tirelessly – even when the impetuous opposite seems (even or even : affirm) be tight.
Car, over time, inevitably any practitioner wishing to "last" will come there.
That, nos sensei and senpai elderly met in Japanese land, Okinawaiians uechi-ryu particularly, as well as Kazumi Hajime Kancho Less advanced in age, understood everything : They have not lost their fighting spirit, held her up to a high degree of subtlety, melted it in a pinnacle of martial competence that is both ruthless, released and debonary.
"We have the same in France", will say some.
Oui, It's true – Some Japanese established in our country, and French.
What a chance !
We can certainly, on this subject, hear us on several names.
I quote one, Because he died in Paris a year ago, June 1st 2023 : Albert Waintrop, Among the pioneers with Ohshima Tsutomi sensei (shotokan, Direct student of Funakoshi) Then, much later, Disciple de Sawada Mitsuharu sensei.
Albert was of this caliber : indéraricable despite its 85 years, broken at the sessions of “mortal blow” steep shotokan (irimi), butplacing above any sharing of approaches, Educational virtue and understanding between practitioners from distinct schools in France.
A Okinawa, beyond the three major original forms, schools and (small) Dojos swarm.
There are bibes and angry of course but, occasionally, Many know how to meet.
I don't know if Albert would have made a "good" uechi-ryu.
More, even more after practicing there, I'm sure he would have made a very good Okinawaiian.
Nicolas de Bourgies
Paris, 9 more 2024
Notes
(1) Acbb : Boulogne-Billancourt Municipal Omnisports Club (Hauts-de-Seine, Municipality adjoining Paris to the west), whose section Karate been created by Jacques Legrée in 1974 (fifties celebrated this 25 more 2024).
(2) Taikiken : Martial art "internal-external" created by Sawai Kenichi sensei (1903-1988, ami d’Oyama Masatsu sos,1923-1994, the founder of the school which has become kyokushinkai), sometimes tackled as a form of extension of karate.
ACBB teachers Jacques Legrée (renshi), Julien Porterie (Kyoshi) And Vatha Uk El Chau are directly affiliated to the late Jan Kallenbach (The Netherlands, Now Hans Bakker sensei) et Marshall MacDonagh (Suede) Au sein de Taikiken-Europe.
(3) The taïchi chuan taught at ACBB, by Jacques Legrée (1944) Then Laetitia Legrée her daughter (1983), is that of the so -called yang form, "internal" martial art here health oriented, Founded on bare hands (earth/man/heaven series or 108 movements, Beijing series or 24 movements, even the extraordinary series of compassion) or with weapons ("Chinese cane", sabre, sword, range)
(4) We had to think of digging up the little known decree of 2017 allowing, via A medical certificate, to practice outdoors (SO, during the confinements of 2020-2021 : Beyond the only authorized daily exit time).
(5) Full-contact karate or jissen karate : kyokushinkai and uechi-ryu obviously are in this category
(6) The "island" of Okinawa itself is an archipelago (About a hundred and sixty islands) In the archipelago that is Japan.
(7) The occurrence of the Shaimabukuro surname is frequent (shima = île), Thus two adult -Okinawaiian sensei of the school uechi ryu known in France, and others, do they have the same name without being at all parents (Shimabukuro Yokinobu, Shimabukuro Haruyoshi).
(8) Samurai downgraded "wandering"
(9) DIF = Federal Instructor Diploma (Ffk)