just a jarhead

Let me get some things clear here, especially for you gentlemen concerned with the history of Isshinryu Karate. I was just a jarhead who enjoyed working out and learning and practicing exotic, practical, and interesting ways of dismembering and killing others. Not that I wanted to use these abilities, but to me it was (and is) a lot of fun. Call it a personal problem. Other people collect stamps.

I had a lot of anger in me and Isshinryu Karate was a wonderful way to work it out. At the dojo in Okinawa, I enjoyed smashing the makiwara. At least once, I broke it. I learned, when striking, to let the power of the earth itself come up through my feet and legs and emerge with a sharp concentrated force.

(With the snap kick and fist strike, one not only had the foot or fist out of the reach of the other, but cocked and ready for return. The snap was also a perfect way to “leave the itai (hurt) on them.”)

I found Sensei Shimabuku to be a fun, yet stern man who evidently saw that I was sincere in my love for the martial arts, not as a school, but as a devastating system of active defense. From time to time, especially after a hard workout, I would sit beside him on the tatami mats in his room open to the dojo training area and sip hot green tea while he pounded a nail into a board with his hand. I liked the dude and I still do.

I had no idea I was in some kind of flow of martial art history. Just a jarhead, I worked out not only with "empty hands" but also with no mind. I'll answer all the questions you ask if I can, but I am more like Forrest Gump who showed up at notable events without forethought but with right timing.