Thursday, October 26, 2006

Karatedo no kokoroe

My instructor Pat Nakata Sensei has an article in the current issue (#10) of Classical Fighting Arts about "Karatedo no kokoroe", a piece of calligraphy written by his teacher and legendary karate master Chibana Chosin Sensei. It lists five teachings on karate he wished to pass on to his close students and is a beautiful piece I am fortunate enough to have a copy of to hang on the wall.

Even if you don't normally read this magazine, I would recommend it solely on this article. It offers insight on the karate of legendary master Chibana Chosin Sensei. Sadly, not much is published on Chibana Sensei, and even a lot of what is published is a little inaccurate. Now would actually be a good time to get a subscription to CFA, as more works on Chibana Sensei are... well, in the works.

With the recent release of the footage of Chibana Sensei doing kata, many people are starting to gain interest in this karate master who was the first to actually coin the term "Shorin Ryu" when referring to his brand of karate, which he learned from Itosu Sensei. This article also contains photos of Chibana Sensei doing Naihanchi Shodan from 1952 when he was at the tender age of 67. This was a good many years before cancer began to take its toll... the video that many people are now starting to see was when Chibana Sensei was in his 80s.

If you are interested in learning about the karate of the man reknown for his ippon kowashi, or "one technique, total destruction", check out this article!

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