IHA SEIKICHI: MICHIGAN FIRST HANSHI (1989)

Iha Seikichi (a senior student of Miyahira Katsuya) stated that the karate practice today is quite different than that of the early post-war years. Back then, all Okinawan stylists stressed a lot of block-punch or block-counter techniques. Nowadays American stylists block, pause and then punch. It should be a block with an immediate punch or counter.

During those post-war years, the senior teachers would stress kata analysis using a partner at least a couple of nights per week. The students would practice two or three hours of kata bunkai. Very rarely did they practice self-defense techniques such as ippon kumite or goshin-jutsu training. Everything came out of the kata and hundreds of repetitions were stressed. Knowledge of fighting came strictly out of the orthodox kata.

During the 1950's rank meant very little and Iha never really knew his instructor's rank other than his teacher was considered a master of the shorin-ryu style. Iha started his training in karate simply because everyone just did! He also felt that this was a chance for him to do something constructive with his time. He never knew that it would be a lifetime of training and devotion to the art of shorin-ryu karate-do.

During that period of time, Gusukuma Shinpan (Iha's first master teacher) stressed basics and repetition upon repetition of the traditional kata. Gusukuma especially like the kata patsai-dai (which is the present day patsai-sho). He stated that the kata that we now do is wrong. By wrong he does not refer to movements but to how we train to do it.

Gusukuma Shinpan would teach the students the understanding of kata by breaking it down technique by technique. You would master each major technique until they were strong and smooth. Then you would end up putting the kata together after all the various parts were mastered.

Nowadays, most people do not take a real interest in traditional training and only seek the flashier movements of kata. Old fashioned training methods are often considered too boring and too tiring.

Today's karate students just practice the whole kata at one time with the hopes of mastering the whole in a shorter period of time! Doing good kata is like reading a book - you read one chapter at a time in order to understand what the writer is really saying... rather than just reading the end and hoping that you can figure out how the author got there. By just "reading" the end, you will never understand what the author was really trying to say or what he was trying to pass on... in other words you may learn how but not the why of the kata!

IHA SEIKICHI'S PROMOTION

Iha Seikichi from East Lansing, MI, has just returned from Okinawa where he was recently promoted to Hanshi 9-Dan by the Okinawa Shorin-ryu Karate-do Association. Iha began training in the late l940's with Gusukuma Shinpan. When Gusukuma died in 1954 he began training under Miyahira Katsuya.

On March 15, l966, Chibana Choshin (the originator of Okinawa Shorin-ryu Karate-do) awarded him his Shihan Menkyo (a Master Teacher's License) certification and on September 3, 1978, he was promoted to the rank of Kyoshi 8-Dan by Miyahira Katsuya who is the president of Chibana's organization, the Okinawa Shorin-ryu Karate-do Association. On March 12, 1989 Iha was promoted to his present rank of Hanshi 9-Dan.

Of the main-lined schools of Okinawan karate-do, Iha Seikichi-sensei is the only native Okinawan Hanshi residing in the United States. The main-lined schools included goju-ryu, Uechi-ryu, Matsubayashi-ryu and (Chibana-style) shorin-ryu. These are the member styles of the largest recognized karate organization on the island, the All Okinawa Karate-do Association (Zen Okinawa Karate-do Renmei).

It should also be noted that Iha Seikichi-sensei is the United States Director for the Okinawa Shorin-ryu Karate-do Association. The International Director is Chibana Choshin's senior student, Miyahira Katsuya, Shorin-ryu Shidokan Hanshi 10-Dan. (Last updated: 09/15/2009)


Article1 Article2 Article3 Article4 Article5 Article6 Article7 Article8
Article9 Article10 Article11 Article12 Article13 Article14 Article15