Friday Knight News
"You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor." Aristotle
Who made the first kata? I have found kata and other various drills comes from many sources, and they sometimes overlap. Many times one school branches off from its root school, but retains the kata from its predecessor. Whom would you credit for these skills if you do not know the lineage? I would credit the person that taught you. Still every once in a while I see a "new" drill that is identical or nearly so to things my teacher/s taught when I was young.
All my life I have loved the sword and the lessons it teaches. I can't say for certain where each kata came from, but the important thing is to acknowledge the skills and values of those who have sacrificed to bring this knowledge to us. So, looking at sword kata, for example, I have to mention Bill James, Tom Manson, Dean Sutzer, Tim Jones, and others but the man who really brought the sword to life for me was James Williams.
Sato Bu Kan Dojo - Nami Ryu Aiki Heiho
Most of us were taught to give credit where credit is due. Still some of us only acknowledge the source when the material can be directly traced. If we alter or adjust the material, or blend skill sets together should we acknowledge others? An art teacher once told me that legally if there are six or more changes to a piece then it is considered your creation. Still, some of us give credit to others just for their inspiration. Finding inspiration in various forms and transmuting them into other areas is one of my favorite things. Inspiration has taken me further than most any other form of instruction. Inspiration can be found in a host of different subjects and applied to your area of interest. Inspiration quite literally is often putting the spirit or will to live within us. This is despite the source of the inspiration; be it art, literature, music, or warrior's arts.
I have found that, at least in my case, we are sometimes so subtly inspired that we do not pay attention to the source; I will hold myself up to ridicule over this one. As a young man, I scoured martial art magazines for insights and deeper understanding of the principles that made the arts work. The school that I attended in my youth only taught techniques. They left it to the student to discover the why and how of the matter. I found that boxing gave me a lot more information on how to land a blow than what I was receiving from my traditional or should I say classical martial art instruction. The only answer I every received was to punch faster and the application was always limited to sporting events.
So, without consciously following or even paying attention to the author or authors of various magazine articles, I found myself altering my training to investigate and include the concepts that were described and had found that they worked. Over the course of years, I have found that three men in particular stood out from their writings. Bruce Lee who had given me the basic structure to frame up my martial art fortress, with his ways of attack. While Stephen K Hayes made me think of non-sporting combat, weapons, and mental strategies to life. Then a lesser known martial artist began to make me reevaluate not only my techniques, but how I applied them. It wasn't until years later after black belts from a new association began to compare my application to Tony Annesi and Bruce Juchnik did I begin to realize that (Tony Annesi), was the name of the magazine author that I used to follow in my teens. I had spent years incorporating (very crudely), what he had written about. After I had gotten to take seminars from him, I learned that almost everyone in the association had his tapes and eventually I had ordered a boat load of them too.
Over the years that I've been posting this blog, I have listed many of my favorite seminar instructors. Many of which have passed on, so to keep this list short I will list only the most famous and least famous of living seminar instructors. The most famous of these is a man who needs no introduction Bill Superfoot Wallace. Next is the least famous, I never wrote about him before as he worked undercover on the streets. But now that he is retired I will mention this former police officer from my instructor's organization, aikijutsu master, Tim Jones. Although you have most likely never heard of him, Tim was recognized as top cop of the year. He has had a host of wrestling honors from state, national, world, and collegiate titles behind him. These range from Greco Roman wrestling, folk wrestling, freestyle wrestling, as well as being the police and fireman judo state champ. It is easy for me to find inspiration in others. Everybody has something in which they excel.
(Steve Smith)
For example, after the advent of you tube, I found a whole host of inspirational martial artists. Let us start this list with four men from separate disciplines, some of which have overlapping components. In alphabetic order we come to Adam Chan who has insightful, social, and artistic analysis along with performance. Then we come to Tommy Carruthers with the most inspiring JKD since Bruce Lee. When you think of effortless aiki, Nick Lowry comes to mind. Nick heads another branch from the same river that my sensei came from or at least one fork of it. Then, finally we reach Steve Smith. Steve is known for his humility and encouragement to all who cross his path. He has inherited a system from the most famous martial artist you have probably never heard of the late great Fook Yueng. If you haven't heard of Fook Yueng, just check into Bruce Lee's history after he came to the USA. Bruce learned from Steve's instructor in secret for years. Fook Yueng, Bruce Lee, and Jesse Glover had overlaps with a good portion of people on my list. I encourage everyone to read some of the many post on the net about Fook Yueng; from people that have met and trained with him. When it comes down to it, most martial artist of my age can point to Bruce Lee as their original inspiration. Fook Yueng's teaching is what gave Bruce that extra boost, so even though he shunned the spotlight he deserves credit.
“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.” Abraham Lincoln
About the Dream Walker book series, this series is a tale of martial arts adventures with an essence of the para-normal from dream mediation. Each book in the series reveals their struggles as they work to make a life for themselves and elude those that seek to use and control them.
Book 1: Conversations with a Sage. This explores Xander Davidson's early encounters with the mysterious fog like Dream Walking martial art sages. He ponders if they are real or if they are only remnants of his dreams. He mainly keeps this secret world to himself as he tries to cope with abuse, growing up without support or guidance and the mystery of his family's past.
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