4. More on Miyagi (C)

[emattson]

Table of Contents
Previous chapter

By Graham Noble

Although Miyagi had worked hard on the kata and training equipment a noticeable thing in some photographs is that he doesn’t appear to have kentos, the calloused knuckles developed by hard practice on the makiwara. These photos are from the 1930s, so it’s possible that he had been a heavy user of the makiwara in his younger days but had dropped that training later. Meitoku Yagi, in an interview with the French magazine “Karate” (September 1984) actually mentioned this point. “In the good old days,” he said, “one used to say that to close the fist was to lose time. The open hand has the advantage of reach. In fact, Sensei Miyagi did not have kentos; he liked particularly attacks using the points of the fingers to the eyes or the testicles. He used to say that it was always necessary to adapt to the opponent.” Apparently, Miyagi had calculated that if attacked unexpectedly, the fraction of a second lost in forming a fist and assuming the position to punch could mean the difference between winning and losing, and that illustrates an old point about the need for instantaneous reaction against attacks. Like the other old time karate masters Miyagi taught that you should always be aware of your surroundings and on your guard against possible attack and so he would never sit with his back towards a door or window and was careful even when washing his face. Years ago Steve Bellamy, who was then training at the Yoyogi dojo of Morio Higaonna, told a story about Miyagi’s awareness.

Miyagi was sitting with a friend one day, talking over a cup of tea, when a habu – the poisonous snake native to Okinawa - slithered into the room. The friend became nervous but Miyagi told him to stay calm. Miyagi waited, and when the habu came within distance he overturned a cup and pinned the snake’s head with it. He then picked the habu up and killed it. He had been aware of the danger as soon as the snake had entered the room and throughout the incident talked and acted normally, making no sudden movements and striking only at the last moment.

Yusei Tamaki, another Miyagi student, worked as a policeman. Miyagi’s advice to him was to observe people closely when he was on patrol and to always think about how to defend himself if he was attacked from behind or from the front or side, how to defend against punches, kicks or some other attack. He advised Tamaki to listen carefully to any foot steps behind him and determine if the person was wearing geta, and to take note of a person’s height and size. Tamaki told Morio Higaonna that one night while on patrol he was challenged to fight by a well known street fighter and trouble maker called Shinkichi. Tamaki was actually scared about getting into a fight, but when Shinkichi threw a punch he instinctively blocked it and countered with a palm strke to the head. Shinkichi was so surprised by Tamaki’s response that he didn’t try another attack. Years later, Tamaki remembered that he had been surprised himself by his response. “Although I had not practiced jyu kumite, I was able to react appropriately,” he told Morio Higaonna. “Shinkichi, who had great confidence in his right punch and was accustomed to knocking people down with it, was shocked by my quick reaction. If he had followed with other attacks I am sure I would have been defeated. It is because I studied karate from Chojun Sensei that I was able to do this.”

Genkai Nakaima once asked Miyagi if he had “eyes in the back of his head?” His students used to say that even if they tried to follow him secretly and quietly he would immediately notice and turn around. “There is no one who has eyes in the back of their head,” Miyagi replied. “However, when I walk along the road in some cases I feel something strange. I think it is the so-called sixth sense.

“We should always be cautious when we turn at the corner of a road, walk along a rainy street, climb up and down a ladder and so on. It will become useful for self-defense if we have practiced karate sufficiently hard and are accustomed to being cautious. As the result of a long time training of karate, we can obtain the so-called sixth sense and can notice if someone is following."

Next chapter

[emattson]

"the poisonous snake native to Okinawa - slithered into the room."

YouTube has a great video of a snake slithering into the police office, in northern Thailand, and attacked a man sitting minding his own business. He stomped the snake into submission, grabbed it and showed his trophy to the others, who appeared to be less than thrilled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L0K6-RjaTg