Toyama Seiko Sensei

tigereye · Post by **tigereye** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 4:52 pm

Beautiful videos from
Toyama Seiko Sensei Uechi Ryu 10º Dan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdVd4sYcXOE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVzb1ppf5Ks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGIHXVeL24o

jorvik · Post by **jorvik** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:21 pm

Wonderful clips

also check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u877Ifx3 ... ed&search=

To me this had a very profound effect....very spiritual I thought

I mean the second part, where he walks up the mountain

tigereye · Post by **tigereye** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 10:18 pm

jorvik wrote:Wonderful clips
also check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u877Ifx3 ... ed&search=

To me this had a very profound effect....very spiritual I thought

I mean the second part, where he walks up the mountain

Simply amazing.

He is 79 years old and still so fast, fluid, and powerful in his technique.
He is a model for all of us... to all serious Martial Arts students.

Mr. Alan Dollar has written an excellent overview and explores the
"History of Pangainoon and the Evolution of Uechi Ryu Karate"
http://www.alandollar.com/uechi/contents.htm

http://www.alandollar.com/uechi/hist_toyama.htm

mhosea · Post by **mhosea** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 10:38 pm

tigereye wrote: He is a model for all of us... to all serious Martial Arts students.

Yes, in an abstract way. I'd look pretty silly trying to copy his moves.

tigereye · Post by **tigereye** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:25 pm

mhosea wrote:
tigereye wrote: He is a model for all of us... to all serious Martial Arts students.
Yes, in an abstract way. I'd look pretty silly trying to copy his moves.

I didn't mean that way...

To be a model to all of us in the sense of living a healthy life in harmony ,peace and happiness...
To be conscious and responsible for the way we live and act.

To me it seems that people often attempt to live their live backwards. Many individuals who face serious health crises or become victim of aggression they will look for help, advice and start to study self-defense or karate. They do change on the way of their living after something terrible happened to them.
The reality is that most of us don't care about safety, health and neither do much physical exercise because they don't have time or don't have the strength to get out of the chair.
Edward Stanley said:
“Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness."
Would not be time to learn everything about human health….? The goal must be to learn how to create health before disease manifests.

What I find also important we should learn is to recognize our own strengths and weaknesses to become comfortable with ourselves and find the way to live happy. To be content with who we are and functioning within the boundaries of our own capabilities, or limitations with confidence.
Live and behave in simplicity. There is no need to call attention. Modesty acts gently, but with no less perfection or care as one who may constantly announce their deeds.

As Seneca said:
“We will be happy if we are pleased with what we have, if we avoid the self-torture of comparing our own lot with some other and happier one. If a great many people appear to be better off than yourself, think how many there are in a worse position.”

Through our belief, knowledge, and spirit we reflect on the universe humanity, and prove our value as human beings.
Use the discipline of karate to conquer your fears, recognize the power to transfer that discipline to all other areas of your life.
We need a good health and strong foundation to function properly in a great democracy.

Scott Danziger · Post by **Scott Danziger** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:10 am

I was watching the Sensairyu video and was wondering, isn't some portions of the form supposed to be on a 45 degree angle (ie: the 3 shokens). It appears as if Toyoma sensei was all north, eat, south, west.

Is this part of the "differences" from old style... ?

Scott

CANDANeh · Post by **CANDANeh** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:25 am

Scott Danziger wrote:I was watching the Sensairyu video and was wondering, isn't some portions of the form supposed to be on a 45 degree angle (ie: the 3 shokens). It appears as if Toyoma sensei was all north, eat, south, west.

Is this part of the "differences" from old style... ?

Scott

Yes , I recall it is a difference. Not 100% sure if it is Toyoma sensei who makes this choice or how he was taught by Kanbun.

Seizan · Post by **Seizan** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:07 am

Toyama Sensei performs Sandairyu (Sanseiryu) as it was performed originally by Kanbun Sensei - a 5-direction form. It was changed in the 1950's to an 8-direction form by Kanei Sensei, who also modified a few of the techniques.

Regards,

Seizan

MikeK · Post by **MikeK** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:58 am

Seizan,
What were the reasons for the modifications and along what lines were the techniques modified?
Mike

Seizan · Post by **Seizan** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:36 pm

Mike,

The official word:

"The kata were more or less modified by Master Kanei Uechi in the late 1940's so that they might be fitted to Okinawan physical constitution and be conformed with the sense of beauty of Okinawan martial artisits."

(from "Okinawan Traditional Martial Arts - UechiRyu and ShoheiRyu Karatedo for the 21st Century" - Jan. 2006, Okinawan KarateDo Association [ShoheiRyu]).

This is quoted from the English booklet available. The Japanese booklet says much the same except it references "the early 1950's" instead. I can only say for sure that by the early 1950's Kanei Sensei was definitely teaching a modified version of the kata.

The exact date is a moot point anyway.

Why did Kanei Sensei modify his father's system? Only he could tell you.

Several technical differences can be seen via the videos cited above. But the fact is that Kanei Sensei did make changes.

Regards,

Seizan

AAAhmed46 · Post by **AAAhmed46** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:41 pm

Are there any clips of Toyama in his youth? Or atleast younger, maybe when he was in his 60's?

I would be very interested to see those.

MikeK · Post by **MikeK** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:48 pm

Thanks Seizan.
I've always found the changes and variations to kata interesting.

Seizan · Post by **Seizan** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:01 pm

AAAhmed46 wrote:Are there any clips of Toyama in his youth? Or atleast younger, maybe when he was in his 60's?

I would be very interested to see those.

The earliest clip I know of can be seen in the 33rd Anniversary Demonstration video, available in the Store on this site. Sensei was in his late 50's then.

Toyama Sensei appears just a little over an hour into the tape. You can't miss the unique Sandairyu performance, done with his ghi top off as directed by Kanei Sensei.

Toyama Sensei performs kata last of all the individual non-family UechiRyu members (traditionally, senior-most person performs last). All other individual performances (after Toyama Sensei) are by senior guests of other systems, or by Uechi Family members only. Mostly what follows is group kata, breaking, and finally, Uechi Family members.

This is the earliest video of Toyama Sensei's performance that I know of. There may be others out there in private collections.

Regards,

Seizan

diegoz_ar · Post by **diegoz_ar** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 1:47 pm

Hola Mr. Seizan:

Do you know if the kata Seisan, was modified by Kanei Uechi ?
It is known that the "first three sanchin nukites" were added, but are there any other change ?

Gracias,
Diego

Seizan · Post by **Seizan** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 2:21 pm

diegoz_ar wrote:Hola Mr. Seizan:

Do you know if the kata Seisan, was modified by Kanei Uechi ?
It is known that the "first three sanchin nukites" were added, but are there any other change ?

Gracias,
Diego

Diego-san,

Hello.

Beyond the addition of the three Sanchin Nuki, the kata and Bunkai are basically unchanged (the contemporary Bunkai takes much less time). Superficial technical differences can be seen in the performance style, but if one didn't know UechiRyu he wouldn't see much difference at all.

Regards,

Seizan

Toyama Seiko Sensei

Toyama Seiko Sensei

I recall reading it was