Youtube Clip of Kanbun Uechi's 25th Anniversary of Death

Kuma-de · Post by **Kuma-de** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 12:23 am

Watch out for Part II soon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea2SEIyXR1k

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 1:51 am

Hey, Jim!

First... This is a ceremony commemorating the 25th year after Uechi Kanbun's death. The 25-year mark is a particularly important time in Okinawan culture.

Some of the ceremony is karate; the rest is speeches in Japanese. At one time I had reduced the entire ceremony to just the martial parts, and showed it numerous times to my dojo (circa 1983).

Some of the karate is good, and some of it is... well... a large group of so-so practitioners doing very basic exercises.

The breaking demos. Wow... I had totally forgotten that this was an important part of karate demos. Oye!

As I recall, some of it didn't go so well. There's one place where a guy breaks a finger trying to break a board with a nukite. Like that was supposed to enlighten us...

My favorite performance of the entire demo is Jim Thompson doing Sanseiryu. Another favorite is Bobby Campbell doing a Chinese double sword form.

The one good thing I got out of the demo is a particular pair who had done Seisan Bunkai. The presentation (never mind the technique) was so polished that I modeled my own dojo's performace after it.

I believe the entire ceremony is available for purchase elsewhere on this site.

- Bill

Kuma-de · Post by **Kuma-de** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 5:30 am

Bill Glasheen wrote:Hey, Jim!

First... This is a ceremony commemorating the 25th year after Uechi Kanbun's death. The 25-year mark is a particularly important time in Okinawan culture.

Some of the ceremony is karate; the rest is speeches in Japanese. At one time I had reduced the entire ceremony to just the martial parts, and showed it numerous times to my dojo (circa 1983).

Some of the karate is good, and some of it is... well... a large group of so-so practitioners doing very basic exercises.

The breaking demos. Wow... I had totally forgotten that this was an important part of karate demos. Oye! As I recall, some of it didn't go so well. There's one place where a guy breaks a finger trying to break a board with a nukite. Like that was supposed to enlighten us...

My favorite performance of the entire demo is Jim Thompson doing Sanseiryu. Another favorite is Bobby Campbell doing a Chinese double sword form.

The one good thing I got out of the demo is a particular pair who had done Seisan Bunkai. The presentation (never mind the technique) was so polished that I modeled my own dojo's performace after it.

I believe the entire ceremony is available for purchase elsewhere on this site.

- Bill

Yes, and the 33rd anniversary is also important. Mario McKenna from the Northwest US posted it. He is an avid writer and karate historian. He studies Goju Ryu and To'uon Ryu which was Juhatsu Kiyoda's style.

Kiyoda is at Miyagi's rt. in this photo:

Mario's page: http://www.mariomckenna.com/

A young Kiyoda doing Sanchin:

Just some history!

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:04 am

You are right!

Actually I was confused. What is sold on this site is indeed the 33rd anniversary. That is the (rather long) ceremony I was referring to.

Good stuff!

- Bill

Kuma-de · Post by **Kuma-de** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:17 am

Bill Glasheen wrote:You are right!

Actually I was confused. What is sold on this site is indeed the 33rd anniversary. That is the (rather long) ceremony I was referring to.

Good stuff!

- Bill

Yes, and George was gracious enough to allow me to post that on Youtube with a link to his page for sales.

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:19 am

You're family, Jim. It's all good.

Bill

Kuma-de · Post by **Kuma-de** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:24 am

Bill Glasheen wrote:You're family, Jim. It's all good.

Bill

Bill-san,

Part II was just uploaded:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk6uNLtjMhQ

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:52 am

Thanks!

Like the first tape... A mixture of very nice and some not-so-good stuff.

This happened somewhere around my 2nd year studying Uechi Ryu (and 4th year studying karate). When I look at this, I see that I might have been impressed with everything if I viewed it back then. But with 33 more years under my belt, not so much... But I'm betting that a number of the teachers (and teachers to be) involved in this got better as well.

Back then, I'm betting George's Hancock Street dojo could have put on quite a demonstration of their own

. (I visited them 2 years after that. First time I met Bobby Campbell.)

Mostly the stuff that doesn't impress me is all the breaking. The audiences wanted it back then. Now they aren't enamored, and the practitioners don't delude themselves either.

Some of the classic Iron Shirt stuff is totally unchanged.

There is one part where a thin fellow is taking shots to the chest. That frankly is a bit dumb. Obviously someone who is directing that has never heard of commotio cordis. It's rare, but it happens. Around about that same time a UVa student was killed in an intramural lacrosse game (on nameless field) when he got hit in the chest with the blunt end of a stick. No penetration, but the heart stopped and never re-started.

The kata are the kata. Same stuff... Some good performances but I've seen better in later years. I found myself wanting to correct in places.

The part I liked the most in the 2nd tape was the 2-person demo from 3:12 to 3:45. There was some really nice stuff there. I'm betting a few others who frequent this forum may feel the same.

- Bill

fivedragons · Post by **fivedragons** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 8:41 am

"There is one part where a thin fellow is taking shots to the chest. That frankly is a bit dumb. Obviously someone who is directing that has never heard of commotio cordis . It's rare, but it happens. Around about that same time a UVa student was killed in an intramural lacrosse game (on nameless field) when he got hit in the chest with the blunt end of a stick. No penetration, but the heart stopped and never re-started. "

Are you trying to tell us that dim mak is real?

Heart punch. I don't care if it puts you in cardiac arrest or not, that stuff isn't good. Kind of a bummer to feel your system go into catch up mode.

Yes folks, the human body is vulnerable to force.

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 2:07 pm

fivedragons wrote:
Are you trying to tell us that dim mak is real?

Yep... Sometimes a death blow is a death blow. And people who don't know what they are doing shouldn't be fooling with it.

I did open heart surgery for 4 years in the experimental cardiology lab at UVa. I created heart attacks for a living, if you will. Tried to keep them alive afterwords. Ususally I could. Sometimes...

I know a little something about this one.

Electrocardiogram schematic tracing, showing the period of vulnerability to stretch-induced ventricular fibrillation which occurs in commotio cordis (mechanical trauma to the heart wall). Superimposed on GFDL licensed Image:EKG_complex.png by Renato M.E. Sabbatini, based on data by P. Kohl.

- Bill

harlan · Post by **harlan** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:20 am

May I ask a question? In the first demo, there is a kata performed around 2:30. Was this the sanseru mentioned above?

Thank you.

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:14 pm

harlan wrote:
May I ask a question? In the first demo, there is a kata performed around 2:30. Was this the sanseru mentioned above?

Thank you.

Indeed from 2:06 through 2:34 of Part 1 is a gentleman performing Uechi Ryu's version of Sanseiryu. (FWIW, the Goju version is an entirely different kata.) The gentleman gets through about 70% of the form before he slips rather badly doing the charging front (rising) elbow. Oops!

It happens... You do a demo or a test in front of folks and your feet get sweaty. Then it's like trying to do kata on ice, or running away from a monster in a dream and not being able to get anywhere. Been there, done that.

I believe they must have used this exact same stage for the 33rd Anniversary celebration. Jim Thompson does a Sanseiryu in that one, and is similarly sliding several feet on each charge. And he does it without a hint of losing balance. Gotta love it!

- Bill

mikemurphy · Post by **mikemurphy** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:02 am

I've seen the 33rd anniversary, but never the 25th. Is there a tape or DVD out there of this celebration that people can purchase?

thanks,

mike

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:46 pm

Mike

I was recently Skyped about this.

It seems that the original film may have been the property of Charles Earle. It was making the rounds for a bit in the distant past, and then Mr. Earle pulled it back in. It has not seen the public light of day since then.

I don't know who got a hold of this, or how "legal" the copy is.

This is all hearsay at this point.

- Bill

Ted Dinwiddie · Post by **Ted Dinwiddie** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:03 pm

fivedragons wrote:"There is one part where a thin fellow is taking shots to the chest. That frankly is a bit dumb. Obviously someone who is directing that has never heard of commotio cordis . It's rare, but it happens. Around about that same time a UVa student was killed in an intramural lacrosse game (on nameless field) when he got hit in the chest with the blunt end of a stick. No penetration, but the heart stopped and never re-started. "

Are you trying to tell us that dim mak is real?

Heart punch. I don't care if it puts you in cardiac arrest or not, that stuff isn't good. Kind of a bummer to feel your system go into catch up mode.

Yes folks, the human body is vulnerable to force.

As an aside This has been more common in lacrosse than many may realize. There has been a recent movement to always have a defribrilator(sp?) on the sidelines at ALL games. Apparently, this is the only way to restart the heart in these cases.