Hard to keep up

So in addition to pursuing a career as a composer, and keeping a "straight job" in Critical Facilities Engineering, I also study Roppokai Daitoryu . For those who have no idea what it is, the easiest way to explain it is think of it as the classical form of Aikido. As history tells it, Sensei Morihei Ueshiba (the "inventor" or "creator" of Aikido) studied Daito Ryu. There are several principals of Daito Ryu that are common to Aikido. Some think that Aikido is "built" on Daito Ryu. Others think that in order to excel at Aikido, you must study and understand Daito Ryu. I don't really concern myself with any of that, let alone which is "better" or "more authentic" or "more effective" blah blah blah....basically, the type of crap you usually run into with martial arts people.

In truth, I've wanted to study a martial art for most of my life. I thought I wanted to study Kung Fu, I have no idea why, but I was drawn to it. Then, by accident, I wandered into a dojo in town that taught Kung Fu. Unfortunately, their website was really vague and I didn't know how to get any information on the Kung Fu classes. So I decided to just drop by the place on a Sunday. My wife and I stopped in and there was a class going on, which I would soon learn was a Roppokai study group. Now if any of you know Sensei Okamoto Seigo's (the current master of this style and our teacher), you're gonna think I'm plagiarizing his story, but it's totally true. My wife and I walk in to the middle of this class with only 3 guys. One of them stops to talk to us, and I tell him I'm interested in Kung Fu classes. He tells me that he just teaches this "other stuff" and I could come back later if I wanted to talk to someone about Kung Fu. He also said that we could stay and watch what they were studying if we wanted to.

At this point, I had been to 3 other dojos looking for good Kung Fu classes, and had been severely disappointed. So, I figured what the heck, let's check this stuff out. Well, it was the fakest looking stuff I'd ever seen. These guys seemed to attack each other, and then they'd just seemingly submit and fall over. It was ridiculous. It had to be a joke. My wife and I were whispering to each other that we were sure they were trying to make it look really cool for us so that I'd join up and they'd get my monthly dues. It looked like one guy would grab another guy, and suddenly without reason, he'd just fall over. Or, he'd grab a guy, and not let go as the person he was grabbing takes his arm and twisted it into any shape he wanted. Well, I was sure they were full of it. But, they invited me to attend the next night's class for free, to see if I was interested. I didn't have anything else to do, so I said "why not"?

My life changed that next night. This art cannot really be explained. It really cannot be illustrated either. It truly has to be FELT. I walked in there a true skeptic. I was certain that these people were deluding themselves into thinking that they had some "power" or "force" that could invisibly affect others. It wasn't until I actually trained with these guys and tried to attack them (I mean really attack them) that I realized how very real this was. Imagine being in a combative situation, and for no reason that you can discern, you completely lose your balance. Or, in that same situation, that for some unknown reason, rather than grabbing a guy by the throat, you somehow misjudged where he was, and instead grabbed nothing but air and while you did, someone was pushing you (suprisingly gently) to the floor. It's so difficult to articulate what it's like to feel this technique. It's very hard to learn, and it can be very frustrating trying to "get it". Our master says it took him 4 years to even begin to understand it. I can believe that, but it's still worth it.

I actually had the amazing opportunity to train with Sensei himself last March. We invited him over to teach us a seminar, and he graciously accepted. It's unbelieveable how great it feels to have your ass kicked by an 84 year old man!! The man is a living legend. If I had any doubts as to the realism of this art (which I didn't) training with Sensei dispelled all. This man could destroy anyone, period. He wouldn't unless necessary, he'd rather drink Sake with you, but if you attack him, you will regret it. I aspire to a fraction of his success. Well, I need to take off now. I trained for the first time in over a month tonight, and I'm worn out. Until later....