Enfield JSK Karate Club
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Hanshi Patrick McCarthy
Seminar 13th+14th March 2004 Report by Paul Shephard /Course photo's by Will Blake + Colin Cottrell Approximately 85 karate-ka attended the 2nd JSK seminar with Patrick McCarthy (the last being in the mid 90's), including 20 from the Enfield dojo, making us by far the largest JSK club attending .I think we can be proud of that fact as it shows that our people have really taken on board the tegumi and flow drills that we have been practising for quite some time now. The fact that "Aragaki Seisan" has now become a JSK grading kata also speaks volumes about the way the association is heading now. Sensei McCarthy arrived at the dojo with sensei Perry looking fresh and relaxed, (which was remarkable considering he'd only flew in from Oz the day before) and proceeded to give a one and a half hour lecture on his philosophies and theories regarding the practise and evolution of shotokan karate. This was given with great humour and passion, and quite honestly I would pay just to go and listen to him speak, such is his knowledge of this subject. I had never realized that he had trained quite extensively in shotokan, including training at the JKA honbu, and was friendly with a number of shotokan masters (including Kanazawa sensei). The first sessions were for all grades. Sensei Perry had asked sensei McCarthy to cover the Heian katas in detail, and if anyone still thought the first gedan barai in Heian Shodan was a block against mai geri, they were in for a shock. I can't remember how many applications we did for that 1st move, (it was a lot!) but none of them were blocks against mae geri. All the other Heian katas were studied, and what became apparent was that kata is a memory aid and it matters not what order the applications are studied in, as they are individual defences against the "Habitual Acts of Physical Violence" HAPV. All kata techniques should be addressed to the 36 HAPV and their variations. In the yudansha only session we were taught a very clever flow drill from the kata "Tensho" which sounds like we didn't do very much, but believe me it was enough. So the first day ended with much to think and talk about over a beer and a curry. Sunday started in much the same way with an hour long lecture on the development of karate in Okinawa the changes that occurred when Funkoshi Gichin and others took it to the Japanese mainland. This was a powerful lecture on the Japanese psyche and may have been uncomfortable listening to some of our guests from Japanese associations. Although sensei McCarthy stressed his love of Japan and it's culture, he had some hard hitting criticism of Japanese society and the arrogance of some of the so called masters. But he said most of the problems come from their foreign students who find what he does as an attack on everything that they hold dear. For example the grappling, ground work, and seizing applications to kata and
tegumi were said to be "made up". Like all truths, 1st they are
ridiculed, 2nd they are violently opposed and 3rd they are accepted as always
having been so! The training part of the day was made up of the applications to the kata
"Kanku dai" and to the great delight of all Enfield students,
sensei decided I needed a 1st hand knowledge of them. I will be checking to
make sure they all remember them in the very near future! For those JSK members who wish to learn more I would recommend the videos that sensei McCarthy produces, and joining the IRKRS to gain access to his members only web-site which is packed full of useful information. |
