winter 2007 - United States Chito-ryu Karate Federation

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CHITO-RYU KARATE-DO NEWSLETTER WINTER 20072008 has arrived, a new year, perhaps a new start, or re-start.There were once two men who went to work for the same company on the same day, inthe same year. Twenty years, later one of the men was the head of his section within thecompany while the other was the president of the company. Both men were brothers,twin brothers, and they both had equivalent educations. What happened? The samething that happens every day in every aspect of our lives to similar people.The one brother (lets call him section leader Roger) had accumulated twenty years ofexperience while the other brother (lets call him president Nick) had also accumulatedtwenty years of experience. The difference was beginners mind; an oft discussed subjectin the martial arts. Roger had twenty years of experience - the same year over and over.Nick had twenty years of growing in the job. He became wiser and more proficient as hedeveloped into the man his boss was looking for.This year lets attempt to grow and learn, more so than in the past. Lets look at life as anadventure, and every day try to learn something new. Look at the world as a big present;a gift. Look, listen, experience and learn. Don’t take yourself too seriously, but take lifeseriously. It is all you really have; so use your karate-do to enrich your life. Be kind, treateveryone as brothers and always cultivate your beginners mind.continued #om #ont page...By: Wi!iam J. Dometrich, HanshiUS Chito-kai FounderAfter taking a post seminarpoll, perhaps “Akutagawa“should be pronounced “Ouch-I-got-ya”.In addition to the Saturdayseminar, Sensei Akutagawawas most generous with histime over the rest of theweekend. On Friday eveninghe sat with the NationalTest Board for the BlackBelt test, which lastedHead over heels, literallyseveral hours. Despiterunning late into the evening , he took the time to address each test candidate and gaveeveryone positive criticism and encouragement. Saturday evening was spent at thebanquet, and Sunday Sensei held and extra training session for the upperranked instructors.One would be at a loss to describe Sensei Akutagawa with just a few words, but somethe following come to mind: inspirational, motivational, budo spirit, excellent technique,and the open minded attitude of the great jazz improve saxophonist Art Pepper (youhad to be there). Finally, it goes without saying that this was one great Chito-ryu karateweekend. Thank you a thousand times to Sensei Akutagawa for sharing your time, yourknowledge, and especially special personality.Bonsai ! Bonsai! Bonsai!EDITORIAL:A MESSAGEBy: John F. We!brockHombu DojoTHE KARATE-DOSTAFFBarbara DometrichOkusan@chito-ryu.comEditor-in-ChiefHombu DojoCyna Khalily, MDCovington, KYCyna.Khalily@chito-ryu.comAssistant EditorYoseikan Taka no koLouisville, KYCONTRIBUTORSWilliam J. DometrichJohn F. WellbrockSherry KembreDon SchmidtJamie BinkleyJames AcamporaMichael MessingerRenea DunnWillie ElliottMina K. LudwigThe United StatesChito-ryu Karate-doFederation22 Martin StreetCovington, KY 41011859-291-7232www.chito-ryu.comUNITED STATES CHITO-RYU KARATE-DO FEDERATION PAGE 2
CHITO-RYU KARATE-DO NEWSLETTER WINTER 2007FOUNDER’S FORUMTitles, titles, and more titlesEgocentrism is rampant among exponents of modernbudo. All exponents at some time become embroiled inheated rivalries propagated by ambitious leaders vyingfor dominance of organizations that have been createdto further the progress of the various ryu. Examples ofthe failure of exponents to achieve spiritual maturityabound. Many exponents of today’s modern budo gropearound in a maze of classical traditions that they do nottruly understand. Many exponents of the martial artsexpect to reach a high degree of technical skill andleadership but ha ve failed in the most basicunderstanding of the essence of the art of budo. Manysenior students have been given key positions within anorganization only to fail as authority is thrust uponthem. They fail because their own self importancebecame more important to them than their sensei, orthe mission of the style and organization.The purpose of modern budo is to strengthen yourselfphysically, mentally and spiritually. To be better able toserve your sensei, your family, your neighborhood, yournation and the world in general. Ego is the biggesthandicap to proper understanding of the essence of themartial arts. The essence of martial arts training is notto finish; it is the trip. What then, does this have to dowith titles?When I first started in the study of karate-do over 50years ago I called my teacher “sensei”. Now we haveSensei, Shihan, Renshi, Kyoshi, Hanshi, Hanshi-sei andothers. Some more modern based styles have masters,grand masters and great grand masters. I was at the dojoone day as some of the older students were introducedto a visiting martial arts practitioner a few minutesbefore class started. It sounded something like this:“This is Renshi Murphy, I would also like tointroduce you to Sensei Jones and KyoshiJohnson. Those two working out together areShihan Rodgers and Sensei Green”.As this continued I began to feel as if I was in a MarxBrothers movie. The title Sensei has many applicationsin Japan. Doctors are Sensei of good health; lawyers areSensei of rules of society. Police are Sensei of socialorder. Because karate-do is a martial art, lets take a lookat the military for some guidelines. I address an Lt.Colonel in the Army as “Colonel” not LieutenantColonel. I address a General as “General” not BrigadierGeneral, Major General or Lieutenant General.In the martial arts, we should introduce everyone as“Sensei”. Sensei is a good word and sufficient for allpeople on all occasions. Introductions might sound likethis: “I would like to introduce you to the U.S. Chito-kaiChairman, Hawkins Sensei, or our U.S. Chito-ryufounder Dometrich Sensei. Lets stop wearing the titlesout - it is starting to sound like a big ego trip. One of thegoals of budo is to kill the ego.Lets stop feeding it, call everyone Sensei and you can’tgo wrong.Editors Note: About Japanese titlesBy: Wi!iam J. Dometrich, HanshiUS Chito-kai FounderThe titles we use in the US Chito-kai are those originatedby the Dai Nippon Butokukai in the early 1900s. According toPatrick McCarthy, the original titles were Hanshi and Tasshi.Tasshi was later replaced with Kyoshi (although Tasshi stillseems to be used occasionally) and the title Renshi was addedlater. The literal translations are inconsequential, but they allinclude the character “shi” which roughly equates to teacher orexpert, and then there are various iterations of “highlyqualified” or “well trained”. These are all “Shihan” or “masterteacher” titles. We like to say Shihan is to Sensei as Professoris to teacher. In Japan, Sensei and Shihan are used inconversation and salutations, the other titles are not. You willnever hear someone say “Hello Renshi Yoshida”. Much lesswill you ever hear someone refer to themselves by their title,or even as Sensei for that matter. “My name is SenseiBlowhard” is a totally unacceptable conveyance. It isacceptable to include someone’s title when introducing themand it is appropriate to include ones own title on officialwritten correspondence. But to sign ones own correspondenceas “Sensei Smith” is not appropriate.Also, in Japanese, salutations are usually placed after thename, as in: Nakamura Shihan. But they also tend to put thelast name first so I think that our western custom of using thesalutation first as in “Sensei Monkeyfoot” if not literallyprecise, is probably OK based on usual and customaryAmerican parlance. You will hear it used both ways in English.In the USCK our Renshi, Kyoshi and Hanshi titles are allcertified by the DNBK. Other organizations may use thetitles but they are not necessarily recognized by the DNBKThat being said, we will likely continue to call DometrichSensei “Hanshi”, mostly because we like it that way.CKUNITED STATES CHITO-RYU KARATE-DO FEDERATION PAGE 3
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winter 2007 - United States Chito-ryu Karate Federation

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