Shotokan's Secret Book Club

[colinwee]

I thought that given this was on topic, a Shotokan's Secret Book Club may be good in order that we can discuss various sections and how they relate to our various styles and schools.

So welcome to the Shotokan's Secret Book Club. This part of the forum makes it easier to provide comment on the book and provide your feedback to Shotokan Research. If you don't have the book handy, I assume the other parts of the forum can jog your memory - or in time my own postings may prompt you along. Whatever it is, you are invited to add your two cents worth - share your own experience and knowledge and open up areas of the book that make sense to you and your style. Or dispute my own claims! I'm happy to have my contributions yay-ed or nay-ed. Be gentle on me!

Hopefully this is in line with what Dr Clayton is intending for his forum.

Regards, Colin

[colinwee]

Let me open this up.

I saw two or three email broadcasts in total promoting the book though I admit I was totally intrigued by the first one I received. I saved the information and read it at least a few times before ordering the book several months later. What caught me wasn't so much the title but that the accompanying text seemed to indicate some level of thought and diligence went into actual research and actual logic to accompany what appeared at the time to be a stupendous claim - that anyone was able to explain "where karate really came from and what its purpose truly is."

I was also drawn to the statement about shotokan being "obsessed with multiple-enemy scenarios". I hugely identified with this statement because of own experience and research over the years had made me hyper-aware of certain things, and this in turn substantially drove my own practice.

Lastly, I've got to say that the title is pretty catchy. Shotokan's Secret indicates that there is some hidden meaning and something that hasn't been revealed. This is totally in line with my own training and my own appreciation of martial knowledge - something that has been my own bugbear throughout the years. As I do pushup after pushup and kick after kick it has taken me such a long time to gain even a small iota of understanding and to internalise this knowledge. I was adamant that something was indeed wrong with the system; rather than wrong with my own perspective. Nowadays as I train students I'd rather tell them more about what they are doing rather than less upfront. This helps drive their own appreciation of training and to help them make their own mind up about the world around them.

Colin

[HanshiClayton]

Hi, Colin. Yes, it is on topic. Thanks for starting this thread.

I have to tell you about the title, though. The editors and I tried out over 80 titles. Writing a new title for a "Shotokan" book is hard. They have all been used.

Also, it can't be too long, or too wordy, or too obscure ("Ivanhoe"). It has to be intriguing. It must have the power to make a bookstore patron pull the book off the shelf to open it. I had no idea it would be so hard to come up with a title that the publisher would run with.

Shotokan's Secret

At least it alliterates.

My title was The Shuri Crucible, which was everything a book title should not be.

The first edition of Shotokan's Secret turns out to be the first half of the story. As you can see from the bunkai forums here, I have finished the second half of the story. I know what the Heians were about. More importantly, I know why they suppressed the applications. Once you see the overall syllabus, it is very plain.

[colinwee]

My title was The Shuri Crucible, which was everything a book title should not be.

Yeah, I'm not sure if I'd have been as excited with that title. The Shotokan's Secret had enough gumption to do the trick.

The first edition of Shotokan's Secret turns out to be the first half of the story. As you can see from the bunkai forums here, I have finished the second half of the story. I know what the Heians were about. More importantly, I know why they suppressed the applications. Once you see the overall syllabus, it is very plain.

It almost sounds like you're trying to convert me ...

I faced very much the same journey in 2002-2004, then finding myself putting a lot of my thoughts into a manuscript. I took a good year to finish that, but when I was done, I found out that what I produced was only the overview. It has taken me since then to flesh out my own syllabus. It's been painstaking - I had to draw a lot of figures sequencing out drills and applications.

Back to the book ...

I'd typically skip the Introduction of most martial arts books (in fact I had already skipped the Acknowledgements, About the Author, and the San Ten Sensei sections). I had a student once purchase a book on kicking by some famous Korean master, only to find to his dismay that the first 30 odd pages were filled with personal pictures of the guy with celebrities/dignitaries and performing kicks shirtless!

Shotokan's Secret however had an introduction written like one of the problem statements I faced whilst doing my Masters of Business coursework. Surely this wasn't some karate instructor trying to take on more than he can chew? That's refreshing. Someone who was ready to think independently and creatively about martial arts. Grudgingly, I admit the author is onto something and I scan the 'Author' and 'San Ten Sensei' section again before jumping into the book.

[colinwee]

You know, I've heard a lot of bulls*** about the martial arts ever since joining the martial arts - and I still hear it every so often. One of the best lies is that an art, such as the one I practice, has been in existence for 2000 years! It's refreshing to open a book and read something like this ...

"Hard-style karate was invented in the mid 1800s by the bodyguards to the king of Okinawa."

Now, that's different.

There are several key words that come out of that sentence alone, but the main thing beyond the specific date is that karate was identified as a system used by bodyguards.

How does this place your own practice? Do you use flippity flip techniques? Do you bounce here and there with your opponent? Would this work as bodyguarding skills?

Colin

[HanshiClayton]

What's a flippity-flip technique?

Here on the border between karate and jujutsu (in the most inclusive sense) the "bodyguard" applications are the ones that combine the two disciplines into the truly vicious "twist and shout" techniques. The karate lets you intercept the attack; the jujutsu lets you twist the enemy into some helpless position; and then the karate lets you ruin him. Some of the techniques would never be sanctioned by modern law. They aren't so much self-defense as they are summary execution.

And unarmed bodyguards would fight like that because the were out-weaponed and out-numbered, and they had to even the odds quickly. Therefore our adherence to the Waldow Principle, which holds that the "correct" application will not be harmless. It will do enough damage to put the enemy out of the fight.

No flippity-flip techniques. More like flippity-crunch or flippity-snap!

[Philip Sneyd]

I understand what Kyoshi Clayton means, that from a marketing perspective "The Shuri Crucible" is not so good (to attract an unfamiliar public), but I have to admit that I think it sounds cool, and after reading the book, very fitting.

Perhaps the new book could be called "Shotokan's Secret 2: The Shuri Crucible". I am kidding - I know it's a second edition, not a sequel, but "The Shuri Crucible" has a kind of movie title ring to it, doesn't it?

What do you think Dr Clayton? A movie based on factual events about the origins of karate in Okinawa might make for compelling viewing - possible future project you might be interested in?
 

[HanshiClayton]

If you want to play with the movie idea, ask yourself what actors you would cast? I'm having a little trouble picturing Jackie Chan as Matsumura. He might make a good Itosu, though.

The historical circumstances of Perry's visit to Okinawa provide a fertile background to a Shogun-like movie or mini-series. There could be some really nasty fights that everyone covered up in order to save face. Maybe that's why Perry ordered his officers to stop making personal journal entries!

I want to play Bettleheim, the scheming missionary.

BDC

[Philip Sneyd]

I think in his younger years Toshiro Mifune could have been excellent in the role of Sokon Matsumura, but I can't think of a modern, recognizable actor.
 
I know a lot of Japanese film and TV actors who would be great in certain roles, but they might be virtually unknown in America.

As for recognizable names in Hollywood, how about Chow Yun Fat as Kong Sang Kun, Pat Morita (Mr Miyagi) as the Regent Sho Taimu, Jet Li and Ken Watanabe as some of the major Peichin, and Russell Crowe as Commodore Perry?

If I was allowed to be in the film, ideally I'd love to play one of the Okinawans (so I could do some karate ) but even with makeup/prosthetics it probably wouldn't be convincing (too much of a gaijin) and hardly worth it. I'd be happy to play one of Perry's men, and perhaps help as an interpreter between the American and Japanese cast on the set.

"You might say I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one"    

[colinwee]

Matsumura? Sounds like a job for Willem Dafoe. He's wiry, and has a mean and crazy look. Check him out on Spiderman 1 http://spiderman.sonypictures.com/movies/spiderman/photogallery/stills/?p=2.