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Budoka 34
19th July 2002, 13:21
I'm interested to hear what practitioners of Shorinji Kempo think of Black Belt Magazines article on the art.
I can't wait for my subscription to expire!
This was the first article in over a year that I got anyhting out of.
They seem only interested in the NHB and Open Tourny style of martial arts. I hope the arts do not loose thier soul, as this publication has.

:smilejapa

Sammy Briggs
19th July 2002, 20:53
Mr. Kite,

What Black Belt Magazine article are you refering to?

Sammy Briggs
Hollywood Branch Dojo

Sammy Briggs
22nd July 2002, 06:20
Disregard my last message. I didn't know the mag was already released.

Actually my teacher, Kuramoto Sensei of the Hollywood Branch dojo is appearing on the cover of the September edition of Black Belt Magazine. The mag is due to be released on July 30th, although it should already be sent out to subscribers. Kuramoto Sensei also appeared in the June 1979 edition of Black Belt, along with Yamamori Sensei of the Los Angeles Branch. This older edition can often be found on e-bay.

Along with Kuramoto Sensei, kenshi Blue Johnson, Tony Cortina, and little bit of myself were fortunate enough to appear in the magazine as the "bad guys". The article was written by Blue Johnson, who not only is a gifted writer and recording artist, but is an all around great guy. Many may know Blue as the man partially responsible for the making of "Deep Within Each Man", Shorinji Kempo's theme song.

Mr. Kite, I too would like to see Black Belt Magazine stop focusing on the sport and tournament aspect of martial arts. Hopefully this is a turn in the right direction, and we'll see more of the "traditional" arts featured more regularly. We hope that a cover story on such a prominent magazine will help spread Shorinji Kempo further throughout the US, where it is still a relatively unknown art.

I would also like to say thank you to the Caltech and South Bay Branches for putting together an excellent seminar over the July 4th holiday. Everything was very well organized down to the very last detail. Even the weather was great!


Sammy Briggs

Kimpatsu
22nd July 2002, 07:47
Originally posted by Sammy Briggs
I would also like to say thank you to the Caltech and South Bay Branches for putting together an excellent seminar over the July 4th holiday. Everything was very well organized down to the very last detail. Even the weather was great!
Are you saying they can control the weather now? ;)

luar
22nd July 2002, 17:34
Gassho:

Well I already purchased and read that September issue. In fact, one of our kenshi gave a copy to our sensei in order to use it as recruitment material.

Anyway here are my comments on the article:

Overall I prefer the article that came out in the January 1986 Black Belt issue. Even though its quite old, I found that to be a highly in-depth overview of SK. You simply cannot help but do comparions between the two but on the other hand they can also complement each other too.

BTW, I happen to have that old article and if anyone likes, I can scan it into a PDF document and place on a website. Let me know

The 1986 article is much more of a layperson's perspective and not that of a practitioner. The new article is obviously written by a practitioner and his approach reminds me of the essays we have to write. I wish he could have talked more about the techniques more and wonder if he maybe his article was heavily edited by BB so that they can make more space for advertisers.

The only reservation I have is on the mentioning of Killing Machine. Yeah I know that's a Hollywood thing but I could do without it.

Needless to say I am happy to see at least we made the cover on this one and congratulations for Blue Johnson for seizing this opportunity.

Kimpatsu
24th July 2002, 00:47
Originally posted by luar
BTW, I happen to have that old article and if anyone likes, I can scan it into a PDF document and place on a website. Let me know
Yes, please, scan the article and post it for us all to read.
TIA and Kesshu.

Anders Pettersson
24th July 2002, 08:57
_||_
Gassho.

Here is a pic of the cover of the Black Belt Magazine.

shugyosha
24th July 2002, 18:49
looks good :)

Sammy Briggs
24th July 2002, 19:17
Yes, the article was edited by the staff at Black Belt Magazine, although I'm not sure how much (if any) info was taken out.

During the photo shoot, I belive five or six different technique sequences were shot. However, those who have seen the article know, they only used a couple. Kuramoto Sensei would like to have seen a few more techniques shown as well. In fact, we didn't even know what they were going to show in the article until the finished copy arrived a few days ago. Doesn't matter...we're happy with the article and belive it will serve it's purpose.

Thanks for posting the image.


Sammy Briggs
Hollywood Branch Dojo

Gary Dolce
24th July 2002, 20:11
Gassho,

Just a follow-up on Raul's comments - I too think that the 1986 Black Belt article is an excellent basic introduction to Shorinji Kempo. It actually was written by a Kenshi who was (still is?) a member of the Alberta Branch in Calgary. It is so good that I often give copies of that article to newcomers who are interested in finding out more about SK.

I look forward to seeing the new article when it hits the newstands.

By the way, there was an article on teaching children Shorinji Kempo that appeared in the Journal of Asian Martial Arts a couple of years ago by Sakuyama Sensei that I also highly recommend. The subject is much more specialized, but in many ways I think it is the best thing I have seen in English on the philosophy of Shorinji Kempo put into action.

luar
25th July 2002, 03:52
Originally posted by Gary Dolce
Gassho,

By the way, there was an article on teaching children Shorinji Kempo that appeared in the Journal of Asian Martial Arts a couple of years ago by Sakuyama Sensei that I also highly recommend. The subject is much more specialized, but in many ways I think it is the best thing I have seen in English on the philosophy of Shorinji Kempo put into action.

The Shorinji Kempo article Gary mentioned above is called Kon and Haku: The Spirit of Heaven and Earth in Children and appeared in Volume 9, Numer 2, in the year 2000.

Gary Dolce
25th July 2002, 13:23
Thanks Raul. I didn't have the reference handy when I was posting my message.

Kimpatsu
25th July 2002, 13:39
Gassho.
Any chance of posting these articles here, for all to read?
Kesshu.