Myth, history and Mas Oyama
Reading about the Judo tournament that judo might not have won and Shorinji Kempo vs Tai Chi on a couple threads recently got me to thinking. I am not going to comment directly on those threads but hopefully give my thoughts on the overall value of stories in martial arts, true, false or exaggerated.
A couple of years ago on karate underground forum someone who had obviously watched Sonny Ciba's Champion of Death asked about the karate master who defeated all challengers. I knew he was talking about Oyama Sensei but someone quickly replied,"Which one didn't defeat every challenger, how is it these guys never ran into each other?"
A lot of Mas Oyama stories inspire you to train harder, to look for deeper levels and to really challenge yourself. The Bullfights, the challenge matches all over America, the 300 man kumite, etc.
The year in the mountain training alone should draw us all into thinking of the value of our solo training. If you are not in a position to go to class for a variety of reasons why not run through some kata or kihon? Are you honestly going to get worse by starting up again? This is the only Oyama Sensei story that has a negative side. Oyama Sensei supposedly abandoned a pregnant girl friend who later became his wife to do this. Wrong, if true, no matter how great your karate, responsibilities first. Anything else is really anti-budo.
The challenge matches in Thailand. Detail change about how high a level the Thai Boxers were and how many Kyokushinkai fighter won but I think everyone agrees they were the first Japanese Karateka to fight in Thailand under Thai rules. Talk about going outside your comfort zone.
Then there are the stories that make us think about levels beyond where our current training takes place. Oyama Sensei said there was one opponent he could not defeat a Tai Chi master named Chen. Different people speculate this might actually be Kenichi Sawai Sensei of Tai Ki Ken (actually a Japanese interpretation of Hsing-i Chuan not Tai Chi Chuan). Some place I read where Mas Oyama told a reporter he did mean Kenichi Sawai one day then told him the next day it was Chen, and chuckled.
Another story is Jon Bluming Sensei one of Oyama Sensei's toughest black belts breaking his fist punch Wang Su Jin in the stomach. Another story that talks of a higher level.
So my point is this, actual martial arts history is full of uncertainties. Things we cannot know for sure, one way or another but stories are valuable if they:
1. Inspire us to train harder
2. Inspire us to train outside our comfort zone
3. Inspire us to look to other arts with respect and interest.
stories can be bad if they:
1. lead us to be irresponsible human beings
2. lead us to feel narrowly about other arts feeling our lineage has all the answers
3. promote violence
The choice is ours especially if we are adults. The story can be the same but what we get from it is up to us.
Respectfully, Len McCoy
