|
“Okinawa
journey"
by Shihan Anthony Marquez |
|
Even though I was born in America, a large part of me
considers home to be a place called Okinawa. I can still remember the
good old days as a young serviceman walking into a dojo for the first
time. I celebrated the 25th anniversary of that day on April 5, 1996. I
visited Okinawa in August 1995 and participated in the Pre-World
Championship, the precursor to the World Championship scheduled to take
place on Okinawa in July 1997. This visit changed my entire outlook on
Okinawan martial arts and, to a large extent, my future! I would like to
share this experience with you and I will start by providing some
background on my training and teachers.
Prior to arriving in Okinawa for the first time in 1971, I was stationed
in Japan with the U.S. Air Force for four years where I was heavily
involved in the Yoshukai Karate and Kobudo system headed by Yamamoto
Mamuro. I requested transfer to Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, and
began a journey that was to last eight wonderful years. During that
time, I was honored to have trained with some of the best teachers
available. My first and only Karate teacher in Okinawa was the late
Shinjo Masanobu, founder of the Shobukan Goju-Ryu Karate Dojo. From
Master Shinjo I received a rokudan (6th dan). My first Okinawan Kobudo
teacher was the late Kina Masanobu. I met Kina Sensei through another
serviceman, Robert Teller, who said that Kina Sensei was an excellent
weapons practitioner. Kina Sensei was a devout Christian, the nephew of
the legendary Kina Shosei. My training with Kina Sensei lasted
approximately 16 months. It was a very gratifying time for me. I had
many late night dinners at Kina Sensei’s home with my wife and found
that he was a very beautiful person. I learned two katas from Kina
Sensei, Ufuchiku no Sai and Tonfa. Unfortunately, he accidentally
drowned while swimming in the ocean. Ironically, he was an excellent
swimmer, and every Saturday after our workout he would go into the ocean
for his daily swim. I never received any rank from him.
My second and last Kobudo teacher was the late Kanei Katsuyoshi, founder
of the Jinbukan. Master Kanei was the finest weapons practitioner I had
ever seen. At the time I began training with him, he was the vice
president of the Okinawa Kobudo Association, which is headed by the
Matayoshi family. I was admitted into his dojo by a formal letter of
introduction given to me by my Karate sensei, Shinjo Masanobu. Kanei and
Shinjo Senseis were childhood friends. They both were Goju-Ryu Karate
students under Toguchi Seikichi. I received a godan (5th dan) and Shihan
certification from Master Kanei. I became the US director of the
Jinbukan upon my return to the States . Again tragedy was to follow my
path for I lost both of these wonderful teachers in 1992 within a period
of six months.
My 1995 trip to Okinawa had a two-fold purpose, the first was to take my
team of 16 Kobudo and Karate students to visit my old Hombu, the
Jinbukan, and see the man who is now in charge of the dojo. The second
was to try to find a gentleman by the name of Isa Kaishu. I had heard of
Mr. Isa and seen his photographs from my first weapons teacher, Kina
Masanobu. It was my understanding that Mr. Isa was an old student under
Kina Sensei. During the time I lived on Okinawa, he was in Japan
training to become a Buddhist priest. Since Kina Masanobu died while I
was on Okinawa, I felt that my weapons training was unfulfilled. The
many accounts that I heard of Mr. Isa always stayed with me and I
promised myself that on one of my future trips to Okinawa I would look
him up.
The Search Begins
One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when visiting Okinawa is
affordable lodging. I had problems finding hotel space for our large
group because there were many people on the island for the World
Pre-Tournament. During the second day of the championship, I was very
fortunate to bump into a gentleman by the name of Dan Smith. I found out
through our conversations that we had something in common, since he had
also trained in the Jinbukan. I mentioned that I was having difficulties
finding lodging and he said that his sensei in Okinawa had a lot of
property and he would ask if he could put us up for a few days. As luck
would have it, the sensei he was talking about was Shimabukuro Zenpo,
the head of Seibukan Shorin-Ryu. It being a small world, one of my black
belt students, Angel Lemus from Los Angeles, is also a Seibukan sensei.
Shimabukuro Sensei is a very wealthy real estate agent in Okinawa and a
very kind and generous individual. He put up our team at no cost in a
small double room apartment near his office. We found ourselves sleeping
elbow to elbow, which is a very good way to establish a good camaraderie
among your fellow students.
In Search of Isa
After the championships were finished, I was ready to look for Isa
Kaishu Sensei. At the time, I did not know his first name and I didn’t
know if I had his correct address. As a matter of fact, Angel had called
me up late the night before our departure to Okinawa and gave me an
address for Isa Sensei that he found in Mark Bishop’s book, “Okinawan
Karate: Teachers, Styles and Secret Techniques.” I was very fortunate
that Mr. Shimabukuro’s office was right across the street from where I
was staying in Okinawa City. I walked into his office one day and
explained to his secretary that I was trying to find a man named Isa.
She then looked up the name Isa in their version of the Yellow Pages and
found an address that was about five blocks away. She then asked Mr.
Shimabukuro’s nephew, who also works at the real estate office, to
take me there.
Upon arriving at the address in the phone book, we found that it was not
Isa Kaishu Sensei’s dojo or home. It was a Shorin- Ryu dojo but the
sensei there knew of Isa and provided us with his home address and phone
number. We called this number and to our surprise found Isa Sensei on
the other end of the line. The translator then told Isa Sensei that
there was someone who was trying to find him. Isa Sensei asked who was I
and what did I want? Through the translator, I told Isa Sensei that I
was an old student of his sensei, and ever since Kina Sensei’s death I
had wanted to find someone from this weapons family and pay my respects.
Upon hearing that I was a student of his teacher, Isa Sensei thought
that I must be a very, very old man. It turned out that Isa Sensei was a
student of Kina Shosei, the uncle of my teacher, Kina Masanobu. I made
an appointment to meet with Isa Sensei the following day at 9:30 am.
|
|
The author, Shinan Anthony Marquez stands in Sensei
Isa's dojo in Okinawa. |
|
Sensei Isa's living room was partly converted into a
very beautiful Buddhist shrine in which he conducts daily services. |
|
|
