A New Weapons Connection
During the meeting, I noticed that there were dozens of weapons hanging on the living room walls. Isa Sensei had sai, kama, tonfa, nunchaku, etc. ... and they looked old. As an ardent weapons practitioner, I couldn’t leave without asking about them. He talked about each of them briefly and then handed me a pair of very old and extremely heavy sai and said Ufuchiku Sensei confiscated them from a bandit. Until now, Ufuchiku was just the name of some katas and a picture of a man I had seen in history books. I was beginning to realize more and more that this connection I was making with Isa Sensei was more than just another meeting with another Okinawan sensei. I felt a bond with him. I felt I could trust and respect him and, to my delight, I felt the same in return from him.

Isa Sensei told me about his lineage and historical connection to Ufuchiku Kobujutsu. Isa Sensei was the third generation of the Ufuchiku line. He had inherited the whole weapons system and Karamiti. During the transmission ceremony, his sensei, Kina Shosei, had passed down to him these sai that had belonged to Ufuchiku Sensei. Isa Sensei then told me a little about his martial arts experience. Isa Sensei began to practice Karate at age three and was taught by his grandfather in the village of Shimabukuro. He had two teachers after that who were both students of Ufuchiku Sensei, Kina Shosei and Tokashiki Saburo. At age eight, he became a student of Kina Shosei of the same village. From Kina Sensei he learned Shorin-Ryu Karate and Ufuchiku Kobudo. Kina Shosei was a very small man and a soft and kind person.
Isa Sensei’s third teacher, Tokashiki Saburo, was a very large and powerful man who was very strict and harsh in his training. Tokashiki Sensei taught Isa Sensei the practical bunkai for the Kobudo and Karamiti systems. Tokashiki Sensei was also a student of Ufuchiku Sensei but there are no pictures of him in any known history books. This is because during one of the training sessions that Tokashiki had with Ufuchiku Sensei, Ufuchiku accidentally cut his face open diagonally from forehead to chin with a sword. Tokashiki survived but not without a very nasty scar. After this, Tokashiki Sensei understandably became camera shy. He forbade any pictures be taken of him. Once, Isa Sensei took a picture of him and Tokashiki Sensei ripped the camera from his hands and proceeded to tear it into pieces. Tokashiki Sensei admonished Isa to never do that again, and Isa wisely promised that he would not.
Isa Sensei began to show me pictures of him with Kina Sensei accepting the title of third generation soke. Then he showed me a picture of a very lovely, nice looking woman dressed in traditional Okinawan clothing posing in a movement from a classical dance. As I was looking at it, I asked myself, “Why is he showing this to me.” Then Isa Sensei told me that it was him! He told me that he also has master’s rank in traditional Okinawan dance or “mai” and is the inheritor of that dance tradition as well. He then showed me another picture and a certificate. This picture was of him and his dance teacher accepting the title of soke and his master’s certificate.

A Very Serious Talk
To understand what happened next, I need to explain some feelings that I had stirring inside me while all this was going on with Isa Sensei. After the Pre-World-Championships, I was very angry and disappointed. The championships were a fraud, it was the worst thing I had ever seen. There was systematic cheating on Okinawa’s part and a person had died during the competition. It was a total flop and a disgrace.

Our conversation turned to the subject of rank. I told him that my rank was earned by working and sweating very hard. I asked him how he felt about people buying rank from Okinawan senseis. I told him that Okinawa had become a paper mill of high-ranking diplomas. Isa nodded in affirmation and said, “You’re right, some Okinawan senseis have sold out.” He said, “You train hard, you get rank,” it was as simple as that. What truly blew me away is that he said that no money would ever be exchanged between us. He was not interested in money for his lessons. It was at that very moment that I made a deep connection with Isa Sensei. I saw in him the old virtues that we all read about in the history books. I was very emotionally involved in the subject of this conversation. After losing both of my teachers who were truly great men, I was not sure if there was anyone left in Okinawa that I could call Sensei again.

However, as I sat in front of this man who was being honest and open with me, showed no vanity about the fact that he was a legitimate 10th dan, and had shown me more in half an hour than I had learned in years, I thought, “Maybe there is someone left on Okinawa worth following.”

Left: Kanagusuku Ufuchku, born May 7, 1829, died Oct. 13, 1920 at the age of 91. He was employed by the last Emperor of the Ryukyu Kingdom as a bodygaurd and was also the Shuri Chief of Police. Right: Shosei Kina, born January 5, 1981 at the age of 99. At the age of 20, Kina began training with Ufuchiku Sensei for 18 years untl Ufuchiku's death.

Sensei Isa demonstrates a technique of hiding the short blade of the Tinbe behind the shield. In this case the shield also serves as a hat. Using the shield to block the blade is suddenly thrust into an attack.