I posted in a thread (https://facebook/cdnuccio/posts/754724804538397) about Chinen Shinzo Sensei a few weeks back that I had an interesting story about him, but didnt really have my thoughts together to explain at the time - and didnt want to do so in a hastily thought out thread comment. When I first moved to Okinawa, I had been training for several years in a form of traditional Japanese karate. My teacher, at the time, was an international WUKO referee and he recommended that I look for his friend, Chinen Senseis dojo, when I got to Okinawa. Once there, I tried to find Chinen Senseis Dojo with no success. I wasnt told his given name and Chinen is a fairly family common name in Okinawa. I struck out in my search, and instead, was able to join Miyazato Eiichi Senseis Jundokan dojo, where I trained for the rest of my time there and on many subsequent visits. A couple of months before I left Okinawa, I was talking to Chinen Shinzo Sensei, who was one of the seniors at the dojo. He was practicing kata and explained that he had just returned from refereeing an international event. After making the obvious connection, he told me that he was indeed friends with my original teacher, but I dont think it had occured to him that one of his peers would not have his own dojo. The good news is that, although I really never spent much training time with Chinen Sensei, I found the right dojo on two counts: it was the one that my teacher had sent me to find - and it was the one where I could learn from Miyazato Eiichi Sensei and his senior students. The fact that Miyazato Sensei was able to provide a training environment where even the most senior instructors, like Chinen Sensei, could make their home, is a great testiment to Miyazato Senseis character and to the value he created for his students of all levels. Every time I see a thread about how to keep your seniors interested and motivated in their karate training, I think about the environment that Miyazato Sensei created. No expanding curriculum, no special titles and clubs, no diversification of styles - just an environment where the best practitioners can conduct their training and research with each other in a self-directed manner, under the guidance of Miyazato Sensei and his representation of his own teacher, Miyagi Chojun Senseis teachings. This environment and collective group of seniors was the tremendous value he created for all who joined his dojo. It was good for the seniors, but as a beginner, it was also the most productive of training experiences as you were constantly immersed in excellence and experience. It was not uncommon to have regular one-on-one training with senior instructors who, anywhere else in the world could be leaders of large karate organizations, but were happy to be simple members of Miyazato Senseis dojo. All you had to do was to make an effort to train - show that you were worth their time - and there was no limit to their generous teachings. Priceless! Of course, I cant close this post without acknowledging that my current teacher, Taira Masaji Sensei was also a senior in Miyazato Senseis dojo. He is well recognized as one of the most innovative and yet technically grounded instructors of the contemporary karate world. Could he have developed his karate the same way in any other environment? Or would he have grown restless and put his innovation to work in another field. Something to ponder... So thank you to Miyazato Sensei and to Taira Sensei for continuing in his spirit of research and self-directed study. To my original instructor, thank you for putting me on the path to finding Jundokan... To Chinen Sensei, thank you and rest in peace...
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 19:25:52 +0000
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