My history in the martial arts. In the year of 1975 my parents put me in the YMCA Karate program when I was 6 years of age. My instructor was Sensei Larry Posey who was part of the Toronto Academy Of Karate and the class was taught both in English and Japanese. I was terrified of not knowing the Japanese as a 6 year old and asked my parents if I could drop out. They agreed and in the year of 1979 I rejoined the school at 10 years of age and picked up where I left off at yellow belt in the style known as Washin Ryu Karate Do. Sensei Posey was the top student of Dr Burt Konzak the founder of the Toronto Academy Of Karate and Dr. Konzak was a student of Hidy Ochiai. The classes were very strict we had to show our report cards and if our grades dropped we got in trouble and sometimes demoted for a short time. I made it up to the rank of blue belt my favourite belt to this day and I asked my parents if I could join something which was open more than once a week. I joined a school called Aiki Kempo Karate Do and was introduced to Sensei Walton Edwards. The chain of schools I believe were owned by my other Sensei Ken Hayashi who was a student of Masami Tsuroka. There were approximately 10 high ranking Sensei who ran the chain of schools and the system of Aiki Kempo Karate Do was an eclectic style combining the arts of Shotokan Karate, Chito Ryu Karate, Goju Ryu Karate , American Kempo Karate , Aiki Jiu Jutsu, Don Ryu Jiu Jutsu , Way of the winds Ninjutsu , and small circle jiu jutsu. I remember as a teenager having the keys to my teachers office and sneaking inside the office and looking at all of Senseis certificates. Walton had studied with the likes of Richard Kim, Wally Jay, Don Jacobs, Ronald Duncan the list goes on and on. At the time he was awarded the prestigious rank of 4th dan and back then that was something , his black belt was almost white and all tattered from wear and tear. As a punishment for bad behaviour we would be forced to stand against a wall and stand in Kiba Dachi horse riding stance until we could not take it anymore or the dreaded endless knuckle push ups outside in the parking lot. Names like Frank Ruiz , Ronald Taganashi were brought up. We often had guests show up to the dojo from Don Jacobs school and from the Way Of the Winds Ninjutsu school. I was now a brown belt teaching classes and was amazed at the things I was learning I had seen the ninja in the mini series Shogun but never dreamt that I would have the opportunity to learn things such as that. I never received rank from the guest instructors just knowledge. No fancy certificates just a pat on the back and a hand shake and cleaning up our bloody noses and fat lips. There were no Ninjutsu schools around but I was so in awe of the mysterious ninja and loved the Sho Kosugi movies and the television show called the Master. I eventually received my second dan in this hybrid art called Aiki Kempo Karate Do and begged my father if I could go and buy a ninjutsu outfit from a store called CKT sports in Toronto Canada. The other martial arts store Warriors did not sell them. i was not ranked at all in ninjutsu but had learned so much from the guests and just had to have this fancy suit. I went to the store with my father and the owner picked out a suit for me and this man behind the counter a friend of the owner said are you into Ninjutsu I said no but I am in awe of the art. This man showed me some techniques and I was in awe I later found out the man was Robert Law and was part of a ninjutsu organization. The ninjutsu boom all of a sudden came our way and many of my friends left our school and head for Dayton Ohio to train with the new Ninjutsu guru Stephen K Hayes who had been taught as we were told by a mysterious Ninja Grandmaster. We were all so excited but I did not take the venture and stayed with my school. Many of my friends are now high ranking Shihan in the Bujinkan and have never looked back. I took a different route and got a government job where my dream came true and I got paid to teach martial arts to law enforcement officers , Security officers, anyone who worked in some form of law enforcement capacity. I was then introduced heavily to the art of Jiu Jutsu around 1995 and met the great John Docherty who taught me Taiho Jutsu. He developed a unique curriculum designed just for law enforcement in which officers could neutralize a threat with pain compliance techniques , flashlights used with the art of kali/escrima/arnis. His instructors were all over the world Remy Presas, Richard Morris, Robert Clarke, Shoto Tanemura. At this same time I wanted even more knowledge and joined a Kosho Ryu Kempo school and Yoshinkan Aikido School and received high kyy ranks in these arts but dropped out since I was doing too much. I was also training with my co workers who were brought into the unit who had various skill sets. The co workers were trained in Jeet Kune Do, Kali/Arnis/Escrima, kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu Jutsu, Traditional Japanese Jiu Jutsu so we cross trained and taught each other and this lasted for 5 years one of the best experiences of my life. Some of my best experiences were sparring my Jeet Kune Do friends since they were extremely good at dealing with all ranges of fighting and it was extremely hard to get in close to them and I saw unique kicks I had not seen before from the art of Savate. In the year 2000 I pursued the art of Taiho Jutsu even further and became affiliated with the British Taiho Jutsu Association under the late Tim Burton Sensei and the late Brian Eustace Hanshi. I am truly blessed I am not a master by any stretch and will always consider myself a student no matter what rank I attain. My father was a Cabbage town boxer and also an amateur wrestler with Whipper Billy Watsons boys athletic school and my father had also trained in Aboriginal Canadian Wrestling and showed me things when I was young. His uncle Bill was one of the first Canadians to achieve the rank of Black Belt in Jiu Jutsu after he had fought in the World War and both peaked my interest in the martial arts. To sum it up I met Henk Jansen from Holland considered the father of Canadian Jiu Jutsu and to show you how small of a world it is it turns out he is the best friend of my father in law , due to his advanced age he could not show me physically techniques but shared his techniques and thoughts with me verbally. I have received rank over the years not because of how good I am but due to politics and how much have you helped the art. I truly believe after 4th dan it is politics and I have been tapped out much lower ranked martial artists and I am not ashamed of that since everyone has a bad day or you still have to learn and the day you feel you are a Grandmaster and no longer wish to train is the day to hang up your dogi and move on since your ego is too big. I met Greg Park through you tube and was fascinated with this art of his called IN SOOL and sought him out and he gave me an HONORARY black belt in his art. I am not formally trained in IN SOOL. The concept was that under Gregs organization we - a group of martial artists would share our martial arts for free of various styles under his IN SOOL martial arts organization. I have to be honest I do not believe Ninjutsu just stops at the Bujinkan and that is it. I have the utmost respect for Hatsumi Soke and would be honored to learn from him but I have seen others do miraculous things with similar movements of Hatsumi Soke prior to the Bujinkan coming to North America. I also believe Toshiro Nagato will be the next leader of the Bujinkan just my humble opinion. My goal now is to train smart due to my disease and study with Grandmaster Chen Zhiqiang in the internal Chinese Arts and learn the combat aspects of Tai Chi. I was taught by my teachers to live by the core values of life and to treat people with respect the way I would want to be treated.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 21:30:39 +0000
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