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Derek, when you began training in Okinawa at Ko Uehara Sensei’s dojo, were you the only foreigner there?
No, but the names of the few who came before me no longer appear on the dojo ranking board (nafudakake); one for lack of contact, and one for the shameful disrespect shown towards many Okinawan Sensei. Those foreign names that remain are there because they left a lasting impression on Uehara Sensei and the dojo itself. Larry Gonzales, of Darwin, Australia, although not named on the dojo board, also impressed Uehara Sensei and was fortunate to have Uehara Sensei travel to Australia to train him and his students.
I trained at the Uehara dojo the longest of any foreigner, however, and was the only one who fully understood Uehara Sensei’s motivation and embraced where his journey was taking him, for that was where I wished to go as well.
I had to be able to flow with where the different strands of Uehara Sensei’s thoughts, concepts and training practices were taking him, and be ready to accept or later abandon them should they prove to be less than satisfactory. Many found this process frustrating. I, however, found it inspiring and with this I developed the tools for independent and interdependent learning, something I promote among my students. I believe we must circulate through the process of being student, training partner and teacher — that is, learn, practise and critique, and reinforce — in order to develop our martial art.
It is a journey of discovery, but not everyone who trained at the Uehara dojo was prepared to look outside the very established box they had placed themselves in. Not everyone, particularly high-ranking local and foreign sensei, liked to be told, and have proven, their technique was less than efficient or just plain ‘wrong’. After 20-plus years of training, not many could accept they had wasted a lot of their time. For me, it was just part of the journey. My training had thus far brought me to this point and now it was time to ‘sand and polish’, refine and redefine. Most visiting instructors, however, chose to sit out of formal training sessions rather than fall under Uehara Sensei’s critique, and preferred to engage him in conversation while I taught their students. Some of these visiting sensei, however, use Uehara Sensei’s name without permission and often falsely, to improve their reputation within their home organisations.
Has this affected the Uehara dojo’s interaction with foreigners?
It has come to the point that Uehara Sensei no longer wishes visitors to come to his dojo or have his picture taken with them. Now also, as mortality threatens, he has no time for the questions of others. He has still many of his own to answer and so continues to train and research to that end with only his closest friends, namely Gushiken Shihan. Uehara Sensei has been involved in the evolution of his martial art because he wanted questions answered. He read through his extensive personal library and consulted other sensei, often challenging their ideas and straining his relationship with them. But, it was his collaboration with Miyahira Tamotsu Sensei that saw him stride ahead and develop his ideas.
I know Uehara Sensei has forged strong links with China and has researched the history and evolution of Goju-ryu/Naha-te [karate] for many years. Can you say anything about what he discovered?
Uehara Sensei’s philosophy has always been to develop ways in which to strengthen and make purposeful all aspects of Goju-ryu karate. However, Uehara Sensei saw flaws as well as dilution in current Goju-ryu practice and technique, and was motivated to seek out its roots in order to address them. He also noted how the hard techniques of Goju stressed the bodies of older practitioners, contrasting this with the suppleness of the Chinese martial arts and the age to which senior Chinese could vigorously practise and remain powerful. He thus sought not to look to the ‘hard’ techniques of Miyagi Chojun’s karate, but to the instruction and techniques received by Higaonna Kanryo to strengthen the fundamental base of his Goju-ryu; a style of karate that was formerly known as Naha-te, and before that Shorei-ryu, and was originally derived from Chinese martial arts. This type of thinking and behaviour is all in accordance with the principle of shu-ha-ri, (preserve-transcend-detach), whereby Uehara Sensei was at the stage of evolving and redefining his martial art.
In what specific ways was Uehara’s Goju-ryu developed?
We examined more efficient ways to generate power and a better process through which to deconstruct and define karate technique, as well as kata bunkai, understand its underlying principles, and link it to other kata bunkai. A lot of the internal mechanics of Goju-ryu were more deeply investigated and the external mechanics of movement and power-generation enhanced and made more fluid. The term Goju-ryu became less of the mainstream idea of separate states of ‘this’ then ‘that’, hard then soft, and more of a continual ebb and flow, a continual fluidity of power, like the flow of the sea against the shore. Thus our karate technique and kata is more fluid and constant, while our kata bunkai appreciates the mechanics of movement, distance, and free-flowing spontaneity of combative engagement. The techniques within a kata are not fixed, but flow through each other as the engagement presents each opportunity.
Most of all, I realised that mainstream Goju-ryu had been severely dumbed down. The higher aspects of the style were not being passed on and senior grades not being catered for, but rather being subjected to a continual cycle process of Kyu-grade level training. By being locked down to one basic level, senior Yudansha [Black-belts] were not fully realising their potential and that of their martial art.
You are the highest graded foreign student of Uehara Sensei and have established a dojo in New Zealand since returning home in 2004. Can you tell us a little about your dojo and what your aims are with it?
Uehara Sensei promoted me to Kanchō, Godan [5th Dan], in 2008. The Kanchō title is the only one he has ever awarded and is effectively an independent teaching licence.
At the moment, I train alongside my original instructor and now colleague Terry Hill, often switching between the roles of student, training partner and teacher. This situation works well for us and the dojo is really a place for the two of us to develop our martial art independently and interdependently of each other. It works well and we have made excellent progress thus far. Our students benefit through a trickle-down effect.
Originally chief instructor for the IOGKF [International Okinawa Goju Karate Federation, headed by Sensei Morio Higaonna] in New Zealand, later, along with his own instructor Ken Roberts (director) and colleague Grant Deed, Terry established Goju-Ryu Karate-Do New Zealand and became its chief instructor. Terry is currently a 7th Dan Shihan, and an extraordinary training partner and colleague, particularly with regards to bouncing ideas off and deconstructing kata.
I sought Terry out upon returning to New Zealand as I saw training alongside him was the best environment to further develop my own martial arts. Terry is an extraordinary researcher and practitioner as well as being mentally, physically and technically excellent. More importantly, Terry is open to the discovery and critique of karate, which is the level I wish to be training at. Right now I am still reinforcing Uehara Sensei’s teachings and so prefer to train at a certain level, which usually excludes Kyu-grades.
In addition to the SanBuKai dojo, I spend a lot of my time travelling to other karate dojo throughout New Zealand for the instruction of either, or both, karate and kobudo. It’s a great way of meeting other like-minded individuals, training with them, and nurturing and developing ideas. There are a lot of talented practitioners, intelligent conceptualists and avid historians out there. I haven’t gotten to train with them all yet, so there is much to look forward to.
Kobudo has allowed me to move between the dojo as an independent non-karate entity and bypass the isolationist politics that many karate schools engender. I enjoy the situation I am in where I can interact with so many Goju-ryu practitioners.
My future plans are to relocate to the capital, Wellington, and formally establish my own dojo, but every time I get set to go, something crops up that means I have to stay where I am.
The name, Jiki Shin Kan (Honest Heart Hall), is that the name of Uehara Sensei’s dojo, or yours, and are you the only person teaching under Uehara Sensei's guidance in this part of the world?
Japanese names can be awkward things to translate literally at times.
Jiki Shin refers to the ‘Unfettered Mind’, a mind that is clear and correct in its path and purpose, and yet able to flow freely and with spontaneity. It is also referred to as a ‘correct mind’. Uehara Sensei’s organisation is the Okinawa Shorei Bujutsu Kyokai (Okinawan Chinese Martial Arts Association), within which he promotes the Goju-ryu Jikishinkan is based at the Uehara karate dojo. My teaching licence grants me directorship of the Goju-ryu Jikishinkan based in New Zealand. So we both share the name, which is really an idea or approach to the practice we do; that is, a fundamentally clear and purposeful approach to the practice and evolution of Goju-ryu karate.
There is no one else, to my knowledge, under Uehara Sensei’s guidance anywhere else in the world outside Okinawa. To gain his trust and confidence, I had to demonstrate that I was of the same mind as him with respect to the promotion of Goju-ryu, that I understood his teachings and process, and that I honestly intended to promote his ideas, teachings, and methodology — and, in fact, go beyond them. Uehara Sensei was satisfied that I was.
If we are lucky in our karate, we may be fortunate to walk with giants for a while, but when they pass from this world, it’s not just about following in their footsteps, but continuing on the path of that journey ahead.
As well as karate, you also teach Ryukyu kobudo. Were you training kobudo before you went to Okinawa?
No, I didn’t know it even existed really. I probably had some vague notion, but didn’t know there was any more to Goju-ryu than the IOGKF until I got to Okinawa. Funny though, even today with the globalisation of information, many still choose to have their head in the sand regarding this sort of thing.
What is your connection to the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai (Ryukyu Old Ways Preservation and Promotion Society), and how does that blend with your karate?
Uehara Sensei was a director with the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai, although his views and outspokenness regarding technique had caused some awkwardness with other directors. I learnt kobudo directly from Uehara Sensei and his friend/colleague Gushiken Denmei Shihan, who was also in the hierarchy of the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai and on the grading panel of judges at that time. Uehara Sensei had received a teacher’s license from the then-president of the association, Akamine Eisuke Sensei, and, upon the president’s death, Uehara Sensei chose to disassociate himself from the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai rather than be caught up in the political restructuring.
Later, in 2005, I appealed to Uehara Sensei to allow me to re-affiliate with the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai once the organisation had undergone its restructuring. I did this as I wished to promote kobudo within New Zealand, and knew I would be unable to do this effectively if I did it as a karate sensei, due to the isolationist politics that many karate styles create. As a separate, non-karate entity — a kobudo teacher — I believed kobudo would be more widely accepted. Permission was granted in 2006, and Uehara Sensei asked the president, Akamine Hiroshi Sensei, to accept me back into the parent organisation.
To date, I am a practising member of the Okinawa Shorei Bujutsu Kyokai and a deshi [student] of the Uehara karate dojo, Goju-ryu Jikishinkan, and a member of the Uehara Dojo Kenkyu Kai [research organisation]. I am a practising member and the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai and the student of Akamine Hiroshi Sensei. I am ranked as Shidoin Yondan [4th Dan] and hold an instructor’s and a dojo licence within the RKHSK.
Are these organisations interconnected?
The two organisations are separate bodies. Uehara Sensei promotes a form of kobudo that I practise and investigate personally, but do not teach nor mix with Ryukyu Kobudo. At kobudo seminars I represent the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai, a non-political and neutral body unaffiliated to any other martial arts school or system. At karate seminars, and with my own personal karate training that I undertake with others here in New Zealand, I represent the Okinawa Shorei Bujutsu Kyokai as a member of the Uehara dojo Kenkyu Kai. This approach serves to distance me from, and defuse, any political posturing, and promote a less formal and productive karate research environment where all views can be looked at.
Regarding the techniques found in kobudo and blending it with my karate, the body mechanics are primarily the same. They compliment each other, promoting agility and fluidity. Uehara Sensei incorporates kobudo and karate alongside each other within his ‘style’. I concur with this syllabus for developing correct body mechanics for karate, and would teach tonfa at a Kyu-grade level to karate students.
Derek English
Facts & Figures
Organisation: Goju-ryu Jikishinkan/Okinawa Shorei Bujutsu Kyokai & Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai (Okinawa)
Chief instructor: Ko Uehara Sensei
Dojo name: SanBuKai
(New Zealand)
Rank: 5th Dan Goju-ryu,
4th Dan kobudo
Birthplace: Palmerston North, New Zealand
Year karate training began: 1985 (Goju-ryu)
First instructor: Sensei Terry Hill (IOGKF, University of Waikato Karate Club)
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