Grand Master Donald Hugh Nagle’s Legacy
The American Okinawan Karate Association, Inc.
On November 7, 2004, the Don Nagle American-Okinawan Karate Association, Inc., held the first meeting of the new Board of Directors, with an amalgamation of several original members and new members, in order to fortify and diversify the Association for the new Millennia.
At the top of the Agenda, is a drive to gain new member dojos on an international scale, the better to partake of the knowledge held by Sensei's around the globe, while ensuring that the legacy of Tatsuo Shimabukuro, Soke and Grand Master Don Nagle will remain intact. We wish to memorialize the two men who brought Isshinryu into being and brought the art to America. We will not allow their memory to fade from view, but, instead, plant the seed of their accomplishments among the young students who will be the future of Isshinryu and the Sensei's and Masters in the coming decades, who will, in turn pass on the knowledge of what these two legends did for the martial arts.
We will accept, for membership in the legacy of this Association, those schools which either now teach the traditional Okinawan Isshinryu, as initially created by O’Sensei and Master Nagle, who became the embodiment of Isshinryu, or are willing to be trained to teach the original form of the Basic Exercises and the Kata. Having watched the deterioration of karate, in general, and within our sphere, Isshinryu, due to an increasing reformulation of the heart and soul of our art to gain points at tournaments, for the sole purpose of winning trophies, we require an intelligent approach to reassert the best in Isshinryu. The Soke created Isshinryu in the spirit of the Okinawans civil fighting tradition, for that is what Isshinryu is about, fighting in defense of an attack.
Winning tournaments is not to be seen as frowned upon or useless, since they have become a staple of our existence and can be a measure of a student’s progress and heart, as well as, a test of the Sensei’s ability to teach and reach his students through the Sensei’s accumulation of empirical knowledge. However, what is not acceptable is the deterioration of the venue in which the students are forced to compete. Poor side judges who are uncertified or inexperienced, Sinban who cannot control competitors or side judges, nor decide wisely what constitutes a snapped, focused punch or kick to a “target area,” as opposed to calling a point for a sloppy flurry of blows that would have no effect, in a realistic situation, just to get a match finished. We need to make sure that the Isshinryu member dojos have Sensei's that are either trained or trainable, in the manner in which Isshinryu fighters should be taught to fight, rather than the “new official” boxing stance of the kick boxing fraternity. We are Isshinryu practitioners, who use a variety of stances, oriental in movement and context, which show the opponent a variance in positioning of the hands and body. The hands must move in an opposite reaction to each other, in order to confuse and imbalance the opponent. The opponent should always be off balance, due to your movement and change of stance.
One of the most discussed problems at our meeting, was the shocking lack of defensive knowledge, wherein, the competitors often throw defense to the wind and simply assault each other simultaneously, often with blows that do not constitute crisp, focused strikes. In the AOKA, Inc. tournaments of the future, ineffectual blows will not be called as points, especially, if they are not delivered to accredited targets, which would do harm, to their opponent, if landed. They must bring a focused punch or kick into the assigned area of targets, snapped away within inches of the target, but with the arm and body of the throwing competitor close enough to have projected the blow fully upon the target, if it were allowed or required. However, absolutely no contact will be allowed at any Don Nagle AOKA, Inc. tournament. The tournaments will be formulated to be exciting, crisp, well officiated and totally unbiased. Any judge who cannot work under these guidelines can be trained, but at a tournament, if poor officiating takes place, either the Chief Referee or an Overview Official will remove the erring official.
The ultimate outcome of the changes that will be made in our tournament rules will be transitioned slowly into the rules, allowing both the competitors and the officials’ time and practice, within the dojos. The changes are aimed at creating Excellence within Isshinryu dojos, on an international basis. The basic fact is that, the tournaments, while interesting and pleasurable for the audience, are really for the benefit of the competitors. We wish to fulfill the promise inherent in any dojos very existence, “That the students will learn to defend themselves and, in the case of children, be safer while away from home, because of the knowledge bred of the martial arts.” Our initial step will be integrated within the next Don Nagle AOKA, Inc. Memorial Tournament. We will have the same format and levels of competition, except that the last event will be new, innovative and introduced at this tournament. To produce an overall upsurge of defensive capability, we will have a free of charge group of black belt kumite fighters, who will compete in a set of one point Ju-Kumite matches, with one final winner receiving a trophy worthy of this competition. The point will be made, that if we are teaching Isshinryu karate, as it should be taught and as it was created, defense should be the first priority. Eventually, the entire tournament could be presented in this manner. The matches would all be sudden-death matches, with good defense, stances of defense and attack coming from the katas and, not from kick boxing, with fast, focused blows of the hands and feet, to a realistic target area, with all offense snapped short of the target, demonstrating the control that Isshinryu has always taught. We hope that this spirit of Isshinryu will permeate to the dojo level, bringing a renaissance of the Soke’s creation, based upon speed, balance and focus. If this offering is received well by the audience and the Students, as well as the Sensei's, it will be introduced into layer by layer of the various levels of the format, until all Ju-Kumite is based upon one point. We believe that this will foster better fighters and, certainly better defense.
Our hope is that we can bring this to the individual dojos and promote Excellence in Isshinryu throughout our organizations. The tournaments, as a result of this new format, would be abbreviated, allowing the AOKA, Inc. Tournament to insert various exceptional demonstrations of other martial arts, plus Isshinryu and Hand-to-Hand combat, for the pleasure of everyone within the tournament, as well as the audience. It will spell the end of the endless tournaments that drag on, but instead, be replaced by a crisp set of matches and extraordinary demos, by top Masters and their teams.
The Don Nagle AOKA, Inc. is not pointing fingers or blaming the Sensei's for this lowering of standards. It was simply an evolutionary occurrence that took place over several decades. During that space of time, it was inevitable that the influence of tournament fighting, in conjunction with the introduction of kick boxing, would culminate in a demonstrable diversion from traditional training in the style of Okinawan fighting. In the late 50’s the katas were referred to, in magazines, as, “the dance of death.” The stances were obviously influenced by the interaction of Okinawan and Chinese cultural exchanges. When Shimabuku created Isshinryu, he eliminated what he felt was superfluous to the action of kumite and preached the relaxed stances, which created focus, through speed and proper balance, in concert with the practitioner’s Chi. Slapping someone on the shoulder, to gain a point from a bored and tired judge, is a far cry from the esprit of Okinawan karate. Slowly, but surely, the fighting lost technique and the power inherent in karate. The final blow, in so far as Mr. McGrath is concerned, was some of our Sensei’s marveling over French fighters, who upon the signal to begin, rushed at their opponent and tried to beat their opponent to the first strike. It did not occur to anyone enthralled with these performances, that simply stepping to the side and striking from an oblique position, made this practice unrealistic.
When a Sensei opens a dojo, it is implicit in the fact that they are teaching what was called the civil fighting tradition, in Okinawa and China, in days gone by, therefore, the student will learn to defend themselves, creating a shield of martial knowledge and safety, with an enhanced awareness. We believe that the teaching within the dojos, utilizing one point matches, will renew defensive ability and focused attacks, thereby fulfilling what we inherently state that we will do for the student.
We realize that this transformation, both at tournaments and at the individual dojos, will require the enthusiasm of the Sensei's, to teach Excellence, as well as practicing for Certification in judging such matches. The problems to overcome are difficult, but not impossible. We do not wish to impose our will on someone else’s’ dojo, but simply set an example of grooming officials and Sensei's to fulfill the dreams of Sensei Nagle and Soke Shimabuku. We pledge to Isshinryu practitioners that we will do our very best to bring the best of karate at all of our member dojos. We will always be open to your suggestions, so feel free to voice your opinion.
The drawback in the one point system, that was pointed out by the Sensei's with experience in hosting Tournaments, is that the parents of young competitors in kumite, who pay the fee for their children’s participation in the event, would be upset if, after paying the entrance fee, their child lost the match after only one point delivered against their child. However, it is Master McGrath’s feeling, that if the parents understood that this evolution in kumite, would spawn a new generation of youngsters who were taught the principled basic foundation of excellence in defense, thereby assuring these youngsters the ability to truly defend themselves, in a real world attack, we will have met our goal. This would therefore elevate the tournament fighting and ensure the real life safety of these young competitors. He believes that the parents would understand the benefits of this system for their children. We would like to hear from the parents, regarding this innovation.