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126 pages

English

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Publié par	Sea View Media
Date de parution	15 février 2016
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781783018956
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

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A K ARATE S TORY
Thirty Years in the Making
Seamus O Dowd
2016 S EAMUS O D OWD
1st edition
ISBN: 978-1-78301-895-6
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means-graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems-without the prior written permission of the author.
Published by N INTAI P UBLICATIONS
Printed by CreateSpace
C ONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Author s Note: do, jutsu or sport?
Foreword
Prologue - 30 Years
1. The beginning
2. White Belt
3. Competition
4. Inspiration
5. Coloured Belt
6. Justice
7. Becoming a Black Belt
8. Wilderness Years
9. Shin-Do-Kan
10. Aikido Back to College
11. T ai Chi
12. Toronto
13. Back Home
14. A Special Year
15. South Africa 1997
16. Back Home - Again
17. 1998 European Championships
18. Japan at Last
19. Gasshuku
20. 3rd Dan
21. Frustration
22. Kanazawa Sensei at Seventy
23. Kanazawa No Bo
24. George
25. Bucket List
26. No Bow
27. International Championships
28. Sensei Stan
29. South Africa 2002
30. Japan 2002
31. Christoph
32. 2004 - London Scotland
33. Valdosta
34. 2007 - Derrick s funeral
35. USA
36. 2008 - Japan
37. 2008 - Making the DVD
38. If you build it
39. Athens
40. SKIF Bo-Jutsu
41. Spirit of the Empty Hand
42. Pink Karate
43. Simple Pleasures
44. Teaching Seminars
45. European Championships 2014
46. C.W. Nicol
47. Preparing for 6th Dan
Afterword
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the following people who have helped me along the way, in and out of the dojo.
My mother (Myra), father (Mattie) and brothers (Brendan, Des and Enda).
My wife, Nicola - my soulmate.
My children, Conall, Cliona, Aisling and Alva - my inspiration.
My first Sensei, Ray Payne, and all at Bandon Karate Club, past and present.
Kanazawa Soke, all of the SKIF Honbu Dojo instructors, and my many friends in SKIF all over the world.
Sensei Stan Schmidt, Sensei Dave Friend, and all my friends in the JKA in South Africa and Australia.
Garry Cashman - my karate brother.
All my students at Shin-Do-Kan, past and present.
The members and committee of SKIF Ireland, and especially Kevin Sullivan for all of his help.
Ruth Callinan and Djinn von Noorden - for their assistance in editing this book.
D EDICATION
I started writing this book while taking my turn watching over my father when he was ill. I tried writing some articles for my blog, but my mind kept wandering back to my younger days, so I ended up writing about the past. Before I knew it, I had written a big chunk of this book, and I decided to just keep going.
I am well aware that there are many people in karate who are far senior to me, and who have had far more interesting experiences than I have. This book was written as a personal account, and if people enjoy reading it then all the better.
I dedicate this book firstly to my father, Mattie O Dowd (RIP) - my first hero.
I dedicate it secondly to my sensei, Kanazawa Hirokazu Soke - my second father.
A UTHOR S N OTE: DO, JUTSU OR SPORT ?
There is a lot of debate among karate-ka about the differences between sport karate, karate- jutsu and karate- do . Any of the three may be referred to by the common name: karate.
Sport karate is the participation in tournaments. Sport karate itself is neither good nor bad. Whether it becomes a good or bad experience depends on the attitude of the participant.
Karate- jutsu is the art of using karate for fighting. It is about effective karate , and what works in a fight situation.
Karate- do is the art of using karate as a way of life. It is about developing the individual as a person: to seek perfection of character .
For ease of reading, I use karate throughout this book. However, I try to primarily study and follow the art of karate- do .
F OREWORD
W hen I first saw that Seamus O Dowd had written a book I was surprised, because I always think of him as being quite young. Sometimes we lose track of time and the years go by more quickly than we realise. Seamus has now been a student of SKIF for thirty years, and I have known him personally for much of that time. I first visited his dojo in Dublin around twenty years ago, and have visited there many times since. He has trained with me not only in Ireland, but in many other countries too. He also has been to Japan for training for extended periods on more than ten occasions.
Although I have known Seamus for many years, he has never stopped learning and growing his karate. Many years ago when I first visited Ireland, long before I knew Seamus, I realised Ireland had poor etiquette. I asked Sensei McCarthy, the first Chairman of SKIF Ireland, to work to educate the students in Ireland, and it greatly improved thereafter. Ireland is now a leading country in showing respect and karate etiquette. Seamus clearly understands the values of correct etiquette, and this has helped him in his study of karate, and on his travels to many dojos around the world. He has great knowledge and is always willing to speak and work with karate-ka who want to learn. I do not hesitate to applaud his eagerness and hunger to grow his personal karate, for as we say, a karate-ka should never stop learning.
When I wrote my autobiography it occurred to me it was not only my story, but also about the people and karate-ka who directly affected me, good and bad. Within this book, I can see how Seamus has also been influenced by people, especially his father, mother and brothers. This I can closely understand too, for family is a strong bond.
I have said many times that in SKIF, the F stands for family. A Karate Story demonstrates this philosophy very well. Through training in karate, Seamus shows that he has not only friends, but also karate family, all over the world. This is the spirit of SKIF, and is very important. I am always happy when I see my students coming together for tournaments or seminars because I know that every time our bonds of family become stronger. From hard training we learn about humility, loyalty, respect and honour. When we train hard together, these characteristics become the basis for our relationship, and this is what makes us family. I hope that this philosophy will remain a core principle of SKIF for many years to come.
Seamus has been a help to SKIF and to me personally by promoting an area of budo training that I consider to be important. Training in my Bo-Jutsu system, and also T ai Chi, will be a benefit for all karate-ka, because these will help students to reach a deeper understanding of karate and my karate system. All martial arts are connected. For this reason, SKIF has included a Bo-Jutsu and T ai Chi system and grading syllabus for several years and I recommend that all members of SKIF study both Bo-Jutsu and T ai Chi as part of their karate training.
I hope that all readers of this book will enjoy it, and will be inspired to train hard in karate, in order to reap the many benefits detailed in these pages.
Kanazawa Hirokazu, Soke Shotokan Karate-do International Federation Japan, 21 st November 2015
P ROLOGUE - 30 Y EARS
One day about ten years ago Sensei Ray Payne was enjoying lunch at the bar of his favourite pub. There was only one other customer - an old man sitting at the opposite side of the bar, having a pint. The old man looked at Sensei Ray. Are you still doing that karate stuff? he called across the bar.
I am, replied Sensei Ray with a smile. I ve been practising now for thirty years. I m still trying to get good!
Thirty years and you still don t know it all? said the old man thoughtfully, while taking a sip of his pint. Well, you must be very slow.
That dry wit summed up how a lot of people feel about martial artists, and their lack of understanding of what we do and why we do it.
Thirty years seems like a long time. In many countries it is longer than a life sentence in prison. It is longer than an entire career in some professions. And yet, in karate terms we are barely more than beginners after three decades.
The reason for this is because we don t do it in order to know it all, or finish it, or master it. It is something that becomes a part of how we live, like eating food and breathing air. It is no more an achievement to me that I have been practising karate for thirty years than that I have been eating food for forty-six years.
And yet, it is nice to look back over the last thirty years and remember how far I have come, which also helps me realise how far I still have to go.
1. T HE BEGINNING
I was born in Dublin on 11 August 1969, and lived there for the first few years of my life, but then my family moved to a small town called Bandon, twenty miles west of Cork City, and that is where I grew up.
I started karate training at the local karate club, but my beginnings were humble, to say the least: actually, I didn t really want to start at all! This was as a result of my earlier experiences as a child. I am one of four sons. Brendan is the eldest; Des is two years younger; I came along another two years later; and finally Enda was born four years after me.
I didn t really like sports as a child. It is only now when I look back that I realise why. Des is an excellent sportsman. He was good at whatever sport or game he played and was always on the first team. Football, hurling, soccer, rugby - you name it. He even played tennis, basketball and badminton, which were considered minority sports where we come from. Being two years younger than him, when he moved up an age group (from under-tens to under-twelves, or under-twelves to under-fourteens), I moved up into his previous group.
The coaches would look at my name and say, Great, you re Des brother, and put me straight on the team. But I am left-handed, and was not as coordinated (or as talented) as Des. Invariably, after a couple of