Caveat: This post is mine and mine alone. I the author of this blog assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this post.
“ … Mokusō (黙想) meditation. Marines were not here too long, only one year. My father tried to make a song but it didn’t workout. He had to cut some of the training. … ” - Arcenio Advincula, FBW dtd 19 April 1999, Interview with Shinsho Shimabuku
Note: First, it cannot be determined why the comment about the Marines training was associated with Mokuso. I also cannot relate the three subjects in the sentence, i.e., Marines not here too long, Tatsuo-san not able to work out a song (a previous comment as made by Shinsho, i.e., “If you have a dojo, make a song. Shimabukuro Eizo (Ciso’s uncle) meditated before doing karate and sang before workout.” and finally Tatsuo-san had to “cut some of the training.”
This comment from Sensei Advincula seems to leave a lot to assumptions, assumptions the reader would have to take if the comment is not clarified by its author. When writing, it is best to make things as clear as possible so assumptions can be avoided.
If we take the three subjects separately then the first is about Tatsuo-san trying to create a song that would be representative of the current dojo and its Marine participants. We can only assume that the first comment about the time span Marines studied Isshinryu caused such changes that Tatsuo-san could not grasp a tune, lyrics and melody that would be adequate and representative of the dojo, etc.
I can also make the assumption that singing a song before training and practice at the dojo was also representative of his culture and beliefs as can be readily perceived by his ability as a fortune teller and so on but still, it is an assumption without further clarifications and historical factual proof.
The most important subject of this singular comment is the one about Tatsuo-san having to “cut some of the training” to achieve some unknown goal. From my personal understanding of my personal studies I can only assume that it was to meet the demands of the Marines who studied at his dojo, the demand that one make black belt before they left. Cutting the requirements to fit into the one year, or so, tour of duty Marines required on the island meant Tatsuo-san had to make changes to meet those demands. This led to the belief many Marines had that one could achieve the coveted black belt in “one year of study.”
This can also be explained why Tatsuo-san, in the beginning, presented some of the first generation students with a rank certificate at the Roku-dan, 6th level black belt, level with the caveat that “one must train for fifteen years before assuming that rank or level.” Even tho Tatsuo-san cut the requirements he wanted to attempt to stress and convey to those graduates that what they learned was not the full requirements and he was hoping, my assumption here, that they would continue their studies in the States until they finished the full requirements.
One of the reasons I tend to question everything I was taught is because a lot of that information is contradicted by the teachings of other factions of the Isshinryu American communities, i.e., the variances between the Nagle line, the Armstrong line, the Mitchum line, the Long and Wheeler line and the Advincula line. Personally, although I come from the Nagle line, I tend to lean heavily toward the Advincula line because what information he presents, mostly, tends to be more believable and somewhat validated by his efforts and the efforts of some very believable modern day practitioners who have gone the distance to discover the facts, historical, of Isshinryu (kudo’s to Andy Sloane).
Since this information is from an “Interview” rather than any written documentation by some officially recognized authority for historical data we have to be skeptical until some source, if ever, comes to light. It means we have to make a lot of assumptions regardless of the sources of video’s and interviews, etc. This includes this post and the information I present that does not have adequate references accepted by the whole martial community.
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