Bunkai and Storytime with Hanshi Perry

Hanshi Perry and I after class

Last night was Hanshi Doug Perry’s visit to our dojo, and he taught a kobudo class, followed by a karate class. I didn’t attend the kobudo session, but I was very eager to get into the karate session. In the class, we focused on oyo bunkai (personal applications of kata) for a couple Pinan kata, Gojushiho, Passai, Kusanku, Hakutsuru, and a kata that Hanshi Perry knows that I have never heard of or seen before.

Hanshi Perry explaining an application for Pinan Yondan

Since we only had a little over an hour, we went through things quite fast, but I noticed that most of the things he taught were things that he had gone over in his seminar last year. This class was very much a refresher course, with two or three extras. Obviously, in that amount of time we could not go through an application for every movement in every kata I listed above. What Hanshi Perry chose to do, for the most part, was teach concepts that could be applied to similar movements across the different kata. Hakutsuru was a bit of an exception, since its movements are quite dissimilar from the other kata we practiced bunkai for.

Hanshi Perry demonstrating part of Hakutsuru

If I had to say that there was something I did not like about the class, it was something completely unrelated to Hanshi Perry and his teaching–it was the partnering. Just like the seminar last year, all of the black belts immediately partnered with each other, leaving all of the mudansha (students ranked under black belt) to partner with each other. All but one other brown belt in the class were 14 years old or younger, and they all partnered with each other for the most part. I had really been hoping to work with an adult martial artist with as much (or preferably, more) experience as me, so that I could really dive into the material. I ended up partnered with an adult orange belt and helped him through a lot of the techniques, which is fine because I do love teaching and I have no problem working with less experienced people–it just wasn’t what I was hoping to do in this particular class.

Hanshi Perry clarifying a technique by demonstrating it on me

To be fair, I suppose it could be my wrinkled, creased, sweat-stained (but CLEAN!) uniform that turns off the higher ranks. As you can see from the photos, everyone else seems to have ironed their gi before coming to class, while I simply pulled mine out of the dryer. I suppose it may give a bad impression of me–that I don’t care for my uniform properly–but I see them as extra-durable workout clothes and vessi waterproof shoes for men, so I suppose I am a bit of a heretic.  That said, it didn’t stop Hanshi Perry from helping me during class, or answering my questions, so I must not be too terrible.

Hanshi Perry answering my question about Takemyoshi Sensei

At the end of class, I asked Hanshi Perry about his training with Takemyoshi Sensei (possibly Takamayoshi–that is how it is pronounced, but I always see it spelled the other way) in Okinawa. I have been very curious about that ever since I heard about it, because the Takemyoshi family has their own style of karate, and they do not teach it outside of the family. In fact, there is really no information about them online at all. While I didn’t get the chance to ask follow-up questions to fully satisfy my desire for knowledge on this topic, I did get some insight into it.

Hanshi Perry explaining his time with Takemyoshi Sensei

Everyone who attended class, minus Brent and Tiffany