The late 70's were a difficult time. As I mentioned Kise was finding he would need to water down his Art. The only thing important was the number of students he could recruit. He began to undermine the association when he ask me to approve black belt rank with out seeing the persons ability, this went against everything I had been taught and against the teachings of my own dedicated students. Remember, these certificates had my name on them, along with the sensei Kise and Soken, I felt rank for the sake of money was not right. Between 1976 and 1978, I also saw a difference in the type of Karate instruction being taught, a easier, less hard, less real, one that leads you to believe it was simple, different than ever that of the early 70's. I confronted Kise, he agreed to continue to teach a higher standard. However, in 1978 a call from a person in Pa. would end that, he told me that he had been promoted to a higher rank plus being appointed the position of East Cost Representative, and he had been given certificates to promote other in the SMOKA name without ever notifying me. That was the straw that broke this guys back. I informed Kise that I could no longer head up SMOKA and notified the member dojo's of my decision.
This was a hard and difficult thing for me to do, for I knew I was loosing my teacher. I did not like the out come, but it was give up what I had trained so hard for, or, pretend that these changes didn't matter, that the students didn't need to continue to train hard and learn the real, or complete system, just small parts here and there, learning different katas, seeing it replaced with the easy, just for money. Of course this brings more students into the association for is easier to get rank. Just look at the individual that gained high ranks that have little or no additional knowledge, given or earned, does that teach one to be able to defend one self, or make them real? NO.
Remember, Kise and Soken represented to me a student, teacher relationship, but even more than that, on Okinawa, I met their families, went to their homes, had meals with them, went to bars, and even at times slept at their homes or dojo's. I lived off base with an Okinawan woman for almost three years, living the same as the Okinawan did, eating the same foods, talking the same language, I became like a family member to Kise, I felt very close ties, to him and his family, and some of the other Okinawans as well.
It was hard for me to except the changes, at the time I couldn't have felt their personal anguish, leaving behind their own love for the Arts and honor, just for money. Now that I can look back and see the picture more clearly, I'm glad I choose the path that I did. I didn't compromise what I had, I was able to take my Art to the next level, and continue to improve what I was taught.
Today, there is little left of the Art that I learned in the 60's, the need for the realism is now gone, play karate is here. People do not even block each other when asked to punch at their opponent, you are asked not to make contact, or at most, very light contact. It no longer even resembles a "fighting Art". Now the testing ranks include only one or two kata, some one step fighting, and most of the time No fighting at all, this seems to be the order of the day.
My Dojo is a small one now, the number of students that I have, learn not just part of the system, but all of the system, as the rank increases. The classes are difficult, the blocks are hard. The students must spend years before they are taught high and upper level techniques. Realism is stressed. In the passed 40+ years only a small hand full have reached the rank of 4th Dan or above, but be assured that the ones that have reached the upper level are for real and have earned their ranks, I demand no less. Today the student who are interested in the Art of Shorin-Ryu Karate still have a teacher who is not afraid to work hard and continue to improve, I still continue to strive to improve and continue to train with the knowledge that I have been given over the years.
