Shito-ryu Sanshinkan
"!TE the karate ofTamas Webers
Ken Bokelius
SHITO-RYU SANSHINKAN
KARATE The karate of Tamas !eber BY KEN BOKELIUS III
COPYRIGHT
© 2022 Ken Bokelius English Second edition (English first edition 2017, Swedish first edition 2016) www.sanshinkarate.se Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand, Stockholm, Sverige Print: BoD – Books on Demand, Norderstedt, Tyskland
ISBN: 978-91-8027-068-7 All the images in the book are approved for the purpose by Sanshin Kan founder, Tamas Weber. Photos tagged with Istvan Z Gubas is the photographer's property and used in the book with the permission and under the agreement between photographer and publisher. Photographer cover art, front: Martin Wahlberg. Photographer front cover, back Jörgen Brennicke No images in this book may be used without permission from the photographer.
SENSEI
Sensei is a Japanese word that is often used to refer to a teacher or an instructor. Within karate it has a meaning that extends beyond that. Even though a karateka (a karate practitioner) may have practised karate for many years and under a number of instructors, usually only one of those instructors will be referred to as “their” sensei. The relationship with your sensei is a special one. It goes beyond karate techniques and physical exercise. A sensei is not just an instructor, but often also a mentor of sorts. Someone who has walked the “path” before you and has a depth of experience that he or she can share. I use the expression Sensei in place of a name in a number of chapters throughout this book to describe one person. In each case it is my own sensei I am referring to: Tamas Weber. Tamas has been my sensei for almost 40 years and has guided me on my karate journey. Although sensei Tamas Weber has been honoured with numerous titles during his 60 plus years studying karate, which only a few karate practitioners ever received, I have chosen to call him Sensei in my book. I do this not out of a lack of respect, but on the contrary, to show him the greatest respect I can.
FOREWORD BY TAMAS WEBER
I am delighted that a book about Sanshinkan has been written by a knowledgeable karateka and student. In addition to having been a student of mine for many years, Ken is also one of our instructors and an active contributor to the organisation’s success and continued development. Ken possesses the experience and the knowledge necessary to properly record our history and traditions. Ken and his entire family have trained under me for many years and understand the distinctive features and characteristics of our tradition – features and characteristics that in many ways have brought us unique recognition. Ken is one of the three highest ranked Shihans in Sanshin Kan and runs his own very successful dojo, aided by his family. Ken has successfully represented me in running international seminars and courses and has represented Sanshin Kan International on visits to countries such as Japan, India, Malaysia and the USA. The fact that Ken, after training for more than 30 years, took the initiative to write a book in which he shares and passes on his knowledge of Sanshin Kan as an organisation and tradition, and of the karate we teach, is a very valuable development for Sanshin Kan as an organisation. It sheds lights on Sanshin Kan’s history, which few are familiar with. I support this initiative and strongly recommend that students of Sanshin Kan read this book and, in so doing, learn more about our history. As a student, you are a part of that history and should be familiar with it as you help us to take Sanshinkan forward. This book is the first to be written within Sanshin Kan about Sanshinkan, but in all likelihood it won’t be the last. It does not cover everything, but it is an excellent start.
Tamas Weber, Soke Sanshin Kan International 1 januari 2016 4
Foto: Istvan Z Gubás
FORWORD BY ISSAC FLORENTINE
Tel Aviv, Israel 1975 It was supposed to be just another regular training day-- I entered the little Dojo in Ben Yehuda Street (located in the center of Tel Aviv) and immediately noticed two foreigners engaged in conversation, in English, with my Sensei Hiroshi Kurihara. One of the foreigners was a tall, blonde man in UN Military officer’s uniform with the Swedish emblem, and a shorter, heavy set gentleman in a suit and tie looking like a banker or an accountant. I greeted all with a polite ‘Osu,’ then went to the dressing room, changed into my Gi and my blue belt and came up to the tatami. Something felt strange, and while eavesdropping on Avi and Marcel, the Dojo’s two senior Brown belts, I heard them say: “There’s a 5th Dan Karateka in the Dojo…”. I thought, “no way.” At that time, there were less than a dozen Black Belts all over Israel, ranked only as first or second Dan. Fifth Dan was an 5
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unimaginable concept for us, Avi and Marcel were the highest ranking Karateka in the Dojo. Our Sensei, Hiroshi Kurihara, was a 2nd Dan and we all admired him, imitating his moves and techniques to the smallest detail possible. He was elegant, clean, crisp, fast and a compassionate Sensei, giving all of his attention to his students, correcting our techniques in an uncompromising way, emphasizing correct Kihon, good Kata and good technical Kumite. The dojo had a great atmosphere of “no ego, just come ‘n train hard.” In a tiny country like Israel with no residents from the Far East, having a Japanese Sensei was a novelty. Hiroshi Sensei taught a mixture of Shito ryu (Motobu-ha) and Shotokan (JKA). The reason for this mixture, he told us, was that he mainly trained Shotokan, but at a certain point his own Sensei in Japan switched to Shito Ryu. Back to the scene. The rumor of a 5th Dan in our Dojo filled the air with electricity. We all assumed that the tall, blonde officer is the Senior Karateka and the short heavyset banker ‘dude’ is probably just an observer who will sit on the bench and watch. To our surprise, it was the banker dude who stepped onto the tatami with a Black belt tied around his big waist and the officer that followed him politely wearing “just” a blue belt. This is how we all met Sensei Tamas Weber. At that point in my life, I had been training several years in karate, also in Judo, and was feeling that the traditional Japanese way of training Karate had its limitations. As an example, I loved kicking Jodan Mawashi geri with my instep, and we were taught to kick only Chudan with the ball of the foot (“Ouch”)… I felt some Karate techniques were not efficient for a real fight. I’ve heard of someone teaching kickboxing around Tel Aviv area and was seriously contemplating switching over to something more efficient. Well, all of those thoughts or doubts about Karate ended that evening with a bang, as soon as Tamas Weber Sensei started to move. What Tamas Sensei taught and did this evening became a legend! He was fast beyond belief, explosive, powerful, and to be honest, as cliche’ as it sounds, he was deadly! We realized very quickly that for him, Karate was truly an art of killing. His kicks, sweeps and punches were so fast and powerful, and his control was perfect, almost balletic in its beauty and accuracy. While his movements seemed so relaxed and effortless, his hands and feet moved like a bullwhip--they had this destructive whip-like energy and even had the bullwhip’s cracking sound. We had never seen this before, and that was surely scary. We didn’t understand in the beginning what he was really doing-he told us it’s Shito ryu, but it’s nothing like we’ve seen before. At a certain point, he paired us and had us work on techniques that were classical yet extremely realistic and efficient. He worked with Hiroshi Sensei, and at a certain point Hiroshi tried to “test” him, engaging in Jiyu Kumite. All we heard was “I said no fighting,” then we heard a sound that sounded like a machine gun firing, and we 6
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all saw Hiroshi flying through the air, landing on the ground, coming up to his feet and deeply bowing “Sorry, sorry.” We were in awe. At that point, Tamas Sensei asked us to stand aside, and tried to explain to us the mechanics of his explosive power. It was hard to follow his strange English, spoken with a French accent, so he took a big tatami mat, rolled it, and instructed our most senior Brown belt student Marcel to hold it. Marcel was a strong guy, originally from Belgium, who immigrated to Israel. Tamas Sensei explained that he was using the floor to push and accelerate his kick. What we saw next were two incredible things: The first thing was that Marcel flew like a bullet into the wall from the Mae Geri he received through the rolled tatami. And second thing that we noticed was that Tamas Sensei was kicking with his toes and not with the ball of the foot. The session continued, and proved to be hard, long, and physically taxing -- and yet, Tamas Sensei taught us with a funny sense of humor and with passion. The very next day when I returned to the Dojo, Hiroshi Sensei told us that last night, he dreamt about Tamas Sensei, and since that day he started modifying his techniques the way Tamas sensei taught.
Training in Israel
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FORWORD BY ISSAC FLORENTINE
This is how I first met my Sensei, mentor and dear friend Tamas Weber. Needless to say, after what I had seen that evening, I never had any more thoughts about leaving Karate. The way Tamas Sensei was applying his techniques was scientific, logical and above all efficient. His was very classical and yet thought outside the box. Most of all, it was about “efficiency or death.” Tamas Sensei returned to Israel a year later, and at that time Hiroshi returned back to Japan and I started my three years military service in the IDF. In 1978, one of Tamas’ students, Arie Berko, who was an Israeli who lived in Sweden for a few years, opened a dojo in Haifa. As a soldier, I was stationed in Haifa, and soon I became a member of his dojo. I was the senior student at the dojo and as such, I arrived before everyone, opened the dojo, trained in all the classes, trained after everyone left, and then closed the dojo. I learned a lot from the teaching experience. In July 1979, Tamas Sensei came to teach a training camp, and at the end of the training camp in front of a big audience in a sports hall, he conducted a belt test. He used us as an example for his high standards and demands. I finally became the first person in Israel that received a black Belt rank from him (“received” is not the right way to describe it, I had to earn it, It was a hard long test, Kihon, Kata and an endless series of Jiyu Kumite including fighting with two people simultaneously. I felt like I was participating in a big brawl… But that Shodan diploma meant a lot for me!). Tamas Sensei knew that I was planning to open a dojo in Tel Aviv after my military service, so he took me aside and told me: “ I will only say one thing, it takes ten years to build a reputation and ten-seconds to destroy it.” - It’s a lesson I still carry on today as a “Hollywood” director. A few months later, Tamas Sensei returned for another training camp. This time he brought one of his Black Belt students with him from Stockholm, Police officer Kennet Kendall. To my amazement, Kennet was as explosive, powerful, and fast, with clean and crisp techniques. This was a revelation for me, and I decided that it’s not only Tamas Sensei but it’s the full system of his teaching and training methods that produces those incredible (and scary) Karateka. I asked Tamas Sensei if I can come to his dojo and train. He replied that I was welcome, that I can stay and live in the dojo, and that there’s a place to sleep. “Don’t worry about paying me,” he said, “just train hard”. I arrived a few months later with a high-school friend, Hazi Gologorski, who trained with me at Hiroshi’s dojo, and we got the shock of our lives. The level of Karate we saw there was on a different scale. For a few months, we trained intensely. Hazi, who was a big, heavy guy, lost 11 kg in 5 weeks. We trained 4 times a day, for a total of 6-8 hrs a day. Yes, we didn’t pay any money, but we did pay in sweat and blood. At that time, if there was no blood in Jiyu Kumite then it wasn’t considered as Jiyu Kumite. When Tamas Sensei felt that we needed stimulation other than training in his dojo, he took us to the Kyokushinkai dojo so we could train with other styles. Within a few months, all my techniques 8
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changed. Tamas Sensei emphasized the concepts of relaxation, double twist, kick shock and fighting spirit. My Karate was changed forever, and moreover I never left Karate since. Years later, around 1984, Hiroshi Sensei returned to Israel for a year and joined my Dojo, and I was very humbled from that experience. Hiroshi became an official member of Sanshin Kan and a student of Tamas Weber. Over the years Tamas Sensei and I became very good friends. Tamas Sensei came to Israel many times to teach. I assisted him in teaching and demonstrating, (Imy Lichtenfeld, the founder of Krav Maga, who really loved Tamas, told me once that the demo Tamas Weber did with Effi Schlein and myself in front of the Israeli Navy Seals was the most cruel demonstration he’s ever seen. Unfortunately, being in the receiving end, I have to agree with him…) Outside the Dojo, Tamas Sensei is a close friend-- you can joke with him and laugh at him. He has a very unique sense of humor and he uses it also as a teaching tool. Like him, I am a history buff and yet, as our mutual friend and fellow Karateka, Lothar Gruza says, after so many years of knowing him, we often found ourselves impressed all over again by his wide, eclectic general knowledge, not only about Karate or other Martial arts, but about life, philosophy, politics, art and much more. Over coffee, you can disagree with Tamas Weber and joke about his sometimes stubbornness, but inside the Dojo, forget about it… He can be very demanding and will push every student to its maximum capability in order to enhance the student’s character and techniques. Above all, Tamas sensei is a generous person, and a man I am proud to call my Sensei and friend. I am very happy that Ken Bokelius Sensei wrote this book and was honored to have my words in it. Tamas Weber Sensei and his Sanshin Kan organization are truly unique. They are the product of a sad lonely childhood, a tough war experience in the bloody Algerian war as a combatant in the famous French Foreign legion, combined with the soul of an artist who chambered his artistic talent and life experience into the noble art of Karate. Osu! Isaac Florentine Sanshin Kan Karate 2016
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FORWORD BY ISSAC FLORENTINE
Training in Israel
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