If your performance is wrongin theyaregoingto takeyou down on the hard wooden floor, And people start studying karate in
theythinkthisroughapproach is way it ought to be taught, so they complain.But you can't do that America. People here teach with explanalion. ,' "Studentl are really, really good in ," Miyazzki said in answer to the of whetheror not studentsin are more proficientthan Students America,"But Americansare really in karateand they study all techniques.In Japan,you cannotdo cartain you niquesin someschools,because to do them in the traditionalway." In America,Miyazakisaid,the techniquesof one art often may be seenin the techniquesof peoplein anotherart. This point was driven home forcefully to Miyazaki when he beganserioustournament competition after coming to America. "l wanted to be an instructor," he said,"and I wantedto get moreexperience.But.l'm not tall. Standingnext to an American,l'm reallysmall.But I had
to compete againstthese really big peop l e ". Insteadof enteringtournamentsreservedonly for his shotokanstyleof karate, lvliyazaki entered open tournamen$ in the late 1960sand early 1970s.
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" F o r t u n a t e l y , "h e s a i d , , , lc a m eo u t in first placein most of the tournamenr I entered.But at leastten percentof my lechniqueswere not traditionalshotokan techniques." The wheel kick is an example of someof the techniquesMiyazakisaidhe slartedusingaf[er he came to America. "l never use that for fighting,,,he continued."l usethat for practicefighting. But I did useit once againsta tall opponent who was hard to reach,so I scoredgood." ln 1971, Miyazakiretiredfrom competition becauseof an injury to his Knees.
"l had enoughexperiencein competition," he said."l wasgettingmore and more students,so I had to spendmore and more time teaching." This comment may be connectedto somethingMiyazakisaid later in the infervrew: "Sometimes karatâ‚Ź makes people sick. Many peopleput too much energy into karak and nothing else. Just karate, karate, karate. After ten years, they havenothing.They haveonlf trophies." Miyazaki has.the trophies,but now he is involvedin activitiesthat provide him with as much fulfillment-activities suchas baseball, golf and running.Oth'er activitiesincludeungradingan aspectof tournamentsabout which he hasalways had complaints not judging. Miyazaki said he is interestedin ge .ing more involved in judgingcompetition,especially in Amateur Athletic Union tournaments. He summarizedthese activitiesand his years in karate with a simple senIence: "l tust enioy life."
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