WARNING: This
is a test. What’s wrong with this story? You must first read
the interview with Eiko Kaneshi. A few clues have been made
to assist you.
One clue is I'm not a soldier I'm a Marine.
Another is that Tatsuo did not live in Agena at the time claimed in this
story.
A third clue is if Kaneshi, Kaneshiro, and Ciso have a different
story, maybe
all of this by Angi Uezu is made up. Just asking. Read the
following first.
__________________________________________________________
12-24-84
Interview with Kaneshi Eiko ,
Shigema Genyu and Kaneshiro Kenji. At the
home of Ikemiya
Hiroshi, Taba, Gushikawa Shi, Okinawa.
December 24, 1984 2
PM to 7 PM
Present were Arcenio and Michie Advincula, Cyrus G. and Etsuko
Bess, My
brother and sister-in-law Ikemiya Hiroshi and his wife Yasue Ikemiya.
Excerpts from this meeting which is recorded on cassette tapes.
Kaneshi Eiko Sensei was 70 years old at the time of the interview.
He began
his training from Shimabuku
Tatsuo in 1947/48 at the Minoro dojo, Koza City.
He was born in October 13,1914. Kaneshi is a Shinpu or Shinto priest of
the Seicho No Ie House of growth and was a successful business
man. He is now retired.
Shigema Genyu was born on
December 3, 1929. He started with Tatsuo in 1953.
Shigema at the time worked
for the Marine Corps Food service at the Futenma
Air Station SNCO Club. He
has been working there for the past 15 years. He
Worked for the Camp Courtney
SNCO Club 35 years ago. Because he could speak
English, Tatsuo would have
him teach the Americans.
Kaneshiro Kenji Sensei was
born on April 10, 1931. Kaneshiro began training
from Tatsuo around 1953/54.
He brought Shimabuku Sensei his first karate gi
in 1949. He is a lawyer and
at one time an English translator. He used to work
in the prosecutors office.
He is a good friend of Ikemiya Hiroshi who at
the time was a Gushikawa City
Councilman. Ikemeya set up this meeting at my
request.
Advincula: Does Kaneshi have picture
of Megami and was it copied from any
other picture?
Kaneshi:
It is not copied. Megami was painted by my uncle according
Tatsuo Shimabuku’s description.
Advincula: What does the dragon in the
picture stand for?
Kaneshi: The dragon stands for Shimabuku.
Tatsumaki (Tornado or
Waterspout), there is a dragon
in tatsumaki (tatsu is dragon and maki
is winding). He (Tatsuo) dreamed
in a vision the dragon.
Advincula: Then it is ok to say that
the dragon in the Megami is Tatsuo.
Kaneshi: Yes.
Advincula: Is it ok to call Mizugami
or Megami.
Kaneshi: It is Bukkyo (Buddhist). Shimabuku made Sunsu with ken (fist) and
(Megami) together. Megami would be correct. Shimabuku did not copy from a
Mizugami (Water goddess).
It has nothing to do with water. It is original
from his dream.
Shigema and Kaneshiro both
nod in agreement.
Kaneshiro: This has nothing to do with
Mizugami. This is not a Water
goddess. Every martial arts
has a vision or symbol. One day he (Tatsuo) had a
dream. Goddess (Megami) came
to him and said teach everyone. This God or
Goddess was at first not clear
to Shimabuku. It came riding on a dragon.
The Goddess talked to Shimabuku
saying he had enough karate knowledge to
teach publicly. This was his
own god which told him. Shimabuku was a Sanjinso
fortune teller so he had more
religious beliefs than most. Shimabuku went to
a frame shop and saw a picture
similar to the one in his dream. He borrowed
the picture and had the Megami made up.
Kaneshi (interrupts'): This is not right. I went
to Shuri with him (Tatsuo).
Kaneshiro: I heard he went to Naha and
got the idea from there.
Kaneshi: Shuri, and we had two pictures
made. One for me and one for
Shimabuku. It doesnt make
any difference what god it is, its his god.
Bu no Kamisama (God of Martial Arts) That's how much he was into the
martial arts.
Advincula: Isshin-ryu Kamisama!
Kaneshi: That is not wrong.
Note: Tatsuo told me the same
story and it was confirmed by Shinsho. Shinsho
shows a picture of the megami
that is in one of Tatsuo’s old fortune telling
books. The goddess is Kannon
or the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. Both
Tatsuo and Shinsho call it
Megami for short. Tatsuo also called it
Kamisama. The goddess is often
depicted riding a dragon and is known as Ryuzu
Kannon . Ryuzu Kannon is depicted
as a woman seated on, riding on a
dragon. Sometimes the goddess
is depicted standing next to a dragon. Goddess
in Japanese is Megami. Kaneshiro,
claimed that Tatsuo saw a picture of
Ryuzu Kannon or The Goddess of Mercy at a frame shop. But Kaneshi immediately
refutes this.
Article 1, the third precept
of the Isshin-ryu Dojo Kun says in part:
Bow to the protecting God
of Isshin-ryu.... or in Japanese,
Isshin-ryu no shugoshin O haishi ogamu...
Shugoshin (adv) means protecting
so can be eliminated as all gods or goddess
are protecting, but as we
can see by the Isshin-ryu Dojo Kun,
we are bowing to the Protecting
deity of Isshin-ryu. So we know it is a
god/goddess of Isshin-ryu.
Isshin-ryu no kamisama or
Isshin-ryu no Megami would not be incorrect,
but Mizugami would. Even Kamisama
or Megami for short is correct.
In 1969 the first time I heard
Mizugami was in a article written By Steve
Armstrong and Bob Ozman in
Action Karate Magazine.The article stated that
Tatsuo under pressure named
the god as Mizugami. At the time I was stationed
on Okinawa. I took the article
to Tatsuo Sensei and asked him if he renamed
it the Mizugami. He said no,
it had nothing to do with water. It was Angi
Uezu who named it Mizugami
, not Tatsuo. It is not a water god or goddess, it
is the Goddess/God? Deity
of Isshin-ryu. No matter what anyone says, it is a
Goddess in our language. In Japanese, Megami.
Now to all the people who
say it not a big deal, tell that to Tatsuo. It
is part of Isshin-ryu history.
You dont change his deity. You dont add
stars to his deity. How about
Ganeku! Where is the star for Gansku. Three is
plural. All Tatsuo's teachers.
Tatsuo doesn't need a star, he is the Dragon.
Kaneshi: The dragon stands
for Shimabuku." Ciso says the Dragon stands for
his father. He lived and studied
and even taught Angi Uezu. Harold Long and
Steve Armstrong said the same
in their books.
And no matter what anyone
says, Tatsuo approved the first patch. It came
out as a mistake with the
thumb on the side and today more people in
Isshin-ryu are wearing a mistake.
It is suppose to be in the shape of a
Isshin-ryu fist. Even Steve
Armstrong said that. It should also have a gold
border. The original Megami
has a gold border. Orange and red are also a
mistake. I think I know, I
designed it. Tatsuo loaned me his Megami from his
alter. Yes he trusted me.
When someone tells you that
the water stands for purity they are wrong,
water in this case in a typhoon
where it is violent stands for danger and she
is calm in the storm. Clear
non-moving water stands for purity.
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
MIZU GAMI NICK NAME (WATER
GOD / DEITY)
GO SHU JIN SAMA REAL NAME
(WATERGOD / DEITY)
MIZU GAMI NICK NAME (WATERGOD
/ DEITY)
As explained by Master Uezu;
the real name Go-Shu-Jin-Sama was not used
originally due to the difficulty
in translating this to the Americans, thus
the name Mizu-Gami was adopted
for ease of translation. During the next
section the name Go-Shu-Jin-Sama
will be used
In 1953, Master Tatsuo Shimabuku
was teaching in the courtyard of his home in
Agena, Okinawa. In the yard,
the Master had a tank, which was used to
collect water in case of droughts
and to supply hard-working students with a
refreshing drink between workouts.
One day, after a full day of teaching,
the Master sat on top of the
tank in order to enjoy a little sake and cup of tea.
The days activities and tensions
began to float away, leaving the Master in
a very restful state. Soon,
he fell asleep and began to dream. In his
vision he heard a man enter
the gate of the courtyard and approach him. When
the man confronted Shimabuku,
he challenged the Master to a fight, but
instead of accepting his challenge,
Shimabuku waved the man away with his
left hand and made a fist
over his head with his right hand. Symbolically,
Shimabuku put an open hand,
meaning patch, but backed up the peace with a
closed fists representing
his ability to destroy the stranger if he tried to
hurt the Master. (This open
left hand and closed right first is also the
salutation before performing
each Isshin Ryu Kata). Instead of leaving in
peace, however, the man encircled
the Master in flames, and as mysteriously
as he appeared, the man disappeared.
This left Master Shimabuku
in a rather difficult position, but instead of
running about in panic, the
Master kept a cool head and used the bucket in
the tank to pour water over
the flames. Before too long, all the flames were
extinguished - so was his
dream. The Master awoke.
This left a lasting impression
on the Master, so much so that he couldn’t get
the dream out of his mind. The next day, when he want to Naha (Capital of
Okinawa), for business, he
entered a great house and there hanging on a wall
was a picture of a woman waist
deep in water. Immediately he ran to an
employee of the building and
asked her who that was in the picture. The
master was told that it was
Go-Shu-Jin-Sama, (defense goddess)
What impressed him most about
the picture was that the lady, this
Go-Shu-Jin-Sama, was in the
same stance that he took the night before in his
dream against the strange
man. Furthermore, Go-Shu-Jin-Sama was in water -
like he was on the tank -
and she was using water to extinguish flames in the
sea - as he used to extinguish
the flames around his body.
The Master came to the realization
that water was the symbol of purity,
strength, goodness; whereas
fire was the symbol of evil, aggression, and
destruction. Whats more, he
came to understand that evil can only be
destroyed if first one is
willing to yield to it with an open hand, tempered
with the strength and confidence
one achieves through proper karate training.
As the Master discussed the
womans image and how he would like it to somehow
represent his karate system,
an understanding and creative American soldier
who was studying with Master
Shimabuku at the time, set out to design and
incorporate the Masters thoughts
into an emblem. The soldier also did this
to honor the Master. This
Isshin Ryu patch as it is known today is of oval
shape to represent the human
heart. In the center is the figure of
Go-Shu-Jin-Sama and at the
top are three stars representing Master
Shimabukus three teachers:
Chojun Miyagi (Goju Ryu), Chotoku Kyan (Shorin
Ryu, and Choki Motobu (Shorin
Ryu). The stars are at the top to represent
the Masters looking down on
the developing karateka, Tatsuo Shimabuku. This
was later changed to 5 stars
by Grand Master Uezu to incorporate Master
Shimabuku and Taira Shinken.
They are in heaven, and if you follow the right
path, they too, will guide
you to attainment.
A red (sometimes-orange) circle
signifying the flame that surrounded
Shimabuku in his dream boarders
the emblem. The flame signifies evil; the
water purity; and Go-Shu-Jin-Sama,
the equalizer, and it is always worn on
your uniform over the heart
symbolizing the one heart way.
Above Go-Shu-Jin-Sama is a
dragon. The dragon in eastern mythology
represents good fortune. Also,
the serpent, like the karateka, is born of
the sea (or starting from
the bottom), and when the dragon matures (or the
karateka develops) he ascends
into the heavens and achieves attainment.
