In Your Face

  I was reading an article (written by an individual who was “kicked out” of the RyuTe Association). Like so many others, he was pontificating over how Taika had taught him, the “secrets” of RyuTe. He further elaborated how Ryukyu Kempo is the (exact) same as what is being taught in RyuTe. These are both commonly made statements (at least by individual's who were kicked-out of the RyuTe Association). And equally as common, is the fact that neither is (in any way) accurate, or truthful.

  

  This is the equivalent of saying “All martial arts systems are the same”. In many general aspects this could be considered truthful, but when the details are (actually) compared, the differences become readily apparent.

   

  When Taika began teaching his system, the martial arts industry was (already) in a routine of mundane manners of practice. These usually amounted to either no kata practice at all (claiming it was only “traditional”) or kata without any useful application, and an increased focus being made upon “sparring”. Neither of which served any purpose for a student's Life Protection abilities.

  

  It was at this time (late 70's, early 80's) that Taika began having seminars to demonstrate his interpretations of kata, and to illustrate how other systems had been missing (in his opinion, LOL) the obvious purposes of kata.

  

  During that time, It was common for Taika to award a yudansha rank to new students who claimed that they wanted to study from him (usually one-level above their ranking in their prior system). Unfortunately, many Persons were commonly being awarded rank levels that were (far) beyond what their abilities actually were. Those same individual's rarely continued any affiliation (much less study) with Taika. That fact, in addition to a desire to disassociate himself with the Ryukyu Kempo name (and those individual's), led to his decision to change the name to RyuTe and to begin teaching “his” system (instead of the generic “kempo”).

  

  Many of the instructor's who remained in the RyuTe system had attained their (original) yudansha ranking in their prior system. They hadn't learned the required (basic) motions in the same manner that they should have, and were now supposed to be, being taught (to their student's). Many of these instructor's continued to teach motions the same way, as they always had (incorrectly), and didn't seem to realize it.

  

  Many continued teaching the same “sport” kicks and applications as they always had, and didn't seem to notice how hypocritical those teachings actually were. It's those individual's who did so, that make these completely inaccurate claims (about Ryukyu Kempo being the same as RyuTe).

 

  Because of this instructional gap, there is often a degree of inconsistency between what is taught to students at different levels of learning, and/or between different instructor's. If an instructor hasn't weeded-out those irrelevant motions/techniques, then students may become confused from what's being taught.
   

  I've heard instructor's who (want to) blame Taika for these discrepancy’s in the manner's of a technique's execution (been there, done that). Having personal access to a (Large) collection of video footage of Taika, when confronted with claims of “Taika showed it different”, I can pull up multiple examples of him doing exactly what he say's you should be doing (even though he may of not said so at the time). Taika teaches by example, if you ain't paying attention, that's not his fault (so don't blame him).
   

  Over the years I've encountered instructor's who've chosen to limit (if not restrict) what is shown to their student's. I've never understood this mentality. Some claim it's done for safety concerns, and some over reasons of student maturity. I find neither of those “reasons” to be justifiable for limiting a student's level of knowledge. Properly applied instructional methods will negate any detrimental tendency's in either of these area's of concern.

             

  Most of those instructor's (within the association) that fell into that category, are no longer within the association. When Taika does actually “pass-away”, I'm sure that every Low-life martial art's wanna-be on the planet, will crawl out from what-ever pile of shit that they've been living under to claim that “they” posses the (true) secret teachings of RyuTe and/or Taika.

     

  Hopefully there will be (enough, LOL) honest student's of Taika to dispute all the interloper's who are not who/what they claim to be. My only concern at present, is that not everyone (within the association) is even aware of the reason's why many of these individual's were kicked-out (and Taika forbids any public discussion of those reasons).

   

  No matter, if/when any of those individual's should make any “claims”, there is more than enough evidence to provide to dispute their legitimacy (If, they so choose to push the issue, LOL).