RyuTe® News

RyuTe® News
January 2015
This issue is dedicated to the Memory
of
Dale Cox
1948 - 2014
Inside this issue
®
● Dale Cox Memorials ● Whose art is it anyway ● Note from Robin Oyata ● Birthday Seminar ● Letter from the board● RyuTe committees ● 2nd Annual DC
seminar Flier ● News you can use ●
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Remembering Dale
Dale Cox - I know that I will miss seeing Dale, what a gentleman. Dale had that quiet strength, commitment and perseverance in his life. Taika had a great respect for Dale and the man that he was. To
see Dale continue to come to seminars with his wonderful wife and train to the best of his ability was
very inspiring. Dale always had a smile, kind words and ability to be focused on training. He will be
much missed at the seminars. I definitely enjoyed Dale and Micki's company and hearing how Micki
did when she would go to the casino and the smile on Dale's face knowing how much she enjoyed it. It
never failed, every Christmas there would be a package of goodies from Dale and his wife. Another
RyuTe® family member to be missed and remembered and honored with what we do now.
By Robin Oyata
__________________________________________________________
In thinking about Dale, I can only tell you what I personally saw and heard: his loyalty and attentiveness to his family; his unfailingly good attitude; his strong convictions; his extraordinary teaching
skills. These were all visible, all the time.
I first met Dale before I got married in 1987; regrettably, I was not able to stay with him at the time.
When I was eventually able to seek him out again, his physical infirmities had started to affect him noticeably. As he put it then, he was perfectly willing to take me on as a student again, if I didn't mind an
instructor who always had an oxygen tank "strapped to his butt."
Between his illnesses, his father's last years, and my own scheduling issues, progress was painfully
slow--I was only promoted to ikkyu fairly recently--but he never gave up. His endurance was lacking,
but the skill was still plainly there, as was the expertise in instruction. Dale was not only very analytical himself, he was very good at coaxing good thinking out of his students. Very rarely would he say,
"This is why and how." More often, he would ask me to try to figure something out, and if I got within
reasonable sniffing distance he would give me enough to let me finish figuring it out. I would ask him,
"Does this mean that?" and he would answer, "Well, think about this..."
I know Dale wanted to live to see me make shodan. He wanted his students to progress and he wanted
Taika's teachings to be available to all who were genuinely interested. He was a very selfless man who
did his utmost, especially given his illness, to help me progress, and I miss him.
By Dan Paden
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Whose Art is it Anyway?*
By Jim Logue
September 2008
Last year I began to revise “Ryukyu Kempo History and Basics” also known as the “blue book.” First, to replace
®
any connotation of Ryukyu Kempo with RyuTe , and secondly, to add history and technical information that has come to
light since the first edition 28 years ago. As I researched various sources and from Taika’s own insights, I discovered
things that I had overlooked or that I didn’t fully understand when I first began to write the book. Like almost everyone, I
had preconceived notions of karate’s development and how it was passed down through the centuries. We know that
Taika’s teachers were a product of generations of family art. Mr. Wakinaguri and Mr.Uhugushiku both were the last links
to their family art. They revealed to Taika concepts and ideas that had been kept as “secret” for many generations.
Indeed, it has taken Taika many years to reveal this to us; partly because we wouldn’t have understood and partly because
he had to gain our trust. The finer detail of the art, the family art that is being passed to us, is not for everyone. Taika was
left with the “keys” to understand the concepts and principles that explain the finer detail of karate. As part of the trust his
instructor’s had for him, he was left with a scroll that contains these concepts in principles in picture and word form.
Combined with his early training and years of experience, Taika is bringing us to a new level of understanding. This is far
beyond any that would be revealed if we studied any other system. He is teaching us the real art, his art. The basis of our
study is linked to Mr. Uhugushiku and Mr. Wakinaguri, but the interpretation and execution is purely Taika Oyata. What
we are attempting to learn is his art; an art that is both simple and complicated. Each of us process information in a
different way and we execute techniques based on our own peculiarities and habits. Taika attempts to polish us, but often
our own egos and self interests interfere. Our study requires our full attention and constant practice. It is not anything that
we should embellish with our own ideas! Modern karate has dealt an almost lethal blow to the understanding of karate by
putting emphasis on rank and prestige mostly for monetary gains. Modern karate also tries to combine various aspects of
other martial arts to form the “ultimate” martial art. Modern karate tries to discover what’s already there and we fall into
that same trap when we think we understand and embellish the knowledge that we have been given with our own ideas.
So, whose art is it anyway? Wakinaguri and Uhugushiku entrusted Taika with the responsibility for their family art. It is
his to pass to us in a way that it will remain as pure as possible. Our responsibility is to study and train in such a way that
the art will come to us. Our responsibility for the future is to protect and cherish the gift of the art given to us.
* Note from editors: This is the first in a revival series of Jim Logue articles we will be publishing in the next
few newsletters. This one was from September 2008.
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Holiday Greeting From Robin Oyata
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday and Happy New Year! I have been truly blessed by
everyone. It is amazing and wonderful to see how RyuTe® is growing and evolving and the commitment,
dedication and love to each other, RyuTe®, Taika's memory and his family. Where there is sadness and loneliness
in my heart, it is being replaced with joy and happiness about what is happening with all of you. It is with deep
love, honor and respect for all that have stayed the course, have not given up, and remain committed to RyuTe®
and the realization of what you can do as one, that continues to put a smile on my face. It is not an easy task,
nothing worthwhile is. I can only imagine how proud Taika would be of all of you as well as Jim Logue. Greg
Lindquist would be too if he could see how everyone trains and works together.
Our condolences and prayers go out to long time
RyuTe® practitioner, Darrell Pope. His wife, Marsha, recently passed in November, 2014.
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RyuTe Birthday Conference 2014
By Joseph Krystofik
About 60 students from around the country gathered in Kansas City for the annual RyuTe® Birthday
Conference. This year’s conference was a departure from the norm with RyuTe® morning breakfast
provided with registration to help attendees fuel up for the day’s training.
Formal training began on Thursday afternoon with a session entitled, “Evolution of Technique: Concept
to Complexity.” This was interesting in that it started with an application from kata with practitioners
adding follow-up techniques or variations that enhance its effectiveness. One of the key objectives of
this session was to get everyone thinking and grow in our understanding and vision. This was followed
up with an preview of Friday’s agenda and the first of a three part series on the history and evolution of
RyuTe® karate. We learned about Taika’s family and some of his personal history from his early childhood through experiences during and following World War II.
Friday morning focused on Shi Ho Happo No Te for Black
Belts and morning seminar for Kyu rank students. The kata
has been taught in thirds during the past two national conferences, so Black Belts were divided into three groups depending
on how far along they were with the kata. Two options were
given for the first session of the afternoon: Bogu kumite led by
Mike Cline and Robby Collingwood, and tuite techniques led by Lee Richards and Lisa Ohmes. Students in each of these sessions enhanced their skill tremendously thanks to the excellent instruction of
the teachers. The final session of the afternoon focused on weapons training, with students having a
choice of working on cane drill, manji sai, chizikunbo or bo. Completing the evening was a bus trip out
to the cemetery to pay our respects to Taika. Though dubbed an “ice cream social” on the agenda, the
visit graveside was not a party; rather, it was a time for everyone to pay our respects, renew and strengthen our bonds as students of the master and brothers and sisters in the art. Speaking on behalf of the
Oyata family, Robin, thanked everyone for coming, for continuing to honor Taika by diligently training
and studying the art that Taika entrusted to us, and for continuing to support the RyuTe® Association.
Saturday’s training veered from the published agenda a little bit with a review of Shi Ho Happo no Te
and the bo and jo technique and spider web being deferred to
a future conference. The bogu group continued to work on
drills, concept and theory, then culminated in participants being paired up to put their skills to the test against an unwilling
opponent. This drew quite an audience and those watching
enjoyed seeing these combatants try to land their best techniques while not getting hit themselves. The day’s training
ended with a “movie session” of a rare Taika seminar. Concepts and principles that Taika imparted at that seminar are
central to the art and will be studied for years to come.
As customary, the weekend ended with a banquet honoring our late master, Taika Oyata. Students who
tested for either black belt rank or regional instructor certification were presented with certificates and
Johnny (Ichiro) Jandrakovic and his students performed traditional Okinawan drumming to the delight of everyone there. Robin addressed the group thanking everyone
for coming and for their continued support and dedication. She also recognized some
long time students who were not in attendance, especially the late Dale Cox, who had
recently passed away.
As always, the weekend was uplifting and invigorating for the excellent training, the
new and renewed friendships and genuine feeling of hope for the unity within the
RyuTe® Association. Until the next National Conference in Washington, D.C., March
2015, Nin Tai!
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From the Board
2014 was a year of moving forward. After decades of Summer Conferences in Kansas City, we tried something
new based on feedback from all of you. We moved the date of the conference to the Spring to allow people to financially recover between National events, and we changed the location to try to get closer to the large East Coast
contingent of members in the hopes of increasing participation. The event was a great success and we will be repeating it again this year at the same location in Tysons Corner, Virginia. The agenda is nearly final and will be put
out as soon as we can get it to you. There will be reinforcement of material from Birthday, as well as some new
things you may not have seen before.
Birthday seminar in 2014 was a great time of exchanging ideas. Your feedback was that this was one of the best
since Taika died. Everyone contributed with humbleness, magnifying the value of the learning. We also recognized the first group of Certified Regional Instructors with testing at both Spring and Birthday Seminars. Look for
many of them to be teaching at National seminars this year and in the future. Most of you also provided clear feedback that you want more training opportunities in 2015. This is a focus area for us this year and our goal is to offer
4-6 regional seminars at a minimum in 2015. We are trying to pull one together in the Philly area prior to Spring
Conference so look for that info soon. If anyone wants to host someone for a seminar, let us know so we can help
make it happen.
Finally, we provided sign up sheets for participation in various committees. While many of those have kicked off,
it isn’t too late to join. We expect to have updates from several of the committees at Spring Conference. They are
making progress and are eager to share ideas and recruit new members.
Hope to see many of you in DC at the end of March.
Blake Burgert
Mike Cline
Robby Collingwood
Johnny Jandrakovic
John Risko
J.P. Steele
Jim Toolan
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Be a part of a committee and make a difference
Here are a list of committees that you can volunteer for. If you think you can help out, contact the board
liaison or newsletter staff, so you can be added to the list. Some committees are already in communication with ideas so sign up today to be included.
Committee
Translation and Language
Research and History
Seminar Committee
Bogu Kumite
Empty Hand Kata Advisory
Technical Weapons Advisory
Tuite and Kyusho Advisory
Board Liaison
Jonny Jandrakovic
Association Issues
Jim Toolan
Finance
J.P. Steele
Blake Burgert
Jonny Jandrakovic
John Risko
Jim Toolan
Communications and Outreach:
Newsletter
Robby Collingwood
Marketing
J.P. Steele
Webpage and Facebook Design
Robby Collingwood
Black Belt renewal time!!!!!!!
Don’t forget to renew today
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News You Can Use!
Association Website: http://www.Ryu Te .com/
Board member contact: board@Ryu Te .com
Newsletter: Submit news and articles to:
Robby Collingwood - [email protected],
Joe Krystofik - [email protected] , or
Helen Cawley - [email protected]
This newsletter is a publication of the International Ryu Te® ® Association. It can be printed and distributed
to those without email or internet access.
IMPORTANT RYU TE® BUSINESS INFORMATION
For all orders and Oyata Enterprises business please contact Steve Burris;
Steve and Missie Burris
4251 Smithfield Drive
Tucker, GA 30084
home: 770-270-0394
Steve: 404-272-0015
Email: [email protected]
Business Hours: Monday , Tuesday, Thursday Friday 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m and Weekends after 10am
Photo Credits: Photos used in the newsletter were derived from several sources including: Helen Cawley, Lisa
Ohmes, Lee Richards, authors, and Ryu Te® Association Archive. They are the property of the photographer and the
Ryu Te® Association. Photos should not be reproduced without permission.
For permission to use or reproduce a photo contact Newsletter staff who will contact the original photographer.
Editors’ Note
We thank all of the contributors to the Ryu Te® News. The articles demonstrate the deep commitment Ryu Te®
practitioners have to the art and especially to our teacher, Taika Oyata. Please continue to send us your insights into the
unique, fascinating and effective art that Taika has taught us. We also want your news - Seminars, fund raisers,
community service, tournaments, etc.
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