Sunday, October 15, 2017

Great Teaching Requires Extraordinary Teachers

Grandmaster Hausel at the Arizona Hombu Dojo Karate and Kobudo School, Gilbert, Arizona. Hausel demonstrates a
 common kobudo weapon known as tekko derived from horseshoes and stirrups. 

October, 2017. Former professor of martial arts (kyoju no budo), Soke Hausel, taught taught karate, kobudo (Okinawan weapons), self-defense, samurai arts, and jujutsu for 3 decades at the University of Wyoming, prior to packing up and moving to Gilbert, Arizona, in 2006. In-between teaching karate, kobudo, jujutsu and self defense in the departments of physical education, kinesiology, extended studies, and club sports, he would keep in shape by walking for miles in a search for mineral deposits for geological research, or as a consultant to various mining companies. 

In Alaska, he and 6 other geologists discovered one of the largest gold deposits found in human history, with more gold than mined at the famous Homestake mine. He didn’t get a speck of gold for the discovery at Donlin Creek Alaska, just a consulting fee and his name carved on a stone plaque with the other 6 geologists. 

When searching for gold deposits, he exams all aspects of the rocks and mineralization.  For martial arts, he also examines all aspects of creating the greatest amount of thrust in his blocks and strikes and studies the karate kata (forms) in detail to search for the many, hidden applications known as bunkai. To him, kata (the forms of karate and kobudo) are like gold mines filled with treasure. The treasure in kata are known as bunkai (practical applications hidden in the forms). In days of old, Okinawan karate masters created karate kata (forms) with all of their favorite techniques and used kata as a living guide to self-defense.

Hausel is a grandmaster of Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo certified by Juko Kai International,  and Zen Kokusai Soke Budo Bugei Renmei. Over the years, he found hidden treasures in his students. The students are the lineage of our martial art, and it is up to them to carry on the traditions.  

Much of Okinawa karate is centered around katas. Kata are an ingenious pattern to teach students how to kick, punch, stand and defend. They contain devastating self-defense techniques developed by karate masters in the past, and they mimic traditional Okinawan dances. Why? It was a method used by Okinawan people to keep karate secret from the Japanese who had conquered the tiny chain of islands. Thus, the Okinawan people actually practiced karate right under the noses of the Japanese samurai, and the samurai had no idea of what it meant. The karate masters taught these living forms to their students, which contained many self-defense techniques with hints of hidden secrets retained only by the masters of various karate styles. 

Many techniques were proven effective in the alleys of Shuri and Naha, Okinawa. Even though most Okinawan martial artists could not read, they had living forms of self-defense. And over time, just like some old gold mines, the original prospectors and some of the original martial arts masters, forgot where the gold was hidden. But it is still there, and one must spend a lifetime of study to reveal those secrets.

They pragmatic self-defense techniques in each kata employ all kinds of techniques including escapes, chokes, pressure-point strikes, kicks, punches, restraints, joint manipulations, throws, and even weapon applications known as kobudo. This is the treasure Hausel loves.

Inducted into a 16th Hall of Fame,
Who's Who in Martial Arts awarded
Soke Hausel at their convention
in Washington DC in 2017.
Over the years, Soke Hausel won fame as a martial arts instructor and was inducted into an unprecedented, 16 halls-of-fame around the world.