WOSKKA

This is the flyer for WOSKKA's 25th Anniversary Celebration. Please feel free to share it with anyone that you can think of. As soon as you know for sure whet...her or not you can attend, please mark yourself as "Going" or "Not Going." It will be difficult to calculate and purchase the correct amount of food and other items according to who "may be" attending. Thank you for your consideration. See more

This month is WOSKKA's 25th anniversary!

I think it's funny that there are martial art teachers or students who proclaim something that they have no idea about, since their statements are from their fr...ame of reference! One group is propping each other up with confirmation about fighting. They are saying that a school that does not have "fighting" in some form (they are referring it to kumite and sparring), have no ability to fight. REALLY Perhaps that is true or perhaps that is only opinion. I actually like to let them think what they want and with their cocky attitude and belief, they may end up with a fierce beating! You see, that's like saying let's go in this old guys house and kick his behind and rape his daughter, because he doesn't practice punching and kicking with his neighbors. We still have arrogant and narcissist people in the martial arts with little or no respect for the way anyone trains but themselves. That is a mistake that may come back to bite them. Let me tell you a story that my sensei told me: In Okinawa there was a bully who stood in front of a bridge that crossed a river in Naha. This was the only way to cross without walking miles out of the way to find the next crossing. He would charge anyone a fee to cross and beat them up if they refused to pay. He was quite successful and quite tough. He decided he wanted to be even tougher and heard of a great karate master on the island of high regard. So he decided he'd train from this master and figured he'd become even richer by ensuring nobody would defeat him instilling even greater fear in all who would dare challenge him about the bridge toll. He went to this master and asked to train and after much persuasion, he was accepted by the master. He was to start the next day. So the next day he showed up and all the students lined up, did some warmups and commenced to work on a kata. They did this for several weeks and he grew impatient to actually fight. So he asked the master when they would do real karate. The old teacher said tomorrow. He came excited to do real karate and they did the same thing only working on the same kata. He thought maybe the teacher had forgotten and they would do it soon but every class was the same, only kata. So he asked a student when they would actually start fighting. The student replied that he had been there for 20 years and had only done this one kata and nothing more. He was furious and feeling betrayed, he quit saying to himself these students are not learning how to fight and it's all a waste of time. He went back to his bridge to continue his way of bullying anyone who dared cross it. One cold and dark night he was across the road from the bridge when he saw a figure of someone with a hooded jacket walking towards his bridge. He couldn't believe someone would have the audacity to try and cross his bridge without paying him. He ran up to the guy to beat him to a pulp and as he attacked, he was severely beaten himself. The beating was fierce and very painful. As he was falling to the ground the hood slipped down and revealed the face of the 80 year old master. As it turned out the old man at the bridge was able to fight even though he had done nothing more than kata for decades, You see those who don't understand kata, don't see the value in it and they don't understand the lessons included in the practice. The mind is powerful and emotions connected to this ancient training method means much more than imaginable. To remove fear and replace it with commitment is only one benefit of such training. So when those who only believe what they do is right and what others do is a waste of time, are setting themselves up for a rude awakening at some time in the future. Remember 1 strike, 1 kill means the power of every strike is devastating. This is sometimes achieved without fighting anyone except in one's mind. The mind allows you to take away rules and limits that reduces fear and hesitancy! This is the opinion of someone who has been in many fights both in and out of the tournament. I don't want to change anyone's mind, I am very happy to have others believe that I am a pushover. Hanshi Tosh

Lets get to work! Lets continue learning from each other!