MY FIRST REAL LESSONS IN KARATE

My first real taste of real KARATE, in the sense that those who were doing it were real experts and practitioners, all of whom resided in Hawaii when I went there in 1963, to the Big Island of Hawaii, and stayed at the University of Hawaii campus in Hilo. I will have to relate what I experienced and witnessed there in a number of other topics. But essentially, I learned to kick and punch and a few other things from WALTER NISHIOKA, who graciously taught me a few basics and things for self-defense to take with me to the Philippines where I ended up after leaving Honolulu. By no stretch of the imagination was I ever a formal pupil, enrolled,etc. with his group but the contact and the friendship and the impetus to learn more remained with me ever afterwards. Of course, I have to say I might well have gone back to Hawaii after the time I spend in the Philippines and studied with him as he kindly invited me to come back in two years. He also would have given me groups and teachers in Japan or Okinawa to seek out and train with had I been going there. While in Hawaii, I was able to see some jiujitsu, kendo, sumo, aikido,etc. while there and learned also of the existence of NINJA and some other things. I also bought George Mattson's THE WAY OF KARATE to take with me to read on the plane to the Philippines, along with ZEN COMBAT by Jay Gluck and Tomiki's book on judo and aikido.