White Crane / Snow Tiger

December 2003, by George W. Alexander

The white crane said, Force is not the best defense. When fire and water are at war it is the fire that loses.

The Snow tiger is quoted as saying, In this world I would rather live two days as a tiger than two hundred years as a sheep!

ON A CALIFORNIA ROLL!
Los Angeles, California

Recently I got to do another whirlwind trip to California and visit my good friend Don Warrener, AKA 'Hollywood Don'. I also got to spend some time with my friends Isaac Florentine and Emil Farkas. Isaac is a terrific martial artist and a great director. We got to work on several projects together. When he is on the set I am the student and he is the master. I always learn something from him about lighting, directing, camera angles or action scenes.

My first stop on the trip was down in Costa Mesa. As a new advisory board member of the Shudokan Ryu Taiho Jutsu organization I got to sit on the examination board for black belt testing along with Sensei David Dye and Dr. Arthur White. This group certifies law enforcement officers and military personnel in defensive tactics including arrest and control procedures. The group was founded by Hanshi Daniel Hect and Renshi Jeffrey Anderson. The skill level of the examinees was quite high. The people who have been training with this group are also members of the LAPD SWAT team, Riverside and Orange county Sheriff's Dept as well as the Department of Homeland Security. After the examinations I conducted a seminar on Police defensive tactics emphasizing alternative measures and as an adjunct to the techniques they were already doing. This consisted of techniques mainly from the Shorinji Ryu Jujitsu system and believe it or not striking techniques from the White Crane system. For more info on this group, seminars, etc. contact me directly or go to www.policetaihojutsu.com. Sensei Otto Johnson was there as well and we chatted about the martial arts in LA and what is happening there.

Next I got to go back up to Beverly Hills and the offices of Rising Sun Productions (www.risingsunproductions.net) There I met James Bennett, The next action star! If anybody could make it as an action star its James. He is one intense human being. He’s very diligent about his training and is an accomplished martial artist. He moved to LA from Ireland about six months ago. He also made Ireland's first martial arts movie, which has just been released called Fatal Deviation. Contact Yamazato for a copy yamazato-videos.com

Another project we finished at Rising Sun Studios is Japanese/Okinawan Masters of the Martial Arts. This will be an epic production with film footage of every known master performing at his best. The production will be available in January of 2004. You can order it at yamazato's website as well. It will be in stock as soon as it comes out.

James, Don Warrener and I got work out at Gold's Gym in Venice Beach. James really knows his stuff when it comes to weight training. We worked on shoulders and did super sets. James uses 60 lbs. dumbbells to do this! He's a great guy and we had quite few laughs together. Pump them full of juice James and good luck with the movie career.

Later I got to meet Ken Koyama. He is a Seido black belt under Tadashi Nakamura, kaicho and is a friend of Shihan Chris Caile of the Seido dojo in on 23rd Street in New York City. Ken has just moved from New York City to LA. He will be teaching Seido karate in LA. Shihan Chris Caile runs Fighting Arts Magazine. The website is www.fightingarts.com

We then stopped a Black Belt Magazine’s offices. I met Robert Young, Executive Editor and Cheryl Angleheart, the Associate Publisher. We had a good meeting and I was informed that Black Belt will doing many new things in the near future. I have submitted an article about Reality-Based Fighting versus traditional martial arts. The subject matter is timely so hopefully it will be published in Black Belt magazine. There has been no approval yet.

We made the rounds at Dragonfest and got to see The Stars! Olivier Gruener was there (Savate) along with Gene Labell, Fumio Demura, Tak Kubota and others. Both Demura Sensei and Kubota Sensei will be in an upcoming Yamazato/Fighting Spirit Production called Legends of American Martial Arts! A terrific production featuring America’s top martial artists of all time! Legends of American Martial Arts will be available in time for Christmas. You can order it at yamazato-videos.com

The following day I interviewed Soke Tak Kubota at his dojo in Glendale. I made the mistake of calling Tak Kubota sensei. He looked at me and said, No sensei Soke! Usually the title sensei will suffice in almost any situation involving Japanese etiquette. The term sensei or teacher always denotes respect in Japanese culture. In this case he prefers to be called Soke or founder [of Gosoku Ryu Karate]. These days it's a bit confusing with so many titles flying around in the martial arts such as sensei, soke, soke dai, kyoshi, hanshi, renshi, etc. To help sort this out I've included an appendix to this newsletter.

Photo Shoot

The next day the whole crew including myself Don Warrener, Isaac Florentine and James Bennett headed over to Rick Hustead's studios in Westlake Village. The purpose of the visit was to shoot photos for a number of upcoming magazine articles. We discussed the articles and the shot lists then when into the studio to shoot the photos. Dan Hect was my uke again. At 6' 4' his size made the shots look great! Our photographer, Rick, who is also a martial artist, has photographed Chuck Norris, David Carridine, Jet Li, former President Ford and others. He is a really nice guy and I look forward to working with him again in the future. If anybody needs any photos done he's the man! You can contact him at rehustead@earthlink.net

I also got to meet with the writer Damien Chambers. He was visiting LA from Japan and we had lunch at La Conversacion in Beverly Hills. In case you don't know, Damien Chambers is a reclusive Englishman who lives in Kyoto, Japan. He is truly an expert in the martial arts. Definitely, old school! He holds high ranks in judo and kendo. We've done several projects together in the past (Early American Judo and Jujitsu, The Fighting Spirit of Old Japan, Japanese Judo Masters & Tomiki Aikido). He has also done some film directing recently for Japanese TV and has been compared to Akira Kurosawa on the Internet! He seems in great shape despite his age. We didn't get to work out together this time but I remember the last time we trained he threw me all over the place for two hours in Emil Farkas' dojo.

The new website that is! (www.worldbudokan.com/)

Over 350 photos and 200 pages of info. Check it out! Enjoy!

New Video Releases

White Crane Speed & Evasion I & II
Kata and fighting techniques of Okinawan White Crane karate as originally taught by Master Gokenki. Two Volume set, 60 min each. Sale price $49.95 plus $6.00 S&H.

The Best of Wado Ryu
High Quality Historic footage of Otsuka Sensei & Tatsuo Suzuki plus the All Japan Wado Ryu Karate tournament. $29.95 plus $6.00 S&H.

Bob Wall The Life & Legend
Bob Wall tells it all in this exclusive interview with never before shown footage of Bruce Lee and Enter the Dragon. $29.95 plus $6.00 S&H.

Shuyokan Ryu Aikido - Self-Defense For the Modern Warrior!
Dynamic aikido self-defense techniques with Sensei David Dye, 10th Dan. Three-volume set. $79.95 plus $6.00 S&H.

Yamazato Sale!

Japanese Swordsmanship The Art of the Samurai
Sword Kata, Cutting & two-man fighting sets! 60 min VHS or DVD $19.95 plus $6.00 S&H.

Code of the Samurai
Samurai Training, History, Seppuku, 47 Ronin, Mushashi & Much More! 60 min VHS or DVD $19.95 plus $6.00 S&H.

Go Rin no Sho The Book of Five Rings
Mastering Mushashi's Five Elements of Strategy, Sword Techniques & Much More! 60 min VHS or DVD $19.95 plus $6.00 S&H.

Coming Soon!

Legends of American Martial Arts!
If you liked the New Gladiators, you'll like this. Exclusive interviews and hard hitting never before seen fight footage of the karate greats of the 1960's and the 1970's Plus! America's top martial artists of all time! $29.95 plus $6.00 S&H.

Japanese/Okinawan Masters of the Martial Arts!
An unbelievable collection of the world's greatest masters in action! Available January 2004. $29.95 plus $6.00 S&H.

The Bubishi book is now back in print! $34.95 plus $6.00 S&H. The video is now available on DVD.

To order: Go to yamazato-videos.com or call 1-888-299-YAMA (9262).

I tried to spend some time with Demura sensei. He is a teacher that I admire greatly. He has transcended the cultural barriers between Japanese and American cultures very well throughout his career. But time just ran out. It was soon time to say goodbye to my good friend and host Don Warrener and one of my favorite cities---LA.

After the first of the year I'll be heading for New York City to shoot two new Capoeira videos with the Roots of Brazil and the New York City Capoeira group featuring Professor Eduardo Ferreira. I plan to meet with my friend Alan Goldberg and others and get some training in there so I'll let you know what's happening in the New York area martial arts scene in the next issue as well as upcoming seminars there.

All my best to you in martial arts and Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,
George W. Alexander
georgealexander@worldblackbelt.com

Article reprinted with permission. The original source is located here.