MY KARATE STORY

 

                                          Sensei Rex I De Silva

As I commence my 52nd year in the martial arts I briefly mention some matters which are not too well known. There are two styles of Karate, one is the traditional karate the other its modern cognate Karate-Do aka sport karate.

 

Karate as a sport

 

In the early 20th century some of the masters were directed by the Okinawan Ministry of Education to make karate available to the general public. So they (the masters) contrived to make karate safer in order to present it to the public by removing dangerous procedures and introducing a safe form of "no contact" sparring, which was taught initially to school children in which punches, kicks etc., are “pulled” short of contact, and with attacks only permitted to restricted targets areas, thereby precluding any unnecessary injury or pain to the practitioners. This has become known as “Karate-Do” and is classified as a “Budo” (Sport) form as the primary aim is to score points, not to injure one’s opponent. Today Sport karate, is very popular, being widely taught in schools.

 

Karate as a combat art

 

Traditional Karate or “Karate jitsu” on the other hand allows full contact in that punches and kicks are delivered with full force and the opponents entire body is a target, the only exceptions usually being the eyes and groin areas. In full-contact styles knock outs (KOs) are allowed in sparring. Karate Jitsu, being a combat form is classified as “Bugei” (Combat) form.  It differs in many respects from the “Sport” forms as training includes hand-conditioning, breaking techniques (Tameshewari), weapons techniques (Kobudo), pressure point fighting (Kyusho Jitsu), arm locks (Kansetsuwaza), strangles and chokes (Shimewaza), and throws (Koshiwaza, Ashiwaza) which are not usually practiced in sport karate. Today only a few masters continued to teach their senior students the hard techniques of combat karate or Karate Jitsu.

 

Other

 

There are several other Karate forms which I do not address here as my knowledge of them is limited.

My story

 

I come from a background in amateur boxing and started practicing Karate-Do in the late 1960s. In the 1970s I was appointed a National Instructor, Referee and Judge. Many decades later the World Martial Arts Organisation (WMAO), Mumbai branch, promoted me to the rank of Kudan (9th Degree Black-belt) and the International Sokeship Society (ISS) of the WMAO conferred on me the title of Soke (Grandmaster). Additionally, I was appointed Branch Instructor for Sri Lanka by another Black-belt organization. However, I soon became disillusioned with the limitations of Sport Karate and so reverted to the more traditional, effective and “Hard” techniques of Combat Karate (Karate Jitsu) which I taught to selected senior students. Combat karate, like boxing wrestling etc., involves real fighting and in doing so I have, over the decades, suffered the injuries common to the combat arts viz. broken right hand, burst eardrum, bloody nose, mouth and smashed rib cage. I accepted these painful injuries without complaint, as the old adage states that “You cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs”. Nevertheless, a long time ago I was warned by a student, who is a medical doctor, that at my advanced age being punched or kicked hard in the face/head or body could result in serious injury including brain damage or worse. So by 1990 I ceased sparring; however I never stopped training. More than anything else I have been captivated by the “Iron Hand” (Makiwara etc,) techniques which, even as Senior citizen, I practice several times a week. I also practice kata more intensively as at an advanced (Okuden) level, kata teaches the “hidden” techniques of body shifting (Tai Sabaki), attacking vital spots or pressure points (Kyusho Jitsu) and grappling (Tuite) etc., which are usually not taught in Sport Karate.

Whatever skills I acquired are due to the teachings of those to those great Senseis who enhanced my journey in the Martial Arts: D. W. Welgama, Tissa Gunaratne, Gary Phillips, Gamini Rupesinghe, Kang Rhee and Anthony Fernandes. I also thank Michael Perera, my former student who went on to become an MME champion in Australia, and returned to teach his old Sensei some new techniques. My gratitude to them knows no bounds.

So there it is, my story in a nutshell. 

 

                                                                                                              ©Rex I. De Silva 2020

 

PETRELS IN SRI LANKA

 

 A SHORT NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THREE PETRELS IN SRI LANKA

 

Rex I. De Silva

 

Reefcomber@gmx.com

 

 

 

This paper discusses the writer's observations of three species of Petrels from Sri Lanka in the last decade of the Twentieth Century. 

Barau’s Petrel Pterodroma baraui

 

In 1989, A. B. van den Berg informed me that he had observed several individuals of Barau’s Petrel and other species in 1984/85 in the northern Indian Ocean, south of Sri Lanka but well outside the Island's territorial waters. His sightings were published subsequently  in Ardea. Being aware of van den Berg’s sightings, I was always on the alert for the species. Observing from Wellawatte, I twice sighted individual Barau’s Petrels in early September 1991. These are the first and second records of the species from Sri Lanka. Subsequently, a third sighting was made of four birds at Mutwal, Colombo by others. In recent years there have been more sightings mainly from the northwest. 

 

White-headed Petrel Pterodroma lessonii

 

In September 1990, while observing seabirds at Wellawatte, Colombo (79˚ 51’ 20” E, 6˚ 52’ 33” N.), I observed White-headed Petrels on three separate occasions. This observation is exceptionally interesting as the species is an inhabitant of the southern temperate oceans and has previously not been observed north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Fortunately, the bird is very distinctive, being one of the few species in the region, which has white underparts, a characteristic it shares with the next species (Soft-plumaged petrel). It is, however, easily distinguished from the latter by its white head and tail and prominent dark eyepatch.  It is not unusual for birds from the southern oceans to visit Sri Lanka occasionally, as Wilson’s Storm Petrel (Oceanites oceanicus) and Brown Skuas (Catharacta lonnbergi) are regular visitors; the former in large and the latter in small numbers. As there are no recent sightings of White-headed Petrels from Sri Lanka, it will be useful if birders are on the alert for this distinctive species.

                      White-headed Petrel (Image courtesy Bengt Danielsson)                     

                                                                   

Soft-plumaged Petrel Pterodroma Mollis

 

The writer observed Soft-plumaged Petrels on four occasions in the first two weeks of September 1988. Only one bird was seen at a time, (hence, it is not impossible that the same bird was reobserved). All sightings were made from the seafront at Wellawatte using a telescope at 30x. My paper, was refereed by the renowned authority on seabirds Dr. W.R.P Bourne and published in Sea Swallow (Journal of the Royal Naval Birdwatching Society, U.K.) As there are no subsequent sightings from Sri Lanka, it will be useful if birders are on the alert for the species.

 

 

 

 

Text revised 4 August 2020. © Rex De Silva