Autobiography Part 19: My 2nd Attempt to Train Under Sensei Shimabukuro

Q: Hello Sensei, welcome to episode 19 of your autobiography. In the last episode, you spoke about the Malaysian Karate Seibukan Shorin-ryu. How did you become interested in traditional karate?

A: As I mentioned in a previous episode, I met Sensei Don F. Draeger. Through him, I fell in love with traditional karate. Even though at that time I was already involved in refereeing and coaching. I'll discuss the Malaysian Karate Federation later, including how it was formed and my roles within it. I was refereeing and serving as the national coach until the end of the 70s. In 1980, I moved to Germany.

I met Sensei Draeger in the late 60s/early 70s. When I told him I was doing Shindo Karate, he seemed accepting. When I mentioned the names of the kata, he would occasionally teach me some karate techniques with one of my colleagues, Tony Ponaya. Today, his style is called Tony Ponaya Hayashitorio. He's still in Malaysia; his children are kumite champions, referees, and all that. I introduced Tony Ponaya to karate and to Sensei Draeger. He remembers how Sensei Draeger corrected our techniques and taught us various things.

When I mentioned my style to Draeger Sensei and named the kata, he told me those weren't Okinawan names, but Japanese ones. He said, "It's not Okinawan, but you practice." From that point, I knew something was amiss. Later, when I wrote to him from Malaysia and Germany, he initially insisted they were original Okinawan kata. I disagreed. That's how I became involved in studying traditional karate history and learning about the masters of the time.

Second Attempt to Train with Sensei Shimabukuro

When I met Zenpo Sensei in the mid-80s, he didn't want to teach me and I came to the realization that I had to go back home to train with him. So I told him that I would be back, at which point he thought to himself that he would never see me again. He assumed that I would be like most Malaysian people, who would come once or twice then never return. He never expected me to return. In those days, we didn't have fax machines or the internet. I used to send telegrams.

I wired Sensei to let him know that I was coming. About a year later I had saved enough money for the trip and travelled to Okinawa on my own, without my wife. Sensei Zeno wasn't at the airport. I didn't know where to go. I took a taxi and told the driver I wanted to go to Sukand dojo, I gave him the address. It was a long drive, about 40-45 minutes, and he charged me a lot of money. To my dismay he brought me to the wrong dojo in Chatan. It was Yonamine Sensei's Shorin-ryu dojo.

Yonamine Sensei came out and invited me in, but I insisted that the taxi driver had brought me to the wrong place, that I was looking for Zenpo Sensei's dojo. Yonamine said, "No, no, Shorin-ryu all same, same. You train here, you sleep my dojo, everything." I declined. I told the taxi driver to take me back to the address I had provided. Eventually, he brought me to Chatan dojo, Jagaru dojo. That's how we refer to Sukand dojo, named for the location, Jagaru.

I knocked and rang the bell. Sensei Zenpo answered the door wearing a coat and tie, ready to go to his office. The first thing he said to me, which I will never forget was "What are you doing here?" I told him I came for training. He replied, "I don't have time for you, go."

I was at a loss, being in a foreign country, not knowing the language, and having nowhere to go with my luggage. I said, "Okay, Sensei." He then told me to put my bags in the car. I opened the boot and put the bag in, then he said "Get in". We drove and he informed me that we had to go to the hospital because his son was admitted there.

On the way, he told me that Zieru, his small baby, was in the hospital with chickenpox all over his body. Sensei was very sad and angry because his son was sick. He brought me to the hospital and told me to wait in the car while he went to visit his son. When he came back, he was smiling. He said, "Everything is okay, he looks good now." Zieru was born around 1986 or 1987.

Finding Accommodation and Training

Sensei Zenpo took me to a hotel in Okinawa City. It cost about $70 or $80 per day. I calculated that I could only afford to stay for about five or six days before having to change my ticket and return home. Before arriving, I had written to him multiple times, asking if he could find me a cheap apartment or room to stay in. He hadn't received any of my letters or telegrams.

One day, he came to me and showed me all the letters and telegrams. He said, "I'm so sorry Jamal, I saw these all under my papers. I didn't know that you sent them because I told you that I never received anything."

I was still stuck with the hotel and asked Sensei how I was supposed to train if I only had the hotel and no transport. He gave me the addresses of his two dojos: the Jagaru dojo which I had already found, and another dojo in Okinawa, which was the location of his office. In that office, he had a small dojo where he would teach for two or three days each week. When he felt bored, he would go there, take out the training equipment, and train on his own.

The office dojo was within walking distance of my hotel, but his dojo in Jagaru was about 5-6 kilometers downhill. Going back to my hotel required climbing uphill for the same distance.

He gave me the addresses. I said, "Okay, today is training finished, that's it." I will explain in the next episode how I got my training and what the training in Okinawa was like. If you have any questions about this, you can ask me.

Q: Not right now. It was so exciting.

A: I'm sure when you hear about my second visit and training in Okinawa, you will realize how lucky you are today to have access to such training. My journey was difficult; it wasn't easy or a bed of roses. It was full of thorns. Take care and hope to see you all. Keep in touch. Keep in tune. Don't miss it.