A Test of Spirit

A Test of Spirit Taika Oyata has always been enterprising, even in Okinawa. He has been part owner of a bar and restaurant or he always had some kind of business venture on going besides running his dojo. The Gulf Land  Corporation, an an American based company, was such a venture.

The Gulf Land Corporation was a development company that offered free dinner and entertainment in exchange for listening to a presentation for a housing project in Florida. We always kidded about selling them "swamp land", but actually this was a legitimate business. Taika Oyata was not directly connected with the solicitation or the selling of land, rather he gave a karate demonstration as part of the presentation.

After karate class everyday for almost a month, Taika Oyata and I traveled to Koza City to give the demonstration. The demonstration was usually short but always exciting. I would attack and Taika Oyata would defend. Sometimes he would do a kata and sometimes I did a kata, but what everyone wanted to see was breaking and this is where the real story begins.

When you mention the word Karate, the average person will always ask,  "how many boards can you break"? Most everyone usually associates karate with the smashing of countless boards and bricks. Being one of those  "average" persons, I too expected to learn the secret of this fascinating part of karate and became very excited when Taika Oyata asked me to drive him to Naha to pickup some wood for breaking.

We arrived in the port area of Naha near a channel where large logs, imported from the Philippines, were floating as if this were some logging  camp in Oregon. Towering over our heads were stacks of logs, 2 to 4 foot in diameter. Driving through the maze of logs, mud and water filled potholes, we managed to arrive safely at our destination.

We began to climb over several piles until we reached the sawmill. Taika Oyata talked to the manager and picked out several large pieces of lumber.  They were about 8 to 10 feet long and about 2 foot square. The forklift  brought the wood to the saw and they were cut into 2X2 inch squares, four foot in length. I was a bit puzzled for I thought that they would have had been cut into planks, but I never questioned the reason why they were cut into 2X2's.

The first few weeks of demonstrations, Taika Oyata did all of the breaking, either bricks or roofing tile, as I had never attempted to break and this was something we did not practice in the dojo. One night all of this changed, I was told to do the breaking.

Two bricks were supported above the floor ready to be smashed. Nervously, I approached the bricks as Taika Oyata coached me in the proper method for breaking the bricks with my forearm. After several corrections in stance and position, Taika Oyata gave me the signal to go ahead. WHACK! To my amazement, the bricks broke with ease.

The next night, Taika Oyata asked me to do the breaking again. This time however, I was to break only one brick as our supply was getting low. Feeling confident at breaking two bricks the night before, one brick should   be a piece of cake. I lined my self up properly, took a breath and WHAM, I felt excruciating pain in my elbow. I had moved forward during my downward swing and the point of my elbow hit the brick instead of my forearm. Undaunted, Taika Oyata said, "Hit them again." I looked at him thinking that he had to be kidding, but his look told me that he was serious.

 As I attempted to strike the second time, the pain of the first strike came to mind and I held back. Again the brick remained intact. Without so much as a word and with no preparation, Taika Oyata walked over to the brick and punched it with his fist. BOOM the brick broke into two pieces as if they  were toothpicks.

Several nights had past and the brick supply had been exhausted. Taika 0yata brought out the 2X2's we had acquired in Naha and had me to kneel on one knee as he swung a 2X2 toward my outstretched arm. I first thought that Taika Oyata was going to beat me with the 2X2's as punishment for not  breaking the brick earlier, but just as I let out a loud "kiai", the board snapped in two.

The first thing I did was to look at my arm and make sure that it wasn't the one that broke. Surprisingly, I felt no pain in my arm, in fact it hardly moved under the impact of the swing. This really boosted my confidence and for  the rest of the week, I looked forward to the moment when he smashed the boards against my body. (Sometimes the boards were broken against the thigh, stomach and back.)

One particular night as Taika Oyata struck my outstretched right arm, one of the 2X2's became obstinate and did not break. Neither Taika Oyata nor myself flinched, but rather prepared for a second strike. Again the board was stubborn and remained firm and ridged. Now, both Taika Oyata and myself were a little embarrassed. I thought that Taika 0yata was sort of blaming me, thinking that I had moved at the last minute causing the board to deflect slightly.

Taika Oyata, although I could tell, didn't show any emotion as he requested me to stretch out my left arm. Again, the board did not break. Now Taika Oyata was showing a bit of impatience, although the audience still didn't know. I now stood as he struck across my thigh and "WHAM", I was knocked to the floor.

Taika Oyata stood and held the board for a moment, contemplating its obstinacy. He then placed the board against the wall and kicked with all his might, again the board was stubborn and pushed him back. Visibly upset this time, he picked up the board and left the room leaving my battered and body in front of the open mouthed GIs.

Outside, you could hear Japanese swear words and a loud smash as the board crashed against the corner of the building. This time the board gave in somewhat, still not breaking completely, it broke into the shape of a "V". The swearing turned into laughter as Taika Oyata reentered the room. Holding the board above his head, he exclaimed, "petrified wood".

In his wisdom, Taika Oyata explained to the audience that it is not always the point to break to wood, but rather a test of spirit and confidence of the student. True to his word, this was indeed a much better test of spirit than if the boards had broken. It proved to me that it is best to not always expect the wood to break, but prepare to accept the impact of the blow. Although it wasn't planned for the boards to be so tough, it provided a lesson for me and an amusing story to remember about my days in Okinawa.

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