Fumio Demura Seminar Review
January 31st, 2004 Littleton MA
The seminar was Scheduled to run from 2:30 to 5:30, and was
filled to capacity.The topic of the first half of the
seminar was Self defense, and the second half was the bo.
Fumio Demura is a legend in the Karate community with 57
years experience, and he literally 'wrote the book' on the
bo.
Although the first section of the seminar was listed as
'empty hand self defense' it might have also been
equally well presented as 'fundamentals of
Shito-ryu' as Shihan Demura started from the ground
up. The seminar began with step through punches at our
partner's face, trying to get within a quarter inch, and
then a bit of a game of chicken, with both partners
punching at the same time. This put an immediate emphasis
on maiai / distancing. Shihan Demura was able to convey an
intensity that was infectious, without losing his air of
friendliness. The seminar built on this intensity as we
progressed through some 'old school' karate defenses. These
self defense techniques might be described as 'kihon' as I
found them to be excellent examples of shito ryu karate,
but I found them to be more what I considered a 'karate
technnique' than a self defense technique. Some may feel
that this is a distinction without a difference.
I found the bo staff section to be particularly compelling.
Demura Shihan brought a smoothness and elegant economy to
the bo that I hadn't seen in the Japanese / Okinawan Kobudo
idiom. Most practitioners that I have seen to this point
perform the kobudo forms in a choppy manner, but this was
certainly not the case with Demura Sensei. We began with an
exercise similar to that at the beginning of the first
section of the seminar. Each participant performed a
downward strike attempting to get as close as possible
without actually contacting their partner. He continued to
guide us through some drills, bunkai, and even his entire
basic bo kata. The smoothness and elegance were remarkable,
and there were some amazing, subtle details that really
enhanced the functionality of the bo kata (shushi no kon
sho) that I knew going in. I was delighted when he went
over that form for those of us who had it as 'an extra at
the end.'
It was a great experience, one I would be delighted to
repeat. I would recommend this seminar to Karate stylists,
kempo/kenpo stylists wishing to see what karate is supposed
to look like at its highest levels by an extraordinarily
gifted practitioner and Tae Kwon do stylists who wish to
visit their roots. RBSD stylists, military combatives
exponents and MMA folks would likely not enjoy this aspect
of the arts.
