Lessons from the Master

Here I go again. My Tree Truth blog isn't always going to be about trees.
Occasionally I have a story to tell-This is one of those times.

I consider myself lucky enough to have crossed paths with Taika Seiyu Oyata.
He was the most technically skilled martial artist I have ever seen. I was able to
experience his extremely painful techniques on a weekly basis for many years.
He was also a man of great vision and incredible earthy wisdom. He was hard on people,
tough but fair. I met him at a time in my life I needed some guidance and although I do not
necessarily believe in Fate, things sometimes  happen in life that make me wonder.
There is a famous saying in martial arts-"When the student is ready, the master will appear"
I will always be grateful for the training I received and for the life lessons he shared.

1990 Black Belt Test-Brad and Seiyu Oyata

One funny story-I swear on a stack of bibles this is true!
I was a brown belt, training hard and working towards my black belt test.
In the good old days, it took a minimum of 5 years to achieve a black belt.
I was invited to come train at headquarters in Independence, Missouri with the other black belts
and instructors. This was quite an honor, a chance to prove myself!
The first night was brutal-we trained for 2 hours, basically non-stop. Most of the night,
Taika Oyata stood 2 feet away from me, staring at me with his arms crossed, not saying anything.
He took a quick break from watching  me to kick one of his black belts in the thigh, the black belt collapsed and stayed on the ground holding his leg for several minutes. Mr Oyata said to him" I tell you lower stance, you no do-I no tell again".
 I instinctively lowered my stance and continued training, sweat now pouring off of me! He came back and stood in front of me, now smoking a cigarette.
I was waiting any minute for a neck chop or thigh/groin kick-it never came.
As he was walking away, watching other black belts, his back was to me, I wondered for a brief instant if I could sneak up behind him and kick him! (yes I am that ornery and was that stupid)
The instant I though about it, as God is my witness, he sensed my intent. He whirled around to
face me, his dark eyes boring into mine! To this day, I have no idea how he knew, but he knew what I
was thinking. He quickly walked over and now stood 1 foot away from me- glaring at me. I was close to pissing my pants! He stood in front of me until class was over. At the end of class, he called my instructor, Greg Lindquist over and said-"Greggy, this your student", Greg said I was his student.
Mr. Oyata said-"Something funny about him,(he was correct) but I think he black belt material, kata,technique o.k."
Hell yes! A man could go to his grave with less praise than that!
I learned a valuable lesson that night -The  true master senses intent!



Some interesting anecdotes involving pain-
Just so we are clear, I always thought Taika Oyata was slightly more than human.
He was always 2-3 moves ahead of whatever his opponent was doing.
I watched him drop (knockout) a guy that was 6 feet, 7 inches tall and weighed 325 pound by hitting him in the neck with his fingertips.
 I saw him punch someone in the stomach so hard and so fast, the poor guy's feet
shot out 3 feet in the air behind him, he was out cold when he hit the floor.
During a demonstration, I punched as hard and fast as I could at him-He grabbed my arm and twisted
it so hard and fast, I did a flip in mid-air, screaming as I flipped. It felt like I was caught in a carnival ride and my arm was being ripped apart. When I came to, he was laughing and said "Good job!"
One of my friends said-"that was awesome, I didn't know you could do a flip" I replied that I
did not know I could do a flip either, my body responded to keep my arm from snapping.
Or the time he hit me so hard in the jaw I was cross-eyed for a little while,  also causing my eyes to bleed/ broken blood vessels in my eyes-Good times!
I could tell you about the time he broke a thick board with his thumb!
There are a million stories about his technique and they are all true.

Taika Oyata and Brad in Okinawa 2002

I have a never ending reel of him in my head yelling "Godammit"  or him telling us
"you guys not human beings, human beings can do what I teach" .
He used to mutter "Teppo mimi". I learned it means rifle ear (in one ear, out the other). 
Or him chasing us in a cab while in  Okinawa, flipping us off from the backseat of a taxi, wearing his cowboy hat,laughing as the taxi peeled out after running us off the road.More Good times!
I have a lot more stories about my teacher and they are all true.
Taika Seiyu Oyata is no longer with us, but his teachings and wisdom remain.
It might just be wishful thinking, but there are times when I am training intensely, I feel like he is watching, either waiting to punch me, yell Goddammit or God Forbid-tell me what he only told me twice-You're pretty good.
A man could go to his grave with less praise than that!

The Cedars of God and the Tree of Life

I am not going completely biblical on you, these are some interesting tree stories and pictures.
As you probably know, I have an intense interest, some would say a gravitation towards historic or unusual trees.

The Cedars of God-
The name for a group of 400 ancient survivors, remnants of a forest that once covered mountainous
Northern Lebanon.

This old growth Cedar of Lebanon forest is all that remains of a massive forest that was plundered throughout early history. Cedars of Lebanon were prized for their wood/grain. The ancient Egyptians used them for ships, as did the Phoenicians. The wood was also prized by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. King Solomon used these trees for construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem.
Luckily, they are now protected, named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Several of these historic Cedars are 2,000 to 3,000 years old.



The Tree of Life-
This is an interesting photo, a tree growing in the middle of the desert, growing where nothing else can or wants to! This picture reminds me of Summer in Kansas, or a tree growing on the planet Mars.

This Mesquite tree is believed to be at least 500 years old. Growing in the middle of a desert in
Bahrain that is devoid of all other  trees for hundreds of miles.
There is no rational reason for this tree to be so massive or to be able to support itself in this harsh environment.The only explanation is that the roots have found a water source that no one else can seem to find.
The legend of this tree, believed to be true by many in the region, is that this massive, old Mesquite tree marks the  location of the Garden of Eden.