My Journey Through Ryukyu Kempo: Training with the Master

                                                           By Brad Hatfield

I humbly dedicate this  book  to my teacher.
He was not only a teacher, he was a  mentor and my friend.  I miss his lessons and the wisdom he shared.I  miss his  sense of humor as much as anything- his jokes and his expressions.(I tell now, I kick ass...etc)  When I got to know him really well, I used to joke with him and tell him he was the abusive grandfather I never had.


I think about the Master every day of my life. I honestly thought he would  live to be one-hundred years old.He beat the odds so many times and survived so much hardship in his life, I began to suspect he would outlive most of us.Sadly, this was not to be. I try very hard to remember everything he taught me. I have always held my teacher and his art in the highest regard.

Now that he is gone, his students will write his legacy by their conduct and actions.

What one man builds in his lifetime, others can destroy in a short period of time.
It is easy to destroy something beautiful and unique, any fool can do it.
Things as intangible and tenuous  as honor or ethics can be undone in a moment’s time.

I have not been directly involved with my teacher’s  Association for several years, but that does not change anything for me.
I never stopped training or working on things my teacher  taught me.
I have a never ending responsibility to my teacher. Not just in martial arts, but in everything
I do. How I conduct myself in my daily affairs, how I live my life and treat people in business and personal relationships.Everything I do and say is a reflection  on my teacher and his legacy.As a personal student , I hold myself to his  high standards-I never want to do anything to betray his trust or undermine his reputation.

Lighten Up-I like to laugh, to find the humor in things that might not seem funny to others.
If this offends you,too goddamn bad!  It’s my book, if you don’t like it, write a book about how much you hate my book.

Life is  short and we all experience pain and suffering-let’s call it the the human condition.
You better take the time to grab whatever happiness you can and enjoy a few laughs whenever you can get them.
You can’t enjoy life with a stick up your ass. (Yes-you can quote me on that).
One thing I have noticed and something that has bothered me over the years is how seriously American  martial artists take themselves-Yes, training is serious business and of a serious nature, but if you are such a rigid tight ass that you can’t laugh at yourself or find the humor in things, I really  feel sorry for you.
I learned this from the Master , he was deadly serious when we were training intensely, but he always found a way to interject his irreverent humor at some point during our training sessions.

He taught us to laugh at ourselves and everybody else. He made fun of everybody equally.
That might be the quality that bound me to my teacher the most.

“It’s always funny until someone gets hurt, then it’s hilarious-Bill Hicks

A quick thank you to all my detractors-
I have  had people underestimate me many times throughout  my life.
I’m not sure if it is because I am short and generally good natured or for some other reason.
Nothing makes me happier or causes me to laugh harder then when someone decides I will be easy to beat, I’m not strong enough, my technique  isn’t very good or whatever else they decide.
Nothing feeds my inner fire, my will and my determination more than my detractors.
I am going to take this opportunity to thank anyone who ever doubted me- To those who thought I wasn’t strong enough, would give up, was too short, too young, too old, too nice…………..To all of you talking smack, misjudging, underestimating-Thank You!
You gave me the fuel to succeed, you helped me! I take that negativity and use it to forge my inner and outer strength, my will,my determination and  my technique.
Keep it up ! Keep doubting me, my will, my strength or my resolve. You are helping me
gather and build my strength. I used all that negative energy, along with my positive energy,  to become a 7th degree Black Belt training as a personal student of an Okinawan karate legend.

I am recalling all of this as truthfully from my memory as possible. I am simply a guy from Kansas who loves Okinawan martial arts and was fortunate enough to train with a  genuine  Okinawan Karate Master. I  feel very lucky that I was able to train with him on a weekly basis for 17 years. I have a story to tell if anybody is interested.

“What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease”
Sun Tzu-The Art of War.

Chapter One

About My Teacher-
The world is a little bit  darker place without our teacher. We all miss his spirit, his mischievousness/humor, wisdom and his incredible technique. There are times in our life when we meet someone, a person so unique, so different, unlike anyone you have ever experienced before- A truly original human being.This was certainly one of those times.

To me , Taika  always seemed larger than life, like he was semi-immortal or hewn from a block of Oak wood-immovable, indestructible. If you were ever on the receiving end of one of his punches, it felt like his fist was a block of Oak wood, or his arm was a  tree trunk when he hit you. Even when he patted you on the shoulder or back, just the weight of his hand felt like a heavy piece of wood,  or a brick hitting you.

In my mind, he was slightly more than human in his abilities, he was always 2-3 moves ahead of whatever his opponent was doing. I have never seen anyone duplicate his technique at the same level and really don’t believe anyone ever will.
I saw him do so many amazing things, too many to mention at the beginning of a book.
He had a magnetism, a charisma or energy I have felt from very few others,  a sort of personal electricity.

I sometimes thought our teacher was hard on people, but also understood why he had good reason to be.You were a representative of his art, his “face”. As his student,everything you did and said was a reflection on him. He was tough but he was also very fair.
I would not have the same respect and feeling for him if he had been a  completely laid back, easygoing  guy. What made our teacher great was he never pretended to be anything he wasn’t- I  have never met anybody that was a better judge of human character, he  truly understood  human nature.

“You want easy teach, I no easy teach”-Taika

He did not like people who were “wishy-washy”-Either do it or don’t, there was no middle groundwith him.You had to be committed. I watched the uncommitted fall by the wayside, year after year. I trained with hundreds of people at different schools and Headquarters over the years- very few of those people are still training   25+ years later.

In my opinion, the good teachers hammer you-they push you, press down on you, they throw everything they have at you-They are waiting for the moments when you rise up, when you take everything they throw at you and come back for more, when they know you will never give up.This is not only martial arts, this is a  life lesson for all of us.

Some people can’t take the pressure,being constantly corrected, kata and exercises always changing, being pushed to train harder, try harder.
Real martial arts training is a long, frustrating and sometimes tedious process.
You have to check your ego and your preconceived ideas at the door-especially when you were training with a real Master. When you thought you had mastered or figured out how to do something,he changed the timing or the motion or the footwork to another level.

There is a point in martial arts training where you have to decide- is this the direction I want to go with my life, is this the martial art I will devote myself to and most importantly-Is this the teacher I will follow?

During one training session, many  years ago  at headquarters, Taika  was yelling at me. I was trying to do something he had just shown us and it wasn’t right. He kept telling me I was doing it wrong.There were a lot of very loud “No’s” and “Goddammit’s”.
I finally told him I had to stop  for a minute, my brain was fried.  He was looking closely  at me and said-”you think I too hard on you, yell too much”?
I told him no, that’s what I expected, that he would correct me and bust my chops,
it was the only way I would ever get better. He said” this good answer, I can teach you, no problem”.

Our teacher   told us all many times over the years that if we did not believe him or agree with him the door was right over there. In fact, I think he told us this once a week or every class. Nobody I trained with ever took him up on that offer-I think we all knew how incredibly lucky we were.Over the years there were people that left of their own accord and others who were shown the door for different reasons.  I had enough faith in the Master to believe there was a very good reason for everything he did.

I believe everything was a test of some sort with our teacher- a test to see if you could do it,
a test to see if you would persevere and learn something or if you would give up on your own. Did you have  the willpower, the drive and strength to continue?
He never made anybody do anything, you either did it or you didn’t. Everything was a
personal test and challenge.He wanted you to get better and he had his ways to ensure it happened.

Our teacher never stopped training. He just got better over time.The way he did technique changed quite a bit over the years. There was a serious transition from hard style techniques to a much more fluid type of motion and application of technique as he got older.
What this meant to me : The Master was showing us how your martial arts stay relevant as you get older-i.e.  what I lose in power/speed, I make up for  with covering motion/reaction,body mechanics, timing and footwork. This was an extremely valuable lesson I have taken to heart. I am getting older, at 48 years old, I don’t train as  physically hard as I used to, but I definitely train smarter. Quality of technique over quantity, working on quick, efficient technique that does not expend too much energy. This is how one  should train as they get older, this is how we all keep our martial arts relevant as we age.

Power and speed are fleeting-you better have good footwork, covering motion and timing
when you get older. You must have the foundation and technical skills to defend  yourself
against younger, stronger opponents-good life protection techniques. You cannot expect to trade punches with a 25 year old when you are 55, it is not going to go well. Why would you want to? You might eventually win that way,but you are going to take a beating!
Train smarter as you get older, polish your technique and learn to control your opponent with minimum effort.

People who know me have asked me this question many times-Did you ever land a punch or get through Taika’s defense? I want to be absolutely honest with you. NO!!!!
I never, ever  got close to getting a hand on my teacher. Even when I was young, cocky and fast.I always tried  to punch, push or kick as fast as I could. I knew what was coming, the freight train of pain!
It did not matter what I tried to do, even when I feinted or tried to fake him out-he would grin as he pummeled you, appreciating your attempt yet still crushing you in an instant.

Training with the Master  was a truly humbling experience-by humbling I mean having your ass  publicly kicked ,badly,  by a man 35- 40 years older than you, he made it look so easy.
It takes a lot of wind out of your sails to be taken down effortlessly by someone old enough to be your grandfather. And brother, let me tell you, it was quick! You were on the ground in 2 seconds-no joke. As a young man, you begin to  develop an appreciation that there might be other older, more experienced martial artists than can do similar things to you.
You develop an awareness that there might be other people in general  that have trained longer than you or are just more skilled than you are.
Once you have taken a few beatings from someone who makes it look real easy, your perspective changes and everything begins to fall into place. You should stay very humble and keep your mouth shut.
Being around the Master every week  and having him work techniques on me kept me  very humble.I never lost that quality, I am still that way.

My teacher was so good, it was almost surreal to watch him doing techniques. There were moments I recall that time seemed almost suspended, like slow motion-sounds crazy to some I’m sure, but it is the truth from my perspective, somebody who saw it all unfolding
in front of him or on him.
From the first time I saw him knocking people out effortlessly and throwing them around  like rag dolls, my life was never the same. Something clicked and I knew I was in the presence of the truly gifted-a genuine martial arts Master.
For whatever reason, divine guidance, Fate or just luck-we were all able to share the wisdom, spirit, humor and incredible life protection techniques of a truly original human being.