James P. filmed this during our martial arts demonstration at the German-Okinawa Festival in 2011 in Nanjo-shi. It was a festival to celebrate 150 Anniversary of German -- Japanese friendship. I was in the organizing commitee of the festival and while only German art was presented (classical music, food etc.), I succeeded in convincing the committee to include Kobudo, since it has a large following in Germany. Initially, Akamine Sensei said something like "Ok, let's do Shushi no Kon Sho, Sakugawa no Kon Sho, and Akamine no Nunchaku" or so, but I insisted there need be more demonstrations to correspond to the level of this festival, which they didn't really understand it seemed, or they didn't care. So I wrote a larger program and proposed it to Akamine Sensei for verification. He insisted only "Yes, but I do Tsuken Sunakake." He also approached me and said "Dell Hamby is here, can he also perform?" In the spirit of Akamine Sensei himself, I replied "Sure, why not!".
The festival was attended by many high ranking Okinawans as well as the German ambassador to Japan, and the German Honorary Consul in Okinawa. German Tesshinkan members and Tamayose Sensei were also there and we made a commemorative photo with everybody in it. That's how I roll.
Since I worked at the festival early mornings til sun down, I didn't get the time to eat the whole day. I didn't even get a beer: It was out when I ended my shift late. When I returned home with the bus, my bicycle was stolen so I had to walk all the way back to the dojo and also get me new bike afterwards. That day, I slept like a log.
At the festival, I performed, Bo tai Bo with Fumia, Choun no Kon, Hama Higa no Tonfa and maybe a sai kata, not sure anymore. It was well received. Actually, Jesse (The Karate Nerd) aproached me and asked if he can publish the video of Akamine Sensei that day. It has more than 20,000 views today and can be said to have sparked a new interest in the matter and made clear the importance of publicly available video and media coverage of karate and kobudo to all stakeholders. It is here [ Ссылка ]
This is a slow motion so you guys can study the moves and technique when your going for 5th dan testing.
