Part 5 of an interview we did with Noonan Sensei some time ago. Noonan Sensei is currently the most senior ranked teacher of Chito-Ryu Karate-Do in Australia. In this episode we put Noonan Sensei in the hot seat, and ask him a number of questions from some other Chito-Ryu instructors from around Australia. —- Transcript —- 015 - Michael Noonan Sensei interview - part 5 Sandra: Welcome back everybody. Today we are in our final part of the five-part interview with Noonan Sensei. Martin: And of course, if you've missed any of the first four parts, be sure to go back and have a listen to them. Sandra: Okay, so in this episode, Martin, we have Noonan Sensei in the hot seat. Martin: Yeah, so we're going to be asking him lots of questions from, that have been given to us from some other Chito-Ryu instructors from around Australia. Sandra: All right, let's get straight into it. Martin: We've noticed everybody faces challenges in life, some big and some small, but not everyone has a way to navigate these problems. Sandra: It's not always easy, but we've found that we always keep coming back to what we've learned from our years in the dojo. Martin: And that's what this podcast is all about. Sandra: Helping us all find the solutions to life's problems, or even better yet, to remove the problems before they arise. Martin: This is Martin and Sandra Phillips, and welcome to the Karate4Life Podcast. All right, so we've got some hot seat questions for you from some of the different instructors around this one. First one from Adam Higgins Sensei on the Gold Coast. So, in your younger years, you went through some hard physical training, conditioning, and do you believe this is necessary for young karate-ka who wish to pursue? Noonan Sensei: Oh, that's a very good question. Do I think that physical, hard physical training is necessary? Yes, I do. I say that because, for me, it was because I didn't have any hard physical training. I didn't come into karate being athletic. I didn't come in as a gymnast or a great swimmer, or anything like that. So for me, definitely, it was necessary. Now, I can't speak for everybody. So there's probably certain people that might need a bit less of it, but I would say because the way we do technique is very unique, and the muscles we use also therefore must be tuned in a certain way, and certain ones must be strengthened. And so I would say that the exercises that we do are specific for the development of karate. I'll just make that clear. I don't believe that if you're a buff gym guy that that's enough physical exercise for karate. I'm not having a go at buff gym guys, but karate is so specific, and the things you need to develop and strengthen are so unusual in many ways, as you know. So yes, you do, but depending on what you've done before might be some variation in what you need to do, and how much. Martin: All right, next question from Mark Snow Sensei, who's just over in the corner, actually. Should have got him over here for this one. Can you explain shuhari in relation to your journey? Maybe just a brief explanation of what shuhari is first, I guess. Noonan Sensei: Okay, yeah. Shu is the basic part, to develop, to copy, you know, like a foundation. And the Ha part is to make it your own, and Ri part is to break away from that. Now, I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that give a broader, you can YouTube that and get a much better explanation, a much deeper one, but for the purpose of this conversation, that's pretty much it. How's it applied in my journey? Yeah, you know, I think it applies in everybody's journey. It's something that, if you really practice correctly, you can't escape from. If you don't follow this process, and I won't say it's, well, you know, I'm not sure, really. Maybe it's a long, drawn-out process where you've done this, and done that, and then you break. But in my mind, the longer I do it, I think it's a series of the same thing happening over and over again. You're learning something, you're breaking, you're learning, you're consolidating, you make it in your own, and then you're breaking away. And you do it again, and again, and again, and again, with different techniques, with different mindsets, developing different parts of your body. And I think Soke always, in a video that Soke and I did together, he always talks about that's coming back to the beginning. And I almost think that's what that's about, that you're starting, you're making it your own, and you're breaking, and then you come back, and you repeat the process. So, you know, that's my opinion, and that's how it affected my karate life. Martin: That's great, that's great. All right, next question. This one's actually from me. I've written this one down, so it's a little bit, make sure I get it. So, obviously, Chito-Ryu was introduced to Australia, the official record say was 1972. It was actually a little bit before that, late 60s, I believe. Noonan Sensei: Yes, I believe it was 67, but I don't know exactly. Martin: Obviously, this was before any of us started our current generation. So, I guess, based on your interactions with the teachers that you had, and people in the early days, what do you remember about what Chito-Ryu was like in those early years? I guess we covered a little bit of this earlier. Yeah, yeah. Noonan Sensei: Look, I'm only repeating what someone told me, so I wasn't there to see it. I was told that we, that Chito-Ryu had very long stances, and being new to anywhere, and not having a great deal of depth and contact with overseas, it would have been very muscular, because we know that when we develop something, we're applying all the muscles to start with, until we learn better, and then start to reduce, or maybe target the muscles that we should be using, and stop using the ones we shouldn't be using. That's right, yeah. However, so, but when something's introduced somewhere, it's kind of new, and the people teaching it had not themselves spent years either in Japan, or with Soke, or back and forth, and so, if you can imagine a form of Chitok-Ryu that was quite hard, and I don't want to misquote my friend Paul Hind Sensei, but, you know, I can't remember what the term he used, but, you know, it's kind of wham, bam, boof, and that's a bit what it was like, you know. It was pretty, it was more a Bash em up type of tough, hard, blood on the floor kind of training, yes. Martin: So perhaps a little bit different to these days? Noonan Sensei: Well, I mean, the expertise that we have now, and the technical expertise we have now, is really second to none in the world, and I don't say that egotistically, and I don't say it lightly. I really believe that with the people we've got here, and of course, that's going to reflect in our dojos, and reflect in our students and their abilities. And I think now, maybe philosophically, we've come another step as well, where it goes hard, tough, fight. Now, maybe philosophically, we've come a couple of steps ahead, and we're thinking, you know, how does karate impact other areas of your life? What are the benefits of karate? Do you just do karate, like I did, to learn to fight to start with, and then does that, as you, the more you practice, it'll change your view of what you're practicing, and ultimately mould your character. So I would think now that there is more philosophical input now today, than there has been previously, and having your wife, Sandra Phillips Sensei, here this week, and today we were fortunate enough to have her take a women's seminar, and although I wasn't officially at the seminar, what I caught little bits and pieces of it was a lot of mental focus, and from the week we've had it, it's the same thing, there's a lot of mental focus, that was lacking, that was not there, definitely in the early days. So, but technically and philosophically, we were younger, younger, that's all. As you grow, you get, you know, you get better, and you get older, you get better. Martin: Hopefully, hopefully. Noonan Sensei: Well, we do, we have, we have, we've got older, the style’s got older here, and I was told 67 from memory, and I could be proven wrong. Martin: Just a couple more questions, one from Adam McDonald Sensei, also from the Blue Mountains. Is there anything that you would have changed in your journey, and what would you have done differently? Noonan Sensei: Oh, that's a good one. Um, well, I'm kind of happy where I am at the moment, so if I had to change something, maybe I wouldn't be where I am. On the other hand, maybe I would have been further along the track, so it's like rolling the dice, would I change anything? From one, one perspective, one thing I would change is, I would be very careful about how much impact work I did on heavy bags, makiwara and those things, and people's bodies. Especially as you get older. Well, yes, when you're younger, it doesn't, you know, you don't think it's going to happen to you, but you trust me, young people out there, you can see me, it will happen to you. If you don't listen to your teachers, it'll happen to you. You're going to be in a world of pain when you get older, if you do the wrong things to your body, and that goes back to the discussion we had on fake teachers, that if you don't know what you're doing, you're endangering people. That's another very good point, but, so, what I'd do differently, well, I would probably not do as much toe-strengthening work, and kicking the makiwara with the tip of my toe, because I do suffer a little bit in that area at the moment, that's one thing. Pretty much apart from that, I'd just be a little bit more careful with the way I did any type of conditioning exercises, and the length. Now, that was not anybody's fault apart from my own, because Soke told me not to
