Happy New Year 2014

Knife Fighting Tactics of the U.S. Marine Corps

Knife Fighting Tactics of the U.S. Marine Corps

Black Belt

September 1992

By Robert B Safreed

Thank you to Mr. Safreed for allowing me to post his articles.

Combat Escrima A Lethal Weapon Indeed

Combat Escrima


A Lethal Weapon Indeed


Black Belt


December 1989


By Robert B Safreed


Thank you to Mr. Safreed for allowing me to post his articles.

Okinawan Sai The Deadliest of the Kobudo Weapons

Okinawan Sai


The Deadliest of the Kobudo Weapons



Black Belt


September 1987


By Robert B Safreed


Thank you to Mr. Safreed for allowing me to post his articles.

The Okinawan Tuifa

The Okinawan Tuifa


Karate Kungfu Illustrated


November 1988


By Robert B Safreed


Thank you to Mr. Safreed for allowing me to post his articles.

The Mystery of Chinkuchi-The Secret Power of Isshin-Ryu Karate's Tatsuo Shimabuku

The Mystery of Chinkuchi


The Secret Power of Isshin-Ryu Karate's Tatsuo Shimabuku


Black Belt


December 1987


By Robert B Safreed


Thank you to Mr. Safreed for allowing me to post his articles.

A.J. Advincula: Isshin-ryu Innovator for the 1980s

A.J. Advincula: Isshin-ryu Innovator for the 1980's


Inside Karate


January 1986


By Robert B Safreed


Thank you to Mr. Safreed for allowing me to post his articles.

An Okinawan Secret Revealed

An Okinawan Secret Revealed

Hindiandi & the Number One Strongman of the Island


Inside Karate


August 1986


By Robert B. Safreed

Thank you to Mr. Safreed for allowing me to post his articles.

NFL Connection: Chargers Taking Martial Arts into the Trenches

NFL Connection:
Chargers Taking Martial Arts into the Trenches
Inside Kung Fu

December 1987

By Robert E. Dillon




























San Diego Chargers went from a 4 – 12 season in 1986 to a 8 – 7 season in 1987

Information from: http://www.totalfootballstats.com/Team.asp?id=36&Season=1988

A Strange Shimabuku Signature

Recently, while looking through my book collection, my wife found something strange on an old American Okinawa Karate Association document that was published in David Evseeff’s and Milledge Murphey’s 1995 book: Isshinryu: The History &; Evolution of the “One-Heart Way”.






She asked me, “Did Shimabuku change his name?”


“Yes” I said “His given name was Shinkichi but he adopted the ‘karate name’ Tatsuo, or Dragonman.”


”Not that. Did he ever change the kanji he used? The kanji here is different than I have seen before.”





On page 115 is reprinted a letter from Shimabuku Tatsuo dated June 10, 1961. Details of the content are not so important but what is strange is the signature.




Most may be familiar with the kanji Shimabuku used for his first name shown here on the left but the kanji used in the signature on this letter is different. I haven’t been able to find any other documents with this character.






















The kanji used on the letter for ‘o’ is:




and is sometimes pronounced ‘o’ and means male when used in a name. So using this kanji gives the same meaning, Dragonman, and the same pronunciation, but the ‘spelling’ is different.



May not really mean much to us here but kanji used for names in Japan or Okinawa are very important. Changing the kanji you use is like changing your name. It would be like ‘John Doe’ suddenly signing his name to ‘John Dough’. Sounds the same but has a different meaning.


Even more strange is that the character appears to be written with a different line weight as if a different person added it in later but even the kanji in the letter’s sidebar matches this kanji in the odd signature.

Here’s a copy of the letter with the questionable kanji enlarged. I really have no idea why this is as it is. It seems unlikely Shimabuku Tatsuo would change his signature for this, or any other letter, but it appears he may have.