An interview with Sensei David Allsop (Vice Chair of WIKF)

Any Time Mansfield karate club is in the news INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ALLSOP 7TH DAN

David Allsop’s 45 years of Wado with Hanshi Tatsuo Suzuki have left a deep respect for traditional values in Karate training. Together with this and an enquiring mind, David teaches his students at Mansfield Karate Club a wide variety of Kata Bunkai along with Kihon, Kata and Kumite. Here David 7th Dan and a professional instructor for the last 18 years, discusses his career and views on Karate and Kata and his hopes for the future of Wado in this country.

Traditional Karate: Mansfield Karate Club is one of the oldest Wado clubs in the country, were you the founder?

David Allsop: No, only one of the very early members. The club was formed, in response to publicity in Judo magazines, from Mansfield Juco Club in about 1966 when a Karate section was set up. At that time all the instruction came from magazine articles and I am sure they looked a strange group of students. They soon found an instructor from Dinnington in South Yorkshire who put them on the right track with Hanshi Suzuki’s organisation (then the A.B.K.A). When I joined they had just been graded up to Green belt, the Karate club soon outgrew the Judo club and moved to separate premises.

TRAD: What was training like in those early days?

David Allsop: For us, very basic. My first instructors were Green belts, Ron Dovey and Ken Bagguley. Of course we were all young and enthusiastic but the training was very low grade – kicking, punching, pinan katas and lots and lots of free fighting. At first I wasn’t allowed to fight because of inexperience, but that soon changed. Warm-up exercises were brutal with press-ups, bunny hops, duck walking, sit-ups and muscle ripping stretches – more like wearing down than warming up.

TRAD: What about Japanese instruction?

David Allsop: My first Japanese instructor was Sensei Hayakawa who some may remember became a Spaghetti Western actor. He was very good, but also Hanshi Suzuki throughout my career. Others were Sensei’s Maeda, Kitamura, Sakagami, Shiomitsu and Fuji (a really great fighter). The U.K.K.W had a lot of very good instructors then plus of course occasional visits from Hironori Ohtsuka-Meijin the Grandmaster and founder of Wado-Ryu.

I trained with him whenever he was in this country. I have a great respect for the vision and intellect of Ohtusuka-Meijin, he was a true martial art giant on whose shoulders all Wado students are standing and we should not forget that. He was a very humble, humorous man as well.

TRAD: Which had the most influence on you and why?

David Allsop: That’s a very difficult question but probably Hanshi Suzuki. He is a perfectionist and a hard taskmaster. I never wanted second best. He has driven me to high achievement. In the 60’s and 70’s he was very fast, and still is today, very thorough and precise. He gives me the same feeling I had with Ohtsuka-Meijin. He was a top class fighter in the days when fights were for real. Today little has changed with him despite the passing of many years, a remarkable man and a good advery for hard training. He stands astride of Wado Karate in Great Britain over the last 45 years.

TRAD: We hear so much about fighting in the early days, what was it really like?

David Allsop: In the late 60’s fighting was hard and very effective, some might say crude. I could relate many stories of the early U.K.K.W and B.K.K.C nationals but most are unbelievable in todays highly controlled environment. A good kick in the groin often brought things to an early conclusion. We fought Shobu Ippon then and this is the format I prefer. I believe that the other scoring formats have changed the way fights proceed. Shin kicking, groin kicks and throat attacks had to go of course but, even so this has also changed fighting a lot. In those days of course we had no insurance and cared less. Nowadays you have to be more careful. One story I would like to relate to illustrate the difference in attitude then to now, was when I fought one of my friends from Coventry, Jim O’Brien. He was a very big man and prone to overpowering his opponents with a ferocious rush. He tried this on me and I removed 6 of his back teeth with a nagashizuki. The referees had a long discussion about whether I should be disqualified or not on the grounds that he was rushing in at the time. Meanwhile my friends and his also, were scrambling around trying to find Jim’s teeth, which apparently were gold filled, I think he swallowed one of them as well. Yes I did get disqualified but only just, perhaps it was because Jim was only semi-conscious. Jim had his teeth put back and six months later had some of them removed again in another competition, and we say those were the days!

TRAD: Has anything else changed the quality of fighting still further?

David Allsop: The general level of instructional skill has risen continuously over the years. Early on, Japanese instructors apart, you were lucky to have a very experienced instructor but now it is more usual. Also Sports Karate is also available so some instructors and organisations concentrate wholly on competing in and winning tournaments, wrongly in my view, but it has enhanced competition fighting skills and the performance of kata. It produces top class athletes of course but great martial artists I am not so sure – only time will tell.

TRAD: Is there anything that you don’t like about Karate now?

David Allsop: Well yes, but I don’t dwell on them. Perhaps too much emphasis on kata performance rather than content, but the only thing I get really vocal about are cowboy instructors. People with little experience passing on dubious quality Karate to gullible students. It is not the students fault, only the instructors. I don’t think we should just stand idly by and watch students being ripped off by these people.

TRAD: What about your fighting career?

David Allsop: Initially I did well in the junior ranks, I was runner-up national champion. I had only been training for nine months and was only just a green belt. I wasn’t a junior long enough to make more impact than that. I the seniors I fought for England Wado as a 3rd kyu and went on to captain the team later. I have 5 European gold medals with the team and was runner-up individual European Champion to my former club mate Melvyn Parry (who retired from Karate some time ago). We had no weight categories then so as 10 ½ stone wet through I did reasonably well. I fought against Japan twice and won twice. In my last two years I only lost to Victor Charles and Jerome Atkinson, both of whom became all styles World Champions.

TRAD: What about kata competitions?

David Allsop: At first we didn’t have kata competitions in the U.K.K.W. later in the 1976 nationals, I was first round leader until I tried too hard a kata in the final and blew it. Still one of my students won it so I was still happy. I was always torn between kata and kumite and then I preferred kumite. I think you can do both provided you remain uninjured.

TRAD: What about kata now?

David Allsop: I have a difference perspective on kata now. It is the heart of my Karate now, everything is there. Throws, strangles, grappling, pressure points, chokes, principles of movement and stance. No one knows the original bunkai anyway, there is a lot of conjecture, so I believe that a bunkai can be what you want it to be when you want it to be that thing. If you can understand that, provided you can make it work. Rather like a bag of water, you can squeeze it into almost any shape. Ohtsuka-Meijin did a great job of rearranging the kata for Wado students, making them more relevant and less obscure. I wish he was still alive today, I would love to talk to him now about kata. Some of the principles of his Shindo Yoshin Ryu Ju-Jitsu appear to be built into his kata and that is what makes them what they are – unique.

TRAD: Why are people not using the techniques from kata?

David Allsop: Well, first of all, I wouldn’t agree that people aren’t, lots of people do use them. Of course most people aren’t looking anyway. The culture of competition has probably caused this. Bunkai can be brutal, not at all nicer and form me more important than looking pretty.

TRAD: Can you give an example of Bunkai?

David Allsop: Yes, for example, the first two moves of Wado Pinan Nidan (Shodan in Shotokan). I see this as a block to a round punch from the front, followed by a head or hair grab, turning through 90 degrees to create space, stepping through and finishing with a neck wrench or break. It can also be many other things, such as an escape to a left wrist6 grab from the side followed by a punch. Or it could be as classically described as a block to a side punch followed by a punch attack. If you examine different schools ways of doing each kata then different bunkai present themselves. This is fascinating for me and an endless source of inspiration.

TRAD: When did you first become interested in kata bunkai?

David Allsop: Many years ago, but particularly since I turned professional 8 years ago. At first I made many mistakes and misjudgements and probably still do. I found the translation of the Bubishi and many other old books I have read over the years very interesting and informative. There are many sources that can provide an idea that can be built on. At all costs be careful, some of the bunkai can be very effective.

TRAD: What do you mean by this?

David Allsop: Very destructive. For example, the first 3 moves of Pinan Godan. Classically a block followed by a punch and a move to another position. For me this 3rd move is a gathering up of the opponents lowered head and twisting it to break his neck. As I said, be careful, this is the sort of thing you can’t practice for real or carelessly platy with.

As a rule I don’t teach children very much more than rudimentary bunkai because of the danger. Just enough to keep them interested in learning, they are usually adventurous in fighting anyway.

TRAD: How do you practice bunkai then?

David Allsop: Very carefully in private with high grade students. It is not necessary to practice and analyse all the katas, only a few, but thoroughly. Find good bunkai and practice, practice, practice – make it real and simple.

TRAD: What is your favourite kata for bunkai?

David Allsop: Naihanchi, fighting holding your ground with devastating applications, I Wado form it has real wado magic.

TRAD: What is this Wado magic?

David Allsop: Well I think Wado is special because it has links with Shindo Yoshin Ryu Ju-Jitsu. At the highest level all martial arts are the same. It also happens to be my club badge and logo.

TRAD: What about the future of Wado in this country after the acrimonious splits over the last 40 years?

David Allsop: Well for Wado there have been many splits, almost too many to bear. I wouldn’t agree that acrimony exists amongst the various students that have gone there separate ways over the years. The splits have come as a painful result of the progress of British dan grades upwards seeking to do that they should have been able to do. Gradually this has been earned but at a high price. Of course there have been major schisms in the world organisation of Wado as well. Mostly around the time of the death of the founder Ohtsuka-Meijin.

There are now 3 major Wado groups vying with each other in the world. Wadokai – headed by Arakawa Sensei; W.I.K.F headed by Suzuki Hanshi and Wado Ryu headed by Jiro Ohtsuka (the founders son). The details of these splits are well known and already documented elsewhere. My personal feelings regarding these splits are irrelevant. I am only an observer but it is sad, no more than sad that a treasure as beautiful as Wado Karate should be fought over by various factions and so be sullied.

My regard for the Karate created by Ohtsuka-Meijin is inexpressible. That a man who barely knew me, form a far away country, born 67 years before me could have such an effect on my life is incredible. I can only say he was a giant of a man on whose shoulder I am more than grateful to stand. I hope that his give to us stands for ever as he intended it to. To bicker and argue is to stain his memory – this should not be allowed to happen. We should stick closely to his teachings and improve them as best we can.