History I Heard Second Hand

One of my readers commented on how I tend to ramble on and I admit that I really am long-winded. I just cannot tell a story without throwing in all the details  because I truly believe when dealing with history, the devil is in the details.  History is all about big characters, small bit players and inconsequential little Forest Gumps like me. Each player steps onto the stage, plays his part and then either is a star, a recurrent player or a simple extra who tripped a switch that started a domino effect. Leave out one detail and you miss an important piece of evidence to convince your audience.

By the way, I don't pretend that my story is the only truth here; it's the truth I know while other people have their own version that is just as true for them.

No matter who's story you hear, Rick Jorgensen will be the main character.  You cannot tell the story of the ITKF without his name being central to the story.  Friend or enemy alike, everybody has to admit that Rick's single minded dedication to karate and the ITKF is a credit to the man's focus.

Rick Jorgensen
Younger and still teaching at Midwest Karate Regina

The Canadian branch of the ITKF was born out of extensive meetings between several players. I actually got to read the minutes of many of those private meetings after cleaning out the storage locker of Midwest Karate Regina one steamy summer Saturday. The repeat players in the minutes were Sensei Jorgensen and Mr. Nishiyama, but several known instructors were prominent. I will sidestep names here, but a couple of instructors from Montreal had bit pieces as did a well known instructor from Winnipeg. The details of the meetings were pretty dry, but there was one comment from Nishiyama Sensei that really deserves mention.

He emphatically said that Canada should have it's own independent karate association and not allow itself to be a colony of Japan. 

Sensei Nishiyama, a son of Japan who never really mastered the English language and who ran a very traditional hierarchical karate club clearly stated that his goal was to help form independent karate associations to which he would be a technical director and separated from the politics altogether.   Of course that is not how it worked in the end.

 We Westerners will never allow the Japanese instructors to step back because we need someone to worship and bow to. It's not karate unless you are bowing to a small, old, oriental (or somebody pretending to speak Japanese until a real Japanese person enters the room).  This need for Japanese validation is present in every karate association and that need sowed the seeds of the final death of the Canadian ITKF, the TKC.


The Midwest Karate Logo. Legend has it
that the Sensei from Winnipeg is the model.
Ok, Maybe. Or it could be just a standard
karate logo used by many clubs anywhere.

Midwest Karate Saskatoon hosted the 2003 TKC National Championships and for the occasion I abandoned my family and drove up with my camera to shoot some of the action.  I thought I would be able to remain anonymous and just get some good candid shots, but I tend to trip into situations just because I really am a bit of an opinionated ass-hole. One person who I met was John Price-Kataoka, competing for Newfoundland.  I had known John through the Internet forum 24Fighting Chickens and we shared a few laughs (BTW: If you ever meet John, you are meeting a real karateka: he has been training literally for his whole life and now lives primarily in Japan, where he followed his dream. Few of us can claim such dedication.).  He graciously introduced me to his Sensei, a Mr. Lee, and I spent a bit of time exchanging barbs with the boys from The Rock, almost automatically picking up a bit of their Newfoundland accent, still thick from their Celtic ancestry. Mr. Lee, it turned out, was one of those recurrent but key players in our little drama.

Midwest Saskatoon. The floor is slightly sticky,
but very forgiving.

Midwest Regina. The floor is over 100 years old. It has a
few cracks and a few soft spots, but your feet float smoothly over
it's satin surface. It will always feel like home to me after the hundreds
or thousands of hours I spent there. Not likely welcome there though.

After the tournament, I was anxious to get home to my family. Karate has never been a popular subject in my home and now, in my declining years my wife has actually forbidden me to return to active participation.  Unfortunately, as I stepped out of the venue, I bumped into Sensei Jorgensen and was Shanghaied of to the impending TKC/ JKI meeting at a down-town hotel. Sensei Jorgensen told me that important subjects were going to be discussed and I needed to hear the future of the ITKF first-hand.  I personally would rather have a flaming barium enema rather than attend any meeting, but my Sensei asked me personally to attend and you don't say no to a polite command if you are smart in karate.

 I sat at the back of the hall, with the idea that as soon as the lights went down and the discussion started I would slip out the back and make my get-away.  Unfortunately the lights never really went down and my table was filled with karate zealots who would likely rat me out if I exited.

 The arrangement of the podium was a clear indication of how things were going to go in the meeting. Sensei Nishiyama was centre stage, Sensei Jorgensen was directly to his left, close enough to whisper comments in the old man's ear, and to the far right was the senior sensei from Winnipeg, clearly separate from the two central figures. The grey haired gent from Winnipeg was rocked back in his seat, arms crossed, head tilted slightly back, clearly not interested in being on the podium.  Throughout the next two hours the only thing that signalled any interest at all from him was a periodic shuffle through papers and a frequent nod to one of his senior Sempai, a vocal critic,  seated at one of the front tables.  The tension between the entire Winnipeg contingent and Sensei Jorgensen was palpable.

The subject of the meeting was the sweeping changes Nishiyama Sensei wanted to enact in the structure and operations of the TKC and, indeed, his entire karate organisation under the banner of the JKI. Mr. Nishiyama wanted to tighten up instructional and grading protocol and he wanted the TKC to form a committee to propose technical guidelines. Continuing education for all senior instructors in the form of regular seminars was going to be mandatory.  Most examinations were going to be done by a Dan-ranked committee,  the ranks of said examining committee to be determined by the kyu or dan level in question. The intent of the new guidelines were pretty clear to anyone listening.

 Mr. Nishiyama was preparing the way for his inevitable departure and wanted to create a system of checks and balances that would allow his legacy to continue after his death. The "technical standards committee" was to be formed to help maintain the current technical standards while allowing periodic review and thus evolution into the future.  This proposal also dovetailed well with Mr. Nishiyama's adamant opinion that karate throughout the world should not consider itself merely a "colony" of Japan.

In the fall of 2005 Saskatoon was awarded the 2006 ITKF World Championships. It was a great thing; Saskatoon has a great dojo, a large involved membership with a capable and  charismatic instructor. Saskatoon was certainly up to the task, but let's not pretend it was all that much of a challenge.  Due to the recalcitrant nature of Mr. Nishiyama, the ITKF was so diminished and marginalised by 2006 that only 250 to 300 people were expected to attend, athletes, coaches and officials combined.  Compare that to the Canadian football championships "The Grey Cup" where upwards of 30 to 50 thousand fans will invade the venue city for up to a week prior to game day. Regina had a reputation for being a legendary host of the Grey Cup every time it has won that bid; hosting is what Saskatchewan does best.

In the run up to 2006, things were going on behind the scenes both locally and nationally. The karate soup was souring quickly.

 The TKC national executive were chafing under the leadership of Mr. Jorgensen.  In Newfoundland, Mr. Lee was upset because both Sensei Jorgensen and the instructor from Saskatoon had held weekend seminars on "The Rock" without consulting the provincial association (they had been invited by local instructors). In Montreal the head Sensei was upset that a dusty little backwater like Saskatoon had been awarded the World Championships, and in Winnipeg there was some resistance to dealing with Sensei Jorgensen on any level. ITKF membership dues were being withheld by the lead instructor from Winnipeg; he wanted those dues to be paid directly to Nishiyama Sensei, bypassing the Canadian head office manned by Sensei Jorgensen.  Furthermore, the technical standards committee required by Sensei Nishiyama's new protocol as suggested in 2003 had made no headway in creating any technical standards guideline for Mr. Nishiyama's approval.  Complaints mounted and the obvious opinion of the group was that they had Mr. Jorgensen over a barrel because they felt he would not jeopardise Canada's opportunity to host the Worlds and  would cave to their demands easily. Obviously none of them really knew Rick Jorgensen in the least.

Back in Saskatoon, things were not really much better.

Mr. Jorgensen had arranged for a leave of absence from his job in Ontario and had moved back to Saskatchewan to be on site for the World Championships. Jorgensen Sensei had taken a short-term contract in public relations with the Saskatchewan government and had hoped to be welcomed into the Saskatoon dojo as a temporary senior instructor.  That idea was not well received by the head instructor of the Saskatoon dojo; the man had been an independent professional karate instructor for over ten years by this point and he did not relish any senior Sensei just stepping onto his floor as an equal, much less a senior.  The Saskatoon club was not terribly open to the idea either and actually democratically voted to bar Sensei Jorgensen from taking any position at the dojo beyond "honoured periodic guest". Sensei Jorgensen was pretty much on his own that year and was going to have to start his own dojo elsewhere in town if he wanted to continue training and teaching while preparing for the big show.

Somewhere in the late fall of 2005 I started receiving e-mails from my "Newfie" friend John to the effect that trouble was brewing in the TKC executive. John had received copies of some pretty blunt e-mails passing between Newfoundland, Montreal and Winnipeg. The knives were being sharpened and there was clear intent to oust Sensei Jorgensen as the TKC Chairman at the next executive meeting.  I read the e-mails and forwarded them to Sensei Jorgensen as soon as I got them.  I did not really care who was right or wrong; Sensei Jorgensen was my sensei and I owed him enough loyalty that I thought he should be given a "heads up".  I am not sure he ever received my e-mails, but from the final results, it is obvious that Rick had a contingency plan in place when he arrived in Montreal for the executive meeting.

At that meeting Rick Jorgensen was removed as the Chairman of the TKC. The following Monday morning the Canadian Traditional Karate Federation (CTKF) was born with Rick Jorgensen as the Chairman.  Mr. Nishiyama officially recognised the CTKF as the Canadian ITKF and the former TKC was immediately marginalised. Anyone that wanted to have an opportunity to compete at ITKF World Championships in Saskatoon had to be members of the newly formed CTKF.  The TKC executive had been essentially excluded from the ITKF by Sensei Jorgensen with the complete support and approval of Nishiyama Sensei.

I should not give you the impression that the conflict within the TKC was all about Rick Jorgensen. The failure of the group to come to any agreement on the technical guidelines was a major stumbling block for Mr. Nishiyama.  While cleaning up paperwork at the dojo one evening I found a very sternly worded letter from Nishiyama Sensei to the effect that every ITKF member in Canada was officially suspended in rank until there was some agreement on the technical standards guidelines and some cooperation with Mr. Jorgensen in the management of ITKF business. ITKF membership dues were to be paid to Sensei Jorgensen (Nishiyama Sensei actually refused delivery of a check sent directly from the Winnipeg branch) and some headway had to be made on the technical standards.  As I read that letter, it appeared that every ITKF karateka in Canada had been demoted to white belt until the situation was resolved.  The split of the TKC and the sudden formation of the CTKF resolved that situation I assume, though I never heard any different.

Back in Saskatoon the preparations for the 2006 Worlds continued on. Despite my enthusiasm (or maybe because of my enthusiasm) I was completely excluded from contributing any support to the effort.  I only heard fragments of the conflicts from mid-year on. I actually approached the Sensei from Saskatoon and asked him if there was not some sort of compromise that would see him allowing Sensei Jorgensen to lead a few  special classes out of the Midwest Karate dojo rather than setting up his own dojo just down the road.  I was lucky to survive asking that question; I learnt that day to just let the big dogs fight and stay out of the pit if you don't want to get bloody.

 In the end, Sensei Jorgensen started his own club centred around a few old karateka who enjoyed his teaching and a disenfranchised but capable Nidan who had been a Midwest Karate member for many years before falling afoul of the club.  The situation was far from optimum, but there was no way those two men were ever agree to share a dojo, even temporarily. Unfortunately they still needed to work together if they were going to pull off the World Championships.  I actually am quite glad I was never invited to help with the Worlds.  Glad to miss all that drama.  I never actually heard back from anyone if my original bid proposal was ever opened or if it was just filed under garbage back at the SKA office.

The World Championships went off without a hitch. Mr. Nishiyama was actually quite pleased with the venue and the competition in general, though I rather doubt anyone has ever bluntly criticised any athletic venue after the fact, regardless of how bad the banquet food was (and athletic banquet food is always brutal, rubber chicken). The repercussions of the dojo dust-up between Sensei Jorgensen and his former Sempai reverberated for months after the championships were well over, long after Sensei Jorgensen had returned home to Ontario.

So I think I have the stage set for the current ITKF blow out.  We have alienated instructors in Newfoundland, Montreal and Winnipeg waiting for pay-back. We have a capable and charismatic Sempai (I call him that only to separate him from Sensei Jorgensen) chaffing under the leadership of his former Sensei.  We have Sensei Jorgensen, a man of singular determination when it comes to promoting and defending his understanding of Mr. Nishiyama's vision for the future of the ITKF.  There are many people I have not introduced yet and these people are the big players on today's stage. Several of them I have never actually heard of and the few I have heard of I only know as capable, highly-skilled instructors worthy of consideration.  The New ITKF as it is formed now will be a great association with numerous top quality instructors, but it too will fail because it suffers the same cancer all karate associations do: they are based on personalities rather than principles.

Oh, and by the way, if your are looking for a villain here, you are not likely to find one. Perhaps you would like to blame Rick Jorgensen, but then you would be actually pissing on a guy that has given everything (and I mean everything) to karate. He is divorced and lives thousands of miles from his kids. He travels every week most of the year and basically lives out of the Holiday Inn Express or similar hotels worldwide.  His suits always have to be dry cleaned because they always come out of a suitcase rather than a closet.  This guy is all about dedication.  Perhaps you want to blame the instructors that impeached him when he was running the TKC.  Those guys were professional karate instructors who, with the enforcement of Nishiyama's new protocol were going to completely lose control of their own clubs; all examinations were going to be by committee (thus they usually involved calling in at least one senior instructor if the grading involved anything above 4th kyu). Perhaps we should blame Sensei Jorgensen's old Sempai who now runs the club in Saskatoon?  Here is a guy that runs one of the best clubs I have ever trained with (and I have been asked to leave some really nice clubs) and happens to be easily the most charismatic, enjoyable instructors I have ever met. Sempai really knows his stuff and truly was a Sensei after leading his own club for over ten years by the time 2006 came around. Should we condemn a man for defending his own, hard-won turf? I can't.

 In karate there rarely truly is a villain, but damn, there never seems to be a comfortable middle ground. It's this stupid "standing on principle" behavioural pathology we all seem to have.  There is an old saying that graveyards are filled with young heroes.  Karate clubs seemed to be filled with angry and very lonely men (and women) of unbending principles.