Master Ochai turned down teaching Elvis karate when visiting Graceland and Elvis shot the Television with a pistol. He felt Elvis had a bad attitude and wasn't interested in teaching him his techniques after witnessing that.
Hidehiko "Hidy" Ochiai is a Japanese-born martial arts instructor, author, and actor. He is credited with establishing the Washin-Ryu style of karate in the United States in 1966. He was the winner of the United States Grand National Karate Championship five consecutive times.Ochiai was inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame twice—as Instructor of the Year for Japanese Arts in 1979 and as Man of the Year in 1980. He resides in Vestal, New York...
Master Ochai grew up on the outskirts of Hiroshima in during WW2.He recounted to me that after the Atomic Bomb destroyed Hiroshima he was led into town as a child by his father. They lived behind a hill that shielded them from the blast. He recalled seeing "little melted people" begging to die.
He bore a scare that one rarely saw and only when he performed without his shirt that went half way around him from front to back. He said when he was a teen, another almost cut him in half with a sword and he vowed that he'd never be that vulnerable again.
He bore a scare that one rarely saw and only when he performed without his shirt that went half way around him from front to back. He said when he was a teen, another almost cut him in half with a sword and he vowed that he'd never be that vulnerable again.
I was asked to help him several times and the one time was just before leaving for the feast that afternoon. He's a small man and had me "attack" him in front of a High School audience on a wooden stage. Next thing I know, he's got me up on his shoulders, spinning me around and throwing me to the wooden floor, which we are supposed to know how to do without dying. Needless to say I groaned all the way to the Feast that afternoon. LOL. The good old days!
I got transferred out of NY before getting the Black Belt but he did say that I had the heart of a Black Belt but not the experience. So we settled for Brown. The mention of the Brown Belt to a rather unstable perspective member who was angry because I was not happy with his scripture covered hooded robe he preached in and blocked my way out of the apartment with "I know Karate" helped a lot. I said that I had just come from my own Brown Belt class and just kindly stared into his eyes. He let me pass. Then he went ballistic.
Anyway, just for fun and to honor my best life teacher because I can...
I witnessed Sensei Ochai do this several times and it is genuine and extremely dangerous. He did not allow a student to be under his sword ever that I knew of. . He always asked his son to do the demonstration with him.
When sparing with him once, he hit me and failed to acknowledge it as required. He stopped and said "Mr Diehl, I got you." Unwisely and before thinking I said, "I did not see it." Oops.... We quietly returned to sparing and within a second or two he had his foot up against my cheek and slowly moved my head to the side as he said, "Mr. Diehl...you see that?" lol.
"Yes, Sensei"
Don't Try This at Home
Anyone actually have another human being, in the church or out who qualified as your best teacher and example? Anyone get your through tough times or listen well?
I , for one, WAS NOT Kung Fu Fighting!
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/bmfudW7rbG0?t=27
I’ve been fortunate enough to have a number of excellent mentors, including Master Lee, my Taekwondo instructor in Rosemead, Ca.
ReplyDeleteProbably the mentor with the most lasting influence upon me was Dave M, my sales manager at Cheshire-Videojet back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Dave was brilliant at formulating marketing strategies for the new technologies which we were introducing into the market place. He also had a strong background in mathematics, and was a great logician. He was intensely loyal, having the backs of all who reported to him, although he didn’t overdo it. I never knew him to be racist or sexist, or to discuss politics or religion in other than superficial terms. He taught us to work smart, and to have some fun doing so. All of us respected him for his innate fairness, although he was firm with us if we missed our numbers. He was the only manager I ever had who was a natural, with mentoring being a seemingly effortless daily activity. Never condescending. He was into developing us as human resources. If there were ever a more sincere human being, I never met him. Dave was of the age that he would be retired now. I hope his life has gone well since last I saw him!
I believe all of us experience some golden eras in our lives, and we don’t always appreciate them in real time. It’s only later, when we have additional frames of reference that we realize some of what we have been given. It is mostly in retrospect that we recognize best and worst times in our lives.
BB
For me it would be one certain football coach. It was the opening game of a much anticipated season and the coach gathered the team together just before the start of the game. He said: boys, this game isn't going to won on talent alone or by the plays that I have drawn up. This game is not going to be won in the 4th quarter or at the end of the game when you look up at the scoreboard and the clock reads 0:00. I am going to tell you boys right here and now, the game is going to be won on the first play of the game. When that ball is snapped, I want you to hit the person in front of you and knock the ever-living #xx*x# out of him. Every play after in this game will be a lot easier because you already won the game on the 1st play.
ReplyDeleteI had been playing football for a lot of years until that point and I had never heard of such a philosophy. Doing what the coach told us produced great results. It was amazing to see cocky big mouthed braggadocios backing up further and further from us all game long because they didn't like getting "smashed in the mouth".
Not being able to ultimately put this into practice because my NFL ambitions got sidetracked because I was called to be a sheep in the "restored government of God", it became a lesson lost to time and age.
In this day and age with many of the COG leaders either big mouthed or cocky or braggadocios or all three, what is it that will ever stop them? I thank Mr. Dennis Diehl for the examples he and his family did in standing up to the unopposed and helping me remember what it takes to stand up to those propagating the unfruitful works of darkness before many innocent souls.
No one stood up to David Koresh when the fire started and he was willing to burn his compound down with innocent people and children residing there. No one stood up to Charles Manson when he induced his followers to do the dirty work of Helter Skelter. No one stood up to Jim Jones when he induced the murder and suicide of many innocent children and adults.
Vengeance is indeed God's, saving and protecting the innocent is our job, one word at a time.
Now that trick is just plain dumb. I don't care how skilled a man is with a sword, he is still a fallible human being who can make a mistake. Such demonstrations are not wise. No one will be cutting an apple on my throat if I have any say in the matter.
ReplyDeleteWhen Bruce Lee came to America in the 1950s, he concluded that someone with one years training in boxing and wrestling could beat a traditional Japanese black belt. According to a Google search, over 80% of traditional karate is useless in a street fight.
ReplyDeleteYou may be right, 2:46. On one occasion during our sparring in class, an opponent who was a belt higher than I threw a classic side-kick at me. I instinctively grabbed his leg rather than blocking, and began to take him down. This prompted an interruption to the sparring, and a reprimand from Master Lee. When I returned to my place and sat down, one of the cops in the class told me, “Bob, keep using moves like that on the street, but in class, remember, it’s all about the proper form of the art.”
DeleteBB
I had one strangely close friend and "mentor" in the church. Gary Benjamin of Findlay, Ohio congregation. We met first when I was 24 when he and Barbara (Also the salt of the earth) came over to help us move into our first rent house along the RR tracks in Findlay. They were Deacon and Deaconess.
ReplyDeleteGary walked in and looked around the prefab house we were renting and said "So this is where my tithe money is going" I had a feeling he and I were going to get along just fine. lol. Gary was always there when you needed him. A self made man who started his own company from scratch and it does well to this day. You never doubted what was on his mind and he didn't take the Church drama and scandal, nor pastors before us or after too seriously. He saw in the early years and plainly what I as a young minister was unwilling to see about the church and the Armstrongs. He always called HWA. "The Old Man".
Gary was probably a tough one to have as a dad and husband. I could see that. But I always went to him when I needed to talk practical life stuff and he is the only WCG member to consistently stay in touch with me and I him through the years. I thought back in the day he would not abide staying with the church long. He went on to one of the splinters and kept his faith in the faith through his life.
He was a tough nut to crack and my most memorable moment with him was when we returned to Findlay for a reunion of sorts. He had long ago been de-deaconized by the ministry. Yet he and Barbara had served the local church for years in all things of the day. It may have been Ron Weinland who defrocked him or Jim Haffele. So here we sat, he in front of me, as the minister called the servants of the church, deacons, elders and deaconesses up to the stage to honor them for their years of service and memories for the reunion. But not Gary. Sitting behind him I could feel what he and Barbara must be thinking or feeling. It was uncomfortable for both me, knowing him as I did, and them both.
Proper awards or plaques were presented on stage all around and I simply tore a page out of my note pad and drew a "certificate" all formal and frilly honoring them. It was meant to be humerous and to dissipate the tension and emotions they must have been feeling. I reached around him from behind and he took it. Looked down for a very long time at it and turned around with the only hint of tears and appreciation I ever saw in the man. It was a moment we talked about over the years and he said he kept that piece of paper for years. They did not deserve that humiliation and ignor-ance but then who actually did in the WCG.
We talked a couple years ago over the phone and he was officiating the next day at a funeral for a member. He kept his faith and views through all those years but took no BS from anyone anytime I ever knew him. He didn't care one bit what you thought of him and he spoke plainly about that which I, as a young pastor, needed to hear and an example of authenticity in self that served me well and not so well depending through the years.
Gary taught me it was ok to be myself and not let the church culture swallow authenticity of heart and mind.
Gary died the next week rather suddenly. I miss our talks and the one practical man, not liked by many at times in the church, but my friend and guide, probably more than he knew.
And too...I do and have laughed alone in the car often still when thinking of the good ol' Southern farm boy type in the church who led the closing hymn after hearing the "Must Be Played in All the Churches" tape of Joe Tkach's infamous sermon on "The Sabbath" in Big Sandy. It was the sermon that signaled the chaos to come.
ReplyDelete"Well, wasn't that the biggest load of shit you ever heard! Let's all rise and sing praises to the real God!"
Now THAT's authenticity of heart!
Wonderful memories Dennis! Thank you for sharing them with us.
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ReplyDeleteRE: Hidehiko "Hidy" Ochiai, the Japanese-born martial arts instructor, author, and actor.
What a dangerous and useless stunt. Don't try this at home, or anywhere else.
Preachy movies with an agenda, using trick photography, have made oriental martial arts out to be something amazing, just like they made eastern mysticism out to be something amazing.
A good American boxer would just knock these guys out.
A good American would study the laws of God in the Bible for understanding.
"According to a Google search, over 80% of traditional karate is useless in a street fight."
ReplyDeleteThat may be generically true as knives and guns are a challenge. Smith and Wesson can beat Karate most times. However, I have seen Master Ochai disarm people with weapons and he can do it so quickly you almost didn't see it happen. He ends up with the assailant with a pistol holding the gun to his own head with Sensei and his finger on the trigger asking what the next step the assailant might like to take. Also, Master Ochai recounts being surrounded by six or more street thugs in New York after his class in the city once and he took them all apart in the classic ways of karate. He is a remarkable person. I'd probably not do so well in those real circumstances. :)
In Portland I was crossing a street and made eye contact with a guy as one does instinctively when meeting someone coming the other way. He said "Don't look at me. I'll kill you." Mental illness I am sure but if I had felt actually threatened I would first "no be there" anymore fast or if stuck, do my best. I chose to look away and keep on going.
801 said: " Anonymous said...
Now that trick is just plain dumb. I don't care how skilled a man is with a sword, he is still a fallible human being who can make a mistake. Such demonstrations are not wise. No one will be cutting an apple on my throat if I have any say in the matter. "
Not to worry. No one is going to ask you be help demonstrate. It is not a trick. It is a skill and while dangerous, and he only uses Derrick his own son with Derrick's full cooperation, it demonstrates the genuine nature of Master Ochai in my view. He would never tell you anything less than being a fallible human being. But those are his skills among many others.
Master Ochai also knew Bruce Lee personally. They were contemporaries in the sport. He always lamented Lee's death and attributed it to Lee's exceptionally low body fat , too low, such that when he took a rather harmless medication for pain, it killed him. Body fat helps hold medication and such for the proper distribution of it and it just was not sufficient to not overdose his system evidently.
I had a bad moment sparing once and was knocked out cold. lol. When I woke up on the floor, Master Ochai was standing over me and said "Mr. Diehl, your head is bleeding. Go to the locker room." I had a cut eyelid that needed stitches. He had the black belt who was there that eve and a Dr. use his stapler on me to save a trip to the ER. Doc said he had no anesthesia but would do it quickly. My boys were watching and Master Ochai's words when hurt along the way was "No Baby cry!" So I didn't baby cry but it felt like I was giving birth through my eye socket. lol
Personally Tonto, this is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteEgo meets reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CHylE-bVwY
Dennis C Dhiel
ReplyDeleteFrom your coment the world needs alot more Gary Benjamin's and alot less Dave Packs.
Dennis I was waiting for the goat to show up when he was about to slit his son. I also wondered if his son knew that he was going to cut the apple twice as he seemed to get up.
ReplyDeleteAnyway still thinking about my best teachers besides family who led by example or suffered like no one crossing the Berezina during napoleons retreat from Moscow.
I am thinking about my Roman Law professor who was also president of the Dickens society. Passionate and avid lover the good things of life with rational aproach toward its riddles and a heart for the people and his students. Great story teller drawing 900 students each class wanting to hear more.
Nck
Bruce Lee use to get into street fights almost daily. He was constantly being challenged, the king of the hill thingy. He use to come home couching up blood, so he definitely took hits. Days before his death, he fainted at an airport, presumably from blows to the head. The medication explanation for his death seems like a whitewash by the self defence community.
ReplyDeleteHe did body building, which flys in the face of what most martial arts teach. Interesting he did adapt boxing punches. Since he was obviously on steroids, it raisers questions of whether he "cheated."
I recall reading decades ago that looking at someone the "wrong way" can get you killed in the ghetto.
ReplyDelete108 Lee's wife stated and this is the official coroner's report too "Without going into every detail, let me rebut for those who wish to know the truth: Bruce died from cerebral edema caused by hypersensitivity to an ingredient in a prescription medication called Equagesic. This determination was made after an exhaustive, nine-day coroner’s inquest during which the testimony of forensic pathologists from all over the world, who had studied every tissue in Bruce’s body, was heard."
ReplyDeleteI seriously doubt that someone of Lee's fame gets into street fights almost daily. That's a new one. Lots of Bruce Lee conspiracy theories for sure. I'll follow Occam's Razor which states :
" Occam's Razor is the idea that the most likely explanation for an event is usually the simplest explanation. An example of Occam's Razor is all the leaves falling off a tree because it's Autumn."
Yeah, Dennis. The thing is, when you even have a first degree black belt, your hands and feet are considered by law enforcement and the court system to be a lethal weapon, and rightly so. Bruce's money for all of the tournaments, personal appearances, TV and motion picture appearances would have been in severe jeopardy if he had a lapse of judgment and became involved in a street fight.
ReplyDeleteBruce Lee synthesized the best elements from a number of the martial arts into his own style, which he called Jeet Kune Do, for which he had a difficult time obtaining wide acceptance.
Karate, boxing, wrestling are not just blanket generics. On any given day, there are participants in each who have a widely varying set of skills, and are in numerous states of conditioning or training. You really can't make a generalized statement that any boxer can outfight any martial artist. It all depends on the individual at the time. There is a certain branch of martial arts in which a practitioner can insert his hand into a victim's chest, and remove the victim's beating heart and show it to him right before he dies. Patrick Swayze came close to that concept when he ripped out Marshall Teague's character's Adam's Apple in Roadhouse.
It is also ridiculous to believe that a boxer could mount a serious defense against Surikens, or Nunchaku in the hands of a skilled practitioner. Most of the people I've known who denigrate the martial arts really don't know very much about them. They just spout cliches and expect everyone to assume that they are experts. During the years I studied Tae Kwon Do, it seemed that your average new student lasted about a week or two, quit, and then bragged to all his friends that he knew karate. Over the years, and hours of nightly discipline, if you hang in there, you will have sparred with cops, lesbians, Mexican gang members, Asians, Blacks, Arabs, Native Americans, Hawaiians, and anyone else who is willing to put in the time and effort. It is awesome to one's caracter and self-control. If you spar mad, you are likely to lose, because you are in a rage and no longer analyzing and planning the right moves to counter and best your opponent.
I only got nutted once, repressed the pain and continued fighting, although it hurt like hell.
BB
Dennis
ReplyDeleteMy 1.08 post is based on a one hour TV documentary that I watched twice. He was even challenged on the set of the movie Enter the Dragon by a extra. Naturally Bruce won. The program gave your medication explanation for his death, but I don't buy it. It doesn't explain him passing out days before his death. In one of his classes caught on film, he constantly has his left arm almost completely stretched out. It makes no sense from a fighting point on view, and to me implies a mental scar from someone who got very close and blooded him. This film is on YouTube. Bruce was, and still is the revered poster child of self defence. So there is an incentive to whitewash the reason for his death. One example of this are the books written about him. I have gleamed through several, and they are all silent on Bruce's character. I suspect that part of his appeal was his unsavory character.
BB said: "I believe all of us experience some golden eras in our lives, and we don’t always appreciate them in real time. It’s only later, when we have additional frames of reference that we realize some of what we have been given. It is mostly in retrospect that we recognize best and worst times in our lives."
ReplyDeleteSo true BB! So true! *sigh*
The golden year of my life was 1987 when I was in Year 5. There's not a day or night that goes by that I don't reminisce on those sweet, summer days of my innocent and carefree youth! It was an idyllic time in my life when I knew I was loved and I loved everyone around me--my parents, my siblings, my relatives and all of my friends, which included 3 best buddies and an ever widening circle of friends, both girls and boys! Most of all I anticipated a future overbrimming with hope and promise. Unfortunately my life since then has not played out the way I dreamed it would. So many nights I go to sleep wishing I knew then what I know now. How I would've appreciated so much more every moment I had with all those beautiful people God blessed me to grace my life back then and the experiences we shared together and if I could I'd go back in a heartbeat! *sigh* I can only hope that the wonder I had back then with everything and everyone around me was just a foretaste and fraction of what it's like in Paradise!
Sometimes you’ve got to tie a knot in the old safety rope and just hold on, 7:50. It’d be a neat trick if we could fast-forward or rewind the tape of life to the sweet spots. Thing is, it’s adversity that gives us the capacity to appreciate those sweet spots.
DeleteI realized many years ago that had it had not been for the mind-f*ck of Armstrongism, I would never have been able to live the zestful life that I was able to once the freedom and opportunity presented themselves.
Hopefully there are more sweetspots in store for you, too!
BB
BB said: "You really can't make a generalized statement that any boxer can outfight any martial artist."
ReplyDeleteI agree with you BB! When I was young my mom got me enrolled in Kung Fu. But, I didn't last long. It's only with time and the benefit of hindsight that I wish I would've stuck to it some more. Nowadays I'd love to learn martial arts, but my health isn't what it once was. And watching the John Wick trilogy one can see the deadly force a martial artist can muster against anyone with bare knuckles, guns, knifes or other objects as weapons.
On a martial arts web forum, the question of a martial artist versus boxer was asked. The consensus was equally divided. The martial artist has the advantage of using his legs, but the boxer has the advantage of extensive sparring. Martial artists also do sparring, but generally it is not as extensive as in boxing. Evidently the level of sparring varies significantly from dojo to dojo.
ReplyDeleteI’m shocked that nobody has raised the topic of mixed martial arts and cage fighting. Those are the guys whom I won’t mess with.
DeleteWe had a lot of sparring at Chun Lee Studio. Once you master the spinning heel kick clockwise and counterclockwise, you are at a distinct advantage. Boxers generally fight left-handed or right handed. In martial arts you learn to be ambidextrous. Reversing your stance really confuses your opponent.
BB
Charity Navigator reports that the GTA Evangelistic Assoc. income in 2017 was $710K, it reached a peak in 2002, a year before GTA died, at $1.65M. If this is typical of other offshoots of the WCG, the trend is good. Mark Armstrong's salary is listed as under $60k, but the church probably owns his house, car, etc. and he has a nice expense account, I imagine. So, he is taken care of. He gets the benefits without the responsibility for upkeep. Like Stanley Rader said, it's not what you own, it's what you control.
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