Hello from pat!
Hello Shou Shu family. I was a student in Visalia during the 80's and moved out of CA in 88. I have been studying Bushi Ban for several years now here in UT. The underbelt curriculum has a lot of Shotokan influence and after reaching blackbelt the style concentrates more on the animal influences of Bando. Bushi Ban is an interesting and effective mix of technique. I miss my Shou Shu days and I appreciate the opportunity to communicate with the current Shou Shu family under the direction of Shun Shifu Weaver. I learned under Shun Shifu Patterson and Shifu Ramirez.
Here is a video that one of my student's mother put together from a recent trip to Texas where my two kids and I went for a test.
http://www.truveo.com/Bushi-Ban’s-Mr-Pat/id/2235105407
hope to get to know some of you! Shou Shu is what gave me my start in my long journey of martial arts and I will never forget my roots!
~pat
Comments
All gum chews the same... it's the flavor that is different!
Shun Shifu,
I am glad I struck a nerve with the hopscotch story. I look forward to your insight. One thing I try to emphasize with my leaders is to "sell the flavor not the chomp"! Now you have realize that I have relatives from the south that refer to chewing gum as 'chomp gum' haha so that was the origin of the simple analogy. A similar catch phrase is used by one of my Bushi Ban masters who is like a big brother to me is... sell the sizzle, not the steak!
I firmly believe that the great art of Shou Shu had the same chomp at one time. There seems to be definitely some different flavors apparent today (some bitter and rough, some sweet and smooth) and therein lies the drama. Very true that all great styles in MA are subject to the same issues. I could likely start a website that outlines a ton of similar circumstances that just "I" am aware of related to other styles and MA families and boy would it cause a stir! Funny I just thought of that one scene in Fearless when the one kid says to the other... "my dads wushu is better than your dads wushu" LOL.
Doing the right thing is sometimes the hardest thing to do. The promise you made to Da Shifu... I can only imagine how it weighs heavy on your shoulders at times. It seems you have surrounded yourself with wonderful people to share the responsibility of such a great admonishment. Very cool.
Hope your weekend is going great!
Here is an awesome quote that came to mind while writing back to you! Please allow me to share...
"Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it. Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield but to my own strength. Let me not cave in." ~ Rabindranath Tagore
best,
~pat
~shifupat
ok
i know kirk patterson, did he test you for your belts in shou shu ?
why is ssw picture on my reply lol
oops
Sorry Da Shifu, for some reason I though I was replying to SSW. Please forgive me! I was wondering why there was not a school in Visalia anymore... do you happen to know?
Respectfully,
Pat
~shifupat
no I dont , there is alot
no I dont , there is alot negative stuff happing in the southern shou shu style, old timers leaving, bad changes, greed, huge egos ect. I have stayed away from it for last 4-5 yrs.
Happy my heart landed in the right spot!
Da Shifu and Shun Shifu,
I am sad there has been such a division in the shou shu family. Ultimately the grief and suffering is the price that is paid. Not to mention the unrest it has likely caused for our great leader as he witnesses things from above.
The time I spent as an active soldier in the shou shu family during the 80's was a time where things were more harmonious and undivided. Seemingly from my prospective as a young student back then... Kirk was always an authority figure to me and before I joined the Navy he had extended the offer to me to open a school under his direction. Sounds to me that the hard decision to say no at the time was likely a good one. I would not be doing what I am doing now, had the opportunities I have now and be meeting such great people of the Shou Shu family on sincere, unbiased terms. I am happy for that.
My research and gut feel has pointed me to the right place in current day Shou Shu operations. I am grateful for you both and hope to get to know you better.
Sincerely,
~pat
~shifupat
glad I checked!
Was not sure about the premium part of shoushu.org so it is probably a good idea that I checked first! Although a 30 dollar donation to your foundation would most likely get spent towards a great cause. I really appreciate what you have come to represent and am looking forward to learning more about how things have changed since Da Shifu has passed. I was looking at all of the Moore's Karate schools to see if Shun Shifu Patterson was still running a school. I spent my time learning from SSP and his staff. I spent many many hours of time outside of the school working with Shifu Ramirez. I have been trying to locate some of the old gang. I hope all is well with you and your family and staff. Have a great weekend!
Respectfully,
~pat
~shifupat
Premium
I turned on the premium part for you. You can access what videos are there but it is a mess. I don't plan on fixing it since I'm doing a complete rebuild.
Donations are always welcome. www.shoushu.com has a donation form. We are a california public non profit and hope to be a 501 3 (c) soon. We applied for the 501 3 (c) over a year ago so I'm thinking it should be soon. Donations for this year are tax deductible IF we get our status before tax time.
We actually have two parts to the non profit. Eventually they will both be completely separate corporations but until all the applications are through they are one, which is fine.
The first is the International Shou' shu' Association. The mission statement of this is "To Preserve and promote the art of Shou' shu' for the benefit of humanity"
Note: preserve is first but promoting is important also. Hard to preserve if you don't promote. Secondly "for the benefit of humanity" meaning it needs to be taught in a positive manner.
The second part of the organization is the Sheng Chi Foundation. This foundation's purpose is to use Shou' Shu' as a tool to help those who need to be lifted out of their circumstances. Originally this applied to at risk youth but now extends to PTSD sufferers, kids with learnng disabilities, elderly in need of Chi Kung, Fibromyalgia etc. We've found that we can help these people out.
We hope that the foundation will be able to supply funds for any ISSA member schools to help out also. Or to be a vehicle for those schools to raise funds.
So if people do make donations it would be good if they specify which direction it should go.
Eventually the premium section will help fund these two functions.
SSW
Kirk turned into a big power
Kirk turned into a big power tripper when jr left him in charge while he was away, and made many people unhappy. He kicked him out after he returned and had a mess to fix.
Da Shifu Sr and I had our hands full trying to correct his stuff while jr was gone and was glad to see him leave.
Unfortunate
It is unfortunate that that is all to common in MA. Da' shifu warned of it and I've seen it myself. It's really painful to see.
I'm grateful for the occassional shockabuku (Is that the right term Mr. Miller) that has kept me from going there. Even if those slaps upside the head hurt.
Shockabuku
Shockabuku: Swift spiritual kick to the head. Well used SSW. lol. Hi Shifu Pat welcome. I looked at the video you posted. I thought I detected a little Shou Shu influence in there, welldone. Mr Miller
matthew miller
That is wierd
That is wierd. Must be some glitch in the system. I've got a lot of fixin to do on this site
Welcome
Hey Shifu Pat,
Welcome to the site. Glad to have you.
I watched the video. Some nice crisp weapons, that's cool. I noticed about half way through some parts that looked like they were from the sixth. Was that something you put together.
SSW
hello there...
Thanks for the kind words Shun Shifu. The middle form was something I put together with some of the shou shu training I had received back in the day.... in mind. It has been so long and I can imagine the curriculum has changed a bit through the years... The Kanku Dai form of course is an age old Shotokan form performed since the late 1800's. The Bushi Ban influence has given the traditional kata some new life for sure! The staff form was something I had to put together on short notice, I pretty much went out there and gave it what I had and thankfully Grand Master Ahmed appreciated it.
Shun Shifu, I was wondering about the premium portion of this site. What types of materials are available to those who pay the premium?
Thanks!
~pat
~shifupat
Premium
Hey Shifu,
The premium part of the site is kind of a mess right now. I'm rebuilding it and will let you know when there's something ready.
SSW
hubpages...
Shun Shifu,
Gosh I really feel bad that there is so much discussion going on that is so far from the principles great teachers strive to teach their students. Good things always come to those that have their hearts in the right place. I personally look forward to the expressions of amazement by the little students that have just learned something new or the smile on the 60 year old man's face that has finally touched his toes for the first time in many, many years... the gumball machine statement was perfect and could not be closer to the truth. I had a one of my student's parents come up to me the other day and said that their son would come and learn from me even if all we did for the whole lesson was play hopscotch. I was all smiles!
Have a great week!
shifupat
~shifupat
Softening the negativity
Hey Shifu,
You are absolutely right. There is a great deal of negativity out there on the web regarding Shou' Shu'. The martial arts forums always degrade to pettiness so I do not participate.
There is one individual who started on his Shou' shu' vendetta and has been posting things all over online. On hubpages I leave his posts and respond to them because I have control over them there. I figure I can at least do a bit of damage control there and I do think I've softened him a little just by not responding in a negative way.
Whoever he is he has been extremely motivated to disparage Shou' shu'. I received my first email from him just weeks after Da' shifu's passing which raises an eyebrow. I wish I knew his motivations.
I try to be as positive as possible with him but feel free to poke me if I'm not.
The other place there is a problem is wikipedia. I use to monitor it on a regular basis and change it back when people became derogatory. But I couldn't keep up and haven't been on top of it. A student came in the other day with a printout of it. It seems that some people think wikipedia is a company who puts out an online encyclopedia rather than the wiki that it is. so it appears to them as truth. It would really be good if we put together some sort of wikipedia police to try to manage this. I'll see what I can do in the wiki forums to see if I can get that page protected.
I wanted you to know your hopscotch comment triggered a huge amount of realizations for me. It's a bit much to post about here. Huge subject and a big realization of why the animosity between arts that exists. Thank you for that. I'll be posting on it later.
SSW