MARTIALFORCE.COM
PRESENTS
AN INTERVIEW WITH
SENSEI XUAN BENAVIDES
Jan / 2011
“When I train and teach karate and kobudo,
I am drawn into it completely”
My name is Eddie Morales and welcome to Martialforce.com Online Martial Arts Magazine. I would like to introduce Martialforce.com readers to Sensei Xuan Benavides. My initial meeting with Sensei Benavides’ came approximately twenty years ago. We were introduced by my Kobudo (weapons) instructor, Kyoshi Anthony Marquez who is one of the top Kobudo instructors in the United States. At that time many instructors would visit the Dojo, which was located at Azusa California. I am a life-drawing artist and at that time I was selling life drawings of prominent Karate figures. Benavides approached me and asked if I could make him an 18 x 24 portrait of Higashionna Kanryo Sensei, to which I agreed. A few days later I completed the drawing and delivered it to him at the Dojo, which is where we agreed to meet. At that time I never saw Sensei Benavides perform Karate or Kobudo because for whatever reason we were never at the school at the same time.
In October of 2010, I went to work out with Kyoshi Anthony Marquez at his Glendora California Dojo. This would be the next time I would meet Benavides’ as he was invited by Kyoshi to participate in the workout. After an hour of kobudo training Kyoshi Marquez had to go to his office to make arrangements for a trip out of state. Both Benavides and I stayed on the training floor. I was stretching on the ground to cool down from the workout when I saw Benavides practicing Kata moves that I was not familiar with.
I asked him what Kata he was practicing to which he answered, “this is a Kata I developed and it is not Goju.” I immediately said, What he had just performed had more Goju in it, then the twelve kata of Gojuryu. He offered to teach me the Kata and I can tell you first hand that I was amazed at the movement, execution and application within this Kata. I have been training with Benavides in Kensei Ryu and Goju Ryu since that day.
Sensei Benavides is an original that embodies the true essence of Karate. While preserving the traditions of old with an added tactical mindset of our modern times, his teachings method is unique. It is an honor to bring you this interview, as it is equally an honor to train with Sensei Benavides. We here at Martialforce.com hope you enjoy a look at the Man and his passion for the Art of Karate.
Interview By Eddie Morales
Martialforce.com
Online Magazine
Martialforce.com: Where were you born and what area did you grow up in?
XUAN BENAVIDES: I was born in Brownsville, Texas, a border town at the mouth of the Rio Grande and moved to Orange County California when I was sixteen (16) and have been here since.
Martialforce.com: What is your current occupation
XUAN BENAVIDES: I am a marketer for medical facilities.
Martialforce.com: When, where and with whom did you begin your Martial Arts training and what motivated you to do so?
XUAN BENAVIDES: It was 1974; I was walking down Broadway Street in Santa Ana, California. I heard a very distinctive Japanese (Okinawan) song, “Okinawa No Karate-Do”. I followed it to a karate school. When I entered, I saw a large wooden floor and Sensei Kimo Wall was doing Hakutsuru No Mai (White Crane Kata) very softly to the music. When the music ended, he flowed into a very powerful performance of Seipai kata. I had seen several live martial arts demonstrations before and the usual martial arts films, but martial arts had never impressed me before until that one day. I joined KODO KAN and began training the next day. I learned Goju-Ryu Karate and Matayoshi Kobudo from Sensei Kimo Wall.
1970’s , Sensei Kimo Wall and Benavides
1970’s Sensei Benavides and Danny Steagall
Martialforce.com: You have an intense Kobudo curriculum, which you demonstrate with a high-level of expertise. Who did you learn Kobudo (Weapons) from and can you name a few of the Kata’s and possibly their origin for our readers?
XUAN BENAVIDES: The history of Okinawan Kobudo is extensive and there are so many weapons in kobudo and many schools teaching these weapons, but the Matayoshi, Taira, Ufuchiku and Yamani styles are probably the most well known and widely practice. Some of the bo, sai and tonfa katas of Matayoshi and Taira are the same katas but practiced with their respective stances and striking technique; Matayoshi stances are longer (deeper) and the strikes are chambered (come to rest) on the outside of the forearm muscle. Taira stances are shorter and the strikes are chambered pretty close to the hip. Also, the bo and Eiku exchanges (transfer of the weapon from one side to the other) are different. Yamani bo katas are more fluid. I learned Matayoshi Kobudo from Sensei Wall and Taira Kobudo from Nabuchi Shogen Oyakawa O’sensei. I also learned a few of the Yamani and Ryuei-Ryu kobudo katas from various individuals.
Oyakawa O’sensei
XUAN BENAVIDES: You have seen my training, the weapons that I teach and practice are many: Bo, tonfa, nunchaku, sai, jo, manji sai, nunti sai, sansetsukon, kuwa, nunti, kama, eiku, chizikun bo, tinbei & rochin, and utso-bo. I teach/practice a lot of the old traditional katas like Shushi No Kon, Sakugawa No Kon, Chuon No Kon, Kocinda No Kon, Tokumine No Kon, Nicho Sai, Sancho Sai, Chatan Yara No Sai, Tonfa Shodan, Tonfa Nidan, Hama Higa No Tonfa, Chiken Sunakake No Eiku, Eiku No Ho, Tsuken Akachu No Eiku Di, and many other katas. Some are just known by the weapon’s name like Sansetsukon Kata, Kuwa Kata, Nunti Kata. I also have many of my own kobudo katas.
Martialforce.com: What keeps you motivated in the practice of Karate and Kobudo?
XUAN BENAVIDES: When I train and teach karate and kobudo, I am drawn into it completely and this helps me to get away from the daily grind of life, I am sure that many can relate to this. Also, because of all the injuries that I have had, physically, I feel much better when I train. Mostly, I am motivated by the good times that we share as training brothers and sisters; relationships are golden and will hopefully last a lifetime. Not every relationship can be cultivated into friendship, this is life!
Martialforce.com: You were injured while working; can you tell our readers how this happened and did this have a long lasting effect on your training and motivation?
XUAN BENAVIDES: I had two work related injuries on separated occasions and one auto accident. I have screws on my left knee because of ACL surgery; I need surgery on my right knee because I have a torn meniscus and it pops out all the time, I have screws and pins on my left wrist and I can no longer bend it, I have a separation on my right shoulder, I have three badly herniated disc on my low back, my right ankle is always hurting – can’t remember how that was injured, but the worst is the herniated disc on my neck. I cannot do many of the things I used to do and have lost a lot of my power because I cannot lock my stances, but I can still teach. The strangest thing is that if I do not train, my body stiffens up and the pain is worst.
Martialforce.com: Can you tell our readers about your meeting with Master Oyakawa as well as the training and friendship that followed?
XUAN BENAVIDES: I met O’sensei Oyakawa in 1974, almost immediately after I started training because Sensei Wall and O’sensei Oyakawa knew each other; I believe that they met each other because they were associated with the Okinawa Association of L.A. We were always demonstrating for the functions of the Okinawa Association. O’sensei Oyakawa and his students would perform their Shorin-Ryu karate and Taira kobudo and we would perform our Goju-Ryu karate and Matayoshi kobudo. We also got together at family functions because that is what Okinawan families did back then, often-large groups of Okinawan friends and families would visit and we would get together.
It wasn’t until many years later that O’sensei Oyakawa and I started training together. It had been many years since Sensei Wall and I had gone our separate way and I was searching for more/different training so I asked O’sensei Oyakawa to teach me his system of karate and kobudo. We lived pretty close to each other in Orange, California so we agreed that we would train in my garage twice a week.
That first day, after training some of the Shorin katas for about an hour, O’sensei Oyakawa was resting and without thinking I started to do one of my katas (Ryukyu Sho), which I had developed. He came up to me and asked me about the kata and where it had originated. He stated that it looked Okinawan, but that he had never seen it. I told him that it was one of my katas, and that I called it Ryukyu Sho, and why I called it that. He was very enthused by the kata and wanted to learn it; the rest of that training session we worked on Ryukyu Sho Kata and went over the bunkai (kata application).
When we were done, he asked me if I had other karate katas, which were my own. I told him that I had developed six karate katas so far. He asked me to perform the katas so I performed the other five katas, Ryukyu Dai, Peichien (pronounced Peichurin) Sho, Peichien Dai, Ru Ru Ko, and Higashionna No Kensei.
When I was done, he stood there for a while and then asked if Sensei Wall had seen this katas before. I explained to him that I had briefly shown Sensei Wall one of the katas many years before, but it was apparent that he was not interested. Sensei Wall reminded me that I had only been training for 8 months and that even though he promoted me to Shodan (first degree black belt) in 7 months because I was a quick learner that the katas of Goju-Ryu had hundreds of years of history and that they had been developed by masters who had trained a lifetime; this made me feel very small. I put away my katas for a long time but started again with them once Sensei Wall and I went our own way.
O’sensei Oyakawa said that he could not judge Sensei Wall because time changes many things and that he might have reacted the same way Sensei Wall did if it was 20 years before. He said that he had been training karate and kobudo for over 40 years and that he had never seen such unique kata, not in Okinawa or anywhere else. He said that he was very sure that many of the old masters of karate, if they were alive, would quickly grasped the opportunity to learn my katas with their unique strikes and stances. That day he looked at me, bowed and said, “J.J. San (what he used to call me) Onegaishimasu”.
We trained in my garage for about 1 year, he thought me Taira kobudo and we trained the aforementioned katas and their bunkai, but O’sensei Oyakawa was getting old and it was hard for him to remember things. Later, he asked if I would go with him to several places where he was teaching Shorin and Taira Kobudo so that he could introduce me and so that I could teach. I went to one of those places where he taught; it was a private home with several students. We were training one day and they asked him who I was and what I was he doing there. It was then that O’sensei Oyakawa told them that I taught Matayoshi Kobudo and that I had some very unique karate katas that he wanted me to teach them. The senior student, I forget his name, told O’sensei Oyakawa that they were not interested in me or what I had to teach. He asked O’Sensei Oyakawa to accompany him inside the house because they wanted to talk to him and so I waited outside. When they were done, O’sensei came outside, gathered his stuff and said nothing so we went home. A few minutes later, he apologized to me and said that they did not even want to see what I had. I told O’sensei that he did not have to apologize to me and that this was something that I was used to. I told him that most karateka were looking for a Japanese, Okinawan, or Chinese master so that they could lay their claim to traditionalism and that I, being Latino, did not fit the mold.
There was so much more that O’sensei Oyakawa and I went through. You have a copy of a document of the gathering in Los Angeles by various Okinawan masters who were trying to bring Okinawan Karate into the Olympics. O’sensei invited me because he felt that I should be there. I already told you what happened, but I will not comment on it publicly, because I am sure to offend. All that he said that day is that he did not understand them; that they were not even giving themselves the chance to see who I was and what I had to offer.Now, I understand why they were not interested and I will use you and I to explain. Think about it! You and I met about 20 years ago at Kyoshi Marquez’s dojo in Azusa. Back then, as he does now he would always tell others that my karate and training was like no other, here or in Okinawa and that he had seen a lot of great training. You heard him then and you heard him say the same thing recently. You and I met briefly back then, you even did a drawing of Master Higashionna for me, but you were never really interested, because you never saw me train and you certainly never had seen my own katas before. So, many years ago you met me, but you did not know me, you were not interested or you would have trained with me. Correct? It wasn’t until recently, that you and I met again by chance at Kyoshi Marquez’s dojo in Glendora. Kyoshi Marquez was in his office and you and I were training some Goju-Ryu katas. I did brief sections from 3 of my own katas, Ryukyu Sho, Peichien Sho, and Ru Ru Ko and your reaction was pretty much the same reaction that I saw in O’sensei Oyakawa many years ago in my garage. You now drive from Upland to Garden Grove to train with me at least twice a week and I have seen your enthusiasm and appreciation.
Martialforce.com: When I saw you demonstrate your Kata, your execution of technique was pure Goju with what seemed like the evolution of your years of practice. The Kata you developed are unique and have a strong sense of combat while maintaining its okinawan foundation. My next question is, you met and trained briefly with Goju-Ryu Master Masanobu Shinjo many years before his passing, can you give us details on how you met and any training that you had with him?
XUAN BENAVIDES: June 1987 shortly after I met Kyoshi Anthony Marquez, his dojo was visited by Master Masanobu Shinjo and some of his students. Kyoshi Marquez invited me because he wanted Master Shinjo to meet me and he asked if I could bring over some of my students to demonstrate for Master Shinjo. That day, after we demonstrated, Master Shinjo promoted me to Sandan (Third Degree) in his organization. I was surprised because I had not come to test or promote. He spoke with me one day later in private and requested that Mike Okuma, one of my Okinawan students, who spoke Japanese and some Hogan interpret for us. At that meeting he stated that he realized that I had not come the day before to promote or join his organization, but that he was really impressed with my students, our training, my technique and my knowledge of Goju-Ryu Karate. He said that he actually ranked me at Godan, but that he could not rank anybody that high outside of Okinawa. He wanted me to go to Okinawa with him to officially test and said that he would love to have me in his organization. He was a very gentle and kind human being – a great teacher! I told him that I would try to make the trip to Okinawa, but that never happened.
2010 Sensei Benavides with long time friend Kyoshi Anthony Marquez
Eddie Morales and Benavidez Sensei
Martialforce.com: Do you think that Martial Arts training had a positive affect on you?
XUAN BENAVIDES: Some individuals think that I am a fool for training as hard as I do with all the injuries that I have, even other martial artists think this. But ask any fanatic of martial arts and they will tell you different. I cannot tell you for sure whether it has had a positive affect on me. What I will tell you is that I tried several times to stop training and I was not able to. GUNBATE KUDASAI! (Train hard, train often, train allot).
Martialforce.com: Who has been your greatest influence throughout your life Martial Arts life?
XUAN BENAVIDES: It was the written words of Sir Isaac Newton who wrote in a letter to a friend, “If I can see further than others, it’s because I have stood on the shoulders of giants”; he actually wrote I stand, instead of I have stood. Often, what we are looking for from these giants is validation, in one form or the other. It is their validation that will point us or keep us in the right direction; there have been many giants in my martial arts life: Master Kimo Wall, Sensei Danny Steagall, Master Matayoshi Shinpo, Sensei Bob Graupensperger, Sensei Max Graupensperger, Kyoshi Anthony Marquez, Master Masanobu Shinjo, O’sensei Oyakawa, Sensei Bruce Schram, and yourself, Sensei Eddie Morales.
Some of those mentioned above, I have known or met only for a short while, but what they said and how they treated me has influenced me greatly. For example, Master Matayoshi Shinpo and I trained Kobudo by ourselves for about 2 to 3 hours many years ago in Sensei Kimo Wall’s garage while Sensei Wall was at work. I know that he was impressed by my training, but because of his limited English all that he could say was, “Very good, you budo here”, as he pointed with his finger to my heart. “You come Okinawa”, he said. I never saw him again. Then there was Master Masanobu Shinjo, I believe that we trained together for about a week and I already told you about our meeting. The last martial arts giant that met, I have known only for about 3 months; Sensei Eddie Morales (you).
You have trained martial arts for many years and have trained Goju-Ryu karate and Okinawan Kobudo for most of your life. You now train with me and you have encouraged me to develop my own system like Asai Sensei of Asai Ryu did. I had never heard of Sensei Asai, but it is you who sent me some videos of his katas; he was an astonishing martial artist. I will introduce Kensei Ryu to the marital arts world shortly, but without your enthusiasm, validation, advice, and this article it would have never been possible. Thank you!
Martialforce.com: Thank you for the compliment Sensei but I am just a student and practitioner of the Martial Arts. In regards to Kata. From watching you demonstrate the Goju Kata it becomes obvious that you not only believe in Kata training but the Bunkai (Application) as well. In your opinion, what is the value of Kata (Prearranged set of movements)?
XUAN BENAVIDES: When I was very young I was deeply fascinated by clouds and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas has amazing clouds. I could sit for hours and just watch them, from the back sit of a car, through the windows of our home and many times while I laid underneath the shade of some tree. They are aesthetically beautiful, internally soothing and peaceful, and the power they can generate is amazing. I have always been taken by their movement. Kata is very much like a cloud, beautiful, soothing, peaceful, strong when trained and startlingly powerful when it needs to be. Not meant for sport, I have experienced all this with kata; kata is the essence of true karate!
Just as many other Masters have done, you have developed more Kata outside of the twelve Goju Kata. Master Oyakawa believed in what you were doing regarding the new Kata. I can see Goju-Ryu karate embodied in these new Kata that you developed. My question is, what started you in this process?
Many are comforted by what is known, it makes them feel safe, they do not have to think, they simply duplicate. For some, that is okay, but to say that there can never be something new is small minded; please, I am not trying to offend anybody. You have seen my karate and kobudo katas. You have felt their power. I will match them against any other katas, traditional or not. It may sound very blunt and egotistical; it is what it is.
Master Higashionna and Master Chojun Miyagi practiced many kata and many different styles, they took trips to China to learn more, always searching for something different and new. I am sure that Master Higashionna changed many forms that he learned and that like Master Miyagi, he also developed new katas. So who is it that will say that it was okay for Master Higashionna and Master Miyagi to create and develop, but not okay for Xuan Xose Benavides to do so? I create and develop because my open mind tells me that I can!
Martialforce.com: For those that are reading this interview, I can attest to Sensei benavides’ answer. I train at his school and his knowledge, understanding, power and execution of technique is at an extremely high level of expertise. Sensei, from your experience, what do you believe defines a good Martial Arts practitioner?
XUAN BENAVIDES: One who never stops learning and who trains with his students as though they were his training-brothers (Monte).
Martialforce.com: Can you give our readers your definition of a good instructor?
XUAN BENAVIDES: One who listens to his students and learns from them.
Martialforce.com: What would you say is your greatest achievement to date?
XUAN BENAVIDES: My five beautiful children!
Martialforce.com: Do you teach for defense or Sport Karate?
XUAN BENAVIDES: I teach kihon waza, kata, bunkai, ippon kumite, kaisai kumite, and kiso kumite, but that does not mean that I do not believe in sports karate. I leave that to others and to MMA.
Martialforce.com: Do you allow your students to compete in tournaments?
XUAN BENAVIDES: I have never focused on it and it seems that my students are not interested in it, but I hope that with your guidance, some of my students will start competing.
Martialforce.com: At what age do you believe a child should start Martial Arts training?
XUAN BENAVIDES: You know every child is different and should be examined individually. It has been my experience though that most children under 7 are not ready.
Martialforce.com: If you think back from past to present what do you feel your training has given you?
XUAN BENAVIDES: Great energy, confidence, discipline, relaxation, good self-defense skills, great physical condition, friendships, headaches, bruises, aches & pains, and adversaries – all this and still I am not a Jedi! My body is quickly beginning to feel like Yoda, though.
Martialforce.com: Thank you for accepting this interview Sir.
XUAN BENAVIDES: Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts.
CONTACT SENSEI BENAVIDES: xuanaux53@yahoo.com
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