Okinawa under Master Shima, Nagamine and, considered the toughest street fighter in the karate world..This Ota propounds, requires a different level of physical and mental commitment..Ota quietly intimates to his students that modern day emphasis on point fighting is very different from the way he trained in Okinawa. Sensei Ota, in his typical soft spoken and quiet demeanor, says that he realized that training in Master Shima and Nagamine’s dojo was not enough .He likens this to academic studies as well. A student should attend classes, Ota asserts, to acquire knowledge, but must do homework and continual exercise outside the regular classes to hone and retain the knowledge, and martial arts is no different. Contemporaries of Ota in the Naha City dojo remember the story of how one evening a senior instructor went to Ota’s parents home because Ota had refused his promotion to Sho-dan (first degree black belt). Instead Ota was found practicing in nearby sugar cane fields in complete blackness. This was the first time people found out about Ota’s private training. Mr. Ota explained to his senior that he did not intend any lack of respect to his contemporaries or seniors at the dojo, rather it was his desire to achieve a higher potential. Mr. Ota explains that the wonderful thing about karate is that you can never fully reach a state of perfection. That is, training is a process, an evolution of knowledge and technique where the practitioner can always keep improving. As soon as you achieve a goal, there is immediately a harder one that the student must strive to achieve. Ota tells his students that complacency or the belief that you have maximized your potential or ability is the first step in your downfall. Mr . Ota constantly reminds his students of the importance of striving for more.

 According to Ota, getting to black belt level is relatively easy. However, most people stop there, even in Okinawa. Very few continue to develop their skills and can improve enough to move to the next level. Students of Ota attest that his speed and skill continues to improve over time, despite growing older, and that is what differentiates him from ordinary athletes. Whenever people complain that they are too old ,they are reminded that master Nagamine is 90 years old and still trains for hours every day. Nagamine can easily throw students half his age to the floor with ease. Sensei Ota encourages students to make karate a way of life. The dojo in Okinawa is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even holidays. When Ota left Okinawa to pursue electronics degree at Tokyo University, he was forced to work during the days to pay for tuition, and devote evenings to study. He did not have time to join a dojo, but it did not deter him from practicing karate. His five feet by seven-foot apartment in Tokyo became his new dojo. It is said that he would practice so hard that other residents thought there was an earthquake outside. In Okinawa, karate men tease that it is safer to be in an earthquake then to have to face up against Ota in a sparring match. In 1969, Ota moved to the United States. Yet he always kept training.

His students remember that even following a motorcycle accident; Ota never missed a day in the dojo. Students when they found out about their teaching meeting with an accident replied, We didn’t even know, it is impossible to tell from watching him train! Often Mr. Ota tells injured students. If you hurt your right side, then use it as an opportunity to train with your left and build up your weaknesses. Always make yourself stronger by working on your weaknesses. In 1973, Ota opened his first dojo in the United States. Still, he remembers the training as more serious in Okinawa. Classes in Okinawa would continue until students would get blood in their urine from training so seriously. The difficult part, however, according to Ota, wasn’t the pain, but building up the toughness to go and do the same thing again the following day! Mr. Ota married in 1975. His wife owned a sake bar for fifteen years in one of the roughest areas of central Los Angeles. It was such a tough neighborhood; police officers have been quoted as saying that the only times they felt safe was in Sensei Ota’s bar. One neighborhood police officer who later became a student at the dojo recants stories of how assailants armed with firearms would unsuccessfully attempt to hold up the bar. But, they just weren’t fast enough to handle Ota’s lightning speed. Currently one of his senior students is an instructor at the Police Academy. Mr. Ota is an expert in all the traditional Okinawan weapons of self-defense, which at one time were used in the fishing and farming industries: uncheck, Bo. As. Tonfa. And Kama. Sensei Ota is pictured with the traditional kobudo weapon satright. Ota believes that Kobudo , the study of weapons, is an integral part of karate training, and he encourages students to practice the various weapons.

Ota says that weapons training present an opportunity for students from different styles to train together because the techniques needed for weapons are the same, regardless of stylistic variations or a student’s background. Always however, the student must first learn how to take care of the weapons, because in this way they develop respect and appreciation for the weapons, and, moreover, the responsibility and control to use it. Perhaps even more than his lightning speed or the forcefulness of his techniques, what differentiates Ota from all other sensei is his mastery of distance. Ota explains that when opponents engage, they are already at a very short distance from one another. But, the secret is learning to control that long distance before engaging an opponent. Students must work on their combinations in order to achieve a higher level of skill. Once Ota was challenged to a life and death fight by a champion kick boxer from Japan. Yet, after watching Ota execute several combinations while warming up before the duel, the Japanese fighter bowed out of the contest, thinking it better to loose face than his life. Ota explains that students who concentrate on techniques for short distances may indeed develop deadly blocks and punches, but can easily be defeated because they `have not developed a strategy to cope with combinations ,fakes , feints, and shifting movements. Ota quickly overwhelms many senior students once they encounter his lightning fast combinations, shifting stances, and movements. Ota is frequently invited to Okinawa to conduct sparring courses because of his mastery of these strategies Indeed , more karate masters on Okinawa feel he has taken the art of karate to levels last seen in the 18th century.

Eighteen (18) kata are practiced in Shorin-Ryu, Matsubayashi-Ryu. (The late Hanshi Ueshiro of Shorin-Ryu Karate USA, also developed and taught Fukyugata III.) In the early years students would practice a single kata for 3 years or more before being allowed to learn a new kata. Shorin-Ryu's most advanced kata, Kusanku, was said by Master Nagamine to take at least ten years to master. At three years a piece and 10 for Kusanku it would take a dedicated student 61 years to "perfect" all eighteen kata! Katas are never changed. There are also unlimited bunkai (fighting) applications to each individual kata. Here is a short description of the various kata Matsubayashi-Ryu kata.. Fukyugata I & II Pinan I - V Naihanchi I - III Ananku Wankan (Okan) Rohai Wanshu Passai Gojushiho Chinto Kusanku Fukyugata Ichi and Fukyugata Ni ("Promotional Katas") Fukyugata I was created by Master Shoshin Nagamine in 1940 and Fukyugata II by the Master of Goju-Ryu, Chojun Miyagi. These two introductory kata were originally requested to be created by a special committee of all the Okinawan Karate-Do Association organized and summoned by the governor of Okinawa at that time, Mr. Gen Hayakawa. The reason for the inception of these two introductory kata was to allow beginners and school children to approach Karate practice in the most lenient way possible.

Pinan Shodan, Pinan Nidan, Pinan Sandan, Pinan Yondan, and Pinan Godan, (The Peace Katas): Pinan Shodan through Godan were created by Yasatsune "Anko" Itosu in 1907 and were intended to be practiced by high school students as an integral part of the regular curriculum. When Ginchin Funakoshi introduced karate to mainland Japan he modified the Pinan katas and renamed them "Heian" in Japanese. Additionally the Shotokan system he founded changed Pinan I to Heian II and Pinan II to Heian I. There is some discussion whether Itosu Sensei developed the Pinans from the more sophisticated "Black Belt" katas or if they were developed from a mysterious kata known as "Chanan". We may never know the full truth

Nnaihanchi Shodan, Naihanchi Nidan, and Naihanchi Sandan, (Horse Riding Katas): The Naihanchi katas are adaptations of the Chinese Shaolin form Naifuanchin. They were modified by Ankho Itosu, who was also the originator of the Pinan (Heinan katas). The Naihanchi katas were traditionally the first katas a student would learn. They are charachterized by powerful lower body movements and all movements are conducted left and right in a straight line from the starting position. In the Shotokan system these katas are known as the Tekki katas. When the Pinan katas were introduced in 1907 they replaced the Naihanchi katas as introductory katas. When the Fukyugata's were introduced they replaced the Pinans. Students now learn the Fukyugatas, then the Pinans, then the Niahanchis before moving on the to "black belt" or fighting katas.

Anaku (Ten Gods) The first of the so called "Black-Belt katas". Originally a Chinese form, it was brought from the island of Formosa (later the country of Taiwan). It is characterized by strong power movements. Most movements are performed in the zenkutsu-dachi stance.

Wankan ("Kings Crown") The composer of this kata is unknown as well, but it has been practiced for a long time primarily in the village of Tomari on Okinawa. This kata combines elegant but powerful movements in both attack and defense sequences.

Rohai Another kata created by an unknown master. It too was practiced predominatly in Tomari village. The characteristic of this kata is the one-foot stances where the other foot is drawn to deliver a quick snap-kick. It is not as long as some of the other katas (27 movements) but has a powerful, graceful flow to it.

Wanshu It is believed that this kata was brought to Okinawa in 1683 by a Chinese envoy named Wanshu; but later, this kata was reformed and developed by Karate men of Tomari Village. The characteristic of this kata is the execution of hidden fist punches (kakushi-zuki).

Passai The composer of this kata is also unknown. The characteristic of this kata is the execution of knife-hand techniques. This kata was the favorite of Sensei Kyan.

Gojushiho (literally "54 Steps") The composer of this kata is also unknown. Goju-Shi-Ho literally means 54 steps. The characteristics of this kata are the spear-hand thrust and the resemblance of a drunken man's movements.

Chinto The composer of this kata is unknown. The characteristics of this kata are the execution of a flying kick, and every movement is composed in a diagonally straight line.

Kusanku This kata was adopted and developed by Okinawan Karate men after it was brought to Okinawa in 1761 by a Chinese Martial Artist named Kusanku. This kata is the most magnificent and advanced kata of all Matsubayashi Ryu Karate. It is also the longest and most difficult kata, requiring painstaking practice for more than a decade for mastery. In addition to the 18 katas, Yakusoku Kumite (promise kumite) forms are practiced. These forms were heavily influenced by Choki Motobu.