hello from japan to all,
i am sure that i have met some, been trained by some, and probably had my butt kicked, by most if not all, on this forum. musta been a long time ago though.
i was a student at the lynbrook dojo. around 1980-82. it was my introduction martial arts. it was an amazing school and fighting system. i also went to a couple of weekend seminars. passed around a bottle of moonshine at one of them at night. it was real cool getting to talk with kiyoshi barathy. and thanks to the brown belt that brought the moonshine. best booze i ever tasted. kiyoshi barathy had a question and answer session and talked about the movies he was making and other cool stories. i also made it to a tournament at the playboy club in new jersey. got drunk and got some bunny tail so never fought in the tournament. kiyoshi barathy was the best i saw then and still is. i never sparred with him and am not sorry i missed the chance. at the time i could not even count the times he punched, when he sparred. yes he was that fast. he could kick someone with a front kick and send them airborne. it was amazing. when he squared off to spar with someone you knew you were in trouble. his stance was so strong there was no way you could break through. i remember hearing about his punches and kicks being measured by radar. something like 135 mph hand speed and 85 foot speed? amazing.
in 1982 i left the states for good. been living in japan since then. i trained in many martial arts here. from some of japans highest ranking masters. in many styles. at many dojos. spent the last 12 years teaching here. i have to say and i say this without question. kiyoshi barathy was the greatest martial artist i have ever seen.
anyone know where i can find pics of those cool dragon tiger tattoos the instructors had at ack? also anywhere i can get tshirts and the earings? ack's fist holding the lightening bolt is way cool.
i wish kiyoshi barathy the best in the afterlife and thanks to all for posting here and bringing back some great memories.
this is to the admins. closing this thread for any reason would be showing a great disrespect to one of the greatest martial artists that ever lived.
want to train traditional martial arts. get a stick and hit it on a rock for training because thats where martial arts came from.
take care all