By Suzanne Laurent
slaurent@derrynews.com
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LONDONDERRY — The House of the Samurai on Buttrick Road hosted an international karate champion and scholar, Hanshi Patrick McCarthy, over the weekend.
House of the Samurai directors Ken and Mandy Akiyama grew up in Londonderry, studied karate at the same dojo, joined the U.S. Army and married. While stationed in Germany, the couple met McCarthy at a seminar.
"I was trained in traditional karate," Ken Akiyama said. "I was becoming concerned that younger people were associating cage fighting on TV with martial arts, and wanted to bridge the gap with the new generation and continue the traditional art. Patrick was already doing that."
McCarthy is on a five-month tour that began in Russia. Participants in the recent two-day seminar came from Washington, D.C., Florida, New York, New England and Canada to learn from McCarthy, who is an eighth-degree black belt.
McCarthy, 55, has made unraveling the mysteries of karate his life's work. Born in Canada, he first became interested in the ancient practice in 1964 when a Canadian air pilot won a silver medal for karate in the Tokyo Olympics.
"The National Film Board of Canada documented this, calling it, 'On the Road to the Olympics,'" McCarthy said, "and we watched it in school."
By 1974, he had won the North American Karate Championships, and has since received "hundreds of awards."
While living for a short time in Toronto, McCarthy purchased a pirated copy of a manuscript written in Chinese in 561 A.D. about karate at a bookstore in the city's Chinatown.
"I couldn't read it, but was fascinated by the pictures," he said.
After 20 years of training, McCarthy was discouraged by modern interpretations of karate. In 1985, McCarthy's curiosity led him to Japan, where he lived for 10 years, studying Japanese and karate and deciphering the old book.
"I came upon an original copy of the book in Japan owned by Konishi Yashuhiro," he said. "I had a working knowledge of Japanese and called upon my Chinese friends to unravel the text. I also went to China many, many times."
McCarthy said that in ancient China, it was often the medicine man of the town who taught martial arts as part of a holistic approach to staying healthy.
While translating the book, McCarthy was able to research karate in Japan, China, Korea, Southeast Asia and Taiwan, where he encountered many senior authorities of martial arts.
"I had to study the old to understand the new," he said.
Today, McCarthy is a fifth-generation student of Okinawan Uchinadi and the founder of the International Ryukyu Karate-jutsu Research Society.
McCarthy's resulting book, "The Bible of Karate Bubishi," has been translated into seven languages.
In 1995, McCarthy was recruited by the Australian Minister of Education to teach a pilot program in karate. He has lived in Australia since then.
"I liken the different styles of karate to this image," he said. "You have the moon, which symbolizes illumination; the mountain, which symbolizes life. There are many paths up the mountain, but only one moon for those who achieve the summit."
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