In SOUTH AUSTRALIA:
ABOUT SHIN GI TAI MARTIAL ARTS – KARATE DO KOBUJUTSU:
Shin Gi Tai Martial Arts – Karate Do Kobujutsu is the personal club of SOMA’s President, Barrie Revell. It comprises a conglomeration of several martial arts and includes karate (mainly the styles of Shotokan and Shito Ryu) and kobudo (weaponry).
Barrie’s main instructor was Bill Vaughan (Grandmaster, 10th Dan), one of the three original founders of the Association formed in the early 1980’s that later became SOMA.
Barrie is the most senior and most experienced martial artist within SOMA. Although Barrie holds the highest possible Shogo title in Japanese martial arts, that of Hanshi, he has since been awarded a Kensei (“sword saint”) title for his love, devotion and ability with the katana.
ELEVATION TO 10TH DAN:
Just before his death, Grandmaster Vaughan summoned Barrie to his bedside and gave Barrie his personal black belt that was adorned with 10 gold stripes. He told Barrie that, as his most senior student, he wanted Barrie to take over the presidency of the Association. Barrie did so.
However, he felt uncomfortable with ‘assuming’ the rank of 10th Dan. This was later resolved, mainly through the efforts of Professor Steve Miranda of the National Karate Academies when he organized a ceremony at a luxury Adelaide venue (the Adelaide Rydges Hotel) to formally present Barrie with a 10th Dan certificate signed by all the senior instructors of the Association. This event was held on Saturday, 26 June 2010.
SOME EARLY VIDEO PERFORMANCES FROM THE YEAR 2000:
Just below is a very early video of our President, Barrie Revell Hanshi performing a kata with the katana at the World Martial Arts Athletes Games held in Sydney at the Hordern Pavilion on April 2nd, 2000. 27 countries competed.
For his performance Barrie received a Gold medal.
[Note: We apologize for the poor quality of the video – it has been converted across from the technology of the day. Please also be patient. The video is 40.3 MB and may take a minute to load.]
Further below is a second video from the same championships. In this video Barrie is performing another kobudo kata, this time featuring one of his favourite weapons, the jo.
For this performance Barrie received a Silver medal.
[Note: Again the video quality is poor but you can still see Barrie’s mastery of the weapon. This second video is 52.4 MB and may take slightly longer to load.]
During that weekend, Barrie also received a Bronze medal for his open hand performance of the kata, Hangetsu. He also took the opportunity to engage in an international referee’s course and thereafter umpired many sparring events.
To put things into perspective here, Barrie was 50 years old and was ranked at the time as a 7th Dan. His long-term friend David Zerbe attended the weekend events with him. David is a sword and tanto maker of great repute.
MORE RECENT:
Some 20-odd years down the track and here we see Barrie tying up long-term student Jeff Worden (Kyoshi 6th Dan) in knots, face down on the mat. This photo was taken at a World Ju Jutsu Federation (WJJF) seminar (approx 2016).
Barrie is now ‘semi-retired’ from teaching though he still trains personally. He can, however, make himself available to attend gradings and seminars. And he travels as often as possible to help other SOMA clubs to achieve their objectives.
FINAL COMMENT:
In the hands of a sword Kensei, the katana is a fearsome weapon.
