I had only been doing karate for a few years and did not read Fighting Arts magazine at that time so I didn’t know anything about Harry. Over the next years he would be a regular face that I'd see at competitions, whether it was judging, competing or looking after his club members.

He was always happy to talk to you and answer any questions I had, dispered with his usual blend of kata bunkai and Oriental quotations.

I then left to study at Birmingham University but there was no escaping this person as his brother-in-law, Bob Spour, was also studying there and running a Thai Boxing club. During my three years at university (1986-1989) I was lucky enough to have won a couple of kumite titles at the annual student championships and was getting quite involved with the British Students Karate Federation. The association was formed by the hard work of Richard Thomas and Alistair MacPherson, to provide a platform for student karate with the aim of raising its profile and allowing students to compete nationally as an entity in its own right.

Although I lost touch of the student karate scene when I left university, the two main things which stick out in my mind are: Cambridge University kata team winning the British Karate Federation's national championships which in turn then represented Great Britain at the 1988 WUKO World Championships in Egypt, and the international students tournament that was held at Crystal Palace which brought the best of Japan's Universities to these shores and provided a very exciting days competition.

It was through Bob Spour that I found that Harry had been to Durham University and had competed in the early university karate championships. Harry visited Birmingham University whilst I was there and had invited me to stay at his house and train. I kindly took him up on his offer during September 1988. Student karate was getting a bit more press in the likes of Traditional Karate magazine so I thought it was an opportune moment to interview Harry and write an article about it. I never did get round to publishing it, not until now.

Whilst sitting on a rattling train heading across Northumberland I wondered what I had let myself in for. The countryside passed by and in due course I arrived in Haltwhistle. Not the moot bustling of places, consisting mainly of an S-Bend and a couple of pubs.

Almost upon arriving we swiftly set off to train at Harry's club in Hexham. I would like to thank the members for their welcome and hospitality and also to the red belt who asked me what part of Japan I was from.

During the lesson we warmed up around 300 punches. As this was during the summer holidays I had not done a lot of training at that point and remember Harry testing our stances by nudging and tugging at our shoulders, whilst I was gasping for breath and my vision becoming very blurred and tunnelled. I thought I was going to fall over in a heap, and this was only the warm up!

Next we went through a drill that is used to practise the main stances of Shotokan and Goju Ryu karate. Anyone who has been on one of Harry's course will be familiar with this. After doing some combinations and applying them in partner work the class split up into two, with the lower grades practising their grading katas and brown belts and above receiving instruction on Seipai kata. The lesson finished after that and we headed for a well deserved pint in the bar.

After returning to his house I was shown some interesting footage of JKA Shotokan and Goju Ryu training in Japan. After which it was time to retire to bed. Unfortunately I was sleeping up in the loft which is incidentally Harry's library. It is an awesome thing and I was kept up till the early hours of the morning.

The morning came too quickly, and we were soon in his back garden trying out his assortment of makiwara, rubber tyres and punch bags. There was one punch bag the size of a large salami which had the density of concrete which was due to the vast numbers of marbles and lead pellets that made up its contents. This, I was told, was an invaluable aid for practising techniques such as short punches, haito and koken.

Next we were to jump across streams and scale cliff faces to find a suitable place to take some photographs. We finally returned home after that and carried out the interview.

KarateForum

Let's start with the most obvious question, when did you start karate ?

Harry Cook

At the end of 1966. I was at school, in the sixth form then. I was in the school gym one day and I saw these two guys in white pyjamas waving their arms in the air. Like all civilians I thought it looked silly and I also thought they were making a big fuss about nothing. I made the usual daft comments that people make in those situations.

I was intrigued so I more or less nagged them into teaching me something. They were both white belts.

KarateForum

Were they both attending school?

Harry Cook

George Hay and Maurice Rutherford. They were the first two people who taught me anything about karate. After a little while I began to train with them and what really got me was I couldn't do it. I was really bad.

I was always a naturally fast runner, I'd played rugby for the school and so I expected to be able to do it. It became an annoyance or a challenge. Eventually they took me down to their dojo, which was Wado Ryu, in South Shields and became a member. Soon the green belt instructors left and I did not know what to do left as a white belt.

I met a girl whose father taught Shotokan. Now I'd always thought Shotokan looked good but didn't work. It was the usual Shotokan - Wado Ryu rivalry nonsense. I eventually joined Ken Smith's dojo and trained there till I went to university.

In my first grading, Mr. Enoeda took me up to yellow belt as I'd been training for two years.

KarateForum

What were the gradings like back then?

Harry Cook

Pretty much as today's: basics, kata, semi-free, free-fighting. The hardest grading I ever had was my 1st kyu with Andy Sherry, I'll never forget that. That's basically how I got started.

Why I started was, I wanted to learn how to fight. That was the main thing. Where I lived on South Shields it had its moments, and I thought it might be wise if I could handle myself a little bit. Plus the fact I went to grammar school and where I lived was down near the docks, so wandering around in a school uniform at 17 or 18 was not a good idea.

KarateForum

What made you go to university?

Harry Cook

In the sixth form I did English history and British constitution at A-level. I also did some Chinese as a minority study, and the guy who taught that came from Durham university.

I left school and began to train as a surveyor. I didn't like it and was bored by it. After a year or so of that I had enough. So I asked myself what do I really want to do. I wanted to learn more about China, the Chinese language and the East in general, so I applied to Durham university and got to study Chinese.

I went down to the university gym one day and I noticed a lot of people doing many styles of martial arts.

KarateForum

So karate did exist in universities at that time !

Harry Cook

Yes, it was there. I believe in 1967, the first university championships were held. I know in 1969 Steve Cattle's college won.

At Durham there was no actual club. All the different styles typically and childishly would have nothing to do with each other, all training in different corners. As I was the highest grade there, being 4th kyu, I held a meeting and proposed to form a dojo. Automatically everybody asked what style do we do. I replied we don't do any style, we just train and do the techniques in your own manner.

We joined the KUGB so the beginners could take gradings under Andy Sherry. There existed the British Universities Karate Federation and we entered their tournaments. We also formed a karate league with mainly Newcastle, Sheffield and Heriot-Watt. Things went OK with that. At the championships, Durham had won twice and took a second and a third.

The competitions were good because they had all different styles there. The most satisfying fight I ever had was in 1974 against a guy called John Lezniac, an ex-soldier from Hull university, who was also a dan grade in Taekwondo which he learned in Singapore. He was real good. Twice he'd creamed me. Took me out as if I'd done nothing. Durham met Hull in the final that year and after five fights it was a draw. So me and John got up to decide the outcome. I just beat him in the last ten seconds of the third extension. It was a real cliff-hanger. I swept him and kicked him with mawashigeri whilst he was still in the air for ippon! I was quite pleased about that as I was knackered!

Durham University Karate Team taken at Hull University, 1974.

KarateForum

What was the kumite like?

Harry Cook

There was always a nice atmosphere but it was a bit rough. We didn't wear any pads and no gum shield. Whatever the people had in technical deficiency, that was made up with enthusiasm. I had a few teeth knocked out. The referees tended to be on the generous side shall we say. It was very much like the Shotokan style of fighting nowadays, unlike the WUKO style. At this point, people were very influenced by the Japanese way, and the Japanese like Enoeda and Suzuki sensei believed in hard, strong technique. It was 'MARTIAL ART'. It became a little bit more civilised as time went on I have to say.

What happened next....? University Championships, Hull 1974

KarateForum

You miss those days ?

Harry Cook

It was probably a better way. Not as skillfull as today but more honest.

KarateForum

You knew who'd won.

Harry Cook

Yes.

KarateForum

How did you fit your training in with your studies?

Harry Cook

I tried to train everyday, jog into lectures. I'd always stretch every day and throw a few techniques at something, a wall or tree . . .

KarateForum

. . . or passing stranger...

Harry Cook

. ..sociology students. They were very good. They always tried to understand why you hit them. My best time mentally is at night. When I write for magazines as now, I tend to start around midnight and work through till three or four in the morning. I did university the same way.

KarateForum

What were your fast thoughts upon arriving at university with your suitcases in hand?

Harry Cook

I arrived on the train. At first I didn't know what to think. I was accepted into the oldest college which makes up Durham university. This was full of public schoolboys with their traditions. Now I went to grammar school and I have no liking for the public school mentality to be honest. I believe in the grammar school system and my experience as a teacher has persuaded me that this is still a better way. That may upset a lot of readers.

The staff and pupils at the grammar school I went to were from a working class background and to me that was the way the working class could break away from their background. The public schools weren't. They catered for the middle class who didn't need to break free from their background. They didn't want to, only to maintain their environment, so there is a difference. I believe that the old grammar schools were actually centres of working class evolution or even revolution, where they could acquire the skills needed to play the middle class at their own game and beat them. I don't think that's the case anymore, but I can't discuss the education system here.

When I got there, I found the ethos of the place strange in many ways. I made a lot of very good friends. Along with the study and the karate I found the experience to be excellent.

I was disappointed in many ways because I'd expected to meet intelligent people and have deep and meaningful conversations. Well I discovered most people were looking around to have these conversations but there was no-one to have them with, apart from the lecturers.

I also met Rose Li there. She was a teacher in Chinese. She began to teach me Tai Chi Chuan and some of the other internal systems. She was a tremendous teacher. Cantankerous at times. She has a very strong personality, at the same time she showed me some things which impressed me and she explained a lot to me about the internal systems. She's the one who said to that when I grow up, which would be when I'm over 45 years old, I would do Tai Chi Chuan properly and give up all this hard external system. She reckons all men are children until they reach 45.

KarateForum

Did you do anything apart from study, karate and drink ?

Harry Cook

I didn't drink that much actually. No, not really. That was about it. I spent most of my time in the Chinese library looking for martial arts stuff.

KarateForum

How did your career as a teacher come about?

Harry Cook

I began teaching karate for a while and enjoyed it. I asked myself what do I want to do with my time. What I didn't want to do was work in an office. I like working with people, having some variety in what I do and doing something I could be good at. So teaching seemed the obvious answer.

I qualified as a teacher through the PGCE in Durham and started to work at a comprehensive school in South Shields. I had begun to think that comprehensive education was a step in the right direction as I'd remembered all the negative aspects of the grammar system or what I perceived to be negative.

Within a year I realised my naive ideas about universal education and in fact a comprehensive was not a step in the right direction. It may be socially a good idea, which I doubt. Educationally it's a disaster. I know this is not a popular view, but I honestly feel people who believe in the comprehensive system have never worked in it or promote it for political reasons Educational value has become a very distant part and less important.

People will quote statistics to show there are now better exam results nowadays with the GCSE. I also know that the GCSE is a "Mickey Mouse" examination. After about two years I had enough of the comprehensives and grammar schools were being closed down. My ideas of the way to produce excellence don't seem to fit the British system anymore but I still enjoyed teaching.

I'd always wanted to visit China but at that time it was difficult to enter, so I opted for Japan as it was more Westernized and more modem. We both (Sheila and Harry Cook) applied for jobs there and got a post teaching English in Tokyo at a school in Korakuen.

Kyoto 1979

When I arrived I thought great, I'll get down the JKA. I was a 2nd dan, obvious really! Terry O'Neill said I could but shouldn't automatically do that. Think about it and have a look around. Terry recommended I go and train with Morio Higaonna. Terry gave me the phone number of Steve Bellamy and I arranged to visit the dojo. I was impressed. It looked good but different. I did a mini-tour of all dojos available.

As regards Higaonna - once seen, never forgotten. What impressed me more than his technique was his personality. He's very open, honest and humorous. I found the training very vigorous. His favourite expression is Ômo ichi do' which means one more time. I naively assumed one meant a single item but it can stand for ten or hundred or whatever he wanted it to be.

It wasn't like some other places I'd seen where it was the Japanese Imperial Army of 1930's all over again. They alter their training to beat the round-eyes. There are still dojos that do that. You never get that in Higaonna's dojo. Maybe it's because he's an Okinawan.

By the end of about two years I'd graded 2nd dan and Sheila got her 1st dan. We returned to England as our contract had finished. Stayed for six months, didn't like it and went back to Japan. This time it was in Kyoto. I joined the Butokukan and studied naginata in a women's class.

Nijushiho kata in Kyoto 1979

KarateForum

Did you see any university karate?

Harry Cook

I never saw a closed university tournament, but did see students competing in area competitions. I fought some students from Nichidai's Goju club. They were good but open to jodan mawashigeris etc. as they fought in the Goju style. However once you got in close they were deadly.

The students I did see were good but limited, very fast kizami, gyakutsuki and good maegeri. I think the referees impose this on them as they tend only to score those three techniques. The kind of training they do is very repetitious, doing one technique over and over again.

The discipline in a university dojo is very strong, very militaristic. That's why deaths occur in these dojos. If you don't turn up for a training session or decide to leave the dojo they can be attacked and killed. There's a Shorinji Kempo dojo in a Japanese university where one of the juniors got beaten to death for losing one of the instructor's bags whilst on a summer camp. There's no excuse for it. I'm not trying to justify it but it indicates the level of spirit amongst these dojos. This stems from the army of the 193O's, after the way a lot of the instructors had been in the army and this attitude was all they knew. They applied this to their karate.

KarateForum

What about Western attitudes?

Harry Cook

It's crazy for an English guy to try and be a Japanese three times a week, to behave like what he expects how the Japanese act, that's absurd. They might base it on the behavior of one particular Japanese instructor who they've met or trained with a few times. I think karate will adapt and must become Western, much in the same way Chinese Gung Fu became Okinawan te and Okinawan to became Japanese karate. Fine, nobody criticizes that. It's a natural process.

KarateForum

What were your impressions of the Japanese education system?

Harry Cook

I visited a few schools, the physical condition of them were rather tatty. I was impressed by the work they did.

KarateForum

There's a lot of pressure on these students resulting in a large proportion of suicides.

Harry Cook

Too much pressure! I believe in competition but the Japanese way has gone too far. The pressure on some of those kids is absurd. I taught English in a children's class and at first I was teaching in a very relaxed way. I think people learn better in a calm state. Some of them couldn't handle that. It was difficult for them to accept. They said sensei should be stern. Sensei should not laugh. After awhile they got used to it. Universities aren't too bad. You can laze around and do very little. Getting there is the trick. Between the ages 14 and 18 they call it examination hell. There are basically three kinds of universities in Japan: the very good ones like Waseda and Keio, the Oxbridge kind; a middle group resembling most universities here; then there are the eki-ben-daigaku. Eki means railway, ben means lunch box and daigaku means university. Now railway station lunch boxes are regarded as poor quality in Japan.

KarateForum

Just like the British Rail buffet selection !

Harry Cook

Education is important in Japan. It's seen to be valuable, teachers have a high status. Over here education is not important.

KarateForum

What would you like to see as the future of student karate in Britain ?

Harry Cook

One thing, I'd like to see more of it. I'd like to see the universities go in a direction like their Japanese counterparts and be tied in better or on a greater depth with various associations. For example, if you had each club associated with a particular instructor on more than simply a commercial basis.

If you had, as in Japan, the 'old boys' clubs who can influence the dojo, train and support it financially. It'd be nice to see development along those lines. I hope that a British student's team can win a World Championship at kumite and kata.

If we are going to have professional karate instructors in Britain then I think professional should mean something more than making money out of it. I think they should be truly professional and university karate could be one avenue towards that because of the attitude they can bring.

This is not to say all professional teachers are rip-off merchants. I don't want them on my neck! There are those who are, we all know that, we've all met them, seen them in operation. These are the people who think professional means 'I get money for what I do'.

KarateForum

On that note we'll finish here. Thank you Harry Cook for your time and hospitality.

The Author and Harry Cook, 17 years on, in 2005