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T H O U G H
T F O R T H E W E E K
O-Tsuna-Hiki
By Sensei Ed Hall
I would like to invite everyone to the
O-Tsuna-Hiki (big rope pull) nextweekend in Florida. This is our 3rd annual tug-of-war. We
do this to celebrate the Okinawan way of life that was the synthesis of our style of
Karate. This is an ancient tradition, usually done around festival time. It's a little
different than the "western" tug-of-war, because there are two ropes joined in
the middle by a log. Another difference is the size of the huge ropes. The one they use in
Naha is 160 meters long and weighs 16 tons! You can read a great tug-of-war story on page
65 of "Karate-Do My Way of Life" by Master Gichin Funakoshi. You can also check
out these web-sites for history and pictures:
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