UNIVERSAL TOTALITY
My name is Patrick Palmieri and I’m a sixty one year old man who has been active in the Martial Arts since I was thirteen years old. My official training began in late October of 1967 under Sensei Alan Nieves in USA Goju-Ryu Karate founded by Grandmaster Peter Urban. In December of that same year I switched over to training in Goshin-do Kempo Karate and Hakkoryu Ju-Jutsu under Grandmaster Peter Siringano Sr. The reason was a no-brainer for both myself and my brother Sal as it turned out Sensei Siringano and our father were very good friends. Sensei Siringano suggested to our dad to send us down to his dojo also located on Staten Island. The unique thing about this was that Master Siringano never accepted any money from us. The knowledge he taught us, or rather extracted from us, was extreme loyalty coded with a very intense work ethic which translated into four nights a week in both Jujutsu and karate twice a week each with a separate training syllabus.
Realism was the name of the game and much of what he taught and how he taught would be considered grounds for a lawsuit today. He was an ex-army rangers Special Forces operative in both World War II and the Korean conflict. Needless to say much of his Martial Arts prowess was honed on and in the battlefield much like the samurai of old. By 1974 I was promoted to 1st degree black belt shodan and by 1978 promoted to 2nd degree black belt Nidan and by 1988 was promoted to Yodan Renshi fourth degree black belt which is still my rank to this day. In the 1960’s and 1970’s right into the mid-1980’s karate tournaments were very popular and since at that time there were no kick-boxing or mixed martial arts contests karate and judo tournaments were the only venue for most of the young Martial Artists from white to black belt. To compete in this was the era where men like Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, and Louis Delgade, to name a few, were successful in the black belt arena. Later on in my Martial Arts training I would have met all of them and even had the opportunity to train and learn directly from Mr. Delgado, Mr. Lewis, and many more like them who were excellent Martial Artists in their own right.
Now while I myself was never a tournament champion I did compete in many contests as was required by our dojo in the New York-New Jersey area and can attest to the fact that these events were rough contrary to popular thought where people believed point-karate was a game of tag. I can say it was more like a dangerous game of full contact tag. The techniques were fast, powerful, and focused in most cases and while the rules of the day stressed control there were many instances of people being knocked out, teeth missing, ribs busted, and bruised along with broken noses, toes, etc. Many people had intense pride and wanted to prove they were the best all the way from the lowest ranks to black belt on both a local level and nationally. Around 1975 shortly after I made black belt level I met Sifu Thomas Lee through a mutual friend. We hit it off quite well and are brothers to this day.
This is something I don’t take nonchalantly for according to Chinese custom it is an honor to be acknowledged in this manner and I view it as such. Without going into extensive detail I quickly discovered that Sifu Lee, in spite of his young age, being a year older than myself and is a very able bodied and accomplished Martial Artist. His system Yu Jau Dai Yune Do, The Way of Universal Totality, is an internal art derived from elements and principles of Tai Chi Chaun Pa-kua and Hsing I. In 1976 he began training me in his method and while I was a black belt I started at the bottom to learn the rudiments of this particular method based on sound principles. Like in the karate and Ju-jutsu I was learning his method was heavy-laden with realism at its core and we were using boxing gloves and special equipment to train our techniques which back in the 1960’s and 1970’s were not quite in the mainstream vogue yet. Suffice it to say that under Mr.Lee’s tutelage my ability was improved something by the way that was acknowledged by Grandmaster Siringano Sr to Sifu Lee privately in the late 80’s at his annual karate tournament. I was then competing and placed in. This was a true statement and both of us considered it a great honor to be acknowledged by as. Master Siringano was a man of few compliments so if he gave you one you cherished it.
So now in closing let me just state that Yu Jau improved my karate to the point where I can say the true lasting value of Martial Arts training handed down from competent teacher to competent student is that it teaches us to absorb loss and after wounds are licked to come back and start again. It’s easier to give up but not better to do so. Proper training not rushed due to the demands of commercialism can teach the valuable lesson of being knocked down eight times and getting up nine. It will strengthen your body and free your mind and help to make us solid citizens and productive ones and these days when you think about the confusion going on around everywhere. Where people are tired, confused, paranoid, and project that madness at each other being solid, clear, and strong can be extremely valuable. Remember this old saying penned by karate Master Chojun Miyagi who created Goju-Ryu karate: “Discipline will polish technique until it shines like a pearl.”
Sincerely yours in Budo,
Patrick Palmieri