Kenpo Legacy: Interview with Rainer Schulte | ART OF ONE DOJO

[Music] we did a video series on the origin of American kle Karate a little while back and we got a tremendous response personally it was a really fun project because from one part my own background in American Kempo and another because there are so many great stories out there to tell one of those great stories is that of Rainer schy a prominent figure in the history of K's growth and the man who is known for taking Ed Parker's American kle Karate to Europe at a recent kle camp in Point Beach Florida hosted by Sean Kelly Mr schy was kind enough to share his story and experience with us in the martial [Music] arts [Music] it was when back in the 60s in a um Pub where I saw an altercation between two guys one uh maybe 150 lb the other one about 200 lb so it ended up on this parking lot like normal back then it was more fights were more honest than they are now so hey let's go outside okay so this big guy was on the ground before he knew it and I said oh what did you do he said that's martial arts is karate I said I got to learn this because I have been in the Merchant Marine and in the Merchant Marine when you are around different countries uh you learn how to fight but that was not something that I had learned so I wanted to learn it I went two different I I saw in West Los Angeles different karate Studios the first one I went to was Tako studio and I said okay what do you guys do here so this guy he was tremendous he jumped up did about 10 kicks in in a second he almost jumped to the ceiling and I said I can never learn this thank you then I went to another one to a a Japanese studio and I said what do you do here can you show me something and he showed me punches and kicks straightforward and rigid and I said that's not for me then I went to a Keno studio and I said what do you do here he said it was Danny nund at that day he said we teach self-defense I said can you show me he showed me something very simple and I said this is what I want to learn been with it ever since [Music] [Applause] uh one day we we in class this big men walked in and um he had something about him nothing uh strong or like a teddy bear actually and it was real nice real nice and then someone told him that I was born in Germany and he said oh I got to introduce you to my wife Lani her Heritage actually from Hawaii was in Germany with the big publisher I said I'll be glad I this is how we became over the years became friends fellow cist and author Michael Miller released a biographical book on Mr sh as part of his Legends of kle series it's a terrific read and I've included the link in the description below I highly recommend it in the book Mr schy talked about when he was doing a demonstration with the great Joe Lewis it became clear to him just how incredibly important it was to have full control on your techniques control is very important with Joel Lou it was um at the UCLA actually so he said R now would you stand at this wall and I'm going to punch at that wall and once you don't see daylight between my fist and the wall tell me so he punched about five six seven times and I said hey that's it he said okay now when I work with you in front of the the people out there just don't move because now you know how much control I have and when he did a technique on me my nose flattened but not by his crunch by the air pressure that you put out there so control is very very important now American Kempo can be a complicated art to learn and as a result it is often a source of scrutiny by those who don't train the art or who aren't quite as familiar with the structure the truth is and as I've said in previous videos the best art is truly the art that you can make work for yourself American Kempo is no different and Mr schy is a walking Testament of that I I wanted to learn the basics the ABC because if you only have uh 15 syllables you cannot write a letter while in math if you learn addition subtractions multiplications and divisions you can actually do math and this is what I wanted to learn I signed up for the United States armed forces in 1963 so I had some training and and and uh some encounters with them and I knew that I was going to be able to use my kpo in my job and if I hadn't I wouldn't be sitting here I worked in anti-terrorism within Germany within Europe and within the Middle East um then when I thought I became too old for that kind of work uh sleeping in the desert at ice cold you know in the desert gets cold at night and like uh 110 115 in the daytime then I switched over to U Diplomatic Security and that was interesting that was there's the difference and let me give you a little story um with the Diplomatic Security you had a perimeter if anybody crosses into that perimeter you'd go in and you stop whoever was entering that Circle but uh when I was working with Paul McCartney was in Oslo when um there was an question and answer period and then he said quit that's enough for day so we sent everybody out and there was this lady she started cry fine and I said Lady this is done you have to go Paul came over and said R now how can you do this this lady is crying she wants to talk to me I said Paul you said that was it and yeah but but she's nice and I won't talk to her and here you see the difference between Diplomatic Security and celebrities they do not have that line that you cannot cross kpo is evolving uh it's has more practitioners I say practitioners than anytime before um I call it the keno garden and in each Garden you find weeds and sometimes you cannot control the weeds and we here try to uh control weeds not to have any weeds in our ker Garden back in days um black belts were like Gods oh there are something else but nowadays uh you see so many black belts walking around U they went to the shop and got it and bought it or being promoted for a nice amount of dollars so that is where the difference is you have to as an instructor you have to get your point across not to beat it across but get it in their mind what you're trying to tell them what you're trying to share with them not just if if I go into class I don't teach what I do I show them what I do and if they their mental and physical ability can take it whatever but my mental and physical ability over the years has changed and each one of the students has a different mental and physical ability so they have to adjust their kle to what I just said Mr shy has contributed a lot to the art of American Kempo and he had a big hand in helping it grow around the world Mr schy played an instrumental role in bringing Ed Parker's American Kempo to Europe uh I was asked to uh go to Germany uh to take a job for the US state department in anti-terrorism so after I'd been there for almost two years um Mr Parker asked me um have you done any Keno I said there is no Keno in Germany um he said why don't you start it all right if I find the time I'll start it so I started a club and in in Germany uh you get uh um money or the club gets money and Facilities from the government but Keno was not a a legit uh martial art so and then the uh traditional martial arts that Kino what is it what are you going to do and and uh we got Kung Fu we got I said guys all you have to do invite me or you come over and I'll show you they never did but we we started actually in a in a pub with two guys that were uh uh in the military in the police academy we got to talk and I said what do you do for self-defense in in in your Police Academy H not much I said you want to learn something I do can for what so I said let's pick a date and and I I'll show you what I do so we did there was an old building dapat building where we found room where we could work work in so we had six people in there one time 6 months later we had 100 and it was just became uh uh one of the Premier mushrooms in Germany and then we expanded the Ed Parker system the Ika system expanded uh in in Jersey Chanel Islands then UK Holland Spain uh we went all over one question that I'd like to ask ask those who have dedicated their lives to the martial arts is to give advice to those people who may be facing obstacles in their own life you know tragedy happens things happen it's all too easy to let it take us off our path especially in our training if we let it happen when I uh started this Keno journey in Germany uh a young man came in 16 years old just uh tall but we maybe 95 lbs soaking wet and he said I like to learn this but I have a bad back I said okay just do what you can when we work out when we warm up whatever you can don't do when it anything hurts just don't do it then his mom came in she said oh he said he would like to try and and is it dangerous I said no it's not as long as he understands he should only do what he can what he's able to do nothing Beyond it he became my first black belt he became not just a black belt he became an excellent black belt and an excellent instructive no back problems life goes on and and life changes and sometimes for some people it's impossible um if if they set their mind to it then if they cannot go join a class join a studio or Club at least try to do something at home go through the basics because uh uh uh the basics is where everything starts and this is uh from where we go we don't have the basics we don't have anything he has worked for the government in multiple security roles and he was often in situations where his life depended on it he offered great insight on the real life applications of the martial arts K experience a lot of them especially when I was out in the field working working against guns I've been shot I've been knifed uh I had all that but how you react to that um when I was shed I was bleeding and I didn't know it I thought I'd stepped into a water puddle but then I looked down it was red so it was blood but the adrenaline is pumping so there's always and and Keno you you don't use one technique or this technique or this technique you use whatever comes to your mind what what's in your subconscious this is what you use in a real situation and it's come to me many times and I'm here get into the mind or get martial arts into your mind and use your mind before you use your use your physical abilities because there's something that I call uh verbal kle say simply I've had an altercation and I man do you really want to do that let's go have a beer I'll pay we avoided a fight very simple when you uh have an adversary you can tell how bad he is how experienced is by his demeanor how he stands how he looks at you how his head is forward back you can tell if if you experience yourself so then you have to assess the environment how much can I do because there's these cameras all around and videos being taken and I was like to put up my hands I said please man I don't want to fight you then the cameras around me will hear oh he said he don't want to fight he put his hands up but I put my hands up because I know what I want to do so uh uh situations out there is coming how you get out of the situation is how good you are not how good you are in fighting Spirit but in your mind you have to be positive positive in mind and positive in your posture if you slump down and you're going to be attacked but as long as you walk upright knowing the ground you walk on knowing your environment uh you're not going to be attacked that easily maybe from behind because they can't look into your eyes but this is walk upright be a man or be a woman be strong I would like to extend my gratitude to Mr schy for taking the time to sit sit and talk with us his experience is worth sharing and his advice is worth taking to heart thank you sir learn how to learn more to how to learn not necessarily to become a black belt but to learn from black belts because I can buy a black belt but I'm not a black belt so try to become a black belt in mind and body and the stripes on the belt uh doesn't show you actually I know this technique better than you do it shows how long I've been in the art or how I have come up the letter in the art so not more than that but never say I want to be I want to be black Bel just say I want to learn to become a black belt not to achieve the black belt but to become a black belt [Music] Please Subscribe and be sure to click on that Bell icon so that you can be notified when we get more interviews to share thank you so much for [Music] watching