Black Belt Testing under Kanei Uechi, in the Uechi Ryu Karate Futenma, Soke Dojo, Okinawa, 1982

The semiannual black belt tests for all Uechi Ryu Karate dojos in Okinawa were held in the Soke Dojo of Kanei Uechi, Futenma. Lined up along the length of the large dojo were four to five test boards. Each board consisted of five senior ranking Uechi Ryu Sensei from the various dojos. The average length of several tests I took in Futenma Dojo lasted eight hours. This excerpt from 1982 shows the standardized test format for all black belt ranks each May and November. Grand Master Kanei Uechi and many of the senior ranking Sensei of Uechi Ryu are shown in this episode. Taken from Alan Dollar’s Okinawan Karate Historical Series. Volume 1 of 3, Episode 3.