Ura & Omote
History
Ura & Omote began in 1995 because of a long-distance telephone conversation with my friend David Sink. We were both green belts at the time and were discussing a kata over the phone. He had to drive 12 hours or so to get to a teacher, whereas I could train with any one of 8 black belts who were a ten minute walk away from my apartment. It was then and there that I decided to help others who didn’t have easy access to a teacher, or to the information they needed to further their development in this art.
Since that time, I worked at keeping, at first, the newsletter and then its website
going — although since 1998 the updates were getting fewer and farther between.
I didn’t have the time to devote myself fully to the newsletter and the quality of it
had lessened over time. Producing the newsletter and updating the web site ceased
to be a love for me and had become a chore. I decided to close down shop —
a decision which took me the better part of three months to come to.
Restarting Ura & Omote
I feel that the newsletter served its purpose in connecting and opening up new communication channels. This newsletter started at about the same time that the web was beginning to take off. Now, with so many websites out there, information is easier to obtain and seek out.
Please bear in mind my wish for Ura & Omote to rest in peace. I don’t want anyone to continue Ura & Omote. I would much rather see someone start a new newsletter that continues with the spirit I started, but is their own thing. I feel that a lot of Ura & Omote was built on my personality — my drives, desires and self-professed “open-mindedness.” Therefore a fresh outlook from someone else would be welcome. A new newsletter — with a new name — driven by someone else’s desires, intents, personality and persistence of vision would be most welcome.
And, in the words of Hatsumi-sensei, “Keep going!” I know I will.
— Liz maryland
Selected Articles
Some articles which the team finds relevant and a must read, will be reposted here on a somewhat frequent basis, to eventually form a relatively complete archive of the articles posted in the Ura & Omote newsletter.
Hopefully you will enjoy reading them here again or for the first time and find inspiration and insight in your training.
-- The Team