THE MAN WHO BECAME THE FIRST SON
1934-2007
Charlie P. Contreras Hanshi (aka Sensei Charlie) was born in Phoenix, AZ on Feb.12, 1934. His profession was that of a mason tender. He came from a family of 12. His father was rancher, miner, teamster, and tavern owner—a man well respected in the community. As a boy, Sensei Charlie had many responsibilities such as cleaning the hog pen, feeding the chickens, chopping wood and washing. He also had to load up the beer kegs in his father’s tavern and sweep its floor. The best times that Sensei Charlie remembers were while playing and breaking his Brahma and Guernsey bulls. His time limit for getting chores done was very critical. If he did not adhere to the schedule dictated by his father he would get a whipping!! Sometimes he would break the schedule just to make his father chase him! One thing he found was that his father would never climb the Tamarack trees like he would. His father showed him patience by staying at the bottom of the tree until Sensei Charlie got tired or thirsty. He was not allowed to play ball or games with the other kids because his time was completely preoccupied with school and chores around the house, the bar, and his animals. In his later years he was always at his father’s side while working or tending the bar. Sensei Charlie’s interest in the martial arts started in 1945. He was 11 years old and was allowed to go to the movies—a rarity in his childhood. He was sitting with one of his brothers, Manuel, and they were watching “Blood on The Sun” with James Cagney. Towards the end of the movie there was a judo scene with James Cagney and a Japanese police officer; that scene captivated him. He just knew that he had to learn this fascinating style of fighting.Sensei Charlie began his martial arts training in 1958, 13 years after his movie experience. One day he was lifting weights at a gym across the street from the courthouse on 1st Avenue. There were some flyers in the gym that were advertising classes for judo, savate, and karate. So he went to the address on the flyer where he met and spoke with Master Trias, his sensei. While talking to Master Trias he could hear the sounds of thumping and yelling coming from behind the door which lead into the main dojo. This experience raised such great curiosity that he immediately got a loan to sign up for the class. The dojo was located at 101 West McDowell. His first instructors were Shirley Clum and George Miles. Both held the rank of Ik-kyu, 1st degree brown belt. Master Trias was a Lt. Commander of the Southwestern District of the Highway Patrol that was located in Globe/Miami, AZ. This left him little time to teach on a day to day basis. Usually, he would come in several times a week, but you’d never knew when. Inside the dojo there was a small office area, where Master Trias kept a stationary bike and an old duffel bag shaped like a cone that was filled with cottonseeds and cotton. On a table there where separate containers, for rice, beans, sand, and small stones and pebbles. Around this table, Master Trias had a tubular canvas which stretched the length of the table. Here is where you would hit with shuto strikes (sword hand strikes) and your wrist. Outside the dojo there were two makawari. The main dojo was about 14 feet by 30 feet with a large mat that covered the floor. Covering this mat was a large rubberized canvas, on which there were painted rice lines, the Kung lines, and lines which looked like stairs. On one of the walls in the dojo Sensei Charlie found two portable hanging mats. These were used to develop the students’ kicks. From the continuous kicking of these mats, he eventually damaged his feet to the point that he no longer could walk. He had to have radiation treatments applied to the soles of his feet. He also had to roll a coke bottle underneath his feet as part of his therapy. However, this still did not stop him. He would practice, practice, and practice some more because he wanted to be the best, and he was. Young and fearless, he became Master Trias’ best fighter; he would fight anyone, anyplace, and anytime. Among the many kata he performed, Gopei Sho was his favorite. As far as weapons, he like them all, especially a little 380 pistol he possessed! He received his Shodan in 1961 from his teacher Master Trias which established him as the first black belt made in the United States. Before his passing, Sensei Charlie achieved the rank of Judan, 10th grade black belt.
In a document Sensei Charlie wrote during the time of his heart surgery he stated:
“I have lost count of the times I have fallen. I have lived a long time so I have had more opportunities to fall and get up. It is true, every time you get up you get up stronger and smarter. The strength gained is not only physical, but mental, emotional and spiritual as well. It also has to do with attitude, some people don’t like my attitude, but they are not the ones getting up off the ground, so it doesn’t matter. It is your attitude that dictates whether or not you pick yourself up to begin with.”In August of 2007 Sensei Charlie’s heart finally stopped trying to keep up with him and he was called to a higher place were the view is better. Looking down from this new level he is able to observe his family, loving wife Catherine F Rodriguez-Contreras, Yudansha, and students. Please be aware that he is still keeping a watchful eye out for “His Mistress” or his karate, as he would say.
“The mental and emotional stress of going through many diagnostic tests and having to wait for answers from the doctors was the most difficult thing I have yet to encounter. My attitude was that whatever they found I would do my best to beat it or live the best I could with whatever time I had left. I was glad that good or bad, I was going to find out what was wrong with me and face it. That is how I have always dealt with mental and emotional stress…rather than giving in to fear of the unknown, face it and deal with it. Rather than letting worry and fear drain you, turn that fear into positive energy by getting rid of the problem, by finding a way to make it more manageable or making it work for you. If you give in you lose an opportunity to learn about yourself.” Sensei Charlie was also a humble man. One of his favorite quotes (which he got from Master Trias) was: “Just remember, that once you step outside of the dojo, no one knows who you are".
The following are direct quotes from Charlie P. Contreras, Hanshi. They are intended to provide a strong sense of his personality that can only be gained by reading his own words.
“Keep in mind that in that era to shirk from a fight was the worst form of insulting your sensei…and I worshipped the man and I was not about to do that to him. Also, in those days we only wore a cup and a mouthpiece and the only place you could not hit an opponent was on the spine and the head. Also, the way we trained to condition our hands made us more formidable and we fought bare handed. So, if anyone says they were Sensei’s best fighter, they hadn’t fought me bare handed…that may not sound humble or modest, but it is the truth. Regarding my thoughts about karate….they are the same as many.”
What do you remember about training there during your kyu-days?
“It was hard and tough…but it was right up my alley. And it was exciting…we were all doing something none of our peers would or could do. It gave me the opportunity to fight and hit someone and it was legal!! For me it was exciting to be learning something so different and yet similar to boxing. And I was learning a lot of different phrases in different language. You have to remember that at that time we had to learn the terms in Japanese rather than English. Also, I had recently lost my father and this filled a void and Master Trias became the father figure that I needed at that time.”
Will you share some of your thoughts about karate during this time? At that time what did karate mean to you? What did you hope to achieve, if anything specific?
“I will answer these three together because they sort of (at least to me) go together. Then as now, I love the martial arts…it has always been my mistress. It is who I am and how I am. I am alive because of the martial arts. When I was a brown belt in judo I fell down 3 stories and broke my back, the doctor said that what saved me was the shape I was in. At that time my thoughts regarding karate involved the physical aspect of it and getting my Shodan. Others…it has become to commercialized, to romancized. The training is not as hard as it use to be or should be to appreciate the art and be able to do what the art is meant to do. But I understand that if you teach karate for a living, you won’t have to many customers if they had to train the way we did. People are in a rush and they want to see that they or their children can “do something in karate”. NOTE: manos de piedras; hit makawari 500 times a day; soak hands in hot water, Epsom salts and alum.”
Note: This biography was taken from a document that Contreras Hanshi wrote entitled Hanshi History. This document was presented to the LA Shorei-ryu site, by Catherine F Rodriguez, Contreras’ his wife along with a collection of other writings, and other personal documents which belonged to Contreras Hanshi. Mrs. Contreras continues to teach the art of Shorei-ryu, carrying on the tradition handed down to her by her beloved husband and teacher Charlie P. Contreras, Hanshi Shorei-ryu karatedo.