Only days after being hospitalized, Ray Wiser went on to win three first place trophies at the Music City tournament.

There was no “wax on, wax off” when Ray Wiser was learning karate, even though his teacher was the student of Mr. Miyagi.The real Miyagi. Miyagi Chojun — the founder of Goju-Ryu Karate-Do. Wiser studied under one of Miyagi’s star students, but never did have to wax a classic car.

“It was a little more detailed than that,” laughed Wiser when asked about the famous movie scene.

Learning experiences

Of course, when he first started to learn the martial arts, he wasn’t an awkward adolescent in Beverly Hills — he was an 19-year-old Marine who’d already spent time in Vietnam, dangerously close to the northern border and the Ho Chi Minh trail.

“Nixon pulled us out and sent us to Okinawa,” said the 61-year-old veteran. “I had already been reading about Okinawan karate and I was lucky enough to find an Okinawan dojo with an Okinawan sensei who was brought up in it.”

Life of achievement

Many things have changed for the New Herman native. He’s been a Marine, a police officer, a deputy, and a security guard. Wiser is a third-degree black belt in Kenpo karate and has also studied and fought using the Goju-Ryu and Shaolin disciplines.

Wiser was one of the first paramedics in the state of Tennessee and went on to train more of them. He has taught karate as well as continued to study it himself, and he’s raised award-winning goats, two children, and several generations of Doberman Pinschers. He’s an OSHA advisor and has a wall full of weapons so deadly they make the Addams Family parlor look like Mary Poppins’ cottage.

Oh, yeah. He’s also Santa Claus.

“About 70 pounds ago, anyway,” he said. “People don’t always remember my real name, but they remember Santa.”

Crops and karate

Ray moved back to New Herman from Carthage about four years ago and has spent the time creating an amazing garden filled with angel trumpets, fig trees and more than a dozen varieties of blackberries.

Ray Wiser studies with Randy Garrett, a 10th degree black belt, one of about five in the world in his discipline.

“People ask me what I do all day and I tell them I garden in the day and do karate at night.”That’s the one thing in 43 years that hasn’t changed for Wiser. He still practices karate and attends classes three times a week.

Finishing on top

Two weeks ago at the Music City tournament in Nashville, just days after leaving the VA hospital, Ray won three first place trophies in his age division.

“They call it the ‘Senior Executive’ class, men aged 50 and older,” said Wiser. “I was the oldest man registered.”

He won first place in kata, the stylized pattern of moving that forms the foundation of karate. He also won firsts in weapons and in sparring, but admits one win may have been a little easier than the other.

“They just gave me the sparring trophy,” he said. “I didn’t have to fight anybody — I was the only one who signed up for it!”

Still building

Ray said you never stop studying karate and there’s always room for improvement.

“One of my senseis said, ‘You must do every move 10,000 times before you know it and then you must do it 10,000 times before you perfect it,'” he said.

He has diabetic neuropathy and arthritis. His pancreas is giving him problems, he was exposed to Agent Orange when he was in-country and is a disabled veteran — and he credits karate for keeping him going.

“If it weren’t for the physical workouts three times a week, you’d find me in my recliner with my joints locked up,” said Ray. “It’s a physical workout and a mental workout.”

Proper outlook

It’s not just the physical aspect of karate that gets Ray through the day, it’s the philosophical. One of the biggest misconception about it is that it is to be used offensively, he said.

“Karate and weapons are only to be used defensively, to protect yourself,” said Ray. “What’s the first rule in karate? Always be a gentleman. If you can walk away, do it. If not, do it to win.”

September will mark the 27th year of biweekly Chayon Ryu martial arts classed offered at Catawba College by Master David Mitchell of Salisbury.

Over those 27 years, dozens of students, from both the college and the area community, have participated in the biweekly Chayon Ryu martial arts classes offered on campus each Monday and Wednesday by Mitchell.

Mitchell, who traveled to Korea in May, took his rank test at an ancient school in Pusan, and was awarded an eighth-degree black belt. Mitchell and his teacher, Grandmaster Kim Soo, a 10th-degree black belt, traveled throughout Pusan and Seoul for 11 days, demonstrating their martial arts skills.

Now retired from teaching in the Rowan-Salisbury Schools System, Mitchell concentrates on his martial arts. He is an adjunct professor at Catawba, teaching day classes on Mondays and Wednesdays to college students, and in the evenings on Mondays and Wednesdays, classes that are open to the public.

Former Catawba College President Robert Knott originally helped establish the Chayon Ryu martial arts classes on campus when he was provost at the college in 1984. He felt the Chayon Ryu system’s art and philosophy would be a good fit with the educational mission of the institution.

Mitchell notes that the focus of the martial arts is higher learning and says training helps its students become better people. “We’re always trying to attain self-awareness and self-knowledge, so we can reach enlightenment,” he says. “We’re not a substitute for religion, and religion is not taught in class, nor is politics. You can travel at your own level of fitness and this will help strengthen you, mentally as well as physically.”

About 80 percent of the students in his classes are adults “who are growing into, instead of, out of martial arts,” Mitchell notes. “The forms and techniques taught are very old, but the way we practice has been modified so people are able to do them for a lifetime. Our self-defense techniques have been tried and proven in battle over the centuries.”

Mitchell, who grew up in Salisbury, also grew into being a martial arts master. He discovered Chayon Ryu and its founder Grandmaster Kim Soo in 1973 at Kim’s martial arts school in Houston, Texas. He says he had the mistaken idea early on that martial arts were all about fighting.

During his first appearance in Kim Soo’s class, Mitchell was “ready to fight and win,” which seemed to disappoint his teacher. However, Mitchell became a worthy student after he was trained by Grandmaster Kim Soo “how not to fight.”

“I came to realize that I was only in competition with myself and that my true enemy was inside. Grandmaster Kim Soo taught me that it was easy to fight, but very difficult to avoid a fight. To fight another simply because you have lost patience with this individual is frowned upon. To fight when you absolutely must is the better idea.”

To date, Mitchell, through the classes he has taught at Catawba, is responsible for the training of 26 black belts, ranging from first-degree to fifth-degree. His two adult sons, Josh and Matt, are among these, with both holding third-degree black belts.

Mitchell says the classes he teaches are very well organized and include students who are good people. He hopes to enroll more students this fall.

For more information about enrolling in the Chayon Ryu martial arts class at Catawba, contact David Mitchell at 704-636-8809 or by e-mail at dmitchel@catawba.edu