Tamashiwara

Couple of photo's of Phil breaking 24 rooftiles with head butt (1970)
Regards Josh.

Hi Josh

I have a similar pic that Phil signed for me. I always remember hearing that, after doing such a demo, he had a splinter of tile lodged in his skull!

I remember my first time at trying Tamashiwara, it was in the late 80' at a demo with Arnie. We'd done the usual inch-thick board to please the crowd. I promptly went home afterwards to amaze my mum and then-girlfriend. They were the only ones home, so I went into my dad's shed scouring for suitable wood to show my strength at breaking things with my bare hands.

I found a perfect strip to do the job. The scene was set, they stood watching, eagerly. I placed the wood on two house bricks and let the tension build. With my 'coolest' expression, down went the gyakuzuki....

'Boing!!'...nothing.

Again...'Boing!!'...nothing.

After another two fruitless attempts, a red-faced Dave put the wood back after an un-impressed audience retired back inside.

Showed my dad the piece of wood later and it turned out to be an inch-thick piece of plywood. You've got all-on trying to break that with a sledgehammer! My breaking at demo days were over...

Ninj

Brilliant photo.

When I was younger (so much younger than today) I remember being convinced that Phil had developed a square patch on his forehead with all the tile breaking. Trying to emulate this (like you do) I remember trying to harden my own head up by heading a hard football (many, many times) and then progressed on to breaking roof slates off old council houses rather that the thick tiles ahahahaha