(Approx 2 minute 30 second read) I’m often asked, “Who is your teacher?”, “What style is it you practice?”. Well, I like to say that I’m forging a personal path. . Ultimately, karate-ka who put in the training hours with the right teachers and mentors eventually end up doing their own thing, right? . After…
Tag: Style
The Enduring Value of Naihanchi: The Kata I Keep Returning To.
(Approx 1 minute 45 second read) I’m sure many of you have a favorite kata. I have a few that just seem to sit well with me. One of those kata is Naihanchi. Simple in appearance but deep in application. It has a distinctive embusen compared to most other kata. . Gichin Funakoshi called the…
Lineage, Ego, and the Myth of Inherited Skill.
(Approx 1 minute 55 second read) People love to talk about lineage. Personally, I care more about ability. So, how important is lineage to you? . We all have a martial arts lineage of sorts. Some remain faithful to one, others, perhaps through no fault of their own, have several. There are those who believe…
The Map and the Mnemonic: What Kata Really Teach.
(Approx 2 minute read) Most people look at kata and see “blocking”. It’s the word everyone recognizes, drilled into beginners from day one. But kata teach far more than simply stopping a strike. A more accurate term is “receiving”. . So what does it mean to receive rather than block? . It’s common for less…
Ever Seen Someone Freeze in a Fight? It May Not Be Fear – It’s Just Too Many Options.
(Approx 2 minute 20 second read) In a real fight, the one who hesitates usually loses. There’s a reason for that, and it’s not just instinct, it’s science. . Hick’s Law tells us that the more choices we have, the slower our reaction time becomes. . The brain has to sort through options before committing…
Unlocking the Combative Meaning Often Hidden in Kata.
(Approx 2 minute 40 second read) How do we use kata effectively? . I don’t mean the bunkai demonstrations you see at tournaments and in some dojo where you are attacked from many different angles by many people. I’m talking about real effective defense. . Someone recently asked me a simple question: “How do you…
Educating the Ignorant (That Would Be Me): Apparently, I Need to Be Educated.
(Approx 2 minute 50 second read) Apparently, I need to “be educated”. . The saga about step-kumite will not leave me alone, it seems. Another high-ranking instructor from a well-known association sent me a Facebook message to tell me how wrong I am because, wait for it… step-kumite was never designed to be effective (in…
Are We Still Afraid to Ask? Why Karate Needs More Questions, Not Fewer.
(Approx 1 minute 45 second read) Sometimes you can really see why karate has been stuck in the doldrums for so long, especially when questions aren’t allowed to be asked. . I remember back in the 1970s and early 1980s, asking questions of senior instructors was just not done. “Shut up and train” was the…
Are We Practicing Karate or Borrowing from Kendo? Did Modern History Shape Our Training?
(Approx 1 minute 55 second read) If you’ve spent any time defending the practicality of Okinawan karate, you’ve probably run into detractors. I know I have. . When karate moved from Okinawa to mainland Japan, pioneers like Gichin Funakoshi faced a challenge: how to get an unknown martial art accepted into a national system built…
Kata, Drills, and the Alphabet of Fighting: Training Within a Theme Builds the Ability to Adapt.
(Approx 2 minute 50 second read) What was kata originally? A mnemonic – a way to remember, when alone, the two-person drills already learned with a teacher. . Those two-person drills would each have had a subject, a concept, to work on. For example: how to escape a clothing grab. We still do that today…
Reading the Message in Kata – The Theme Comes First.
(Approx 2 minute 25 second read) Kata are not just sequences of techniques, they are repositories of information, each built around a central theme. . One kata might deal with preventing grabs, breaking grips, countering when that fails, and then controlling or escaping, all from the same starting point. By studying kata this way, we…
Old Masters, New Lessons: The Endless Path, Not a Finish Line.
(Approx 2 minute 35 second read) We call them the old masters, but what did that title truly mean? In an era before standardized ranks, how was genuine mastery actually measured? . Mastery in the martial arts is a touchy subject. There are self-proclaimed “masters” that we tend to sneer at. Some styles call instructors…