“Every day, there is a new discovery. Rather than merely hitting this way or hitting that way, i’m interested now in trying to evolve the foundations of my practice.” – Kenji Yamaki . You can learn all the technical skills you want. You can learn all the theories and understand the concepts down to the […]
Knowledge is power only when you truly understand and can apply it. Read More »
“In the old days, underlying strength would be established. This was the way. Techniques were not taught at first. It was about persistent basic things, building the body, getting to know the character and teaching perseverance. Perhaps such discipline is necessary, until you have the motivation to train.” – Kenyu Chinen 9th dan Oshukai Okinawa
It is important to realize that kata are in fact kihon. Read More »
“Kata follows the essence of martial arts which is to minimize movement.” – Tsuguo Sakumoto 9th dan Ryuei Ryu . Karate for me is about efficiency of movement, efficiency of combat, and natural movement lies at the heart of this efficiency. . Karate has been described as unnatural movement that you do, until it becomes
“Kata follows the essence of martial arts which is to minimize movement.” Read More »
空手は湯の如し絶えず熱度を与えざれば元の水に還る – (karate wa yu no gotoshi taezu netsu o ataezareba moto no mizu ni kaeru) “Karate is like boiling water; without heat, it returns to its tepid state.” – Gichin Funakoshi . I believe this applies to anything that we do in life. Sometimes we end up sick, injured, and run-down, and at times
“Karate is like boiling water; without heat, it returns to its tepid state.” Read More »
“Compared to Jiu Jitsu, karate is more destructive, Jiu Jitsu is the art of throwing and holding and is slow compared to karate” – Kentsu Yabu from the Honolulu Advertiser July 9, 1927 . “Does this work?” is a meaningless question without the qualifier of “works for what?” . There is a huge difference between
“Does this work?” is a meaningless question without the qualifier of “works for what?” Read More »
Funakoshi wrote; “A student well versed in even one technique will naturally see corresponding points in other techniques. A upper level punch, a lower punch, a front punch, and a reverse punch, are all essentially the same. Looking over thirty-odd kata, he should be able to see that they are essentially variations on just a
“I always say that it is not about grade, but about substance. Even if wearing a white belt, doing your best is what matters most. This is what I try to pass on.” – Yasuhiro Uema 9th dan Shubukan Shorin Ryu . If you are visiting another dojo outside of your group, or changing
“I always say that it is not about grade, but about substance.” Read More »
You run into lots of different attitudes in the martial arts (and out of it), most are extremely positive, but some extremely hateful. While all of us would prefer the positive, unfortunately there are those that just prefer to hate. . Hate is an emotion that gives us a feeling of intense hostility and aversion,
Slow down, have the intelligence to let hatred go, and live life. Read More »
“If someone asks what Karate is, the answer is Kata. Karate is the act of inheriting a Kata from the master. It is the act of guarding the Kata inherited from the master. It is to nurture someone and make someone grow.” – Yamashiro Yoshitomo Okinawa Kenpo . What is the true meaning of the
“If someone asks what Karate is, the answer is Kata.” Read More »
Human beings are emotional creatures. In the battle between emotions, common sense and logic, emotions win, always . I prefer to look at my karate from a logical and common sense perspective, with a view to developing functional combative skill. . Logical thinking is a process of exploring different solutions to a given problem. .
What works best…. is what works best. Read More »
The common origin of technique. . The commonality of a technique is that they all make use of biomechanics and weaknesses of the human anatomy. Where the various arts differ is in the rules, the goal, and the context that they are trained for. . In competitions you try to win. In consensual fights you
The common origin of technique. Read More »
The grappling of karate is not comparable to the highly skilled grappling exhibited by MMA or Judo practitioners. It is, by design, very crude by comparison. But karate’s grappling methods did exist long before the rise of MMA. . There are those that believe only Judo or BJJ can provide grappling and throws, and the
