HELLO WORLD!

Just saying Hello World! I still find it very difficult to manage my personal time in a way that would allow me to continue this blog. This is why I am typing this message now: "I am alive and kicking!" :-)

Post Preface

Well, after my Preface article I had a couple of discussions and had myself some thoughts. It seems that we need to stop a little more on the Olympics saga. I will try to repeat my monologue I produce whilst discussing the matter with one of my brothers-in-arms so to say.

Why am I so disappointed with the karate World heading towards Olympics? Here is how I see the issue. By the way you do not have to agree with me.

In order to win competitions athletes need to follow the rules. Rules are made up in a way that allows to defend organizers and participants in case of injuries. Therefore all dangerous techniques are removed and prohibited. This approach is good and makes sense. Of course we do not want to have accidents at the competitions especially lethal ones which are quite possible considering the essence of the activity. So, what is the problem than? - you should ask. Well, the problem is in interpretation. As usual "lost in translation" case.

When coaches ( SENSEI is a wrong term when it comes to sport I believe) train their sportsmen for competitions they choose the best winning strategy for them meaning excluding prohibited techniques from the training agenda. Also they deliberately avoid "simple" KATA and choose the ones that impress public and the most important judges. What does it lead to? It leads to training sessions limited to KIZAMI and GYAKU TSUKI practice only, limiting practitioners from entire arsenal of truly efficient KARATE-DO techniques (remember they re removed from the competitions for the same reason?) and to practitioners choosing a very complicated KATA that they cannot fully understand but believe in making a perception.

Why coaches do that? Because winning medals gives them credibility for claiming their clubs (not DOJO) successful and from of the public (parents, kids and some adults) and more important in front of the local and national authorities. Both factors lead to financial success of the clubs: bigger crowd and financial support from the government.

Nothing new there. It was. Until now. Now there will be a competition between clubs for sport money from the state. There is a budget for the sport development if the sport is Olympic. And that is an ultimate goal of any sport oriented KARATE club. Now read above and guess what is going to happen with KARATE-DO in the next dozen of years. Nothing good from my point of view.

Ego (sport is driven by Ego and eager to win) is not what should be developed through true training. GICHIN FUNAKOSHI, the founder of SHOTOKAN KARATE-DO was against even KUIMTE (known fact). By the way he was not a member of any federation. Neither he was given any grade. My understanding of KARATE-DO is very simple and rather not exciting. The only purpose of practicing KARATE-DO is practicing KARATE-DO. This is supposed to be a life journey. And it is to make you a better person. Winning or loosing is far from its idea. Choose one-two KATA and make them your own through practice and through deep dive into meaning of each and every technique. No matter how simple and useless it might look. It doesn't matter how slow or fast your progress is. Neither your belt matters. Just practice!

Respect to those who practice KARATE-DO and good luck to those competing in KARATE!

DESIRE TO WRITE A BOOK

Why? Why another book, - one can ask. There are plenty of books on the subject already written by well-known masters and advanced practitioners. Well, why not?! Seriously, I believe that we, martial arts practitioners are responsible for the art. We have to preserve and develop it. We are meant to be adepts and guardians. We should protect the art and ensure its further development.

Art. There is a huge misunderstanding what this word means, not only in martial arts sense but also in general sense. What is art? Art is a set of skills that allows certain activity to be done on a very high if not the best level. Now cut all the cute words and leave the essence. What do we have? Set of skills! Thus when we say art in this text or anywhere else we are going to mean set of skills. If you are OK with this statement I will answer your next question. Why SHODAN? First of all you might know already that SHODAN means "first level". For example, KATA named HEIAN SHODAN suggests that this KATA is a first of level of all HEIAN KATA (five in total). Now I have SHODAN in karate-do that means that I have a black belt of the first level or degree. So, this book is written by a SHODAN karate-do practitioner (me) and for SHODAN karate-do practitioners mostly or anyone who is interested in personal development process in karate-do. Especially I believe it would be useful for advanced colour belt students and for first level black belt who is focused on the deep understanding of his own level.

http://karateandknowledge.blogspot.ie/p/karate-myint-kywe-soshiki-karate-school.html

Speaking about relaxation, it has been a long way since karate-do went on from very hard style based on the muscles and images of furious "samurai"-like people to the way of total relaxation and whip-like techniques. We are all familiar I hope with late master TETSUHIKO ASAI and his development of SHOTOKAN KARATE-DO. If not I strongly recommend to check the web. Master ASAI was one of few who could see the future for karate-do and who could pull modern SHOTOKAN KARATE-DO out from its stagnation. No wonder martial art practitioners criticize this style for its external, long, hard and stiff elements comparing to the others. Yes, this is how we received the knowledge back in 70s, how it was passed to us and how we passed it to others. We can go deep in discussion why and who but it is rather irrelevant. Sport direction of karate-do development ruined the DO part of it (the way) and made it purely a show. Many people argue that karate competitions is only a part of karate-do. Well, yes, that was the idea originally but look what has happened to the art and what is happening to it currently. By the rules of competitions and in order to ensure safety of competitors and of course to avoid any legal consequences all dangerous techniques are banned. Dangerous techniques! Basically the most efficient ones. Well, you say - nothing wrong with that. And I agree. But now let's go on the club level and coach level (called DOJO and SENSEI in karate-do). If coach wants his students to win next competitions he is coaching them on the techniques that are allowed by the rules and do not spend too much time if any on the other ones. Day by day, year by year and we have what we have - we have lost a list of the techniques once known as distinctive signatures of SHOTOKAN KARATE-DO. Here is a list just of some TSUKI WAZA (punch techniques):

• MAWASHI
• HAITO
• NAKADE
• TETSUI
• KAKUTO
• SERIUTO
• TORADE
• KUMADE
• HAIWAN

We can continue the list of TSUKI WAZA and then to write a new one for KERI WAZA (kick techniques). That is what we are doing to this martial art. We are removing skills from the set leaving only the basic ones. If you watch any training session or even a competition event you will notice that the technical arsenal went down up to 10 elements the most:

• KIZAMI TSUKI
• GYAKU TSUKI
• MAYA GERI
• MAWASHI GERI
• YOKO GERI
• USHIRO GERI
• URA MAWASHI GERI etc.

 http://shoko-sato.com/master-shoko-sato-kyoshi

An even worse picture is presented in the KATA. Practitioners trying to impress the judges and the public choose very complicated KATA and leave the "less interesting ones" unattended and forgotten. You want see many people choosing BASSAI DAI or even HEIAN for their competitions. Everyone is picking at least UNSU or NI JYU SHI HO KATA. People learn new KATA sequence and barely knowing it start learning "next one" driven by competitions and grading, by their Ego and "greed" for glory and success. We have lost understanding what success in KARATE-DO means. Masters of the past would study 1-3 KATA all their lives trying to go deeper in deeper in its understanding.

Anyway we can discuss my points of view and argue infinitely. It will not make us better KARATEKA though. I propose to stop talking and start thinking and practicing. 

MAKING A FIST

I have been helping teaching kids (and adults) and watching children (and adults!) I realized that step number #1 in karate, regardless of the style, school, dojo etc., should be actually a lesson of HOW TO MAKE A FIST.

About 4-5 years ago I went through a very dramatic self-revision of my karate and one of the fatal mistakes I had identified in my own karate was the actual fist formation. With a weak fist a punch will never be powerful enough. Makiwara is a good test for it and I am planning to write about it later.

So, what was the issue? Little finger was not tight enough and the thumb was not in the right place. It has been fixed since. I believe I need to review it again. Therefore I am asking for your help and advice regarding any issues my theory and my application currently has. 

Making a fist (as I see it) should be happening in the following sequence:

1. Open the palm

2. Bend all four fingers (no thumb included) to their base in a way that the highest level of tension is created by your little finger, yes the "pinky" :-) Stay focused on that one during the rest of the procedure.

3. Roll them further towards the base of the palm creating a fist with a thumb still pointing out.

4. Now bend your thumb in a way that it makes a latch preventing the first two fingers (index and middle) to get released from the tight hold.

The way I see it is if the pinky is not tight enough the whole fist will be weak and if the thumb is not in place creating a latch the elements of the fist will be disconnected. All these lead to a weak fist, potential injuries, impossible work on makiwara and punching the air as the only use of one's karate.

And of course all this is supposed to be done as one and very fast. So, the more you practice the better. Nothing new, right?! It has to become as hard as a stone. Test it on the even flat surface (I use wall). Do not hit it (why would you do it?) but rather just softly put your fist against the wall the way you punch and see how strong or weak your fist is. Now imagine when you hit an opponent who is approximately 90 kg and potentially moving towards you throwing his attack at you... Right? Your fist should be extremely strong and placed correctly to survive the impact and create some damage to the opponent. Considering the fact that it is weak in connection to your arm point anyway.

Please feel free to comment, advise, criticize and just give any input you wish. This blog is the right place for it. Thanks in advance. 

Ossu!