JR 137

I think too many people fixate on the end result of the stance rather than the transition/getting into and out of the stance itself. IMO the stance itself is a bit little more than a worthless pose. How you got there and what you did is what matters. Take the simplest kata I know- taikyoku 1. It starts with a 90 degree turn to the left into forward leaning stance (zenkutsu dachi) while performing a left hand low block (gedan brai). If all one is looking at is the finished stance and block, they missed 99% of what’s important. That’s like taking a picture of a golfer as he’s at the end of his follow through and thinking that’s all you need to see to analyze his entire swing. Regardless of that, practing deeper stances develops strength, endurance, flexibility, etc., all of which are beneficial. And depending on your personal bunkai, the deep stances can be critical, but again they’re and end result; that finishing blow should be delivered with a strong and stable stance that usually deeper than the norm. Some throws that require a turn require a strong step back and swing of the back leg to truly deliver maximum power and generate a ton of momentum. Kind of hard to put into words.

I’m still reading this and learning. I especially liked MatsuShinshii’s post on the various points of bunkai. Please expand on it, MatsuShinshii; I’m definitely on bored yet!

Very interesting. I was thinking about buying one to replace my Ronin heavyweight which keeps shrinking on me, even though I always wash it cold and hang dry it. I’ll save my money and buy a second Shuriedo K-11 instead. I’m 99% sure I read that they were supposed to be made in Japan when they were in that initial fundraising stage. The sales pitch went something like this... Most of the expensive Japanese made gis are made in the same factory, and the Seishin gi will be made their as well to Seishin’s specs. Seishin is using a similar Japanese cotton as the big names, only blended to fit their own specs. I distinctly remember reading that stuff, the only thing that might be off is if it was a different company, but I highly, highly doubt that. From what I’ve heard, Shuriedo is made in Okinawa by Shuriedo themselves, and the other Japanese big name gis are made in a single factory in Japan. The companies specify the material, cut, specs, etc., and that factory does them. That factory seems like a pretty high quality factory, so I’m not knocking them. The Pakistani factory seems similar to. I’ve heard KI, Ronin, Tokaido’s non-Japanese made gis, and Kamikaze are all made in a single factory in Pakistan. Again, the company gives specifies the material and specs, and the factory makes them according to that. This was told to me by a vendor. Perhaps that initial run of crowdfunded gis were made in Japan, then production shifted to Pakistan afterwards? I’d send Jesse-san (as he calls himself) a message asking him what’s going on. If you’re truly unhappy with it, I’m pretty sure they’ve got a decent return policy. I’m sticking to Shuriedo. I can’t say enough good things about them. Their only issue becomes supply at times, but I guess that’s what you get with a small volume specialist manufacturer.

Welcome aboard, Mark. We can always ask ourselves what if. If I stuck with my original sensei, I’d probably be 5th dan by now. I say that because the guy I tested for shodan with was promoted to godan a little over a year ago, and we were kind of like dojo twins. Life got in the way, and I had other priorities, such as grad school, starting a career, meeting my wife, having our daughters, etc. I’m in a different organization with a different teacher, and started all over again. It’ll be 3 years in February. Your experience seems to be excellent. I’m sure all of that stuff you’ve done makes you far better than if you didn’t do any of it. It’ll give you additional insight into what you’re currently doing and it’ll help you appreciate where you are. Sometimes you’ve got to step away from something to realize what you actually had.

I like your previous post, Lex. However, I’m constantly reminded of this by my middle school students... Everyone says “think outside the box.” Think freely and without constraints. Same as you’re saying - fight freely in a way without the constraints that plague many a dojo. Don’t “dojo fight,” but train to actually fight. Am I on the right track? Now here’s the rub: I constantly remind my students that you have to know how to think inside the box before you can effectively think outside the box. You need to (relatively) master the basics before you start adding your own elements to it. The drilling is a way to master those basics. The drilling should keep all the textbook stuff intact - hands up, angles, footwork, etc. This engrains muscle memory. If the drills you’ve been taught and the ones you taught your students aren’t working appropriately, change them. If the distance is off, change it. If the attack isn’t realistic, change it, then change the appropriate respective response. What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different outcome. If you’ve sufficiently trained it and analyzed it, and you’re not getting the results you think are appropriate, change it. My previous teacher followed the organization’s curriculum. There were specific drills we did - left hand low block, forward leaning stance, step straight forward with a right straight punch. My former sensei taught those by the books. Once we were proficient with them, we did them out of a fighting stance. Once we were proficient with that, we moved around at a free-sparring speed. Once we were proficient, we’d use the same defense, only against a hook punch and had to adapt the initial block and footwork. Then we picked up the pace. All of that made them significantly more realistic. And functional. Last thought... I’ve been taught karate at the colored belt level is like turning the student into a robot. I.e. “do this this way, do that that way.” The student is basically a carbon copy. At the black belt level, the student is (or at least supposed to be) proficient enough in the basics to now start doing them in a way that’s tailored to him/her. Colored belts is “this is how it’s done.” Dan ranks is “make this work for you personally.” I like that approach. It goes to that think inside the box well enough to be able to think intelligently outside the box when the appropriate time comes. Maybe this is just who I’ve trained under rather than karate as a whole though. Black belts should be taught differently than colored belts. There’s a great saying in photography: First learn the rules of photography, and master them. Then learn how and when to break them. Definitely holds true in MA as well IMO.

We had a boxing club at my college. It was run by a former low level pro, and a few of the students on campus were amateur boxers under him. I attended the club for I think 2 years. It was two nights a week, and was mainly female students who treated it as cardio kickboxing. Not that there was anything wrong with that at all; just that I was far more interested in learning actual boxing. I worked a lot with those two guys. We sparred several times. I loved it. We did actual boxing drills, not boxercise stuff. It really helped with handspeed, punching power, and movement/footwork. It conflicted a little with karate due to the stance. It made kicking a lot harder and more telegraphed. I wasn’t nor still not much of a kicker, so it was easily worth it to me. The coach and the 2 guys loved my karate (Kyokushin offshoot) experience. I gave them a different look that made them think more, but wasn’t so far out in left field that it was a distraction. Other than the conditioning, the biggest takeaway to this day was and still is reading my opponent better, and knowing where to move to. I got caught with a lot of hooks in the beginning because of where I was moving; there were setting me up to move right into them. Boxing taught evasion in a way I haven’t seen yet, as it’s not just how you move, but also where you move to. Karate up to this point in my journey only scratched the surface, boxing taught me that righ up front. No one in karate has yet told me “if you step to his right after he throws a jab, you’re going to walk into his right hook every time. He’s waiting for you to do that!” No one in karate ever consistently cornered me like they did in boxing. It was because I kept moving the same exact way every time, and my opponents saw it and rightfully took full advantage. I also learned that footwork truly makes or breaks blocking. The blocking hand only pushes it that much further awa, opening up a bigger target. Now if I could do all that every time And I really miss the slip bag. I’ve been meaning to make one for a while now.

One step get a bad rep, and are definitely worth training IMO. It’s how one interprets and approaches them IMO. We have 10 “basic” and “intermediate” one-steps in our organization that are standardized and must be performed against a right punch and left punch during kyu ranks. Taken at face value, they’re ineffective; in the right context, they’re an effective teaching tool. My CI reminds people of the following... One fight will actually begin with a person stepping back with the stereotypical left low block and right hand chambered, then step straight forward with a straight punch. And they won’t stand there holding their punch out until you’ve finished your response. It’s not a “when you’re attacked, do this” thing. They’re meant to teach proper distance and footwork, where to block on the attacker, when and how to block, and teach proper targets with proper strikes. They’re another way to drill the basics and correct mistakes in using them. They’re not a coreographed response to common attacks. Our basic ones are stand responses, and intermediates teach sweeping. I’ve seen a handful of the advanced ones (they’re taught at various dan ranks), and the ones I’ve seen end with joint locks and chokes. As one progresses through the ranks and gets better at using them and controlling themself, the speed and resistance is increased appropriately. When I do them with a senior ranked partner and especially during testing, they’re certainly not punching slow nor throwing themselves on the ground to make me look good. They’re not fully resisting, but they’re appropriately making it difficult enough that if I’m a little off it won’t work. If I miss the block, I’m going to get hit (not blasted). If I block too early, as in when my CI says to go and I start immediately, they’ll stand there and ask “how’d you block a punch that’s not there yet? If I follow up the block too slowly, they’ll move and ask me what I’m waiting for. It’s not an attempt to embarrass me, it’s to keep me honest. And they won’t do these things to people who aren’t ready for it yet. That’s how they should be trained IMO.

Sorry... I was just picturing two guys getting ready to throw fists in a bar, and one says “hang on a minute” and pulls a mouthpiece out of his pocket. Quite sure that would get a few laughs from the crowd. But yes, mouthpieces are good. I’m going to ask my dentist what he recommends when I see him in a few weeks. I’m guessing he’ll advise some $500 custom thing, but you never know.

A big part of why I like kata so much is it’s versatility. It can be used for a lot of things and in a lot of different ways. And there’s nothing wrong with using them in a lot of different ways. Some people use them as warmups, as a way to drill the basics, as a moving meditation, as an exercise unto itself (think tai chi). And even for “fighters” there are kata that aren’t packed with “fighting moves” but rather principles of movement. Take Sanchin for instance. It teaches coordination of breathing, being rooted, and body conditioning. There’s probably more, but there’s very little actual bunkai going on, as there’s 3-4 different moves in the kata itself... Different schools do the kata differently, but the underlying principles are the same IMO.

I wouldn’t call this deep bunkai... I’d call this deep bunkai. Especially in about the middle. Perhaps I should use “deep” instead of “Okinawan”...

Welcome aboard, Kohi

I'm curious about this -- it is common knowledge that Oyama did not train bunkai? Or where did you get this information from? My Kyokushin instructor trained under Oyama for about a year in Japan and he has always emphasized bunkai, we do it in nearly every class. I wonder if my instructor's version is a modern adaptation of Kyokushin, or maybe just something he personally likes doing. Would be curious to have any more info on this. I’d say it’s common knowledge that Oyama didn’t TEACH bunkai beyond “block a front kick, step forward and punch him in the stomach” (taikyoku 1). There was a thread about bunkai and Oyama not teaching it on the now defunct Kyokushin4Life forum. Many there were high ranking Kyokushin guys and they all stated they’ve looked for evidence of him teaching it to no avail. I haven’t seen any mention of bunkai beyond very superficial stuff from any Kyokushin resource. And I’ve looked quite a bit. If he learned it and trained it during his pre-Oyama dojo days is another debate. I’d bet he did, being a student of the teachers he had, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. More and more Kyokushin teachers are teaching deeper bunkai than previous generations. Perhaps due to the internet, seminars, more readily available resources, etc. I’m not saying the bunkai you’re learning can’t be Oyama’s bunkai, but it’s highly doubtful IMO. That doesn’t automatically make it incorrect nor correct, it just is what it is. All IMO. Edit: I missed the part where you said your teacher trained under Oyama in Japan. ASK HIM!!! I’d love to hear anything about Oyama teaching it from someone who was there! All I’ve heard is “he didn’t teach me nor anyone else I’ve asked that trained under him.” That includes students who’s teachers were Oyama’s students way back in the early days. And keep bunkai in perspective. I’m not talking block-punch-kick, I’m talking Okinawan bunkai type stuff.

Happy birthday, Bob. And many more!

Solid post!! I don't allow them to have a moment of pause, especially the younger ones. I keep them moving...doing something; I take their energy and run with it. It is said that the attention span equals the age of the student. An 8 year old has about 8 seconds, and not 8 minutes before that student is bored out of their skull. If you like to talk and talk and explain to the Nth degree of what you're teaching, that 8 year old has only remembered 8 seconds of what you've said. However, put action in the words, well, now you've got that 8 year old for 8 - 10 minutes. Aha, after those 8- 10 minutes of activity laced in with verbal instructions, you better shift the gears up, otherwise, boredom takes root once again. With children, I believe my secret weapon or my secret ingredient is...I become that age group for the entire time of class. 4 year old students, for example, armed with that 4 second attention span and the energy of TNT, I simply become that 4 year old and I play with them. It might take that 4 year old 6 months to one full year before they ever test, but they'll have learned, and they had a blast all at the same time. Even that 4 year old's parents forget the testing cycles, and that's because all are having fun!! Btw, adult students are not much different!! No matter the age of the student, they must be challenged at all times!! That's the job of the Sensei...Instructor...CI!! Challenging doesn't mean overwhelm; do that, the battle is lost before it even began. Especially that very first class; you've that one chance, and only that one chance to make that positive impression. Make it a good one!! Absolutely. I teach 3 year old pre-k physical education. Some of them aren’t quite 3 years old yet either (the cut off is 3 years old by December 1). You’ve got to mentally bring yourself down to their level in a way. Not just 3 year olds, but all younger aged children. No 8-10 year old wants to hear a 20 minute lecture, and they’ll honestly retain about 3 minutes of it, tops. No parent had a 20 minute lecture in mind when they signed 8 year old Johnny up either. Get them up and moving as soon as you can. They’re not there to learn the history of karate, they’re there to learn to kick and punch. Obviously the history is important, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint to learn it. A thing I like to do with all ages in physical education is give them a fact or two during the opening, and ask them to answer it during the closing of class. Ask them one more thing you haven’t covered, then have them answer it the following class during the opening. Perhaps even offer a trivial prize to the person who gets it right. Just some ideas.

Sorry I didn’t say this sooner, Danielle... Wishing you a speedy recovery. The cast isn’t forever. Make sure you follow your surgeon’s and therapists’ orders. Once you’re out of the immobilizer, there’s usually a specific protocol as to how much you bend the elbow and when. It’s a progression. Or following it can lead to some bad stuff. Sorry to hear about the reaction. I doubt a cast would do that, but unfortunately stranger things have happened.

This is why I hate 90% of the GPS/PCPs. Jack of all trades and master of none is most rampant amongst these guys IMO. Runny nose, sneezing, coughing, etc., see your GP. Just about everything else, see a specialist. I find it extremely odd how specialists only treat what their specialty is, yet GPS try to treat everything. The GP claimed the cardiologist is his competition? There’s no competition as far as I’m concerned. I’d look for a GP who doesn’t think he knows everything and is trying to outdo “the competition.” My former GP was the best. He was board certified in family medicine AND cardiology. He knew his limitations and didn’t look at other specialists as competition. Rather, he saw them as teammates. Unfortunately I moved 3 hours away. My current guy is pretty good. Time will tell however. Rant over.

This one’s pretty simple. Karate really means “empty hand.”

Solid post. Thank you.

Some instructors did not teach the applications and others would not teach them until a student was awarded Yudansha. This was for a multitude of reasons, for which I've heard plenty. We teach along with the kata. Hachikyu start learning Pinan Shodan, and immediately learn the applications and are taught two person drills so they can apply what they've learned. To each their own. I feel that teaching the applications while learning the Kata gives the student a deeper understanding. Just for the sake of information... Oyama was reportedly nanadan (or possibly hachidan) under Gogen Yamaguchi when he left to start the Oyama dojo. I highly doubt Yamaguchi would bestow that rank on anyone who didn’t have a through understanding of bunkai and how to teach it. Why he abandoned bunkai really makes me wonder. Oyama had hundreds, if not thousands of high ranking yudansha under him at the time of his death. Yet there’s not a single report of him teaching bunkai that I’ve seen nor heard of. Everyone’s got their own philosophies and methods.

Along with what I said earlier... Proper technique has to be developed first. This is assured under the eye of a direct instructor. Once the student has proper technique, the best way to develop power IMO is kicking things such as shields and heavy bags. Gradually build up until you’re kicking at full power. Improper technique on a bag will be painful at best, and most likely cause injury. But the best way to develop true power IMO is hitting a bag correctly.

Synovial joints are joints that are enclosed in a capsule and have synovial fluid in them. Knees, hips, elbows and shoulders are the main ones. I’m not sure where you’re going with a discussion on them.

One thing that’s always made me scratch my head is Mas Oyama not teaching bunkai. Oyama studied under Gichin Funakoshi and his son. Studied under Gogen Yamaguchi and another direct student of Miyagi (Nei-Chu So). Any or all of these men surely would’ve taught Oyama bunkai, and quality bunkai. Yet there are zero accounts of Oyama teaching his students bunkai beyond block/punch/kick. My only criticism of Seido is we don’t do very much formal bunkai. We have set “self defenses” that if you analyze them actually correspond to kata movements, but I feel like it’s more coincidental than intentional to be honest. Nakamura is a direct student of Oyama, and when he formed Seido, he developed the “self defenses” we practice. I love Seido, but I just wish we spent some time doing bunkai. But Oyama not passing bunkai on really boggles my mind.

How much time is left to train outside of class when 2-4 hours are spent training in class everyday. Add work and other responsibilities to the mix. But I agree with your point. When were you taught your first kata? Was it pretty much immediately, or was it after you had been there for some time?

I really strive for maximum efficiency in blocking and/or evading though. I try to move my head and/or turn my torso as little as possible but just enough to make the strike miss. I try to deflect the strike as little as possible to make it fully miss. The more I train, the less I rely on using my arms to block and rely more on footwork to get out of the way instead. When I do it right (the one or two times ), the blocking hand pushes the strike a bit further away to open up my target more. So I guess I’d be perfectly happy being as efficient as possible in blocking and evading, and perfectly happy being inefficient in striking. Maximum effectiveness is what a m striving for. I’ll happily miss a stomach punch to set up a clean head punch or vice versa.

I don’t use maximum efficiency. I try to use maximum effectiveness. There’s a difference. Maximum efficiency means there are no wasted movements. So you can say that feints/fakes and footwork are wasted movements. True 100% efficiency would be standing still in your stance and punching straight forward without bringing your hands back at all before you punch to increase power. Doing that won’t land very many punches. If I want to punch someone on the side of the jaw to knock him out, I’ll step off line and throw a punch or two at their torso to bring their hands down, thus opening up the head. Highly inefficient in the true sense, yet highly effective in the real world. Same with a kick: come up as a front kick, get the low block response, and turn it over into a high roundhouse to an unprotected head. Inefficient, yet highly effective. I throw my inside-out crescent kick the same way: I keep my knee bent like I’m throwing a front kick, then it comes up and to the side of their head. Inefficient, yet highly effective, especially when I’m up close. Maximum efficiency is all fine and good on paper. In the real world, I’m not good enough to do the bare minimum. Maybe when I’m sparring with a total beginner with zero experience, but that’s about it. I’m sure people here with decades of experience can pull it off against me, but I’m no where near that. Hopefully one day