Shorin Ryuu

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community. When reading all the stories about the old masters of Karate fighting in real situations, you notice one thing: the fights didn't last more than a few seconds. Yet, if you notice the way most people train, whether it is Karate, mixed martial arts, boxing or whatever, they train specifically to exchange blows and use all sorts of tricks. Certainly, they don't preach that one should take a long time to win, but looking at their approach, multiple techniques and combos are viewed as necessary. This exemplifies the notion of having a "boxer mentality" versus Chibana Sensei's concept of "ippon kowashi" or "one technique, total destruction." The boxer mentality stems from simply tradition, a more sport oriented focus, the belief that it is better to be safe than sorry or the outright refusal to believe a fight can be ended with a single technique outside of good luck and proper circumstances. In most cases, it is a combination of this last reason with one or more of the others. For these people, combos or advanced techniques are a must because the basic techniques simply aren't strong enough or effective enough to win a fight by themselves. In traditional martial arts circles, there is disillusionment with the idea of ippon kowashi. Sadly, many of the schools that do believe in it grossly overestimate their skills, which only contributes to that disillusionment amongst the greater martial arts community. Many rational martial artists notice their techniques lack the power needed for ippon kowashi. In brutal honesty, this lack of power comes from having an instructor who couldn't or wouldn't teach them how to generate it properly or simply the student not being good enough to learn it (but usually the instructor is to blame). As a result, these rational martial artists begin to believe martial arts techniques must rely on speed and involve a heavy emphasis on esoteric pressure points, complex grappling or whatever the flavor of the week is. Unfortunately, this overly eclectic approach, while useful for exposure, causes seriously dedicated martial artists to do everything except work towards an advanced understanding of basics. Much lip service is paid to the idea of keeping things "simple" and sticking to the basics, but few instructors actually do this. Then again, few instructors ever teach ippon kowashi, let alone teach it properly. At most, there is a philosophical idea of ippon kowashi, but only in terms of giving full concentration to each technique, as if each technique was a killing blow. Consequently, for most people who do not believe in ippon kowashi, it is a self fulfilling prophecy and their techniques will lack the degree of power necessary to pull it off. In order for them to fight effectively, they must use the boxer mentality as their approach. By contrast, Chibana Sensei's Shorin Ryu Karate was all about ippon kowashi. His Karate wasn't merely ippon kowashi in the philosophical sense, but had the ability to defeat opponents with one technique. Ippon kowashi isn't the result of mystical sounding pressure point techniques or any sort of spiritual ki. Instead, it is the application of such intense power that an opponent cannot stand against it. By mastering the closing of distance and proper timing, his use of ippon kowashi made him the most respected Karate instructor on Okinawa. If the opponent kicked or punched, his block would literally floor them. If they did nothing or tried to guard themselves, he would open them up and destroy them with a single punch. Such a power seems legendary and, in a way, is. However, this kind of power is not unattainable nor is it merely an exaggeration or a fond myth. Ippon kowashi is the result of refinement rather than being a technique collector. To obtain ippon kowashi, you must have an instructor who can generate that kind of power and can teach how to do it. I've learned that such an instructor is exceedingly rare. Equally necessary is being able to learn it. I facetiously joke with my Sensei about him one day revealing to me the hidden scroll of all his knowledge, but that is because we both know there are no secrets, no hidden techniques. All it takes is an understanding of timing, body mechanics and continual training. You gain this from doing kata, hitting the bag and practicing a few walk in drills. Nothing more, nothing less. When fighting, there is no waiting for the opponent to attack. There is no letting the opponent determine the pace of the fight. If he attacks, you destroy what he attacks with and him in the process. If he blocks, you destroy what he blocks with and him in the process. If he does nothing, then you destroy him regardless. That is the mindset needed to match the technical skill to actually achieve those results. Fighting with ippon kowashi requires total commitment. Total commitment fully accepts life or death as the outcome of a fight and requires supreme confidence, which can come only through training and experience. Confidence without skill is merely bravado. Skill without confidence cannot be utilized.

I prefer to use a 150 lb bag since it has plenty of resistance. With any luck, you'll have an instructor who can correct your punching technique as you hit the bag. I think it is a weakness of many styles that they do not implement enough bag work, which if you have an eye for, can tell you whether or not your punch has power. Of course, a lot of people end up push punching the bag anyway... I don't recommend a speed bag, but that's just me. The type of coordination and timing you have for a speed bag is not the kind of coordination and timing you need for a strong punch. The specificity of training involved in a speed bag won't help your punch develop power. If anything, it will make it weaker. Simply developing speed won't either, since you lose the important aspect of timing your body when you aim for speed. I'm sure others will have differing opinions.

If you watch it in slow motion, you'll see that he wasn't that great of a stand up fighter. When the distance began closing, his posture began caving in on itself, he was leaning forward, and had no stability when he tried to strike (or whatever he was trying to do). There wasn't any really solid closing of distance (from his end). He also took it a little too casually, I think. I didn't detect any spirit either, but that's just me.

Well, to clarify my point... it's more a matter of whether you believe body conditioning will help your ability to fight better or not. It may increase your ability to take a blow per se, but I think people get carried away with the idea of body conditioning (even those that don't hit rocks). You are most likely referring to a makiwara. I suppose you could fashion your own... but it really would be best to get a heavy bag or to use one at a gym. Not that I have anything against a makiwara; most people don't know how to interpret the feedback correctly.

It is my opinion that you are better off studying the technique of hitting rather than just hitting hard stuff for the sake of hitting hard stuff. I spend a long time on the heavy bag, for example, but I don't just pound away at it like I did when I was boxing. I tend to avoid combos and just practice a few strikes over and over, focusing on penetration and weight transfer over any kind of endurance or strength building exercise (although after a while, it does give you those benefits). I may only hit it maybe 10-15 times a minute. When it comes down to it, I would rather know how to give it than to take it. In the end, hitting a heavy hanging bag bare-knuckled for about 30-45 minutes a day with an emphasis on proper form should set you up nicely as far as conditioning goes. No need to pretend you're in a kung fu movie. For the other stuff, just lift weights (squats and bench press). I do that and a lot of pullups, since my style uses the muscles of the back and the forearms heavily.

$30 bucks a month for all-you-can-train (but it isn't insisted that you pay if you have financial difficulty). Empty Hand practices are 2+ hours Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Weapons practices are 2+ hours Tuesday, Thursday. Plus, any other time you want to train with the instructor and he's up for it (more unscrupulous individuals would play it up and call it "private lessons", I guess). We do not use rank or belts, so no hidden costs there.

Actually, it was more like the gi was added by Kano (and adopted by Funakoshi) and the usage of belts in karate was added by Funakoshi. The color belts were added much later by others as commercialism entered the martial arts more. As for belts with black tape on the ends... it seems like an easy way to charge a student for a promotion without having to pay the extra cost of buying another belt (or having the student buy another belt). Plus, it is a good motivator for those who have to rely on such external symbols. The same white belt getting dirty to become black is just a myth. The karate belt system hasn't even been around for a century yet. Since the Japanese were obsessed with cleanliness, I can't imagine them wearing such a dirty piece of cloth around their waists...

Actually it is called Kobayashi Ryu because that is how he wrote it. The Kanji he used was 小林流, 小 being "ko" making 林 be read as "hayashi". The Kanji for "Sho", 少, was not used. Shorin Ryu would be written as 少林流, not 小林流. On another note it is redundant to say Kobayashi Shorin Ryu, as both Kobayashi and Shorin mean the same thing (little forest school). It is a common assertion that the characters for Shorin 小林, with "shou" (small) and "rin" (forest) used by Chibana Sensei when he first named the style was an error on his part, as the way to spell Shaolin 少林 uses "shou" (few) and "rin" (forest). However, he was paying tribute to the Shaolin temple, yet purposely changed the first character in order to distinguish it as Okinawan, as he felt the development and techniques made it different. So like I said, referring to Chibana-lineage schools as Kobayashi is incorrect, as he never used the term Kobayashi to refer to his style when speaking about it. Just because it can be pronounced as kobayashi doesn't mean it should be. This isn't idle speculation on my part. Chibana Sensei himself explained this to my instructor when my instructor Pat Nakata was a virtual live-in student during the 1960s.

I'd stick with my punch. We tend to fight in close anyway and I'm not going to bother and over reach from far away. As for not hurting my fist, you can be pretty safe as long as you know how to punch properly. In other words, there are some methods that are better than others to keep a nice fist that's not going to break.

We don't use belts (or gi tops, for that matter). Back when I trained at a school that did, it was my name on one side and the style on the other.

I study Shorin Ryu, the original. Chibana Chosin named his style Shorin Ryu, but it is now mistakenly referred to as "Kobayashi Shorin Ryu" nowadays. He never used kobayashi to refer to his style and only called it Shorin Ryu. Later on, many others started tacking on the Shorin Ryu name, leading to this confusion you see today.

Are you talking about oii tsuki or gyaku tsuki? "# - We use the term when blocking and striking with the same arm." I'm not sure where that came from... was that something you meant to add? At any rate, I'm talking about Junzuki/Jun tsuki.

... I can't believe you just posted the OODA loop... That being said, your words are true.

One of my two undergraduate majors and my graduate level degree involved a lot of study of East Asia and Japan, specifically, so I am quite familiar with Japanese culture and the history behind it. When karate was introduced to Japan, it was viewed as somewhat incomplete because it didn't obsess about character development in the same manner that other "budo" arts did (kendo, judo, etc.). This is not to say character was unimportant to the Okinawans, far from it. However, the cultural tradition of Okinawa was far more Chinese, and thus far more Confucian in its outlook. The practitioners of karate (Shuri) were more of the upperclass/bodyguards/law enforcement type and were naturally expected to have good character as the natural order of things. Another part of this natural order of things was the acceptability of using violence swiftly to remove any disruptions to the natural order of things (bandits, thieves, ruffians, etc.). Therefore they didn't concern themselves with philosophies that sounded like "karate ni sente nashi". They did not create unnecessary conflict. However, in the event of conflict, they did not hesitate to act or seize the initiative. Funakoshi was respected for his scholarly endeavors and his emphasis of character development. I do not disparage him for this. It is when ideology directly affects how you fight on the tactical level that I start to disagree.

A block is a strike and a strike is a block. I don't get what you're trying to say here. Me neither.... From reading some of your other posts, Shorin Ryuu, about striking and blocking powerfully, and concentrating on destroying the opponent, I assumed that you had heard this phrase before. Basically, what it boils down to, is that if you are forced to block an initial attack, then the block should be powerful and intentional, therefore causing damage to the limb that is attacking you--therefore, becoming a strike. I've heard that phrase before; I was just unsure how that related to Gichin Funakoshi not dictating my karate. The way I see it, Gichin Funakoshi's "karate ni sente nashi" was a philosophical idea that found its way into the fighting mentality of his followers (and others). Whether it's a strike or a block is irrelevant. For that matter, "sente" doesn't mean strike, it just means "first move" or "initiative". Even if you strike your opponent's attack, you've already lost the initiative. If the situation warrants it, I will take the first move. Rather than "karate ni sente nashi", I much prefer "Sente Hisshou". "Victory belongs to those who make the first move."