Shorin Ryuu

Walk straight in to your opponent. If you walk too fast, you will be rushing. If you walk too slow, your opponent can time you. Keep your head and hands up. Your second to the last step will close distance while your last step will be "normal". Make sure you're not leaning forward as you go in. If you truly want to close distance, don't worry about hitting him from long distance or try to reach out for your attacks. Move in calmly without fear of being hit. Striking from outside of range due to fear of being hit is one of the main reasons people can't hit hard or can't close distance. Alternatively, simply trying to just rush in to avoid getting hit is another. Provided that your posture is good and your mind is in the right place, the rest should take care of itself.

Kata is 型, which just means mold, shape, type, etc. Alternatively, sometimes 形 is used, which means form, shape, etc. In either case, 方 is never used as the kanji for it, which means "way of doing" like you mentioned above. I personally prefer going with the original meanings, but not everyone has that luxury.

Jun tsuki means "same side strike" (roughly). I don't think it has anything to do with how little or how much hips are used, but that may be dependent upon how different styles use the term. But it's a strike with your forward hand and foot being on the same side, whether they start that way or not.

Classical Fighting Arts http://www.dragon-tsunami.org/Cfa/Pages/cfahome.htm I've found this one to be more than just fluff. I recommend it.

Tai sabaki isn't a bad idea. However, I think sometimes people focus their training more on getting out of the way than on destroying their opponent. Tai sabaki should be more of an integration with technique rather than a separate thing to do in an X or Y situation. This certainly isn't the case for everyone, but an overemphasis on tai sabaki can promote a reactionary mindset rather than the dominating mindset necessary for a fight.

Absolutely. Just because he did not teach schoolchildren the full application of the Pinan kata, doesn't mean the Pinan kata do not have full application. Furthermore, the mechanics of generating power are the same regardless of the techniques involved, so they are by no means a waste of time compared to the "advanced" kata. Even the most "basic techniques" done properly will end a confrontation without the need for fancy grappling manuevers that other kata supposedly have. According to Robert Smith (if you don't know who Robert Smith is, he was one of the earliest and most prolific English writers on Chinese martial arts), Bruce Lee was listed very low on Yip Man's roster in terms of skill. I'm not throwing this in here to turn this discussion into a "Bash Bruce Lee Party". I'm saying that all too often his time spent in Wing Chun is cited as evidence that you can easily "master" a style and then switch to another. Just like people who think they have mastered the basics, the idea that they have mastered a style is often premature. Granted, there are styles out there that I consider incomplete or have lost a lot, so it is not surprising that people reach a "dead end" in their training. This dead end is usually misinterpreted as mastering the basics of striking, to use a karate example. As NinTai mentioned, he was quite in the habit of doing so and would often market his methodology on that very basis.

I don't believe in just saying "put the other on the street to fight" as a valid argument. All too often people tend to use the term "street" to be some sort of ultimate authority in training matters without carrying things to their conclusion. If someone were to fight on the street for two years, what exactly would that entail? Would they have a bar fight once a week as their practice? Two or three times a week? At some point, wouldn't they have to have some sort of training by someone NOT out to hurt them in order to facilitate the learning process or to coach them? Certainly being in fights like that would expose them to the reality of violence, but they can't learn things like the mechanics of power generation when being thrown in such a confusing situation. They would need the extreme luck of winning nearly all their confrontations in order to continue their training. Alternatively, they would have to be fighting people who really take it easy on them, because I'm assuming the kind of street fighting you are talking about easily leads to multiple concussions and broken bones. The people that lose these street fights usually end up in the hospital; not what I would call an atmosphere conducive to training. It'd be a trial and error method of learning, but messing up might just end all experimentation. In the best case (your hypothetical fighter survived two years without any debilitating injuries or brain trauma), you'll have a fighter who keeps his cool under pressure, but he may not be better than the "average brawler" in terms of fighting skill because he hasn't had training to really emphasize the basics of how to generate power or to dominate distance so he can close in and finish the fight.

No offense, but I disagree with that perspective 100%. The "art" in Martial Arts is the same "art" in Sun Tzu's Art of War. It isn't meant to be "art" in an aesthetic sense, but in the sense of something requiring skill. They don't use the same Chinese characters, of course, but that is the meaning they are trying to portray. When aesthetics becomes a reason for doing something, your karate will suffer. On the other hand, I am a little cynical. I think most of even well-intentioned traditional martial artists have lost the original meanings behind and methods of executing their kata anyway.

I think bunkai as a whole is too exaggerated and overly complicated. People focus on making advanced-looking meanings (which was the original phrase used, "imi" in Japanese) rather than truly concentrating on basics, other than lip service. As a result, you have this modern infusion of meanings that only "work" if you change the movements dramatically, which largely makes doing the kata pointless if you aren't going to fight in the same manner in which you train. It is far better for you to become advanced at punching, blocking, and kicking than to collect "advanced" meanings behind kata. The recent grappling craze results in all these traditional karate practitioners now discovering a thousand and one grappling techniques within their kata. Grappling exists in karate, but it is far simpler (and in some ways, more effective) than what most people come up with. Grappling in karate is not judo, aikido, or anything else. It is karate's version of quick grappling used if the situation warrants it. Furthermore, the mainstay of karate is striking, blocking, and kicking, so grappling plays far less of a role in a kata's meaning than what most people come up with. Because people have lost the ability to attack using simple techniques with devastating power, they turn to some fictional notion of hidden advanced techniques. This added emphasis then makes it impossible to achieve that devastating power because they are focused on something else, believing basics as just something to go through before they learn the "real stuff". It is a vicious cycle that I sadly feel many karateka are trapped in. Because of all the above, I don't believe that "in the old days, the masters faced different kinds of attacks so their original meanings for the kata are largely outdated". When it comes down to it, the overall gross way a person punches, kicks, or blocks has been fairly standard throughout human history. Weapons are a different case, but only if you're talking about firearms. The meanings are just as relevant today as they were back then, primarily because they were simple. Because their techniques were strong, they could be simple. Because they were simple, they were effective.

I might not be incredibly shocked, given that the name "Shorin" was meant to be a tribute to "Shaolin", although the kanji was slightly changed to signify the unique Okinawan nature of the style. All the same, I haven't seen practitioners of White Crane or Southern Mantis display osae in the way we understand it. Granted, I've only seen one clip of both, so I can't speak with authority about them.

This is incorrect. Tawada Patsai was the Tawada version of Matsumura Patsai. In Shorin Ryu, this is Patsai Dai. Itosu Patsai in Shorin Ryu is Patsai Sho. This is because Chibana Chosin learned the Matsumura Patsai from Tawada. When he performed Tawada Patsai, Itosu Sensei told him to keep it and call it Patsai Dai. He told Chibana Sensei to call Itosu Patsai, Patsai Sho.

Interesting. In terms of semantics, there is some similarity to the way you use the term "press" and the way we do, but there are also some differences. For us, osae is more like pressing forward with the body weight in all movements, even in those going backwards. This osae is used perhaps in a similar manner that you describe as pressing the space, only we do it at all distances. Chibana Sensei felt one must always crowd or jam the opponent. However, there is a significant difference between osae (press) and osu (push). We don't necessarily add any more forward movement to a blocking technique in short distance as opposed to any other distance (we tend to fight at very close distance anyway, though). For us, the amount of forward momentum added with the arm would really be more dependent on the technique (thrust, strike, etc.) and how it is executed rather than the distance. At any rate, all techniques are given the forward movement more from body weight anyway. Rather than being interested in jamming via technique (since we jam via movement), we are more concerned with penetration via technique upon execution. I don't feel like I've explained the above very well. It still seems a little off to me. Sorry.

well, that's exactly as I meant to say.. it's interesting to note that when I see some of the higher up and more understanding students block they attacking limb always moves and so does the attacker, oppening them wide up for the counter strike... when others do it though, the arm is hit, the attacker stays on balance, and the blow is less effective. Would this be a decent explanation of the concept of Osae? It may be, but osae also deals more with how you transition between movements rather than the individual techniques themselves. The goal in our blocking is to destroy the opponent even with a block. In other words, not just a deflection or an off-balancing technique, but to incapacitate him with the block itself. When we deflect, we deflect. When we block, we destroy. From what I've seen of Yamashita in videos, he does not display osae. Is there any recent footage of him around? What I like about the post makiwara is that you must hold the punch in place with kime and your body weight; their is no snapping back. Whenever Chibana Sensei would hit the makiwara, his whole body weight would sink into it with his kime and it wouldn't push his arm back at all. As for blocking, Fumio Nagaishi (once an American student of Chibana Chosin and a very close student of Taira Shinken, being one of the most senior Ryukyu Kobudo practitioners worldwide) did devise a blocking makiwara out of bundled bamboo. He probably should've patented it because it is sold in a lot of places nowadays. Interestingly enough, as far as I know (granted, I haven't done too much research into it), this kind of blocking makiwara wasn't in existence on Okinawa until he made it. It is essentially a lot of bamboo bundled together on the top and bottom. I saw some for sale at the Shureido main store. I like closing out my hitting practice with the sand bag, but it is much easier to get a lot more repetitions in with the heavy bag, since the sand bag hurts after a little while.

Osae is present in every movement of the kata. The way we do Pinan Shodan, we do not have a "press down" before our finger thrust. We just have the standard osae (in this case, with the knife hand forearm block) before we thrust.

I am always grateful for my luck, which before now, I always used to complain about. He is the reason I moved to Hawaii. Of course, I could think of worse places to move to in order to train with someone.

It can be held, but usually is allowed to swing. You ask a very valid question, as many people can confuse the pushing sensation with penetration. Hitting the bag usually takes place under the watchful eye of our instructor or more senior students, as they are more readily able to spot such things. You can also tell by observing how the bag responds. They key in hitting the bag is hitting just like the bag wasn't there and let it all flow naturally. When you get too carried away with hitting the bag, there is a tendency to either push it or to muscle it. That's a pretty good explanation for the way much of it is structured. Karate kata involves not only each technique, but what happens in between each technique as well. Unfortunately, most people hazusu (release) their press (if they even ever had one at all) before transitioning, so there is no osae.

Yes, it is a canvas type bag. It obviously weighs far less than our heavy bag (a 150 lb bag of sand would be quite something), but really ensures a painful lesson if your fist is not formed properly. The walk in is started in a natural stance and done with a natural stride, feet pointing outwards and stepping heel to toe. We'll usually start off anywhere between 5 and 10 steps away and walk in at a controlled pace in time with breathing, speeding up only towards the end. It is important not to walk at a set rhythm too early, which allows your opponent to time you, so most of the walking is done very naturally. It is very hard to stand there and wait for your opponent with the utmost concentration. The walk in allows you to control distance as you move in and in some ways, psyche out the opponent and not leave time for you to psyche out yourself. When nearing the opponent, the second to the last step covers distance as we osae (press) with one arm, either stepping into a neko dachi, kihon dachi, or "whatever-the-heck dachi that is when we do a backfist". As the weight flows forward, we continue the press and clear/grab the opponent's arm out of the way. The other hand punches (or backfists) as the weight drops down and forward while the foot reaches whatever relevant position to achieve the proper stance. Done this way, the backfist is actually one of the strongest moves in Shorin and can be a killing blow (I've noticed many people do not think of it in this way). It is bad that the name eludes me as to what stance the backfist ends up in, but the rear leg shuffles up behind the front foot as the weight goes forward. As you can tell, we (I) sometimes have the Okinawan habit of not being so obsessed about technique names and classification. The range between you and the opponent is very close upon completion of the technique, so it is definitely not a "fight at a distance" type of maneuver. You are probably asking "what is osae"? Osae is actually what made Chibana Sensei's karate so strong. He certainly had devastating techniques, but it was osae that let him close distance without relying on pure speed like most people try to do. It is the art of continually pressing forward upon the opponent in order to jam the opponent (not leaning, though), which is distinct from pushing. Osae should be used in all movement, even when going backwards. The kihon kata was devised essentially to really emphasize the use of hara (basically center of gravity), osae (the press), and koshi (hips). Most people train in them without any understanding of these particular concepts and their meaning has been lost. These people tend to view them as worthless kata or just wastes of time before moving on to "real kata". My instructor has written a nice article on osae, and I will ask his permission to share it here. He has actually said he wants me to put out a lot more of his writings. Up until now, he has only been keeping them in our small group of practitioners, but he's a lot more open about it. He just left for Fukuoka to visit Murakami Katsumi (who's been wanting to meet my instructor for about 4 decades...) and I'm going to meet up with him this weekend in Okinawa as we visit a student of his (who happens to be my best friend and who got me into training with Nakata Sensei in the first place). I'm going to hold off delving too deep into this concept of osae until I get back on the 7th of April (I leave the 31st of March). Sadly, even if you knew all the concepts completely, it is something that must be understood physically and it is pretty much impossible to learn via the internet. If you truly want to take a trip out to Hawaii, please let me know.

We do use a heavy bag and hanging makiwara (which is in reality a 30 lb bag of sand). For walk in drills, we also employ handpads. Walk in drills are just as the name implies, we practice closing distance, opening the opponent, and delivering a strike. It is my personal belief that you cannot learn Chibana Sensei's methodology without practicing hitting something. At the same time, simply just hitting the bag without a clear direction of what needs to be done or for endurance purposes is not what we are all about. I am not concerned about people that willingly do kata and then knowingly deny themselves or give up on the idea of even learning any fighting applications from it. Just because they waste their time doesn't mean I'll waste mine. They would probably be better off not doing kata altogether. Of course, they probably think I'm the one wasting my time. Our hanging makiwara is better suited for working blocks. I will admit we practice striking the makiwara/bag more than we do blocking it, although that isn't to say we never do it. It is common for the strong block to follow after the person has developed a strong punch since some of the concepts are the same.

There is a video out of Chibana Chosin footage that was shot by Clarence Lee. Unfortunately, this footage was taken on a day where Chibana Sensei was so sick that his wife had to help him put his gi on (not to mention the DVD authoring and presentation was disappointing). All the same, it speaks of his incredible will in still performing his kata despite his condition, as he was near death at the time. We do have some other videos from earlier in his life (which ironically are of better picture quality) and the difference is truly night and day. I cannot speak to which exact pictures you are talking about, so I don't know whether they were truly sloppy stances or not... I don't recall ever seeing any sloppy stance photos of him. There is a picture set of him doing Patsai Dai in the reprint of Karate Do Taikan while he was in his fifties, a set of him doing Naihanchi Shodan in the previous issue of Classical Fighting arts while he was in his late sixties, a set of him doing Patsai Dai in Murakami Katsumi's "Karatedo to Ryukyu Kobudo" when he was in his seventies (I think), and we have a ton of photos of him performing various kata. At some point, we may release the videos and the photos. I'm just throwing this in there in case you were curious. It was quite the refreshing experience when I got rid of all belts, rank and certifications. Nothing personal against Shorinkan, as it is an organization full of dedicated martial artists and wonderful people. It is where I had my "start" and I still have many that I consider friends there. I enjoy the freedom of not even having to go through the motions for ranking and the like. If you understand the kata, you can tell by watching them perform kata and hitting the bag or makiwara. Yes, many do just memorize it or mimic the movements. For them, it is wasted.

I will have to respectfully disagree. Mas Oyama was well-known on Japan for being hardcore, but on Okinawa, it was Chibana Chosin who was recognized for his power and Itosu methodology. I'm not badmouthing Sensei Oyama; I'm saying that this is truly what Chibana Chosin was known for. There is not much known about Chibana Chosin, especially in the English martial arts community, so your assumption about his fighting characteristics is somewhat justified. He was a very humble man and didn't ever "toot his own horn". At the same time, if you went around most dojo on Okinawa while he was alive, he was greatly respected and considered the foremost authority on karate. As one of the last old-school bushi of Okinawa, he was always visited by masters of other styles and usually good friends with them as well. Part of Chibana's relative obscurity despite his greatness is due to his great humility. Part of it is also due to his top students being pretty successful and having a large following who focus on them rather than Chibana Sensei. This is definitely not an indictment against them; please do not take it that way. Part of it is that not much is written on him in Japanese martial arts scholarship either. Believe me, I've scoured many of the few sources that do speak of him and much is left out. Fortunately, I now train with a direct student of his, one of the five people directly given a shihan no menjou by Chibana Sensei. My friend and board member Skeptic has embarked on an ambitious project to restore his name in history. I imagine him living now on Okinawa will better facilitate this process. He will be writing more about historical Chibana Sensei while I will be writing more about Chibana Sensei's karate methodology. Edit: P.A.L., it is exactly this kind of misperception about Chibana Sensei's karate that we are trying to address, especially among those who study Shorin Ryu. Don't take this as an insult or anything; I used to think the exact same way. As a sidenote, Chibana Sensei never referred to his style as Kobayashi, since he "coined" the term Shorin Ryu to refer to his style. It is my best assessment that the term kobayashi came about later when trying to differentiate between the other styles that came to adopt the Shorin Ryu name and "kobayashi" was just the Japanese pronunciation of the specific kanji that Chibana Sensei chose for "Shorin Ryu". That is why looking at the kanji for "Kobayashi Shorin Ryu" looks like "Shorin Ryu Shorin Ryu".

That is because the boxer mentality is completely different. In fact, I've written a large post about this and submitted it as an article for this site. If you can't wait to read it, it is located here: http://bujutsublogger.blogspot.com/2007/01/paradigm-shift-part-2-boxer-mentality.html The simple fact of the matter is, Chibana's knowledge and methodology has been lost by a lot of karate practitioners. Itosu's karate (and thus Chibana Sensei's) formed the basis for much of karate today. However, much of it was modified and diluted down. It isn't so much the fault of karate practitioners today as it is the students and teachers of years ago. Furthermore, Chibana Sensei did not interfere too much in the affairs of those students to whom he gave a shihan no menjou (literally, teaching certificate) directly to (Katsuya Miyahira, Shugoro Nakazato, Chozo Nakama, Yuchoku Higa, and Pat Nakata). Therefore, he respected their decisions to take his karate in a more individualized direction if they chose to. My instructor is Pat Nakata, and he chose to keep Chibana's methodology. There are some things he modified, most of them being with Chibana Sensei's exact recommendation and approval, but he has not changed the mechanics of Chibana Sensei's karate. In other words, this methodology is rare even in the style from which it came from, so it is not surprising whatsoever that you don't see boxers or MMA utilizing the specific types of posture and execution that we do. It would be stranger if in fact they did. As a sidenote, it is hard to do Chibana's methodology with any type of glove on with specific regards to the punching, it relies on a rock hard fist. Even grappling gloves do not allow the kind of fist needed. Of course, his entire methodology covers far more than that, but that is just one example. Of course it is always better to hit a vulnerable point rather than a non-vulnerable point. That is why I said it was a plus. But if you can generate penetration, then even hitting a well-protected target will result in the destruction of the opponent. You may think I'm unrealistic in my expectation, but that's okay. Like I've said before, I used to think the same way before. Before you can achieve great power, you must first admit to yourselves its existence. Most people don't seem to even do that.

Chibana Sensei's power, while legendary, is not something that is unattainable. He was certainly very strong, but he got that way doing things that anyone can do should they choose to do it. It is often used as an argument against traditional martial arts that people suddenly need self defense "now" and not five or ten years in the future. I guarantee you that the vast majority of people learning martial arts are not under the sudden threat of being killed or beat up. Some are, perhaps, but the vast majority learn it because they like it or are just interested. Completely irregardless, learning how to punch with great power using Chibana Sensei's methodology doesn't take five or ten years. I know someone who picked it up in just a year and a half. In five or ten years, I suspect he will be far stronger than he is now, but it is completely incorrect to think no benefits are gained until some point far in the future when you suddenly become "good". If my mother truly wanted to defend herself and if she was willing to put in the work, I would train her using this methodology. Whether she or anyone else is willing to accept our methodology really is of no concern of mine. Many people cite the "no holds barred" mixed martial arts as the ultimate way to learn fighting, but you don't see too many soccer moms training as hard and as full-out as the average young male hotshot. I fail to see why Chibana Sensei's karate should suddenly have to be marketable to every kind of demographic. If people don't want to train this way, then there are many alternatives for them and I'm not going to bend my methodology for marketing purposes. Chibana Sensei's fighting style is very masculine and warrior-like. It requires absolute commitment in execution and a fighting mentality. I don't care if the average Joe is uncomfortable doing this or not. The average Joe doesn't have the mindset to be truly successful in MMA or [insert martial arts style here] either. Bottom line: This methodology is something anyone in the general public can learn should they choose to do so and isn't something that requires many years, though a lifetime can be spent mastering it, just like anything else. Whether or not they choose to do so or whether or not they have the fighting mentality to take the benefits to their maximum potential is of no concern to me, nor is it likely a concern to anyone else who is truly concerned with fighting ability.

I understand the differences in mentality here, especially since I used to share the same view as all of you. But just to further clarify my position and to perhaps make it sound even less realistic to some of you, Chibana Sensei's karate was about the power. He was able to floor someone with a single block if they decided to strike. He was able to floor someone with a single punch or kick if he moved in. It wasn't a matter of hitting certain vulnerable areas, it was a matter of truly generating that much power. Yes, hitting vulnerable areas is a plus, but Chibana Sensei's karate does not rely on it. It is those mechanics that teach the generation of power that compel me to study kata.

Simply focusing on hitting a target 3 to 4 inches past the surface of the target is not enough. Your acceleration must explode after impact in order to truly gain penetration. Most people do this in reverse; they accelerate from the very beginning and their punches start to decelerate after they hit the target. Destructive power has nothing to do with callused knuckles. It has everything to do with technique.

At the risk of sounding like a coach speaking to his team down ten points during halftime, "not with that attitude!" Obviously, not even admitting the possibility cuts out all likelihood of achieving that kind of power. I used to think it was only a philosophical idea and that it was absurd to think it would work in a fight. It wasn't until someone knocked some sense into me (literally) and I met an instructor who can consistently strike, block, and kick with this kind of power and who has taught others to do the same that I came to believe in it. I don't expect to convince anyone with just my words here. Going back to my own example, words did nothing to convince me, but feeling that kind of power worked quite well. It was enough to make me move out to Hawaii just to train, and I don't regret a single thing.