ESA-Shotokan

I know a lot of my posts reflect my recent transfer to the ESA but I have to say, it was while watching some of their senior dan grades perform kata on video that changed my whole perspective of karate. I am building my own karate web site and will feature some of these katas on there. There is a particular dan grade performing Empi and I promise you, you will be impressed - I have never seen this kata performed like this. Another good example is Jiin and its execution. Incredible stuff. After watching these karateka, I almost felt like Neo in the Matrix when he found out about the "real world!" I have done the same katas for so long and honestly, I thought I was on the ball! Not likely. As I say, the web site will demonstrate what I am on about.

I see what you are saying but when I apply kime, it is for a moment at contact - for the rest of the punch and immediately afterwards, you are relaxed. When you practice this slowly, you likewise are relaxed but tense for that split second when applying the technique. Hence the action is fast and fluid. I'll be doing hell of a lot more training in this with the ESA so will supply updates as I progress. Your English is very good, by the way. The only other language I can write/speak is French, to a certain degree but always have to look up the odd word or two as I go.

Okay, Ripper, if I have been negative then do accept my apologies there. Well for my part, Killer Miller is clarifying what I am failing to explain. Bruce Lee called kime the one inch punch - I just didn't want to use that example here, but what Killer Miller is saying is very true. The only difference of course is he used a vertical fist and yes, there is a movement of one inch. The point is, if you perform a standard oizuki stepping punch, when you complete the step with the punch, kime does not apply until that split second when the target is met. If you rest with your "relaxed" fist touching an opponent and apply kime, you should hit that person as though you had performed a full motion punch. You can try this with a punch bag - as people are not always too happy to have you hit them, so many times. Now if you do some standard breathing exercises first, you want to work on directing the tensing of your muscles downwards. Breath out very slowly and loudly, so the air is forced loudly out of your throat. You should almost sound like you are being strangled. Don't make a kiai, just press your lungs tight, stomach muscles hard and keeping your legs slightly bent, have the feeling that your shoulder muscles are pushing downwards and compressing your whole body. Do it very slowly - the outward breath should take a minimum of 10 seconds. Then do it faster in stages, until the whole process takes less than a second. When you can feel your body reach maximum tension, then try doing the same thing but this time with your fist touching the punch/kick bag. You are looking to achieve a situation where the downward tension of your body is rebound upwards and out through the fist. To an onlooker, it will just look like a forward punching motion but what it wont be is a push! You never want to push a punch, that is not a punch. You cannot learn kime in a couple of hours or years, for that matter. You can work on it though. In a hundred punches, I may feel like I achieved a good kime maybe once or twice BUT when you do, you can feel the difference and it is one of those things that you want to feel again. It is an incredible action. Some people just punch with their body weight and yes, it will hurt you, but 8/10 times, you'll go back for more. Hit someone with kime and they will back off or they may come back and once hit again, they'll be off! Again, application of kime has only been more apparent and in demand since I joined the ESA so I am rediscovering (and learning) again so many aspects of shotokan which I just took for granted in the past. In the past, I have tried to master this side of karate, especially with the basic punch by copying my senior sensei, Andy Sherry: now you want to see a punch "focused" then watch him. Just get that feeling that when you hit the target, you don't need to follow through. You are not stopping the power but instead are focusing that power in a split second inside an area of an inch squared. That is kime. I hope that is a bit more clear, Ripper. As I say, it is hard to explain this in writing as there are so many aspects to kime that words fail me. I will think more about training here and try to come up with a further example to clarify matters.

Hmmm but a kick which is swung up is so easy to stop - no effort required. If lifting the knee first is school kid stuff then I guess we'd better let the many thousands of high grade karateka, "Oops! We got it wrong!" I have to disagree with that as my mae-geri is extremely fast but hey, so what? If what you do works for you then who am I to judge?

Hi there. Yes kata is an essential part of learning karate. If you have a few minutes, the attached pdf document with respect to an interview with Slater Williams (6th dan), will highlight exactly what I feel about kata. https://www.esakarate.freeserve.co.uk/Slater interview PDF.pdf If you don't like kata then why study karate which has its foundations within kata? When you perform kihon and kumite, the techniques you use were originally derived from a kata. Yes you will use body shifts and the such but kata is were you start to understand the fundamentals of karate. Shotokan has been defined in the past as 'kihon' being the words of karate, 'kata' the sentences and 'kumite' the free spoken language of karate. Kata is never useless in the same way that shadow boxing or punching/kicking a bag is not a wasted exercise. You go into a boxing club, you are not thrown into a ring and go for it! You first have to learn the basics and combinations and then try these out. Karate and kata (and kumite for that matter) is the same. We do gohon kumite (5 step sparring) which is very basic but still teaches you how to react to an attack and also conditions your forarms, that's for sure. For me, kata is essential.

The example was true. You just don't understand what I am talking about and even less what you are talking about. If you are ever in a dojo, ask the sensei how kime is developed from your feet. Thank you.

Very good! I have to agree with the people on here who are against the water issue. If you do have a medical dehydration problem or the such, then yes, you may need to take a sip (or gulp) of water now and then. Otherwise, you have to train yourself to not need this requirement. I guess some people are different than others and can continue to train when their tongues are almost stuck to the roof of their mouths - I am one of them. You tend to find that some people panic when they start to feel thirsty; same as hunger. Your body sends out the warning bell and you react - it then is a matter of rising to the panic or just switching off. I can have points of major dehydration during a lesson but time has taught me to get over it. A few minutes later, all is okay and yet I may have been going for it ten times harder. The body/mind can play tricks on you when you are getting tired.

I use the ball of my foot with toes pointed away. You can always practice the mae-geri by lightly kicking or pushing against a wall or the such. Do it slowly and very deliberate - your toes will be pushed back should tyhey not do so sufficiently and you will then be training them to react as your kick lands. It wont be an over-night cure but time will be effective. As for kicking with the toes? Ouch! Now that must hurt!!

I took that grading with the KUGB. If you don't pass kihon, then you have to retake the whole grading regardless of kata and kumite performance.

No, Ripper, my example was with respect to Newton 3. If that is not familiar to you, it is Newton's 3rd law of motion, which, in the most basic terms, states that "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." That is what I actually said. You asked me to explain how applying a downward force resulted in a powerful kime. Obviously my example was not clear to you.

Here, here!!

Yes, well done aefibird! After putting it off for years, I finally took my Shodan grading last July. Andy Sherry, assisted by Frank Brennan, was the examiner. I passed kihon and kata but tore the cartilage in my knee (an injury from earlier in the year) so kumite was poor - I have to take that part again. I am suprised though as I did Bassai Dai as my elected kata and actually got part of it wrong!! I performed shuto instead of closed fist near the end with the morote gedan blpck combination! I must have done that kata at least a thousand times and yet, I goofed it at such a point - obviously the rest was okay as I did pass the kata section. Same thing with the kihon. When doing the black-belt combination, I only did it twice on the way back and not three times! I guess my others must have been sufficient! All good stuff. I intend to take the kumite part in March of this year.

Have many people on here actually watched themselves perform kihon, kata or kumite? You are your own worse judge of such things and it is a good idea to video tape yourself and play it back. You may find performing a particular technique hard, so if you can see yourself from another person's view point, it is invaluable. I remember I found mawashi-geri very hard to do from basic zenkutsu-dachi stance. Then I would visualise my instructor doing it and I would copy him, in my mind, over and over again. It is a good idea to do this with your eyes closed and just see them doing the technique correctly. When I taped me doing this kick and with my eyes closed, I actually started to do the kick about 40% better within 10 minutes. Not all things work for other people but it may help some. But using a vcr is great and you don't realise how poor some of your kata moves are until you play it back!

When attacking her to the chest, just hit on the centre; sternum. Yes, if she is a large lady then she may be quite ample there but at least it is not direct contact to her breast. A good idea may be to chat to her about the sparring session. Ask her advice about contact to the chest. She may have felt you would not have made contact due to her own defence ability? She is the senior and there is no harm in giving her respect. If she still can't be civilised, then at least you have tried. Never hold back on an attack. No, I don't mean pound an oppenent into submission, but if you can hit them, then do so. They are then learning from you and vice versa.

Apparently there are a few more variations on this theme, yet still!! This is the reason why I joined the ESA. Their ideas and practices hail from the founder, Steve Cattle, which in turn comes from the very master, Sensei Kase. Kata and bunkai is very important here and hence why they study the ora and go in kata. Exciting stuff

Something that is new to me and the ESA is how kata is performed, left and right, URA, as well as in the formal way. Another version is in, GO, which is the kata done in reverse. Also Ura-Go. Do any other styles do this? The application for backwards enables bunkai applications but this is totally new for me, so I will say more on the matter as I start to progress.

I remember being about 7 and eating snails from their shells and liking them like crazy! They were given to us in a brown, waxy, paper bag and I guess had been steamed or boiled. I remember picking them out with a tooth-pick or the such and them being spongy and urgh..! I also remember eating flies off a window to try and impress a girl I liked - yup, she must have thought I was so cool...? not!

Hi there. ESA is the name of the governing body for the style of Shotokan karate which I study. The ESA, English Shotokan Academy, was formed by Steve Cattle - http://www.the-esa.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ The chief instructor/guide is Sensei Kase 9th Dan. ESA strive towards perfecting the true spirit of karate and the understanding/development of technique. It is not enough to perform a punch or block, they take it a lot further and it makes the training very interesting and at times, painful I also train at a KUGB dojo as this enables me to keep the training constant and to use the teachings of the ESA within my other classes. Mark

Okay new subject. Bit of a competition-type question, but what is your favourite "point" scoring combination? For me, it is normally an ashi-bari followed either by gyakuzuki or mawashi-geri. Another one is yoko-geri kekomi followed by mawashi-geri. Over to you.

Yes, I'd definitely recommend Kamikaze (Red label) but another top quality suite - in various weights - can be seen at http://home.bt-webworld.com/kamae/ Their International suit will last you forever.

Definitely gyakuzuki. Reverse punch feels so hard and the action when it all locks together is something else.

Erm...That reminds me of a quote taken from an interview with Slater Williams.

Kyu grades tend to be about £15 but that also includes the lesson beforehand. Shodan is £35 and I think £20 for a regrade. Nidan, Sandan, etc are higher costs.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with distance. Kime can be performed from any stance, on one foot, whatever. I think you miss my point.

I too have dabbled in wado ryu and what I found very different was that you are taught is, there is never an attack in wado ryu?! It didn't quite make sense to me. I also do not favour the Pinan katas and the higher stances applicable. This may not be a universal thing but was how it was taught over here. I didn't stay there long and promtly returned to shotokan. Saying that though, if Wado Ryu is the only class available, then you should still attend as the lessons were very bunkai oriented and got you thinking a lot.