The Circle within a circle

[mya]

Strange, i never heard about it on my goju. And im secound brown so its that they would be waiting for me to learn basics.

We do two rotations on the lower defence.

The hip rotation.

And the elbow clock rotation.

But i never heard something about wrist rotation.

Now on the upper/high (level) block we do a rotation of the wrist.

Strange...

Anyway, its not like its a gimping thing. I always saw the traditional karate blocks more like a learning tool than a practical aplication for combat.

Sure it works on newbies, and i have had one of my teatcher pull it on me with devastating effect when i was bellow 6 months. A classic medium level hard block with a powerfull medium reverse punch counter.

But ever since those days its extremely dificult to actualy do one of those defences in sparing.

Now the more advanced defences, from outside to inside are extremely easy to acomplish.

Or the advanced medium level block from inside to outside, but with the open hand. I can pull that one with some skill, deflecting the punch and grabing his forearm/wrist.

Witch reminds, i actualy managed to sucefuly pull a basic down block to a front kick, but that was because i was predicting his attack. And got lucky.

[AngelaG]

Strange, i never heard about it on my goju. And im secound brown so its that they would be waiting for me to learn basics.

We do two rotations on the lower defence.

The hip rotation.

And the elbow clock rotation.

But i never heard something about wrist rotation.

Now on the upper/high (level) block we do a rotation of the wrist.

Strange...

Anyway, its not like its a gimping thing. I always saw the traditional karate blocks more like a learning tool than a practical aplication for combat.

What about strikes and locks? If you are to use the uke techniques at all in any other way than a basic "block" (urgh), then you will need a bit more finesse to the technique or you will be using brute force.

[ff100]

We twist the hand when performing (mae haji-ate) elbow strikes to generate more power. I have never quite understood why it works it just seems to.

[ninjanurse]

It's all physics. And, it is true that some styles have lost the sutlities of this concept but , more often than not, the circles are there just not recognized by the intructors because they were never taught to recognize them. After all you only teach what you were taught-and just like the "gossip game", things get lost in translation if you are not paying attention.

[Osu No Seichin]

In Kyokushin we call it the "Circle and Point", it is the basis of all we do.

I will quote from two books by Sosai Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin.

" As was previously mentioned, although many schools of karate stress linear motion, actually the most effective techniques are those that utilize circular movements. According to studies in kinetic energy, the greater the centrifugal force present the greater the distance is from a center. Therefore, the karateka should think of his hips as the center of a circle and perform his punches as though outlining the circumference of a large circle. This will make for much more powerful blows, than punches thrown in a direct linear fashion." l

" All martial arts-more broadly speaking, all sports-employ the theory of the circle and point, but since their application is uaually unconscious, these two elements probably seem mysterious when expressed in words alone. On the other hand, karate's power and rationality derive, to a great extent, from the conscious emphasis on the circle and point."

" In fact, all human movement depends largely on circular action. Although I have perhaps already illustrated my point sufficiently, I cannot overstate it because the concious use of the circle to all karate motions is of the greatest importance."

There is much more than what I have written here, but I think you get the idea. I would suggest that if you want to learn more, get a copy of one of Sosai Oyama's books.