This guy has something for him...

[ptr]

I have, however, seen videos and have seen similar demonstrations of the leader of KDS Shotokai, Sensei Harada performing "non-contact" knockdowns on his own senior students.

Now I have absolutely massive respect for this man who was a student of Funakoshi himself and is a genuine living legend of karate. I have no reason to doubt his ability to perform these feats.

You are right about Harada Sensei. And indeed, what he does (and still demonstrates, at 80+) is knockdowns (and not knockouts). It works because he is attacking and destroying the structure of his opponent. It is a bit like seeing a massive, solid wall coming at you in the middle of your attack, and knowing that you are going to crash into it - your body automatically tries to avoid it, in effect breaking your structure/balance. Of course, this only works because of his impeccable, out-of-this-world sense of timing

As for the guy in the original video.... I'm far from convinced.

Edited November 8, 2010 by ptr

[MasterPain]

Hadouken!!

[ps1]

He plays a mind game with his students. Nothing more. In my opinion, they are weaker for it. Not stronger. To me, this guy isn't much better than a cult leader trying to recruit people he feels are mentally below him because controlling others makes him feel better about his own insecurities. These types of things are a scam and a disgrace to the martial arts.

[sensei8]

He plays a mind game with his students. Nothing more. In my opinion, they are weaker for it. Not stronger. To me, this guy isn't much better than a cult leader trying to recruit people he feels are mentally below him because controlling others makes him feel better about his own insecurities. These types of things are a scam and a disgrace to the martial arts.

Solid post!!

I turned off the video, which I've seen before, just as soon as I saw, this "7th Dan", how he tied his belt...sloppy.

[ptr]

I have, however, seen videos and have seen similar demonstrations of the leader of KDS Shotokai, Sensei Harada performing "non-contact" knockdowns on his own senior students.

Now I have absolutely massive respect for this man who was a student of Funakoshi himself and is a genuine living legend of karate. I have no reason to doubt his ability to perform these feats.

Here is the Harada Sensei video, you can see the contact-less knockdown towards the end:

As you can see, it is very different from the video of the original poster.

[sperki]

In high school I thought math was a waste of time and didn't do very well at it. After college I realized math is awesome - it describes the universe - and I wanted to learn more. I taught myself math that I would've struggled with in school. It's amazing what you can do when you really want to. I don't mean to cross any boundaries, but the power of the mind is awesome. His students have decided that when they're attacked by this guy they're going down...so they do. People that speak in tongues believe in god and that s/he will speak through them...so god does. I think both groups of folks are a bit crazy, but that doesn't stop them from swallowing the act hook, line, and sinker. Of course it doesn't work on people that haven't been (indoctrinated / brainwashed / trained / pick your term) by this guy.

[Wastelander]

Nerves work in funny ways when you hit them--my Sensei pinched a nerve in my wrist and struck the nerve in the crook of my elbow and my legs completely gave out from under me without ever having seen it done or knowing what it would do.

That said, you can't hit nerves from a distance. As has been explained, if you believe that something is going to do a particular thing to you, it will.