Martial Arts Publishing

Practice vs Performance.

2009-04-04T22:27:00.008+01:00

Putting Kata Back at the Heart of Karate.

Column by Bill Burgar author of Five Years, One Kata.

Kata is one of the things that defines karate. In the pioneering days of karate in Okinawa, kata was karate, and the way in which karate was practised was quite different from today. Modern karate typically consists of the three k's (kihon [basics], kata and kumite [sparring]) practised in varying proportions depending upon the instructor's preference.

Often kata is poorly understood and is considered the poor cousin of kumite - free sparring being generally thought of more use because it more closely matches what people think of as fighting. Worse still, kata has been relegated to such a degree that it is now just something that you have to do for gradings or competition and its value, in practice, is just to improve balance and co-ordination.

The question is, "what happened to 'the jewel of karate' (as Funakoshi called it) to cast it so low?" One possible answer is that we stopped practising the contents of the kata and started practising the performance of kata.

Let's look at the contrast between practising content and practising performance by first understanding the possible objectives of them both.

Practising the content has several possible objectives. The most obvious is to train in a workable system of civilian self-defence by practising specific techniques to combat the common instinctive acts of violence. Another possible objective could be to practise the techniques of the art of karate.

In contrast, practising the performance of the kata is aimed at reaching goals of perfecting balance, coordination and technique. Rarely is an opponent visualised at any more than a superficial level so the combat effectiveness of the exercise is limited to gaining physical familiarity with the movements only. Over time, the objective has changed and has moved further away from the goal of movement and coordination and has been replaced with passing gradings and winning competitions. This further places the focus on the outward appearance of the kata rather than the functional use of the moves.

So, where does your focus lie when you practice your kata? Is your primary concern how it looks? Are you thinking about what the next move is? Are you thinking about how you move? In a typical dojo the answer to these questions is yes; which means that you are practising performance rather the practising the content.

Now, the problem is that very few people know how to practise the content of kata which requires quite a change in what a training session consists of.

First, you need to understand what the applications of the movements are. They need to all hang together properly as a well thought out system rather than being just a random set of techniques. Once you have your applications then you can start to practise them both with a partner and also alone by using visualisation (The subject for a future article). Finally, you should practise drills (again both with a partner and solo using visualisation) which aim to allow you to move spontaneously from one technique to any other in the kata.

The use of visualisation is most important and is the subject of next month's article.

About the author: Bill Burgar is a 6th Dan, member of Rick Clark's ADK organisation and author of the advanced karate text Five Years, One Kata which is available on-line and to order at all good book shops.

Rules.

2009-03-08T15:08:00.003+00:00

Putting Kata Back at the Heart of Karate.

Column by Bill Burgar, author of Five Years, One Kata.

In the last article we covered setting objectives and took, as an example, training to use the leg sweep in competition. At the end of that article I suggested that you write an objective statement for each of your key areas of study. So by now you should have a number of objective statements that you are just about ready to use. But first we need to return to the idea of context (that we looked at two articles ago) and, in particular, we need to look at 'rules'.

Often we tend only to be aware of rules when they are explicitly stated, for example in a competition. What we are not so aware of are the unstated rules which form our environment every bit as much as the stated rules. For example, many people say that there are no rules in a self-defense situation but this is not true. In any self-defense situation there are several "fights". There are immediate physical demands, clearly, but your actions at the time must allow you to survive the next battle which may be with the legal system. Finally, you need to be in a position to win the psychological battle with yourself as you agonise about whether or not you did the right thing. All of these battles have their own rules and making sure you operate within them is important.

Let's look briefly at the hidden rules related to competition, then dojo training and, finally, self-defense.

First, each individual needs to look at their moral and ethical beliefs to determine exactly how far they are prepared to bend the rules. For some people obeying the spirit of the rules is every bit as important as obeying the letter of the rules. To others, gamesmanship is perfectly acceptable. For example, hitting your opponent hard near the start of the bout (in a touch contact competition) in order to intimidate them is allowed in the rules (really it is, because depending on how you do it you may only get a warning) but is against the spirit of fair play. This clearly illustrates the difference between, on the one hand, people who make an ethical stand on playing by the spirit of the rules and, on the other, those who are prepared to use gamesmanship in what might be considered by many as a less ethical way to win. When these two types of people are drawn against each other in a bout we can now see that they are fighting under different rules; one of them has more options than the other and has increased his chances. That is not to say that he will win but that he has a better chance, or at least that his opponent, who has the moral high-ground, will have to be more skillful in order to win.

In the typical dojo there are many hidden rules that we take so much for granted that they can be highly detrimental to our goal of self-defense. Take, for example, the hidden sparring rule in effect in most dojo, that of not kicking to the groin. Because you know you won't be kicked there you don't defend properly. I remember vividly about 20 years ago having always trained under the 'no groin kicking rule', going to visit a dojo where it was allowed. After a few painful encounters I quickly understood the power of false assumptions and how my more restricted rules meant that I was poorly prepared to face someone who had practised using wider rules.

A similar situation exists if one of your goals is training for self-defence. We all too easily assume that the same rules apply to both us and our potential attackers. This means that we will often be taken in by well practised cons that are highly devious and well outside our expectation of fair play. Sometimes these tricks can cause loss of material goods and in less fortunate circumstances, injury.

To avoid losing against someone who is using different rules (be it in competition, in the dojo or on the street) we need to come to some understanding as to what the differences might be and how we can deal with them. Naturally, in a short article like this it would be impossible to go into detail about the wide variety of rules that you may have and that all your potential opponents may have. However, it is something that you should consider. It is therefore worth spending some time writing down some of the, as yet, unwritten moral and ethical rules that you take for granted in the various theatres you practise for.

Finally, a question for you: I’ve broken a rule in the picture where I’m hitting the bag – which rule? It is not a technical rule (although I’m sure there are a fair few of those that I’m breaking too).

In the next article we will take a look at practice versus performance.

About the author: Bill Burgar is a 6th Dan, member of Rick Clark's ADK organisation and author of the advanced karate text Five Years, One Kata which is available from http://www.martialartspublishing.com/

A conversation with Takayoshi Nagamine sensei

2009-03-01T12:26:00.007+00:00

Okinawan Conversations #2

By Mike Clarke

Matsubayashi-ryu is one of the main schools of Okinawan karate emerging from the Shuri-te tradition. It’s founder, the late master Shoshin Nagamine [1907 – 1997] lived a life only few could imagine. He had learnt his karate from some of the islands great karate sensei, Ankichi Arakaki, Chotoku Kyan and Choki Motobu, and today his karate system is taught and practised all over the world. Though no longer with us his ideas and methods live on. Today, Matsubayashi-ryu karate-do is lead by the late master’s son: Takayoshi Nagamine sensei.

A gifted and passionate karate-ka himself, “Soke” Nagamine has taken up the reins of leadership and yet continues to find time to train him self in the art of karate. He confessed to me to feeling a sense of gratitude for the life he has lived and for the many students, friends and advisors he has within the karate world.

I met Soke Nagamine for the first time in 1992, when I interviewed his father. On that same visit to Okinawa I watched him demonstrate kata at the re-opening of Shuri-jo, Okinawa’s royal palace and symbol of the Ryukyu kingdom’s former glory. The dynasty may have gone and the palace itself reduced to being little more than a tourist attraction, but Soke Takayoshi has lost none of his zeal for karate and in his own way is keeping alive an Okinawan tradition that has spread around the globe.

His life these days is divided equally between his home in Okinawa and his home in America. He first travelled there as a young man and spent many years teaching karate from his base in Columbus, Ohio. As he approached his sixtieth year of life and his fifty-third year of continuous training, I had the opportunity to visit him in the Kodokan dojo, Naha. Though showing signs of its age these days, the Kodokan dojo was built and opened in a time before karate had travelled to the rest of the world. A time when the virtues involved in the understanding of karate kept many from learning it’s secrets. The obligation placed upon those who trained in karate-do back then, to develop one’s self and to view life from a deeper and more profound point of view began in dojo like this one.

As more and more Westerners [American Military Personnel] took up the challenge of karate, ways had to be found to transmit the philosophy that underpins the physical training. So, on one of the walls a sign [in English] was hung. Written on October 1st, 1961, by the dojo’s founder Shoshin Nagamine, it offers the following advice:

Ethics Of The dojo
Courtesy, Cleanliness, and Diligence

First of all, purify your mind.
Cultivate the power of perseverance by strengthening your body and overcoming the difficulties that arise during training.
The dojo is a place where “guts” are fostered and superior human nature is bread through the ecstasy of sweating through hard work. The dojo is a sacred place where the human spirit is polished.
Your seniors and Black Belts are well aware of these facts and therefore you, the beginners, are requested to help make your dojo a sacred place, by keeping in your mind the above things and strictly observing the following:
1/ Always keep your karate-gi clean and take them home after use.
2/ Help clean the dojo.
3/ Be well versed in the precepts for mastering karate-do.
4/ After use, be sure to place the training equipment where it belongs.

………

Beside this sign hangs the “Precepts for mastering karate-do” it reads:

1/ He is human and so am I.

2/ It is an imitation of self-limitation on my part, if, I cannot accomplish whereas others can.

3/ Discard this imitation: if he practises three times I must practise five times.

4/ If he practises five times then I will practise seven or ten times.

5/ Do not turn to others for help, Musashi Miyamoto once said: “Pay your respects to the gods and Buddha’s, but never rely on them.”

6/ Earnestly cultivate your mind as well as your body and believe in yourself.

7/ Karate may be referred to as the “conflict within your self ”, or a life long marathon that can be won only though your creative efforts.

………

What follows is something of the conversation I had with Soke Nagamine as we sat in the Kodokan dojo one afternoon in February 2005. I have not transcribed everything that was discussed, as some of what I learn during such meetings, I keep to myself. Should you wish to go deeper into the world of budo, find your own way to make it happen!

Sensei, can you please explain the fundamentals of Matsubayashi-ryu karate-do?

“Yes, there are three kinds of technique. One technique is “rhythm”. Then there is what we call, “rhythm-two”. Let me explain, basic rhythm is to develop timing so you can block then you are attacked, and then you can hit back from your block. With rhythm-two, you can black and attack at the same time. “Rhythm-three” is the ultimate technique and this is where we don’t block, instead, we attack the attack! Even against a kick we can use rhythm-three. I think it’s a little hard to explain in words this is why I demonstrated on you, I hope you don’t mind?”
[Note: Nagamine sensei demonstrated all three kinds of rhythm on me with great success, and with just enough discomfort for me to ‘feel’ his point, after I had been invited to attack him with both punches and kicks].

In karate, we must learn to take a hit as well as give one, how do you train people to develop a strong body?

We have tools like the chi-ishi and tan, and of course the makiwara. Training with these tools not only makes your muscles strong, but your bones and your tendons strong too. You can say that the main reason for us to train with these tools is to develop muscles and tendons that can deliver “snap!” We don’t want bulk or a big size, we are looking to tone our bodies so we can have fast reflexes and move quickly.”

Your dojo has quite a few makiwara, two by the front door, and more along the side, what is the aim for you when you train with this tool?

The makiwara allows you to practise making “impact” in a moment, over a short distance. We learn to use our hips with power as we train with “koshi”. This means we don’t wind-up our hips, or push with our body. Instead we use koshi. Like an explosion it comes from our hara, and this makes karate very hard to deal with. The older you get the more you have to make your karate have this kind of power, and not be a big drain for your body.

You see, if you want to have big power then most people will train to have big movement, big wind-up and twist and so on. But this kind of technique takes time [to execute] and is very powerful but a little slow. Also you need more distance between you and opponent so you have space to do the big wind-up. But, in our karate we have a saying: “Go from minimum distance, to maximum power.” Then, we include the three dimensions of the block, shifting, and attack at the same time. This is how we get power in our karate.
When did you start training in karate?

I began training with my father when I was seven years old, now I am fifty-nine years old, so I have trained in karate for almost all my life.

Was your training any different from the others students in the dojo?

No not really, in the dojo everyone was treated the same, me included. But afterwards, in our home life away from the public classes, I received a lot of discipline from my father.
For example, if students did one hundred punches, then I would have to do four or five hundred punches, the same with all the basic techniques.

Because of who your father was, were you expected to train in karate?

No. He never told me I had to do it. But watching him when I was a boy, really made me want to do it. In fact, he always demanded I did my homework and any jobs I had to do first before I was allowed to practice.

Did you find it easy to do karate or was it difficult?

I found it difficult, and in some ways I still do. I guess there are some genius people around who can do karate very easily, but my way was to just try harder and harder over a long period of time. Sometimes I have had a plan, but it didn’t always work out the way I wanted, so I just keep trying.

Do you have a favorite aspect of karate that you like to spend more time on than others?

If you think about your karate and analyse it as a martial art, you see that the kata were not designed for competing [as in sports] against another person. My father, and even people older and senior to him, told me that around one hundred years ago when you did karate you didn’t have a public class. Each sensei, would teach their students separately, not together. So it was possible that you could start training and meet somebody, say ten years later, who might have been training with your sensei for the same length of time, and you didn’t know. In those days people kept it secret and never told anyone they trained in karate. It was something they did for themselves and not for others to know about. It is very different in our days. Back then each student was taught at their own level and the sensei would give the student different things to work on accordingly. Of course back then money was not really a question either. It was all about culture, discipline, intelligence and character.

Are there people who were training when you were a boy, still training?
Also, if you had not ‘entered the dojo’ what do you think your life would be like today?

Ha! I don’t really know. Perhaps I would be a car salesman, or a schoolteacher or something like that maybe. And yes, there are still some people training from my early days.

You mentioned training in karate in olden times, do you think karate has changed since then, or perhaps the kind of people training has changed?

Well, inside [a person’s mind] I think it’s all the same, but, there might be some changes in the way some people interpret karate today, even from as recently as forty years ago. This has to do with people’s cultural background I think. Even on Okinawa now there are many who just see karate as a kind of a sport instead of a martial art.
Sometimes I am asked: what is the difference? It’s true some sports are tough like boxing or professional kickboxing they’re very tough. But no matter what, all sports share the same definition. They have tournaments and the participants are trying to improve their ‘record’ or previous result.
Karate is not like this, it is the study of death and being alive. Yes, death and being alive. If a person opens a karate dojo it is important they know and understand this philosophy. Martial arts cannot compete with sports because they have a different philosophy. In sport you compete against someone else, or perhaps your own record, but in martial arts you only compete against your ‘self’.

Do you think western people understand the difference between karate and karate-do?

Yes they do, some people anyway. Many western people have been training a long time and they understand things better than some people here [Okinawa]. It all depends on the person and if they are open to such ways of thinking. Even physically, western people can be better at karate due to their bigger bodies and greater strength. It all depends on the philosophy in their soul.

What does your personal training consist of these days?

Kata mostly, and also I meditate. Also I try to think about the philosophy of martial arts. Unfortunately some of this philosophy is lost in translation, for example, do you know the Kempo Hakku [The eight laws of the fist, as laid down in the bubishi]?”

Yes I do.

The translation of this into English, that most people are aware of, did not go very deeply and so many have a false understanding of what these words mean. Let me show you what I mean. Here:

Jinshin wa tenchi ni onaji
This means your “self” and the rest of the universe, are not separate entities.

Ketsumyaku wa nichigetsu ni nitari
The circulation within the human body is very much like the circulation of the sun and the moon, and the other planets found throughout the universe. However, the moon and the sun are like an extension of your self. This is a little bit of a departure from the Christian [Western] way of seeing things.

Ho wa goju wo tondo su
Tondo su means, the law of nature or law of the universe. Therefore when we inhale and exhale we can achieve both the strength of “go” and the softness of “ju”, the power and muscular strength of Naha-te or the “snap”, explosive force of Shuri-te. All shorin-ryu try to use this snapping action. It’s like touching the tail of a lobster, “Snap!”
When Master Miyagi Chojun was looking for a name for his karate, he took the name “goju” from this line.

Mi wa toki ni shita gai hen ni ozu
This says that we should keep our bodies ready so that we can change to any circumstances that might happen. For fighting this means we should be able to change our defence and counter-attack according to the other person’s attack on us. Straight on or coming around from the side, we should be able to change. Always ready to adapt, even to our circumstances in life too.

Te wa ku ni ai sunawa chi hairu
This means that once you are being threatened and a fight is imminent, as soon as you look at him, your guard is off and you can strike.

Shintai wa hakarite riho su
This is talking about our feet and how we should move. Sometimes our front leg moves first and sometimes our back leg, according to the movements of our opponent. But always we should keep them at the range and distance that suits us, not them.

Me wa shiho wo miru wo yosu
This addresses our ability to predict the opponents next move. The advice given is to remain conscious of things in all four directions. Use your peripheral vision and be aware of how people are positioned in front and around you.

Mimi wa yoku happo wo kiku
This says we should try to be aware, by listening, of even the slightest movement or sound, behind and to the side of us. We must be able to watch out for even a shapeless shape, and we must be able to listen for even the soundless sound.
The advice in kempo hakku is deep, and is not just a list of directions.

If you had some advice to give to karate-ka, what would it be?

Well you know we human beings are not perfect, not at all. I believe my father was a very fair and honest man, and he would often say to his students, me included: “Rectify your mind, and always look to your feet.” What he meant was that we should always be ready to do karate. He was talking about our mind, our attitude. Always remember what it was like to wear a white belt. “Sho-shin”, have a beginners mind. We must never think we have become something big in karate. No matter what, every day when we practice we realize there is something more to learn.

Thank you sensei: Domo arigato gozaimashita!

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About the author: Mike Clarke is the author of many articles published in many martial arts magazines around the world. He is also the author of a number of books including Roaring Silence available from http://www.martialartspublishing.com/.

Going to the ground

2009-02-22T17:52:00.011+00:00

90% of all street fights go to the ground. This statement has been repeated (with only a few mild variations as to the percentage) often on martial arts forums, magazines and post MMA, BJJ or Vale Tudo competitions. It has been said so many times that its precise origins are uncertain, although the Gracies are a commonly cited source. It has been repeated so many times that it has become what an MA acquaintance of mine in Chicago calls a factoid – something that is not a fact but has become such in the public consciousness.

There is a small element of truth in this fact. Most serious street fights do end up with a person on the ground; the loser. Most of the street fights of the original person who voiced the above statement probably did go to the ground, because that was where he took them and was good at doing so. But ask any military person who has used unarmed combat for real, any police officers or bouncers how often in their fights they have found themselves on the ground and the answer is likely to be below 10%. Look at the CCTV footage of fights that grace our television screens from time to time or study the Home Office statistics on violence on our streets and again you will find no evidence to indicate that groundfighting is common on our streets or inside our clubs. (Up to date statistics and research papers based upon data from police, social services, victims of crime and A&E units can be found at http://www.crimestatistics.org.uk/.)

So, when do fights go to the ground? In my opinion this only happens in the following cases:

1. When both fighters are so unskilled and/or intoxicated that they simply cling to each other and wrestle rather than manage coherent strikes. The event of one of them falling pulls the other down.

2. When one of the combatants, following a number of strikes, instinctively drops to the ground and curls into a ball to protect themselves (foetal position).

3. When one of the combatants is a skilled groundfighter who deliberately takes the fight to the ground.

Why shouldn’t we go to the ground:
1. The surface. Even for a skilled person, the risk of landing badly on tarmac or a surface with broken glass, chairs, ashtrays etc is high. You cannot guarantee that you will be the one on top.

2. Company. If you are on the ground you have even less chance of defending yourself against any bystanders who may or may not take your side than you do if you are standing up. Many people will not commit assault unless they have mates nearby who can back them up (who may appear to be just part of the crowd) – going to the ground increases the danger of a multiple assault and makes it harder to run away.

3. Weapons. Some people carry knives but are ‘decent’ enough only to use them if they feel that you aren’t playing fair by just taking a regular beating (for example those who deliberately seek a fight every Saturday night). Deflecting any type of stab while on the ground is harder than when standing up.

4. The law. The police will naturally treat both people involved that they find as aggressors. You will look far worse trying to choke a person beneath you (or hitting them in the face) than you would trading blows while standing. Even a choke or joint lock from below looks worse than any standing attack and puts you at risk of all sorts of floor related injuries.

5. Intent. Do you want to control your opponent until help comes? Do you intend to choke them and then walk away? Do you want to knock them out? Do you hope to deter them with some strong strikes?

Should we practise submission groundfighting techniques then? I would not consider them essential. It is more important to practice methods of getting back up and striking on the ground in order to do so than to practice applying controls on the ground. That being said, it does not hurt to have some of the latter techniques in your repertoire and you should really seek out a groundfighting specialist for some cross training rather than practice a few isolated technique from your kata in a horizontal position. At the end of the day, given the odds of meeting a professional groundfighter who wants to take the risk of going to ground outside the ring or dojo, it is your striking skills that require more work if you wish to avoid making the oft quoted factoid a reality.

This article first appeared in Traditional Karate Magazine October 2006.

Coach John Titchen teaches Defence Attack & Resolution Tactics to students, education professionals and corporate clients and can be reached via his website http://www.d-a-r-t.org.uk/, e mail jwt.dart@gmail.com. He is a Personal Defence Readiness™ Coach with Blauer Tactical Systems and is available to teach both self protection and Karate Bunkai seminars. The author’s new book, Heian Flow System - Effective Karate Kata Bunkai, is available on Amazon and through all good bookshops.

Setting Objectives

2009-02-19T16:20:00.004+00:00

Article by Bill Burgar author of Five Years, One Kata.

In the last article, I gave a brief overview of "karate context", touching on each area of relevance including: key areas, objectives, rules, instructors and peers. In this column, I'm going to go into more detail about setting objectives. This is a key area for each karateka to get right so that practice time is spent wisely and we get what we want out of our study of karate. When you've finished reading you will know how to write down your objectives, which will give you a clearer focus about how to approach your training.

Last time, I suggested that each karateka should write out a brief list of headings that covered their main priorities; their reasons for studying karate. There may be just one thing on the list or there may be many - it all depends on the individual. So, for example, one person may just have one heading: self-defence. That shows a clear intention to study karate for just one reason and no other. Other people may have several, for example: social, fitness, competition, and self-defence. This shows that there is no one special reason for practising karate. You can see that this person just enjoys the atmosphere at the dojo, likes to keep fit, has some fun with competition and likes to think that, if he needed to, he could look after himself.

Making a 'high-level' list is a very quick and easy way to get started on creating a written statement of your objectives. Once you have made your high-level list it is time to start to get into more specific details for each item. Your objectives should always be SMART, that is: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Rewarding and Time limited.

Specific: We must make clear and unambiguous statements about what it is we are going to achieve.
Measurable: There must be some way to determine when the objective has been met. We therefore make a statement that describes how we will measure success or failure of the objective.
Achievable: It must be possible to reach the objective. It is important to understand in advance whether or not the objective is achievable. It is important to remember, however, that many tasks when first approached seem insurmountable, so it is important to be optimistic and to take on a challenge.
Rewarding: The objective should bring sufficient reward that it is worth undertaking. There is always a cost / benefit ratio to consider. Every task has its cost or, as the old saying goes, "you don't get owt for nowt". It is always important to consider what the cost and benefit will be before initiating a task.
Time limited: There should be a clear time frame set out for when the objective will be met. Many things of worth are not achieved quickly and it is important to approach tasks consistently rather than sporadically. Breaking the task down into sub-tasks and estimating time frames is essential if we are to understand the cost of the task.

Now, take the first of your high level items that you listed last month and think about something specific that you need to improve in that area. For example, if you are into competition you might want to increase your repertoire to include another winning technique, say, a leg-sweep. Your specific statement would be "Learn and use a leg-sweep successfully in a competition".

Now make it measurable; "In the competition I'll use at least one leg-sweep in each bout".

Looking at the objective it ought to be achievable. Remember it's a statement about your intent.

Is it rewarding? Well it should be; dumping someone on their back with a well timed sweep is hugely satisfying as well as earning you points.

Finally, set a time limit. Maybe a particular competition that you know is due to take place in three months’ time.

So, your objective statement might be something like the following:
Train to use a leg sweep in competition in such a manner as to win points. Then use the technique in competition within 3 months (i.e. before ) at least once in each bout in the competition.

This type of objective setting can be used for all areas of your karate study. I suggest you start gradually by setting one or two objectives and build up from there. I also suggest you talk about your objectives with your instructor. If you are an instructor then encourage your students to write down their objectives and to discuss them with you.

Between now and next month make the following your objective:
Write down one objective statement for each of your key areas of study before next month's magazine arrives at the newsagent.

I strongly advise that you take the time to write down some objectives. Just as you can't hope to get a technique polished by watching someone else do it, so too, you cannot expect to get anything out of these articles if you don't do the work. Start today!

The next job is to make a statement about the rules you'll be operating under, which is the subject for next month's column.

About the author: Bill Burgar is a 6th Dan, a member of Rick Clark's ADK organisation and author of the advanced karate text Five Years, One Kata which is available on-line and to order at all good book shops.

Context

2008-05-04T16:24:00.003+01:00

From the "Putting Kata Back at the Heart of Karate" series:
Article 1. Context.

Column by Bill Burgar, author of Five Years, One Kata.

This is the first in a series of articles and serves as an introduction to some of the subjects to be covered. We start by looking at context then cover aims and objectives, rules, use of kata as a tool to meet your objectives, visualisation, history of karate and other topics that the contemporary karateka should be familiar with in order to develop and broaden their knowledge and skill.

Karate training methodology has changed over the course of time. In its long history different practices have sprung up to meet the varying objectives of the practitioners in any particular time period.

If we have a clear understanding of what the particular objectives of karateka were in each era it helps us to put their practice methods into perspective, and, more importantly, it brings a sharper focus to our understanding of our own methods.

In this article I'll take a look at the context of typical karate training in the contemporary dojo and show how the context determines the practice methodology. When you have finished reading you should have a better understanding of your training context, your aims and objectives and how this affects your method of practice. You will also be in a better position to ask questions about the discrepancies between your objectives and the method being used to train you. If you are an instructor then you will have some ideas about how to improve your training methods to match the expectations of your students more accurately.

First, we need to be clear about what we mean by "context". The context in which you train is the unique collection of all the factors that have any influence on what you do. This includes: your aims and objectives (for example are you training for competition, self defence, fitness, and so on, or a mixture of those functions?); the rules of those functions (e.g. competition rules, self defence rules, e.g. the law, or physiology rules determining how fit you can get and so forth); your teachers and their personal motivations, their individual preferences and their aims and objectives.

Your context is unique to you, alone, and nobody else. It may be closely aligned to the people who train alongside you, but make no mistake, it is just about you. Ultimately, this means that you must find your own method of practice that is best suited to you, which in turn means that you and only you are responsible for determining how best to train. Of course, to start with as a beginner, you don't have sufficient experience to know what to do for the best, which is why you need a sensei. The word sensei is often translated as 'teacher'. However, this inaccurate translation is not very helpful. Literally translated 'sensei' means 'one who has gone before', i.e someone who has greater experience and who can act as a guide; someone who acknowledges that your experience will be different but who can help you find your way when things are not clear for you; a mentor.

So, the first thing to do is to make a top level list of what you want out of your training (your key areas) and then put that list into a priority order, most important first, down to least important. This key area list will typically be between one and five subjects. For example: The list for one person could be fitness, social, self-defense; another might list: self-defense and fitness only; yet another might put down: winning competition, fitness, fun; or maybe: art, grades, personal satisfaction. As you can see from these examples just setting down a simple key area list for each person, before we even go into any great detail, shows how varied people's expectations can be. Writing down comprehensive objectives can be a daunting, difficult and time consuming task. This technique of writing a few key area words is a very good step in the right direction. For club instructors it is a worthwhile exercise to get all of your students to give you such a list every 6 or 12 months so you can better tailor your instruction to your students’ requirements. It is interesting to note that the composition and order of the list will often change over time for each person as their interests and motivations change.

Having looked, briefly, at the effect that our objectives (key areas) have on our context (I'll return to objective setting in a future article) let’s turn our attention to the rules that are in effect for the particular theatre of operations that you are training for. There are always rules; often people will say, "out on the street there are no rules". But this is not true, there may be fewer rules than on the mat but they are there. In addition, the rules that govern your behavior may be different to your aggressor's. Your rules are created both internally and externally. The external rules are, for example, the law, environment, physics and engineering principles. Internal rules are created by your morality and your humanity, what you are and are not prepared to do because of the degree of rightness/wrongness or your ability to de-humanise your aggressor sufficiently to inflict the required degree of injury. Remember, in a self-defence situation there is more than one fight. First there is the mental battle of wills, the physical action (if it happens), the possible legal battle afterwards, and the following moral battle with yourself (did I do the right thing?). In competition, you would hope that both you and your opponent would be operating under the same set of rules (although depending on the quality of the refereeing, sadly, this is not always the case). However, each competitor will know how far s/he is prepared to bend the rules to ensure victory.

Again, you can readily see that each person will have a different and unique set of rules that they are operating under furthering the uniqueness of their karate context. I'll come back to look at rules in more detail in a later article.

Finally for this article, let’s take a look at the effect that your instructors and peers have on your context. The first point to note is that all of the people around you in the dojo have a different context to you; this means that the training practices in use may not directly match what would be best for you. For example, let's imagine that your main goal was winning competitions with an end goal of representing your country. However, if the people around you are practicing mainly for self-defence then much of your time will be spent doing things that are poorly targeted at your goal. In order to meet your goals more efficiently you must have a good contextual match with those around you.

From an instructor's point of view it is important that you take the time to understand the goals of your students and to create an environment around them that is best suited to them all achieving their goals. To do this you must ask questions of them so that you can better understand their context. Also, it is important to look at the rules they will be operating under and to teach them accordingly. For example, if a student says that when it comes to it they really don't think that they could gouge somebody's eye (the morality/humanity rules they operate under), there is no point teaching them techniques to gouge eyes because they won't be able to use them. You'd need to find techniques that will fit in with their rules so that they will be able to use them - even if, in your view, their rules are wrong. Alternatively, you can determine the context and ensure that your students conform to it. In this case you have to understand that many people will not want to remain in your dojo; your choice.

So, in this article I've given you a brief overview of 'context', describing what it is and the various factors that affect it. You've seen how it is unique for each person and how it is important to understand each student's context when teaching them, and to understand your instructor's and peers’ contexts.

In the next article I'll go into more detail about setting objectives to give you a sharper focus on your training so that you use your training time better and get more out of it. Before then you should write down your key area list and have it to hand when you read next month's article.

About the author: Bill Burgar is a 6th Dan, a member of Rick Clark's ADK organisation and author of the advanced karate text Five Years, One Kata which is available on-line and to order at all good book shops. Buy at Amazon via http://www.martialartspublishing.com/

2008-01-20T15:04:00.000+00:00

Okinawan Conversations #1

THE ESSENTIAL OKINAWAN
The life and times of
Shoshin Nagamine

By Mike Clarke
Author of Roaring Silence

The late karate master Shoshin Nagamine sensei founder of the Matsubayashi branch of shorin-ryu karatedo, passed away in 1997 at the age of ninety years old after a life of struggle and triumph. Along with every other Okinawan of his generation his life was interrupted by the kind of devastation and destruction few of us can even begin to imagine. The bloodbath that was the Battle for Okinawa began on the first day of April 1945, and continued for three months. At the end of it some fifty thousand Americans were either dead or injured, and an estimated one hundred and sixty thousand Okinawans had joined them on the list of statistics. Behind each of these deaths and each of these injuries lies a story unique and immensely personal.

Mike Clarke with Shoshin Nagamine 1992

In November 1992 I had the honour of meeting Nagamine sensei. I visited his dojo a number of times and was fortunate to have captured something of his story on tape.
He was in his eighties then, and still training. His hospitality was overwhelming and at times left me feeling somewhat embarrassed. Few martial arts sensei these days are as ‘giving’ as his generation was. The example of generosity he displayed was one of the signs I have come to recognize over the years as being the mark of a budo-no-tatsujin, a master of the martial ways. When I met him he had already been training in karatedo for over seventy years.

The following extracts come from my book ‘Budo Masters, paths to a far mountain’. **

Born in Tomari-son on July 15th, 1907, he was rather small at birth and remained somewhat undersized throughout his childhood. His father, Shoho, and his mother Gozei, did not worry too much about him though as he was just as wild as any other boy of his age. He entered high school in 1923 but shortly afterwards fell ill. The medication he was given proved useless and so he resorted to diet and exercise to improve his health.
The exercise chosen for him was karate. A neighbour, Chojin Kuba sensei, taught karate in his backyard and it was here that the young Nagamine first received instruction in karate. The year was 1925.

Nagamine sensei was drafted in to the Japanese army in 1928 and saw action in Sainan, China, but thankfully most of his national service was less eventful and he eventually found himself back home in Okinawa having received a honourable discharge. Joining the police force soon afterwards, he was now in a position to meet and train with some of Okinawa’s most revered karate and judo masters. At around that time he met and trained with Chotoku Kyan sensei and, whilst on assignment in Tokyo, trained with the notable Choki Motobu sensei.

Back in Naha, Okinawa’s capital, he met often with Chojun Miyagi sensei, and although he never received any official training from him, he told me he learnt a lot from Miyagi sensei by watching him and the way he lived his life.
The two men worked together on creating kata for school children and were successful in producing Gekisai-ichi and Gekisai-ni, Ichi being the kata representing the Shuri-te tradition, and Ni, representing the Naha-te tradition. Both these kata are still in use today by students of both Matsubayashi-ryu and Goju-ryu. In 1940 Master Miyagi recommended to the Butokukai that Nagamine sensei be awarded the title of Renshi.

On June the 23rd, 1945, news reached the small band of policemen, who were trapped in a cave, that Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima had followed the example set by the Commanding Officers of the 62nd and 63rd divisions of the Japanese Imperial Army, and committed suicide. At that point Nagamine sensei realized the futility of fighting on and, in the company of his fellow police officers, he surrendered.

Although karate was the furthest thing from his mind at that time, fate would step in to keep alive a spark of interest where once there had been an intensely burning desire.
Whilst working as a prisoner of war, transporting casualties from Iraha village, he came across a book lying in the dirt on the side of the road. Instinctively he stooped down and picked it up while he continued to walk. Clearing away the mud and dirt from the cover he was amazed to find it was a copy of ‘Karate-do Nyumon’ written by the great karate master, Gichin Funakoshi sensei, founder of the shotokan dojo.

Nagamine sensei kept the book close to him and read it many times over the following months. It inspired him so much that he once more dedicated himself to living his life through the tenets of budo, and he found a new strength to face the many hardships surrounding him at that time.

By the summer of 1947 he had been allocated a small house in the Makishi district of Naha, and shortly afterwards, he began teaching karatedo in a makeshift dojo he opened in his backyard. He felt very strongly at the time that the war had not only stripped away many of the ancient buildings and landmarks from his culture, but more seriously, it had destroyed in the minds of those youngsters who had survived the onslaught, any sense of their heritage. Once known throughout Asia as the; ‘Land of Propriety’, Okinawa was now facing a very uncertain future, and in the day to day struggle for survival, many found the battle to remain morally and spiritually intact just too much.

To help combat this, Nagamine sensei, along with other like-minded karate teachers, did his best to re-introduce the youth of the island to a part of their culture. He believed that in some small measure he was helping them to rise above the devastation that surrounded them. In 1952 Nagamine sensei resigned from the police and in January 1953 set up home above his small grocery shop, and next to his purpose built dojo at 3-14-1 Kimoji, Naha. He called his dojo the kodokan, and his school of karatedo, Matsubayashi-ryu.

During one of my meetings with Nagamine sensei he kindly agreed to be interviewed about his karate. His answers often ran in to great detail about small points that were clearly important to him. At the time the importance of many of these points eluded me, and have only become clear in recent years. What follows is an abridged version of the conversation I had with Nagamine sensei all those years ago at the kodokan in Naha, Okinawa.

I began our conversation by addressing the subject of kata, and I wondered what thoughts he had on them and their importance in understanding karatedo. This was his response.

“ I believe that the kata we practise today are about seventy percent Okinawan and about thirty percent Chinese in content. We can trace many of these movements back as far as the 16th century, and can see where Okinawan kenpo and Chinese martial arts started to exchange and mix. Of course the great contribution made to karate by Okinawa was not kata, but the makiwara [a stout post set in the earth and used to condition the hands, particularly the first two knuckles of the fist]. In China they had, and still have, many tools to develop techniques, but it was the Okinawans who devised and then developed the makiwara that we know today. In olden times men would gather in backyards all over Okinawa and hit the makiwara. I knew a person who did this even though he never visited a karate dojo.

Also, when people travelled to China and then returned home, they practised many of their kata with stretched [open] hands as the Chinese did. But when they saw how strongly a fist could be made they changed the kata by making a fist instead.

Goju-ryu karate is an example of this. I remember about sixty or seventy years ago, people from that tradition [Naha-te] changed the shape of the hands. Uechi-ryu karate has also been changed a little from the way it was done in China, but they have kept the old way [with the hands] when training in Sanchin kata.

I want to emphasise that doing something ‘this way’ or ‘that way’ is not a question of being better or worse, but simply different. So I want to stress that the kata that came from China have been changed and are now Okinawan.”

I knew that Nagamine sensei had known Chojun Miyagi sensei, the founder of goju-ryu, and as a student of that tradition myself I asked him to please share some of his memories. Although Miyagi sensei was almost twenty years older than Nagamine sensei, the two worked closely for a time on the creation of the Gekisai kata and their introduction in to the school physical education curriculum.

“I spent about seven or eight years with Miyagi sensei at the Okinawan police academy here in Naha. We became friends even though he was a lot older than me, and of course, he was very much my senior in karate. At the police academy I used to teach the procedure of law, and Miyagi sensei used to teach karate. It was him who recommended me for the title of Renshi [expert teacher] in 1940. He was a very strong person with a happy, pleasant character, and his karate was really skilful.”

Nagamine sensei saw himself not as a Japanese person but very defiantly Okinawan. From the outside, and from a distance, the differences may seem small. But one only has to go to Okinawa to discover the music the architecture the costume and even the food are all very different from Japan. Even the language [Hogen], though almost lost to the younger generations who have grown up since the Second World War, is still in use. In deed, many of the terms used in an Okinawan karate dojo would be unintelligible to many Japanese karate-ka.
I asked Nagamine sensei why he thought it was that Japanese karate had spread around the world and become more popular than the Okinawan methods? This is what he had to say:

“Well, you must know for a fact how smart the Japanese are when it comes to adapting things. In order to make karate more popular they have developed it as a sport, and this has helped to increase the number of people doing karate. They have developed the numbers of people but, in my opinion, they have not developed the minds and characters of the majority of those people. So now, the quantity is good, but not the quality.
The main reason for this is that many Japanese karate teachers want to eat from karate.
In other words, they want to make a living from it and, furthermore, they want to be sportsmen and women.

Admittedly, there is a sporting element to Okinawan karate today, but this is balanced by the culture we have here and our traditional philosophy. We have not dropped the traditional side of things, as the Japanese have tended to do. So this makes our karate less attractive to those people who are looking for a sporting pastime.
Now, sporting people have changed the kata and most of them no longer have any meaning. You see it is vital to understand kata, as they are the heart of karate. From understanding your kata will come all the other things. If kata has no real meaning in it then it is not kata at all, just movements.

What you have to understand is this, the kata as you do them in the dojo, are only the basic principles. It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to develop your formal kata ability. Now, if you train yourself to do this, and you keep in mind other techniques that may not be seen in the kata, for example hooking kicks, punches and so on, then by studying your kata for a long time you will subconsciously develop the skills for combating even unorthodox techniques.

So the best way is to stick to the old traditional techniques [kata], but always think about how you would use them in application. This has to do with the idea of ‘Shu-Ha-Ri’, or, “Obedience-Breakaway-Transcend’. First you practise exactly as you are taught, then you begin to experiment and start to bring your own experiences in to play. Finally, you reach a level that is yours alone. When you have a problem, you refer to your kata and develop techniques that will help you solve your problem. This kind of training also has to do with your mind, not just the physical techniques. Do you know about Miyamoto Musashi? Well, he used the same way of training; his mind was very strong.

Then there is the question of communication between people, which is very important. You should always take the opportunity to learn from others and their martial arts. But for things to go smoothly a person must have self-confidence. Once this is the case, we can all train together and it doesn’t matter what kind of karate you do.
Of course your roots are important as these are your heritage after all, but it is more important to be a good person and behave properly. In both karate and life, you must learn to rely on yourself and to have confidence, while at the same time you should be humble; this too is vital.”

I expressed the opinion that in my experience many people seem to drop ideas like ‘respect’ and ‘humility’ at the door of the dojo as they leave. Personal integrity too seems to disappear once people are away from the environmental influences of a well-run dojo.

He had this to say.
“To behave as you have described is not the way of karatedo. I know that, for instance, a person will train very hard if someone is watching but then stop as soon as the spectator has gone. In karate you have to train with the same attitude all the time, and it should not matter if people are watching you or not. In Zen they teach; Behave in the company of others as you do when alone, and behave when alone as you do in the company of others.
In karate we have a principle called ‘Shin-Gi-Tai’, ‘Spirit-Technique-Body’. This means, that to do karate well, and to understand it properly, one has to harmonise these three things. Today I think there is an over-emphasis on the Gi and Tai [Technique and Body].
The Shin [Spirit] of the person is often left behind while the other two aspects are worked on. Technique and power seems to be the reason why some people are doing karate today, and this is now a much bigger problem than it was sixty years ago. We should not forget to build a person’s spirit and character. This is very important and I want to emphasis it.

I believe the decline has come about because people want to do karate just for sport or business. To adopt the principles of ‘Shin’ [spirit] through karate training is very hard, and to be successful at it takes a long time. People today want things too quickly and so it is much easier to train just your body without the discipline of ‘Shin’.
The ability to do techniques comes from your knowledge and training in those techniques, but your wisdom comes from your mind and heart. It is now the fashion to look at karate techniques and to explain them with scientific information. Everything has to be logical for the modern person to accept how things work, but this kind of thinking leads them away from searching for the ‘feeling’ of the techniques. The ‘feeling’ for something comes from, if you like, your mind.
In the end, your ability to make things work comes from your ‘feeling’ for the techniques of karate. In future I would like to see more attention given to a student’s education. If karatedo is to be understood by people, we must educate them to develop a good ‘feeling’ for it.”

It should be clear from the above extracts that Nagamine sensei, in spite of his advanced years at the time, still had a mind as sharp and as clear as it ever was. His views and comments may not please everyone, but it should be remembered that he lived through a time, as a young man, that few of us would have been able to survive. His views were forged in the furnace of survival and not in the sporting, business or political arena where many of today’s leading karate teachers reside.

He was ninety years old when he passed away, and left behind him a legacy that is still treasured by many thousands of karate-ka around the world. His dojo still stands in the little side street just off Kokusai-Dori, Naha’s main shopping area, though these days his family store is now a restaurant. Matsubayashi-ryu karate-do’s present Kancho is the founder’s son, Takayoshi Nagamine sensei, who teaches karate three times a week at the kodokan dojo.

**
Budo Masters; paths to a far mountain
Michael Clarke
Published by P.H. Crompton Ltd, London, [2000]
I.S.B.N. 1 874250 26 X

Coming soon - interviews with Okinawan Masters...

2007-12-09T16:59:00.000+00:00

I'm delighted to inform all of our readers that we will shortly be publishing interviews with a number of top ranking Okinawan martial artists. The interviews are supplied courtesy of Mike Clarke who is a top martial arts writer (see one of his books Roaring Silence in our book stores) and who has spent a significant amount of time studying in Okinawa.

Watch this space.

Regards

Bill.

Interview with Rick Clark.

2007-12-09T16:33:00.000+00:00

I'm delighted to present this interview with Rick Clark by Matt Sylvester. Rick is my main mentor in the martial arts and I've learnt a great deal from him over the years. This is a fairly introductory interview with him and I hope to publish more detail from him in the future. I highly recommend his books which are available from our book stores.

Regards

Bill

Interview by Matt Sylvester.

MS - 1. What was your first experience of the martial arts?
RC - Back in 1962 I first started in Boxing and then saw a Judo class being offered at our local YMCA – and thought this is for me. My parents gave their permission, reluctantly and truly believed I would last about a week. Well that was a long time ago and its one of the few times I have seen my parents wrong.

MS - 2. Why did you start the martial arts?
RC - Like many of us in the martial arts, I was looking for a form of self defense. I was not a very assertive kid and when the older or bigger kids sense weakness they are drawn like sharks to blood. I need to harden myself up so I could stand up for myself.

MS - 3. What has inspired you to keep training all this time?
RC - There is not enough room in an article to answer this question but the short answer is the friendships I have made over the years, around the world. You can go just about anywhere in the world and find a group of people with similar attitudes who will take you in and make you feel at home.

MS - 4. Do you feel that instructors should encourage their students to exceed the skill level of the instructor?
RC - Of course! That would be like not wanting research to be carried on in science, we would still think the world is flat, there would be no penicillin, cell phones, all of the progress we have made over the course of civilization would be nothing because none of the students would have outperformed their teacher. It’s our responsibility to increase the body of knowledge base in the martial arts and then pass that knowledge on to as many students as possible.

MS - 5. Should students be encouraged to look at other styles and at what level would you do this?
RC - Today its hard not to see other styles and even to practice. It’s not like 40 years ago when martial arts schools were far and few between. Now most cities will have several clubs or schools of various martial arts. As to when a student could cross train it’s up to the skill of the students and their ability to recognize that there is a difference between various arts. They need to be sufficiently aware that there are differences between arts and have the ability to keep the arts separate as needed by their instructors.

MS - 6. What styles have you looked at outside of your core style and why?
RC - I have been very lucky to have been around a lot of really good martial artists and have had the opportunity to practice quite a few arts over the years. Judo, Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Kwan, Shotokan, Ju-Jitsu, Arnis, Ryukyu Kempo, Chinese Kempo, Isshin-ryu, Tai Chi Chuan, Hapkido, Aikido to name a few. The reason I trained with them is because they were available to me and I have always been inquisitive.

MS - 7. Mixed Martial Arts have come to the fore recently do you think they are evolution or devolution?
RC - To me mixed arts are in fact the more traditional arts. If you consider that when a warrior several hundred years ago trained they trained in arts with edged weapons, projectile weapons, grappling arts, and other arts, you would not play a round of golf with one club. What we consider as traditional martial arts have only been in existence a little over 100 years. Karate as we know it today did not come into existence until 1922.

MS - 8. What do you feel makes YOUR art unique?
RC - I don’t think the “art” is unique it the person who is unique. Each of us is unique and have our own way of performing techniques, and which techniques we prefer. Each of us will perform techniques different with age, experience, and physical ability. Even those who practice in the same school will still be unique in their application of that art.

MS - 9. Based on my own experience classes learn a given applications, do it a couple of times, and then move on to something else. Do you think that there is room in present dojos/dojangs to incorporate grappling as taught in the kata/patterns into the curriculum proper?
RC - I guess it depends on the time frame you will have a student, if you are teaching someone for only 3 or 4 years then no you don’t have time. But if you have students for 15 or more years you have the time to add a full list of most everything you want.

MS - 10. There are going to be a lot of defensive martial artists out there who will not like your approach to your style, they might even decry it. What would you say to them?
RC - Not much, they have their opinions and they are valid for their own individual purpose. Just as my definition of martial arts is valid for myself, I do not need the approval of individuals who have no connection to me. Self defense arts are just what they say, they are for the self not for others.

MS - 11. Your style is very practical. What about the claims that pressure points are at the heart of karate/judo/whatever bunkai. Does your style cover pressure points?
RC - For me it’s central to my martial art, in fact I believe they are central to all of the martial arts. Look at just about any text on martial arts and you are likely to find some mention of striking or grabbing various points of the body. If so many arts make use of them then it seems to me it must be important.

MS - 12. There is a lot of judo in karate bunkai. Would you recommend that students also study judo to get a better understanding?
RC - Sure, if nothing else for the fact it’s important for a martial artist to be able to take a fall properly. But really I see more Ju-jitsu type movements in Bunkai than Judo. Judo as you know was developed from several styles of Ju-jitsu and was made safe for practice by students in the school systems. Erwin Von Baelz, I believe played a major role in the formation of the concept of a martial art to be used as a means of physical education for the masses. Von Baelz influenced the founder of Judo and Kendo both of which were the first of the “Do” arts. (Matthew take a look at my article on Von Baelz on the web page for more information on this http://www.ao-denkou-kai.org/von_baelz.htm).

MS - 13. What is your favourite technique/pattern?
RC - For the past 12 years or so I have been concentrating on Naihanchi / Teki / Chulgi 1.

MS - 14. What is your greatest personal achievement to date?
RC - In life the greatest personal achievement any parent can have is the success of your children, both of whom have turned out to be wonderful young men that I am very proud of. My second greatest personal achievement is without a doubt the success of my students. Just as a parent is proud of the growth of their children, an instructor is proud of the success of those individuals they have influenced in even a small way.

MS - 18. Who do you most look up to/want to emulate?
RC - One of my major influences was my first instructor Wesley Hughes. He was my instructor, and tragically was involved in an automobile accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Once he was out of the hospital he was brought to the dojo in a wheel chair to coach the class from the side of the matt. That man gave me so much inspiration for his spirit I hope to be able to follow his example in his spirit of teaching and desire to share his knowledge.

MS - 19. Should children (for argument's sake, under 16s) be awarded black belts?
RC - It depends on the individual and the individual requirements of the style or association. Could someone get a black belt who was 15 and 9 months old? Or should it be 17? What is in an arbitrary age? For me you can have a 14 year old who is much better qualified to be a black belt than a 18 year old who spent the same amount of time in class. Plus you have to consider that Jigoro Kano was around the age of 21 when he founded Judo, which is a relatively young age.

MS - 20. Do mixed classes (adult and under-16s) discourage some people from starting?
RC - What about classes with senior students who are uncomfortable with trying to keep up with the 20 year old students? Once again this an arbitrary division that really has to be taken to an individual situation of the club and instructor.

MS - 21. Do you think that Grappling/MMA are institutionally sexist due to the very nature of the training?
RC - I don’t think grappling is sexist in and of it’s self, rather it’s the culture that makes it more sexist. Martial arts as a whole are probably sexist in many respects just by that fact that women are not socialized to be fighters. But of course that does not mean women can not be excellent fighters and I have met some truly exceptional martial artists who are women. Going back to Jigoro Kano, he taught women early on, and we have women who compete internationally in Judo.

MS - 22. What do you consider to be the core aspect of your martial art?
RC - For me and members of my group I think we look at the individual development of their personal system. I truly believe no one system holds all of the answers for the individual. Each person comes to the martial arts for different but similar reasons, like we all will go to the shop to purchase a new set of clothing we can’t get all get the same size, nor do we all want the same style and color. To me martial arts are somewhat the same, in that we all want the concept of the martial arts yet we need to find the style and system that matches our style. Then further we need to tailor the clothing (martial art) to fit our individual needs.

MS - 23. Do you consider conditioning to be a vital part of your training?
RC - At one point in time it was important to me, but as age and health considerations creep up on me my views have changed. I think when you are young and in your prime you should make use of this time and be at your peak. However, I have had some health problems and injuries that have limited my physical training so as a consequence I am not in the shape I would like to be in. But then you play the hand your are dealt and I must work at the level I can and try to push myself forward a bit more.

MS - 24. How do you condition yourself?
RC - In the past year or so I have tried to improve my diet, increase the amount of exercise, and work on forms.

MS - 25. Are pressure points valid or do you consider them to be ineffective/pointless/so full of mysticism that you don't bother.
RC - Of course pressure points are valid, they have been a part of the martial arts for centuries, and have been documented over the years. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine have a place when you consider the application of pressure points. I look at pressure points from a TCM perspective ONLY for the nomenclature of naming and locating points. I do not believe there is any practical value in the attempt to explain why pressure points work using TCM theory. The example I most often use is that you could cut up little slips of paper with all of the various acupuncture points then put them in a hat and draw out any two or three. Then by using the various “laws” of acupuncture you would be able to construct a theory as to why you should get a knock out or severe pain from the application of these points. You have so many “laws” to draw on such as the cycle of creation, cycle of destruction, Yin / Yang, Midday / Midnight, Mother / Son etc. that you will find something that gives you an explanation.

Thus, if everything is included and nothing is excluded you do not have any predictive value to the paradigm. Equally WM can offer you a number of explanations as to why various techniques can work and will work. But yet at the same time when you ask a physician why it’s possible to knock out an individual by striking points on the arm or leg they just shake their head and say it should not be possible. So after a number of years of researching both perspectives I will take from each information that provides some explanation but fall back on my personal favorite the JHH paradigm. JHH is defined as Just Hit Here, once you know where the various points are located and the predictive results it is possible to say JHH and you will get these results.

MS - 26. What is your definition of a practical martial art?
RC - Once again this is a really important question because it falls back on what the individual wants out of the martial arts. What is practical for one person is not practical for another. This goes back to the principle of the art I teach where each individual begins to take personal responsibility for their own training and the results of that training. Even if you practice only one martial art, you have the choice as to what aspect of that art you practice and make your own. For example in Shotokan you have the opportunity to practice Kata or Kumite, you can practice for competition or for simply for the club. In addition if you look at Shotokan as Gichin Funakoshi taught in his book Karate Do Kyohan the original Japanese version, you will see him use a staff and sword. You see him utilizing locks and throws along with defensive techniques from the ground. So clearly this was part of his training at that time, in our time it seems that these aspects are not being practiced to a great extent. From my perspective someone who practices Shotokan should be able to research this aspect of their art and make this part of their training, and it could then be the thing that makes it practical for their own use.

MS - 27. What dan grade do you presently hold?
RC - I have been lucky enough to have been graded in several arts over the years an 8th dan is my highest rank. However, in the past few years I have been promoting my own organization Ao Denkou Kai and my own system Ao Denkou Jitsu. I don’t use a rank in my own system, because as the founder of the system I really don’t have a rank. Who would rank the founder of an organization and system? From a purely practical point of view as the founder I am able to promote individuals to 10th dan. But if I were ranked as a 10th dan in my own system I would only be able to promote to 9th dan. So for me its just as well to not be ranked as the founder of my own group.

MS - 28. At what level do you think Dan grades should stop?
RC - I am very comfortable with the kyu / dan grade system set up by Jigiro Kano, if something works well there is no reason to fix it.

MS Thank you for your time Rick.
RC My pleasure.

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Beginner’s work? Why we should spend more time on the Heian forms.

2007-11-20T22:40:00.000+00:00

Article by John Titchen, Author of "Heian Flow System" a new book available in our book store.

Approximately three years ago I was chatting with a well known senior martial artist and I mentioned that I had put together a flow system for the Heian Kata, teaching students how to flow from one move to another within the techniques of the five steps in response to habitual acts of violence. “Now do the same for Bassai or Kanku Dai,” my friend replied. I mention this because it would seem to me that there is an unspoken implication in that reply, that the Heian are ‘okay’, but they are beginners forms – you should be working on the real deal. It is an assumption that I disagree with and the purpose of this article is to explain why.

Another article of mine on the Heian forms looked at what we know of their history. In their present five stage form they are at least one hundred and five years old. The kata upon which they are based, Chiang Nan, and/or Kushanku and Bassai/Passai is at least two hundred and fifty years old, The survival of the moves from these forms suggest to me that it must have held great value for generations of martial artists.

In their present form the Heian are taught as beginners Kata. We are aware that some techniques have been simplified or altered for teaching purposes by Anko Itosu. But what is a beginners form? A few simple techniques to keep them busy until they are good enough to learn the real stuff? On the contrary, I would argue that it is the beginners forms that are the real stuff, the core of Karate. The later forms that are studied in lesser or greater numbers are merely additions, variables, to this core.

So what do the Heian forms teach us?

On the defensive front we can see footwork that teaches us how to move inside, round or through an attack as well as shifting offline. There are flinch reactions to deal with high level and middle level attacks, not only punches but also low and high level wrist grabs, pushes, lapel grabs and head butts. In addition to this there are moves that can defend against less common attacks such as headlocks, attempted full nelson holds and even drunken tackles.

On the offensive front these Kata take on a frightening aspect. Using the fists, blade of the hand, forearm and the elbows there are potential strikes to the arms, chest, neck, jawline, inner thigh and back. There are throws that take the balance from below the centre and throws that take the balance from above. There is stepwork that trains practitioners to unsettle their assailant’s balance by bumping into the inside of the thigh with the knee at Sp10 and on the outside of the thigh at GB32, usually combined with high and mid level attacks. There are kicks – some of which seem to be aimed at the groin or lower abdomen, others which seem to attack the weakest points of the leg (again in conjunction with upper level attacks) and knee strikes. There are strikes that can be followed through with holds, strangles and head locks. There are straight arm bars and s-bend locks. Many of the offensive techniques use proprioceptive striking and the sequence of many moves suggest alternative techniques as redundancies in the event that the initial attack has not had the desired result.

It is true that the techniques of the Heian seem to be blunter and lack the finesse of ‘more advanced’ Kata. This is a positive rather than a negative factor. Under pressure our awareness is reduced and our ability to use complex motor skills are diminished. As a fighting core we need to be able to use techniques involving natural defence reflexes that use the blunt tools of the forearm and elbow. Can you see the pattern here? Gedan Barai, Age Uke, Shuto Uke, Uchi Uke… The pattern I see is called the Hiean.

Anko Itosu changed the name of the form from Chiang Nan to Pinan, Peaceful Mind. Mastery of the Heian Kata should bring a peaceful mind since they are truly a beginner’s kata. The first thing I want my beginners to be able to do is to deflect attacks and counterattack. The Pinan/Heian Kata teach students how to do this. But they go further, they teach even more important basic principles: free flowing movement, multi-level striking, unbalancing, combining percussive and grappling techniques, vital point striking, technique redundancy…

Beginners need the same things that advanced martial artists need – a training regime that teaches them how to fight effectively. The Heian/Pinan Kata, practiced with intent (and if possible with a partner), provide that routine. They are not merely a stepping stone to more advanced Kata, they are at once both the advanced and the basic kata – the core system that most karate styles are based on.

The conversion of Karate from a fighting system to a martial way or sporting activity has resulted in many of the lessons of the Pinan/Heian set going unregarded and untaught. It is small wonder that many Karate styles sought out extra Kata – they were seeking a stimulation, fighting ability and technical knowledge that a deeper study of their core Kata would have provided – had they been taught it as anything more than a form of physical exercise.

I’ll be training later today. The Kata I’ll be picking to reinforce my ability is the Heian.

This article first appeared in a slightly different form in Practical Martial Arts and was recently printed in Traditional Karate Magazine November 2007.

Coach John Titchen teaches Defence Attack & Resolution Tactics to students, education professionals and corporate clients and can be reached via his website http://www.d-a-r-t.org.uk/, e mail jwt.dart@gmail.com. He is a Personal Defence Readiness™ Coach with Blauer Tactical Systems and is available to teach both self protection and Karate Bunkai seminars. The author’s new book, Heian Flow System - Effective Karate Kata Bunkai, is available on Amazon and through all good bookshops.

Article: Holistic Bunkai

2007-11-17T23:04:00.001+00:00

Holistic Bunkai by Bill Burgar author of Five Years, One Kata.

Article: Training in Kata the new old way.

2007-11-17T22:57:00.000+00:00

Training in kata the new old way - an article by Bill Burgar, Steven Webster and Zoltan Dienes. Please note this article is a few years old and in particular Zoltan's training methodology has evolved further!

Interview with Mike Clarke.

2007-11-17T22:53:00.001+00:00

Interview with Mike Clarke author of Roaring Silence.

About Bill Burgar - the author of Five Years One Kata

2007-11-17T22:52:00.001+00:00

About the author - Five Years, One Kata

Bill started training in a "traditional" Shotokan club in 1979 achieving first dan in 1983. He founded the Reading University Shotokan Karate Club where he taught for many years. Bill ran a karate magazine called Dojo Magazine for a number of years and has also had many articles published in other martial arts magazines, on the web and in web journals.

Bill has formed relationships with mentors considered leaders in the field. In 1995 he arranged Rick Clark's first tour of the UK and learned many aspects of kyusho and cross training first hand with Rick on each of his visits to the UK. As a result Bill has cross-trained and picked up knowledge from outside his core area of karate.

In 1996 Bill started on an experiment to focus exclusively on a single kata (Gojushiho) in a similar way to the old masters of Okinawa. Training alone Bill has explored the depths of the single kata and has written a book giving readers not only an insight into how single kata training can be of benefit but also showing the reader how to do this for themselves.

In June 2000 Rick Clark awarded Bill his 6th Dan. Bill continues to train in his personal dojo at his home with selected training partners.

Interview with Bill Burgar

2007-11-17T22:45:00.001+00:00

Interview with Bill Burgar - author of Five Years, One Kata

Article: Pre-emption in Kata

2007-11-17T22:43:00.000+00:00

Pre-emption in Kata

Article: Kata - the ultimate mnemonic training tool

2007-11-17T22:36:00.000+00:00

Kata - the ultimate mnemonic training tool

Article - single kata study.

2007-11-17T22:16:00.000+00:00

Single Kata Study