A New Term

Terms, that coupled with other words to form a communications connection where idea's, meaning and a promotion of synchronicity of humans.

Black Belt magazine had three articles of interest for me this month with content I thought I could use for postings. Only one contributor, normally, has the value I seek in my studies of the martial arts, Dave Lowry's "Karate Way." In his current article, "Shifting," he uses a new term for me, "Chokusen Irimi." It means "on a straight line," more or less.

Martial Artists who spar and/or compete in tournaments see and experience this a good deal of the time. It is a dominate form of quickly earning points that was used, at least in my early years, to win contests. When the referee yells, "Hajime," one or both contestants charge "straight in" blasting away to score a point often taking a dominant position in sparring.

This has nothing to do with fighting, self-defense or self-protection and it has everything to do with fighting, self-defense and self-protection. Not as an exclusive tactic but rather as a part of a whole strategy. The whole strategy uses those tactics most applicable to overcome a threat. It might use chokusen irimi or it  might use some takedown or tie could be a "shift" to allow you to stop the threat before taking damage.

The whole point of my interpretation of Mr. Lowry's article is to remain aware of the entire whole in practice so you can use that effective part in a dangerous encounter. As Mr. Lowry goes on to provide hints to this not with just shifting for shifting's sake. He expresses how that shift couples with other factors to achieve effective applications with maximum effectiveness while utilizing economic motion, moves and techniques.

Bibliography:
Lowry, Dave. "Shifting." Black Belt, October 2011: pg 36.