Kumite History (Origins?)?

Kumite [組み手] sparring or "paired karate kata", in the 1920's, under the leadership of Gichin Funakoshi, a system of elementary sparring was devised. This gradually morphed into modern day competitive match style sparring, i.e. tournament sparring for points. It is believed that until karate was exposed to Japanese influences where the concept of focusing the techniques just short of full contact that this change made competitive sparring possible. 

Sparring was meant to teach the practitioner about proper application of the fundamental principles of martial systems, i.e. theory, physiokinetics, techniques and philosophy, i.e. body shifting, proper hand, foot, etc. techniques, distancing, timing, and so on.  

Two types were developed, i.e. first a mode or model where the techniques are predetermined and agreed upon in advance; and second a free-style, in which nothing is predetermined. The predetermined sparring is actually "drilling" where those techniques and counter-techniques are practiced over and over and over again much like the practice of kata. 

To fully embrace the training and practice that is karate or any martial art for that matter requires a full understanding of what it takes to achieve proficiency or mastery. This can seem daunting until it is understood that truly learning a martial system is not done in a set lesson plan but takes a lot of work over a long period of time. It is not just about learning a few techniques, a few combinations and a few kata but much more. This kumite regimen is only a small but intricate part of learning a system.

Bibliography:

Nishiyama, Hidetaka. "Karate the Art of Empty Hand Fighting." Tuttle Publishing. Vermont. 1960.

46

A good number I think. I appreciate it that 46 people decided to let me know that they stop by once and a while to read my stuff. I really appreciate those folks and especially their comments when given. I am glad about this, thanks!

Mokuso

Mokuso in the west is most often reminiscent of martial arts dojo or training. It goes beyond the martial arts into every day life of Asian's. In particular this term is derived from Japanese influences on martial arts training. Like other such cultural models of Japan it goes way back to the early feudal times with a Zen Buddhism influence. 

Most martial arts dojo sit seiza when performing mokuso. Meditation is not just clearing one's mind or warming up the mind for the coming shugyo like training and practice sessions but a means of training the mind. When you take into consideration other terms that are also about training the mind such as the fundamental principles of martial systems, i.e. principle of philosophy (mushin, seishin, oneness, zanshin and being, etc., you start to get the fuller concept of the reasoning behind mokuso. 

It is interesting to note that mokuso was not practiced, at least in the fifties and sixties at the Isshinryu karate honbu dojo, where practitioners would show at all hours of the day and night, change into the gi, warm up, do basics and kata and then take lessons from senpai, etc. It was very informal or so most who experienced that will say and mokuso was discovered and implemented later from, again, Japanese influences. This is not to say that other systems or styles of Okinawa were not using mokuso.

When I think of mokuso it is about trianing the mind to remain in the present moment leaving all other distractions and mental gymnastics of the past and the future outside of the mind so that full and complete concentration can be attained in training, practice and application. This becomes even more difficult as one trains rigorously and diligently because stresses are introduced and limitations are reached and exceeded  such as physical abilities, etc. along with as much adrenaline like effects are encountered. To achieve present moment mind, i.e. mushin and zanshin, etc., in combat, fighting or self-defense can make it a matter of survival or extreme damage up to and including death. 

It must be remembered that everything done in the dojo has far reaching benefits and effects to our every day lives. My Marine training along with my long life in karate, martial arts, has be instrumental in my successes in life as a person and in my work as an employee, staff member and leader. 

And this is just the tip of the iceberg in understanding and practicing "mokuso."

Addendum dtd Tuesday February 25, 2014 09:20 hours

Notice that the hand position in mokuso forms a circle. The circle has significance in Zen Buddhism and therefore martial arts. The circle represents infinity and also symbolizes that all things have a beginning and an end. When a Zen Buddhist practitioner wants to practice they sometimes draw a circle, enso [], with one stroke to express that singular moment when the mind is fully and completely present, free so that the body can create. It symbolizes, also, a state of enlightenment, strength and the void. It also represents a mirror, one of the three jewels of the Japanese cultural buddhist zen like belief. The stroke to achieve enlightenment must be one fluid, expressive stroke representing that individuals presence in that moment with a empty, void, mind. 

Therefore when sitting seiza and performing mokuso some adherents will form that circle with their hands holding them at a point representative of the center of one's body training the mind toward a state of centeredness. In addition, as quoted from the Wikipedia Enso entry, i.e. "Ensō exemplifies the various dimensions of the Japanese wabi-sabi perspective and aesthetic: Fukinsei (asymmetry, irregularity), kanso (simplicity), koko (basic; weathered), shizen (without pretense; natural), yugen (subtly profound grace), datsuzoku (freedom), and seijaku (tranquility)."

Source for quote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensō

Pooh Sitting Mokuso in Seiza

Hi, All: Any artists out there who can draw I am trying to get a colored drawing of Winnie the Pooh sitting seiza as if in meditation. If you can and are willing contact me by email or comment here. Thanks, Charles

Why Karate? (Why Empty Hand)

Originally, karate was born from the indigenous system of "Ti or Te or Toudi" of the culture that is Okinawa. Ti or Te means simply "hand." The individualized styles were born of the Japanese influences starting in the 1600's. No one can say definitively why the word hand or empty hand came to be the name used for this system of fighting. 

There is a great deal of speculation even with the Okinawan's today. We can attribute the influences being all over the Asian cultures with emphasis on both Chinese and Japanese martial arts. The greater of the two being Chinese. Still, as to why hand or empty hand is not obvious. The original system of Okinawa started out as I have already stated and before empty hand came into prominence it was called for a time "China Hand, i.e. where the characters/ideograms depicting the system were different yet the pronunciation was the same. 

If we speculate we can come up with something that tells us why they used Ti/Te/Toudi and Kara-te, i.e. because it was a means of fighting, combatives and defense using no weapons other than the practitioners body, i.e. being hands that would normally hold weaponry in combat now you have no weapons therefore you have empty hands or just your hands. 

As Ti/Te progressed and influences grew then to achieve acceptance the final name for this unique form of fighting came to be empty hand. When the Okinawan's developed a means of using everyday items as weaponry then that was added to the empty hand training and they called this "kobudo." I believe this name is more modern then ancient but who knows for sure. 

Today, karate is both empty handed and weapons. Some separate the two into empty hand and weapons, i.e. karate and kobudo. Some actually teach, train and certify separately, i.e. you may achieve sho-dan in karate while still holding a kyu level in kobudo depending on circumstances and training requirements. 

You can also say that what is practiced today is not really empty hand since a karate-ka will use hands, arms, elbows, feet, knees, etc. when applying karate in a fight or for self-defense. Makes me wonder, "What would be a proper name for the system of empty hand?"

In the end it is a matter of opinions, perceptions and cultural history of which not much is written on Okinawan. Speculation is still our best method of determining how things came to be. 

Awesome Post

Paradigms of Self-Defense has an awesome post today: "The Wrong Question"

Observational Skills or "Awareness"

I recently came across a video I found very informative if for no other reason it provided some fundamental information on makiwara training. The Shinken Dojo blog has a video on "Machiwara Undo." This discovery brought out the idea of awareness or observational skills because to really see or observe the nuances of what the karate-ka in the video is trying to convey you really need to pay attention and that means with your ears and eyes. 

I have watched it several times to discover new things not seen or observed before. This brings out the idea it gave me to use such analysis as a means to develop and strengthen your observational skills, your awareness. Both are required to achieve a level of skills we in martial arts will and do find critical in self-defense. 

We also can derive this as a means to sharpen our skills as teachers, sensei. It is imperative a good sensei have such awareness and observational skills when teaching practitioners. It is this that allows sensei to achieve strength in teaching a practitioner martial arts especially if it is about self-defense.

This is something a practitioner can carry out into the world especially if they have a need for self-defense be it due to where they live and work to where they work if they are professionals. The ability to "perceive" minute details that will tell you things about situations is a way to provide your mind-state information that will drive what actions you might or might not take. 

Look at "tells." Tells are those things you want to learn to perceive so that you can take appropriate actions thus beating out an adversary in the OODA loop. If you can practice such things as discovering details, very minute details, in video's such as this one on machiwara undo then you will be able to observe/perceive tells and other important things in your environment that will give you advantages.

This extends into every day life as well. Communications are important and imperative to social interactions that are beneficial to all parties. The ability to observe and perceive, an awareness of, others you encounter can provide you information on your inter-actions, i.e. so you can choose to act accordingly in a positive manner. These skills can benefit you at home, you society and at work. When they escalate to something more stressful the practice achieves a level of ability that will allow you to adjust and act properly.

Then take this into the realm of "shugyo" or austere training and practice where stresses and physical chemical effects further reduce your ability to perceive, observe and be aware you can still act according to the situation. In the end it is about practicing and to observe, perceive and be aware of what you view in videos such as this can be thought of as another method to develop, strengthen and achieve "awareness."

http://www.shinkendojo.net/index.html ("Karate Quality & Quantity.) 

Testing Techniques or Demonstrating Techniques

As I review many explanations and demonstrations as to why a technique in karate works or does not work, why one way of doing something is better than another I tend to think about how they are testing out that hypothesis.

Where I start to question is the tests are often not based on real life encounters or reality based training but on some sort of physics oriented thinking. 

It seems to me that if either or of the tests used to explain and validate some specific is much like a scientific test model that may or may not be based or tested on reality.

It is similar to the training and schools I attended in both my military career and my civilian civil service career with the Navy. Often those training models were more about providing fundamental knowledge necessary to get your foot in the door but reality was often very different once you began you "on the job" training in the discipline.

I believe and found this to be true for most martial arts training and validations for what was being taught. Some times what was being taught or explained seemed true but when actual reality hits the validations more often than not failed in the heat of a violent encounter.

Now, learning mechanics or rather principles with emphasis on physiokinetics and techniques is important but one feature that may be lost with teachings not based on actual experience in fighting or combatives is that adjustment necessary to make them work.

Working out theories are great. It can be a part of the scientific method often used to find out if a hypothesis is true or not true but until you test that same hypothesis with reality it is just another fun feature of working out and training. 

I have noticed when the chaos of fighting is applied with two individuals that such things end up out the door for more instinctive and natural actions and reactions. Granted, continuous and diligent training can overcome and encode karate into a more natural and instinctive action/reaction but without the full spectrum of working and testing techniques, etc. with reality and that means violence and those chemical reactions of fear and anger will not come to a full, complete and valid conclusion as to what works and what does not work. 

Study just that part that speaks toward the "adrenaline dump" and its adverse affects to see how it is possible that all the testing and discovery of how pivoting on a heel vs. a ball of foot needs more than a preprogrammed patterned test but one that involves as many variables as possible to see and test workability of a technique.

Then again, once something is validated it is imperative to release the specifics and go back toward a more holistic application, etc.

See, as this discussion continues the complexities just build and it is also important not to be consumed or fooled by either the quantity and complexities of things or the validity of a less the full analysis of any given technique, techniques and combinations, etc.

Learning One Kata

Ahhhh, a very good question and one I will answer with one caveat, it is my theory because there is no proof or historical record to truly answer this question. Here is what I believe:

The collection of kata we are required to learn in modern martial arts didn't begin until the mid to late 1900's. In the 1600's to the 1800's karate was actually referred to on Okinawa as "Ti (pronounced like tea)." This indigenous system was separated by distance between villages such as Naha, Shuri and Tomari. It may have been even more exclusive to smaller villages but as of the 1800's these villages were known and promoted in the 1900's as the three main factions of Ti. 

Those Ti masters or experts tended to teach and "know" one, two or maybe three kata. We all have heard the legends that those elders tended to require several years to learn and master one kata. The stories or legends even stated in one system the kata that is known today as "sanchin" is the first kata that must be mastered and that it took three (guessing the time window here) years to master. I imagine this is how the question came into being.

Why indeed, does it take several years to master one kata? It comes down to an attempt to understand what comprised that one kata in those years before the mass effort to bring karate into the school systems per WWII needs of Japan, maybe even earlier. Before Ti came to the lower classes of Okinawa the exclusivity of practice, training and applications were held close to those who practiced. It might even explain why such traditional requirements as "introductions" or "recommendations" were required to even get a chance to learn the system of some Ti master. 

Then you have to understand some of the teachings that may have been withheld from the Western mind either by the intention of the master teaching the military or by exclusion as things transcended from the ancient traditional methods to more modern methods of a school system, etc. Things were toned down and many intricacies were removed to ease the learning processes of young adults in the school systems. 

In addition the traditional method of learning a martial art as explained by the levels of "shu," "ha," and "ri" dictate that what is and was introduced and taught to those young adults was true to this model or method, the strict lessons of the level "shu." Because of the difficult and tumultuous situations of war and other influences of being a country concurred by first the Chinese and then by the Japanese in the 1600's the levels of "ha and ri" were lost and/or forgotten except by the masters who many we lost when they died during the war. 

To attain a level of "ha" and "ri" requires that the practitioner learn much more than the mere basics but the actual principles that are the foundation of all martial systems. This is how we begin to learn the need to study one kata for a length of time as told in the legendary stories of Ti practitioners of Okinawa.

Principles are many, although limited by the fact that they are finite principles due to physics, etc., and to learn them each and then to bring them into a "one whole and holistic" practice takes a lot of time. In addition to learn and apply kata and its technique(s) means you don't just learn the patterns but each and every individual nuance of each technique and combination derived from kata practice. To achieve a "ha and ri" level requires the ability to instinctually apply not only the obvious kata application but the nuances underneath them as a separate and unique entity so that the mind and body along with spirit can apply any principle instinctually and in the moment as needed by that moment to work. 

Try taking your first kata and mixing, matching and modifying according to any given situation even in training with the other more theoretical and philosophical principles being applied. Losing the pattern and rhythm of a set kata is difficult without first coming to know, understand and apply each minute atomistic quality of said kata from any direction or dimension according to the fluidity of any given moment. This takes a lot of work and only a few will actually make the effort necessary to reach these levels while others accept today's rendition of karate or Ti in a sport oriented fashion where kata are dances and fighting abilities are reduced to who can "tag" another target for a "point." 

This does not even take into consideration how today's martial systems are encumbered by societies "rules and requirements." To achieve a level of understanding and application means opening the mind and leaving the rules in the dressing room. Not many can achieve this in today's litigious societies or if you prefer today's commercialized societies. 

It does take several years to truly master one kata when you apply "ALL" the requirements but to achieve the level of "shu" that is merely a ghost of a system it doesn't take much and there lies the reasoning behind learning many kata, many systems and achieving many levels of many systems of black belt status. 

Then again, all this is my theory as to why it takes much time, effort, sweat, blood and tears to learn just one kata. Who is up to the challenge?

Some Hojo Undo

Cornered Cat Wisdom

I DON'T KNOW

Koshi [腰] and Gamaku [hara: 腹] and Chinkuchi [チンクチ]

The character for koshi means, "back; lower back; waist; hips; lumbar region." Gamaku is an Okinawan term, Uchinaguchi or hogan dialect, that refers to the musculature the surrounds the waist and connects the torso to the pelvis. Koshi is as can be determined by the meaning, Japanese term, the lower back as it connects to the waist, hips and the lumbar region. The koshi is a smaller part of the entire region so you can surmise that the koshi is the main controller of how power is generated in karate techniques. 

Even referring to gamaku as the sides vs. koshi as the lower back is a more limited explanation of gamaku. Actually, gamaku is a method in utilizing the hara in martial arts. Every action taken is believed to originate at the hara and that generates a certain amount of power, i.e. it contributes one aspect of the principle that generates power in martial arts. 

When you visualize gamaku or that midsection grouping or band of muscles connecting the entire body you will also envision how that is a part of the fundamental principles of martial system specifically those found in the principle category titled "physiokinetic." 

To fully utilize the system of gamaku you need to master proper breathing, posture, spinal alignment, structure, relaxation, wave energy, centeredness, body-mind, centripetal and centrifugal force; sequential locking and relaxation, and rooting. This does not mean that the other principles in physiokinetics is not utilized but these are kind of primary. This also requires in a lesser degree all the other principles, i.e. theory, technique and philosophy that feed the mind-state, etc. 

All this while under the stress of the attack, the physical stresses from the chemical dump and the fluidity of the current moment, etc. Like the term "chinkuchi" it is another historical model and theory that helps describe, from a time when such descriptions lacked modern science and medicine, how things work in martial systems. Like chinkuchi and other terms it actually describes for us how we can incorporate fundamental principles of martial systems properly and completely in our practice, training and application in self-defense, defense and combatives - as appropriate to the situation. 

You might hypothesize that gamaku is an Okinawan term to mean "hara." Hara being the abdomen, belly, stomach along with one's mind, intentions or true motives. When you speak of the hara it should include the band of muscles that connect the belly, the hips and sides, the back and lower back, etc. 

When you make it work it should result in a pelvic tile slightly forward resulting in the alignment of the spine (can best be observed in the Tai Chi Chuan forms). It forces a student to rotate hips with side muscles as when striking with either fist. Differences will occur depending on the technique and whether it is an arm and hand technique vs. a leg technique. 

You might explain it as follows, i.e. "There is a very slight pelvic tile forward which helps minimize the lumbar and thoracic curves and also facilitates efficient transfer of energy through the gamaku area. This shifts the weight and center of gravity (tanden) slightly forward increasing the power of the blow."

"As far as koshi and gamaku in karate you move with your hara. Movement with hara requires development of gamaku through movement of the koshi. Once the gamaku is developed sufficiently movement is accomplished using gamaku and any movement of the koshi is a byproduct of using gamaku."

As with principles we can look at gamaku as one of three sub-principles that work the koshi, gamaku and hara into one wholehearted model used to connect how all the principles are aligned for maximizing application of martial arts. 

Sanchin Kiko - Some Thoughts

The Okinawan masters of karate pre-1800's taught sanchin kata as it was based culturally on exercises taught by Daruma - China's Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma in Japanese is Daruma. It is about circulating "ki or chi" through the bodies meridian, pathways, of the body. It is believed that this practice strengthens the muscles and tendons as well as stretches them. It is also believed that this form of practice directs our "ki or chi" into the bones and up the cerebrospinal system, the spine. 

Bodhidharma or Daruma teachings were Zen and both have a spiritual connection to what they transmitted that coupled with martial arts of China. Since China has a strong influence in all other Asian cultures, i.e. strong with both Okinawa and Japan, it is not surprising to find those connections in karate, etc.

This connects us to the second half of this phrase, i.e. spirit achievement, meaning that possibly this spirit achievement is promoted through the many traits learned, trained and taught that is sanchin kiko. 

To achieve success with sanchin kiko practice the karate-ka must realize that alignment is involved, an alignment of the body, mind and spirit. These three can be best explained through the fundamentals of martial systems. The principles explain how a wholehearted practice achieves such harmony by the alignment of the bodies internal workings, i.e. the flow of chi or ki is best accomplished with the body is adhering to the principles of physiokinetics, the mind is aligned with the principles of both theory and philosophy and the spirit is aligned with the alignment of the principle of technique as its manifestation through the practice of sanchin kata while achieving alignment of the other sets of principles. 

It is by the proper practice of sanchin kiko that we first learn of the complete fundamental principles of marital systems much like the study of the ken-po goku-i thus connecting the mind and body through academic study of the gokui and the physical study of others in the actions of the body leading to the development of the mind, spirit, coalescing the three into one. 

Sanchin being three battles is about teaching the self to achieve a holistic wholehearted blending into the "one" that often, as novices, resist one another, i.e. mind resists the spirit while the body tends to go in its own direction without direct influences of the other two. This relates back to principles of martial systems in that to achieve a wholehearted holistic practice of karate requires a blending of all the principles as "one whole" compilation of all the atomistic parts into the one, karate-jutsu-do. 

Bibliography:

Parker, Ryan. "Sanchin and Kiko Training." http://www.so-honbu-dojo-konbo.nl/kiko.htm

True Grit

Some examples of true grit: http://www.corneredcat.com/just-in-case/