Kime [決め] - Addendum

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

Kime (focus or power) is the ultimate purpose of the kihon-kata-kumite trinity in our Karate. Kihon, Kumite and Kata are useless without use of KIME - Myint Kywe January 16 at 8:12am Facebook 

The folks who provide the meme’s I write about believe in the intent of the meme’s content and that is a good thing. They inherently understand what it is they mean because they spend time on it in study, in training, in practice and, hopefully, in application regardless of whether that is sport, the way or in self-defense. Where I tend to take it is as I receive it, as it is presented to me outside of that training circle because if you are conveying an idea, theory or way then how the reader interprets that becomes critical especially if they are unable, for what ever reasons, to venture forth into the karate community, seek the source out and then inquire as to what they meant for clarity. This includes when commenting or questioning is unavailable from or through the meme’s presentation as in this case on a FB page.

Questions that come to mind:

• Why is kime considered the, “Ultimate Purpose,” of the KKK trilogy of Isshinryu or of Karate itself?
• Why would a lack of kime make karate, kata and kumite worthless, is there nothing else that holds equalilty toward the practice of those three?
• Is kime really only about focus and power? 
• When you say focus, what do you mean exactly?
• When you say power, how does kime contribute to that power and how does it create it?

So, in my mind, the first thing I had to do is go back and reiterate what kime means to me in my karate and martial arts. I have a definition and translation of the term and characters/ideograms (Kanji) so I will start there:

Kime [決め]

The characters/ideograms are used to mean "focus." The first character means, "fix; agree upon; appoint; decide." It is a noun form of the term "kimeru [決める]." This term, character/ideogram means to "clinch (a victory); to decide; to resolve; to persist in doing; to go through with; to carry out successfully and to immobilize with a double are lock (in sumo, judo, etc.)."

In karate it means power or focus, the more common being focus. It is often described as the instantaneous tensing at the correct moment in applying a technique. 

In the fundamental principles of martial systems it comes to mean "total focus." It is about "focusing on a single point" as described above as that instantaneous tensing moment in a technique. When a karate-ka learns about kime they are taught to associate it with "mushin" where the mind is connected by its mind-state of being uncluttered, unfettered, and unfocused except for remaining responsive, alert, and aware of self and the environment, etc. It is about a focus on the present moment with no disruptions of the past or about anything possible for the future - only the exact moment. 

To achieve this level of kime and mushin the karate-ka must have applied all the fundamental principles equally except for the principles necessary to achieve success such as those physiokinetic and technique principles that bring about that instantaneous tensing or chinkuchi, at the moment of technique application.

Now, I will add to this by saying that this definition is limited and does not cover the full spectrum of what makes kime in martial arts and karate let alone in other aspects of the way and our lives. The current meaning of focus as I understand does not span the entire spectrum of what focus means. I will try to expand on that a bit in this article. 

PLEASE NOTE: This is not meant to be a criticism of the meme or the persons beliefs, understanding and practice of karate and/or Isshinryu. It is meant to get the reader thinking outside the box and it may end up that my idea’s, theories and analysis are off base or just plain inaccurate and/or incorrect but the process is the key, i.e., Data mine-Analysis of data-Synthesis of data into more appropriate data, etc. 

The following are addendum’s to the above translation and definition of kime:

Kime:

The reciprocal of mushin is kime, i.e. focus so sharp that you lengthen your line in relation to your adversary. It is such a focus that you apply your tactics and strategies faster and instinctively remaining in the upper half of the loop while the adversary is trying to catch up stuck in the lower half. 

The type of focus that is fluid in nature allowing you to remain in a mind uncluttered, unfettered, and unfocused while remaining responsive, alert, and aware when in chaos and under the influences of the bodies chemical dump from the encounter. To achieve total kime remember that the principles of proper technique become critical, it must be singularly powerful and complete.

AND

When our philosophy discusses aspects of the psychological principles inherent to all martial systems such as mushin no kokoro, kime, non-intention, and other mind-states then we become impervious to mental imbalances leading to physical imbalances thus defeat and damage.

AND

“Focus applies to time as well as to space. We must focus effects not only at the decisive location but also at the decisive moment.” -  General C. C. Krulak, USMC Commandant, MCDP-1 and this adds another dimension to how karate-ka and martial artists will view, “Kime or Focus.” It should be understood that this publication comes from the original works of a Marine Officer, Michael D. Wyly, USMC retired (Michael Duncan Wyly (born c. 1939) is a retired U.S. Marine Colonel. In 1979, Colonel Wyly was head of tactics at the Amphibious Warfare School (AWS) where he, with John Boyd, introduced maneuver warfare.) who initially wrote the book on Marine Maneuver War-Fighting that later became the MSDP-1.

AND

Kenji Tokitsu Sensei states in his book, "Kime entails having our strength heightened to its maximum level, to be realized by going beyond this threshold at certain selected moments during the execution of a technique."

AND

Clarke Sensei of the Shinsei-do-kan blog provided me with his perspective in regards to this more or less unique Okinawan term, "Chinkuchi." He states in short ..... "a momentary "fixing" of the muscles as a punch is made/delivered" and "more than just a fixing of the arm muscles it also has a feeling of fixing with the ground at the same time too" and "maybe Japanese karateka use the term "kime" to describe the same thing as Okinawans use chinkuchi" and finally, "it can be thought of as an element of a technique that is either "there" (in your feeling for what you're doing), or not."

Focus, as can be seen, is not just the focus used to direct our internal energies, Ki or Chi, to the appendage that connects to the target but a compilation of things that bring about effective, efficient, powerful force through the multiple methodologies of self-defense using appropriate focused force levels to achieve our goals, tactics and strategies be it sport competition, self-fense in a physical (or even a psychological) attack or on finding the proper path in the Philosophical endeavor of Tao or The Way. 

• Focus on proper application of the fundamental principles of martial arts and karate.
• Focus on our selves as to attitudes, emotional states and the input of informational stimuli through the sensory systems to our minds thus controlling the triggering of our primal conditioned encoded responses as appropriate.
• Focus on our actions and deeds not just in the dojo but in ever facet of our lives.
• Focus on our training and practice to ensure of its appropriateness especially in regard to the legal, moral and social ramifications of applying the skills in self-defense.
• Focus on learning everything about self-defense such as communications skills, emotional control and contributions of maturity toward survival, how to recognize conflict and impending violence in the art of Self-fense avoidance, recognizing the connections that will allow us to utilize deescalation, accepting the tactic of running over others to meet or exceed self-fense of self, family, friends and others, etc.
• Focus on how, when, and the why of teaching adequate and proper and appropriate teachings to your students. 

As you can see be the few examples I provide there is far more to kime that merely the first definition, i.e., of focusing on a single point. Yes, focus permeates every aspect of life, studies and understanding even in martial arts and karate and that is what needs conveying with a caveat that the physiokinetic (a fundamental principle) parts are already covered by the accepted definition while the other aspects of kime are important to forego the physiokinetic making that application one of secondary choice when other choices are not feasible or even necessary. 

Kime, it isn’t just one thing. 

Bibliography (Click the link)