There is a famous martial arts quote stating “Follow not in the footsteps of the masters instead seek what they sought”. At face value, this quote is telling you to look for the principles that the old masters were training rather than the techniques. Looking deeper it’s saying look at the master’s goal for training. […]
A Wise Sensei Once Said in A Dojo Not So Far away is a collection of quotes/training tips from a collection of modern and historical martial artists with analysis from the author. some of the quotes/tips featured are from leading industry experts such as Iain Abernethy, Kris Wilder and also historical figures such as Choki […]
Intent is something that is by no means easy to have for most of us. Believe it or not most people join martial arts clubs to learn self defence and the most common conception is that you will learn to fight. One of my old instructors used to say “anyone can throw a punch, in […]
Shuhari is a Japanese concept which can be taken to extremely esoteric levels, but for us, as practical martial artists we should initially view it simply as three levels of learning: Shu(守?) : In this beginning stage the student concentrates on how to do the task. The goal here is to learn to control your […]
Basic Strikes Chudan tsuki Stomach level punch Jodan tsuki Head level punch Yoko uraken Side Backfist Strike Mawashi empi Round Elbow Strike Basic Blocks Jodan age uke Rising head level block Haiwan uke Forearm block Soto uke Outside hooking block Gedan barai Downward block Kake uke Hooking block Oshikomu uke Pushing block Shuto […]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juyanT_0zoM What karate students should get from this video. I love watching this video, as most karate-ka do. We love it because we recognise the moves that are familiar to us from traditional kata and we feel all the hours of kata training are validate because all that kata training was not wasted because in […]
To explain what dirty kata is, let us explain how kata is usually clean. As kata is the art form/performance side of karate there is a strong emphasis on precision, balance, control, poise, dramatic timing and expression. This performance aspect of kata has been further characterised by the tournament/competition kata which prizes it. As a result, […]
Bunkai Bunkai literally means “analysis” or “disassembly” in Japanese but in the context of karate, it refers to the self-defence applications or intent behind a technique or sequence in a kata, which is often not obvious. To understand and unravel the mysteries of Bunkai you must understand a little of its history. A lot of […]
4 Elements of Kata The following is a checklist of sorts to guide the development of your kata ready for a tournament or your next grading. The list has been broken down into four key areas. This not only makes it easy to digest but also isolates different aspects or elements of your kata to […]
