"Karate does not work"

 

Many people argue that Kata are not applicable for self-defence.

They are wrong.

True, it is not always easy to see what a certain kata move is about and how it could be used for actual self-defence.

However, like it or not, the fact that you cannot figure it out does not mean that it cannot be done. It just means that you are not able to do it...

Traditional kata were transmitted to us by Masters - some of them with actual combat experience - for several generations. If you don't believe there was actual fighting knowledge codified in these exercises, that is your loss, for you are missing a huge amount of knowledge and experience.

I am not speaking here of fancy kata designed by modern self-proclaimed masters for the sole goal purpose of winning kata competition with fancy moves that are more efficient to move air around than for fighting purpose.

I was teaching 2 weeks ago a class about the use of Seisan Kata for self-defence. One of the student, a young and dedicated female high school student told me their school self-defence  instructor had told them:  

"Karate does not work - if somebody attacks you, get on your back on the ground and kick them away from you."

Ever heard something that stupid ?

I asked the student what her instructor would say if there were several attackers. She told me she had asked her, but she had not been able to answer. 

Now here we have someone who obviously knows nothing about Karate and is being critical of it, but who also does not understand anything to actual self-defence - life and death situations, and actual fighting, and has the guts to give some of the stupidest advise to a potential victim

This is the kind of comment is stupid, it is also irresponsible. To tell a young woman that when she is being attacked she should get to the ground with her legs in the air is borderline criminal. For this is probably where the rapist wants her anyway.

The ability to defend yourself depends of a few factors : physical fitness, technical ability, and willingness to do so.

Karate (and other martial arts) will teach you the technical ability and the willingness to do so. Your physical fitness is your job. If you are serious about your study of Karate, you will have to be fit anyway. 

Do not listen to self appointed experts. Train hard, kata, and their self-defence applications - and sparring if at all possible full contact. The ability to actually strike and to receive strikes, will greatly help you not freeze under attack.

Keep High Spirit

Rainy Night in Fukakusa

Drifting pitifully in the whirlwind of birth and death,
As if wandering in a dream,
In the midst of illusion I awaken to the true path;
There is one more matter I must not neglect,
But I need not bother now,
As I listen to the sound of the evening rain
Falling on the roof of my temple retreat
In the deep grass of Fukakusa.
 

Eihei Dōgen (1200 - 1253)

Fukakusa was the name of a secluded village to the south of medieval Kyoto. It literally means "deep grass".

 

Metsuke - where to look at the end of a kata

Metsuke - Where do you put your eyes during practice ? Do you focus toward your opponent's eyes, at his hands, his chest, or do you stay unfocused on the whole background ? 

The answer to these questions is "YES"... No kidding - but we will get to this later. 

For today lets get in to the devilish details...

Where do you focus your eyes at the end of a kata ? 

Your eyes should be looking down in the direction of the last fallen opponent.

Now you need to retreat back to the place you started from. You still need to display a certain level of Zanshin. So where do you look ? 

From our last class at the Dothan Dojo with Patty Heath Sensei this is what I gathered : 

• For all regular MJER kata (Shoden, Chuden, Okuden sets) you should keep looking slightly down until you are back where you started. Then when your Right hand leaves your tsuka, your eyes look up (Horizontally)

• For Batto-Ho Shoden & Okuden : keep your eyes down until your back foot gets level with the front one - after noto. Then, raise your eyes.

 

Please note that only your eyes are moving, not your head which should always stay vertical. Do not let your head lean up or down, only your eyeballs should move.

The Secret of Kendo

Once upon a time, a very proud young samurai visited a famous Kendo Master and asked him : 

"What is the secret of your Art?"

The Master quietly grabbed his shinai, twirled it above his head and strongly whacked the young man on the top of his head. 

Surely he received satori!

 In "Zen and Martial Arts" by Taisen Desshimaru

Don't you love these old Masters...

Mutual Progress

Let's help each other progress toward improving Mankind.

No matter the schools - ryu and methods, practitioners together form a great family.

In the past, Martial Arts were used on battle fields for warfare and to train samurai warriors.

Nowadays, Martial Arts are still used to train samurai, but only those who fight for peace. 

The goal of Martial arts is now to cultivate peace.

Hiroo Mochizuki - Soke, Yoseikan Budo

Hiroo Mochizuki lives in Aix en Provence, France. He is the son of Minoru Mochizuki, founder of Yoseikan Budo, who had trained directly under Jigoro Kano, Gichin Funakoshi and Morihei Ueshiba, the founders of modern Judo, Karate and Aikido. 

After World War II, the emphasis in the teaching of Martial Arts switched from practical warfare applications to one of moral improvement of the student. This had always been the goal of Jigoro Kano when he designed Judo based on traditional Ju Jitsu tradition, but had been lost when the military clique had militarized Japan after World War I.

Martial Arts are a wonderful way to train better people. It is important however, to not lose sight of the fact that they should always be a martial discipline, and stay realistic. Unfortunately, it is not always the case... If you are serious about your practice, you should always question what you are doing, try to make sure it works by asking practitioners better than you to attack you, and see what happens...

The original quote in French :

Aidons-nous à progresser mutuellement pour améliorer l’humanité. 
Quelles que soient les écoles et les méthodes, les pratiquants forment ensemble une grande famille.
Auparavant, les arts martiaux servaient sur les champs de bataille à faire la guerre et à former des Samouraïs.
Aujourd'hui les arts martiaux forment toujours des Samouraïs, mais ceux représentant la Paix. Les arts martiaux servent à cultiver la paix.

 

The Voice of Nothingness

I don't normally advertise anything or anybody, but here is a man - Thomas Roth -  a German film maker - who is trying to raise money to make a film about the Japanese Kyoto School of thought. I like his project, and I would like to help him.

Members of  the Kyoto School were professors and scholars teaching various materials at the University of Kyoto, Japan, before WWII. Although all of them had been deeply marked by their practice of Zen, they were people of different backgrounds, did not always share the same views and did not hesitate to criticise each others' work.

One common point of their work was the investigation of "nothingness" and its influence and importance in the history of philosophy.

The title of the film is "The Voice of Nothingness".

If you have a moment, click on this link and watch the short video to present the project. It is well done, and to the point. If you like it, please contribute by sending any amount you can afford, and share the page with your friends on Facebook or other social media.

Thank you

Bow and Musket in Japanese warfare.

The first images picturing the distinct Japanese asymmetrical longbow date from the Yayoi period (ca. 500 BC–300 AD). The first written document describing Japanese archery is the Chinese chronicle Weishu (dated around 297 AD), which tells how in the Japanese isles people use "a wooden bow that is short from the bottom and long from the top." The bow was used a a weapon of war as well as for hunting. 

 

When the Portuguese arrived in Japan in 1543, they brought with them muskets or harquebuse. Within 20 years the Japanese blacksmith were able to manufacture their own muskets usually called tanegashima.

The bow kept being used alongside the tanegashima for quite a while because of its longer reach and accuracy and mostly because its highly superior rate of fire. A good archer could fire 30 to 40 arrows during the time it took a musketeer to reload his musket. 

 

However, it was much easier and faster to train a musketeer than it was to train an archer. This allowed Oda Nobunaga (and his ally Tokugawa Ieyasu) to annihilate the traditional samurai archer cavalry army of the Takeda clan with an army mostly consisting of peasants armed with tanegashima in 1575 at the Battle of Nagashino.