KUGB VISIT #2: Kusshin- The Pressure Drop- You Gonna Feel It!

Ah Well, you could call KWF Karate Twist and Shout, but it seems that Saturday's session with the KUGB visiting was more a case of spring has sprung (ignoring the unseasonal weather...or was that the Pressure Drop?)

"Cause a pressure drop, oh pressure

Oh yeah pressure drop a drop on you

I say a pressure drop, oh pressure

Oh yeah pressure drop a drop on you

I say when it drops, oh you gonna feel it

Know that you were doing wrong..."

Your humble diarist couldn't make it today, so Pieter submitted the following report, rendered incomprehensible by me....

OK, as last Tuesday's session with OS focused on kaiten (hip rotation) YS seemed to take the session to Kusshin (compression). Actually, just before the session Pieter popped in to pick my camera up. I said to him, we have visitors, so please report on what was taught today." Pieter laughed.

About three hours later he came back saying "excellent, excellent, excellent" about the session.

Here is Pieter's report, which he delivered at midnight, Saturday night:

Hello Paul! How are you doing? Here are the headlights of Yahara Sensei and Isaka Senseis black belt training today:

Yahara Sensei started by asking everyone if they thought what they had been training up until now was really "Karate," he then asked what is the difference between Karate and other martial arts.

When nobody could properly answer his question, he gave them his simple explanation, "Karate means to kill with a single blow."

He then moved on to the question of creating a body capable of delivering a killing blow, which led to the theory of using the rotation of the hips or the compression of the back leg genkai made (everything to the limit). Yahara Sensei demonstrated a few of his techniques (gyaku-zuki & kaiten uraken) on Ibuki Sensei to show how this rotation, or compression, was applied to actual technique.

But first! Before we can learn about hip rotation & leg compression, it was important for everybody to understand the concept of the center of gravity, which was were Isaka Sensei's training session began. We did the basic slow motion center of gravity movement training in kiba-dachi, kokutsu-dachi & zen-kutsudachi.

Yahara Sensei continually pointed out that it was crucial to compress the back leg to the limit, in order to control and move your center of gravity.

When Isaka Sensei made sure everyone had an idea of "special use muscle slow move spin go feeling," he gave a demonstration to show how it should be done.

This was followed by Yahara Sensei's training session, which again focused mainly on the compression of the back leg. We did the gyaku-zuki training where you start from zenkutsu-dachi, compress back, and then explode off the back leg. We did repetitions with age-uke gyaku-zuki, soto-uke gyaku-zuki, and gedanbarai gyaku-zuki.

After this Otsuka Sensei and Ibuki Sensei demonstrated how this training was applied in Jiyuu Ippon kumite. Then we did the compression combinations again.

We ended off the training session with Enpi with Yahara Sensei again emphasising the expansion of the back leg.

I think the theme of the class was Yahara Sensei's theory of using all the joints & muscles in the body to their absolute limit, in order to create maximum power when you strike your target.

A big thank you to Pieter!

Yoroshiku,

Paul.

Otsuka and Tadrist Senseis in Action

Just found some more interesting videos, these ones just put by Alex (Chichvarin) of KWF Russia. I just hope he doesn't mind these as they show a good Russian fighter against Sid Tadrist Sensei and Masamichi Otsuka Sensei.

1. Sid Tadrist Sensei's Ippon!
YBBB watchers will know that I personally rated Sid Sensei's ippon as one of the highlights; I'd just muttered to Sid that I only have an oi-zuki and I am too old, slow and readable for it to be any good in a Karate competition, whereas Sid has any number of techniques in his arsenal. So he said, "Oh yes, I use Oi-zuki when necessary"....for example, against big tough fighters he wants to get out of the way?

In fact, KWF Karate London has posted an impressive collection of Sensei Sid Tadrist's work here. Please take a look!

2. Otsuka Sensei in Action
The records will show that Otsuka Sensei didn't win the KWF World Cup, etc. etc. but that doesn't change the quality of his Karate. I have still shots of him attacking and defending and his moves are perfect kihon. A year after coming back to Karate, Otsuka Sensei's Karate is, well, just great, lookey here!

Yoroshiku,
Paul.

New Old Videos of Yahara Sensei and Asai Sensei

Robert Sidoli Sensei just came across some videos on You Tube featuring Yahara Sensei and Asai Sensei, and also a fascinating video of Isaka Sensei doing Kihon. It's hard to believe that this was more than 10 years ago, and I was struggling with Heian Nidan under Richard Amos Sensei (who can be found demonstrating Kumite here.)

Come to think of it, I am still struggling with Heian Nidan ;-)  

I don't know what these were shot on, but for me the weird color and muddy focus only add to the charm. Click on the bold hyperlinked title to see the videos! 

1. Isaka Sensei Kihon Demonstration, Paris 1997

What I love about this video is that it clearly shows an earlier stage in the evolution of IS slow-motion training to the level he trains at now. One of the things you have to remember with IS is that kicking fast and high is easy. Kicking slow is a different matter. As an aside, just before we went off to Norway, I saw IS walk up to the bag at the other end of the ShotoKan. He lurked in front of it and then suddenly POP! out came a fast as lightning left jodan mawashigeri that hit the top of the bag. He then turned around and wondered off absent-mindedly as if he was thinking about his lunch or something. That's Isaka Sensei. No matter what you think he's thinking, he's thinking something else. You think he's going to kick one way, but he's already somewhere else. 

This reminds me of Asai Sensei- he seemed to have a temporary anti-gravity button. With Isaka Sensei, it's a sort of appear where you don't expect him. Difficult to explain, you just have to see it. 

2. Knives, Nunchacku, and the odd Kick or Two! 

Here we can see YS with knives, Asai Sensei looking very deadly with nunchacku, and a rare ushirogeri from YS. The big point for me is that this was apparently filmed back in 1980, and yo can see the early elements of YS spinning techniques that became so important later. 

3. YS LONG EMBU

Just take a look at this. Most of this will be familiar to YS watchers. But there is a lovely surprise at the end. 

4. Asai Sensei and Yahara Sensei Demonstration

Here is a full chance to appreciate a couple of Asai Sensei's Budo techniques. What a pity there aren't more. It's just a delight to watch. And some clips of Isu-Dori as well ;-)

Enjoy!

Yoroshiku,

Paul.

 

Welcome to the KUGB

We were delighted to have a party of KUGBers over on Tuesday Black Belt trianing under Otsuka Sensei (YS is in New Caledonia until the end of the week) and it was nice to get back in the saddle. I've been laid low with pneumonia but it was, right, get the asprins and caffeine in and go for it!

My gosh it felt good to be back in the saddle, although my stamina has been badly impacted personally, it was best kick (or in my case, get the foot out, at least) forward.

Getting a Kick Out of Basics

Our guests lead by Nick Sensei are a really nice bunch and with a good atmosphere in the dojo, OS in their honor decided that we should do basics, and more basics and more basics. There's an expression in the UK that says, "Tired of London, tired of Life." Those people never lived in New York or Tokyo!

I say, "tired of basics, tired of Karate," so just go and do kick boxing instead ;-)

But what I really liked about Tuesday was that OS observations were aimed at all of us. For good reason in some cases, Japanese instructors are sometimes criticised for not explaining things enough. But it definitely depends on the instructor. OS decided to do a diagnostic in the first half and then work on a couple of points on the second. And you can guess what those were!


Kihon: Hanmi and Shomen
OK there is no doubt that a lot of us delude ourselves about our hanmi and shomen. And there are arguments that KWF 's movements are unnessarily extreme. But what Tuesday's lesson boiled down to was trying to get people to logically understand why we have hanmi and shomen in Shotokan Karate, and while the scale and technical correctness of these movements is fundamental.

Tuesday's key points:

1. The vector of an oizuki without gyakuhami actually has the wrong vector
2. The mechanics of the kick dictate that oi-geri and mae-geri must be done from shomen/ gyaku-hanmi
2. A weak hanmi in a block is nonsense; why give your opponent a bigger target, and why sabotage the scale of your hangeki
3. With all blocks, age/soto/uchi/gendan uke, you block with and from your body, not your arm
4. Lack of (3) particularly sabotages shuto-uke. Actually it's quite obvious who understands this and who doesn't. People who don't get it look like they are dancing. People who do get it, well you get hit in the head with one of those and it could well be lampshade time.

Point 4 is a big point with me because YS patiently re-taught me this point 5 or 6 times in the run up to my shodan: shuto is done from the hips, that's where the whiplash and power comes in. Until I was taught this by KS and YS personally (I am so dense that sometimes the only way to drive in a point is the old fashioned way, to beat it in) I used to regard shuto as a bit of a joke. KS gradually ground into me the the scale and then YS the whiplash. Now, at least I feel that I am competent (on a good day) on this beautiful, beautiful basic technique! :-)

Of course there were a lot of ohter points, and others may have different takes on the session, but that was my takeaway.

Giving 100%
Well, that was a very difficult session for me to get through personally because I seem to have lost lung capacity. I wouldn't give up, but I did get a bit wobbly. OS kept on asking if I was OK. He would say things like, "Paul san, that's an interesting shade of grey you're going!" Despite the fact the session was a very light one, I wouldn't give up.

But actually it's OK to stop in the KWF. YS expects you to put in 100% -total committment; but if you can't take the pace, you are free to rest. The instructors know who is doing what and I can guarantee whenever you think you are not being watched, you are being watched like a hawk!

Down the Aldgate
Any excuse. In order to celeberate our guests arrival from England, and in order to help their total emmersion into Japanese culture, Nick Gardiner and I took them down The Aldgate, a fine establishment serving traditional Brit ales and grub in the middle of Shibuya. The group will also be training at the JKS over in Sugamo and then back to KWF on Saturday! We wish them an enjoyable trip and excellent training in Japan.

Yoroshiku ;-)
Paul.

Pneumonia

Now I finally understand why we were sweating away and I was coughing up blood for the last week- I was officially diagnosed with pneumonia by nice Dr. Yamada today who was kind enough to phone me at work this afternoon. 

"Take rest," he said. Get stuffed! I'll rest when I am on the beach next month! 

This might also explain why I have felt so dull and tired and ill the last few weeks. Caffeine-laced genki drinks and pills are extremely effective, in fact I got quite fond of some of the pills supplied by Okada Sempai, but you know, you can't really lie to your body about these things. I sort of knew something was wrong when I started coughing up blood when we landed in Japan! 

This means that all Karate is off this week while I recover- last week was off because I had pains in my lungs, moving to my back. The gym staff were quite worried when I wobbled off the exercise bike last Monday and staggered over to the balcony and starting wheezing and cacking up like some old traction engine.  Here is a nice shot of me doing ido kihon. Note the kiai at the end! The blood started the day after.

Doing Karate you expect a ribbing now and again. But you don't expect your own body to have a go at you as well! 

Given that until last year I used to be a smoker, all those white smudges on the chest X-ray over the Saturday got me thinking.

I will try to update Isaka Sensei's Sit Down Basics this week, but I'll try to use the time I can't go to Karate to catch up on work!

Normal service (whatever that is) will be resumed next week!

Yoroshiku ;-)

Paul.,

Marcus, our Scots Rover

I just wanted to introduce Marcus (the tallest of a bunch of distinguished gentlemen in the picture) who is a Honbu Student no matter where he chooses to lay his designer shirt.

You know, I have this guy's number in my keitai (mobile phone) and it's a safe guaranteed bet, like Red Rum in a donkey derby, that whenever I am in the middle of a deadline haze, a critical meeting or answering a call of nature, Marcus will call me on that Keitai.

The question is, what part of the world from? Wherever you think he is, he is somewhere else. You think he's in Australia, and actually he's in Scotland. You think he's in Scotland, and actually he's in the pub about 300 meters from the dojo.

One day he will call me up with his friendly Scots burr and say, "Hey Paul, I am just at Moonbase Alpha," but I'll see you at black belt practice on Saturday. Look, I know you gave up drinking, but just one for old times sake, yeah?"

Just the one, Paul.

...oh yeah! ;-)



Yoroshiku-ne!

Tawara Sensei's Kenshusei Ceremony

Ibuki Tawara can't remember a time before he was in the dojo. This is what he told me when I asked him when he started Karate when we were driving back from a BBQ with YS- oh about a year or so ago. Of course, he wasn't (as far as I know) born in the dojo physically, but metaphorically you could say that he was born into Karate, that it's in the blood, with both his uncle (Tawara Shihan) and his father (Tawara Sensei) both important mainstays of the KWF in Shinshu and Nagano.

And you'll never meet a nicer person. Ibuki Tawara is always the gentleman, has a mischievoussense of humor, is bright and intelligent and modest. It's always interesting to see him when his blood's up though because he loves combat but always has perfect control. If Bruce Springsteen was Born to Run, then Ibuki Tawara was born to Karate. What better could you ask for, really?

Ibuki Tawara has also come through a very character building experience- in his third year at university, some idiot grabbed and fell on his leg, badly damaging Ibuki's knee. Getting him back in the dojo was a long and at times very painful experience involving keyhole surgery and bolts. (I have two in my neck).

I guess only 20 years ago it would have been a career-ending injury. You could tell that being able to move and not being able to train were much, much worse for him- you could see how well he was coping with frustration that he could not practice and compete at what should have been the crowning years of his student Karate era.

Luckily he was able to start training at nearly full power about three weeks before the World Cup so he was able to get some badly needed practice in!

Well, Ibuki Tawara joins Masamichi Otsuka as our second Kenshusei (trainee instructor) and his induction ceremony to the KWF was held on Saturday. Unfortunately I couldn't train; I was finally diagnosed as having pleurisy which may explain my sluggishness and exhaustion for the last month and why I was coughing up blood in Norway (I assumed I had taken a punch I hadn't seen at all) so I just went along to watch and record.

The ceremony was simple: Tanaka Rijicho made a speech and then YS told him what he was up for. He said that for the next two years his most important duty was to keep cheerful and smiling whether he'd had no sleep for days, or was covered in blood. YS said "it is the manner in which you confront and overcome the darkest and hardest moments that will make you grow." So it was more than saying "never give up," rather that's simply understood. It is the manner in which you conduct yourself in front of others, setting yourself as an example, that makes you a leader and makes you command respect. This element of "heijoshin," control, both in karate technique and spirit, is highly prized by YS.

This was followed by a super rendition of Tawara Sensei's trademark- Sochin, with which he won the KWF World Cup Kata last month. Great!

Isaka Sensei just peered at Ibuki Tawara over his glasses, skeptically. If you have ever seen IS looking skeptical, you will know what skeptical means.

Will we couldn't ask for better people to represent the new generation of the KWF. YS said that Otsuka Sensei's Karate has clearly evolved into great KWF Karate and he has successfully made the transition from Zenkuren and nearly half a decade layoff. Ibuki Tawara is steeped in Shotokan and KWF, and now YS will polish (or grind, if you prefer) him up!

We feel refreshed to have two younger generation Karateka who are talented and capable and nice guys.

The division of responsibilities looks like Ibuki Tawara will be the guy you talk to most. He's very open and quick on the uptake and learning English at a rapid rate of knots. Please remember that at Kokushikan University, he spent all day doing Karate, with academic subjects basically just cursory. However, there is one thing that Ibuki Tawara isn't, and that's "Karate Baka."

Yoroshiku ;-)

Paul.

Kusshin, Kihon & Kumite

I was actually searching for something else when I found this, highlights from the first World Karate Championships and was, well bowled over.

If you can't wait, just "scroll forward" to about 2:00 minutes and take a look at the fights. The stances (although not perfect of course) and the distance (not the distance we in the KWF are supposed to fight) is pure KWF- or what KWF should be. In fact, especially from a couple of the Japanese fighters, their stances and movements were just showing kusshin.

But these days with bouncy bouncy this and chudan-jodan mawashi-geri combo that, this Karate looks even a little bit unusual. But its what KWF Karate is. What a difference from the sports university Karate you see in Shotokan tournaments these days!

Of course, it might be as obvious as night and day to all you experienced Karatekas, but YS says that he is trying to bring KWF Karate in terms of it's technical approach back to its Nakayama Sensei 原点 (genten = origin) and in terms of spirituality and attitude back to its Budo genten / 精神 (seishin = spirit/ attitude/ philosophy).

In a recent interview I translated for Karatenomichi Venezuela YS said that the KWF is actually going in the opposite direction to most Shotokan organizations are doing. Of course for this YS has been castigated by others, especially those who have never even met him face-to-face. Look, I know it's psychologically appealing to some personality types to want to belong to some sort of "true believer" cult minority, but when thrust comes from spin, we are just doing traditional Shotokan Karate. 

Anyway, it just goes to show to an increasing number of people, that we are doing the sort of Karate of a bygone era, and, to tell the truth, I am really PROUD of that! 

Yoroshiku ;-)
Paul.

Back from the World Cup!

Well that was that- Yuko and I are just starting to get back into the swing of things after an exhausting World Cup. I was coming off a long bout of flu and Yuko caught mine right in the thick of things. Oh what fun we had!

Many, many thanks to David Barker, Bob Sidoli and Kristiansund
Well there were many highlights and hardships, but before anything, I would like to offer our deep appreciation and thanks, on behalf of everyone here in the KWF HQ, for David Barker in particular for his wonderful work in making this event happen. And of course to Robert Sidoli Sensei, who is an old hand at conjuring up magic solutions from his dogi. And right behind them was a small army of KWF Norway students, and sponsors and local people of Kristiansund. Fantastic.

Kristiansund is a beautiful town with great people. Have I gushed enough? Have I ever! We were made to feel very at home and we really appreciate all the work of all those who worked so hard.

All's Well that Ends Well
I may be writing up a formal article on the event later, so this is just a very informal take. OK, make that a personal take. Before anything else, I would like to say congratulations to all the competitors. I can't give myself a pat on the back because (a) my left shoulder seems permanently incapable of full movement and (b) my right ribs are restricting movement with my right hand and (c), the real reason, because I sucked. 

As I quite get a thrill from Shiai, despite my decrepitude, I have promised myself that for next year I will enter that strange and complex world of tactics! 

Personal Highlights
Highlights for me were getting kicked around by high-level senseis, not getting kicked around too much on the mat, and eating reindeer burgers and enjoying the local revelry. Above all else it was meeting fine people from all over the world.

Personal highlights as they happened (roughly)

1. Shane Dorfman Sensei's mawashi-geri Seminar.

Those of you familiar with Sensei Shane- I have been lucky enough never to have been on the receiving end of a beautifully executed kizami-zuki or mawashi-geri will know what I am talking about. As Darth Vader would say...."most impresssive..."

The other great thing behind all that power is control, which seems to be particularly valued by Yahara Sensei and Isaka Sensei. It's really easy to hurt people (seriously) if you are wearing those 2-3mm thick KWF knuckle pads. The quality comes in the control. (SEE BELOW).

2. Having the "Mori-kick" done on me by YS in the Judge Training Course.

I was supposed to be translator, but I also turned out to be aite (partner, aka dogs body). So this meant whenever someone had to make a point, they did so on me. Much to my surprise, YS asked me to throw him. Well, it's not often you get a chance to throw YS over your shoulder, so I went for it...it's been a long time since I did a left hand ippon-seoi-nage and BONK!!! he promptly kicked me in the side of the when he landed, just like that famous shiai with Mori Sensei. My jaw is still aching from that.

3. Having the YS Kani-Basami done on me.For those of you not familiar with this particular move, it's it's crab claws takedown. I was standing there when all of a sudden YS popped under my radar. I felt these sort of steely things trapped around my legs and then a fraction of a second wobble and BANG! "DONG!!" "DONG!!" I went down like a ton of bricks then YS kicked me in the side and then the head. I briefly got a very close glimpse of the ball of YS foot- it's sort of been imprinted in my memory since.

4. Having IS hurl me backwards.

Now this was really very unsettling. Can you imagine standing in the sea and looking out on the horizon, and then suddenly out of nowhere a wave knocks you flat? IS was demonstrating about how to control space and asked me to face him. Suddenly, like some sort of mini-space warp I felt his fingers on my throat and then WHHAANG! I was down backwards.

This was very peculiar because it was like Aikido. One second IS was somewhere, the next he in my face, and at the touch of his hand I went down. It wasn't at all painful and he barely made contact with me- certainly not enough to throw me back and down. The only other times I've had this experience is with my old Aikdo sensei Saito Sensei (7th dan) who could throw me across a room just by touching me.

A few days later we were walking toward the restaurant in Copenhagen where we were going to have an evening meal and for some reason me, the worst, weakest and most feeble guy in the group by a considerable distance, was entrusted with carrying the valuables. IS asked me if I was OK with this and I said fine, but I felt sorry for anyone who mistook IS for some elderly gentlemen easy victim target in a mugging. IS turned around to me and said in English, "No Paul san, I no hurt, PEACE!" he said with a big grin.

"Oh yeah?" I thought.

6. Sid Tadrist Sensei's Oi-zuki Ippon

I am a big fan of Sid Tadrist Sensei because apart from having consummate skill, he has such a varied arsenal and seems to be able to switch from offense to defense, stalk and trap opponents. Anyway, "win or loose" he's always in complete control. The funny thing was just before one of the semi-finals I think he was talking to me, saying "I don't use oi-zuki much, only when necessary," and in the next shiai POW! out it came, a picture perfect peach of a punch! It made me so happy to see such perfect technique. The sports Karate people just don't understand this.

7. Masamichi Otsuka Sensei's Gojushiho-sho.

Actually he placed second to Ibuki Tawara's Sochin. Both kata looked great to me. But I have seen Ibuki's Sochin for years, whereas Otsuka Sensei was asked just a couple of months ago to switch to Gojushiho-sho instead of Unsu. (You should see Otsuka Sensei's Unsu- it's a masterpiece!) Not bad for a guy who hasn't competed for six years...

8. Shane Dorfman Sensei's Enbu

Now this was awesome- the budo power and control- control being an essential quality, I am learning more and more- of this display was breathtaking. IS turned around to me just as Shane Sensei had launched a breathtaking jodan tobi-geri and just touched the face of the aite. IS grinned ear-to-ear and said "That was a great display of control."

9. Being upgraded by SAS! ;-)

Look, I only judge people by the way they treat me: I like polite intelligent people, and I don't like rude, stupid people. Simple. IS was flying Economy Extra and the nice staff at Oslo decided to upgrade him to Business Class. I walked up to them and thanked them so much because IS was a famous Karate master we really appreciated it. She gave a big smile and promptly upgraded the rest of us to Economy Extra, which is roughly equivalent to what Business Class was a decade a go. Free champagne all round!

10. Friends, Karateka and Kallender

Above all else, it was really great to meet old friends. You know who you are!

The Lowlights:

If there was one lowlight of the trip it was the so called "pizza," an absolute abomination disguised as semi-edible comfort food at Oslo airport. This truly is a foul culinary blot on the fine crisp Nordic landscape that should be bulldozed out onto the tundra.

If you arrive as we did after a long-haul flight in luggage class, you may well be deceived by the seemingly succulent wafts of cheese and oven baked crust wafting through the airport. So you have been awake for a day and you just couldn't face that anemic plastic half frozen "roll" on your sad little tray. You are starving. What better than a pizza?

...nonononononoNO! Geen! Nein! Rein! DA-ME!

In Oslo airport, it's what's worse than their pizza: you pay a fortune for a huge circular blob of bland cheese with nondescript chunks of used tires, dead frozen mystery animals and ...things I just don't understand...

OK, apart fromt the dreadful, dreary, disgraceful pizza, the rest of our nordic experience was awesome!

Back to normal service soon...

Yoroshiku ;-)

Paul.