Part I: Sticking Your Neck Out

Apologies for not posting so much recently as we have been busy trying to sort out things for the future and we have been practicing Nijushiho and Gojushiho-Dai. I would like to write up a technical report on this later, but frankly at shodan I am not competent to comment on either of these kata really. I can write up how Ibusuki Sensei teaches them, but I am sure this will cause trouble!


Also we are very excited about Oleg Larionov (online name is Oleg Takumi)* who is coming on Sunday to film Ibusuki Sensei for posterity. Yuko and I have maintained a great friendship with Oleg over the years and we were very complemented that he wanted to interview Ibusuki Sensei for the record. As one of or the only (I can't verify this, so I won't stick my neck out) student of Funakoshi Sensei still teaching Karate, this man, we think, is an living piece of Karate history.


OK this blog is going to be in two parts. In this Part I: Sticking Your Neck Out... I will stick my neck out and relay some of Ibusuki's commentary on Karate. In Part II: Not Sticking Your Neck Out, I will talk about a simple revelation I had that is really helping me recover my form. But I'm so thick, and it's so obvious, you've probably guessed what it is anyway.

So this entry is all about sticking your neck out, and the next one is about doing the opposite. And what the hell, eh? When I see moronic statements like "Today I saw true oi-zuki." think these people need to get out more often!

Returning to Ibusuki Sensei, his opinions on Karate are bound to stir the pot and I am sure that there are many who won't welcome his perspective. Harry must be laughing his way all through the miserable northern winter though ;-).

In a nutshell Ibusuki Sensei feels that the JKA really destroyed Funakoshi Sensei's Shotokan Karate when it introduced competition.

Don't misunderstand, Ibusuki Sensei was personally retaught the Nakayama Sensei "instant orthodox" Kata and personally great respected Nakayama Sensei. But it ain't what Ibusuki Sensei learned!
However, Shotokan needed a brand, and identity, and standardization, so Nakayama Sensei basically stuffed what was a very different Shotokan into a rigid Japanese box.

Deforming Kata to fit Nakayama Sensei's ideas of what Japanese orthodox Karate should be, including the nonsense of having to end up in the same place is fine as a training tool for Ibusuki Sensei.

But he believes that much modern Karate is a very deformed and stunted version of the original art; that Shotokan Karate is really a different beast. In fact, Ibusuki Sensei finds modern Karate ridiculously oversimplified.
Main issues:
- The cult of oi-zuki and maegeri as ippon attacks. Karate is a fluid art, with many different attacks from different angles
- The cult of ichigeki-hisatsu: this is particularly wrong because keeping at multiple techniques was of primary importance. Without strong ippon waza, Karate is ineffective. However it is a distortion to teach the idea of ichigeki-hisatsu in a modern context. In fact, when it comes to using Karate in a modern context, technique should be mastered so as to cause the minimum effective damage.
- The cult of extreme hanmi and shomen that was introduced as a training tool by the JKA, but has been turned into some cult-like fetish that totally alien to original Karate...

...I myself have seen a picture of a supposedly perfect deep oi-zuki with hips NOT in shomen, that is advertised by some as a "true" oi-zuki. What is this, North Korea or something?!

But some of these are straw men easy to shoot down out of context, so I'll try to explain in more detail in a different post.

To escape from the rigid ideas of younger Japanese....this is why Ibusuki Sensei was so happy to see Andre Bertel Sensei back earlier this year. Ibusuki Sensei considered Asai Sensei as the most talented and innovative Karateka of his generation, and probably of post-War Shotokan. He said to me last week:

"I was very disappointed by the differences that emerged in Asai Sensei's JKA. Frankly, most people thought that Mr. Matsuno's JKA would win, because all the really talented Karateka were with Asai Sensei, while the other side were very good, but lacked that genius element."

So when Andre Bertel Sensei started running around showing Asai Sensei's techniques, it was like a breath of fresh air for Ibusuki Sensei (and certainly for Yuko and I).

OK, I have to get back to work, so the next installment will be a very different kind of beast...soemthing like a tortoise, I predict.
Yoroshiku, Paul.

Kicking Back with Nijushiho

Kicking Back with Nijushiho with Andre Bertel Sensei

We were very privileged to have a guest in the rather vertical form of David Kremin Sensei from Philadelphia, comes to Japan each year with his family to spend time...with his Japanese family. I am very honored to have another "guest" article from Andre Bertel Sensei on a wonderful new addition my Karate life, a certain Kata called Nijushiho...

OK, first of all to the first half last Sunday's morning session:

Because Kremin Sensei comes from a "non-traditional" background, in that he is an accomplished Tang Soo Do Shidoin and champion as well as an excellent Karate teacher, he has all sorts of insights into Karate from his Shotokan Sensei, primarily but certainly not exclusively, Okasaki Sensei. So it was a great pleasure for us to have him train on Sunday in Ibusuki Sensei's class. It was also a good opportunity to sweat some of the beer, ramen and french fries consumed in disparate bars, restaurants and hostelries in Tokyo and Yokohama visited by us over several days!

The Holy Trinity

Today's practice introduced something new: dealing with people who grab you from behind

a) rear empi, driving elbow back

b) rear empi, spin uraken

c) rear empi, spin uraken, gedan kick to the knee

In Kihon, one of Ibusuki Sensei's favorite moves is sonoba maegeri, yokogeri and ushiro-geri. But how to deal with someone grabbing you from behind. First of all a reality check- having been bottled from behind and severely beaten by baseball bats with the first blow I couldn't stop being from behind, I am acutely paranoid about people getting behind me. Apart from rear headbutting and heel smash on ankle, Ibusuki's Sensei's empi, uraken and gedan kick is a way to go. The first thing is that the empi is really about smashing back, don't use your elbow to poke in the ribs, smash and twist like you are berserk. The rear shove and attack should work as a loosener, then you smash head and knee. Ibusuki Sensei believes that in any attack you should have at least three attacks lined up to discourage your opponent along the idea of if the first and second don't get him, the third will. We didn't ask him about a fourth.

In any case, Ibusuki Sensei believes, and we all know this really, that ippon waza is nice if you can do it, and we all strive for that, but you'd better have plenty in the tank. To me it all comes back to jab, cross and hook. I love it when you see Kyokushinkai derivatives that...have reverted to ....boxing. Nothing wrong with that, but...! Hum!

In any case, Ibusuki Sensei calls this "three pronged" approach The Holy Trinity of Karate. He actually started laughing as he said that. Halleluja, Gloria in Excelis Dojo.

Nijushiho

The great and highly pleasant surprise of the lesson was suddenly we did Nijushio, in stages, then gorei then individual with corrections. It was great! We were supposed to finish of the Heian Kata, but Ibusuki Sensei decided that we would do something to welcome David Sensei.

Key points

a) In the JKA in Nakayama Sensei's time, Nijushio was considered kata to be taught and perfected at 3rd and 4th dan and not really before

b) It looks easy but actually is highly subtle, requiring tremendous merihari (contrast) in speed and power

c) Other people might have different opinions, but Ibusuki Sensei said that he felt the most important points about this Kata where the rapid directional applications and shifts, in particular combination with naname waza.

d) Ibusuki Sensei always makes a point about who he thinks is a role model for kata and said that in his opinion the person who had really mastered it was Asai Tetushiko. For Unsu or Bassai Dai, sure, YS. For Kanku Dai, IS, but for Nijushiho, without a doubt he said it was Asai Sensei.

Of course, if you love Asai-Ryu Shotokan like we do, naname hoko is a joy- particularly in Kakuyoku Nidan- oh I do love that sequence. If only I could do the whole kata properly. Actually Andre Bertel has a clip from one of his renditions of Kakuyoku Nidan. Just that sequence brings a smile to my face!

The biggest technical point out of the session that came out of it was that in the Nijushiho taught by Nakayama Sensei you do not kick jodan. Your leg should be parallel with the floor at the point of kime. In Ibusuki Sensei's opinon, people who kick jodan are not only showing off, but making a nonsense of the kata, because the point is the lightening speed and brutality with which you switch directions and attacks in this but compact and ridiculously beautiful "dance."

So we went home and consulted the Asai Sensei video on this. (When I say the video, I don't mean this version, which is wonderful, I mean from the series Asai Sensei produced later featuring Amos and Yamaguchi Sensei assisting when he was Chief Instructor of the Matsuno JKA).

Having now "practiced" Nijushiho I am in total awe of what I saw. We were both struck by just how magnificent Asai Sensei's rendition is. Yuko isn't really one for showing amazement, but even she said "Wow!" Sure, I am almost certain that there are purists who could maybe achieve more crispness on individual moves. It's like this for me; hell, I am sure there are people who could make Heien Sandan look somehow better than YS. However, when you see YS do H.3 in the JKA videos, you are left in now doubt that YS version has megaton yield. And that chimpira hair bouncing up and down. Quite a performance.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand: When I saw Asai Sensei's version, after about ten years, I realized the elements of power transition and spin and fluid motion were just...out of this world. They took my breath away. After watching Asai Sensei's Nijushiho, I felt I really understood why they called him "the storm."

So I asked Andre Bertel Sensei about this and this is the reply I got:

"Asai Sensei’s explanation of Nijushiho:

According to my late karate teacher Tetsuhiko Asai the name Nijushiho is in reference to the 34 hidden and lethal applications within this kata. Of course the name Nijushiho literally translates as 24 steps… So this initially may seem rather unusual. Sensei admonished that traditionally there were 24 clean transitions in the original Nijushiho, which is still known as Niseishi on Okinawa (and by various other ryuha such as Shito-ryu and Wado-ryu, here is a Wado-ryu version), hence the name.

The second and deeper combative meaning is that there are 34 traditional applications, which come from the numbers one, two, three, four, six and eight (as in 24 multiplied by one equals 24, right through to eight multiplied by three equals 24). Hence, even the name Nijushiho itself has both omote and ura highlighting its advanced content…

And yes it is extremely advanced, and just like all of the other jiyu-gata, is usually far beyond the ability of those performing them, especially when considering the respective oyo/bunkai-jutsu. As Asai Sensei said “this is no problem if kata is merely for sports karate, as performance is all that matters, and therefore, kata are merely considered more advance, by their outward form. However, this runs in stark contrast to the JKA, which emphasizes form for optimal function.” Returning specifically to Nijushiho, Asai Sensei stated at the 1994 Gasshuku (in Gifu, Japan) “If Nijushiho is performed heavily, why not do Jitte or Sochin?” What he was emphasising in this case was `the loss of character amongst the kata’.

Asai Sensei AKA Nijushiho:

Asai Sensei truly loved Nijushiho, and as you will well know, it was the Shotokan-ryu kata he was most famous for. His heart, mind and spirit were immersed in Nijushiho, and when he performed it, "HE WAS NIJUSHIHO. "According to Mrs. Keiko Asai, Nakayama Sensei said just prior to his death “Mr. Asai is the only one who can execute Nijushiho properly”. The Nijushiho in Nakayama Sensei’s `Best Karate Volume 10’ is reflective of this.

My socho-geiko experiences of Nijushiho with Asai Sensei: During socho-geiko (morning practice), and when I assisted him in seminars, he never once failed to blow my mind with his performance of this kata.., and I can’t overemphasize the danger when he applied its actual oyo-jutsu. Often he would request free attacks and then `reactively’ apply the kata on me. If I did not attack hard enough or in a predictable manner he would get impatient and really `educate’ me. So I always tried to attack him with all of my energy. Even so, because of Asai Sensei’s extreme level, he sometimes thought I was holding back, and I’d cop it anyway! This was the case even less than a year before he passed away at 70 years old!

Spellbound by a legend: Anyway, performance-wise, seeing videos of him performing Nijushiho is mind blowing enough (if you comprehend authentic traditional Japanese karate), but everyone who saw Sensei perform Nijushiho right there front of them in person, just stood there gaping in awe… Totally stunned... In Tokyo I’ve seen today’s most senior instructors spellbound by Asai Sensei’s Nijushiho such as Mikio Yahara Sensei, Masao Kagawa Sensei, Akihito Isaka Sensei, Toru Yamaguchi Sensei and others.

Technically speaking Asai Sensei emphasised the importance of `action-integration’ and continuous flow of varying forms of power. Initially this was from Nijushiho and then later permeated throughout his karate-do. This fluidity and smoothness, as opposed to stiff, heavy and robotic movements were heavily influenced by his exposure to White Crane Chinese Boxing. Sensei primarily employed this art to return his technique to pre-competition `martial art karate’ as opposed to what he regularly referred to as "constipated motion". Another point worth mentioning here was Masatoshi Nakayama Sensei’s interest and exposure to Chinese martial arts and this cordially resulted in his full support of Asai Sensei’s way, and led to his position as JKA (Japan Karate Association) Technical Director..."

(Editors note: constipated motion ! Great! Having discovered Asai Sensei's Nijushiho, I realized that I lacked the vernacular to do credit to what I saw in the depth of the performance. I am starting to realize that Asai Tetsuhiko was loose at such a deep level that he was able to generate enormous power and vitality within his body. I perceive tremendous energy flow within his movements, which has been another tremendous discovery for me. The only other advanced Sensei I know devoted to such internal dynamics is Isaka Sensei through his slow motion training! Frankly, having seen Asai Sensei's Nijushiho, others look "stiff" both inside and outside...make sense? mmm....ok, back to Bertel Sensei...)

"...One special point that Sensei emphasized to me in Nijushiho was the lightness of his chudan yoko kekomi. I quickly discovered that his transmission of power was bone breaking… I won’t say any more… Let me just seriously emphasise `the lighter and more precise, the deeper the impact’. Another point with this technique, is that the kick can be done in three ways chudan yoko kekomi, gedan yoko kekomi (kansetsu geri) or as fumikomi. The fumikomi version alone is the original version, but the practice of the horizontal keriwaza will lead to a superior `up and driving down’ fumikomi from the hips/application of bodyweight. Ironically the yoko kekomi was added by Asai Sensei and his senpai, Okazaki Sensei. Another point was the haishu-uke or back hand block, which no one seems to do properly. A good hint I can offer to anyone is to closely study videos of Asai Sensei. After basic coordination of hands and feet note the forearm action, and the `special posture'. This is correct, not the kihon shisei. It is based on triangular power, which is a very deep subject, and can make all of the difference between a slap and a knockout!

I could go on and on about my teacher's Nijushiho all day as his execution was seamless and had such extreme technical depth. Add in the memories I have of oyo-kumite, many of which people have seen on the internet both photographically and in video, and you will begin to get a taste of Tetsuhiko Asai Sensei’s karate, which was literally spring-boarded by Nijushiho in the late 1950’s. There is much more to this story, and whilst I’ll always practice Nijushiho, when I do so I feel a great wave of total inferiority. From Sensei’s personal words to me on this kata, my direct study under him, having to attack him for application training, and just seeing him perform this kata.. I will never be able to call it my own based on this literally untouchable technical level, but will always be inspired by it."

--- So there you have it folks. For me, as a shodan, this Kata was revelatory of a whole new vista of Karate that I can now dimly perceive, but will I ever be able to appreciate this Kata. YS commonly says that to master the "simplest" technique, a Karateka must initially practice it 10,000 times. I figure at age 43, I might get round to completing my basic training for a nidan in the next ten years, which leaves me in my 50s to spend a decade trying to get to grips with Karate like this.

I would like to give my profound thanks to Andre for taking his very valuable time to provide those insights into not only Nijushiho but Asai Sensei's philosophy on this intriguing and impossibly beautiful Kata.

Yoroshiku,

Paul.

Koken and Gedan Harau

Well special Sunday night training with Ibusuki Sensei was just great, as we went back to basics, covered Heian Shodan, Nidan and Sandan as taught by Funakoshi Sensei, and revised Hangetsu. We also practiced Koken/Kakuto in Ju-Ippon Kumite.

The interesting thing about yesterday's session was Ibusuki Sensei breaking down some of my inbuilt conceptions about Karate. I won't say they are misconceptions, because the point is that Karate is not a cult to be practiced by robots ossing themselves to stupidity. It's evolved. There are are many copies. Of course I wouldn't want to single anyone out. The other side of the coin is how much of what I learned in the KWF is obviously "correct" (and great!)

In terms of through the looking glass, I do stress that I am only trying to honestly discuss my own lack of knowledge- what might be revelatory to me might me cringingly obvious to others. So apologies in advance.

Kihon:

Basics were the same as standard Ibusuki Sensei kihon (see last week) but 注意点 chui-ten were

a) Remember to cover the crown jewels when kicking maegeri- the course of the knee is always protecting the groin, otherwise, well, the resulting weakness can be a painful lesson. Ibusuki Sensei kicked me so that I just felt enough pain to remember the point. Thank you for that ;-).

b) As any competent instructor will tell you, getting your leg back is critically important, unless you are turning maegeri into oigeri and following through with a tuski, headbutt, elbow smash, whatever. In order to make things interesting, Ibusuki Sensei started trying to catch my leg. Once I'd been dumped on my arse a couple of times, I soon got back the hang of it. Key point- smash in and whip back!

狐拳/ 鶴頭 (koken/ kakuto) "fox fist/ crane head" Ju-Ippon Kumite

This was just great and quite revelatory to me on a number of levels, because (a) it's bloody good and (b) I am astonished how far "standard" Shotokan I learned has come from common sense.

First of all we loosened up breathing and exercising, loosening our shoulders by practicing whipping up and down and hitting each other with fox fist. Ouch! Nick Gardiner sometimes demonstrates this, and whipping is an elemental part of Asai-ryu Shotokan as demonstrated by Andre Bertel Sensei. But it's always quite shocking how much more painful getting hit by, and how much easier and faster it is to whip someone with koken/kakuto than seiken or shuto.

After warming up and getting the hang of what I can only call controlled whipping, we practiced two Ju-Ippon drills used as kuzushi-waza:

a) Uchi-age-koken, whip koken uppercut against face punch

This started off pretty formally as an adaption of age-uke gyakuzuki, except use koken against the jodan-zuki and smash into the chin with koken instead of gyakuzuki. The key point is almost that the move is sen-no-sen... the split second you see the attack you go to smash opponent. If linear isn't working, go in at an angle and use koken-haito and get inside, finish up with elbow smash or headbut.

b) Gedan harau, headbut against stomach attack

This was actually closer to a standard kuzushi-waza that I am sure would have made Enoeda Sensei light up like Christmas! Any attack to stomach is basically whipped away to throw opponent of balance then in and up like a ballistic missile and headbut launching up into the chin. Ibusuki Sensei said to me very politely "please refrain from being nervous and remember to deal with your opponent....um....decisively...." which, translated from a very polite and sage 80-year-old gentleman into south London English is ... well...I won't go there!

Commentary: Gendan Harau Part I

I deliberately used the term gedan harau as opposed to gedan barai because Ibusuki Sensei believes that gedan barai is not a block and it is not done in hanmi (more on this later!) At least that's what they used to do in Shotokan until the JKA changed things!

Until the low kyus, for beginners to get the kihon ugoki, gendan barai is fine being taught as a block. But almost as soon as some basic kihon movement is understood, then gendan barai should be used as a harau, and if possible as a kuzushi-waza. Basically you sweep the leg or grab it and then smash forward into your opponent with a rising headbutt or elbow smash, haito, whatever distance and timing in the split second you have works!

Heian Kata

Today was H.1-3 and revising of Hangetsu

Summary:

H.1: Gedan Harau in Shomen = Taikyoku Shodan

As far as Ibusuki Sensei is concerned, Heian Shodan is Taikyoku Shodan, i.e. there is no hanmi. Secondly, as I was taught originally, the sequence is bang, bang-bang! for the three age-uke (all in shomen) and for the three oizuki.

H.2:

Same as KWF/ JKA

H.3:

One point I had forgotten is that the fist fumikomi stamp is preceded by a turn into the stamp. The second is that I have become so enamored with YS JKA version (as in the video) of H.3 that I tend to use snap uraken instead of going over the top.

Gendan Harau

Ibusuki Sensei is adamant that gedan barai if taught as a block to kicks is ineffective. He also says that the switch to hanmi from shomen was brought in by Nakayama Sensei for training purposes. Ibusuki Sensei said that gendan harau is to sweep away or help avoid a leg and it is stupid to try to block it- which is more powerful- an arm or a leg?

Or Pieter Van Wck.

However, teaching it as a block is ok for beginners just to find a rationale for them to use it. However the use of gendan barai is for decisively avoiding or sweeping and going inside an opponent. The other major point is that hanmi is weaker than shomen and creates unnecessary distance. In particular the KWF use of Hanmi is just YS brand and part of his philosophy but would be unrecognizable to Gichin Funakoshi. That's not a criticism of YS, just a fact.

Hangetsu Revision:

1. Avoiding Darth Vader breathing: Ibusuki Sensei said a very little noise is OK in the opening sequence.

2. Weak Stance: again, common sense to the rescue. Ibusuki Sensei pointedly said that Hangetsu datchi is very important to do strongly. He is very very reluctant to criticize others, but he said "Abe-kun's front leg is too much at an angle and easy to kick." I didn't say this folks. Don't shoot the messenger

3. The maigeri, gedan, tsuki and age-uke sequence is a sold bang-bang-bang-bang as taught to Ibsusuki Sensei before the JKA.

OK that's it for today! I think next week's post will be on "Why Shotokan and Not Krav Maga."

Yoroshiku,

Paul & Yuko

Vintage Armagnac

Vintage Armagnac

Well, well, well, like fine Vintage Armagnac coursing through the veins, a session with Ibusuki Sensei just makes you feel great. Today's session, the first session Ibusuki Sensei has taught since January, had quite a bit of background as we heard some stories from him about several things that might surprise many of today's Shotokan practioners, particularly those that have been brought up on a narrow diet of Karate.

Today's practice consisted of Ibusuki Sensei's version of Kihon, which brings us back to moves and combinations of techniques practiced pre-Nakayama Sensei/JKA, together with his own Kihon, and work on Kanku-Sho and Hangetsu.

"Today we'll do Hangetsu, because it is the last of the Kata; next time, we'll start from the beginning with Heian Shodan" said Ibusuki Sensei.

Before I go on to explaining the training a bit, I'd like to open with some of Ibusuki Sensei's philosophy and understanding of Karate, as related to us this morning.

Orthodoxy and Stupidity: Seiza is Punishment, Not Art

So Ibusuki Sensei believes Karate can evolve, but he is only interested in what works. The first point is that today he believes a lot of energy is misplaced. One example is adherence to traditions that are plain silly. For example Ifrah Sempai told us a story about how he knows a 92-year old woman who has won tremendous respect for her commitment to 修行 shugyo, aesthetic training. The lady in question was a devoted 茶道 sado (Tea Ceremony) specialist who would spend up to 7 hours a day in 正座, seiza, dragging herself along on her knuckles, perfecting and refining her movements. The result was that she developed huge 拳蛸 kendako that would make a Karateka proud.

Now I guess the vast majority of Karateka, and Karate-otaku reading this respect the Japanese concept of 道 do. And, well let's face it, a lot of us enjoy the masochistic elements of this, the idea of self-discipline, purification, idea of getting stronger, etc. etc. (As YS says, most people who belong to the KWF are 奇人変人, kijinhenjin, weirdos and cranks, in fact he regards it as a badge of honor!) So a lot of people might respect the idea of of our lovely old Japanese lady punishing herself for her art. How splendid, right?

"Nonsense" said Ibusuki Sensei. "Many Japanese people forget their own history. Seiza was originally a punishment forced on criminals and scoundrels to torture them. Later it was appropriated into various Japanese shugyo, particularly in the Meiji Era" (no doubt to control people!) Basically too much seiza is bad for the knees, lower back, circulation and only fools would punish themselves with some sort of blind devotion to seiza. So there you go!

Commentary on Shotokan Karate by Ibusuki Sensei:

1. Oi-zuki

- First of all, oi-zuki is almost useless in a street fight because its so obvious. In fact most of modern Shotokan as expressed in shiai or competition is useless because it's so obvious. Most street fights are decided at short range with headbuts, hooks, kicks to the knee, gouges and spinning and circular techniques "not the ridiculous jumping around and competition Karate of today."

2. No Kumite in Original Shotokan Karate Training

He said "Funakoshi Sensei said that he didn't like Kumite fighting because it immediately distorted Karate from its original meaning." Kumite was brought in by post-war Japanese students and Funakoshi Sensei was really unhappy about this.

3. 狐拳/ 鶴頭 (koken/ kakuto) "fox fist/ crane head" and forgotten techniques

Much of the Shotokan Karate today is a grossly simplified version of Shotokan as practiced before JKA. A major example is the forgotten use of 狐拳, "fox fist" which is also known as 鶴頭 "crane head" was often used for block and counter attack in Shotokan, but somehow got edited out. This is very interesting for us as we love Asai-Ryu 鶴翼 (kakuyoku) "crane's wings" kata.

(BTW, I've noticed some hillarious stuff out there, for example "Kakioku Shodan", which brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. Kaki in Japanese is 蠣 which means oyster, or 柿, which means persimmon. The idea of the Okinawan peasants basing their self-defense strategies against arrogant sword-head Shimazu on flying oysters intrigues me. Or perhaps they chucked fresh fruit at them? I think I need an 泡盛 ;-)

...and oku means "deep" or "inside." So perhaps this is "profoundly philosophical oysters kata."

But it's lovely to see our first, and forever wonderful Sensei Richard Amos in the Kakuyoku Shodan video. Pity about the title though. And "Bonkai." What on earth is that?)

If you are angry, I am, in fact, half-joking.

4. A Block is an Attack

While blocks have become systematized and formalized, in original Karate the block was always designed to contain an attack.

I realize that many of these points will be known to more experienced Karateka and might be new to others, but I just wanted to get these main points in.

Today's Kihon

1. Maegeri, three-count and then two-count

- Main point: protect Crown Jewels at each point in kick, never open up knee. How many times have I forgotten this? Donkey!

2. Maegeri, yokogeri, ushirogeri, one-count

- Main point: any kick above chudan in a streetfight verges from risky to nonsense, attacking the knee and shin "discourage" opponents

3. Zenshin chudan hiji-uchi

Main point: smash into your opponent, it doesn't matter about looking good as long as you keep your balance low, then you can follow up with something very dirty

4. Zenshin chudan hiji-uchi kara ballistic jodan hiji-uchi

Main point: smash face, throat after winding or smacking ribs, through your whole body and centrifugal force into it. Basically take your enemy's head off!

5. Kibadachi kara uchimawari uraken

Main point- generate huge centrifugal force and whip out. A thug won't know what you are up to if you master this so spin and smash.

6, Kibadachi kara uchimawari uraken, gyakumari uraken

Main point: have a really smashing time!

7. Kibadachi kara soto-uke, instant snap uppercut choku-zuki

Main point: this is an "Ibusuki original", whip the soto-uke into a vicious punch to the throat or uppercut to jaw, nose, etc.

8. Kibadachi kara uramawashi uraken, gyakumawashi uraken, juji-uke tsuki

This one gets the blood going- the main point is turn the juji-uke into a throat attack- you should smash the opponent down.

Kata

1. Kanku-sho

Teaching Point: Original Kanku-sho kick is from conventional Kiba-dachi and chudan and, whump! go straight down: NOT the massive amount of leaning over and the theatrical spin you see today. Sports Karateka love making a meal out of this one, but none of this existed before the JKA.

2. Hangetsu

a) Breathing is deep, calm and dignified and NO NOISE breathing throughout the whole kata. First uke is inhale deeply 吸って sutte (inhale deeply) through nose and then tsuki is 吐いて haite (exhale) through mouth making NO NOISE. You can see that people who do not understand or have not been taught properly pass some sort of weird Darth Vader breathing off and on as Hangetsu. This is, in fact nonsense.

I asked specifically asked Ibusuki Sensei about "making noises" in Hangetsu and he looked confused by such a silly question. He said "Meat eaters who adopted Karate are very strong." And in his eyes was laughter. Bit of an evil glint, actually.

You can purse your lips a little, but a competent Karate instructor will be able to see that you are breathing correctly without you doing some sort of Darth Vader impression.

b) The final hiite (ryote hikite) is done exceptionally slowly and always keep your neko-ashi dachi as low as you can.

OK that's if for today folks. We are holding a dinner party tonight and yours truly is the chief cock. (Cock in Japanese means cook! None of your sarcastic comments please.) Meanwhile Yuko is across from me practicing Kanku-sho. She was deeply irritated by discovering some people think they are practicing kakioku shodan- "what are they, idiots?"

Well, Yuko, you tell me. I can't do Heian Shodan properly yet. Because as I am finding out, Shodan is only the beginning. ;-)

Yoroshiku!

Paul.

Back in the Saddle- Andre Bertel Inspires Ibusuki Sensei's Return!

Well Yuko and I are already getting excited about this- Ibusuki Sensei, 80 years young, has decided to start teaching again tomorrow and we just can't wait!

This is a long post, so bear with me. I have only just started collecting my thoughts on a number of issues after a long break, so I am breaching many themes that I will attempt to come back and revisit in more logical and digestible forms later. But I am having so much fun at the prospect of returning to training...

First of all, for those of you who don't know and care about these things, Ibusuki Sensei is one of the very few living Karateka who was taught by Gichin Funakoshi.

In Ibusuki Sensei's case it was at the (then) famous Waseda University Karate Club, one of the elite clubs that formed the early hubs of Shotokan Karate before the war. In the post-war chaos, the university clubs played a key role in maintaining a network of sempai and kohai in loose alliances that was the reality of Shotokan Karate before the JKA took over. As for Ibusuki Sensei himself, he rose to become captain of Waseda Karate Club, then after a few years, "retired," built a business, got rich, and then was invited back to Karate by Nakayama Sensei, who personally taught him the "JKA 26" Kata. After teaching off and on in the JKA, Ibusuki "retired" again, until Yahara Sensei (they are old friends) invited him back to teach at the KWF, so people could get a flavor of what Funakoshi Sensei's Shotokan Karate was like. Then last year Ibusuki Sensei retired again on doctors orders to take it easy for a while.

So what's tempted Ibusuki Sensei out of retirement again? Well, to cut a long story short- two words:

Andre Bertel

In the video Andre Bertel Sensei posted, you can't actually see Ibusuki Sensei, who came to teach the second session on Sunday. But he was there on the second day and he was so impressed by Andre he said that he'd like to come back to teaching again!

With so many people out there with moderate, sometimes very moderate, sometimes ok Karate passing themselves off as "Japan trained" or "Shihan" (a word that is rarely used by real Japanese instructors, the vast majority of whom are fine with plain old "Sensei," including YS) it's difficult to get a sense of really how great Andre Bertel's Karate is. I am afraid that while my own Karate is a very poor shodan level, I know what I like.

So I view Karate in terms of how it measures up to the standards of my main teachers- those being in date order: Richard Amos Sensei, (briefly, for one year, Koike Yutaka Sensei): the wonderful, wonderful Kawasaki Norio Sensei (Ibuki Tawara Sensei as partner) Otsuka Masamichi Sensei, Ibuki Tawara Sensei, and last but definitely not least of course Isaka Akihito and Yahara Mikio Senseis. I've also been taught by Asai Tetsuhiko Sensei- now that was just magic!- Abe Keigo Sensei and once, memorably, by Tamon Pemba Sensei, although he mainly seemed interested in beating my rear leg with a shinai ;-).

Having spent four years week in, week out in the KWF black belt class with YS breathing down my neck, and I mean literally, scary, like feeling you are the Turkey and tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I just about managed to struggle to be able to cope with some basic elements of Karate.

"Haita!!!!" (for all you IS students out there!)

So Yuko and I were intrigued when Andre Bertel Sensei said he would like to come up and "train with us" in our private sessions in Shibuya this January. As Ibusuki Sensei was feeling a lot better for six months rest, we decided to ask him if he was interested in watching. He said "yes," and also invited some good friends- Nick and Takane, Scott, Pieter "I bring screwdriver" Van Wyk along for the ride. We figured any person willing to pay to come up to "train with us" deserved a turn out.

So how does Andre's Karate measure up? Well, let me put it this way. In a word, it's awesome. Takes your breath away!

To say we were impressed would be the understatement of my 12-year Karate career (still wobbling down the track while the rest have already packed up and headed for the bar). We were shocked by just how good Andre is. His Karate is brimming with power and energy and danger. Andre has what I would call the Yahara factor- when he puts on a dogi, you can sort of feel that "brimming over" energy that's inspiring. You could call him a walking, talking Karate weapon.

On the other hand, Andre is a gentleman, although it's plain that he doesn't suffer fools and frauds lightly, as I have noticed on his recent Facebook forays ;-).

Andre's long experience of teaching all-comers and running successful dojos means that he has the ability that some Japanese teachers don't have, and that's what I would call multitasking.

By way of background, I used to go off translating for YS on foreign seminars, and he'd have the same problem time and time again. The local Karate organization would be looking for insights into Unsu or something, but YS would take one look at the Karate and realize you had "5th dans" with kyu level kihon. So there is a lot of misunderstanding out there with Japanese Sensei teaching abroad when the Japanese Sensei spends a lot of time on kihon. It's because he's instantly understood that the local Karate organization is doing what YS calls "copy Karate." Which is a polite way of saying their Karate is crap. Unfortunately foreigners who have quid pro quo kodans, which I will call KKs (Kitanai Kodans) and run their local Karate empires based on money don't like this, so they tend to invite Japanese Sensei over who will give them what they want, not what they need.

Andre, however, obviously has that ability to be able to recognize what different people need and tailor his approach accordingly. So you have a highly intelligent teacher who actually has killer Karate. It's enough to make you weep! Thank the Karate Lord that such people exist! Of course, KWF has its own home-grown talent in the younger generation- for example the magnificent Bryan Dukas Sensei, who I would say is the Yahara Karate equivalent to Andre's Asai Karate. And then the KWF has its latest weapon waiting in the wings, Ibuki Tawara! It is said that Ibuki Tawara is developing Monster Karate. Clearly in terms of magnificent Yahara Karate Dukas and Tawara Senseis are the guys to watch! Dukas Sensei is also one of the few elite Senseis who can walk the walk who also understand IS karate too. Great!!!

Anyway, back to Andre and Ibusuki Senseis. When he came to teach us, he thought he might run through some Asai Sensei moves and Asai-Ryu kata.

All I can say that it was just magnificent- eye opening stuff. It was so good it still makes me laugh thinking about it now. In terms of lesson dynamics, we found Andre teaching logically and systematically in an intelligent and positive fashion, meeting the needs of people in various stages of their Karate careers and skill and ability levels. In reality, this means that Andre could teach Asai-Ryu Shotokan Karate to Nick at 3-dan level (Nick is talented and has physical ability) and Paul at Donkey Shodan (Paul has no talent and no physical ability, but has doryoku) and we all felt we got something out of it. Behind that, he was dynamic, inspiring, funny, self-deprecating, scary and FUN.

On one basic level, what I am trying to say is can Andre walk the walk as well as talk the talk. The answer is a gigantic

YES

that should be placed in bloody great monumental stone blocks the ancient Egyptians used to build the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The other point is though as Ibusuki Sensei was watching the second session, I could see the old glitter coming back to his eyes. The thing was that much of Asai Sensei's fluid and whipping and snapping, sabaki and kaiten waza are much closer in philosophy to the Shotokan that Ibusuki Sensei remembers before Nakayama Sensei and the JKA started getting all rigid on just about everything. When Ibusuki Sensei taught following Andre's morning session, you could see that there was very much a meeting of minds, especially in terms of fluid motion, whipping and snap, short range fighting and sabaki. Afterwards we all went out for a meal and Ibusuki Sensei told us that he thought Andre had the best Karate he'd seen in 20 years.

Ibusuki Sensei's Return

Privately, Ibusuki Sensei said that after seeing Andre, he'd like to start teaching again. This was three or four months ago, and Yuko and I had to do several other important things before we could get back to Shibuya and re-establish our schedule here. It looks like Ibusuki Sensei will be looking at teaching at least once or twice a month, and more like weekly if he can, so we'll keep you posted.

I do hope to offer some insights into the teaching and approach of this magnificent gentleman going forward, for the record, and for posterity, before this particular part of living Karate history moves on. I hope this blog will be of interest to some of you.

Ossu,

Paul (and Yuko).