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.

To Hanmi or To Shomen - Jun Kaiten vs Gyaku Kaiten...Let's Twist Again

Hanmi and Gendan Barai: Co-authored with Andre Bertel Sensei

Had a long conversation with Andre Bertel Sensei on Sunday about quite a few things, and as usual I learned so much it made my hair stand on end. Well, I happen to be bouzu at the moment... but let's not get lost in ironic translation, shall we?

Anyway one of the many interesting things that came up was the difference in ideas behind hanmi; specifically the importance and role of hanmi. Now I am not taking sides here, as there are no sides- only different and highly relevant perspectives on this technique. The point is, if you are going to execute a technique, make sure you do it properly.

So let's explore this- to Hanmi or to Shomen - Jun Kaiten vs Gyaku Kaiten

...or as you might say, Lets Twist Again...

The origin of this entry is in the Heian Shodan that Ibusuki Sensei says is the original Heian Shodan he was taught, back in the late 1940s, which had no hanmi. Ibusuki Sensei has quite an opinion on Shotokan hanmi as he sees it as something that was introduced by Nakayama Sensei and the JKA as a muscle and hip strengthening exercise.

What is clear is that rigid rules, and some would argue, some very rigid stylistic channels and mindsets were introduced in the JKA, whereas before things were literally and metaphorically more fluid and dynamic and, let's face it, less dogmatic before the 1950s. Of course they didn't make it up as they went along...

No Hami - Ibusuki: Practical Grab and Smash

So in Ibusuki Sensei's Karate, Heian Shodan has no hanmi, so it seems half way to Taikyoku Shodan. The reason for the lack of hanmi is the basic idea that there is no block in Shotokan- the block is an offensive weapon that should be able to stop your opponent, or be part of an immediate attack. In H.1 there is no block, you basically try to get inside your opponent as quickly as possible, preferably grabbling the leg and smashing through with a punch, headbut, elbow smash, whatever the distance, timing, dynamics call for. This means that you don't block with a hanmi and then counterattack, but that you go at your opponent straight in so you defend with one hand and attack with the other simultaneously.

Of course, this makes perfect sense: the hanmi gedan barai, gyaku-zuki combination, are you really going to use this in a fight? Ji-yu ippon kumite, for sure or perhaps ji-yu kumite, because the other person is doing Shotokan Karate with its well-known patterns of attack.

Extreme Hanmi - Yahara: Twist and Smash

On the other hand this idea of no hanmi Heian Shodan is total opposite of KWF Heian Shodan, in which extreme hanmi, to the point where the rear hip is lower than the front, with compression on the back leg, is paramount. In Yahara Karate, the oi-zuki is supposed to be the blow that knocks your opponent down and you want to generate power through compression in hanmi to do this. In fact basic KWF yudansha ido kihon is based on the principle of maximum and extreme holding of hanmi to the last possible instant before unleashing an oi-zuki. It's built into Isaka Sensei's slow training and built into ido kihon.

Taking this idea to the KWF limit, you'll often see in the black belt class kihon going right back to what you should have been taught as a white belt, correct movement through the hips. So in the KWF you will move forward in extreme hanmi until the last possible moment before the oi-zuki making sure you are putting your full body mass and power behind the punch.

No arguments with that, right. And Ibusuki Sensei doesn't believe it's "wrong" at all- he loves Yahara Karate because it's so damn fine!

But for Ibusuki Sensei, this is just YS "brand" to suit his own philosophy. And you have to look at things from different angles: what are the downsides?

Well certainly one potential disadvantage is the time wasted with the extreme chambering could have been used to rip your opponent up; you could say, don't waste time; if he gets his leg anywhere near you bundle him off balance by smashing into him as quickly as possible.

And for those of you who are like me, only slighty above feeble and all techniques are hanpa, the Ibusuki Way makes perfect sense. I haven't got the speed. I'd be an idiot to block a leg with an arm. I should get out of the way, tai-sabaki, grab the offending limb, and get inside anyway.

On the other hand YS extreme hanmi also makes sense to me. The decisiveness of the hanmi means that you have huge amounts of energy to quickly attack your opponent, and the power generated through the hips makes the block all that stronger.

Twist and Shout: Hip Vibration

One of the first things I was taught by Richard Amos Sensei was to always flick the hips away driving down and back when blocking with gedan barai. This is supposed to make the block stronger. This so-called double hip movement or hip vibration was built into nearly every move: for example sonoba chudan-tsuki would have us wiggling our hips like itchy snakes.

So this is where I hand over to Andre Bertel Sensei to get a professional opinion, and make some sense of it all: This is what he wrote:

"My late teacher Asai Tetsuhiko interchangeably utilised jun-kaiten and gyaku kaiten for all of his techniques. This brightly highlights a key fundamental difference between Asai–ha Shotokan-ryu and majority of other Shotokan methodologies in the karate world. Quite simply he did not believe in the unalterable gospel of form that is typically enforced by many organisations. What I am trying to convey here is that he didn’t have a `set in concrete method’, but rather used the method, which was best, at any given time.

For example sometimes Sensei would perform the gedan barai in Heian-shodan employing a `to the limit hanmi’ yet other times he would wind up in the opposite direction and rotate towards the technique finishing in shomen. Another method he employed and can be nicely illustrated is in the first movement of Heian-sandan and Heian-godan (hidari chudan uchi-uke). This double hip action is sometimes referred to as hip vibration as it is a coordinated combination of jun-kaiten and gyaku-kaiten.

Asking Asai Sensei about such differences in basic hip rotation and he explained to me that everything depends on the target of practice or the situation. He explained to me that (Please note I have paraphrased these):

(a) ==> Gyaku kaiten into hanmi is superior for halving yourself as a target, and countering most powerfully with the hikite;

(b) ==> Jun kaiten into shomen is strongest and faster for immediately going in and attacking;

(c) Hip vibration allows for a stronger defensive measure than just a standard hanmi but is not as fleeting. However it does permit the maximum counterattack from the hikite which is perfectly equal with hanmi and although not previously mentioned, the gyaku-hanmi, which naturally torques the body for lead hand/arm techniques and hiza-geri or mae-geri with the rear leg (for example Heian-nidan, Kanku-sho etc.)

I cannot emphasise enough that Asai Sensei stressed physical understanding of karate, and decisive adaptability, which he claimed is necessary for reliable self-defense. Therefore, how Sensei executed his techniques in kihon and kata, at any given moment, would depend on what he was working on. And in kumite, it would depend on how his opponents attacked, and how he reactively responded in accordance to the situation. Much of this of course depends on ma. What I personally learned from this was how restricted one is, if they cannot use their hips in all ways, because each way has its advantages and shortcomings."

The message is clear- Karate is not a broken record: it's poetry in motion- and you author the script to fit the audience.

Ma-ii-ka!

The only thing is, keep your Kihon King- if you are not bothered, there is always Kyokushinkai or kickboxing and MMA.

Yoroshiku

Paul.

Ibuki Tawara starts Blog in English

First of all, I would like to acknowledge that August 15 was the anniversary of the passing of Asai Tetsuhiko, a superb Karateka whose genius has created a worldwide following and whose legacy lives on in a wonderful new generation of Asai-ryu Karateka such as Andre Bertel Sensei and of course many others around the world. It's really impossible to overestimate Asai Sensei's impact on Shotokan Karate technically with his beautiful, flowing, dynamic and practically useful Karate. After mentioning Andre Bertel as a key part of the future of faithfully transmitting, rather than copying and miming his Karate and repackaging diluted elements, I would like to turn this blog over to another key part of transmitting the Karate of another master- Mikio Yahara.

So after a little to do with a hell of a lot, let's turn to another element of the future: Ibuki Tawara Sensei, who working with other excellent Sensei such as Bryan Dukas and Sid Tadrist Senseis (and of course Masamichi Otsuka Sensei), will play a key role in transmitting Yahara Karate.

Those of you who read this blog and are familiar with the KWF can't fail to know about Ibuki Tawara (Tawara Sensei) who is currently a kenshusei under Yahara Sensei (YS)

Well it is resoundingly agreed on by people who know far more about Karate than me and who are still training week in, week out at the KWF ShotoKan that Tawara Sensei is already developing into an awesome Karateka, even though he is only in his mid-20s. It's often said that you don't have to be a great Karateka to be a great teacher, and I thoroughly agree with that.

But it also helps IF you can really walk the walk as well as talk the talk. Right?

I first got to know a young bloke called Ibuki back about 5 years ago when he first started training at the KWF Honbu taking time out of Kokushikan University, where he was in the Karate Club. Remind you of someone?

Anyway, Yuko and I were genuinely impressed by this very

pleasant, modest, polite and clearly intelligent young man who had superb Karate. Don't misunderstand me for a minute. He's as tough as nails and can turn it on in an instant if he needs to.

It is no exaggeration to say that Tawara Sensei was born to be a Karateka- his uncle is Shihan Tawara, who is a superb Karateka from Nagano-ken who is just about the most modest guy you'll ever meet, and a super role model. About four years ago we were driving back across town from Nihonbashi with Kawasaki Sensei after a meal with YS and I asked Ibuki what his first memories were- he has no memories of before being a dojo!

It is also no exaggeration that everyone who trains with Tawara Sensei say that his Karate has grown from being superb to frightening, which is the result of week-in, week-out private training and teaching as a Kenshusei under YS. Not to be too harsh, it does seem that speed is more important than power as the pressure to accumulate plastic trophies and win competition gradually dilutes Shotokan. So when Tawara Sensei first came to KWF, his Karate was a bit sporty, if anything. It's safe to say that YS has beaten all this out of him!

Tawara Sensei wears his skills well. He has already developed the gravitas and maturity to command respect through his bearing and attitude and his super Karate.

But the other major thing about Tawara Sensei's attitude is that it's essentially positive. He wants to teach and to learn as much as possible. He is setting up is own KWF training sessions under the KWF and now I am 100% certain he will grow into being a brilliant teacher.

In pursuit of dealing with teaching and networking in today's technical environment, he has started his own blog in English. Don't expect any Pulitzer prize winning analysis of x, y, and z yet. But if any of you have an interest in being trained by this exemplary young Sensei, please do what you can to support him.

So as far as the future of Yahara Karate is concerned in the international dimension, Ibuki Tawara Sensei and Bryan Dukas Sensei and Sid Tadrist Sensei, the latter two being non-Japanese who train regularly with YS and really understand his Karate, are the way forward. I'd also like to point out that there are some wonderful people that I haven't mentioned in various countries around the world.

Anyway....back to writing about reentry capsule technologies and the International Space Station. Great!

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).