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.

MigueL's Dynamic Karate Blog

Just a quick message before today's Ibusuki Sensei Session. In the year I wasn't filing to this blog, quite a few things happened of course but another consistent diarist, MigueL Harker, is doing a good job of recording his experiences of the KWF SA at his blog, Shotokan: My Karate, My Way.

Which is different from My Way....(ahem)....Yuko said that Sid Vicious was an even worse singer than me. But she hasn't heard me attempting Shoot to Thrill at Karaoke yet! The less said about that, the better.

MigueL is affiliated to the KWF and his primary connections are to Bryan and Mike Dukas Sensei, who regularly travel to Japan and train directly under YS and IS Sensei. In fact, you can't keep Bryan Dukas Sensei away, and he is really regarded as one of the KWF Hombu family. Some people think he has KWF DNA written into his chromosomes!

Anyway MigueL kindly informed me that my links to him were out of date (i.e. dead, ahem) so I have corrected them - many apologies, MigueL. Old fuddy duddy here linking to hyperspace ;-)

Ossu

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).

Not Quite in the Glue Factory Yet

Ladies and Gentlemen (and Marius),
Apologies for the lack of cover. Tawara Sensei keeps on telling me about what great training they are having under Yahara Sensei, but I just now have to take a break. So what I will be doing is taking the best from the rest. My backup plan was Pieter, but he's now buried in physics and charms of the orient...so backup plan 3 is to start to get Ibuki Tawara to fill in.

There are a number of things that I would like to post, including Mike Dukas Sensei having a frank and fair discussion with a large and taciturn pile of masonry. So all yee who enter here, don't quite abandon hope yet...

Yoroshiku,
Paul.

Miguel Digging the Dukas Dojo Action

Well folks, after pains in my heart last week I went back to kind Dr. Ryuji (龍神）(DragonGod) at Tokyo Kyosai hospital....

...by the way, how can you not like having a doctor called DragonGod. I mean, how good is that?

"Excuse me, Dr. my life is in your hands, can I have more pills, please..." Thunder and lightening, very very frightening! And certainly a much more impressive name than that of another old friend, my proctologist, who is an old friend of Kanazawa Sensei also sometimes KWF Taikai Doctor.

So Ryuji Sensei put me through my paces, including more CT scans and X-rays, and told me to take another month's rest.

As I can't train, and Pieter is busy with his physics studies at Keio University, I thought it about time to feature KWF training abroad- and what better than Miguel's Dynamic Karate Blog!

(Somehow Miguel's picture always reminds me of a Front 242 concert I attended in Belgium...but we won't go into that...nor the rabid police dogs either...)

The latest installment features a recent lesson by the brilliant Bryan Dukas Sensei, and it makes for great reading. Another one of my favorite people, and another brilliant Karateka, Andre Bertel Sensei also has a message about Bryan on his blog.

I think Bryan should buy me a drink for all the PR I am giving him, but looks like I may have to make do with a whiplash Yahara Reaper.

A big thanks to Miguel!

Yoroshiku ;-)

Paul.

Mike Dukas Sensei in The Shotokan Way

Mike Dukas Sensei (link here) from KWF South Africa has just been featured in The Shotokan Way. Fantastic! It's a long and detailed interview with Sensei Mike who has never sought out the limelight but whose Karate speaks for itself. I can say without blushing that Sensei Mike inspires all that meet him, generating loyalty that lasts a lifetime. And that speaks for itself. While I enjoy prolixity, in this case, less is more. 

Yoroshiku,

Paul. 

KWF Wales

Stu Needham, KWF European Champion, has drawn our attention to the revamped, refurbished, revised and refreshed KWF Wales website, (was that enough Rhys?) and it's a cracker- nice photos, nice layout, good news and no hokey pokey Japanesese chop suey type letters, which, IMO, are best left to the 1970s.

Oh, not least because it links to our humble little blog here ;-)

And take a look at Stuart's Kumite in the videos above- great, no-nonsense KWF Karate.

Yoroshiku,
Paul.