Shotokan Transcendence - Beyond The Stealth and Riddles of Funakoshi Karate - Nodrm

SHOTOKAN
TRANSCENDENCE
BEYOND THE STEALTH AND RIDDLES

OF FUNAKOSHI KARATE
KOUSAKU YOKOTA
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Copyright 2015 by Kousaku Yokota

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system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
This book was printed in the United States of America.
To order additional copies of this book, contact:
Azami Press
1-765-242-7988
www.AzamiPress.com
[email protected]
CONTENTS
Dedication
Kousaku Yokota Biography
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Patrick McCarthy
Foreword by Samir Berardo
Foreword by Roberto Eisenmann III
Foreword by Stephan Yamamoto
Foreword by Philipp Surkov
Foreword by Julien Soriano
Foreword by Luca Levorato
Foreword by Michael Johnson
Preface
Chapter 1: A Small Mystery of Heian Shodan
Chapter 2: Shiko Dachi, a Forgotten Stance?
Chapter 3: Gyaku Zuki and the Rear Heel Relationship
Chapter 4: What Part of Your Foot Do You Use When You Turn?
Chapter 5: The Reasons Why We Must Preserve Our Kata
Chapter 6: Is Weight Training Good or Bad for Karate?
Chapter 7: What Is Ki?
Chapter 8: Ki Exchange with the Trees
Chapter 9: What Is Complete Self-Defense?
Chapter 10: Why Is Relaxing Our Muscles So Difficult?
Chapter 11: Jidosha Dojo (Automobile Studio)
Chapter 12: The Art of Perfect Shaving
Chapter 13: Master Asais Hip Position Mystery
Chapter 14: The Irony of Funakoshis Teaching Method
Epilogue: Funakoshi Niju Kun: Twenty Teachings of Master Funakoshi
DEDICATION
I dedicate this book to Master Gichin Funakoshi (18681957), the founder

of Shotokan and the Father of modern karate. I thank him for bringing
karate to mainland Japan. Due to his generous contribution and the
dedication of his life to karatedo, we can enjoy practicing Shotokan all
around the world today.
KOUSAKU YOKOTA BIOGRAPHY
Shihan Kousaku Yokota, eighth dan, is a professional karateka with

extensive experience in various martial arts. With over fifty years of
training in Shotokan karate, he specializes in Asai Ryu Bujutsu karate.
His wide range of experience includes training in kobudo (nanasetsukon
and nunchaku), in the art of ki, and in the breathing method by Nishino
Ryu Kikojutsu. He was a member of the JKA for forty years and then
joined the JKS for seven years. In 2013, he founded his organization, ASAI
(Asai Shotokan Association International [www.asaikarate.com]) to honor
Master Tetsuhiko Asai. Shihan Yokota travels extensively around the
world to share the knowledge and techniques of Asai Ryu karate. He is
also the partner of Karate Coaching (www.karatecoaching.com), where he
extends his karate teaching through Internet media.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I dedicate this book, Shotokan Transcendence, to Master Funakoshi with a

great appreciation for his having brought karate to mainland Japan.
Without his selfless effort, we may not have had a Shotokan style of
karate today, which we love so much. The last precept of Funakoshis Niju
Kun is Always think deeply and be creative. I am still far from
mastering karate, but I try to think deeply and be creative not only in
karate but also in everything in my life.
A word of appreciation must be extended to Phillip Kim for his
exceptional talent in having created the beautiful cover of this book as he
also did with the last two books. I also need to thank Dr. Michael Johnson
and Sensei LeRoy ONeill for their kind assistance in doing the tedious
proofreading of my English writing.
I also need to mention that this book almost did not materialize. I
encountered a problem with the original publisher, who objected to the
way I wrote this book. I am very happy to have found a new partner,
Azami Press, and I look forward to working with this company not only for
this book but for all the future books I plan to write. I want to thank Mr.
Scott Kays, who is the owner of Azami Press and also the sensei of
Azamikan Dojo (Shorin Ryu karate).
And, last but not least, to all my sensei, past and present, a sincere
thanks for giving me the understanding and knowledge of this great
karate style, Shotokan.
Many more people helped me make the creation of this third book
possible. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say:
Thank you very much to all of you.
FOREWORD
By Patrick McCarthy
Hanshi Ninth Dan
Director, International Ryukyu Karate Research Society
Brisbane, Australia
It has been four years since I congratulated the author, Yokota Shihan, for
his first book, Shotokan Myths, which yielded wonderful success,
impressing karate enthusiasts around the world.
To my great pleasure Yokota Shihan continued his quest of embracing
the essence of bunburyodo []. What lies before you, Shotokan
Transcendence, is the third episode in the authors ongoing work, which
goes beyond the myths and enlightenment of mysteries.
Yokota Shihan provides straightforward answers often glossed over or
unaddressed. The reader will find the thought-provoking material covered
in his work simple and straightforward enough for beginners and yet
diverse and comprehensive enough for the well experienced, too. I am
confident the way the information is presented is sure to provoke all
martial artists to rethink what they already know while challenging them
to continue exploring their understandings in order to arrive at a definitive
knowledge.
By sharing his thoughts and opinions in this work, Yokota Shihan builds
an important bridge linking the past to the present, providing a simple
way to accurately understand and pass on the history, technique and
philosophy of Shotokan karate to the next generation of learners. His work
demonstrates his knowledge of and respect to the legacy of the art while
honoring the heritage of those pioneers responsible for developing
Shotokan karate.
In Shotokan Transcendence, Yokota Shihan unites the courage to speak
with unprecedented depth about karate and the talent required for this
daring task and shares with us the admirable result. In my opinion, this
work is destined to become a modern classic and an important part of the
history of Shotokan karate.
FOREWORD
By Samir Berardo
Goju Ryu & Shotokan Practitioner
President, ASAI Brazil
Belem, Brazil
O livro que repousa diante de voc possui histria. Trata-se do terceiro

episdio de uma srie notvel escrita pelo Shihan Kousaku Yokota. Nos
dois primeiros ttulos, ao esclarecer mitos e equvocos amplamente aceitos
nas escolas de Shotokan de todo o mundo, o autor realizou um feito sem
precedentes na literatura sobre o estilo -- e, em grande parte, na do Karate
como um todo.
Shotokan Transcendence, como o nome indica, vai alm da derrubada
dos mitos e esclarecimento dos mistrios, e oferece reflexes de um
Shotokan que, j plenamente consciente de si prprio, pode abordar os
pormenores da arte com maturidade e profundidade, para muito alm do
que faria um mero manual de conhecimentos bsicos sobre Karate. E
contudo essa riqueza de informao transmitida de forma acessvel a
todos, com a experincia de um instrutor que consegue ensinar uma
mesma lio a todos os alunos do dojo, independentemente do nvel de
graduao.
Em Shotokan Transcendence, Shihan Kousaku Yokota alia a coragem de
falar com profundidade indita sobre o Karate ao talento necessrio para
essa tarefa ousada, e compartilha conosco o admirvel resultado. um
livro que possui histria, e que far parte da histria do Karate Shotokan.
English
The book that lies before you has history. This is the third episode of a
notable series written by Shihan Kousaku Yokota. In the first two titles,
by clarifying myths and misconceptions widely accepted in schools of
Shotokan all around the world, the author conducted an unprecedented
feat in the literature of the style and largely in that of karate as a whole.
Shotokan Transcendence, as the name implies, goes beyond the
overthrow of the myths and enlightenment of mysteries and offers
reflections from a Shotokan which, now fully aware of itself, may address
the details of the art with maturity and depth, far beyond what a mere
karate manual with basic knowledge would do. Yet this wealth of
information is conveyed in an accessible manner to all with the experience
of an instructor who can teach the same lesson to all students in the dojo,
regardless of grade level.
In Shotokan Transcendence, Shihan Kousaku Yokota unites the courage to
speak with unprecedented depth about karate and the talent required for
this daring task and shares with us the admirable result. It is a book that
has history and that will be part of the history of Shotokan karate.
FOREWORD
By Roberto Eisenmann III
Shotokan Practitioner
President, ASAI Panama
Panama City, Panama
De la palabra trascendencia, se desprenden elementos valiossimos. Entre

ellos, tenemos que la relevancia de un verdadero maestro, ms que en su
conocimiento, est en transmitirlo y compartirlo. Una vez ms, gracias a
Shihan Kousaku Yokota, tenemos esa dicha y bendicin. Esta tercera
entrega nos obsequia un paso ms hacia el adentramiento amplio y
profundo en la esencia del Shotokan.
Aun cuando para Shihan Yokota sta constituye su tercera y ltima
entrega, confo que, aprovechando su estado de juventud y salud, haga
honor a su encomiable vocacin al karate y contine su docencia, a travs
de la cual inspira a otros a emprender y seguir la maravillosa senda
marcial del karatedo.
English
From the meaning of the word transcendence, valuable elements emerge.
Amongst them, we have that the relevance of a true master, more than in
his knowledge, is in his ability to transmit it and share it. Once again,
thanks to Shihan Kousaku Yokota, we have that privilege and blessing.
This third installment takes us one step closer to the broad and deep
essence of Shotokan.
While for Shihan Yokota, this constitutes his third and last installment,
I stand confident that, taking advantage of his state of youth and health,
he will honor his commendable vocation to karate and continue his
teaching, through which he inspires others to undertake and follow the
wonderful martial path of karatedo.
FOREWORD
By Stephan Yamamoto
Sixth Dan, Shotokanryu Shushukan
Founding Member, ASAI
St. Leon-Rot, Germany
Nach zweien, fr die Shotokan-Welt wichtigen Bchern legt Kosaku

Yokota jetzt sein drittes Werk Shotokan Transcendence vor und wird
damit dem Karate der Gegenwart gerecht.
Karate hat als Kampfkunst, Sportart und Politikum die Welt umrundet
und dabei neue Formen inspiriert. Es muss daher als Fundament fr das
weiterbestehende Interesse und die heutige Vielfalt an Kampfkunst
angesehen werden. Aber es muss sich auch von mehreren Seiten Kritik
gefallen lassen. Nicht immer finden die neuen Formen Anklang. Und der
Diskurs um seine historische wie pragmatische Authentizitt droht durch
institutionelle Grabenkmpfe zum Stillstand zu kommen.
Heute gibt Karate vielen Menschen Halt und Besttigung,
Mglichkeiten
zur
sportlichen
Bettigung
wie
auch
das
Zwischenmenschliche zu pflegen. Dabei sind im Zuge von transkulturellen
Flssen viele Zuschreibungen entstanden, denen nur schwer beizukommen
ist. Mit seinen beiden ersten Werken hat Yokota einen wichtigen und
erfolgreichen Versuch unternommen, mit alten Mythen aufzurumen. Er
stellte Fragen, die innerhalb der Karate-Welt und vor allem innerhalb
des Shotokan-Diskurses bis heute nicht populr sind.
Shotokan Transcendence geht den nchsten, logischen Schritt und
verweist ganz wrtlich auf das, was nicht gleich offensichtlich ist. Es greift
Fragen auf, denen sich gerade die Anhnger des traditionellen Karate
heute stellen mssen. Yokotas Antworten schlieen die Lcken, die durch
die Art und Weise der Lehre gerade auerhalb Japans entstanden sind.
Das Karate der frheren JKA-Gren Masatoshi Nakayama oder
Tetsuhiko Asai drfte daher fr den einen oder anderen vor einem neuen
Hintergrund erscheinen. Gerade Asai hat uns wie kein anderer zum
berschreiten der institutionellen Grenzen des Shotokan-Karate
aufgefordert. Yokota Kosaku ist dieser Aufforderung mit diesem Buch
erneut nachgekommen.
English
After publishing two essential books for the Shotokan world, Kousaku
Yokota presents his third work, Shotokan Transcendence, getting to the
heart of todays karate.
Karate has inspired the creation of new forms while conquering the
world as a martial art, a sport, and a political issue. Therefore, it has to be
taken as the fundament of the persisting interest in and the broad variety
of martial arts. But there has been criticism coming from several
directions, and karates new forms are not always appreciated. The
discourse about its historical as well as its pragmatic authenticity is
constantly being threatened by institutional turf wars.
Today karate offers many people steadiness and recognition, a
possibility for athletic exercise, and interhuman relations. With this many
ascriptions resulting from transcultural flows, they are almost impossible
to set right. With his first two books, Yokota offered an important chance
to deal with these old myths by asking questions that remain unpopular
within the karate world even today, especially within Shotokan discourse.
Shotokan Transcendence takes the next step, pointing to the issues that
are not obvious from the start. The book bridges the gap which
practitioners of traditional martial arts are currently facing. This gap is a
result of the way karate was taught, especially outside Japan. Yokota
might shed new light on the karate of former idols such Masatoshi
Nakayama and Tetsuhiko Asai. Asai in particular used to invite us to
overcome the institutional limitations existing within the context of
Shotokan. Kousaku Yokota followed that invitation with his new book.
FOREWORD
By Philipp Surkov
Country Representative, ASAI Germany
Gttingen, Germany
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia
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English
I heard of Yokota Sensei by chance when an acquaintance of mine pointed
me to some of his articles on the Internet. These articles encouraged me to
think for myself for the first time since I began practicing karate. Soon I
discovered that Yokota Sensei was very active in social networks,
continued to write articles and had published, up to that point, his first
book, Shotokan Myths. I bought the book without hesitating, devoured it
and decided to contact this man to suggest translating his articles. I am of
the firm conviction that his ideas are important for every karate
practitioner, not only those of Shotokan, and that they should be widely
spread in different languages. Yokota Sensei is openhearted and respectful
toward all cultures. Proof of that is the fact that his articles are published
in eight languages, and more voluntary translators are joining the team.
He attaches great importance to further globalizing karate since art and
passion connect people.

His knowledge extends to all karate styles, as well as kobudo, anatomy,
psychology and more. His writing style is easy to read and sometimes
provoking since he wants the reader to start questioning some of the
dogmata he was trained into. His second book, Shotokan Mysteries, is
written with the same style and is also a part of my book collection. Soon
after publishing it he decided to create his own worldwide karate
organization, ASAI (Asai Shotokan Association International), to promote
his teachers, the legendary Tetsuhiko Asais, karate style in its pure and
unaltered form. As I write these lines, ASAI has members from over thirty
countries already. Since the political and profit-oriented tendencies in most
organizations bothered me, I was reluctant to join any of the given options
for a long time. I joined ASAI, though, since for me it is like a young, fresh
voice within the karate world, fighting with old values but new methods
for its ideal: the return to true budo.
In his third book, Shotokan Transcendence, Yokota Sensei elaborates, on
the one hand, on the inner mechanics of the human body and, on the other
hand, covers, as the title suggests, the spiritual and psychological side of
martial arts. As in the other books, he writes about things that most
teachers either forget to explain to their pupils or dont know of
themselves. He is taking Funakoshi Senseis eighth rule from the Niju
Kun, Karate goes beyond the dojo, very seriously as he is showing the
reader, with examples like shaving or driving a car, how he can implement
the mindfulness (among other skills) he learns from karate in his daily life.
As someone who is very interested in the human psyche and works with
the art of mindfulness, I can confirm that these topics are very important,
especially in our time when more and more people lose their values and
self-awareness. It is worth it not only to read this book for oneself but also
to share it with friends who might not even practice karate.
FOREWORD
By Julien Soriano
Shotokan Yudansha
Member, Byakkokan Dojo
San Jose, California, USA
Born in Aix en Provence, France
Le Karat Shotokan nest pas un simple art martial. Cest un mode de vie,
une pense, une philosophie. Dans ses 2 premiers livres Shotokan Myths et
Shotokan Mysteries, Kousaku Yokota partageait des aspects
fondamentaux mais peu intuitifs pour la majeure du grand public ainsi que
pour le plus assidus des karatkas.
Lexpertise technique et spirituelle que Matre Yokota explique dans ses
ouvrages, est une source dinspiration inimaginable et inpuisable surtout
dans la socit actuelle dans laquelle nous vivons. Ce troisime opus dans
la srie Shotokan ne droge pas la rgle et la richesse de son contenu na
pas de prix pour tout passionn de Karat.
Certes certains concepts peuvent paratre abstraits et difficiles
appliquer selon votre degrs de familiarit avec le sujet. Cependant - et
cest ici que la valeur dun tel livre prend toute sa dimension - les sujets
abords peuvent tre mis en pratique pour tout individu quelque soit son
niveau.
Nous avons la chance que Matre Yokota non seulement partage son
savoir et son expertise pour notre bnfice mais mette notre disposition
toute cette connaissance dune valeur inestimable dans des livres que nous
pourrons consulter tout moment. Ainsi, lheritage du Karat de Matre
Asai peut perdurer.
English
Shotokan karate is not just a martial art. Its a lifestyle, a way of thinking,
a philosophy. In his first two books, Shotokan Myths and Shotokan
Mysteries, Kousaku Yokota shared concepts that are fundamental but not
intuitive for most of the general public as well as for most of the most
seasoned karate practitioners.
The technical and spiritual expertise shared by Master Yokota in his
books is inspirational, especially in todays society in which we live. This

third installment in the Shotokan series is no exception to the rule, and
the richness of its content is priceless for any avid karate student or
master.
However, while some concepts may seem abstract and difficult to apply
depending on your degree of familiarity with the subject, the value of such
a book is undeniable. The topics can be put into practice for any individual
at any level with the appropriate motivation.
We are fortunate that Sensei Yokota not only shares his wisdom and
expertise for our benefit but also makes it available in books that we can
consult at any time and for many years to come. So, the legacy of Master
Asais karate can be passed on.
FOREWORD
By Luca Levorato
Shotokan, Wado Ryu, and Uechi Ryu Practitioner
Los Angeles, California, USA
Born in Venice, Italy
Con la predominanza dellaspetto sportivo nel mondo Shotokan, abbiamo

perso o dimenticato certi importanti aspetti che rendono la nostra amata
disciplina cosi speciale. Un grazie di cuore a Shihan Yokota per aver
riportato alla luce detti aspetti che arrichiscono la nostra quotidiana
pratica.
English
With the predominance of the sport aspect in the Shotokan world, we
have lost or forgotten some important principles that make our beloved art
so special. My special thanks goes to Shihan Yokota for bringing to the
surface such aspects that enrich our daily practice.
FOREWORD
By Michael Johnson, Ph.D.
Nanadan, President, ASAI
Chief Instructor, Sierra Shotokan
Grass Valley, California, USA
With this book, Shihan Yokota has now become a true scholar in the world
of martial arts. A scholar is one who selflessly and tirelessly engages in
advanced study in order to pass this knowledge on to others. He has done
just that. He indeed is a tireless researcher and chronicler. His numerous
articles, blog entries, media presentations, seminars, and coauthored kata
texts are examples of his productivity and passion for budo arts. As we all
know, Shotokan Transcendence is his third text. In Shotokan Myths, he
began his journey into the once forbidden answers to the mysteries of
Shotokan. He continued this journey in Shotokan Mysteries and expanded
upon the many unanswered questions and nuances of Shotokan.
Now, in Shotokan Transcendence, with the assistance of Shihan Yokota,
we look beyond our everyday training regimen. We are asked in a very
pragmatic way to examine and study our approach to kata, our everyday
and common physical movements, concepts of self-defense, budo
philosophy, cultural diversity, foundation percepts, and much more.
I can remember my first years in karate over forty-six years ago. I, like
many of us, had many questions regarding history, technique, styles, the
meaning of a kata, and so on. We never asked, and we were told to just
do and not ask. Well, a lot has changed from those early days, and it is
with the assistance of Shihan Yokota that these barriers have been broken
and much has been shared.
The reader will begin to recognize very early that Shihan Yokotas style
is very much Socratic in nature. He asks the reader over and over to
examine his own perceptions, style, definitions, and reasons regarding the
many subjects that he addresses. In short, he challenges the reader to look
within. I have been his student for over thirty years, and I can attest that
this honest and straightforward approach will challenge and push the
practitioner to get much more from his training regimen, both physically
and mentally.
Without question, this text is a valuable addition to any karatekas
library. It can also be read over and over again, and the reader will gain
new knowledge and a new perspective each time.
PREFACE
My first two books, Shotokan Myths and Shotokan Mysteries, were

published in 2010 and 2013, respectively. It is my great pleasure to report
that these books received much highly positive feedback from the readers.
Let me share with you two such reviews from the Amazon website.
Shihan Yokota has done it again, but this time even better! His new book, Shotokan Mysteries,
is a welcome sequel to Shotokan Myths and provides a wealth of information to illuminate the
deepest recesses of Shotokan karate.
When I knew about this book I got excited and needed to buy it due to the very good impression
from the excellent Shotokan Myths written previously by the same author. And after reading
Shotokan Mysteries, my expectations were fully satisfied, or even exceeded.
My search continued. In the third book, I started with a simple

question: Why is Heian Shodan not symmetrical? To answer this simple
question, I had to explain a unique part of the Japanese culture as well as
a hidden requirement for our kata by the ancient karate masters.
Next, I decided to look into the reasons why we must preserve our kata.
We consider our kata very important, but no one in the past has explained
it scientifically or from a kinesiological perspective.
Then, I realized that many people are missing the important yet not too
visible side of self-defense. I felt that it was the right time to explain
another invisible subject, ki. It is something we all talk about and say is
important, yet it has not been explained with easy words that everyone
can understand. The reader will also find in this book the importance of
the muscles that are not visible (core muscles) and the backbone.
I hope this third book, Shotokan Transcendence, will not disappoint the
readers. I chose the word transcendence for the book title because I have
been feeling keenly that we need to go beyond what is being taught in the
Shotokan teachings. The last precept of Master Funakoshis Niju Kun is to
always think deeply and be creative. It will bring me great pleasure if
this book helps you to think more deeply and be more creative.
Musashi Miyamoto, a famous samurai, said that martial artists need to
perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye. I hope this book will
give the reader some hints to help perceive the beauty and wisdom of the
Shotokan teachings that may not be easily visible.
It is my sincere wish that we go beyond in our karate journey so that
we can reach the next goal.
CHAPTER ONE
A SMALL MYSTERY OF HEIAN SHODAN
This is about a small mystery that some Western instructors have

wondered about in the past, so I want to share my thoughts on this unique
point in Heian Shodan ().
The question is the fourth movement, jodan tate kentsui uchi. No, I am
not talking about its bunkai. The question is why we do not have this
technique after the first gedan barai. In other words, some of these
Western instructors thought an identical technique of jodan kentsui uchi
was missing between move number 1, left gedan barai, and number 2,
right chudan oi zuki. By having this technique here, Heian Shodan would
become truly symmetrical and complete, wouldnt it? So, was this
technique forgotten or taken out by mistake? Let us check the old
textbook, Funakoshis Karate Do Kyohan (). I am sure you will
find the same result; this missing technique is not there. Let us check
Pinan Nidan (our Heian Shodan) in Shito Ryu () and Shorin Ryu (
). I find that the technique in question is not there either. We must
conclude that this kata was created that way by Master Anko Itosu (
, 18311915) in the late nineteenth century. If this is the case, then
there is a bigger puzzle. Why did he purposely skip or neglect a technique
there and make this kata unbalanced? A hint is the key word of symmetry.
This is a very Western concept of what is beautiful, correct, or complete.
On the other hand, in Japan, believe it or not, we consider it totally
opposite.
The Japanese people do not consider symmetry and perfectly balanced
geometry correct or beautiful. They even consider them wrong and ugly. I
know most readers will have an issue with my statement and perhaps
disagree with it.
Let me show you a few examples.
One of the Japanese arts that have been exported to the world is that of
ikebana (), the art of flower arrangement. The photo below is not a
diagram of kata enbusen.
Would you believe this is from an ikebana textbook? It is to show the

basic structure of the flowers or how they should look when they are
arranged. The photo below shows an example of an actual flower
arrangement, and you can see that the arranger has used an off-balance
and asymmetrical format as instructed in the textbook.
I do not know anything about ikebana and I have never taken any
lessons, but I can explain to you why this must be this way as I know the
Japanese mentality and sense of beauty. We know that nothing in nature
and nothing natural in this world is symmetrical. In other words, anything
that is symmetrical is artificial, which the Japanese consider imperfect
and not pretty. Ikebana, flower arrangement, is an artificial decoration
using something from nature, flowers. Of course, the flowers themselves
are beautiful, and the flower arrangement, the artificial deed, must not
destroy or decrease that beauty. To keep the beauty of the flowers, the
Japanese choose to arrange them in an off-balance and asymmetrical way.
Does that make sense?
Here is another example. Take a look at the teacups below. Another
famous Japanese art is chanoyu (), the traditional tea ceremony.
The first photo is a teacup used in sado (). See how the shape is
purposely uneven, not round, and far from symmetrical? Even the design
and coloring look almost as if they were done with some errors. I do not
have the price list on this, but I am sure it is as expensive as, if not more
expensive than, the perfectly shaped Royal Worcester teacup shown in the
second photo.
The concept of beauty is the same. We cherish what is natural and not
artificial or perfectly shaped. I am not comparing the beauty here or who
is right or better (whether Japanese or Westerners). I am simply showing
you the different concept of the Japanese, which is deeply embedded in
their hearts and even in their lifestyle.
Below are two photos of kimono, the traditional clothing for Japanese
men and women. Though these clothes are not too popular anymore in
normal life in Japan, as they used to be, many people still find special
occasions to wear them. In Latin America, many people call a karate
uniform a kimono, but this is an incorrect use of the word. If you wish to
use a Japanese word for it, then it should be called a karategi or simply a
gi. Regardless, the kimono pictured to the left has a design of a tree with
its flowers in full bloom. The flowers on the left and right sleeves are
designed differently, as you can see.
Then, look at the design of the other kimono in the photo below. The
imbalance or contrast between left and right is obviously very significant. I
believe this concept is quite different from the fashion of the Western
world, particularly with regard to the clothing of the general public.
Interestingly, the ukiyoe () artists of the Edo period (seventeenthand eighteenth-century Japan), such as Utamaro () and Sharaku (
), had much influence on the Western artists who are classified as the
impressionists of the nineteenth century. Some of these famous painters
include Monet, Renoir, Czanne, Matisse, Pissarro, Van Gogh, and many
more. The academic painting method was to draw as accurately as the

object was perceived by the painter, but the impressionists violated the
rules as they put more emphasis on the feelings and impressions they got
from the real objects and scenes (compare the styles shown below).
I assume these painters came to realize that it was impossible to copy

reality perfectly with their brushes. Japanese artists knew this for many
centuries, and they perfected their impressionist painting style in the Edo
period.
I could go on and show you many more examples from Japanese culture,
but let me share with you only a few more examples that are much bigger
than a flower arrangement or a teacup. When you visit Japan, many of
you wish to visit some exotic Shinto shrines as they look very Japanese,
and the pictures of yourself in a gi in front of a shrine look great (though
Japanese visitors may not appreciate it). Almost all of you are visiting not
to pray but just to marvel at the beauty of the structure and maybe the
famous a-un () statues. I would say this is a perfect example of
showing the concept of yin and yang. A-un refers to an inhalation () and
exhalation () of breathing. The term is also used in Shinto and Buddhist
architecture to describe the paired statues common in Japanese religious
settings, the komainu (), or guardian dogs, shown in the first photo
below, and the Nio () shown in the second photo.
The concept of a-un is very interesting and deep. If you wish to learn
more, read on this subject on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-un.
The concept of imbalance or asymmetry extends to the concept of
building a large structure, such as a shrine. Below is a blueprint of a
shrine that was built more than half a century ago. The main part of the
building is symmetrical, but you can tell the building as a whole is not as
you take a look at the structures that extend to both sides of the main
part. The right structure is completely different from that of the left.
Lets take a look at a blueprint of a church and see how it is planned to

be built. Below is one from Saint Thomas More Church in Darien,
Connecticut. I thought it was an interesting coincidence that the Japanese

shrines name is Dairen, and the location of the church is in the town of
Darien, Connecticut. The similarity certainly stops there. If you can find
the original photo on the web, you can expand the blueprint of the church.
Even from the photo below, you can see that it is beautifully symmetrical.
The right side structure is almost a perfect copy of the left and vice versa.
The only difference is probably the restrooms (the one on the left being the
mens and the one on the right being the womens).
Now, do you agree with my conclusion that the imperfection of Heian

kata was done on purpose?
I can almost feel how Itosu felt when he created Heian Shodan
(originally Nidan) more than a hundred years ago. It would have been a
very boring kata if it did not have that one particular technique, jodan
kentsui uchi. In other words, that move was a little spice to this kata. In
fact, if you examine Heian closely, you will find that some of the key
techniques are practiced only on one side (for instance, chudan nukite in
Nidan, which was originally Shodan). You will find this not only in Heian
but in all kata. You may want to review all the kata you know from this
perspective, and you will discover that none of them are perfectly
symmetrical. You would probably think, OK, I understand the concept of
the beauty by the Japanese people, but this is karate kata. Shouldnt the
kata be designed so that we can practice these techniques on both sides?
This is true, isnt it? Your puzzled thought is understandable, but the
Okinawan masters had the answer. Master Itosu and other masters
created kata to be asymmetrical on purpose to remind us that students
must practice gyaku kata (), mirror image. Unfortunately, the practice
of gyaku kata has not been exercised by all Shotokan () dojo. In my

dojo, all brown belts are required to practice Heian as a gyaku kata, and
one of those kata will be required at their kyu exam. I also ask the black
belts in my dojo to practice the gyaku kata of all sixteen Shotokan kata.
Tekki () and Gyaku Heian Shodan may not be too challenging, but try
Bassai Dai () or Kanku Dai () as a mirror image. If practicing
gyaku kata is not a part of your training syllabus, wouldnt you want to
include at least Heian as a gyaku kata and get the most out of these kata?
CHAPTER TWO
SHIKO DACHI, A FORGOTTEN STANCE?
Have you ever used shiko dachi () in your kihon or kata? If you
are a Shotokan practitioner, I assume you have not. Do we find this stance
in our kata? No, and as a result, we do not use this stance in our kihon.
Havent you ever thought it was sort of strange? I did. No one, as far as I
know, has ever bothered to explain if there is any good reason why. If shiko
dachi was there from the start, what happened to it? Isnt it an interesting
question, and wouldnt you like to find out? Let us investigate together and
try to find the answers.
First, we need to look at Shotokan history by reviewing the textbooks. I
always refer to two of the Shotokan classics: Funakoshis Karate Do
Kyohan (Neptune Publications Incorporated, 2005) and Nakayamas
Dynamic Karate (Kodansha, 1966). I believe these two books are the
foundation of Shotokan karate and the best references. I have a copied
Japanese version of Karate Do Kyohan ( [Kobunsha, 1935]), but
for our discussion, I will use the translated version, which was translated
by Harumi Suzuki-Johnson.
In Chapter 3 of Karate Do Kyohan, pages 22 and 23, Funakoshi lists

seven stances, namely heisoku dachi, hachiji dachi, teiji dachi, zenkutsu
dachi, kokutsu dachi, neko ashi dachi, and kiba dachi. He states, There
are seven general stances. I am a little surprised by the incomplete
nature of the list as it misses some very popular and important stances,
such as musubi dachi, fudo (or sochin) dachi, hangetsu dachi, tsuru ashi
dachi, sanchin dachi, and kosa dachi, to name a few. So, it is not a surprise
that shiko dachi did not make the list. I will explain extensively why shiko
dachi did not make it as a popular or key stance in Shotokan later in this
chapter.
How about with Dynamic Karate? Its Chapter One is Stance and
Posture. On page 27, shiko dachi is listed among other key stances, such
as kiba dachi and fudo dachi. Then, on page 37, shiko dachi is shown again
by occupying the entire page with a photo and some explanation. However,
the explanation by Masatoshi Nakayama (, 19131987) is very
short: This stance is just like the straddle-leg stance except that the feet
are turned outward at an angle of 45 degrees and the hips are lower. A
plumb line dropped from the center of the knees would hit a point midway
between the feet. That is all. It does not say why it is included and how it
is used. It is introduced twice, but you would wonder, Why bother? I will
share my understanding regarding this subject toward the end of this
chapter.
Now, lets look at the other styles and see if they use shiko dachi . It
may be a surprise to some readers that this stance is a very popular
stance. It is found in many kata from other styles. Probably the most
representative one is Seienchin, which is one of the shitei kata in mixedstyle tournaments such as those sanctioned by the WKF, the WUKF, and
the WKC. This kata is one of the kihon kata practiced by the Naha Te (
) styles, such as Goju Ryu () and Uechi Ryu () as well as
Shito Ryu and Kyokushinkai ().
Here is a URL for a video of Seienchin performed by a Shito Ryu
competitor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDqOFQveOc8.
Here you can see that this kata is really based on shiko dachi. Though I
am not familiar with the details of the Naha Te kata, I know shiko dachi is
so popular that it is included in almost all kata (e.g., Seipai, Saifa, Gekisai,
Sanseiru, Seisan, Suparinpei, etc.), and kiba dachi, on the other hand, is
not used in any of them. It is almost like a mirror image of Shotokan. How
interesting.
So, lets get back to the fundamental question: why do we not have
shiko dachi in our kata? First, we must all remember the following fact.
When Gichin Funakoshi (, 18681957) learned his karate on
Okinawa in the late nineteenth century, the Okinawan sensei had not
needed to use any specific terms for the stances and techniques. The only
terms they had were the names of the kata. An Okinawan instructor had
only one or two students. The sensei showed the techniques with his body
and did not give any explanation or need to assign terms to the different
techniques. He would say, Watch this kata, or, Do this technique like
this. My assumption is that Funakoshi was taught the kata but did not
have the distinction between kiba dachi and shiko dachi. Thus, I assume
he probably allowed both stances: kiba dachi and an open-toed stance
(shiko dachi). He might have considered it as a relaxed version of kiba
dachi when one could not do a tight kiba dachi. To have a perfect kiba
dachi, you really have to pull your toes in and increase the inner muscle
tension in the thighs. I am sure you have experienced that as soon as you
relax your legs, your toes point out easily. In fact, look at Funakoshis
stance in the photo below.
This is from Tekki, and his stance is definitely not a strict kiba dachi as
we know it. Id say this is much closer to shiko dachi. Some people try to
give him the excuse that he was old and could not hold a good kiba dachi.
But, I think that is very disrespectful to Funakoshi Sensei as he was only
in his fifties in this photo, so he was certainly not old. So, in the old
Shotokan training, I assume he allowed shiko dachi as well as kiba dachi
in different kata.
We no longer practice this stance. Was this stance considered an
unnecessary or even a bad stance? As I pointed out above, Funakoshi
himself used shiko dachi in Tekki, and I assume he did in other kata, such
as Jion, Jutte, and Gankaku. Thus, I do not think Funakoshi considered
the open-toed stance shiko dachi to be unnecessary or bad. I am sure
Funakoshi taught this stance to Nakayama because the latter added this
stance in his book.
Was it purposely dropped from or changed in the Shotokan syllabus? I
believe so. You would naturally wonder why. Let us investigate together.
You must know the history of early Shotokan, particularly before World
War II, to understand what has happened to the karate Funakoshi
originally brought from Okinawa. He started to teach karate in Tokyo in
1922, when he was fifty-four years old. He was not the first Okinawan to
officially bring karate to mainland Japan.
In fact, Choki Motobu (, 18701944 [photo above]) moved to

Osaka, Japan, in 1921. His karate level was excellent, and he was very
agile, which earned him the nickname Motobu no Saru, or Motobu the
Monkey. His existence was almost unknown for three reasons: (1) he
could not speak Japanese and had no influential connections in Japan; (2)
he was reputed by some to have been a violent and crude street fighter;
and (3) his training was so severe that not too many students could last
and continue to be his followers.
Funakoshi moved to Tokyo in 1922 and, to his credit, he could speak
Japanese and was lucky to make a good connection with Jigoro Kano (
, 18601938), the founder of judo. So, he was the only karate sensei
in Tokyo then, but soon other Okinawan masters started to arrive in
Japan.
The most notable one was Kenwa Mabuni (, 18891952

[photo above]), the founder of Shito Ryu. He visited Tokyo in 1928 and
decided to move to Osaka in 1929 to live there. Funakoshis profession was
that of a school teacher, and he was not a full-time karate practitioner
when he lived in Okinawa. He learned from two teachers, Azato and Itosu,
but he learned only the Shuri Te () style of Okinawan karate.
Mabuni, on the other hand, was a policeman, so he had a lot of time to
practice karate. In fact, he trained almost full time and had two famous
teachers: Itosu from Shuri Te and Higaonna from Naha Te. So, Mabuni
learned Okinawan karate in a very comprehensive way. As a result, he
became legendary for his encyclopedic knowledge of kata and their bunkai
applications. By the time he arrived in Japan, he was regarded as the
foremost authority on Okinawan karate, bunkai, and karate history.
So, what had happened here with Funakoshis teaching in Tokyo? Most
of his students were young students from various universities in Tokyo.
However, some adults from other martial arts, such as judo, jujutsu
(Otsuka, who later founded Wado Ryu), and kenjutsu (Shimoda and
Konishi, who later founded Shindo Jinen Ryu), also joined to learn karate
on a professional level. So far so good. However, he faced his first problem
as the students became more advanced and wanted to know a lot more
about bunkai and practice kumite. Ever since he arrived in Tokyo, he had
only taught kata and some bunkai explanation, but there were no kihon or
kumite. He was very adamant about sticking to only kata training and
prohibited any jiyu kumite. In fact, he resigned from one of the university
karate clubs as he found the students there were secretly practicing jiyu
kumite. It is clearly recorded that many of his students were very
dissatisfied with the way Funakoshi trained them.
Mabuni, on the other hand, had a different attitude. He welcomed jiyu
kumite and went as far as practicing full-contact karate using protectors
(photo below).
Many university students became curious about Mabuni, so they, along

with Otsuka and Konishi, visited Mabunis dojo to learn about kumite.
Moreover, Mabuni knew more advanced Shuri Te kata, such as Unsu,
Sochin, Gojushiho, etc.
So, what did this mean to Funakoshi? In the thirties, he faced serious
competition from Motobu, Mabuni, and other Okinawan masters. What
did he do? Now what we have to put the spotlight on is Funakoshis
talented son, Gigo (or Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (, 19061945), who
moved to Japan with his father when he was only seventeen (1923).
By 1930, Funakoshi Senior was over sixty years old while his son was
twenty-four years young but had been practicing karate for more than
twelve years under his father (starting his official training when he was
twelve years old). Gigo was not an expert yet, but he proved to be very
talented and strong.
In 1934, Funakoshis number-one assistant instructor, Shimoda, died
from an illness. After this, Gigo took over the position and started to have
a strong influence on Shotokan karate, which his father had brought from
Okinawa. Funakoshi Senior believed the basic sixteen kata, or even fewer,
were enough. Gigo disagreed as he was young and wanted to learn more
kata. What did he do? He went back to Okinawa to learn more kata and
bunkai. He also visited his competitor, Mabuni, to learn more Shuri Te
kata. Gigo is also credited with many different kicking techniques, such as
mawashi geri, ushiro geri, and yoko kekomi. He also believed in low
stances (photo below) and did not like high stances, such as neko ashi
dachi and sanchin dachi. I also assume Gigo changed from moving
techniques using high stances to still ones with low stances, such as kiba
dachi and zenkutsu dachi.
You also know it is easier to move if the toes are pointed outward like in
shiko dachi. So, when you do the body shifting from one kiba dachi to
another in a kata such as Jion or Jutte, your stance becomes more like
shiko dachi. Gigo Funakoshi also shows that this is true (see above photo).
I know your instructor will tell you to pull your toes in. Youve also realized
that you can squat more deeply if your toes are pointing out, and it is
extremely difficult to lower your hips when you have a perfect kiba dachi.
This is natural when you consider how your leg bones and hip joints are
constructed.
So, Gigo thought shiko dachi was a defective kiba dachi and decided to
drop it from the syllabus. In all kata, the stance was limited to kiba dachi,
and shiko dachi was discouraged or even prohibited.
We know that Gigo had a big influence on both Shigeru Egami (,
19121981), the founder of Shotokai, and Nakayama, one of the key
organizers of the JKA, until Gigos passing in 1945 at the very young age
of thirty-nine. It is very interesting that two organizations developed their
own techniques, including the stances, so differently in such a short period
of time despite having the same origin (Funakoshi Sr. and Jr.). I will not
go into the details of the differences between Shotokai and JKA Shotokan
in this chapter, but look at the shiko dachi in Shotokai (photo below).
The feet are pointing outward on a straight line, which is very unique,
and it does not look like the stance we know. Try to stand this way. You
will find it is very unbalanced, and you will not be able to keep the stance
if you are pushed from the front or the back. A quick lateral body shifting
is possible, but I am not sure why they chose this stance and called it shiko
dachi. Maybe a Shotokai practitioner can enlighten us.
So, where did shiko dachi originate? Many readers may already know
that it is from sumo (), traditional Japanese wrestling. The exact
period of origin is not known, but it can be traced back to the sixth century
or earlier. Prior to becoming a professional sport in the Edo period
(seventeenth century), sumo was originally performed on the grounds of a
shrine or temple. It is still popular in Japan and is broadcast on TV as a
fifteen-day tournament that happens six times per year. It keeps some old
traditions, such as throwing salt in the ring, which is supposed to purify
the ground. Women are barred from the ring, so all of the workers have to
be male. There is a controversy regarding this policy at the sumo

association, and many people, both men and women, have protested, but so
far this policy has not been changed.
Theres
more
on
sumo
here
if
you
are
interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumo.
The most popular stance in sumo is called shiko dachi (photo below), in
which one can take a very deep squatting position.
The rule for winning or losing in sumo is pretty simple. A sumo wrestler
must either push his opponent out of the ring (4.55-meter diameter) or
force him to touch the ground with any part of his body besides the
bottoms of his feet. In ancient times, they were allowed to hit and kick
even if it could hurt the opponent. One famous story tells that one sumo
wrestler killed the other by kicking him, and he won. Nowadays these two
techniques are prohibited; however, an open-hand slapping is still
permitted, though it is not considered an honorable technique in modern
sumo.
In fact, shiko dachi is very popular in Japan because many athletic
coaches believe this is the best stance to strengthen players legs for their
own athletic activities.
For example, you will find warm-up and leg exercises using shiko dachi
in basketball training (first photo below) and soccer practice (second photo
below). I do not need to show photos of judo and Western wrestling
practitioners, but they also engage in exercises such as deep squats using
shiko dachi.
I want to show one more example. One of the most popular sports in
Japan is baseball. The photo below shows the kind of exercises Japanese
high school baseball team members do.
This next photo shows the famous Japanese baseball player Ichiro
Suzuki (, 1973), who now plays for the New York Yankees.
One of the exercises he does on the field is his stretch using a wide shiko
dachi as seen in the photo. So, what happened to shiko dachi when
Nakayama formed the JKA in the mid-twentieth century?
Nakayama was not only highly trained in karate; he was also aware of
modern science and the medical aspect of the human body. He knew the
great benefit one could get from training in shiko dachi. To show respect
for Funakoshi, he did not change the stance from kiba dachi to shiko dachi.
What he did was to keep this stance for leg exercises. We practice deep
squats often in our training in Japan (photo below) to strengthen our legs.
Nakayama added shiko dachi in his book Dynamic Karate.

Unfortunately, he failed to put an explanation as to how this stance should
be used and what the benefits were in his book. I wonder if this omission
was intentional or not. Regardless, as a consequence, I am afraid that the
importance and the necessity of shiko dachi have not been relayed or
taught enough to Western Shotokan practitioners.
Then, what are the benefits of shiko dachi specifically? There are two
major benefits that I can quickly point out. One of them is the training of
the inner muscles that connect the thighs to the pelvis. Training these
muscles is not easy, but it is extremely important for karate. I have
mentioned these muscles in the chapters on weight training and
relaxation. I will not explain these muscles again, but I ask you instead to
read those chapters so that you can get the full story behind this subject.
One thing you can do is slow and deep squats using a wide shiko dachi. You
will feel the tightening or the tiring of the muscles that are located inside
your thighs. You may wonder if the same muscles can be trained by using
kiba dachi. Try deep squats using kiba dachi. Where do you feel the
pressure? Do you not feel it mostly on the front of the thighs? Of course,
you will use the hamstrings and the rear muscles (gluteus maximus), too,
but you will use the quadriceps the most. In shiko dachi, even though you
will use the quadriceps, you will mainly use the inner muscles, such as the
adductor longus, adductor magnus, etc. (see the illustration below).
I have mentioned in the past that strengthening these muscles is very

important to any athletic activity, including karate. The exercise of the
inner muscles cannot be maximized if you practice with kiba dachi alone.
The second benefit of shiko dachi is its mobility. In Seienchin kata, you
will see that the practitioner moves not only sideways (back and forth)
from shiko dachi but also toward the front in an interesting way. Of
course, you can do this with kiba dachi, but you can do it more easily with
shiko dachi as your feet are pointing outward, which makes the stance less
restricted. So, kiba dachi gives you a more solid or stable stance, but shiko
dachi can be more mobile. You can keep a steady kiba dachi when you are
in that position without any body shifting. However, when you shift your
body, regardless of whether you move toward the left or right in kihon or
kata such as Tekki, Jion, Jutte, etc., your feet will naturally open up,
though your instructors will yell at you to keep your feet parallel.
Then, the natural question may be this: if this stance is so beneficial,
why didnt Nakayama explain more about shiko dachi? My answer will be
only my guess. I did not hear the explanation directly from Nakayama
when I met him before his passing. However, I know that he had a great
respect for both Funakoshi Senior and Junior. He was sort of sandwiched
between these two instructors. So, he believed shiko dachi could be used in
the kata interchangeably with kiba dachi, but he did not want to put it in
writing. He only added this stance in the tachikata (stances) list without
any explanation. He intended to explain the importance to his students in
person, and I know that he had done so with the JKA instructors.
However, this omission in his book resulted in one of the Shotokan
mysteries.
To supplement Shotokan kata, Hirokazu Kanazawa (, 1931)

practiced Seienchin himself. I am sure one of the reasons for practicing
this kata was to get familiar with shiko dachi. I suspect his followers must
be aware of or practice shiko dachi kata, such as Seienchin.
Here
is
a
video
of
Kanazawa
performing
Seienchin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U7KPaiZJ08.
In addition, I can assume Hidetaka Nishiyama ( 19282008)

also felt the need for shiko dachi in our kata. This is not widely known
outside his organization, but he created a kata called Kitei, in which shiko
dachi is included.
Here is a sample video of this kata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=McVf2bTvqSs#t=13.
If this is the case, the big question is this: why didnt the information
that shiko dachi is important spread more to the Western world? I cannot
answer that question, but I feel strongly that it is very unfortunate. I wish
to recommend that the reader add this to the standard training syllabus
now so that more Shotokan practitioners can enjoy the benefits of this
excellent stance.
Conclusion
Shiko dachi was a part of the original Shotokan karate that was
brought from Okinawa by Gichin Funakoshi. Shiko dachi was used almost
interchangeably with kiba dachi in the Shotokan kata in the early
twentieth century.
Gichins son Gigo, being physically strong, emphasized the strong and
steady stances, such as low zenkutsu dachi and low kiba dachi. He
discarded or ignored the high stances, which included not only neko ashi
dachi and sanchin dachi but also shiko dachi as it is less stable (though
more mobile) than kiba dachi.
Nakayama, knowing the benefits of shiko dachi, kept the stance in the
syllabus. However, he did not push this stance as he decided to keep all
kiba dachi in the JKA kata. He wanted to use it only in the leg exercises
(mostly squats). He failed to write about its use and benefits in his famous
book Dynamic Karate. We do not know if the omission was intentional or

unintentional. Unfortunately, this resulted in the general omission of this
stance from standard Shotokan training.
If you have a problem executing a strict kiba dachi because of lack of
flexibility or some other reason, now you can relax. You no longer need to
feel depressed or discouraged. You found that shiko dachi is an excellent
stance, and it is more flexible than kiba dachi. I will not go so far as to
recommend replacing kiba dachi with shiko dachi in our kata as I believe
the kiba dachi requirements of the inner thigh tension and butt tucking
are important and necessary for us to master. Since you can use shiko
dachi in your Shotokan kata, such as Jion and Jutte, learning a Naha Te
kata, such as Seienchin, is not necessary. However, the inclusion of
exercises using shiko dachi in both kihon and hojo undo () is, I
conclude, critically important and necessary for all Shotokan karate
practitioners to improve their karate.
CHAPTER THREE
GYAKU ZUKI AND THE

REAR HEEL RELATIONSHIP
I am sure you agree that gyaku zuki () is one of the most popular
punching techniques in karate, and I do not need to explain how it is done.
This technique is also the most effective one to get a waza ari () in a
kumite tournament.
Whether this technique is indeed an effective technique from a bujutsu
() perspective is another story, but we are not focusing on this point in
this chapter. The subject or the key point I want to bring to your attention
is the heel of the rear foot. Look at the photo below.
It shows a practitioner (left) giving a gyaku zuki counter while

simultaneously blocking a mawashi geri (). It is a nicely taken
photo, but youll also notice that the persons rear heel (right foot) is off the
ground. In fact, his entire right foot is off the ground. So, the question is
this: is this a good gyaku zuki, or is it an imperfect gyaku zuki? Honestly, I
have received this same question from many practitioners (including some
senior ones) in the past. Should the heel be on the ground while we do
gyaku zuki? Why do they ask this question? It is because in some cases, it
is almost impossible to keep the heel down, but we were consistently
taught to keep the heel down while doing gyaku zuki. We have never been
given the explanation that it is OK (or even better) to lift the rear heel up
in some cases. This subject is not a very difficult one if you understand the
kinesiology behind the technique. Unfortunately, many instructors are
unable to do so because they did not learn it from their sensei, and most of
them have not questioned this. I will present the explanation so that this
subject will no longer be a mystery.
A disparity starts from the textbooks. One example, Nakayamas
Dynamic Karate, shows a photo of Nakayama () himself doing gyaku
zuki in zenkutsu position. The photo shown below is an excellent one as it

shows four clips merged together to illustrate how it should be done from
the yoi (, ready) position to the final execution of gyaku zuki.
As you can see, the heel of the rear foot (right leg) is firmly on the floor.
Other instructional photos, such as this next one of world famous
Kanazawa () Senior, show the same.
In other words, the heel of the rear foot is solidly planted on the ground.
Interestingly, the textbook for Masutatsu Oyamas (, 19231994)
style, Kyokushinkai full-contact karate, shows the same posture for gyaku
zuki (photo below).
I practiced Kyokushin for a year and watched many of their

tournaments, but interestingly, I have never seen a knock-down resulting
from a gyaku zuki, especially with the form shown below by Mas Oyama.
OK, so it is commonly agreed that both of our feet must be firmly on the
ground when a gyaku zuki is executed from a stationary stance.
When you did gyaku zuki as you were going through kihon, did your
sensei tell you to keep your heel down? I suspect if your heel was up, your
sensei might have come behind you and tapped it with his shinai (,
bamboo sword) or stepped on your ankle to force it down. If this is the
case, we have been ingrained through repeated kihon exercises with the
notion that a correct gyaku zuki must have the rear foot flat on the
ground. By the way, I am not disputing this point. I fully agree that a
correct gyaku zuki in a stance where the body weight is either equal or is
distributed greater than fifty percent toward the rear leg must be done
this way. However, a proper explanation about this has not been provided
to many practitioners. Anyway, let me continue with the discussion. The
frustration begins as soon as you practice gyaku zuki kihon as you step
forward. You do not encounter this problem when you do this punch in a
stable zenkutsu dachi. However, I suspect that you experienced a problem
when you did it in a quick-step forward combination. Your heel had to
come up. You probably said to yourself, Hey, my ankle is not as flexible as
Kanazawas, so I cannot help it. Or, you just gave up. You do not need to
blame your flexibility (or lack thereof) or give up. You will see why as I
explain this further.
After kihon, you normally practice kumite. When you are a beginning
student, you start with either gohon or sanbon kumite. The defender will
step back three or five times in those yakusoku kumite (,
prearranged sparring or agreed sparring) drills, and he does age uke then
uses gyaku zuki as a counter (photo below).
Most of the time you do well with this uke and gyaku zuki combination
as long as you do not lean forward to punch. If your distance is correct, you
can do a good gyaku zuki counter with your heel firmly planted on the
ground. If it happens to be up, your sensei will come again and tap your
heel or press it down with his foot. Sensei will explain to you that a big
and strong hip rotation is important to generate power. In order to do this,
the rear foot must be flat on the floor to give solid support to the jiku ashi
(, supporting leg). You have no issue with this and you practice this
way hundreds of times. It works in ippon kumite () and most of
the time in jiyu ippon kumite (, semifree sparring) if the
exercise is a basic jiyu ippon () and not a complex one, such as
nihon gaeshi (), in which the attacker counters the defenders
counterattack.
Then, you will get to the point of total frustration when you get involved
in jiyu kumite (, free sparring) and shiai kumite (,
tournament sparring). The two photos below show the typical technique
used to get a point. It is estimated more than sixty percent of kumite
points are scored with a gyaku zuki technique. So, what is the problem
here?
In jiyu kumite and shiai kumite, you find that it is almost impossible to
keep the rear heel down. Why? It is because you are most likely moving
forward as you execute this technique. This means your front leg becomes
the jiku ashi (supporting leg), and less weight is distributed to the rear
leg. If fact, you will be punching mostly on one leg (the supporting one).
In the sixties and seventies, your gyaku zuki would not receive a waza
ari if your heel was up. That would be considered a poor technique. This
also happened in the U.S. in the early days. Johnson Sensei of Sierra
Shotokan Dojo shared his experience in his training at Nishiyama ()

Dojo in LA. Here is his recollection:
Nishiyama would continually state the power came from the heel as it met the floor. Even in
advanced training he would stress the point that one could not score without the foot firmly
planted. He would state that the technique was not deserving of a point unless grounded.
In the photo below, Hideo Ochi (, 1940), who is pictured on the

right, is delivering a gyaku zuki to his opponent as Nakayama serves as
chief judge at the 1967 All Japan Championship.
I wonder if Nakayama gave Ochi a waza ari. It would be interesting if

any of the German readers could ask if Ochi Sensei remembers this shiai.
The rules have changed since the JKA joined the WUKO in 1981, and a
quick reverse punch can now score a point (waza ari) even if your rear heel
is off the ground. If the timing is perfect, then you may even get an ippon.
Whether the heel is on the ground or not has become a nonissue in a
tournament setting. I agree that it is not a mistake or an error if your rear
heel comes off the ground in a particular situation, which I will explain
later. I am aware that many practitioners and their sensei would still
consider this a flaw, however. You may ask if delivering the strike from a
one-legged stance would decrease its power as it is not leveraging from a
solid stance based on both feet. Surprisingly, it would not if your body were
moving forward. The lost power from not having a stable stance is more
than compensated for by the energy of the body moving forward. In
addition, your stance gets longer than a standard zenkutsu dachi as you
can see in the above photos, and this makes it more natural to support the
rear leg with the ball of the foot rather than trying to keep the entire foot
on the ground. So, in a quick action, especially when you are shifting
forward, it is OK and even better to shift your weight to your front leg and
deliver the gyaku zuki with your forward-moving momentum. At that
time, your back heel will not be on the ground, and that is not a problem.
Then, is it wrong if your rear foot is firmly planted on the ground in

kumite? No, that is the way it should be when you are stepping back.
When you step back, your body weight is naturally going backward, and
more weight is distributed to the rear leg, so it is much easier to keep the
rear foot down and deliver the power from the rear leg, which happens to
be the jiku ashi. The same mechanism can be experienced when you do a
mae ashi mae geri and use it as a counter. It can be a very powerful kick
even though you may be stepping back.
Conclusion
For a sen no sen application, your gravity will be moving forward, and
most of your body weight will be shifted to your front leg. In this case,
your rear foot will be lifted as you execute a gyaku zuki. This is a very
natural thing, and it is not a problem.
On the other hand, in a go no sen situation, you will most likely use the
rear leg as the supporting leg; thus, it is better to have the entire foot
firmly placed on the ground. This application, from a mechanical
perspective, will take more time to deliver a gyaku zuki, so it will require
a lot of timing practice to overcome this slowness. Also, one must learn
how to capture the moment in order to reverse the mechanical
disadvantage of go no sen.
The conclusion is that both delivery methods are correct. Hopefully, this
chapter can put your mind at ease, and you will no longer worry much
about your rear heel while practicing gyaku zuki.
CHAPTER FOUR
WHAT PART OF YOUR FOOT DO YOU

USE WHEN YOU TURN?
In the past, I have received questions from many people, in essence, asking
something like this: When we turn, what part of our foot should we use as
a pivot point? They specifically ask if they should turn on the ball or on
the heel of the foot when they rotate the body. We all know it is very
important for all karate practitioners to be able to turn quickly and
smoothly. In fact, I consider this an independent technique. Here I will
attempt to provide a short chapter to describe my understanding of this
technique. I would like to hear back from the readers as to whether they
agree or disagree.
Now, before we talk about turning, we need to pay attention to and
understand two important concepts: (1) center of mass and (2) center of
gravity. They are different, but for the purposes of our discussion, they are
interchangeable. I will quote some parts from Wikipedia to explain the
definitions of the center of mass and the center of gravity.
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space is the unique point where the
weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. The distribution of mass is
balanced around the center of mass and the average of the weighted position coordinates of the
distributed mass defines its coordinates. Calculations in mechanics are simplified when
formulated with respect to the center of mass. In the case of a single rigid body, the center of
mass is fixed in relation to the body, and if the body has uniform density, it will be located at the
centroid. The center of mass may be located outside the physical body, as is sometimes the case
for hollow or open-shaped objects, such as a horseshoe.
Regarding center of gravity, Wikipedia also states that

in physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary
description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass
serves as the center of gravity. This is a very good approximation for smaller bodies near the
surface of Earth, so there is no practical need to distinguish center of gravity from center of
mass in most applications, such as engineering and medicine.
So, I have a choice of terms, and I will use the term center of gravity in
my discussion. To shift the body even to take a simple step, you need to
shift the center of gravity. Believe it or not, you cannot simply stand up
from a chair if your head is prevented from shifting forward. Try the
following experiment. Have your friend sit up straight in a chair, and you
place the tip of your index finger on his forehead, preventing him from
leaning forward. Challenge him to stand up and see if he can. You will find
that it is impossible for him to stand up normally until you let go of his
forehead.
First of all, do you know exactly how your foot is constructed? If you
dont know how your racing car is constructed, you will never be a worldclass race car driver. The principle is the same with our body, though our
body construction is much more complex and precise than a race car or
even the most advanced jet fighter. Here is an illustration of our foot.
You probably had some idea that the bone structure of your foot looked
like this. However, I suspect you have not paid close attention to the finer
details of the bones that make up this precise mechanism called the foot.
The human foot and ankle is a complex mechanical structure containing
twenty-six (26) bones, thirty-three (33) joints, nineteen (19) muscles and
tendons, and one hundred seven (107) ligaments. The precise numbers are
not important. What is important is that you realize that your foot is made
up of a very complex construction. The muscles and ligaments surround
these bones so that you can make numerous precise movements with your
foot. One of those precise movements is walking. It is not possible to do a
simple walk without the harmonious workings of the muscles, tendons,
and ligaments of our feet. I am always so impressed and truly thankful
whenever I study the mechanism of our body. Dont you agree that it is
really the work of a genius and that our body, indeed, is a masterpiece?
Believe it or not, the first humanlike robot that could walk like us
became possible only in the year 2000. A robot called ASIMO (Advanced
Step in Innovative Mobility, photo below) was designed by Honda and
introduced in October 2000.
I wanted to mention this because the precise mechanism of bipedal

walking is unique. Bipedal walking (and leaving the front legs or hands
free) was necessary for the Homo sapiens to set themselves apart from the
other primates. Bipedal walking can be easily perceived as a simple body
movement, but it is incredibly complex and difficult for a machine to
imitate. I have covered this topic in one of my previous books, so I will not
repeat it here. The point I want to emphasize is that we must never think
lightly of the abilities of our body that were given to us.
Back to the original question: what part of our foot do we use when we
turn? My answer is that there are basically three different ways to turn,
and the part you use will depend on the situation. One situation is a turn
in position or an in-place body rotation (photo below).
In this case, you will line up the center of gravity through one leg (the
pivot leg), the hips, the torso, the shoulder area, and all the way up to the
center of your head. If you can line up all these parts as straight as
possible, then your turn can be smooth and fast. This turn is often used in
dancing, figure skating, and gymnastics, to name a few. A body rotation
technique can be found in various karate kata, such as Kanku Dai,
Gankaku, Junro Yondan, etc. If you are familiar with these kata, you will
know which parts of the kata require the rotation. In these cases, you need
to use the part that is directly below your shin bones. Again, take a look at
the illustration of the foot (below).
You may have a misconception that the lower legs are made up of only
one bone. Actually, there are two bones: the tibia and the fibula. There are
two so that you can rotate and move your foot just the same as we have
two bones in our forearm to move and rotate our hand. As shown in the
illustration, they are not positioned in the center of your foot. The ankle is
the point where these bones are connected, and we now know that the
ankle is located nearer to the heel than to the toes. We also notice that
there is an arch and that the foot is concave in the midsection. This means
there is no protruding point to turn on directly under the ankle. This
makes it extremely difficult to turn at the best point, i.e., directly
underneath the ankle. So, most dancers use the heel part or the contact
point of the bone called the calcaneus. However, it is difficult to keep
balance in the case of complex or multiple rotation, so as an alternative,
they can use the ball of the foot, the area underneath the third joints of
the toes. Turning on the ball of the foot requires much more precision, but
we have the tools (joints and muscles) to control the turn and balance with
the front part of the foot. The area of the ball of the foot is rather large
(illustration below).
Senior professional dancers use only one spotthe best spot is under the
middle toe, though some may choose the spot under the big toe because it
is usually the strongest toebut inexperienced dancers may float the
spinning point across the foot, which results in a slower and more poorly
balanced turn.
For an in-place rotation, the area underneath the ankle is the most
recommended spot as it gives the best balance for the simple rotations that
are found in most kata. However, we have discussed and pointed out that
this method is the most challenging and most difficult one to use. I propose
to the reader that the best alternative is to use the heel. I recommend that
the reader try to bring the turning point as close as possible to the spot
directly under the ankle.
Sorry to have started with the most challenging technique. There are
two other turning methods that are easier, and you are probably already
doing them. To turn as you are moving forward (as in the left gedan barai
move after the first kiai in Heian Shodan, for instance), you will want to
use the ball of the foot. As I have mentioned previously, the center of the
foot (third joint) is the best specific pivot point on the foot. In a standard
Shotokan dojo, I suspect that you were taught to keep your body upright
when you shift. As you advanced in your training, you might have found
that it is better to lean your upper body slightly toward the direction of
your turn. By doing this, you found that you could move faster and more
smoothly. The first move of Bassai Dai may be an excellent example. Even
though an excessive degree of incline would be counterproductive, you do
want to incline slightly toward the turning side. Lets take the example of
the move I mentioned above in Heian Shodan after the first kiai. You want
to incline slightly to the right as you turn from the right zenkutsu to left
zenkutsu gedan barai. In this turn, you may use a different part of your
foot. It is still the ball of the foot area but may be closer to or right at the
edge of the right foot. This requirement is the same with any other
physical activities, such as football. See the player in the photo below?
He is inclining to his right as he makes a quick right turn. If you could

expand the right foot area of the photo, you could see that the runner is
turning on the ball of the right foot on the side of the little toe. Football
has much more complex running and foot movement requirements in its
execution than the karate kata. Thus, we cannot adopt the steep incline
they use, but the concept or objective of quick and smooth turning is the
same. This will require a fine alignment of your foot to the leg bones. You
may ask why. Take a look at this illustration of the leg bones.
Just to line up the leg, you have to pay attention first to the hip joint,
then to the knee joint and ankle, and then to the numerous other small
joints in your foot. This is only in your leg. For the entire body, you have
the joints of many other parts, but for our discussion, lets focus on the leg
area alone.
What is the key to a good turn? Simply put, the fewer joints you use in
your body alignment, the more easily you can keep balance and turn
smoothly. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand this logic. Lets
look at a top, which is something you probably played with when you were
a child.
It can demonstrate a beautiful spin or rotation. As you know, the axis is

straight and short. But, imagine if the axis were long and made of several
pieces that were not lined up. How about if those pieces were not firmly
connected? Can such a top spin? That is almost how our body is
constructed. Now you know why it is difficult for us to spin. Look at the
illustration of the foot again and you can see that the bone structure of the
heel area is much simpler. The front area that covers the toes is much
more complex. This is natural as we normally walk forward and less
frequently walk backward. Then, can we do a turn using the heel part of
our foot while moving forward? Yes, it is possible, so you can. You may feel
more stable by turning on the heel; however, turning on the ball of the foot
will give you a much faster turn.
Then, what is the third method? You can easily guess that it is a turn as
you move backward. Remember the third move of Heian Shodan? After
the second move (right chudan oi zuki), you step back with your right leg
and turn 180 degrees to do a right zenkutsu dachi with a right gedan
barai. What part of your foot do you think you will use to do this turn? Yes,
this was an easy question. Most of you probably said, Heel. As you step
back, it is natural and easy to shift the center of gravity to the heel. One
word of caution on the use of the heel. The heel area (calcaneus) is a
simple bone structure, and it is a blessing in one way. At the same time,
however, it can make your turn more challenging. The heel area is simple,
being without joints and ligaments. This means you are unable to do the
fine tuning that can be done with the ball of the foot. To master turning on
the heel area, you will need to do a lot of practicing and learn how to be
stable and well balanced during the turn.
To be able to execute the most effective body turns in your karate, you
need to be able to manage all three different turning methods. A turn may
look simple, but the mechanism to deliver the most effective turn certainly
is not. A good turn is important in all athletic games. So, Im sure youll
agree that it is also extremely important in karate if you happen to be
serious about perfecting your technique. Shotokan is labeled as a linear or
straight-movement martial art. If we look at our kihon, it may appear
linear, but when we observe expert Shotokan practitioners perform, we all
witness that our karate is filled with circular techniques and body
movements. Asai Ryu () karate is a great example of this as it
adopts many tenshin (, body rotation) techniques.
Did I give you too much information? Maybe so, but it will make more
sense to you as you read this chapter several times. You may think this
information was written only for advanced practitioners or instructors.
Even though I want instructors to read the information written here, I
was also thinking of beginning- and intermediate-level practitioners. It is
better for beginners to learn the techniques correctly at the early stage of
their training. As you know, once you form a habit, it will be very difficult
to change or correct later. The ability to turn correctly is much more
important than most practitioners give it credit for. When you play
basketball, football, or tennis, isnt a superior turning ability important
and even necessary? If so, then why not in karate? To improve your
karate, you know that you need to practice all three K elements: kihon, (
), kata (), and kumite (). Regardless of which K element you may
be practicing, one of the key requirements for your improvement is that
you master the technique of perfect turning.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE REASONS WHY WE MUST

PRESERVE OUR KATA
Discussing the concept of kata () is a huge task and an extremely

complex one because it involves almost every aspect of the physical and
mental functions. I am always amazed by the beauty of the design and
capability of the human being. I cannot help but to thank God for the
masterpiece He has created. Our body (physical and mental) is far more
complex and precisely designed than any machine or mechanism we have
been able to create.
Now, let us talk about kata. According to Wikipedia, kata is described as
a Japanese word describing detailed choreographed patterns of movements
practiced either solo or in pairs. The term form is used for the
corresponding concept in non-Japanese martial arts in general.
Most readers already knew that much, but you may not know that the
kanji for the word kata has not been agreed upon in Japan. The same
reading is used for two kanji ( and ), but they have two different,
albeit similar, meanings. The first kanji, , means form or shape, and
the second one, , means model, mold, or pattern. So, the meaning of
is more general and describes the ambiguous concept of a form or shape.
On the other hand, the meaning of seems to be more specific as it refers
to a mold to make a certain form or pattern. As I mentioned earlier, there
is no consensus among Japanese karate styles and organizations. Different
kanji are used depending on the style of karate, and even that is not a
hundred percent accurate as these two kanji are used interchangeably.
Here is the cover of the book Karatedo Kata Kyohan, published by Japan
Karatedo Federation (JKF).
They use , and Shotokan also tends to use this kanji. Another book
(photo below), published by Okinawa Goju Ryu, shows in its title,
Karate no Kata.
Okinawan styles seem to prefer this kanji. This is historically

interesting because pure Japanese martial arts, such as kenjutsu (the
forerunner of kendo) and jujutsu (the forerunner of judo), use for their
kata. Okinawa definitely has a unique history and did not receive much
cultural influence from mainland Japan until as late as the mid-nineteenth
century. Therefore, the Okinawan people may have a different
understanding or feeling about these kanji.
OK, that is enough with the kanji lesson. I assume that many readers
will agree that kata is a very unique component of not only karate but also
all Japanese martial arts, or bujutsu (). The training method of kata
really separates bujutsu from sporting events and the Western fighting
arts (e.g., boxing, wrestling, etc.). Now that you know this, why did the
Japanese masters develop and adopt the concept of kata? What is the true
purpose of kata? It is true that kata is a perfect training method when you
are alone or when you do not have a training partner. With kata, you can
train any time and almost any place. You can also train secretly if you
want to keep your karate training confidential. All of these reasons seem
like good enough reasons why the ancient masters created kata. However,
some of you already know that they were not the real reasons. Training
had to be alone even though some kata (those in jujutsu, for instance)
were made for multiple practitioners to perform as tori and uke. There is a
real secret to bujutsu and the depth of its teaching. I hope this chapter will
help you to appreciate the wisdom of the past masters.
Let me explain why the Japanese masters of bujutsu believed in the
necessity of kata (mostly solo performance). First of all, in order to start
discussing this subject, we must understand the complexity of the
mechanism of the body (including the mind) in the martial arts. In fact,
this happens to be the most complex and demanding of all physical
activities. I am not saying this because I am a proud karate instructor.
This is not a biased statement, and I will explain exactly what I am saying
below. By the way, as far as I know, the theory I am going to present here
has never been discussed or mentioned by any instructor in the past.
To illustrate the complexity of the physical/mental mechanism of
bujutsu, I will compare it to some of the popular sports. In fact, I will list
them from the simplest (mechanical) structure to the most complex
(ending with bujutsu). A few sporting events, such as boxing, wrestling,
fencing, and archery, originated from martial arts. Sporting events were
invented and created for pleasure and leisure. To maximize pleasure, many
of them take the form of competition. This is why we can put kendo, judo,
and karate in the sports category. Those who want karate in the Olympics
feel very comfortable with the idea, and those who are into bujutsu feel
very unhappy with this recent movement, which did not succeed for the
2020 games.
Before I go further into the comparison, I want to stress the true

intention of my action so that the reader will not misunderstand the point
I will try to make. What I will present here is simply that the complexity
of the physiological and mental mechanism of the martial arts is greater
than that of sporting events. What I want to emphasize is that I am not
looking down on the sports category nor claiming that bujutsu is better or
more valuable than sporting events. Such comparison is futile and
meaningless as these are two totally different animals. Let me restate that
the comparison I present here is only from the perspective of mechanical
structure (both physical and mental) and complexity, not from the
perspective of value.
Hopefully, I have made myself clear on that point. Now I want to start
with the simplest or easiest competition structure of sporting events. Good
examples in this category may be track-and-field running and swimming
competitions.
Lets take a hundred-meter sprint as the first example. In this event,

you have only a few rules and requirements, such as reacting to the
starting gun and staying in a given lane, but not too many more. With
those rules, the only thing a competitor has to do is run as fast as he can.
First of all, a competitor does not need to learn a new technique. Almost
everyone knows how to run naturally, so what he needs to do is improve
his running technique to go faster. What is most important here is that the
other competitors not bother you or interfere with your running. If

someone does this, then that runner will be disqualified immediately. In
other words, in a normal track-and-field sprint event, a runner can focus
all his attention on his running. These are the key factors that make this
event the simplest event. This means the performance of the runner will
mostly depend on the runners natural talent. Of course, in order to run
faster, he has to train his body, run a lot, and also improve his running
style. However, the amount of new techniques he must learn or acquire is
extremely small.
Swimming is a little more complex because the ability to swim is a
learned or acquired skill unlike the ability to run, which is a given and is
unnecessary to learn (of course, a toddler must learn this ability). In a
swimming competition, there is little interaction between the swimmers,
and the only objective is to swim as fast as you can or faster than any of
the other competitors in the same race. Structurewise, this is pretty
primitive, and you can see why I say it is the simplest.
Golf fits into this category. Though it involves hitting a ball and playing
against opponents, the rules are the simplest. The ball is set on the ground
and does not move. The opponents are quietly watching your performance
and do not interactively play with you. Though the rules are the
simplest, I am not saying it is the easiest to play. If it were, no sponsor
would pay millions of dollars to professional golfers.
The second level of complexity is an event that involves some

interaction between the competitors. The simplest examples of this
category include tennis, Ping-Pong, and badminton, where you play
against only one opponent (I will talk about doubles later). You can easily
see that the biggest difference from the previous category is that your
opponent will directly affect and almost dictate your actions and reactions.
In other words, if he hits a ball to the right side of the table or court, you
have to run there to hit the ball back. If he hits high, then you have to
reach high to hit the ball back. It gets more complex as the number of the
players increases. Playing doubles is, of course, more complex than playing
singles in Ping-Pong and tennis. On the same token, it gets more complex
in baseball and volleyball. The events in this category share the similarity
of having an offensive and a defensive team. However, baseball is simpler
than volleyball as most of the interactions are between a pitcher and a
batter. The rest of the players are basically standing still and waiting until
the batter hits. Volleyball is a little more complex as the volleying, or
hitting of the ball to each other, will continue as long as the ball stays in
the air. Both of these have a rule that keeps all of your opponents in their
court or off the field while your team is playing. Opponents are not allowed
to come on to your court or field to disturb you.
Another rule we must pay attention to in baseball is that the offensive
side is fixed. Until the pitcher throws the ball, the game does not start. Of
course, there is a rule that limits the time to get ready, so the pitcher
cannot spend one hour before throwing the ball. But, he can basically take
his sweet ole time to get set before he throws the ball. This means that,
though under stress, he will be able to prepare himself in the best possible
condition for his attacking action (throwing the ball).
In this category, a more complex structure can be found in football

(soccer) and basketball. It is more complex because the offensive and
defensive sides are not fixed, and they can switch very easily if the ball is
intercepted. Even though the players on the opposing team cannot harm
you intentionally, they can block or even tackle you (in rugby), which
means not only do you have to carry the ball, but you also have to defend
yourself by running away from or dodging the pursuing opponents. This is
a huge key factor that makes the game faster, more unpredictable, more
complex, and more challenging to play. Players must learn and acquire
different kinds of techniques and more of them to play these ball games
than tennis and baseball. On the other hand, there still exist many rules
that keep the game fairly simple. Let me list a few. There is always only
one ball in play on the court or field. Can you imagine if there were two or
three balls in a basketball game? The goal or hoop belongs to one team,
and you have to get the ball to the other side. In basketball, a player
cannot carry the ball as in rugby. He has to dribble or pass it to one of his
teammates. In rugby, a player can carry the ball but he cannot throw it
forward. Interestingly, the more rules you have, the simpler the structure
of the game becomes.
Once again, I am not saying all these ball games are inferior to the
martial arts or claiming it is easy to become a top player. For instance, in
basketball and volleyball, a player needs to be able to jump high, so those
players are definitely much better at jumping than the average martial
artist. I am sure most football and basketball players can run faster than
most martial artists. They may even have more stamina and possibly more
endurance as they have to run for many minutes in their game. These
things are all true, but still the difficulty and complexity of the game or
competition structure are lesser than those of bujutsu.
Now, the last category before bujutsu is martial arts-like sports. I want
to list boxing, kendo, judo, and sport karate (both full-contact and
noncontact karate) and compare them to bujutsu. The martial arts-like
group has a much more complex structure. Once a fight or a competition
starts, there is no offensive or defensive side. After the bell or hajime

command, your opponent will attack whenever he can, and you will do the
same. This means you will have to assume the offensive and defensive
sides at the same time. Please note that this fact is the key point that has
a deep relationship to the creation and adoption of kata. I will explain
further on this later.
Out of the four events I have listed, boxing and full-contact karate are
probably the most brutal as in these two events, the competitors actually
hit each other. The fear factor also needs to be considered, and it is very
important though oftentimes ignored. Though it is a very interesting
subject, I will not go into this at this time. Structurewise, this group must
perform under the most complex and challenging fighting or competing
conditions. However, they still have some rules, such as a time limit and a
fixed fighting ring or mat. And, the rules prohibit or limit some actions for
safety reasons. For instance, in boxing, you cannot use your legs for
kicking. In full-contact karate, for instance, punches to jodan or gedan are
prohibited. They certainly do not allow eye poking, kicking to the groin,
hair pulling, biting, etc.
In the concept of bujutsu, there are no rules, and anything goes (though
there are some rules and limitations for kumite in the actual training). In
bujutsu training, one must practice for all possible situations and
scenarios. This very fact or requirement puts martial arts into the most
complex and demanding environment. Fighting time extends to 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Everywhere you go could turn into a
fighting site, and everyone and everything you meet or see could be your
opponent or enemy. In bujutsu, there is no clear separation of offensive and
defensive sides. Oftentimes, you may have to perform both functions at
the same time. Another big difference that makes bujutsu far more
difficult is that there are an infinite number of situations and possibilities
for attacking and defending. First, the physical characteristics of each

opponent/enemy are all different. Attackers come in all sizes, and they
may even have weapons in their hands. Unlike in a tournament, they may
attack you from behind, or they may be hiding behind a door, a car, etc.
Therefore, there could be millions of different bunkai situations.
Of course, their attacking techniques will be infinitely different, too.
Most of them may punch (although almost never with a karate punch),
and some opponents may be experienced street fighters or boxers. Some
may swing a stick or a knife at you. Some may be under the influence of
alcohol or drugs. I worked as a bouncer in a bar when I was training in
Philadelphia many years ago, so I know a drunken man can be a monster.
He does not feel pain and can be totally unpredictable. I have also fought
against a group of thugs in a parking lot that was covered with snow. I
was not smart as a mawashi geri came out of me naturally as one guy
pulled his arms up to strike me. I was lucky that I did not slip and fall
down. I could not knock him down with that kick as I was off-balance, but
they gave up and ran away after realizing I was a karate practitioner. In
your bujutsu training, these variable environments, situations, and
requirements (both mental and physical) must be considered and also
practiced accordingly. In essence, the no-rule fighting style of bujutsu
creates the most complex and challenging situations and conditions you
can have.
I have spent a lot of time and space explaining the levels of complexity
in the fighting/competing structure of different physical activities. This
was necessary before I could explain why kata is necessary. I am not sure
if I was successful in making myself clear on this concept, but I needed to
do this before I could dive into the real subject of kata and the learning
processes that are intricately combined and associated with the physical
and the mental.
So the big question is this: how can you practice in a way that is feasible
for no-rule fighting?
Earlier I presented you with a long introduction to explain the different
levels of complexity that are associated with the physical and mental
requirements in various types of competitions or sporting events. I
concluded that the requirements and the complexity of bujutsu are the
greatest and most challenging. My explanation may not have been full or
comprehensive enough, but I hope the reader can agree with the basic
concept. Now I expect that you would ask, OK, bujutsu may be the most
complex physical activity, but what has this got to do with kata? If you
have not seen it yet, the key point is there, so I would like you to
remember this clearly so that you will understand what I will explain
next.
First, I need to start with another basic concept. There are at least
three main requirements that uniquely separate martial artists from
sports athletes.
One of the requirements is the development of the 24/7 fighting mindset or attitude. This mind-set was a part of the daily life of all samurai in
the Middle Ages. Modern-day policemen and soldiers might truly
understand this requirement.
Funakoshi left many of his teachings in his Niju Kun (). One kun
states, Dojo nomi no karate to omou na (),
meaning karate training must not be considered only inside a dojo.
Another one is Danshi mon o izureba hyakuman no teki ari (
), meaning once you are out of the door of your house,
you may encounter a million enemies. He was telling us the mind-set of a
samurai, which is also necessary for bujutsu karate. This mind-set,
zanshin (), is very unique, and it requires some special training to
develop this difficult skill, but we will not cover this in this chapter. One
day I will write about this interesting subject.
Another requirement is the fear factor. In karate, we are supposedly
training to master techniques to kill people. In our kumite training, your
opponents are attacking you in order to knock you down or kill you. This
feeling of fear (and how to overcome it) is needed for martial arts training.
This is another big differentiation from sporting events as their main
objective is to score a point, reach the goal faster, win a prize, etc., and
ultimately to enjoy the event or race. By getting used to free sparring, one
can overcome the fear somewhat, but that is only with another unarmed
karateka. Besides, I have visited many dojo around the world and have
found that the intensity in kumite is not that high in most of them. How
will you overcome fear when you have to face an opponent with a knife or
a gun? How about when you encounter a hijack situation with a guy with
a gun who may be intending to fly the plane into a building? Are you going
to watch and see what happens? Are you going to stand up and try to stop
this guy even though you may be shot down? This is the kind of fear all
bujutsuka must think about and be ready for. There are special training
methods to overcome this level of fear, but here again, I will skip it and
will include it in the longer version.
To explain about kata, we need to go deep into the third unique
requirement for bujutsuka, or martial artists. This is the serious necessity
of learning and perfecting the techniques. Martial arts fighting means to
kill or be killed. Therefore, your techniques must be excellent to survive in
a fight. Any mistake could mean death for you. Now you tell me, OK, I
agree that martial artists have to seriously improve their techniques to
prepare for a life-or-death fight. But, how can the necessity of learning the
techniques be unique to martial artists? Even golfers have to practice their
swings and putts. This is true, but there is a hidden agenda that is related
to the training of the techniques. Some serious golfers may practice
shadow swinging (i.e., swinging without hitting the ball), but I doubt too
many amateurs need to do this since the necessity for this type of training
is rather small. Let me explain why they do not need to practice the
shadow swing too much. I have already mentioned that at the time when
you are about to swing your golf club, no one will bother your form with
any kind of disturbance, including talking in a loud voice. In fact, such an
action is considered a foul. I am sure you have seen this at a major golf
championship where an official gives some kind of sign to the audience
(photo below), and they force you to keep quiet.
Under this rule, no one around would push you or throw a punch at you.
Therefore, golfers can focus their attention on only one thing: how to hit a
still ball that is placed on a tee as perfectly as possible.
Let us look at our karate training and the area of kumite. Many
instructors believe that in order to improve kumite (note: I am referring to
jiyu kumite [], free sparring), you have to do a lot of kumite.
Some have even dropped kata on the basis that kata techniques do not
work or cannot apply in kumite. I have seen a few instructors put white
belts into jiyu kumite. One instructor insisted that it was a necessary
thing for a white belt to learn these natural fighting techniques rather
than the rigid and unnatural moves called waza (, technique). How
wrong can they be! I felt sorry for the white belts, but they seemed to
enjoy it (whatever it was).
So, whats wrong with this? Lets dig into this concept of learning
kumite through doing kumite and see what it does. First, if you are a
brown belt or above, I suspect you have done kumite before. Please recall
how your techniques were in your kumite. Didnt you find it extremely
difficult to deliver a clean or good technique in the fast exchanges of
kumite? How were your combinations or the exchanges of attacks and
blocks? Were they anything close to perfect? I suspect your answer would
be no. I know it is almost impossible because your opponent will interfere
by attacking, blocking, and doing other actions while you are trying to
throw a technique. You cannot have the undisturbed conditions in kumite
that a golfer can expect. Under these conditions, your simple technique
becomes far from perfect. Your punch or kick may be blocked, or you may
be off-balance, etc. Now, we are talking about one technique here. In an
actual fight, there will be multiple techniques and maybe with multiple
opponents.
You agree that when fighters are going full speed, it will be impossible
for them to throw perfect or even decent techniques. The techniques
become sloppy unless you happen to be an expert in jiyu kumite already. I
know you can deliver a technique in kumite to a degree, but can we really
expect to practice the techniques in kumite? Your techniques are not
perfect or even near perfect, so you would just be repeating those bad
techniques. By this training method, you will continue to repeat sloppy
techniques. And, what will result from this training method is that your
sloppy techniques will become your best techniques. This is the concept I
refer to: the more you practice, the worse you get. Here is an example of
a
very
poor
kumite
performance
by
black
belts:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=433968960035092.
By watching this, I hope you will agree that this persons techniques will
not improve no matter how much more kumite he engages in. This is why
I stated that one cannot train in karate (the most complex structural form)
in the same manner found in golf (the simplest structural form). You now
understand that we humans can normally focus on only one major physical
or mental activity at a time. To be able to multitask, you need to have
some special training. In kumite, a fighters movements are only reactions.
Here is a famous comment Bruce Lee (, 19401973) made in one
of his movies (I am sure many Lee fans remember this): Dont think.
Feel! It sounded good and impressed fans of the movie, but he was only
half-correct. If he were talking to an experienced practitioner, he would
have been correct. But, in the movie, he was talking to a young boy who
looked like a beginner (photo below).
As a martial art instructor, he was incorrect to give the boy such an

order. In other words, it is the same thing as telling him, Dont do kihon
kumite. Do only jiyu kumite. It is true that there are many things you
can learn from doing jiyu kumite, such as distance, timing, and body
shifting. I hope you agree that jiyu kumite is not for the beginner and
should be kept only for the advanced student (black belt). A beginning
student must be taught to think all the time and monitor his movements
as much as possible so he can learn the correct techniques. The ultimate
stage, of course, is feel, where your natural reaction (without thinking) is
a nearly perfect or correct technique even in jiyu kumite. But, it will take
many years for the beginner to get to that state, and he needs to seek out
and engage in the proper training (i.e., a lot of kihon kumite, kata, and
kihon) to get to that stage.
You may disagree that jiyu kumite is not the best training method to
improve kumite. It is true that we could modify jiyu kumite to make it
better as a training method. You could force the fighters to reduce the
speed of all the techniques in kumite considerably so that they would move
very slowly. In this way, they could give much more attention to their
techniques. As they improved and got better at that particular slow speed,
they would speed up gradually. This idea may sound good; however, I tried
this myself and with my students many times. What happensand you
will find this out yourself if you try itis that you cannot keep the motions
slow for very long. The fighters may start with slow moves initially, but
they will still have to react to each others moves. Pretty soon both of them
will end up going faster and faster. Consequently, their techniques get
sloppy very soon, and it becomes a regular jiyu kumite. On the other hand,
if you force them to move slowly all the time, then there is the frustration
of not being able to practice at the faster speed. This is the catch-22 of
practicing kumite.
It is true that there are other kinds of kumite training. Lets take a look
at them. After Shotokan was brought to mainland Japan in the early
twentieth century, yakusoku (, agreed) or kihon (, basic) kumite
was invented. There are different kinds of yakusoku kumite, so lets take
jiyu ippon kumite, which we call free single attack. This is an excellent
training method, and I recommend it to any intermediate student and
even to the yudansha. As you know, in this training menu, the attacking
side can throw a technique without disturbance by his opponent. It is good
for the defending side, as well, as he has much vital information, such as
which technique the attacker is going to throw (oi zuki, mae geri, etc.),
what area he will target (jodan, chudan, etc.), and the knowledge that the
attacker will not (supposedly) engage in more than that one attack, i.e., he
will not block the defenders counterattack, initiate a second attack, etc.
There are many variations of jiyu ippon kumite, but unfortunately, at most
dojo, I know they practice only one standard kind. Practicing only the
standard jiyu ippon kumite is definitely not sufficient. However, I do not
blame them. If you begin to expand the jiyu ippon kumite, you may end up
with several hundreds of different kinds. This is the limitation of jiyu
ippon kumite. The other yakusoku kumite are all good for beginning and
intermediate students, but they are not sufficient. Thus, we conclude that
there must be a different way of practicing to improve fighting skills.
Let me go back to golf as there is an interesting comparison between
golf practice and karate training. When we talk about golf practice, most
golfers think of a driving range. You get a bucketful of golf balls and you
systematically hit them. Your main objective is to hit them as far as
possible and in a straight line without hooking or slicing. Here you can
find similarities to our makiwara () practice. Both of them involve solo

work, hitting a fixed/still target, and having a fixed stance. Some of the
objectives of makiwara training are also similar as you want to hit the
target straight on and at maximum power. Of course, there are many
more objectives in makiwara, so it is a much more complex training. We
cannot equate it to practice on the driving range, but I thought it was
interesting to note those similarities.
So, the ancient masters realized that solo practice was necessary for
bujutsu training because bujutsu was (and is) the most complex physical
and mental activity. Did the Okinawan masters invent kumite practice?
No, they did not, and you have already read why earlier in this chapter. All
kumite training syllabi were developed after karate was introduced to
Japan in the early twentieth century. Then, did they invent kihon? No, the
kihon syllabi were also developed and added to karate training in the early
twentieth century. What did they invent then? You know the answer. They
invented kata. They also practiced bunkai. As this chapter is getting long,
I will not discuss why kihon was not invented, but you can assume that
the ancient masters believed kata was sufficient.
Now, before we go much further into the explanation of kata, I need to
bring up another important concept. There are two types or ways of
learning technique that are necessary for the martial arts. As far as I
know, this concept has never been fully explained to the karate world in
the past. Once you learn this, it is not a difficult concept, but you realize it
is an important one. The concept needs some explanation, and
understanding this will be important when we come to the objectives of
kata, which will be discussed later.
Let us look at the detailed concepts.
Learning Process 1: Acquiring Technique
One learning objective for the karateka is the pure acquisition of a

technique. As we all know, in karate, we must learn many basic
techniques, such as stances, punches, kicks, blocks, and many other skills.
After learning the single techniques separately, you need to go on and
learn various combinations (the number of which is huge). The important
point in this learning process is the word acquire. This is not only learning,
knowing, and understanding how the techniques work but also acquiring
them, which means the techniques must be a part of the body system. In
other words, after having learned the correct techniques, one needs to be
able to execute them as he wishes. Getting to this stage requires a large
number of repetitions to ingrain those techniques into ones body system.
We have already discussed that solo practice is needed in this process.
During solo practice, a practitioner does not have anyone or anything to
disturb his execution; thus, he can give a hundred percent of his attention
to his performance. By doing this, he can get the maximum result in
learning and acquiring the techniques.
Learning a technique by repetition is a well-known method, and all of us
karateka have been doing this diligently. To learn all sports and new
activities, you need to do some repetition, as well. Even to learn a small
task that may involve only the hand or fingers, repetition is required. Here
are a couple of examples. When you went to a Japanese restaurant for the
first time, you could not handle the chopsticks well. You needed to practice
using them. It was a new skill of finger coordination that you had to
acquire.
Have you ever experienced a situation in which you had to write with
your opposite hand (e.g., the left hand if you are right handed)? It is a
hand-and-wrist coordination that had to be transferred to the opposite
side. In both cases, you will become capable after many repetitions. Of
course, we can list all the sports activities as almost all of them need to be
learned with some degree of repetition.
The ancient masters thought about the complex combinations and
attempted to simulate actual fighting situations or samples of fighting
sequences. It is impossible to cover every technique and scenario no matter
how long one kata may be. Therefore, they selected the most frequently
used combinations in an attempt to make the best sample of the actual
fighting. A student can practice this slowly at first to learn the correct
techniques. Then, he will repeat this process until the techniques become a
part of him.
For learning and improving single or simple combinations, I am sure
you will agree that kihon training is best. I am sure the practitioners of
the past broke a kata sequence down and repeated the same technique or
techniques many times as we do in kihon. However, the standard kihon
training was invented and introduced only after the introduction of karate
in Japan. I will cover more on kata after the explanation of the second
learning requirement.
Learning Process 2: Learning How to Use Those Base Techniques
I am sure the first one was easy to understand and well known to all.
Here is the second one, which I feel has been ignored and missed by many
karateka and instructors. It is the learning of how to use or apply the
techniques in a real situation (i.e., a fight), and that, in and of itself, is a
technique. This is extremely important, and I want to make sure that all
readers, especially the instructors, understand this concept.
In the first process, the student learns how to punch, for example. After
learning a base technique of how to throw a punch, it is still not enough to
make it useful. To make it useful (effective), he must learn other critical
skills (techniques), such as maai (, distance), accuracy (hitting the
correct target), delivery of power, body shifting with the technique, and
many more. For example, unless a person can shift or move to the correct
distance in relation to his opponent, his punch or kick will be ineffective no
matter how fast or strong his attack may be. If he misses the target, then
that technique is also ineffective. These skills (e.g., maai, accuracy, power
delivery, body shifting, timing, etc.) are the additional techniques that are
necessary to use or apply your base karate techniques.
This is a very important concept, and all instructors should understand

this as it must be applied to their teaching. This is why Funakoshi Sensei
encouraged students to strike a makiwara (the concept of the driving
range as in golf).
The learning process is an interesting area. There are many things that
even modern science has not been able to explain, and some parts of the
learning process are among them. When we look at the learning process,
we believe we learn only from many repetitions. For instance, it takes a lot
of practice before you can use a pair of chopsticks. It is the same thing
before you can type fast. There are many more, so I am sure you can easily
come up with other cases. However, there are some things that require a
knack (kotsu [], in Japanese) to master the skill. This is interesting, so
let me give you a few examples. These would be how to ride a bicycle, how
to float in the water, or how to whistle. In all of these cases, you try
several times (quite a few for some people), but you do not see any
improvement. You really dont know how you did it, but at one point, you
found that you could do it. Once you learn how to whistle, float, or ride a
bike, you will retain those skills almost all your life even if you do not
practice them for many years. Most people can acquire these skills, but a
few cannot. There are a couple of examples that everyone acquires. One is
how to stand up and walk on two legs, and another is how to acquire a
language when you are a child. You were too young to remember how you
did these things, but I am sure you have witnessed this with your children.
These skills did not come from pure repetition alone. There is a different
mechanism in our body that makes them possible. You can experience this
if you try to learn a foreign language after you reach adulthood.
Believe it or not, you can find this in some of the karate skills. Most of
the techniques are learned through many repetitions. Many senior
practitioners may have realized that some things in karate are hard to
learn. For instance, kime is a technique, and one must learn how to be
able not only to tense up but also to relax the body in a certain way to
produce a good kime.
Here is an excellent sample video of how not to do kata practice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw3L2mJXagY&sns=fb.
Earlier in this chapter, we observed a video of poor kumite performance.
The practitioners in both videos were serious, and they genuinely believed
what they were doing was good karate. It is very unfortunate that they
had unqualified instructors who taught all the wrong practice methods and
techniques. Those practitioners learned neither the correct techniques nor

how to use them.
The same principle applies to a smaller degree to regular sporting
events. It may be easier to understand this point, so let me give you some
examples to illustrate it.
Lets take a swimming situation. A swimmer wants to learn how to do

the butterfly stroke. As this is a very difficult stroke, lets say he learns it
on the ground. After learning the body movements for this stroke, he will
eventually be able to simulate all those movements while he is on the
ground. This means he learned the technique for this stroke. However, this
does not mean he can swim in the water with this stroke even if he knows
how to swim using other swimming styles. He needs to get in the water
and be able to use this stroke to swim forward.
Another example I will pick is a basketball situation. A player learns

how to shoot a ball nicely. He learned the technique of throwing a ball.
This technique alone does not guarantee that he will have what he needs
in a game, which is the ability to make a basket. Making a basket requires
other techniques, such as accuracy, distancing, etc. In baseball, one learns
how to swing a bat. Just learning the technique of swinging a bat is not
enough, of course. He needs to learn the other requirements, such as
timing, distance, etc., so that he can actually hit the ball. However, even
that is still not enough. He also has to be able to hit the ball in a way that
will make it fly the desired direction and distance. I hope I have made my
point regarding this concept.
Now, when you review these cases, you see that this second requirement
or technique is much more difficult to acquire than the first one. With the
first one, all you need to do is repeat the action. With the second one, you
have to acquire a skill that may or may not come with the simple
repetition. This is why I say that understanding this point is important for
all karateka.
So, the ancient masters created kata for solo training, but did they
expect kata to fulfill the particular requirement of learning how to use
those base techniques? Obviously, they did not. They realized the
shortcoming of simply punching the air, so they invented the makiwara.
Hitting a makiwara can teach you some things that you cannot learn
from practicing kata alone. The things you can learn from hitting a
makiwara include maai, accuracy, power delivery, etc. However, the target
is fixed, and the distance is the same; therefore, it is lacking in many
conditions and situations. For instance, you cannot learn timing as the
makiwara does not move or react. It also does not teach you maai and
accuracy in a moving situation as the target is always fixed and
immovable. Many modern-day karateka use a punching bag as it can move
(swing). It is softer, so hitting it feels somewhat similar to hitting a real
person. However, the movements of a hanging bag are unfortunately very
simple and also predictable. It does not move like a person, so it is still not
a perfect training tool.
We can conclude, then, that in order to learn the technique of how to
use the base techniques, we need a person or an opponent. You may protest
to my conclusion, saying, Whats going on? You told us earlier that kumite
was not a good training tool for karate training. I am well aware of this,
so now I am telling you that the ancient masters taught bunkai and not
kumite. By doing this process, the students learned how to use those base
techniques in the kata. As you may already know, bunkai is an application
specific to a technique or a combination. It is not free sparring or anything
similar to the free exchange of the techniques in real fighting. You asked
earlier why the ancient masters did not create or adopt a kumite syllabus
in their regular training. There may be two good reasons. One is simply
that it was not very feasible because, in those days, a sensei had only one
or two students. As I mentioned earlier, the systematic kihon kumite
became popular only after large-dojo operation came into play in the early
twentieth century. Another reason was that they believed that shiai (,
competition or tournament) was not appropriate for or suitable to the
bujutsu concept. This is another interesting and challenging topic, but we
will not go into this in this chapter.
We know that this was the belief Funakoshi had, and he did not change
his mind throughout his whole life. Nakayama, Chief Instructor of the
JKA, had to hold off on the All Japan Championship till 1957, the very
year Funakoshi passed. It is true that the Okinawan masters did not
officially approve of or teach jiyu kumite, but unofficially they did. This is
one of the secrets Funakoshi did not share, and the Japanese found out
from Choki Motobu (photo below), another Okinawan master who moved
to Japan in 1921, that there was an event on Okinawa called kake
dameshi ().
Motobu was a very unique karate master. Here is some general

information
about
him
from
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motobu_Ch%C5%8Dki.
The word kake dameshi is not a popular one in Shotokan karate, so I
am happy to introduce it. The first part, kake, means to throw [a
technique]. The second part, dameshi, means test or experiment. But,
this word referred to a free fight, almost like a duel (though the purpose
was not to kill each other). Supposedly, there were a few open spaces or
crossroads in a town where the karateka who wanted to test their karate
skills would gather at night. Motobu was well known among the karate
practitioners as the champion in kake dameshi. He was said to be so good
that no karateka would accept his challenges. So, he used to climb up to
the top of a house near the crossing, and he would hide and wait there till
an unsuspecting karateka passed the area. Then, he would jump down and
start fighting without announcing a formal challenge. They say that no
karateka would dare approach those dangerous spots at night anymore.
If you are interested in learning more about Choki Motobu, read the
article Through the MythTo the Man by Tom Ross at Fighting Arts.
There are two parts, and here are the links:
Link 1: http://www.fightingarts.com/content02/motobu1.shtml
Link 2: http://www.fightingarts.com/content02/motobu2.shtml
The ancient masters, with the exception of maybe Motobu, did not
openly admit that karate training must include free sparring or street
fighting. They claimed it was barbaric and ungentlemanlike. Funakoshi
was a highly educated man and a very proud person, so it can be easily
guessed that he would definitely forbid such training. And, this was
exactly what happened with his teaching in Japan. He was totally against
free sparring practice, and his students had to practice jiyu kumite
secretly. He even resigned from a teaching position at one of the
universities when he discovered that his students were secretly practicing
free sparring. I will not go into this area of why he did not see the value of
free sparring in this chapter. He also prohibited shiai throughout his whole
life, and I have already mentioned that the first JKA tournament had to
wait till the year he passed. I wonder very much why Funakoshi did not
consider or realize the need for the technique of how to use the techniques.
This suspicion is somewhat surprising even to me as Funakoshi was an
educator and was a true believer of bujutsu karate.
I will conclude this chapter with the answers to a few of the popular
questions about kata.
First, lets review what kata is again. According to Wikipedia, kata is a
Japanese word describing the detailed choreographed patterns of
movements practiced either solo or in pairs. There are many different
kata, and they represent samples of fighting sequences. In previous
chapters, we have covered the reasons why the ancient masters created
kata. The most important message of this chapter is that they did not only
create them for the purpose of solo practice. More importantly, they
believed kata was the best training tool for bujutsu karate, the most
complex of physical and mental activities.

Hopefully, you agree that our kata must be preserved. At the same
time, I am sure you are aware that there are so many unanswered
questions with kata. I listed several of them in the last chapter, and I feel
strongly that they should be answered. If I did this here, however, it would
become a much longer book, so, for the purposes of this chapter, I will
select the following three questions and share my thoughts on them. In the
future, I may need to write another book just about the answers to those
unanswered questions.
OK, let us start with the first question.
1. Why do kata techniques not work in jiyu kumite?
Here is a great question that many people wonder about. It is true that
many techniques you practice in kata cannot apply or are not usable in
your jiyu kumite. In fact, some people have given up on kata because they
could not find an answer that made sense to them. I will attempt to
provide the answer here.
Believe it or not, the answer is quite simple. If you try to apply the kata
techniques to competition kumite, you are figuratively trying to fit a
square peg into a round hole. In other words, you are not comparing apples
to apples. Kata techniques are techniques to maim, hurt, or kill an
opponent. You may say that the techniques used in competition kumite
could hurt or maim the opponent, as well. That is true, but there is one big
difference here. The purpose or the objective of the techniques you use in
competition kumite is to get a point. If you happen to knock out your
opponent or break his bones, you will be disqualified. In addition, there are
too many kata techniques that are not allowed. For instance, stabbing
your finger into the eye, kicking the groin, grabbing the hair, etc., are key
techniques in bujutsu, but they are prohibited in competition kumite.
Some of the short-distance techniques, such as enpi uchi, knee kicks,

kagi zuki, and ura zuki, are possibly allowed in tournament kumite.
However, how many times have you seen anyone get a point with one of
those techniques? Not too often or never, I suppose.
The reason is obvious and simple. It is extremely difficult to make a
visual judgment whether such a technique is effective in a noncontact
tournament. A judge needs to see a long-distance technique, such as a
straight punch or a kick, to determine if such a technique would be
effective. The short-distance movement of an elbow or a knee is much
more difficult to judge, so competitors will not try those techniques even if
they are allowed.
Then, you may ask, Do those kata techniques work in a real fight? Of
course they do, and that is what you train in with bunkai. To be able to use
those techniques in a real fighting situation, you must go through the kata
training correctly. Let me define the word correctly here. Remember the
various processes I have covered in the previous chapters that are needed
in learning? You need to learn and acquire the techniques first. Then, you
need to do a lot of bunkai training to understand how those techniques are
used and applied. With bunkai training, you need to learn how to use the
techniques. There are so many different bunkai to each technique, so it is
almost impossible to practice and learn all of them. It will take much time,
meaning years, to learn one kata and its bunkai. This is why the ancient
masters said you need to spend three to five years on one kata.
How do we really know that we are capable of using those dangerous
techniques? The only way is to test it in a real fight. However, I cannot
recommend to anyone to start a bar fight or a street fight just to test this.
The samurai of ancient times faced the same dilemma with their sword
skill. They either challenged others to a duel or practiced a lot of kata and
other solo training, such as swinging the sword a thousand times per day.
As a real sword was too dangerous to use in daily training with an
opponent, they used a bokken (, wooden sword), but there were still
many serious injuries, including death. So, they came up with another
solution in the nineteenth century, which was the invention of the shinai
(, bamboo sword) and full protectors.
This method became very popular, and you can see this in the modernday art of kendo. Though kendoka may disagree, kendo is no longer
bujutsu as it lost most of its real kenjutsu techniques. Why and how kendo
lost its bujutsu parts is an interesting subject, but we will not touch it
here.
One thing I want to add here is that the samurai believed kata was the
best training tool to improve sword fighting skills. The idea of inventing a
method using a shinai and full protectors was not conceived of all
throughout medieval times, when they had many wars and fights. It was
invented only at the end of the feudal era of nineteenth century.
2. Can kata be changed?
Here is a heavy and also a controversial question.
The ancient masters (as well as the modern-day masters) told us not to
change the kata; however, many of us know that most, if not all, of the
kata have been changed to some degree since the time when Funakoshi
brought karate to mainland Japan.
In fact, Funakoshi himself changed the kata, some slightly (e.g.,

changing Chinese-sounding names to Japanese-sounding names, switching
Heian Shodan and Heian Nidan, etc.) and others greatly (e.g., changing
neko ashi dachi to kokutsu dachi, changing mae geri to yoko keage, etc.).
So, was it OK because he was the master who brought karate to Japan?
Let me share my thoughts and personal opinions on this subject. A wise
man once said that there is nothing that does not change except for change
itself. I believe kata is one of the cultural products that include language,
dance, etiquette, customs, etc. No matter how hard we may try to keep
these things unchanged, I am afraid it is impossible. Kata is no exception.
I already mentioned that our Shotokan kata have already experienced
many changes, and many of these changes came from Funakoshi himself.
Even though I may not be qualified to judge the decision making of
Master Funakoshi, after examining the challenging situation in which he
was immersed while he was trying to propagate karate in Japan in the
early 1920s, I concluded that these changes had to be made and were
acceptable changes, if not improvements. I wrote a chapter on this
particular subject, and it was included in my recent book, Shotokan
Mysteries (available from Amazon bookstore). If you are interested in
reading further on this subject, I suggest you read my book Shotokan
Mysteries.
I am not encouraging or supporting, in general, the idea that kata can
or should be changed. In fact, my stance is that we must keep the kata we
have exactly the way they are. As kata is a textbook and a model, it is a
standard form from which we practice our fighting method. We must have
a uniform base from which to learn and teach among the millions of
practitioners around the world. All of us forget or remember incorrectly as

we practice the kata for many years. As the makeup of our individual
bodies is different, so we naturally perform the same kata differently to
some degree. If any of us, whether students or instructors, change the
kata according to our liking or preference, we will have thousands of
different versions. Here is a good example of how kata should not be
practiced: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw3L2mJXagY&sns=fb.
So, the conclusion to this question is that only a few masters who truly
understand the art of karatedo can change the kata. The average
instructor or practitioner, i.e., almost all of us, must not. Who are those
few masters other than Funakoshi? One may be Kanazawa, and another
may be Asai (see the next question).
3. Asai Sensei created many new kata. Why did he do this?
There are two schools of thought on the number of kata one needs to
learn. I will not debate which is correct or better. I will only mention a
brief description of the two schools. One schools belief is that it is better to
concentrate on only a few kata and master them thoroughly. This school is
headed by Choki Motobu, who was said to have practiced only Tekki
(Naihanchi).
The real story is that he, of course, knew other kata but did not teach
very many kata in his class. He placed more emphasis on bunkai and
applications. Apparently, he mainly used techniques from Tekki kata, so
people incorrectly believed that he knew only one kata.
The other school is headed by Master Tetsuhiko Asai (, 1935

2006), who knew and practiced 150 kata.
The objective of this school is to learn many kata in order to widen the
variety of the techniques. The following statement is very controversial,
but he believed the twenty-six kata of the JKA were not enough to cover
all the necessary techniques. He was the technical director of the JKA for
many years during the eighties until the breakup of the JKA in 1990. After
the passing of Masatoshi Nakayama (then Chief Instructor of the JKA) in
1987, he wanted to change the JKA syllabus, and this met with very
strong opposition from many JKA instructors. After the departure of Asai
in 1990, many of the JKA dojo reduced their kata menu to twenty-four or
twenty-five by removing Wankan and/or Jiin from the list.
Of course, it is up to the individual organization to decide how many
kata should be practiced. My stance is to keep the number of kata small
for beginning and intermediate students. Once the practitioner acquires a
dan rank, I recommend that he gradually increase the number of kata and
not stop with twenty-six kata if he is yondan or higher. How many more is
a difficult question. Altogether, I know fifty or so kata. It is extremely
difficult to remember and keep training with all of those kata. My memory
is poor, so maybe the younger practitioners would have no problem, but I
do not know.
The upside of knowing many kata is that it forces you to practice them;
otherwise, you will forget. Another benefit is that you will be able to
practice the additional techniques that are missing in the twenty-six JKA
kata. However, there are some downsides, too. You will have to spread
your time over many kata; thus, you will have less time to focus on the
key kata unless you increase the amount of training time. If you are a
Shotokan practitioner, then there are many instructors who can help you
with or teach you the JKA kata. There are only a few who can teach or
coach you in the Asai kata. If you wish to practice the kata from Shito Ryu
or Goju Ryu, then you have to belong to another style and another dojo. It
is possible to learn a kata from a video clip, and I have met many
practitioners who do this. I say it is good that they are motivated to learn
a new kata despite lacking a proper instructor and instruction. I respect
that, but, on the other hand, I find that many are practicing incorrect
techniques. There are three major problems with this learning method.
One is that video is limited in showing the techniques, and viewers can
easily misunderstand some of the moves. For instance, sometimes it is not
clear if a stance is sochin dachi or zenkutsu dachi. Tateken zuki (vertical
punch) can be viewed as seiken zuki (regular straight punch).
I find that the more important and possibly serious flaw in learning the
Asai-created kata by video is that many of the video demonstrations are
done by noncertified instructors who learned the kata incorrectly. Asai
Sensei published a kata textbook (in Japanese) for Junro, so for Junro,
there is no problem. You can check the textbook and be sure of the
techniques. In addition, the video clips of Junro by the JKS are done
correctly, and I recommend using them as your training tool. For the other
kata, we have video in which Asai Sensei himself performs the kata, but
there are many others for which we do not have his video performance or
an official textbook that we can go by. The biggest and most serious
problem with video learning is that you will not learn the bunkai, which is
the heart of the kata. Without knowing the true applications from the
senior instructors who know the bunkai, the kata you learned will only be
a karate dance.
There are many other interesting questions about kata, and most of
those questions have not received logical answers. One day I will list those
important questions and attempt to provide my thoughts and
understanding to shed some light on the mysteries of kata.
CHAPTER SIX
IS WEIGHT TRAINING GOOD OR BAD

FOR KARATE?
Have you noticed that many Japanese sensei oppose weight training? Now,
I am not referring to the Japanese sensei that live outside Japan. I am
talking about the general consensus of Japanese Shotokan instructors. As
a group, they either oppose or discourage weight training. Though I do not
know what the instructors from other karate styles would say on this
subject, I do know that many of the Japanese sensei in other budo, such as
jujutsu, kendo, or even judo, are not in favor of weight training. One
interesting finding is that Mas Oyama, the founder of Kyokushinkai, left
this message: Lifting weights at the gym wont make you strong, (photo
below).
I find this very interesting because Kyokushinkai is a full-contact style of

karate where raw power is needed. In addition, I know that he himself
used to lift weights when he was young. Thus, you would expect him to
encourage the idea of lifting weights to build muscle, but his message is
the exact opposite. He must have changed his view in later years, or
maybe he had a different idea about weight training.
Here is another quote from the famous Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu (
) master, Hatsumi Masaaki (, 1931). He said, Power is not
necessary, (photo below).
Well, he is not from karate, but if you watch his training, many of the
techniques he uses are very similar to karate techniques. Apparently, he
does not believe in using power in his techniques. Even though he is old
(eighty-three as of 2014), he can easily subdue opponents who are half his
age. Without power, you cannot subdue an opponent, so we wonder why he
would say we dont need power. In this chapter, I hope I can shed light on
this subject by sharing what these instructors believe. You can examine
what I present here and be the judge. You can decide at the end if you
agree with them or not.
OK, let us start. I realize that this subject is controversial. When I
made an announcement on my Facebook page showing the title of this
chapter, I received so many comments, both pros and cons. I must also say
that it is an important subject and that everyone must have the correct
knowledge and understanding about it. I am afraid that many people seem
to have some wrong ideas as well as some misunderstanding on some parts
of this subject. There are also many good questions, but no senior karate
instructors have provided any logical or educated explanations or answers.
It is natural that many karateka are somewhat confused. I will do my best
to provide answers to all the questions I list as well as some explanations
that are, hopefully, easy to understand. Let us travel this road together
and discover the answers to the different aspects of the important subject
of weight training.
First, let us define the term weight training and have a clear
understanding of what we are discussing. Wikipedia defines weight
training as [using] the weight force of gravity (in the form of weighted
bars, dumbbells or weight stacks) to oppose the force generated by muscle
through
concentric
or
eccentric
contraction
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_training).
When we think of weight training, we almost automatically think of

lifting heavy barbells and dumbbells. However, weight training also
includes using our own body weight (e.g., push-ups, sit-ups, squats, etc.).
So, there are two large categories of weight training. One uses some type
of weights or equipment, and the other works only with body weight. OK
then, lets bring up the questions, and we will see if we can find the answer
to each of them.
Do Japanese instructors oppose all weight training?
The short answer is no. This is obvious because they include some type
of weight training in their workout, such as squats and sit-ups. Japanese
instructors know that all of us need power. Even just to move our body, our
muscles have to work. So, they believe making our body strong is the right
thing. For instance, if our legs are weak, then we cannot stand in a low
stance for a long period of time or shift our body quickly. They particularly
believe in the strength of the legs and the midsection, so under a Japanese
sensei, you may have gone through some rigorous weight training, such as
doing many sit-ups and squats.
Then, why do Japanese instructors say they oppose weight training?
When Japanese instructors, particularly those of the Shotokan style,

use the term weight training, they are normally referring to weight lifting
using either free weights or weight-lifting machines. They normally do not
consider exercises using body weight to be weight training. Many of the
sensei include sit-ups, push-ups, and squats in their regular karate class.
What Japanese instructors have an issue with is lifting heavy weights or
power lifting. They may not oppose it completely, but they do discourage it
strongly.
Why are they against weight lifting?
The question here is the main issue of this chapter. My explanation will
be somewhat long and rather involved. I will do my best to make my
explanation simple and clear. I have found that this subject raises a lot of
interest among readers and is a controversial one. I am aware that what I
write may not sit well with the beliefs of some Western practitioners and
instructors.
It is true that weight lifting builds power in your muscles and makes
them stronger. Obviously, karate techniques require physical strength, so
you wonder what the problem is with gaining power from weight training.
Japanese sensei definitely do not consider gaining strength or becoming
stronger to be a problem. What is an issue is what kind of weight training
is included and how you apply your weight training to the ultimate goal of
improving your karate techniques as I assume most readers are karateka.
I hope that makes sense so far. Let me elaborate further. First, there is
a very important point that we must remember. That point is that there
are two separate phases in karate training. One is learning the techniques;
the other is delivering or executing them. I have explained this in the
previous chapter, The Reasons Why We Must Preserve Our Kata, so I
will not repeat that detailed explanation here. Many instructors know
about these phases, but this important fact has not been discussed enough
in the past.
In the learning phase, power is not considered to be the most important

requirement. In fact, having too much power is considered a handicap or
detriment. If you have taught a novice, you probably remember this.
Teaching a novice goes like this. You show a simple technique, such as
choku zuki (straight punch). You tell the novice student to repeat it slowly.
What you notice in most students is the overt tension of the arms and
shoulders. You see the shoulder on the punching side rise up as it is too
tense. We know that the shoulder should be relaxed and pulled down by
having the armpit muscles tensed. Students need to be relaxed so that
they can perform accurate techniques slowly. Of course, they need
minimum power to move their arms and to stand up for a period of time,
but they do not need more strength than this during this phase. The other
important requirements for karate, such as speed and kime, are neither
needed nor required at this stage. The most important and challenging
thing in this phase is to accurately learn the techniques. At this stage, the
sensei will not recommend that the student get involved in weight training
except for core muscle training, which will be explained later.
I am sure you will agree with the idea of not focusing on the power
aspect when you are just learning the techniques. So, we have no problems
up to this point. What we must remember is that many readers are
probably either advanced practitioners or instructors. They belong to the
next phase, executing the techniques. In their training, they deliver the
technique with speed and power. Weight training should increase speed
and power. So, why would Japanese instructors oppose it? This is where a
more precise explanation is required.
There are at least three apparent reasons why Japanese instructors

consider having more power unnecessary and believe that weight training
can be harmful even for advanced practitioners.
1. They emphasize the importance of accuracy in karate.
In other words, if your punch cannot land on the target correctly, then a
strong punch means nothing. This is the same as a batter in baseball, for
example, who can swing a bat with great speed and power. If this batter
cannot hit the ball, his fast and strong swing amounts to nothing. This
player needs to work on the technique of hitting the baseball. So, for the
karateka, the ability to execute an accurate technique includes timing,
hitting the target, judgment of distance, etc., and is considered more
important than sufficient impact (power). Out of all the important
requirements (physical side), power is probably considered by instructors
to be the least or second least important. Instructors will typically tell you,
You do not need power, but you must have accuracy when you stab the
eyes or kick the groin.
2. They consider 5 out of 5 to be better than 5 out of 10.
The aspect of power that Japanese instructors favor heavily is the
achievement of its maximum. The numbers I will use here are just for a
model of the concept, so the numbers themselves are not important. Here
is an example. One person has a maximum power of 5 and can generate all
(5) when executing a technique. Another person has a maximum power of
10 but can produce only half (5) because of bad balance, excess tension,
etc. Though the final output figures are the same, the first person is better
as he is able to maximize body coordination to generate all potential power.
The second person wasted half of his capacity, though he tried for the
maximum, because of poor balance, excess tension, etc. Of course, if the
second person learns how to generate more, then that person will be
stronger than the first person. However, the instructors will not
recommend that this person work out with weights, but rather that he
relax and stretch. By spending his time and effort in this manner, this
practitioner can produce more from the existing power capability. Thus,
the priority of power is low in Japan, and the sensei will encourage you to
work on the other requirements, such as accuracy, balance, rhythm,
flexibility, etc.
3. They believe karate techniques to be the most complex of all physical
activities.
Though requirements such as speed and power are important,
instructors consider technique and skill to be the most important. As I
mentioned earlier, no matter how strong or powerful your punch or kick
may be, if it misses the target, then such an attacking technique has
completely lost its meaning. This is exactly the reason why so many
Japanese sensei oppose weight lifting as they believe weight lifting can
derail good technique. Lets examine the thoughts behind this.
Before I go into the explanation, let me share my opinion about the freeweight method versus stacked-weight machine method. Both approaches
are intended to increase your muscle strength, but if karate practitioners
choose to lift weights, I recommend free weights. I know it is easier and
safer to train with a weight machine, but you cannot learn the important
aspect of balance from a weight machine. This is like trying to learn how
to balance on an exercise bike. It is impossible as an exercise bike is fixed
to the floor.
When you work with weights, regardless of the methods mentioned
above, there are two approaches. One is to lift a very heavy weight, close
to the maximum you can lift. In this approach, you can do only a few
repetitions. The other approach is to pick a light weight so that you can
easily do ten to twenty repetitions. Of course, there are other approaches
and combinations of these, but the two approaches I mention here are the
typical ones. The first approach is taken mostly by serious weight lifters
who wish to either increase the maximum weight they can lift or bulk up
(make their muscles bigger). The second approach is chosen mainly by
people who are aiming only to tone up their muscles or maintain their
strength. For the karateka who chooses to lift weights, I hope you are
taking the second approach as you do not want to make some of your
muscles too strong by using the first approach. Let me explain.
There is nothing wrong with building muscle and gaining strength, but
we do not want to just build muscles in karate. There are two main
reasons why the sensei oppose the weight-lifting type of training. Here is
the first and most important reason. In a later chapter about relaxation, I
will list some data about our body parts. For instance, an adult body is
made up of 206 individual bones, over 230 movable and semimovable joints
(illustration below), and 640 to 850 muscles.
Even though the exact numbers of these parts are not important, one
thing I want to emphasize is that our body is composed of a huge number
of movable parts. They enable us to perform all the complex movements
that are found in karate training. In fact, karate techniques are, believe it
or not, some of the most complex movements you can find. Now, remember
that we have more than 640 muscles, and they are the power generators.
So, imagine our body is like a huge orchestra with more than 800 singers
and instruments (640 muscles and 206 bones). Yes, your brain is the
conductor who manages them all. You can imagine that it would be a
challenging task to make beautiful music, especially if the players and
singers are not professionally trained. I am not a musician, so I cannot tell
you how challenging it would be, but I am sure it would be quite a
challenge for most amateur conductors. What would happen if a certain
instrument, such as a drum or a group of drums, started making a much
louder sound? Even if you like the sound of the drum, the audience will not
be pleased if it is not in harmony with the other instruments. I assume it
is pretty easy to understand the importance of harmony and coordination
in orchestral music.
Just like orchestral music, when you want to improve karate

techniques, what you need most is coordination and harmony. Karate skill
is precise work, and numerous amounts of exact repetitions are needed. I
am sure you remember, when you were a white belt, how many times you
had to repeat age uke, shuto uke, gyaku zuki, mae geri, etc., as they were
totally new moves for you. Your instructors told you to do those moves
slowly but accurately. You did not need power in that process. Refining or
improving your techniques is a similar process. It is a work of fine tuning
and coordination. Indeed, extra strength is not only unnecessary but is also
an unwanted element in that process.
Let me give you another reason why weight lifting is discouraged in
karate, and I believe this is a large concern among senior instructors,
including me. The action of weight lifting requires contraction and tension.
More weight means more tension. I have mentioned several times in the
past that karate techniques must be executed with well-balanced and
coordinated expansion and contraction. Master Funakoshi also left his

message on this in his Niju Kun. The nineteenth kun states, Chikara no
kyojaku tai no shinshuku waza no kankyu o wasuruna (
), meaning do not forget the employment or withdrawal
of power, the extension or contraction of the body, or the swift or leisurely
application of technique.
Master Taiji Kase (, 19292004), of France, also left a message

stating his concern, Unfortunately, these days I see too much tension in
the practitioners muscles. A practitioner will be off-balance in the
harmony of the body mechanism after each weight-training session
(tension) unless he makes sure to spend at least an equal amount of time
and effort on expanding and stretching his muscles. Most practitioners do
not see the ill effects of not doing a counterbalancing exercise until the
result gets large enough to see in their performance, at which point it may
be too late to reverse the course. Worse yet, practitioners may not see the
ill effect at all as they are blinded by the muscle gain and power increase.
One may believe he can prove power gain by punching a makiwara. It may
make a louder sound, but he may not realize that he may now be punching
more like a street fighter. How could this be? The bench press is probably
the most popular barbell exercise to develop the pectorals (chest muscles).
Unless you make an extra effort to keep the elbows inward, they will be
kept outward as you do the pressing. I am sure you know what I am
talking about if you have bench-pressed before. The body performs exactly
how it is taught. It is like a computer. Garbage in, garbage out. We are
taught to keep our elbows in as we do the oi zuki or choku zuki, but the
bench press makes a different impression on the chest, shoulder, and arm
muscles. The degree of muscle impression and memory is equal to the
amount of weight and the number of repetitions.
First of all, why is power or having big muscles more popular in the
Western world than in Japan? This is a cultural subject, and my answer
may not be accurate or even correct, but I will share my thoughts. At least
to me, the need for power and having big muscles seems to be
overemphasized in the Western world and possibly underemphasized in
Asia, particularly in Japan.
I think it mainly comes from Western machismo. A hero in the Western
world often looks like Hulk Hogan, with the huge chest and arms and the
small waistline. Consider the case of Arnold Schwarzenegger. When he
started in Hollywood, who believed he would become a successful movie
star as he could not act or even speak good English? Maybe he learned how
to act later, but how was he able to get the job in the first place? I am sure
I do not need to tell you the answer. Builds like that of wrestler Hulk
Hogan (photo below) or bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger do not get too
much admiration by the majority of Japanese.
This is because we consider it artificial and unnatural. We like strong

men, too, and that is why sumo is popular in Japan. But sumo wrestlers
certainly do not look like Hulk or Schwarzenegger, though sumo wrestlers
are big, too. Many readers may think this sumo wrestler is fat because his
belly is sticking out. Believe it or not, the fat content of sumo wrestlers is
surprisingly low, being lower than that of the average population. It is true
that many of the current sumo wrestlers are fat because they began to
believe that having greater body weight could be an advantage. It is true
that it is harder to be pushed out of the ring if you are heavy. The
Japanese audience does not like this trend, but it is happening. Compare
the way this famous sumo wrestler, Futabayama (, 19121968
[photo below]), looks to the way Hulk Hogan looks.
Futabayama had a winning streak of sixty-nine consecutive bouts, a

record which has yet to be broken. In fact, though it may sound ridiculous
to Western readers, Futabayama would move the organs of his inner belly
to shift his balance to his advantage during his matches. I have covered
this technique in one of my articles, and I will touch on it again when I
mention Rickson Gracie later in this chapter.
Also, what is not widely known about sumo wrestlers is the stretch
exercises they must go through. The side split is a requirement for all
wrestlers (photo below).
Flexibility of the hip joints is considered to be extremely important.
With flexible hip joints, a wrestler can do a deep squat, which in turn
enables him to push his opponent strongly. However, what is important
here is that they believe flexibility (stretched muscles) will result in more
power. This is the biggest difference in the concept of generating more
power as the sumo method comes from flexibility, mainly of the hip joints,
and not from strengthening the muscles by lifting weights. Besides having
flexible hip joints, it is important to note that they only do the sumo
workout in and around the ring. I hear that the younger generation of
wrestlers, especially the ones from outside Japan, go to the gym to lift
weights. However, most wrestlers still rely on the regular sumo workout
to build their power. From this method, they can develop strong but soft
elastic muscles that are like chewing gum or a rubber tube. The Japanese
prefer flexible and soft-looking muscles rather than hard ones that look
like rocks. This is the Japanese way of thinking. Maybe you will recall that
I wrote an article previously about the Okinawan karate term muchimi or
mochimi (), the rice-cake body. I explained what muchimi is and what
it does in that article, so you can check it out if you are interested.
I also see a similar difference in the view of power between the swords
of the knights and those of the samurai, the katana (). The knights
broadswords were built heavy and thick.
Their main purpose was to hack at the opponent with the heavy weight
of the sword rather than using a sharp cut. It takes, of course, some
technique to swing and maneuver the heavy swords, but it definitely
requires strong upper-body muscles. On the other hand, katana were
tempered to have the finest sharp blade and a slight curve.
They were designed and made to slice, cut, and pierce. Of course, a
katana is much heavier than a pair of chopsticks but is lighter than a
knights sword. The samurai built their upper-body strength by swinging
the swords hundreds of times each day, but they mainly spent their
training time in mastering the techniques of using the katana. I am not
discussing which sword is better here as each has its own advantages and
disadvantages. I am not a hundred percent sure if this difference in swords
had any impact or influence on the cultural difference between the
modern-day West and Japan. Maybe I am too nostalgic about the knights
and the samurai; thus, I may be thinking too deeply. However, it would be
an interesting study to compare the swords from these two different
regions of the world that developed around the same period of history, the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Well, it looks as though some people
have already done the study. Here is one of the videos, titled Samurai
Sword
vs.
Knight
Broadsword:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=EDkoj932YFo.
Now, lets go back to building your power. We have covered that it can
be divided into two categories for the purposes of our discussion. One
category is lifting weights either to build muscle size or simply to be able
to lift heavy weights. In this case, the lifting of the weights does not have
a direct connection to sports or the martial arts. In other words, the
motion of lifting weights does not simulate the movements of any specific
physical activity or skill. This method is suited for bodybuilders and
weight-lifting competitors.
The second category is weight training specifically programmed to
supplement and enhance the targeted movements of a sport, martial art,
or other physical activity.
Let me give you a good example of the other activities that I mentioned
in that last sentence. According to Wikipedia, The United States Navys
Sea, Air, Land Teams, commonly known as the Navy SEALs, are the U.S.
Navys principal special operations force. They were highly publicized
when a SEAL team attacked and killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, so some
readers may remember this. What I want to share is that Wikipedia goes
on to say that SEAL training is extremely rigorous, having a reputation
as some of the toughest in the world. The dropout rate for SEAL training
is sometimes over 90 percent. Take a look at some video clips of a SEAL
workout and see how it is done at the following URL (there are three parts
to this, so be sure to watch all of them): http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=X4vacQnspQI.
When viewing the workout, you will notice that they either use free
weights or they exercise by doing push-ups, lifting logs and boats, or doing
hanging exercises that leverage their body weight. These video clips do not
cover all the workouts. I am sure there are a lot more. But, one thing I can
almost bet is that they do not use a weight machine to increase power or
grow muscles. Their exercises are to develop overall power performance by
training mostly on the core muscles rather than the peripheral muscles. If
anyone has taken SEAL training, I would like to hear if my assumption is
correct. To build the kind of power that can be used in complex actions,
this method is obviously preferred, and this is part of the answer to the
question we have for karate.
OK, so I brought up SEAL training for one method of building power
and endurance, but it does not cover the examples of successful athletes
and martial artists. In a later chapter on relaxation, I will pick two
Olympic sprinters, Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis. Johnson chose the power
approach, and Lewis chose body coordination to increase his speed. I wish
to share an interesting fact about another Olympic gold medalist, Michael
Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of twentytwo medals. He did not use any weight lifting in his training (at least up to
2005). Here is an excerpt from the IGN interview in 2005:
IGN SPORTS: Youre 64, about 200 pounds. Is your physique all from swimming, or do you hit
the weights?
MICHAEL PHELPS: Ive never lifted a single weight in my life. Its all from training in the water,
period. Thats not to say I wouldnt lift in the future, but now, no.
Short-distance swimming is similar to sprinting. Speed is the name of

the game, yet Phelps did not choose weight lifting as a method to increase
power and speed. Isnt this interesting? Look at how he is built.
His body is muscular but rather slender and not bulky at all. Is it only
my wild imagination that his build looks like that of a dolphin? It certainly
does not look like that of Ben Johnson, a Mack truck, but more like the
fluid-looking figures of Carl Lewis or Florence Joyner, who, I believe, relied
on natural body-weight training. I believe all these athletes shared the
same philosophy and concept as the SEALs on how to train their body to
get maximum power and speed. That philosophy is exactly what Japanese
martial arts instructors believe and want. Here is the entire IGN
interview, which you can read if you are interested in Phelps:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/08/13/michael-phelps-interview.
OK, the examples I gave above are all sprinters. Now you want to see
examples from budo. Let me start with a famous person in judo. At the
Tokyo Olympics in 1964, when Kaminaga lost in the judo final to Anton
Geesink, the Japanese realized for the first time that power could
overwhelm technique.
Geesink was not only huge (height: 66 [1.98 m]; weight: 270 lbs. [122
kg]); he was strong. He basically yanked Kaminaga down and held him for
thirty seconds to get an ippon. Here is a video clip of his matches at the
Olympics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtyWMKs7dp0.
According to Geesinks book, to develop power, his Japanese sensei,
Michigami, made him work with the natural method more than lifting
barbells. Michigami told him to run, swim, and bike long distances. He
also instructed him to play soccer for leg strength and agility. The photo
below shows him carrying logs on his shoulders.
He would also run up and down the hill to strengthen his legs and upper
body. This is interesting as a similar workout with heavy logs is used in
SEAL training.
Despite this defeat by a strong Dutch judoka, power is still looked down
upon not only in the martial arts but also in sports in general in Japan. We
have a term used for someone who has an extraordinary amount of
strength: baka chikara (), which means stupid strength. Japanese
people often wonder why Western people pay so much attention to
increasing power or stupid strength. As I have mentioned earlier, it may

partially be from the machismo culture in the Western world, e.g., big
biceps, chest, etc. People proudly show their half-naked photos on their
Facebook pages with their pumped up arms and chest, which the Japanese
consider to be a silly act of young people. The other reason is the fact that
performance is visible, and the result is much easier to measure in
numbers. You can say, I lifted a hundred kilograms today. On the other
hand, it would be much more difficult to see and show your results in
numbers for flexibility, balance, timing, etc. People would not be impressed
if you said, Hey, I was able to stand on one leg for five minutes, or, I was
able to touch my toes today.
OK, some may say judo is no longer a martial art. Let me share another
example, but this time from MMA. Rickson Gracie, a well-known Brazilian
jiu-jitsu fighter who had eleven official matches and retired undefeated in
2000.
I was always impressed with his training routine and syllabus. He was
known to go to the beach to train on the sand. I do not know if he
continues his training nowI hope he doesbut he used to practice
stretches, relaxation, balancing, and also weight training using his own
body (similar to Ginstica Natural). You can find many video clips of his
training. Here is the one I like the most: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tTi_E78DSK4.
He is also known to practice yoga, especially with the breathing

methods that exercise his abdominal muscles. In the training video, I
believe you can see how he moves his belly up and down. In fact, this
exercise made him capable of moving and shifting his internal organs.
Believe it or not, he can change his center of gravity by doing this. This
may not sound like a significant fact, but this is, in fact, why he was so
difficult to dislodge once he got on top of his opponent. There are many
videotapes of his fights, so you can see this. His winning did not come from
hitting or kicking from a standing position as he is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu
practitioner. He used to take his opponent down to the floor then straddle
him and beat him until the helpless opponent gave up. You may wonder
why a well-trained and strong opponent would not be able to dislodge him
from that position. Well, the special ability of Rickson was that he could
shift his internal organs to keep perfect balance. Lifting weights was never
a part of his routine or workout program. He believed in his method, and it
certainly paid off in his fights. He was undefeated in MMA for many years,
which proves his ability and skill. At the same time, he also proved that
his method worked.
If I investigated and researched more, I am sure I could come up with
more examples of who has followed or is following this type of workout,
but I believe I have given enough examples. So, next let us discuss why
they chose to take this method, which is more natural yet more creative in
many ways than just lifting weights.
My assumption is that these athletes and performers knew, maybe
instinctively, that what it takes is total performance, which requires a lot
of harmony and coordination within their body. In other words, what total
performance meant for them was not the simple sum of the power in
different parts of the body. Having stronger arms or legs is good only if
they are in perfect tune and coordination with the rest of the body. If one
lifts heavy weights, it probably takes two or three times the training to
put those arms and legs back into harmony and coordination. Given the
amount of effort necessary for this process, they figured out that it is more
effective and wise to train using the holistic core-training approach rather
than the partial approach.
There is one thing I must share with the reader. I find that there is a
serious ignorance and underappreciation among us, including karate
practitioners, regarding what our body does and how it does it. I know this
is a strong statement, and it may offend some people. I want to emphasize
that I am not using the word ignorance to demean practitioners. Rather, I
want to catch their attention so that they will realize what they are
missing or are having little respect or appreciation for. Thus, I decided to
include this in this chapter as I consider this subject to be critically
important in order for us to understand what we have been discussing up
to this point.
I get very upset when I see an instructor who allows or orders white
belts or kids to do jiyu kumite (free sparring). The instructor would say,
Yes, white belts (or kids) are terrible, but this will teach them to have
fighting spirit. The instructor may have done this with good intentions,
but, sadly, he does not realize how much damage he has done to this white
belt (or child) in his learning of the karate techniques. If you want to teach
fighting spirit, then you must wait till the student learns the fighting
techniques first. You may wonder why I oppose jiyu kumite for children. It
is not because it can be dangerous. As it would take a lot of space, I will
not include the explanation in this chapter. I will find another opportunity
one day to explain why kids should not be doing jiyu kumite, which is
probably another big controversial subject.
I am not blaming only karate practitioners and instructors. I am afraid
this is a general trend in the field of athletics, including, believe it or not,

professional-level athletes. In fact, the complexity of the body mechanism
is not appreciated or respected enough by most of the general public. I
make a similar statement in another chapter, Why Is Relaxing Our
Muscles So Difficult? I mentioned the topic of taking for granted our
ability to walk with ease, though the mechanism of standing and walking
is extremely complex and difficult. So far, no mechanical robot has been
able to imitate the walking movements of a person precisely. But, we do it
so easily that we do not appreciate our ability every time we walk. You
would discover an appreciation for this ability if you were to lose it, say,
from an accident or a stroke. You would experience extreme difficulty if
you had to relearn how to walk through rehabilitation.
It might take months or even years to regain the ability to walk, which
you never would have dreamed of. Read the article Walking After a
Stroke from HealthDay to understand what happens when you encounter
a stroke. Anyone can have a stroke, no matter your age, race, or gender, so
it could happen to any of us. The patient in the article was only fifty-two
years
old.
See
the
article
at
this
link:
http://consumer.healthday.com/encyclopedia/high-blood-pressure-24/bloodpressure-news-70/walking-after-a-stroke-part-1-645712.html.
Now you understand that walking is a complex body mechanism, but it
takes many muscles and a lot of body coordination to carry out even a
simple action like picking up a glass. It may be surprising to many
readers, but a movement like picking up a glass with your hand is
mechanically difficult as it is a fine, complex movement that requires very

precise and harmonized neurophysiological coordination, such as detecting
the hardness and weight of the glass. A fine and precise balancing act is
required even though we may not recognize it as we can do this action
almost unconsciously. Have you ever tried to pick up something light that
looked very heavy, such as a glass filled with water? I am sure you ended
up spilling the water as you picked it up too fast, believing it was very
heavy. Indeed, even just to pick up a glass of water requires the perfect
coordination of many muscles, not only in your hand and arm, but also in
your upper body. Not only that, it also simultaneously requires visual
coordination with the neural processes in the brain and spinal cord, which
control, plan, and relay motor commands. Here is a paragraph from The
Anatomy of Movement by Susan Schwerin, PhD, at Brain Connection
(http://brainconnection.brainhq.com).
...[T]o pick up a glass of water can be a complex motor task to study. Not only does your brain
have to figure out which muscles to contract and in which order to steer your hand to the glass,
it also has to estimate the force needed to pick up the glass. Other factors, like how much water
is in the glass and what material the glass is made from, also influence the brains calculations.
If you still believe picking up a glass is easy, how about handling a pair
of chopsticks?
Can you pick up a small round bean or something very soft like tofu?
Yes, it takes a lot of training, but you can learn to do it. Do you not agree
that we really must appreciate and respect more of what our body does
and can do for us?
To understand our motor coordination more, you can read the basic
concepts that are explained in the Wikipedia article on this subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_coordination.
Now I need to bring up another important fact. It is that the body is

designed to do what it has learned or repeated many times. I am sure you
will agree with this concept that we normally do what we have repeated or
practiced most. Some may say, Yes, this is why we are supposed to do our
kata many times.
Tsutomu Oshima (, 1930) said we have to repeat kata 150,000

times before we can think the kata is ours. I am not sure if that number is
really appropriate, but he was right about the necessity of repetition to
learn and understand only one kata. If you have trained under any of the
Japanese sensei, I am sure you have found that they like repetition.
OK, I need to bring up one more important concept that you are
probably already very familiar with. You know that it is difficult to kick an
old habit. When you were a novice, did your sensei tell you to rub your
elbow against the side of your body when you did a choku zuki? Our
natural body movement for punching is to bring the elbow out like a round
punch. Punching straight like a choku zuki is a new technique for a novice,
and I am sure it was difficult for you to change your arm movement to
something different from that of a street-fighting style (photo below).
This is why you want to learn a technique correctly FIRST. It is possible

to change later, but it will take much time and effort to change or make an
adjustment to the technique as it was learned initially.
You may ask how this is related to the subject of weight lifting and
karate training. If you think a little more, it is not a difficult question to
answer. We have talked about the fact that our body will do the
movements that were learned (repeated). You must remember that lifting
weights leaves a big impression on muscle tissue with movements that are
dissimilar to karate movements. You will teach your muscles to move in
the way you lift weights. Because of the weight, the muscle memory will
be several times stronger than it would have been if those same
movements had been done without any weight.
Then, remember how complicated the body movements that your karate
techniques require are. Those movements demand that a lot of muscle
groups harmonize and coordinate in ways that are totally different from
the movements you do when lifting weights. Thus, most strengthening of
the peripheral muscles, such as the biceps and the pectorals, has very little
positive effect on karate techniques. In fact, it could turn out to be a
hindrance to the coordination and harmonization of the muscle groups that
are required for karate techniques.
Some may wonder if karate movements and techniques are really that
complicated. After practicing karate for many years, many readers may
feel almost natural when doing a kata or a series of kihon techniques. But,
seriously, karate techniques are indeed extremely complicated. This very
point is undermined or taken for granted by many practitioners and
athletes. I consider karate and martial arts techniques to be the most
difficult of all physical activities. I am not talking about only the
techniques per se. I am aware that some of the techniques in ballet and
gymnastics are physically more demanding and difficult. However, the
requirements of the martial arts demand both conscious and unconscious

reactions. I have already explained this in detail in the previous chapter,
The Reasons Why We Must Preserve Our Kata. So, I will not repeat the
explanation, but the basic concept that differs (and puts the martial arts in
the highest category) is the concept of not having any rules, meaning that
there is no attacking or defending side nor are there any dos or donts.
This is why an extremely high level of reaction and reflex ability is
required in karate. One may be able to execute a technique in a conscious
state (during training or in the dojo), but he may not be able to do so in an
unconscious state (in a real fight or in a dark alley), which is the stage
where the techniques must come out without being thought about. Bruce
Lee said, Dont think. Feel!
He was right, and that is the ultimate stage we need to reach in the
martial arts. But, to get to that ultimate stage, we must first be able to
perfect the techniques in our conscious state, training. Therefore,
unnecessary weight lifting can be a monkey wrench thrown into the
precise machine that is our body. The unfortunate thing is that weight
training is often done with good intentions and without a real
understanding of the negative side.
Let me give you one very interesting case. I read a story about one of
the professional golfers. I forget his name, but he became well known in
professional golf circles about twenty years or so ago. He was a young and
up-and-coming champion at that time. He wanted to drive the ball farther,
of course. So, to increase his power, he decided to go up to Alaska and
become a lumberjack for a significant amount of time. He certainly
believed it would help. He would swing a very heavy ax to chop at trees in
a manner similar to swinging a golf club. I do not remember exactly how
many months or years he stayed there and chopped trees, but it was not a
few days or even weeks. He returned to the golf circuit and discovered the
shocking reality. His golf form was totally destroyed, and he could no
longer play the game at a professional level. I remember that he was never
able to regain his form, and he eventually disappeared from the circuit. If
any of the readers happen to know who this player was, please let me
know. I want to find out what became of him.
How beneficial are those training tubes we use in our dojo?
Old bicycle tire tubes are a popular training tool in many Shotokan dojo.
I used to use them a lot during my younger days and have fond memories
of hard training using those tubes. A short answer is that any exercise is
good if done correctly. I used to believe the tube had to be fully extended
and you had to fight it out by pushing or pulling it to its limit in order to
get the best benefit. Recent research has proven that my understanding
was wrong. The fact that the tube will give you the least resistance at first
and the most when it is fully extended will not result in the best
performance for karate. In other words, you may gain some power in your
arms or legs, but the speed of your punch or kick will not improve. In fact,
it was discovered that extensive training with the tube is not good for your
elbows and knees. What you need, instead, is a machine or a tool that
gives you the most resistance at first then gives you less as you proceed
with your punch or kick. Unfortunately, at this time, we do not have such
a machine or tool that would provide that kind of training condition. This
is why I dropped the tube training from my workout menu as well as from
the classes I teach. One alternative is to find a partner who can give you
that condition by pulling strongly against your moves at the initial stage
then letting go gradually. Well, anything is possible.
How about the use of the weight jacket/vest?
When I was training full time, I used to use a vest like this.
If your body weight is in line with the healthy weight chart, then you
could wear one of these. This will work on your foundation and help you
strengthen your legs. One thing you must remember is that it has a minor
ill effect on your form as your body is now artificially heavier. If you pay
much attention to keeping your posture correct, then there will not be
much negative effect. I suggest putting weight bars in the lower pockets
around the waist and keeping the chest area free so that you will not have
the obstacles that would limit your arm movements. If you are overweight,
then you do not need an extra vest. What you need to do first is to reduce
your body weight to a healthy level before you consider wearing a weight
jacket or vest.
Arent jogging and cardio exercise beneficial?
As I stated earlier, any moderate exercise is good for your health. But, if
this is to supplement your karate training, I say, Why would you spend
time jogging or on an exercise bike if you can do your kata or stretches at
home? You can get a lot of cardio-oriented exercise if you do kata nonstop
for fifteen or thirty minutes. That would be a lot more beneficial to your
karate improvement, and you wouldnt have to drive to the gym.
If your excuse is that you dont have a big enough room to do kata, you
can always go to the park. If you are embarrassed doing it in front of
people, go to the park at 4:00 or 5:00 AM. Then you will find very few
people. This is how the tai chi people train normally. It is simply a matter
of desire. Most of the reasons I hear are, I hate to say, only excuses.
Is there anything wrong with going to the gym to do exercises?

Once again, there is nothing wrong with doing exercises, whether you
do them at home or at the gym. Some say they need an environment to
exercise, and their homes are not suitable. Others say they need some
exercise equipment. Regardless, I just do not understand why they do not
spend that time on karate training. It may be a supplemental workout to
the karate training, but I am afraid they will get tired from the workout
at the gym and skip or downgrade the karate training. One thing we must
remember is that we need to spend the same amount of time or more on
karate (precision work) to compensate for the muscle workout
(nonprecision work or nonkarate movements). So, I hope you can plan
plenty of time for your karate training if you are going to engage in
supplemental workouts.
I must mention that weight-training tools are commonly used by the
Okinawan styles. They use many different tools, some of which are heavy,
such as chiishi ( [#1]), sashi ( [#2]), kame ( [#3]), etc.
3
What benefits do the Okinawan styles expect from working with these
weight tools? Are they beneficial for Shotokan practitioners?
First, these exercises are called hojo undo (, auxiliary
exercises), which are designed to support or supplement the karate
techniques. This is a part of the regular dojo training syllabus at an
Okinawan-style dojo. In most Shotokan dojo, we do not train with these
tools, but it is an important part of Okinawan karate training.
My understanding of these tools is that they are for strengthening the
joints, especially the wrists and shoulders, as well as the arm and finger
muscles. Wrist (twisting) power is necessary in close-range fighting. We
see many maki (, twisting) or kaiten (, turning) techniques in
many of our kata, such as Bassai, Hangetsu, Kanku, etc. For Shotokan, a
typical bunkai for these techniques is to block the punches. In that case,
great twisting or grabbing power is not needed; however, as you know,
there are many different bunkai. It could be that the opponent grabbed
your clothes or your wrist. In that case, you would need much more wristtwisting strength. You can develop twisting strength by swinging a chiishi
(#1 above). With a sashi (#2 above), you punch slowly. The immediate
purpose is to refine the course of your punch so that it will travel straight
with the connection with your hara. After accomplishing this, your punch
will become faster and more powerful. This may be confusing, but I must
emphasize that this exercise is not designed to have the direct result of
building power and speed by strengthening the muscles with the sashi.
The kame (#3 above) is used for strengthening gripping power, and this
is definitely for the purpose of fighting at a short distance. At the same
time, the weight of the vases will work on the shoulder muscles and the
foundation (legs and stance). I would like to hear from the practitioners of
Okinawan karate whether my understanding is correct or if I have missed
something.
Finally, lets discuss what core-muscle training is.
First, we need to know what the core muscles are. In short, they are the
muscles around your trunk and pelvis, typically located beneath the
surface muscles. According to Wikipedia,
in anatomy, the core refers, in its most general of definitions, to the body minus the legs and
arms. Functional movements are highly dependent on the core, and lack of core development
can result in a predisposition to injury. The major muscles of the core reside in the area of the
belly and the mid and lower back (not the shoulders), and peripherally include the hips, the
shoulders and the neck. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_(anatomy))
The core muscles are also called the inner muscles as many of the
muscles are hidden beneath the exterior musculature that people typically
train. The deeper muscles include the transverse abdominals, multifidus,
diaphragm, pelvic floor, and many other deeper muscles. What we consider
to be the most important core muscles are those that connect the pelvis to
the legs (mainly the area between the knee and the thighs). Believe it or
not, there are many muscles there, but the main ones are the psoas major,
the iliacus, the sartorius, the pectineus, the adductor longus, the adductor
brevis, the adductor magnus, the biceps femoris, the semitendinosus, and
the semimembranosus, among others.
Why are these muscles important?

Your core most often acts as a stabilizer and force transfer center rather
than as a prime mover, and this is why the core is important for karate.
We must consider core strength as the ability to produce force with respect
to core stability, which is the ability to control the force we produce. One
other important benefit of exercising the core, research has shown, is that
athletes with higher core stability have a lower risk of injury. According to
a Mayo Clinic article, core exercises improve your balance and stability.
Core exercises train the muscles in your pelvis, lower back, hips and abdomen to work in
harmony. This leads to better balance and stability, whether on the playing field or in daily
activities. In fact, most sports and other physical activities depend on stable core muscles.
Interestingly, it also states that core exercises dont require specialized

equipment or a gym membership. For more on this subject, read
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/fitness/in-depth/coreexercises/art-20044751?pg=1.
Obviously, the hip area is the most important part of your body when
we talk about body movements. Most people understand that the legs are
important when you walk, run, or simply shift your body. Many may
believe these movements are done solely by the muscles in the legs, but
that is not the case. Unfortunately, not too many karate practitioners truly
understand that such movements must accompany the highly
sophisticated coordination of various muscle groups as well as the heavy
involvement of the muscles that are located near the pelvis or lower
abdominal area (see illustration below).
In addition, even fewer people know or appreciate that the coordination

and the harmony of these core muscles have a great impact on all other
bodily motions, especially the ones that require precision work or
sophisticated skills. The work of these inner muscles in precise harmony
and coordination can result in extraordinary power generation as well as
exceptional technical skills. For instance, you need this ability if you wish
to do a one-inch punch. This ability is exactly what is needed if a serious
karate practitioner wishes to obtain such ability and skills.
Modern medical science is only recently proving this fact, which was
known hundreds of years ago by the samurai, who had no medical
knowledge. They knew this from their physical experience after training
intensively for many hours every day. When one pushes his body to its
ultimate level with severe training, he begins to develop internal eyes
(self-awareness), which reveal the functions of the internal body. This may
sound like mysticism, but it is not. I am simply touching on an area of
unknown human capability that will eventually be proven by modern
science, though it is not at this time. This experience was recorded by
Egami, and if you are interested, you can read his book, The Heart of
Karate-Do.
You may say, OK, I understand that the inner muscles in the hip area
are important, but how about the big muscles like the pectorals and the
belly muscles? Arent those six-packs in the belly, rectus abdominis, a part
of the core muscles? All of the muscles in our body are important in
general. However, we do not consider those muscles that are located on the
surface of our body to be core muscles. The core muscles are located
internally or in a deeper part of our body. The other important muscle for
body movement, in addition to the muscles of the pelvis area, is the erector
spinae (the major back muscles, illustration right). Though they are not
directly connected to the legs, they are eventually connected to the
hamstrings, and they play an important role in the movement of the body.
They are the main supporter of the upper body. They work in balance with
the internal and external abdominal oblique muscles as well as with rectus
abodminis to keep our balance while we stand and to give mobility to the
body.
I must review that there are two types of weight exercises to strengthen
your muscles. One type is done for moving techniques, and the other type
is for foundation building. Let me give you an example. Doing punches
with a sashi or a tube is the first type. In this case, you need to follow up
with the same technique without the weight, spending twice as much time
and effort on the follow-up exercise. This is because your focus when
punching with the weight is not typically on the accuracy or speed of the
technique. You need to do a follow-up exercise without the weight so that
you can repeat the technique while paying close attention to accuracy with
speed in order to gain the benefit in the targeted technique. This type of
exercise is not considered to be core muscle training.
Exercises such as deep squats and leg raises are to strengthen your core
muscles. The purpose of these exercises is not to imitate the karate
techniques but to strengthen the stance, the foundation of the body. These
exercises should be included in your training menu but should be done
separately from the karate training. You do not want your core muscles to
be tired before karate training. Your attention to learning and repeating
the karate techniques will be reduced if your core muscles are already
tired. You want to maintain a hundred percent of your attention on the

techniques during karate training. There are many other core exercises,
but I will not go into the specifics here. I have already given some hints as
to where to look for the information, so I ask the reader to do his own
research and investigation to learn how to exercise these important
muscles.
One more concept that I must share, which is a deeply embedded
concept among the Japanese with regard to the martial arts, is shin gi
ittai (), which literally means mind and technique are one. This
means that the mind and the body must harmonize and work together. We
have been discussing how to strengthen our body, but we did not touch on
the mental aspect. Why? Because most of us think only of physical
techniques when we think of karate. This is one of the concerns I have
with many practitioners. And, this is why I wanted to bring this up at the
end of this chapter. Remember one of the precepts of Funakoshis Niju
Kun? He wrote in the fifth kun, Gijutsu yori shinjutsu (),
meaning mentality over technique. He told us that mental technique is
more important than physical technique. He, I am sure, believed both
were equally important, but he had to say this because most of us tend to
forget about the mental aspect of budo and karate. How do we strengthen
our mental technique? We certainly cannot do so by lifting weights. A
skillful karateka without honor and respect is only a hoodlum. A karateka
who is strong but who has a chicken heart will not be able to defend
himself or his family when a life-or-death situation arises. The Japanese
sensei know this, but we find it difficult to teach this. Let me quote the
words of Takayuki Mikami (, 1933 [photo below]).
He said, The hardest thing to teach in karate is budo spirit, but it is

the most important aspect the art of karate can offer to its practitioners.
Many experts tell us that the greatest enemy is ourself. How do we win
against ourself? How do we overcome fear and ego? Are there any training
methods to strengthen our mind? As this chapter is not on this subject, I
will not spend much time on this, but I will share this with the reader. The
hints can be found in the Niju Kun and the Dojo Kun ().
Conclusion
We have agreed that power is necessary for every one of us to move and
do any physical activity. We have also agreed that the stronger a technique
is, the better it is. However, we have also found that excessive weight
lifting without a well-planned strategy is unwise and not recommended as
such activities can be harmful and possibly detrimental to our karate
techniques. We have discovered that our body, despite looking simple, is
really a very delicate and complex mechanism that requires a tremendous
amount of fine tuning and organized training to carry out even a simple
movement.
Another important discovery is that karate techniques (and those of the
martial arts in general) are the most difficult and complex physical
activity compared to any other sport or art when we examine the physical
and mental structure. We also learned that even a simple movement
requires a group of muscles to function. This means that any one of the
karate techniques requires the total coordination of various muscle groups
so that the muscles will perform in harmony. Strengthening a certain
muscle or muscle group can be a monkey wrench, such as an electric
guitar in a classical music orchestra (with all due respect to electric guitar
players). This is the primary reason why Japanese sensei are against
weight lifting.
Most importantly, we found that lifting weights to strengthen the
peripheral muscles, such as the biceps and the pectorals, has much less
value compared to the strengthening of the core muscles. Those muscles
are typically called the inner muscles and are hidden beneath the exterior
musculature, most of them being found in the lower abdominal area. Your
core most often acts as a stabilizer and force transfer center. Also, core
strength is the ability to produce force with respect to core stability, which
is the ability to control the force we produce. Mayo Clinic reports that core
exercises improve your balance and stability. In fact, most sports and other
physical activities depend on stable core muscles. Though Japanese
instructors dislike weight-lifting exercises, they include exercises that
strengthen the core muscles in the hip and lower-back areas.
Our legs are the foundation as well as the transportation tool; thus,
they need to be strong and movable. This is not only true for runners but
also for karate practitioners. The leg bones are connected to the pelvis and
supported by many inner muscles. Those inner muscles are more difficult
to train and strengthen than those that are visible. Most of the visible
muscles easily become weak without consistent training. On the other
hand, the core muscles remain strong for a much longer period. Due to the
peculiarity of the location, the core or inner muscles are easier to train
using our own body weight rather than using weight-lifting tools. Research
has shown that athletes with higher core stability and strength have a
lower risk of injury.
In an interview conducted by Shotokan Karate Magazine in 1994,

Tetsuhiko Asai (, 19352006) said, Karateka must aim to control
every part of their body as a unit and separately. Relaxed, strong and
flexible muscles are the key. He was telling us that strong muscles are
important, but, at the same time, they must be relaxed and flexible. We
must spend our training time not only in strengthening the muscles but
also in stretching and breathing deeply so we can be relaxed and flexible.
In Asai karate, we list three key elements we need to prepare before
practicing karate. They are flexibility, balance, and strength. We also need
to look at the strength of our mind as we strengthen our body to perfect
our karate. To achieve the ultimate height of karatedo, one must have
both a strong body and a strong mind. So, when we spend time
strengthening our body, we must also plan to spend an equal amount of
time strengthening our mind.
Do you think you were doing your weight training correctly, and was it
beneficial to your karate techniques? Did you consider the facts described
in this chapter in your weight training? As I believe you are a serious
karateka, maybe you will want to consider these facts when you do your
weight training next time. I am sure you want to see the time and effort
you put in result in improvement of your karate, do you not?
CHAPTER SEVEN
WHAT IS KI?
This is a deep and complex subject. There are a large number of books
written in Japanese on this subject, ki, but unfortunately, articles and
books in English and other languages (other than Chinese) are rare. I have
thought about writing on this subject for a long time but have always
hesitated as it is so involved. I plan to write a longer and more
comprehensive piece in the future, but for this chapter, I will cover mainly
the part that is related to karate and its relationship to breathing.
OK, let us start. For many readers, ki may be a mysterious and possibly
dubious Asian concept, but it really is not, and I wish to shed some light on
the subject. In essence, ki is the source or the energy that gives life. In
other words, it is something that is enabling us to live. As long as you are
alive, you have ki in you as a living being. When you die, your ki is
believed to return to nature. All living things, such as animals, insects,
and plants, have their own ki. In fact, we Japanese believe that even
nonliving matter and objects in nature, such as stones, mountains, lakes,
rivers, rain, lightning, clouds, stars, etc., have their own ki in them. This
is why we have feng shui (), a Chinese system of geomancy believed to
use the laws of both Heaven (Chinese astronomy) and Earth to help one
improve life by receiving positive qi or chi. The term feng shui literally
translates as wind water in English. If you are interested in this art, you
can look it up on Wikipedia, which explains its history and theories. The
basic concept is that different natural factors, such as directions,
mountains, rivers, etc., have different energies. Different combinations
have a positive or negative impact on people. Asians, particularly the

Chinese, take this very seriously, and feng shui becomes one of the major
deciding factors when they choose a house. This is very popular even with
the Chinese people living in the U.S. and probably in Europe, too.
Anyway, we believe everything has its own energy and its own unique
vibration (hado []) called ki (). This is a profound concept as modern
physics (special and general relativity) came to realize only a century ago
that everything in the universe consists of energy and that the base
construction is vibrations (waves) created by energy. Even if you do not
know quantum physics, you know Einsteins famous energy formula,
E=mc2, which he announced in 1905.
Mass-energy equivalence is the concept that the mass of a body is a

measure of its energy content. In this concept, mass is a property of all
energy, energy is a property of all mass, and the two properties are
connected by a constant. So, the 3000-year-old Chinese concept cannot be
considered totally groundless or unbelievable.
Though the concept of ki extends to everything in the universe, let us
look at only the ki that is related to us, the people here in this chapter.
When we look at our body, we find different waves and patterns. The
most obvious one that we all know of is our brain waves. Another one is
blood pressure, which changes in general patterns throughout the day.
There are other not-so-visible or not-so-noticeable physical conditions, such
as body temperature and hormone level, which also fluctuate during the
day.
A circadian rhythm is something you will notice only when you travel a
long distance, covering different time zones. According to Wikipedia, a
circadian rhythm is any biological process that displays an endogenous,
entrainable oscillation of about 24 hours. These 24-hour rhythms are
driven by a circadian clock, and they have been widely observed in plants,
animals, fungi, and cyanobacteria. Ones hormone level changes by the
hour and is tied to a circadian rhythm, so you may need help from
melatonin tablets to be able to sleep during your overseas trips. Most of
these cycles and waves are closely tied to the tides and the changing of
night and day.
So, ki is the energy source in our body that can affect the waves and
cycles of our bodily functions. If everyone has this ki, then how do we
increase it? In fact, there are two ways to increase the energy in your
body. One is what everyone does every day, eating and drinking. This is an
external source. This is why your diet is important to your health. The
other source is internal, and it is ki, which was discovered or recognized a
few thousand years ago in China. In the Western world, ki was not
discovered or recognized. Instead, the area of the mind was developed by
modern-day psychologists, notably by Sigmund Freud (18561939) and
Carl Jung (18751961 [photo below]).
This came about only around the mid-nineteenth century. If you have
consistent depression, your doctor will tell you that you are having some
chemical malfunction in your head, so he recommends that you take some
medication (an upper) to raise your spirits. On the other hand, a ki master
or ki doctor will tell you that your ki is weak and point out specific areas of
your body that are lacking in ki or where the ki flow is slow or blocked. He
may suggest acupuncture or moxa treatment along with breathing
exercises. These treatments will stimulate the local ki, which results in
better flow of ki throughout your body. The ki doctor may also give you
some medication that is not made of chemicals but mainly of herbs and
natural ingredients. It is taken in the form of tea or soup.
The difference in treatments and diagnoses between the two schools
does not stop with the mental aspect. It also gets into the physical domain.
When you have back pain, or if you suffer from some type of allergy, you
can resort to acupuncture, moxibustion, or herbal

Acupuncture (hari []) is famous even in the Western world.
treatments.
Moxibustion or moxa cautery (kyu []), which is shown in the photo

below, is probably not as well known, but it is a very popular medical
treatment for many illnesses in Asia.
I remember that my grandmother used to put a lot of pieces of moxa on

her shoulders and back to ease her headaches, backaches, and arthritis
pains. In case you do not know about moxibustion, it is where you ignite
what looks like a piece of an incense stick. It burns very slowly and, in
fact, burns your skin as a stimulus that gives a shock or boost of energy to
the ki spot that needed the energy (ki). I have tried it, so I know it burns. I
have also tried acupuncture, and I like that more than moxibustion.
Anyway, there are more radical medical treatments using ki. One is ki
anesthesia, and the other is ki operation. You might have seen video clips
on these treatments. They are all related to ki and its flow. I will not go
into these particular treatments as I do not have any experience in them,
and my focus in this chapter is not the medical applications of ki. There
are some extraordinary reports of such treatments, so you can look for the
video clips and other reports if you are interested.
I give a lot of credit to modern Western medicine and medical
accomplishments, so I am not discounting or bad-mouthing those
treatments. To find a cancer symptom, you must go to a hospital and have

an X-ray taken. However, in the areas of prevention, light illness, and
especially the early stages of illness, I believe natural treatments and ki
training may be a better choice and would make more sense. I want to
emphasize that I am not a medical doctor, so I am not qualified to give
medical advice or recommendations.
We believe that our body system is run by or filled with waves and
cycles. When they are out of tune or imbalanced, we get in a situation or
condition called sickness or illness (both physical and mental). So, the
ancient people created various ways to strengthen the ki and maintain the
patterns steady and balanced. These methods include chi gong or kiko (
), yoga, Zen meditation (zazen []), and tai chi chuan or tijqun (
) along with some kung fu () styles and a few other martial arts,
such as aikido ().
I practiced Nishino-style kiko (Nishino Ryu Kiko Ho []) in

Tokyo for three years (19982000). I included the experiences I had at
Nishino Dojo in my recent book, Shotokan Mysteries, so I will not repeat
them here. I will only say that the training was mainly to relax your
muscles with deep-breathing exercises. Let me point out that tai chi can be
an excellent ki-building system but only when it is taught correctly with
its breathing method. It is an internal martial art practiced for both its
defensive training and its health benefits, but moving slowly alone will not
ensure ki building. It must be done with a proper breathing exercise in a
way that is harmonious with the body movements. In fact, for ki building
alone, tai chi is a better method than karate training. I will explain why I
say this later.
Chi gong, yoga, Zen meditation, and tai chi chuan are, in essence, the
slow-moving exercises that are closely tied to deep breathing. You may
wonder why I include Zen meditation in ki building. I can see why you
would wonder this as there are no body actions in Zen meditation. There
may seem to be no movements as the arms and legs are still. However,
Zen meditation, if done with deep breathing, requires a lot of movement in
your lungs, diaphragm, and abdominal and inner muscles. By breathing
deeply, you will strengthen the diaphragm and the inner muscles in the
lower abdominal region, called the tanden (), which is the source of
energy and the storage place for ki. In yoga and Zen, they may teach you
that ki flow is opposite between male and female. They may be correct, but
I have not seen enough evidence to convince me that this is so. Therefore,
my advice at this time is that you try to rotate your ki toward the
direction you feel comfortable or feel right. If you have not developed a ki
flow that is strong enough and cannot feel the difference, then you can try
one way and then reverse it after a while. My belief is that the rotation
and smooth movement of ki is important, and I do not think the direction
will make that much difference.
OK, so you may wonder why the development of ki has to come with
breathing, particularly deep breathing. First, lets see if deep breathing is
considered to be beneficial in the Western world. Believe it or not, if you
Google it, you will see many related articles and sites listing the benefits.
One article is on the motivation and awareness site One Powerful Word,
which lists eighteen benefits of deep breathing:
1. Breathing Detoxifies and Releases Toxins
2. Breathing Releases Tension
3. Breathing Relaxes the Mind/Body and Brings Clarity
4. Breathing Relieves Emotional Problems
5. Breathing Relieves Pain
6. Breathing Massages Your Organs
7. Breathing Increases Muscle
8. Breathing Strengthens the Immune System
9. Breathing Improves Posture
10. Breathing Improves Quality of the Blood
11. Breathing Increases Digestion and Assimilation of Food
12. Breathing Improves the Nervous System
13. Breathing Strengthens the Lungs
14. Proper Breathing Makes the Heart Stronger
15. Proper Breathing Assists in Weight Control
16. Breathing Boosts Energy Levels and Improves Stamina
17. Breathing Improves Cellular Regeneration
18. Breathing Elevates Moods
Enough
benefits?
Access
the
full
article
here:
http://www.onepowerfulword.com/2010/10/18-benefits-of-deep-breathingand-how.html.
It is true that the editor of this site is not a medical person. So, lets
check what the medical experts say about deep breathing. I am listing only
one of them here, but you can check the Internet and find many other
similar sites. The site I am referring to is called Women to Women:
Changing Womens HealthNaturally by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP. On
one page, she writes,
In a 2005 review and analysis of several studies, Richard Brown, MD and Patricia Gerbarg, MD
reported that yogic deep-breathing techniques were extremely effective in handling
depression, anxiety, and stress-related disorders. These techniques can serve as an excellent
adjunct to conventional medical treatmentor in some cases as a suitable substitutein
treating myriad psychological disorders, as well as eating disorders and obesity.
If you are interested, you can read the entire article here:
http://www.womentowomen.com/fatigueandstress/deepbreathing.aspx.
So, the modern medical society also acknowledges the benefits of deep
breathing. It is a shame that it is not popular among average people,
including athletes. It is a greater shame that not many karate instructors
emphasize the importance of deep breathing or incorporate it in their
syllabus. Anyway, Asian people have known of these benefits for centuries
and have incorporated deep breathing into different training methods. We
believe that ki must be activated and circulated throughout our body to
produce positive results, and this is why the deep-breathing method has
been used to energize circulation. It is like when you boil water in a
teakettle. As you heat the kettle from the bottom, the water circulates up
and then rotates and comes down. You can have that image with the ki in
your body. Breathing does two things. One is to assist the ki in circulating
(internal); the other is to give an energy source (air) to the remote parts of
your body (external). The latter is done by blood circulation, but deep
breathing will help it by increasing the intake of oxygen and the discharge
of carbon dioxide.
OK then, you may wonder where the ki travels in our body. Chinese
experts developed a meridian chart called keiraku () to show the
system and its exact routes (see illustration below).
There is much debate among Western medical personnel about the

existence of such paths or routes because no physical organs are visible or
detectable as they are in the circulatory system or the nervous system.
The keiraku was developed by the physical experiences of acupuncture and
moxibustion experts over thousands of years.
The smooth flow of your ki is the key to your health and life strength.
Slow and deep breathing coordinated with slow physical movement will aid
and promote circulation. I repeat that this is the reason why I have
mentioned that tai chi chuan is one of the best methods to develop your ki
out of all the martial arts systems (provided that you agree to include it in
this category).
Then, you will naturally want to know about karate. Yes, it is about
time to talk about our karate training, but what do you think?
Unfortunately, the training syllabus includes specific breathing exercises
or special training for breathing only at a few Shotokan dojo. If this is the
case, then you would think of the training that you do with your kata.
Sadly again, none of the kata is taught with proper instruction pertaining
to breathing, and few instructors know how to harmonize breathing with

the kata movements. The only visible breathing kata we have in
Shotokan, namely, Hangetsu, lost most of its breathing-method teaching
many years ago.
Kanazawa Sensei and I are the only ones who do such teaching. In
addition, this kata almost lost not only its breathing method but also its
most important key point, the hangetsu dachi. I wrote about this in
Shotokan Myths (Chapter 11: Hangetsu), so the reader may remember. I
have put an instructional video of Hangetsu on the Karate Coaching video
site (www.karatecoaching.com), where I explain how it should be done and
include a few different breathing methods.
You are familiar with the kiai (), which you do frequently in your
training. It literally means to gather or collect ki. Doesnt this help
develop ki? How ironic can it be! The consistent or excessive use of the
kiai, believe it or not, prevents ki from flowing. It may be a shocking
statement, but it is true. A loud kiai means a loss of energy, and it disrupts
the flow of ki as your body needs to tense up. It is like a loud sound when a
bomb explodes. Such a sound does not aid power; rather, energy is wasted
as it is an escaped energy. So, if a sound comes out from a powerful
technique (like the loud sound from a dynamite explosion), then that is
OK, but making a loud kiai for its own sake is simply a waste of energy.
Maybe it is OK for the childrens class so that they can learn to have spirit
or let their energy out as they are full of energy. I also wrote in Shotokan
Myths (Chapter 5: Silent Kiai) that there was no kiai in ancient kata or
during training on Okinawa prior to the twentieth century. Even
Funakoshi did not emphasize the kiai, and doing one or two kiai in a kata
was optional (you may want to reread Karate Do Kyohan). It all changed
when kata became a tournament event where some strict rules were
needed to judge. Is all kiai bad? No, as I said earlier, it is all right if it is
done correctly. It can bring extraordinary power to a technique, and I do
not mean a magical power. It is difficult to explain with words, but a
correct kiai will act as a connecting point that brings all the muscle energy
together harmoniously from the different parts of the body. This is why the
tension of the body, or kime (), must be a hundredth or even a
thousandth of a second. This is true kime, and it can be seen in hakkei (
), translated only as explosive power, which is supposed to be a secret
or an ultimate technique of kung fu training. This is the energy used in
the one-inch or zero-inch punch. You can see my demonstration of the oneinch punch on the Karate Coaching video.
Then, how about ibuki (), the breathing used in Goju Ryu and
other Okinawan styles? I have only limited experience with Goju Ryu
training, so I am not an expert in this style, and I welcome input from
Goju Ryu experts. My understanding is that there are two parts to the
objectives of ibuki. One is used in Sanchin () kata, which aims to
coordinate body movements with breathing. The other concept is similar to
tai chi, but there is a big difference, namely, that in tai chi, the idea is to
relax the muscles, but in Goju Ryu, a practitioner learns how to tense his
body. So, the blocking and punching arms in Sanchin kata move slowly, but
there seems to be too much tension throughout the body, which slows
circulation of the ki in your body. The purpose of this kata and the original
Hangetsu was not to aid circulation but maybe only to strengthen the local
ki.
Another training method of ibuki is done with the practitioner standing
still while doing heavy breathing (fast inhaling and slow and forced
exhaling). The instructor checks the practitioners tension by punching and
kicking him pretty hard. The idea, I understand, is that the Goju Ryu
practitioner will turn the body to withstand the hits and kicks of an
opponent. Obviously, this concept comes from a short-distance fighting
method and is based on the situation of a fist-to-fist-only fight. On
Okinawa, all weapons (swords, knives, etc.) were banned for hundreds of
years, so this concept could be considered. Shuri Te, including Shorin Ryu
and Shotokan, was based on a long-distance fighting method, which
involved fighting against an opponent with a weapon. This is one of the
reasons why Funakoshi did not adopt ibuki training and de-emphasized it
in Hangetsu kata. The other reason was the way it was being practiced,
i.e., with the upper body naked. Funakoshi knew that this would not go
too well with the Japanese culture as only manual laborers would take
their top off. He wanted to introduce karate to Japan as the martial art of
the samurai or gentleman. One great benefit of ibuki, however, is its
training of the diaphragm. During ibuki, you have to pay much attention
to your diaphragm and its actions. You learn how to push down and pull
up the diaphragm while you control and manage your breathing.
However, this exercise is also practiced in yoga, and I like their exercises
more as they are done with much less tension. In addition, their training
incorporates moving the internal organs (up and down or in a circular
direction) along with the deep breathing. This exercise is excellent for
circulating your ki, and it will help you with your health. I recommend this
exercise strongly, and I hope the reader will try it.
Back to kime. Extended kime, or tension, of the muscles is not good for
ki flow, and you can read about this in the first chapter of Shotokan Myths
(Kime). To develop ki flow in your karate training, you need to learn how
to relax more while you are training. If you enjoy tension in your training,
then I recommend that you have a separate session for breathing
exercises. I have explained how to do long and deep breathing in my blog.
There are other ways to develop ki, and I will include them in my longer
version of this subject.
Now that you know how to exercise using a long-and-deep-breathing
method, let me conclude this chapter with the highest level of benefits that
can come from strong ki and healthy ki flow developed through deepbreathing exercises.
You will be able to control your heartbeat and blood pressure. You will
have a stronger immune system. What does this mean? The result is that
you will have a very healthy life. Funakoshi boasted when he was in his
seventies and early eighties that he never got sick. He credited this to his
karate training, which I endorse. He lived to be eighty-eight years old,
which was an amazing longevity in that era. He even went through
wartime in Tokyo in the 1940s, where food was scarce and sanitation was
extremely poor. I agree with Master Funakoshi, and I will write a separate
piece on how karate training can produce good health. The more I practice
karate, the more I realize how amazingly human beings are created and
that our potential is almost unlimited. So, wouldnt you be happy if you
simply did not get sick even when you are in your seventies and eighties?
You can achieve that level of health with deep breathing and karate
training.
You will also be able to control your brain waves at will and your
emotional state much better than nonpracticed people. Dont you want to
have the ability to keep calm and collected when under heavy stress or in
emergency situations? You can do this if you can keep your brain waves in
relaxed mode. By having strong ki, you will not be depressed and will be
influenced less by bad or sad news or incidents. This will certainly enable
you to have a happier life.
Your mental alertness will improve with better breathing and stronger
ki. What does this mean? You will be able to avoid accidents while you
walk, run, ride a bike, drive, or whatever activities you may do. Out of all
the accidents you may encounter, an automobile accident could be the most
serious and the one you want to avoid the most.
CHAPTER EIGHT
KI EXCHANGE WITH THE TREES
I wrote about ki in the previous chapter, and I defined it as the source or

the energy that gives life. We also reviewed that the universe itself is
composed of pure energy as matter is energy (Einsteins E=mc2). This
means energy is all around us in different forms and on different levels.
We Asian people have been doing ki exchange with the trees for many
centuries. Some people misunderstand that, by this exchange, people are
taking energy off from the tree. I do not know how serious one reader was,
but he called it a vampire act. But, he was totally wrong. Ki is like love,
so the more you give, the more you will have. By facing a tree, you only
exchange ki; you dont take ki away from it. In fact, you send your ki to
the treepick an old and healthy-looking oneand the tree will purify it,
reenergize it, and then return it to you. This is similar to the air exchange
you do with the trees. Your lung cells give off carbon dioxide and keep
oxygen. As you know, plants take the carbon dioxide you exhaled and emit
the oxygen that you will breathe in. A tree does a similar exchange with
your ki. This is a full circle of nature, and this is why you will feel that you
gained new energy. For those who are skeptical about ki and ki exchange,
read the following article from The Mind Unleashed, titled Tree Hugging
Now
Scientifically
Validated:
http://www.themindunleashed.org/2013/07/tree-hugging-nowscientifically.html.
If you have visited China or Taiwan, you might have seen many Chinese
people gathered in a park early in the morning. With a lot of trees around,
they go through the slow movements of tai chi training.
They do not do this among the trees because they need shade. As they
practice tai chi in the woods, they are, in fact, gaining ki from training
with slow abdominal breathing and also from exchanging ki with the trees
around them.
Ki exchange can be done not only with a tree but also with many other
natural things, such as a mountain, a river, a waterfall, a lake, the ocean,
or the sun, as they all have lots of energy. You can exchange or intake ki,
or energy, but you also have to be careful how you do the ki exchange with
strong sources, such as a volcanic mountain or the sun. Ki exchange with a
tree is the most popular because the ki from a tree is mild, and a tree is
the easiest thing to find as an exchange partner.
Chinese people train in tai chi early in the morning. It is not because
they need to go to work afterwards (most of them are retired old people
anyway). They train early in the morning because they know that the ki in
the morning has more energy because of the sun, which gives off mild
energy in the early morning. For many people, it is more challenging to
find the energy to train in the early morning, but it is much healthier to do
training in the early morning than to do it at night. Your body is still
asleep, so the slow-movement exercise of tai chi is perfect to start your day
as it will awaken you with an added ki energy. Chinese people have known
about this for thousands of years, and now it has almost become a national
event.
I will give you step-by-step instructions on how to exchange ki with a
tree. It is not too difficult, but it would help you to know some key points.
Before we go into the ki exchange, I want to talk about how trees (and
other natural things) are considered in Asia, particularly in Japan. When
you visit Japan, take a walk to an old shrine. It may be difficult to find one
in Tokyo, but you can try Meiji Shrine or Yasukuni Shrine. If you are lucky
enough to visit Kyoto or other smaller cities, you can find them rather
easily.
You may find a tree in the yard of a shrine (sometimes on a mountain
away from a shrine) with a paper ribbon or a decoration (see photo below).
This means that this particular tree is holy or has strong ki. People
either pray to it or try to capture the ki from it. It is not simple idolatry as
we (or some of us) can feel the special energy emitted by certain trees. It is
typically an old tree, but it is not because of the age alone. There may be
other trees that may be bigger and older, but a Shinto priest detected a
special tree with his reception of ki.
You may also find a huge rock or a waterfall with some paper and a rope
decoration (shimenawa []) as shown in the photos below. These were
also selected by the Shinto priests for having strong ki.
It is very interesting to remember that, at my dojo in Japan, we had a

winter camp at a waterfall when the water was almost frozen. When I
participated years ago, I believed it was only to test our endurance in the
cold. But, now I know I was wrong. It was also to gain ki from the
waterfall. Our summer camp was at the beach when the temperature
went up to over 100F (40C). The sand was so hot that it was almost
impossible to stand on. We were so happy to get into the ocean. I thought
the practicing of punches and kicks in the waves was to train our stances,
but I was wrong. We were to gain ki from the ocean. Even though we were
not aware of it, I am sure those trainings were good for our ki.
OK, lets go into ki-exchange training with a tree, jurin kiko ().
First, let me say this. You are not taking energy from the tree. As I use the
word exchange, you are exchanging (taking and returning) ki with the
tree, and you are not like a vampire sucking off the energy from the tree.
Some people misunderstand this exercise, so I want to explain that this
process is more like a filtering of your ki through the tree to purify it. If
you pick a healthy and stable tree, it can regenerate your ki, so to speak.
So, you almost feel as if you gained more ki, but, in fact, it is different.
Now, let me give you the detailed steps and the explanation for each step
to exchange ki with a tree.
Step 1: Finding Your Partner
Search for a tree to do a ki exchange with as you go into a park or a

wooded area. You need to look for a healthy one and try to open your heart
as you look for the tree. It is almost like looking for a friend. Feel the ki of
each tree and find the one that reaches out to you. If you open your mind,
you can feel it. However, if you do not feel an invitation from any tree,
then look for one that is attractive to you. If you often camp out and spend
time in nature, I am sure you understand what I am trying to say. You can
do the exchange alone (Photo 1), with a group (Photo 2), or with many
people spread out (Photo 3).
3
Step 2: Positioning
In Japan, we bow to our partner, the tree, before we start our ki
exchange. If you feel stupid bowing to a tree, you can start with a simple
greeting to the tree. OK, for the reader, after finding your partner, you
will reach out to the tree with your hands. You can put your hands around
the tree, point your palms toward it, or even touch it with your hands. It is
all up to you, and you can choose any of these approaches that you feel
most comfortable with.
Then, you stand naturally in shizentai (, natural stance), and

your body should be totally relaxed. You are not there to suck up all the
energy from the tree. You are there to exchange and to circulate your
energy, so relaxation is a must. You can keep your eyes open or closed.
Some people prefer keeping their eyes closed so that they can focus their
attention on the exchange process or the circulation of ki. If you can detect
or notice the feelings of the tree before the ki exchange, then your
exchange exercise will surely be successful.

Step 3: Commencing Exchange
So, you are standing next to the tree with your arms extended toward
it. Your hands are used either to send out your ki or to receive the ki from
the tree. Stand with your body totally relaxed and focus only on sending
and receiving ki. This process is not a hard exchange, as in volleyball,
tennis, or Ping-Pong, but more like a slow breathing where ki goes in and
out instead of air.
When you are feeling strong, you can emit your ki into the tree, and it
will send it back to you with more energy or happier energy. You will
receive this refreshed ki all through your body, and you will feel as if you
could almost jump with the energy. When you are feeling weak, or when
you are sick, and your body needs ki, you use your hands to take in or
inhale the ki from the tree. In other words, you feel as if you were
breathing in the ki through your palms. Then, you breathe out your old or
bad ki into the ground through your feet. The tree will take in your ki
through the ground and purify it for you. It works much better if you do
this with deep breathing from the tanden (lower stomach). With this
breathing, you can rotate the ki in your body as you receive the purified ki.
During the exchange process, you may feel love toward the tree from
inside your heart or you may feel that you are receiving it from the tree. I
have seen some practitioners cry for joy. If you are lucky to feel its love,
you can give it a hug at the end of the session before you leave. You can
also say thanks to your partner for the ki exchange. I hope you can feel
that this tree is also alive and is a part of your life. During the process,
you can adjust the distance of your hands from the tree. I keep my hands
about thirty centimeters or so from the tree, but you can set your own
distance. It really does not matter how close or far away you are, but you
will find a comfortable distance for you as you do the exchange many
times. I usually do not touch the tree because the sensation of the tree
bark dulls the feeling in my palms.
Step 4: Exchanging
You will continue the ki exchange for the duration you wish to spend.
You can do it for only ten minutes to an hour or even longer. You can take
a break and find another tree if you feel you want to do more. During a kiexchange session, most people stand still to focus their attention on the ki
exchange. I sometimes walk around the tree almost like dancing while
waving my hands. If you can synchronize your breathing to your footsteps,
it will become like doing a kata around the tree, and then you can
understand how the tai chi practitioners are receiving ki every morning. I
even turn around and expose my back to the tree for full exposure. I try to
inhale the ki from my back up through my spine and let it travel upward
to my head.
Some people believe that by touching the tree, they can get more or
stronger ki. The person in the photo below is touching her head to the tree
to receive strong ki in hopes of relieving her headache.
I am not an expert on this, but I am not sure if she can receive stronger
ki by doing this. In my case, I can feel more ki by not touching the tree.
So, I guess it is up to the individual to determine which method works best
for him.
Step 5: Finishing and Disengaging
Engaging is important, but the finishing stage is also very important,
and you must not make it abrupt or impersonal. Slowly open your eyes if
they are closed. If you enjoyed the exchange, your face must have a
natural smile on it. Relax your arms more and lower them as you
disengage the link with the tree. Do not step away or turn around right
away or quickly. This is the same as zanshin in kata or letting go of your
loved one or a close friend after a tender hug. You must have that moment
of complete closure. You must stand there for fifteen to thirty seconds,
looking at the tree with your gratitude and possibly affection. You could
thank it and tell it that you enjoyed it or that you will come back. We
Japanese will bow before we step away from the tree. If you can feel
affection or friendship toward the tree, as I suggested earlier, you can hug
the tree as you would do to your friend. I sometimes tap or pet the tree to
thank it before I bow to it as I say goodbye. I can almost guarantee you
that it will be one of the most enjoyable encounters and that you will feel a
unification with nature.
Ki has been mentioned by many of the budo masters, such as Ueshiba

(aikido [photo above]), Funakoshi (Shotokan), Uehara (Motobu Ryu),
Hatsumi (ninjutsu), and Asai (Asai Ryu), as being a very important part of
the martial arts. Thus, developing ki is extremely important in bujutsu
karate. It also helps your mental and physical health. So, I recommend
that all karate practitioners try this exercise to feel your ki. You have
nothing to lose by trying this. Even if you cannot feel the exchange or the
ki itself, at least you will have an enjoyable and relaxing time in the
woods. So, why not try this ki exchange with a tree the next time you visit
the park?
CHAPTER NINE
WHAT IS COMPLETE SELF-DEFENSE?
Self-defensethis term is very popular, and we as karate practitioners are

all familiar with this concept. So, why am I writing a chapter about this
subject, which is apparently not a mystery?
I am happy to explain the meaning of this subject because I feel
something important is being missed. I have noticed that there is a big gap
between what the general public believes and what the full meaning of
self-defense really is. What concerns me more is that I get the feeling that
the majority of karate practitioners also seem to accept the general belief
about self-defense. It is my grave fear that, for this reason, many karate
practitioners may not be receiving the full potential benefit of true selfdefense from their daily karate training. I can almost hear the loud
disagreement from the reader: Hey what do you mean? Our practice
includes both bunkai and in-depth self-defense techniques. I can handle an
attacker in a dark alley.
Great...but, unfortunately, this very mind-set is exactly what I am
talking about and is the reason for me to write this chapter. So, my claim
is that one is missing a lot if he believes the main purpose and objective of
karate training is to defend oneself from an attacker in a dark alley or a
bar or wherever else. I even have to say that one may be wasting his
training if he cannot acquire the rest of the benefits. Yes, the term waste
that I use here may be a surprising word for the reader, but I feel strongly
enough about this to use this word. Do you realize that defending yourself
against an attacker in a dark alley is only one side of the coin, so to speak,
when you consider all the benefits you can get from total self-defense?
Without attaining the benefits from both sides of the coin, you could be
wasting your karate training.

If we can define what total self-defense really means, then it will
naturally reveal what the other side of the coin entails. So, we should step
back now and check out the standard definition of self-defense. The best
way to get that is probably to check what is written in Wikipedia. Here is
the link to this subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_defense. Let me
quote from the page here:
Self-defense...is a countermeasure that involves defending the well-being of oneself or of
another from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of
force in times of danger is available in many jurisdictions, but the interpretation varies widely.
This is a very concise and short explanation. It adds some subtopics to

explain further. It lists Physical as a section and explains, Physical selfdefense is the use of physical force to counter an immediate threat of
violence. Then, it lists the sections Unarmed and Armed. Martial arts
is included under Unarmed. Under Armed, of course, it lists many
weapons. Wikipedia continues with Other forms, which are Avoidance,
De-escalation, and Personal alarms. I am sure you understand what is
entailed in the first two. The last one is interesting as it refers to a
personal alarm, which it defines as a small, hand-held device that emits
strong, loud, high-pitched sounds. Most readers have this device with
their car key.
Thirdly, they list Mental to complete all the aspects of self-defense.
This section starts with the following sentence: Mental self-defense is the
ability to get into the proper mind-set for executing a physical self-defense
technique. It further explains the importance of this aspect in the same
context. The context and the thought pattern are the same as in
Physical. It lacks the aspect of the self. This shows the same attitude or
mind-set of people in general. I will explain in this chapter that this is
missing the other half, which is very important.
Wikipedia also includes Self-defense education and Legal aspects.
Both are interesting, especially the second one. California and a few other
states consider nunchaku to be an illegal weapon, but I will not go into this
here.
You can summarize that self-defense refers to the idea of defending
oneself (which includes protecting family and material things that belong
to him or them) from other people. I suspect many practitioners must have
started karate training with the hope of learning self-defense abilities.
There is nothing wrong with that, and we should keep this mind-set in our
karate training, too. It is a shame that we have to watch out not only for
criminals and strangers but also for friends, relatives, and spouses,
unfortunately.
In addition to physical attacks, we also need to consider verbal attacks

and other attacks that affect us psychologically, emotionally, and even
financially. I am sure I do not need to go into the details as all of us are
familiar with the various situations and cases that require some measures
to defend ourselves. I strongly recommend de-escalation techniques and
passive self-defense tools (such as alarm bells) that can be learned or
carried. There are many specific programs, such as self-defense for women,
children, and senior citizens, and there are even programs for self-defense
against verbal attacks. I respect these programs, and there is definitely a
place for them. I am skeptical, however, as to whether karate ability could
help in a real life-or-death situation, especially if an attacker has a lethal
weapon, such as a knife or a gun. I prefer to put more value and emphasis
on some other ability you could gain in karate training, such as alertness
or confidence, rather than on the actual karate techniques to fight an
assailant. Staying calm and using a commonsense approach tends to result
in a better outcome when you face a mugger or a robber.
Unless you live in a slum area or a third-world country where robbery
with a gun is very common, the possibility of facing a robber with a gun
may only be once in your lifetime. If you wish to subdue such an attacker,
I would not recommend karate training at all. I suggest that you hand
over your wallet or even your car to stay safe. No worldly possession is
worth your life. However, if you do not wish to hand over your wallet or
your car, then I suggest you carry a gun. I personally oppose gun
ownership, but that is another subject. Though this is a controversial
subject, and much can be discussed about it, I will proceed to the main
subject of this chapter.
So, what I have discussed above is only one side of the complete selfdense issue, but there is another side. I consider this flip side to be more
important, and it must receive more attention. The concept I will share
should not be that difficult or foreign to the reader. However, it is rarely
considered to be a part of self-defense by most of the public and,
unfortunately, by many karate practitioners, as well. OK, that is enough of
an introduction. What is the other side? Who is our greatest enemy? The
answer is simple; it is ourself. Yes, that is correct, ourself. What we need
to do here is shift our attention from the attacker in a dark alley to the
hazards and incidents caused by our own actions. To complete our selfdefense, we must have a strategy to prevent these things. There are two
major areas of self-caused hazards. We will examine each of them and
check why they are ignored. I will then present what can be done about
them.
The first one entails both the physical and the mental health aspect.
(There is also a spiritual aspect, but we will focus on the first two in this
chapter.) This is a big subject, and we will take a look at it more closely in
the first part of this chapter. The other area involves self-inflicted
accidents, including automobile collisions, slipping/falling, sports-related
accidents, and other accidents.
Lets face it; we are more dangerous to ourselves than a mugger in a
dark alley or a drunk in a bar. We hurt ourselves more frequently and
possibly do more damage to ourselves. This can be prevented or avoided,
and that would complete our self-defense. Even though the problems from
this side are more pervasive and common, they are rarely considered to be
matters of self-defense that can be and need to be managed. Furthermore,
we do not tie karate training and discipline to this concept.
Let me start with the subject of health. I am sure you agree that health
is an important subject. At the same time, you may believe that sickness
comes from outside, like a mugger in a dark alley, and that we are helpless
victims. Or, you may also believe that we have no control over illness and
that catching a cold once a year is normal and cannot be helped. You may
not agree with me, but I believe that most sickness is self-inflicted or selfcaused. Though in most cases it is not intentional, in some cases it is
intentional but not realized. Statistics show that most sick calls to the
workplace are reported on Mondays.
Once we get seriously ill, we may have to spend many days in the
hospital, which is very inconvenient and can also be very costly. If we
know this acutely, then why not spend more time and attention on
preventing or avoiding sickness? Yes, if you go to your dojo three times per
week, then you are doing a positive thing for your health, but this is only
the start and is not enough. I have written an article about seven tips for
good health in the past. I described my ideas and recommendations to
make you healthy or healthier. By reading that article, you can complete
your understanding of this subject. There are two parts to health: the
physical and the mental. These two parts are closely intertwined and
integrated; thus, they should be considered two sides of the same coin.
However, for this chapter, I will discuss them separately and reserve the
integration project for the future.
Let us start with the physical side of health.
When we talk about our body, we must be aware of the five major flows
in our body. You know them, but how often do we pay enough attention to
their functions and their affect on our health? Probably not too often.
Here they are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Blood circulation
Respiration
Digestion
Excretion
Ki circulation
I am aware that there are other flow systems in our body, such as body
temperature, hormone level and heartbeat (pulse), but they are kept fairly
constant, so I did not include them in the list despite their smaller scale of
flows and rhythms.
I do not think I need to explain each of the five items above. I suspect
that you are familiar with all of them except possibly for Number 5, ki
circulation. If you do not believe ki exists, just consider the electrical static
flow that can be shown as brain waves or electrocardiography, normally
referred to as EKG or ECG, which is used to determine heart problems.
Here is the Wikipedia page for electrocardiography to learn more about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography.
The point I want to make here is that to keep our body healthy, we must
keep the flow of all these systems smooth and continuous. The easiest one
to control and manage is breathing (respiration). If it is suspended for
more than five minutes, you know for sure what the consequence will be.
You must breathe several times per minute to stay alive.
The other is blood circulation. Your heart pumps diligently without
stopping throughout your life. If it ever stops, it means the end of your life.
We eat food three times every day and go to the toilet daily. As you think
about them, you can see, and possibly feel, the flows in your body, and,
hopefully, you agree that they are important to your health.
Keeping a smooth and fluid circulation of these five flows will contribute
greatly to your health. This concept is well expressed by the Asian wisdom
of yin and yang ( [photo below]).
One must know that a slower flow is better than a faster one. I have
spoken in another chapter about deep breathing (slow breathing) and its
importance and good effect on the heart and health in general.

To have smooth digestion, naturally moderating your eating and making
a habit of eating at certain times is important. If you eat too much, your
body will tell you with certain symptoms, such as heartburn or extra
secretions of stomach acid.
The excretion part of the flow is not a pleasant topic, and many people
tend to ignore it, but it is extremely important for our health. Constipation
is a very common problem among women. A correct diet with natural
fibers will solve most cases. Popular fast foods certainly do not help this
trend.
Regarding the last item, ki, you can probably understand better if I tell
you that meditation will help you with your emotions and peace of mind.
Meditation provides a harmonizing and calming effect on the brain waves.
I have also mentioned that deep breathing will help with the calming of
the mind. These are all connected and tied together. When you observe the
whole system and understand how they work, it will all make sense to
you.
There are several things that are recommended for your health, such as
correct diet, proper exercise, getting enough rest and sleep, taking
supplements, and regulating lifestyle (setting a time to get up, go to sleep,
and eat all three meals). I will not go into these items as it would expand
this chapter into a book. I will cover these items when I write a new
article on the health issue.
In addition to the recommended items, there are things we must avoid

or minimize. They are smoking, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet (soft
drinks, processed food, and the McDiet), obesity, irregular lifestyle, and
many more that I will not list in this chapter.
If you are truly interested in complete self-defense, then you will want
to know all the details, and you will implement them. By doing all that is
recommended and avoiding that which is not healthy, you will strengthen
the immune system in your body. Even if you encounter the flu virus, you
will not catch a cold as your immune system will take care of it. You may
be exposed to extra pollen in the spring, but you will not suffer from hay
fever because your well-functioning body system will not overreact to the
environment. On the other hand, doing the opposite, such as having poor
eating habits with an unhealthy diet, smoking, drinking too much alcohol,
being overweight, etc., causes your bodys harmony to get unbalanced, and
your immune system becomes weakened. In this condition, many different
viruses can affect your system. You will catch a cold every winter; you will
have an allergy every spring. In addition, you may not be able to sleep well
at night, or you could get an upset stomach after each meal.
You may say, OK, these may be good hints and ideas, but what do they
have to do with my karate training? The key words here are will power
and discipline. We learn discipline in our dojo, and now we must expand it
to our daily life and all the things we do every day. This is exactly what
Funakoshi was trying to tell us in his Niju Kun: Karate goes beyond the
dojo, and, Apply the way of karate to all things. Therein lies its beauty.
Please, ask yourself if you are applying the will power and discipline that
you learned in the dojo to your daily life. An in-depth explanation of the
Niju Kun can be found in the last chapter of this book.
Another person may ask and complain, You listed so many things to do
and not to do. I can understand that we must not smoke and must stay
away from the Big Mac, but you talk about taking supplements, the
immune system, brain waves, and so many other things. Arent there too
many for a regular practitioner to cover them all? Yes, if you try to cover
them in one day or even in one week, maybe you will not be able to cover
them all. You need to expand your time to months and years. Then you can
cover them all. When you talk about the other self-defense, you think
about many different situations and conditions. I am sure most readers
have seen the self-defense demonstrations where they exhibit many
different situations, including being grabbed in many different ways,
having an arm or both arms twisted, sitting down, defending against
different weapons, etc. You do not become an expert in all those situations
in a day or a week or even after training for a year. You must practice for
many years before you can reach that level. Then, why not with the flip
side of self-defense? You have much more time when you are outside of the
dojo, so there is no excuse for not having the time. All you need is a desire
and a commitment to complete your self-defense and become super
healthy.
In health, there is another aspect, however, called mental health. The

feeling of happiness comes from your mind. If you have a negative mindset or attitude, you tend to be unhappy and dissatisfied. All of us are under
some type of stress in our life, of course, and if we succumb to great stress,
then that can cause us to have an illness. As I mentioned earlier, the
physical body and the mind are tightly connected, and they influence each
other. It is medically proven that your attitude or mind-set affects your
immune system. In an article on health, I mentioned several alternative
treatments to cancer. One was laughter therapy, and the other was music
therapy. I will not go into the details of these treatments here.
Love and affection are important to keep in good health. All of us agree
that our family is important, and a happy family gives us much affection. I
am blessed as I have three sons. A member of a karate dojo learns not only
respect but also camaraderie among members. We refer to our dojo as a
karate family, and the relationship built there is so strong that the
friendship can last many decades. Doctors recommend that a single elderly
person have a pet, especially a dog, to keep in good health. It is very true
and statistically proven that the life expectancy of an older person with a
living spouse is longer than that of one who has lost his partner. As I
mentioned earlier, the physical and mental parts are closely intertwined. If
your body is healthy, then it is easier to feel happy. If you keep a positive
attitude, your immune system will stay strong and will sustain your good
health.
So, karate discipline, the spirit of osu, and a can-do attitude indeed do
help in your quest for super health. Your teacher may have told you in the
past that you will not be defeated until you give up. Funakoshi also told us
in one of his Niju Kun, Do not think of winning. Think, rather, of not
losing. So, we must not lose to a negative attitude, stress, bad news,
sorrows, etc. It is natural to have emotional ups and downs, but with will
power, you can make the waves as small as possible. If you have trained
very hard in the dojo, then you will be calm at a tournament match, at a
dan examination, or even in front of a mugger. The same thing can be said
about mind training for your mental health. A true karate expert will not
get extremely angry or be defeated by sadness. Moderation is the key word
in the mind of the karate expert.
The second area you need to pay attention to in your complete selfdefense is accidents. This includes slipping/falling, vehicular accidents
(e.g., car, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), incidents in sports activities, and even
small things, such as cutting your face while shaving (read Chapter 12:
The Art of Perfect Shaving).
You may believe an unfortunate accident, such as slipping and falling
down a staircase or being involved in a car accident, happens because you
are simply unlucky, and it cannot be helped. I disagree. By applying your
karate expertise, you are able to prevent and avoid almost all accidents.
You cannot call yourself an expert if you cannot prevent these accidents.
Though you may not like to hear this, you have failed in one of the key
aspects of self-defense. My statement is, once again, very controversial,
and it may sound extreme. I can almost hear the voice of the disbeliever,
but I can confidently tell you that you will be able to avoid almost all of the
accidents I listed above once you achieve a true martial arts mind and
ability. In other words, you need to take your karate training outside of the
dojo and apply the complete self-defense mind-set to your daily activities.
The most dangerous things for senior citizens are not muggers or purse
snatchers. What they have to protect themselves from each and every day
is car accidents and falls.
I have witnessed how serious a fall can be for an aged person through
my mothers experience. She was probably one of the most active and
healthy people in Japan when she was in her seventies. She practiced yoga
and tai chi daily, and she looked twenty years younger than her age. When
she hit eighty, I truly believed she would live to be a hundred.
Unfortunately, she passed four years ago, and she was only eighty-eight.
She fell when she was eighty-three and broke her arm. Then, she fell
again when she was eighty-five, and this time she broke her hip. After this
accident, her health declined very quickly. She was overconfident as she
was carrying shopping bags when she fell; thus, she could not fall correctly.
I asked her to use a cane when she walked, but she refused to do so. She
walked very slowly without a cane, which reduced her exercise and her tai
chi training. Due to her age, I wished she was more humble and more
cautious about her safety. But, you know how determined a mother can be.
She was a very independent and self-sufficient person, so no one could tell
her what to do.
Let me share another story to show you the common mentality of senior
citizens. I teach a class at a senior citizens hall in San Jose. The
management requested last year (2012) that I talk to its members about
self-defense. They offered me a free lunch with them, so I took the offer.
On that day, there were more than twenty members who were all over
sixty years oldone was over ninety and in a wheelchair. I started to talk
about the most dangerous things for senior citizens, the same things I
described above, such as correct diet, car accidents, and falling. They
stopped me before I even got through the first ten minutes of my talk.
They said, We are not interested in those things. We want to know if you
can teach us a karate technique to fend off muggers and purse snatchers.
So, I told them, OK, I will teach you a good karate technique for that
situation. I continued, When you meet a mugger, just give him your
wallet. If you encounter a purse snatcher, do not resist; let him have it.
The audience protested after a short laugh and asked, Is this a joke?
I replied, No, this is not a joke. This is what I truly recommend.
They looked at each other then said, Come on, you are a karate sensei.
You can teach us a real karate technique.
So, I replied, Fine, the true karate technique is not to get into that
situation. Prevention is the key. Drive extremely carefully or take public
transportation whenever possible. Do not walk down the street alone and
avoid shopping at night. They did not like my answer at all. At this point,
I asked them, Who takes medication of some kind daily? All of them
raised their hands. I continued, How many different kinds? The answers
ranged from one kind to more than a dozen different pills. My next
question was this: Do you know what is in those pills? And, do you know
exactly what those pills are doing to your body? None of them could
answer.
One guy said, Hey, these are prescribed by my doctor, and I trust him.
I realized that this was the common attitude of the audience. They are not
taking charge of their health matters. They go to a doctor, so they believe
they are taking care of their health. They say OK to all the shots and pills.
The doctors love these patients as this is where they make their money. I
am sure most doctors are prescribing these medications, believing that
they are good for the patients. At the same time, it is also true that
medications are overprescribed in most of the country. I am not guessing;
it is documented. Here is an article from Enlighten America, US Health
Statistics: Americans Most Over-Prescribed Country in the World:
http://www.enlightenamerica.com/files/Over-Prescribed.pdf.
Read it yourself if you do not believe me. If you Google overprescription,
you will find 218 million results on this subject, and many of them tell you
the facts and the statistics. My last message to the senior-citizen members
on that day was this: Pay more attention to the health matters that are
facing you daily instead of worrying about a possible purse snatcher. I do
not know how many of them really heard my message, but they realized
that one karate teacher was not thinking of kicking and punching when he
was talking about self-defense.
How about younger people? I say an automobile accident is the most
dangerous and likely accident one can expect in the modern world. Read
about this subject in Chapter 11: Jidosha Dojo (Automobile Studio). In it
I described in detail how to avoid accidents and even traffic tickets. For the
younger generation, falling may not be a real threat, but cutting your face
while shaving may be a daily irritation. You will enjoy another chapter on
this subject, Chapter 12: The Art of Perfect Shaving.
Conclusion
Sun Tzu (), a Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher
of the fifth or sixth century B.C., is best known for his book The Art of
War. His famous quote is this: If you know the enemy and know yourself,
you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
He is right. If we know ourself, then we can avoid almost all accidents

and illness. By doing this, you can finally complete your true self-defense
training.
CHAPTER TEN
WHY IS RELAXING OUR MUSCLES

SO DIFFICULT?
Do you get overtensed or uptight at work or in some situations at home? I

am sure you will say, Yes, my work is important and is very demanding. I
also worry about all the bills every month, about my kids, and even about
my pets. It is true that most of us are living in a very stressful society
and a world filled with tensions that bring us stress. We have so many
things we have to worry about and pay attention to just to survive a single
day. I know you could probably use a vacation.
There are many methods and ways to help you relax, which include
meditation, yoga, massage, classical music, a bath, etc. These are all good
and beneficial. I am sure any combination of them will help you relax even
more. One excellent method is progressive muscle relaxation, which is a
systematic technique that was developed by Dr. Edmund Jacobson in the
1920s. He discovered that a muscle could be relaxed by first tensing it for
a few seconds and then releasing it afterward. Dr. Jacobsons technique
involves learning to monitor tension in each specific muscle group in the
body by deliberately inducing tension in each group. This tension is then
released with attention being paid to the contrast between tension and
relaxation. If you wish to learn more about this system, a detailed
explanation of the steps can be found at AMSA (American Medical Student
Association): www.amsa.org.
It is very true that your state of stress and tension has lots to do with
your state of mind. Thus, beautiful music, a pleasant scent, or a scene such
as a beautiful beach or mountains will help you relax. Of course, external
stimulants, such as a bath and a massage, will help, too. In addition,

moving your body is a good method to relax, and I am sure you have found
this out from your karate workout. These things are important, but here I
am going to shed a different light on the subject of relaxing.
So, I need to ask you to look at my question again. My question is not
why relaxing is so difficult, though this is also a good question. Rather, I
am specifically asking why it is difficult to relax our muscles. Why am I
asking this? There are two reasons.
One reason is that I have found so many karate practitioners to be stiff
or inflexible. I will soon be sixty-seven years old this year, and I do not
consider myself to be flexible, but I am more flexible than most students
who are much younger than I. I am not bragging about this as I consider
the degree of flexibility I have to be one of the requirements for an
instructor. I feel something needs to be done so that more karate
practitioners will gain needed flexibility. In addition, I have found the same
tendency among our youth. They should be as flexible as a rubber band,
but many of them are not. I know we are doing stretches in our karate
training, yet with all those exercises to stretch and loosen up, why do we
remain somewhat inflexible?
And, the other reason why I am bringing this subject to your attention
is certainly not to ridicule or demean practitioners. It is rather because no
one else has talked about it, let alone explained it. You can Google this
subject and go through many pages, but I bet you cannot find a readymade answer to this question.
I took kiko training under Master Nishino for three years, between 1998
and 2000. I did not learn the technique of punching by using ki; rather, I
learned how to relax better. Then, I started to practice under Master Asai
and learned how to be more relaxed by observing his moves and
techniques. Though he did not teach me the exact method, I believe I
discovered it on my own. I also believe this method changed my karate.

Today I am happy to share the concept and the idea of the method that I
call body-core relaxation.
Though I will mention the bones and cover some physiological subjects, I
do not intend to provide a medical explanation, such as how the muscles
are constructed and how they work. I am not a medical doctor, so my
approach is somewhat different, and my idea is new. I will present a
physiological explanation that a nonmedical person such as I can explain.
In addition, not only will I explain why it is difficult to relax our muscles,
but I will also share with the reader a simple and easy exercise to increase
flexibility. I am very confident that my method will help you not only in
your karate training, but also in your daily life. Yes, it sounds like a TV
commercial, but I truly believe in my findings. I will ask you to be the
judge and evaluate my presentation to see if you agree or disagree.
Now, lets get back to the subject of inflexibility. By the way, being
inflexible is nothing to be ashamed of. It is only one of the abilities that are
required in the martial arts, and you can improve it if you know how.
When I talk about inflexible, I am not simply talking about the leg joints.
If one can do the splits, he can kick high and is considered to be flexible.
That may be only partially true. Even a person who can kick high is not
considered to be a karate expert if he can only move in a rigid manner, and
his movements are not fluid. The big question here is how we can attain
the ability to make our moves fluid. This is closely related to the flexibility
of our body. It is more than having flexible hip joints and being able to kick
high. I am pretty confident my method will help and that the result will
affect (positively, of course) all of your movements in your daily activities.
Before we go into my idea and method, let us look at our body. We are
under the false belief that we know about our body since we live in it.
However, to our surprise, we discover that most of us do not know or have
accurate knowledge of how our body is constructed unless we happen to be
in the medical field or in some scientific field. Our body is covered by skin,
so it hides everything that is inside of our body. We cannot see the bones
and the internal organs; thus, they are there, but they are not visible to
our conscious mind. Lets check and see if you have some essential
knowledge about your body.
The following information may not be necessary for beginners or even
intermediate students, but it definitely is for advanced students and
practitioners. How many bones do we have in our body? According to the
InnerBody site (www.innerbody.com), the skeletal system in an adult body

is made up of 206 individual bones.
The exact number is not important for our discussion as you are not
taking a test for your biology class. It is important to know that we do not
have only fifty or even a hundred; we have many more. Did you know that
the number is more than two hundred? Amazing, huh? Then, how about
the number of joints? We need them to move our bones. This question is a
little more difficult because the definition of joint can be tricky. For
instance, the skull is made up of a large number of small bony plates, but
they are fused together as a single unit, so they do not account as the
joints we are looking for. You can check this on different online sites, and
they tell you 340 or even 360 joints. What is important to us is the
movable and semimovable joints in our body. We have over 230 of them,
and many of them are in our hand (www.drstandley.com).
To make our body parts move, we need muscles that pull the bones,
using the joints as pivot points. My last question is how many muscles we
have in our body. The exact number is difficult to define because different
sources group muscles differently, but it is in the range of 640 to 850
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_muscles_of_the_human_body).
Do not be amazed yet. Lets look at the number of cells we have to build
our body. Would you believe that there are 37.2 trillion cells in our body?
Yes, trillion, not million or even billion. A trillion is a million times a
million. Can you imagine having so many cells, parts, in your body?
After taking in these figures, I hope you will have a much greater
appreciation for the complexity of our body construction and respect for
what we are. Some people have tried to compare our body to a complex
racing car or even to something more complex, a jet plane. A Boeing 747
has more than six million parts. When you compare this to the number
37.2 trillion, a jet plane seems to be only a crude toy.
OK, enough of the complexity of our body. Now, when we talk about
flexibility, whom do you think of? You may think of someone who is
flexible, but, categorically, do you not agree that babies are flexible? I
remember that my sons foot could touch his shin as his ankle was so
flexible. His foot could touch his ear just like the photo below (this is not a
photo of my son).
At the age of twenty-two, my son now complains that he is stiff and

cannot touch his feet with his hands when his legs are straight. What had
happened to him? Well, you may say, Hey, it is only natural. We all get
less flexible as we get older. You are right, and this is true. Most senior
citizens are very stiff, and their body movements are not fluid at all. But, I
knew my teacher, Tetsuhiko Asai, who was featured in the prominent
Japanese karate magazine Karate-Do for his flexibility.
The photo above is from the article in that magazine. He was in his late
sixties at that time. He kept his flexibility until he passed when he was
seventy-one years old. Yes, he was a genius in karate, and we call him The
One and Only. His moves were powerful yet very fluid. Dont we wish we
could move like that? But, are we asking too much? You may think it is
impossible for us to get this wish, but my answer is that it is possible to be
as flexible as Master Asai. The degrees of flexibility may vary depending
on the individual, but becoming more flexible is not impossible at all once
you find out how to truly relax your body.
Now let me present my idea as to why we tend to be stiff or get less
flexible as we get older. I believe there is a definite reason that goes
beyond just age or natural biological causes. When I started my sport
science and kinesiology study on my own, I came to realize one very
unique thing about us human beings. We are the only animal that is
bipedal. In other words, we walk on two legs while many mammals, such
as dogs, cats, horses, etc., walk on four legs. Even the closest species,
chimpanzees, need to use their arms to walk most of the time. As we have
been doing this trick called walking ever since we were one year old, we
do not think this is an amazing or unique act.
I jokingly used the word trick, but when you think of what we do, it is
really a difficult technique. In fact, it takes months before a baby can walk
in a steady manner from the time it learns to stand up. Initially, a baby
will take a step or two, then it sits down or falls down. It repeats this task
many times every day, then it can walk more than a few steps. Before a
baby can walk, it needs to learn how to stand up and keep standing up. A
smiling baby who can stand up for the first time is cute. But, did you
notice that this baby sways, and you are worried it will fall down? Most of
the time it does fall as it is not easy to keep standing up. Even if the baby
can keep standing, it does not look steady at all as an adult would. Of
course, the baby needs to learn how to balance on two feet. Just think, we
are carrying the heaviest part of our body, our head, on top in this
balancing act. The simple act of just standing is indeed much more difficult
than balancing a baseball bat or an umbrella on your finger. There is an
article about standing on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing.
Unless you already know the mechanism of standing, I suggest that you
read this page and appreciate the delicate and precise body mechanism
that is required just to stand. A very important point is this: although
seemingly static, our body rocks very slightly back and forth from the
ankle in the sagittal plane, one of three planes of our body
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomical_terms_of_location#Planes).
So, you may not notice or be aware of it, but we sway in our quiet
standing, albeit within a small range. When we are babies, that sway is
much greater, and we notice it. As we get better at controlling our balance,
the sway minimizes to a level the people around us, including the person
standing next to us, do not notice. As I mentioned earlier, simply standing
requires dynamic, rather than static, balance. There are many
mechanisms in the body that are required to make adjustments for and to
maintain that balance. This is a separate subject, but it is healthier and
better if we try to ride on this swing or sway rather than stop it. I have
already covered this subject in another book that I published, Shotokan
Mysteries, under Chapter 9: Unstable Balance. So, I will not go into it in
this chapter.
OK, you agree that I made a point that standing does require a fine
balancing act. So what? This is the key point, and I wish to explain
further, but I need to ask the reader to be patient. I need to detour a little
again. Remember one of the examples I mentioned above about the
balancing of a baseball bat? Let me ask you which is easier to balance: a
bat, which is one piece (as seen in the photo below), or a piece of wood that
has, say, twenty pieces that are connected by joints?
Of course, we do not have a baseball bat made like that. Below is a

photo of wine glasses being placed on top of each other.
So, imagine if what you are trying to balance were made up of, say, five
or six wine glasses. I am sure you will say that balancing the glasses is
much more difficult than balancing the baseball bat.
Now I want you to look at the bone structure of our body.
I am sure you know that our body is supported by the bones in the legs.
What is more important is the bones between the pelvis and the head,
namely, the vertebral column, commonly called the backbone or spine. Do
you know how many bones there are to construct this important body
part? It usually consists of thirty-three (33) vertebrae, but what is
important is the upper twenty-four (24) articulating vertebrae that are
separated by discs. For our discussion, I will ignore the lower nine (9) as
they are fused into one piece. There are seven (7) vertebrae in the cervical
curve that supports your head in the neck area. Further down, there are
twelve (12) thoracic vertebrae, which make up the upper part of your
backbone between the shoulders and the bottom of the rib cage. Finally,
there are five (5) lumbar vertebrae in the lower back above the pelvis,
where many karateka complain about a back pain.
The exact number of vertebrae is not important in our discussion. What
is important is that the spine is not a single piece like a baseball bat. It is
made up of many pieces, and they are connected by discs, or, more
accurately, intervertebral discs. Each disc forms a joint that allows slight
movement of the vertebrae and acts as a ligament to hold the vertebrae
together. One crucial role of the discs is to act as a shock absorber. So,
what is important here is that each vertebra is movable. You can see this
easily if you move your head. You can even rotate your head left and right.
You can make similar movements with the lower back. For instance, you
can bend your upper body forward, backward, and side to side. You can
also rotate your upper body even without moving your pelvis. Try this
from a sitting position and you will find out how flexible or inflexible your
thoracic vertebrae are.
We all know that the backbone is important. When you fall off of a
horse or a bike, you may have a spinal cord injury, and some unlucky
people may even suffer paralysis below the neck, which will disable them
from walking.
You remember the famous actor Christopher Reeve, who suffered

quadriplegia in 1995 and died in 2004 at the age of fifty-two. Even if the
injury is not that serious, we see many people in a neck brace, most of
whom suffered from a car accident. These are not directly connected to the
subject I am covering, but I just wanted to stress the fact that our head is
heavy and that balancing it on top of the spine is not an easy task as it
requires a technique that is like a trick.
Now, finally, here is the main point I want to share. Most of us have no
recollection of how we tried to stand up and walk when we were a baby.
We can guess how we did by observing a baby anywhere between ten and
eighteen months old. From then on, you can stand firm and not only walk
steadily, but also run. To be able to do these feats, your backbone must not
be too flexible like that of a baby. It must be firm so that it can support the
upper body as well as the heaviest part, the head. I am sure you agree
with that.
While we are awake, most of us either sit or walk. These days, because
of the convenience of cars and other modes of transportation, we walk
much less than, say, a hundred years ago. We typically walk anywhere
between 3,000 and 5,000 steps per day. Now it is recommended to take
10,000 steps a day, which originated in Japan in the early 1960s.
Japanese researchers led by Dr. Yoshiro Hatano determined that if they

were to increase their steps to 10,000 steps per day, the result would be
healthier, thinner people. So, you may walk typically anywhere from 3,000
to 5,000 steps per day for many years. When you were a baby, you might
have walked only a few steps, but you must have increased the number of
daily steps, maybe into the thousands, quickly as you grew older. You were
able to increase the number of steps because you learned to keep your body
steady. In other words, you did not want to fall and hurt yourself.
Also, there was another big motivation. After learning how to walk
steadily, you can start running. For a child, to be able to walk fast and run
is very exciting, and some of you may remember the pleasure of running
when you were a toddler. If you do not remember, then you can watch
toddlers playing and see that they are all running around and smiling.
They are full of energy and seem to be almost unstoppable. So, what do we
do to steady our walk? We stiffen our body, especially the backbone, as it is
much easier to control if it does not bend or sway. So, every time we stand
up or even when we are sitting up, we learn to tighten the muscles and
ligaments around the backbone to keep it stiff so that it will remain a solid
stick or pole rather than a flexible one. I believe this conscious effort to
keep the backbone steady, along with the natural process of body
formation at a young age, results in an inflexible body.
If children either play a lot outside the house or happen to work in the
field with their parents, they can keep a higher degree of flexibility. I
suspect that people in the nineteenth century were more flexible than
people in the twentieth century, including most readers. I believe the
tendency is still growing more prominent since children of the twenty-first
century tend to stay inside the house a lot longer, watching TV or playing
computer games. Their body stiffens up more as they do not move it in a
dynamic way as the children of past centuries did.
This is my theory, and I have not contacted any medical personnel to
support my thinking, but I am pretty confident that I am right about this.

If any of the readers are in the medical field or have expertise in
kinesiology, I wish to hear from them.
Let us assume my hypothesis is correct and move on to the subject of
how we can improve flexibility. Before we jump into the subject, you may
say, I do a lot of warm-ups and have even tried yoga (or whatever), but I
am still inflexible. Can your method help? My quick answer is yes, and I
will share the basic concept of how to work on your body to make yourself
more flexible. Please note that the object of this chapter is not to provide a
how-to instruction, but rather to present the concept of this unique
approach. To provide an adequate instruction, I would need to write a
whole book on it. You can get personal instruction from me if you
participate in one of the seminars I give around the world. You can also
apply to be a student of my online dojo. I am selective with my students,
and I am not taking too many more as it requires a lot of time and energy.
I have three dedicated students around the world, and they are making
excellent improvement in their karatedo.
OK, let us dive into the method now. Most calisthenics and warm-up
exercises we do focus on the hip joints and the shoulder joints. You swing
your arms around and rotate your hips or bend forward and backward, for
instance.
Well, these exercises are acceptable, and, to some extent, they are
beneficial. They may give you a warm-up so that they will reduce injuries
during a physical exercise such as karate. Unfortunately, those exercises
will not give you the real relaxation of the body that is needed to bring
fluid movements to your techniques. What they are missing is more
attention to the backbone, which, for most people, is more solidified than
necessary, meaning that the ligaments, or discs, between the vertebrae
have been deactivated (or hindered) as flexible joints. In fact, this can and
does happen to other joints, such as the ankles and the knees.
For instance, we Japanese used to sit in seiza () in our house all day
long as we did not have chairs there. So, our knees were accustomed to
being fully bent and extended; therefore, doing the bunny hop did not
cause us any knee injuries. Now the Japanese lifestyle has changed, and
only a few sit in seiza in their house. I hear that the bunny hop exercise
has been banned in Japanese elementary schools because so many
students have complained of knee problems. It was a very popular and
common exercise to strengthen our legs, not only in sports activities, but
also in the general PE classes of our school days. Times have changed,
indeed.
Lets go back to the backbone as this is the key area where we must
focus. I would like the reader to look at the illustration of the backbone
(below).
It shows a rear and also a side view of the shape. What do you think?
What does it look like? I practice several kobudo () weapons, one of
them being the nine-section whip (kyusetsukon []), and the
backbone reminds me of that weapon (below).
I am sure most readers know that the backbone is curved into a shape
that looks like an S from the side even though we have the incorrect
notion that it is completely straight. I picked this illustration as it is shown
with the skull on top, showing that the backbone supports and balances
the heaviest part of our body, which is like balancing a baseball bat or a set
of wine glasses on top of your hand. Anyway, what does it look like?
Doesnt it sort of remind you of a snake (sorry if you happen to hate this
animal)? I will not include an illustration of snake bones, but the idea of a
snake becomes important when I explain exactly how we need to do the
flexibility exercise a little later in this chapter. By observing the backbone
illustration, I hope the reader gets a better feeling about how this bodily
structure is constructed or assembled.
Lets review again. There are seven vertebrae in the neck to support the
head, twelve in the upper torso, and five in the lumbar area, totaling
twenty-four movable bones. The top seven in the neck area are the easiest
ones to move around but require the most care when moving about as you
can easily sprain your neck because your head is so heavy. Moving too
quickly or too suddenly can easily cause a sprain as you might have
experienced in the past. The lumbar area may be a little more challenging
but is still easy to move around. You can get a sprained back from bending
forward and trying to pick up something very heavy.
The most challenging part is the twelve vertebrae between the neck and
the lumbar portion. You will need to spend most of your time improving
the flexibility of these vertebrae. Yes, each bone should be moved in all
directions as we incorrectly believed that having a solid (rigid) backbone
was good for walking. Well, once again, you may ask, Whats wrong with
that? Yes, balancing a baseball bat is easier than balancing stacked wine
glasses. This is OK as long as you are not looking for fluid motion.
Let me give you an example from two world-class sprinters, Ben

Johnson and Carl Lewis. Many readers will remember them as they
competed in the same races, and, in fact, the hundred-meter final at the
1988 Summer Olympics was one of the most sensational sports stories of
that year. Its dramatic outcome would rank as one of the most infamous
sports stories of the century. Johnson won in 9.79 seconds, a new world
record, while Lewis came in second at 9.92 seconds. Three days later,
Johnson tested positive for steroids, which resulted in his disqualification,
and Lewis moved up and was awarded the gold. Some readers may
remember this as it was big news then.
I am not discussing his doping problem here but rather the way he built
himself up with his body and the way he ran. Do you remember? He
carried his upper body like a baseball bat or a Mack truck. He was fast as
he had the leg and upper-body muscles to run fast, but his running was
never beautiful. It almost looked funny and artificial. On the other hand,
do you recall how Lewis ran? How would you describe it? You do not need
to go to a YouTube video; just look at the two photos on these two pages.
Johnson has huge thighs and upper-body muscles but looks cranky and
even stiff. Lewis does not have huge thighs or big upper-body muscles, but
he looks as though he is swimming or gliding through the air. This is what
I call a fluid performance. Both of them were tops in the world in
sprinting, but it makes that much of a difference in the body motion.
You must remember that Johnson was good only in the hundred-meter
sprint and that his career was very short. Lewis won gold medals not only
in the hundred-meter sprint but also in two-hundred-meter sprint and the

long jump. In addition, he was the world champion for over seventeen
years (19791996). He achieved excellent flexibility of the joints, including
the backbone. He used his backbone to accelerate. If you want to see this,
go check out his performance on YouTube. You will see how he does it. This
could be done not only because he had strong legs, which I am sure he did,
but more importantly because he could summon all the muscles of his body
in harmony to achieve maximum results. This can be done only if all the
joints are loose and movable and, in addition, if they are controllable and
manageable.
Let me add one interesting point about these athletes as I clearly
remember the specific reaction I had to them. Do you remember how you
felt about their performances? I remember that, as we watched them on
TV, we were impressed with the strong run by Johnson. He looked like a
runaway two-ton truck coming down the street, and the way he ran
certainly was not beautiful. I do not know how you felt, but I, at least,
didnt like his form. On the other hand, I loved how Lewis ran. I was
almost enchanted with the smooth flow of his running style.
So, when he lost to Johnson in the 1988 Olympics, we were disappointed

as we wanted the beautiful runner to win. I am sure the Canadian people
were happy.
When the doping was discovered a few days later, we did not feel sorry
for Johnson. We instinctively loved something beautiful and not an ugly
runner. Johnsons run was strong but not beautiful; thus, the people did
not love it. Lewis style was beautiful and looked natural. But, why did we
feel his running style was beautiful and right when we did not feel this
way about Johnsons?
Lewis made a big impression on us becausethis is my personal theory

he did not solidify his upper body as Johnson did. This is only my
assumption, but Johnson wanted to build a big and heavy upper body with
two strong legs. Instead of focusing on muscle coordination, he probably
did a lot of weight training to make himself strong. As a result, his upper
body became like a big chunk of muscle.
Lewis, on the other hand, was also in the long jump (lucky for him), for
which he needed to bend his back and use his backbone power to jump;
thus, he did not think of solidifying his body with a lot of weight training.
Instead, he probably relied on his natural talent and trained to coordinate
all the muscle groups in his body, leveraging the strong power generated
by his backbone. This approach, I believe, kept his motion natural and also
beautiful, which harmonized with our unconscious mind and resulted in
pleasure and great admiration.
On a related note, I can also say something similar when I watch kata
competitors (though this is not too often). Some competitors do their kata
very quickly. I am impressed with their ability to move their arms and legs
so fast. Yet, most of the time I am not moved as something is missing from
their performance, and I am not talking about the tempo, rhythm, power,
etc. I am not talking about the techniques either. I simply do not see the
natural moves that flow from one technique to the next. The moves I see
in most competitors are all rehearsed to simply move fast. No matter how
fast they can move, I do not see the beauty in it even though we must not
look for this in kata. But, I hope the reader understands what I am trying
to say.
OK, lets go back to the use of the backbone for speed and creation of
beautiful body motion. Maybe you are not totally convinced that the
backbone makes that much of a difference. Let me show you another set of
photos (below).
Everyone knows that this is the cheetah, the fastest land animal, which
can run as fast as 70 to 75 mph (112 to 120 km/h). I am sure you have
seen a video of a cheetah running. What did you think? Isnt it beautiful
how it can run? We already know it can run fast, but what impresses us
more is its beauty.
Now pay attention to the backbone of the cheetah in these two photos.
You can clearly see that it is contracting and expanding its backbone and
using it to accelerate its running. If the vertebrae were stiff and
unmovable, then the cheetah could not run like this. Carl Lewis was
smooth and fluid in his running, but Im sorry to say that his running form
was no comparison to that of a cheetah. The latter exhibits an almost
perfect motion of fluidity. I get very excited and emotional about this
subject, so I could talk about the importance of the backbone for hours.
Now, you will probably say, OK, I understand that it is important that
the backbone be flexible, but how do I get my backbone loose? As I stated
earlier, teaching exercise in written form is extremely difficult and could
be misunderstood. I must coach you in person to show you the fine details,
but I will give you a couple of hints as it is not difficult or mysterious.
There are only three ways to move our body. One is twisting, or body
rotation; another is side bending; and the last one is forward and backward
bending. You practice the twisting motion in Tekki Shodan. Can you
recognize which part? I wrote an article about this titled Mystery of
Tekki last year. If you are interested, you can find it in one of the issues of
Classical
Fighting
Arts
(http://www.dragontsunami.org/Cfa/Pages/cfahome.htm).
For the sideways exercise, think of a snake (sorry again if you dislike
this). You know how a snake moves, and you need to imitate the moves by
bending or curving the backbone. It is not very easy to do this, and it will
tell you how flexible or inflexible your backbone is. Once you get used to it,
you can try it on the floor. You lie down on the floor and hold your hands
behind your back. You need to move forward without using your legs by
just swaying your body like a snake. Try it and you will find it extremely
challenging.
For the last movement, bending forward and backward, I will not
recommend imitating a cheetah or a dolphin. They move too quickly for
our exercise. My hint is an inchworm or a Slinky. Yes, you can move your
backbone in a similar manner, in other words, in an up-and-down motion,
but it must be done slowly.
By the way, do you remember this toy, the Slinky? Maybe you have one
in your house. It was invented in 1943 and, as of 2003, had sold more than
300 million units in that sixty-year span since its invention. It is also listed
on the Century of Toys List by the U.S. Toy Industry Association. This is
such a simple toy, but why did it sell so well? I believe people were and are
fascinated with its smooth and fluid motion. What do you think? Can we
learn to move our backbone something like that or like an inchworm? If
you can, I guarantee you that your entire body motion will be smooth and
fluid.
Conclusion
I present that the body muscles of most of us have been solidified or
tightened up to an unnecessary (almost unhealthy) degree. I stated that
we had learned this state when we were toddlers as we learned how to
stand up and walk. Our body was very flexible then, and we did not know
how to balance well. So, we overcompensated with our body, which was
flexible then, by solidifying the ligaments of the backbone into one almost
immovable unit. We kept this process with the backbone for so many years
that we forgot how to loosen the vertebrae.
Having our core, the backbone, so rigid affects our entire body, almost
all the muscles in our body being tightened up. This is why we find it
difficult to relax our muscles. In other words, we tend to be tightened up
almost all the time because the muscles are always being pulled or affected
by the core.
Though we have a stressful society, the root cause of our inflexibility is
not from the external world but rather from inside our body. I have
concluded that our body muscles will remain tense most of the time unless
we learn or regain flexibility of the core, the backbone. We may engage in
yoga, tai chi, progressive muscle relaxation, etc., and we may feel good and
somewhat relaxed during or right after exercise. But, this will only give
temporary relief, and most of us will remain rigid and inflexible. This
condition prevents us from achieving fluid body motions in our karate
techniques.
Despite the fact that this trend is universal, there are some who have
overcome this problem. We find a few experts in all fields, including sports,
martial arts, and other arts, such as singing, dancing, and playing musical
instruments. True experts seem to have learned to be fully relaxed and
own a flexible body. I believe I have found a method to make all of us gain
the true flexibility that only the experts enjoy.
What I am proposing in this chapter is that we need to train the joints,
particularly those of the backbone, to relax and make them more movable.
There are three directions of body movement, and our training must cover
all of them. By the way, I close my eyes as I exercise my backbone or try to
move the vertebrae. I try to open my internal eyes so that I can see
what I am doing.
When the core is relaxed, mobility at the shoulders and the hip joints
will be greater, which will result in a greater ability to relax those areas.
Once we learn how to relax the body core and the major joints, it will be
much easier to relax the rest of the body. In addition, by relaxing our body
core, we will be able to manage our muscles and achieve fluid movements
in our techniques.
What do you think? You may not believe in my method or even be
convinced that it works, but isnt it worth giving it a chance and trying it
once or twice? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
JIDOSHA DOJO (AUTOMOBILE STUDIO)
Many agree that karate practice does not stay only in the dojo. Where do
you practice outside the dojo? Some are lucky to have a big backyard or a
large garage where they can do their practice. Some may go to a park or a
school gym. What do you practice at those places? You can certainly
practice kata and kihon. Can you practice kumite? Yes, only if you can find
a partner. But, most of the time you will have to practice by yourself, so no
kumite.
In this chapter, I propose the idea of training in your car, which includes
makiwara and kumite practice. I call this Jidosha Dojo (Automobile
Studio).
No, I am not proposing that you buy a bus or a big van to train inside.
This idea does not include giving a loud kiai to the driver who is in the car
next to you, pounding your fist against the steering wheel to toughen it up,
or swinging your backfist at the passenger-side headrest, either. In fact,
what I will share with you will not propose any techniques or movements
that are not related to driving itself. What I am proposing is only your
normal driving, but I will ask you to incorporate karate training into your
driving, and I will describe what and how.
Many people drive to and from work daily. Some may spend more than
an hour in the car each way. This means you spend more time driving than
training in your dojo every week. Wouldnt you agree that it would be
wonderful if you could add those hours to your karate training? You may
say, I sometimes think about kata or other karate techniques, but I
cannot continue thinking about it because I am too busy driving. This is
true, and it might be too dangerous if you were daydreaming or paying
attention to something other than driving. What I will explain is
completely different from what you are probably expecting. In fact, what I
suggest will improve your driving performance if you follow it correctly.

There are several different training syllabi or menus. Let me share
some of the main ones that you can include in your driving routine.
Menu #1: Distance Practice
One thing you must remember is that your car is an extension of
yourself. Now, this is a very important concept, and I want the reader to
fully understand this. So, I will spend some time on this subject first.
You already know that a meek person may feel braver when he is in a
large truck than when he is in a smaller car. In his big truck, he will not
be intimidated by a small car even if its driver may be a big and muscular
guy.
This is one example of the concept of a cars being an extension of

oneself, but I am not talking about this emotional feeling that can be
created by what kind of car one drives.
When I say, Extension, what I am talking about is connected more to
the physical aspect of your body. In fact, you must believe that the end of
your body does not stop at the tip of your finger or at your skin, but rather
goes out or extends further. It is true that there is a certain amount of
space around you that you would consider a part of your territory. I am
sure you have encountered a situation in your life more than once where a
person passes in front of you without saying, Excuse me. I suspect you
felt somewhat offended or invaded by this person or his act. If the distance
between you and him had been a hundred meters or even ten meters, you
would not have cared. But, you felt it was a very short distance, so you
expected the common courtesy of Excuse me.
Why did you feel that courtesy was needed? It is simply because we all
have a space around us that we feel is our personal space or territory. In
fact, there is a study called proxemics, the study of the cultural,
behavioral, and sociological aspects of spatial distances between

individuals. The amount of distance varies a lot by personal feelings and
also by cultural custom. In some Asian countries, the distance tolerance is
very high. For instance, the person behind you will stand very close to you
when you are in line in Japan. I have been living in the U.S. for many
years, so I often find myself feeling uncomfortable in the subway ticket
line or the post office line when I visit Tokyo. Even within the same
country, the distances vary if you are in a city, such as New York, or in a
small village in a wide-open state, such as Idaho. Of course, the distance
tolerance is much higher in New York, and a visitor from Idaho would
probably feel very uncomfortable in a crowded New York City subway. If
you are interested in learning more about proxemics, you may want to
access to this site: http://proxemics.weebly.com/index.html.
So, there is a space you recognize as part of you or that you consider to
be your space. What I will ask is that you go further with this feeling. If
you drive a small car in your daily life, then when you have to drive a
larger car, you feel uncomfortable, especially when you have to park or
drive on a narrow road or bridge. You feel even more uncomfortable or
insecure if you have to drive a big van or a truck. This is a good example of
body extension when you drive. An experienced bus or truck driver has no
problem even with parallel parking or driving over a narrow bridge. He
can extend himself to the outside of his bus or truck and knows exactly
how far he (or his bus or truck) can or cannot go. He has a greater body
distance than we (small-car drivers) do. This is definitely a learned skill,
and a professional truck driver must go to a special school for this. This
ability to extend body distance can also apply to the use of a weapon, such
as a sword, a bo (), or a nunchaku (). I will not go into this
subject here as we are focusing our discussion on automobile driving right
now, but I am sure the reader can guess how it applies.
We also talk about a long-distance fighting method, which is
characteristic of Shotokan karate, compared to a short-distance fighting
method, which is used in arts such as Goju Ryu. I believe the training
method I will share will help both fighting styles, but I think the benefit is
greater for Shotokan practitioners as it will expand the territory or space
that is controlled by you.
I will present two types of training here that you can use to train in
your car. One is automobile makiwara training; the other one is
automobile kumite.
In automobile makiwara training, I am not suggesting that you run into
a post or make a makiwara out of an old tire. It is only a metaphor, and I
am suggesting that you pay more attention when you park your car in
your garage or in a public parking lot. Your training is to not hit the front
or the side (particularly the passenger side) of your car on anything around
you.
This is totally opposite of makiwara training as you are not supposed to

hit anything in automobile makiwara training, but it is still distance
practice. You must be able to extend yourself to the outline of your car. The
obstacles in your garage or other parked cars can be your partners. If
you are skilled at this training, your car will stay scratch free for many
years. In addition, you will be an expert at parallel parking. Check your
skill and see if you need more training or not.
In automobile kumite, I am not proposing that you bump your car
against another or attack other cars or drivers. In fact, it is better called
automobile taisabaki () as you try to keep the correct distance from

all the cars around you. The first thing you must do is stop being a
tailgater if that is your habit. I will discuss this more in Menu #4, but
having sufficient distance between you and the car in front of you is very
important. It may be easier on a highway or a freeway, but it will take
much more practice and close attention on a busy city street, and that is
the best kumite situation for you.
In dojo kumite, you typically have only one opponent. You are lucky if
your sensei puts you in multiple-opponent kumite, but I am sure you will
not usually face more than two or three opponents. On the other hand,
what you can do here is distance training with many opponents (cars)
around you, not only with the ones in front of you, but also with the ones
beside you and even behind you. I will talk more about rear training in
Menu #3 as it requires a different technique. Here we will focus on the
cars in front and to the side.
You will have training for at least three separate distances here. With
the car in front of you, your training is to keep the same distance. If it
slows down, check how soon you react to the difference in distance. The
driver in the car in front of you may not pump the brake to alert you. Your
training is to detect the difference in distance by visual observation. This
visual check from a car that is running at even a moderate speed of thirty
or forty miles per hour will help you with your visual judgment in real
kumite. Training with the cars on your sides will require more than
distance practice, so I will explain this further in Menu #2.
Menu #2: Practice Perceiving Other Drivers Intentions
This is training to learn the concept that was presented by Musashi
Miyamoto (, c. 15841645) in his famous quote: Perceive that
which cannot be seen with the eye. Your training with the cars on your
sides is to develop your alertness for a car that may turn in to yours by
mistake or cut in front of you without warning.
If this happens, you need to be ready to either swerve away or put on

the brakes to avoid an accident. This is almost like training to read the
mind of the drivers in the cars around you. If you have a mind-set for this
training, then you can develop a skill to detect movement by another
driver and almost read his mind to know whether he is thinking of turning
or not. A lot of times your car may be in the blind spot of another driver,
and this is a dangerous moment. If you are alert, then you can avoid an
accident. Certainly, you need to pay attention to the other cars that may
get into your cars blind spots. You must not depend on the rearview mirror
when you change lanes or turn corners. You must turn your head and
verify with your own eyes that it is clear to the side you are turning in to.
You must also be alert to the car in front of you. There are three cases:
(1) cars going the same direction as you, (2) cars coming toward you, and
(3) cars waiting at an intersection to cross the street.
Lets look at case number 1, cars going the same direction as you. You
must always expect that the driver in front may have a sudden need to
brake hard and stop. If you have sufficient distance, this action will not
bring you into a scary situation; rather, being ready all the time will give
you a faster reaction, and you will not need to brake hard yourself. This
(not braking hard) will decrease the possibility of getting hit by a car from
behind. To avoid this type of accident, it is better to make several separate
pumps on the brake to let the other driver know that you are putting the
brakes on. I will go further regarding the driver behind you, but, here
again, you must not assume that this driver is alert and is a safe distance
away from you. Paying attention to the back is very important. Though
you may not be the cause of the accident, who wants to be in an accident,
regardless of who is at fault.

In the case of number 2, cars coming toward you, you also need to pay
full attention as this driver may decide to turn and cross the street in front
of you. It is amazing, but sometimes the driver in that car does not see
your car or may misjudge the distance and timing. You need to be ready
for any sudden moves by a car that is approaching you. Do not assume the
driver in that car will see you or will make a safe and proper judgment.
This can apply to case number 3, as well, which is when a car is either
merging into your lane from another lane or is waiting at an intersection
and may suddenly get into your lane or cross the street in front of you. The
key point here is to never underestimate your opponent or situation.
All of these situations are taught at a driving school, but we easily
forget. Paying attention all the time for all possibilities and being ready for
them is the martial art mind. Driving a car is the perfect opportunity to
train and develop this attitude or mind-set and, after training, hopefully
this will turn into an ability to perform almost unconsciously.
Menu #3: Practice Watching Your Back
Even though it might not be your fault when you are hit from behind,
no one wants to have an accident, so you must learn to keep a safe
distance between you and the car that is behind you. If the car behind you
likes to tailgate, the best option for you is to change lanes. If there is no
other lane, then stop and let him pass you. This is common sense, but not
too many people follow this advice. What some people do is step on the
brake to scare the guy behind them. Sometimes it may work, but other
times it irritates or angers the other driver and may develop into a more
dangerous situation. So, I strongly advise you to not use a braking action
toward your tailgating opponent.
There is another exercise you will want to do for your rear training. A
rearview mirror becomes very important here. Of course, I am not
referring to using it to put your lipstick on or fix your hair. This is to
watch out for a police car.
Most of the time you get caught by a police officer that was trailing
behind you. By developing this ability, you will have less of a chance of
receiving a traffic ticket, and your automobile insurance will not go sky
high. Seriously, a karate expert must not receive any ticket, not just by
observing the rearview mirror, but by observing all the traffic laws.
Menu #4: Practice Controlling Your Emotions
This training is a part of automobile kumite. When a careless or
impolite driver cuts right in front of you, do not honk or get upset. What
you need to do is let off your accelerator so that you will slow down and
allow more space between your car and his. As the driver in front of you is
either careless or impolite, he is not a safe driver. Pay more attention to
this car and exercise Menu #2. When you are having a bad day, this small
incident may upset you. Of course, you need to train your feelings so that
you will not let them dictate your reactions. In addition, you need to work
more on Menu #2 so that a surprise move by the car next to you will not
happen. If you can detect the feeling that this car is getting into your lane,
you will let off the accelerator a little and make a space in front of you.
There is another situation where you need to control your feelings. You
either cut someone off by mistake or drive too safely (slowly) and get
another driver angry.
If you offend another driver by cutting him off by mistake, then the best
thing to do is signal your apology. Most of the time the other driver may be
upset, but he will forgive you if you wave your hand and apologize.
However, there may be a driver who gets so upset that he feels he needs to
show his anger by retaliating. This person may want to pass you quickly
and cut you off. If this happens, the best thing to do is to go more slowly
and let this person pass you. The best strategy is to keep a safe distance
from and ignore this unhappy driver. There are many unhappy and upset
drivers who are looking around for an emotional outlet. You do not want to
get caught by a person like this. There is no reason for you to be a target
of this negative feeling, and you should not let this person risk your safety
as well as that of your loved ones.
This is very good training to keep yourself calm in a conflict situation.
Interestingly, people are more likely to become impolite or rude in
situations that are not face-to-face, such as a car incident. This seems to
be truer among males. If you happen to meet them in a supermarket or in
a library, they may offer to open the door for you or may say, After you,
and let you go first. The lack of a face-to-face situation in traffic
encourages people to be less polite or considerate. This situation is
probably less common among women. Whether you are a man or a woman,
avoid these impolite people and keep a good maai from those who are
looking for trouble.
Menu #5: Practice Driving with Minimum Brake Action
Now I will complete this chapter with the most advanced training menu
for Jidosha Dojo. The idea is simple and clear, but doing it correctly and
safely can be very challenging. Driving with minimum braking action is
fairly easy on a freeway, where you have little traffic. You can set your car
on cruise control and just drive. However, once you are in a town or a city
and have to drive on a city street, it is not so easy. Why am I adding this
as a menu? Is this something a retired person with a lot of time but not
enough excitement wants? No, this menu will require a lot of mind work
and discipline. One point to work on is distance perception involving other
cars, traffic lights, and other traffic signs and obstacles. Another is time
perception, when to step on the brake and when to release it. You will also
have to fight against your desire to speed up sometimes, but you will need
to make a judgment if that is required or advisable.
In the end, your driving will improve, and your car will perform very
smoothly. The passengers in your car will not feel any jerky or quickstopping movements. They will also feel very safe as your car just glides
through the traffic like a flying carpet. It is true that some of the drivers
behind you may not like your speed or the way you are driving. Your
driving style may be different and unusual. They may honk or yell at you.
I advise you to let them pass you quickly so you can keep smiling.
There are, of course, other syllabi you can incorporate in Jidosha Dojo
training, such as breathing, stretching, reaction, etc. But, if you get good
at the five exercises I listed here, your car performance will change, and
you will drive differently. It will certainly be much safer. You will most
likely avoid receiving any traffic tickets. You will have much less of a
chance of getting involved in a car accident. Initially, you may find it
challenging, but once you get used to it or master the art, you will enjoy
your driving much, much more. In addition, you will realize that Jidosha
Dojo training will help you with your karate in both the physical and the
mental aspect.
One thing I can confidently say is that what I am proposing here will
increase the safety of your driving experience even if it does not help you
with your karate. Another thing I want to add is a controversial
statement. If you claim that you are a karate or martial arts expert, then
you must be able to prove this by your driving history. A diploma that may
show a high rank is not good enough for a true qualification. One
qualification a karate expert must produce is a clean traffic history and
record since the time he began to call himself a karate expert. I consider
what I am stating here to be very fair. However, I wonder how many
karate experts can share their driving history to satisfy this qualification.
Whether you wish to try out my training ideas or not, Jidosha Dojo is
your choice, and I do not expect that all readers will do it. But, think of
your life without any accidents or traffic tickets. Isnt it worth giving it a
try even for a short period of time to see if it will make any difference?
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE ART OF PERFECT SHAVING
In this chapter, I will discuss the art of shaving. I am not joking about the
art part of this activity. Most men need to engage in it daily. Yes, I am very
serious that there is an art to the handling of a razor. If you happen to use
an electric razor, then this may not apply as well as with a regular safety
razor. One high-ranking Western sensei commented after he heard about
my idea, saying that shaving is only shaving, and there is no art in it. I
am afraid he does not understand the depth of the art that could extend to
small actions such as shaving.
Here is a photo of my razor (above). It is a popular brand and an

inexpensive two-blade razor. I do not know how long you can keep using
the same razor, but a friend of mine told me his razor barely lasts one
month before he tosses it. Believe it or not, mine lasts for more than two
years (yes, years), and I suspect that is probably longer than the time of
most, if not all, readers. The razor shown here is more than a year old now
and is a little dirty, but it will continue to give me a nice shave for at least
one more year. My beard is stiff and coarse, so my razor gets normal use. I
use the same razor for a long time, certainly not because I am stingy. I do
throw my razor away but only when it stops giving me a good shave. Any
razor can last that long if you use it correctly. Needless to say, I am not
sharing the art of perfect shaving so that you can save money. I am sure
that may not motivate you enough to read this chapter.
Then, why am I doing this? Let me tell you that the techniques that are
used in a perfect shave are connected to the core concepts and techniques
of the martial arts, certainly including karate. Now, I hope this statement
will capture your attention. My claim may be difficult for some to believe
right now, so I ask that you continue to read till the end of this chapter. At
the end, you can decide if what I am telling you makes sense or if it is a
bunch of BS.
Obviously, the razor I have is something I bought at a common drug
store, and it must be very similar to the ones you use. So, the difference is
not the tool itself; rather, it is the method or the technique that is
different. The first secret to perfect shaving rests in how you hold the
razor.
1
Picture 1 shows a standard holding method, which I suspect is similar to
how you hold yours. The way I hold my razor is shown in Picture 2 (the
two-finger method).
2
I hold the end of the handle with just my thumb and index finger. This
is an expert holding method, and I know it will be very difficult for you to
get any shaving done with this method. To start the perfect shaving lesson,
I recommend that you hold the razor as depicted in Picture 3 (the three-
finger method), where you hold the end of the handle with your thumb and
middle finger and put light pressure on the back of the handle with your
index finger.
3
Once you get used to this method of holding the razor, believe it or not,
you will have better control of the razor with this method.
Before we go into the actual technique of shaving, let us look at other
arts and physical activities that are both Japanese and non-Japanese.
Here I wish to elaborate on the correlation between the holding techniques
of the razor and those of other tools.
The first one is the Japanese writing brush (mohitsu []). After
looking at some artistic Chinese writing, I am sure you will agree that you
see an art form when you look at the brushed writing with its beautiful
strokes (see example below).
So, how do you hold a brush? One standard holding method is shown in
Picture A.
A
You keep the brush vertical as you write the characters. The holding
method here is similar to how you hold a pen or a pencil, so you should not
be surprised by this. However, when you get into more artistic or
sophisticated writing, an artist may hold the brush in the way shown in
Picture B.
B
Isnt this similar to the holding method that I suggested for the razor
earlier? Interesting, isnt it?
Many readers probably like Japanese food, such as sushi and tempura,
and may frequent Japanese restaurants. There you have the option to eat
with a knife and fork or a pair of chopsticks (hashi [], or ohashi []).
The degree of skillfulness with chopsticks seems to indicate how much a
person likes Japanese food. If you are a first-time visitor, you may have to
resort to a crude method (Picture C) so you can eat (survival mode, I
guess).
C
Eventually, you will develop the skill of holding a pair of ohashi in an
acceptable manner (Picture D).
D
Take a look at the third photo (Picture E).
This is a photo of a Japanese tempura chef, a professional in the art of

Japanese food. Notice that he holds the very top part of the chopsticks.
We just saw the way to hold a brush, and here is the way to hold a pair
of chopsticks. Wouldnt you agree that to do a fine job with a small tool, it
is better to hold it at the end and work it from there? I hope so, but it is
OK if you are still not fully convinced. You can experiment with a pair of
chopsticks, a brush, or a razor. They are all cheap and very common, so
the experiments are easy to do.
While you are experimenting with these small tools, I want to move on
to other tools that are somewhat larger and heavier. As I am trying to tie
this subject to the martial arts, lets look at the Japanese sword, the
katana.
Now, I confess that I have never learned iaido () or kenjutsu (
). Thus, I am not an expert in this matter. However, I have trained with
kobudo weapons, such as the sai, nunchaku, tonfa, etc.; thus, I know that
the fundamental method of holding a weapon is similar. Here is a photo
showing how to hold a sword.
Notice the front hand. Pay very close attention to the thumb and the
index finger. As you can see, they are not holding tightly, which is a key
point.
By the way, do you remember when you first learned how to make a fist
when you joined a karate club? If the instructor taught you correctly, he
must have told you to start bending the little finger tightly first, then the
ring finger, then middle finger (see below).
After those three fingers are held tightly, you bend the index finger last
and then complete the fist by lightly placing the thumb over the index
finger.
I hope the instructor told you to squeeze the little finger and the ring
finger tightly, but not so tightly with the middle finger, and even more
loosely with the index finger and the thumb. Of course, this is the fist you
make in kamae or yoi. When you punch an opponent or a makiwara, you
tighten all the fingers but only at the point of impact, after which the fist
will be held loosely again. The concept here should be similar to, or the
same as, when you handle a sword. Hold the sword tightly with the little
finger and the ring finger. The middle finger is there to give support. The
index finger and the thumb are used for managing or handling the sword.
If you are a kenjutsu or iaido expert, and if my understanding of holding a
sword is incorrect, please let me know. However, I assume I am correct as
that is the way it is in my kobudo training.
I want to bring up another interesting fact with a very popular sport
called golf. The photo below shows how to hold a golf club.
I am not an expert in this sport, either. I suspect that some readers may
be very experienced in it, and they can tell me if what I am saying here is
correct or not. I understand that you are supposed to hold the club tightly
with the left hand but not as tightly with the right one. As you can see in
the photo, you are to hold the club ever so gently with the right hand.
Take note that the thumb and index finger are positioned very similarly to
the right hand when holding a sword (photo shown previously). Is this a
coincidence? No, I dont think so. Thought the motion of the arms is quite
different between these two artsI am daring to call golf an art as it can
bethe basic concept of holding the tools, the sword and the club, is the
same. This suggests that the art of swinging a long object in a precise
manner requires the same physical positioning and control.
I believe the basic concept of holding other long objects, such as a cue
stick (billiards) or a bow for a violin or cello, must be the same or similar
as the mechanism of our body is the same, no matter what activities we
may do (see the photo below).
Here the little finger is not used much to hold the bow as it is not heavy.
I suspect it is used more for balance and control of the bow. If you are a
violin or cello player, maybe you can send me your comments as to
whether my understanding is correct or incorrect.
As swinging a golf club is totally different from handling a sword, let me

bring up another art, chopping or cutting wood. I believe this will be an
excellent comparison as its mechanism quite resembles that of sword
cutting. Wood cutting is not very popular in the warmer regions of the
U.S., such as California, but I understand that it is a very popular activity
and an important part of normal life in colder countries, such as Canada,
Norway, or Sweden. I would love to hear feedback from those who chop
wood regularly after you read this chapter.
So, here is the tool, an ax.
The weight distribution is different, but its average weight is closer to

that of a real sword than the bokken (wooden sword) or the shinai
(bamboo sword) used in kendo. A while ago, I thought it might be
interesting to investigate whether there was any relation between this
activity and kenjutsu, the art of the Japanese sword. So, here is what I
found. The wood cutting I am discussing here is not for cutting down trees
but for chopping a large piece of wood into smaller pieces for wood-burning
purposes.
After identifying the tool, we need to discuss how to hold the tool, which
is a part of the art, and I have mentioned this before. It is important as
holding the tool correctly will help you get the best, or should I say, the
most efficient cut. What do I mean by best and most efficient cut? This
means you hit the center of the piece of wood every time and cut it in one
strike. Of course, you will not miss one chop as that would be a waste of
your energy. Best also means that you will not get tired even if you
continue to cut wood all day long. Moreover, efficient activity does not give
you a sore back, shoulders, legs, or arms. If you can do this, then you can
say that you raised this activity to the level of an art form, and it will no
longer be a chore but rather something you enjoy doing.
OK, so you understand the objective. Lets go back to holding the ax.
Some people hold it above the shoulder as in the photo shown below.
The stance shown in this next photo (below) is called hasso no kamae
(), which is one of the main kamae in kenjutsu.
So, you may want to believe that holding an ax in a similar way is OK. I
am sorry, but I do not believe that is the case for chopping wood.
It is very obvious when you think of how you cut the opponent with a
sword. The typical sword-cutting line is diagonal. Why? Obviously, it is
better to cut the opponents neck than to hit him right on top of the head.
So, in most tameshigiri (, test cutting), you see a bamboo stick or
a roll of bound straw positioned in a vertical manner, and the
demonstrator cuts it diagonally (photo below).
But, do they not have tameshigiri with the sword cutting straight
down? Yes, in fact, at one of the shrines in Japan, Nakamura Jinja (
), a demonstrator cuts a cinder block (photo below).
OK, if you cut it straight down, how do you hold the sword? It doesnt
take a rocket scientist to figure out that you hold it straight up above your
head. In one of the famous kenjutsu styles, Jigen Ryu (), which is
popular in Kyushu, they practice swinging the sword by striking a log just
as we punch a makiwara. The only difference is that the log is held
horizontally (illustration below), while our makiwara is vertical as you
know. (Note: this kenjutsu training method is believed to be the origin of
the makiwara, which was invented on Okinawa.)
Now notice the position of the sword in the above drawing as it is

important, and I wish to go further on this particular subject. If this is the
kamae of kenjutsu, am I suggesting that we should hold an ax in the same
way? Yes, that is exactly what I am proposing. I know it is a daring
proposal as I am not a sword expert and have never studied kenjutsu in
my life. In addition, my experience with cutting wood is very limited.
Then, how can a person like me with an amateur background in these
fields propose something like this?
Am I just guessing or BSing? I certainly hope not. I am quite confident
about this and am explaining how it should be performed from the
understanding of kinesiology as well as the budo requirement that
demands the most effective body movements. What do I mean by the
most effective body movements? This simply means that a technique
must not only be fast, powerful, and accurate but also the most energy
efficient. In other words, swinging a sword with only brute force is not
considered a budo-approved movement. The beauty or the artistic part of
kenjutsu comes from efficient body movement that utilizes the minimum
amount of muscle power leveraged by the help of gravity and the
balance/off-balance mechanism. I have already written an article on the
balance/off-balance mechanism under the title of Unstable Balance, so I
will not go into this area at this time.
Let us look at some examples of inefficient or poor wood-cutting
techniques. First, look at the photo below and compare it to Picture J
(shown a little later in this chapter), which is how a Jigen Ryu sword
practitioner would hold a sword.
Very similar, isnt it? Lets examine this kamae. The stance is good as
the feet are placed at about the distance of a kiba dachi. However, the
position of the ax is not the most desirable as it is not held straight up, and
the handle is leaning backward. Why is this bad? From this position, he
needs to lift the ax to the highest level before he can bring it down to the
wood, which is an unnecessary move. He needs to use the muscles of the
shoulders, back, arms, and all other related body parts. Therefore, he
needs to hold the ax upright as in the kenjutsu drawing shown earlier.
This is a very accurate drawing as it shows the man holding his sword
vertically. The sword itself is quite heavy despite the fact that it is not topheavy like an ax. Holding it vertically like this is most efficient.
If you look at Picture F below, you will quickly realize why this kamae
is not in accordance with the budo method.
F
You can easily guess that this person will run out of energy after thirty
minutes of wood chopping. In addition, he will probably wake up the next
morning with soreness in his shoulders, arms, and back.
OK, what is wrong with the guy in Picture G?
G
It is obvious, as you can guess, that he will have a sore back. As he
chops, he leans his upper body forward. He is, in fact, too far away from
the piece of wood. He will use a lot of his arm, shoulder, and back muscles
to bring the ax down. After one hour of this exercise, he will have a bad
pain in his lower back and possibly in his right shoulder when he gets up
the very next morning.
Lets look at Picture H.
H
How is she doing? She is doing much better, isnt she? I assume that she
had her legs stretched when in her kamae and that she brought the ax
down using its weight, going into a shiko dachi as the ax hit the wood.
When compared to the man in Picture G, her right arm is much closer to
her body (good point #1), and her hands are closer to each other (good
point #2). Of course, I do not know if she held the ax straight up when in
her kamae, but her chopping action is much more effective and energy
efficient.
If she were not bending her back so much, I would rate her woodchopping art at an expert level. If she continues chopping all day, she will
have pain in her lower back the next day. In addition, her feet are pointing
outward (shiko dachi), which means that the falling energy will dissipate
in other directions instead of being focused on the target, the piece of
wood. Apparently, she is not a Shotokan practitioner, so, unfortunately, she
does not know the benefit of the kiba dachi.
Let me show you some photos that, I believe, demonstrate expert wood
chopping.
In the photos above (Pictures I and J), you can see an excellent kamae
with a naihanchi stance (a bit shorter than a kiba dachi). The knees are
slightly squeezed inward, and the ax handle seems to be held up in a very
vertical position. The hands are held with some distance, but I assume she
will bring them closer as she drops the ax down. This is a black-belt level
kamae.
Yes, she will almost literally drop the ax as she will not use too much of
her arm and shoulder muscles when she chops the piece of wood. In other
words, what she will do is just let the ax fall toward the piece of wood.
During this process, she will use her hands and arms only to guide the ax
so that it will hit the piece of wood accurately.
The photo below shows exactly how you want to drive the ax through
the wood by bending your knees deeply as you can see.
You will notice that the wood cutters stance looks like an excellent kiba
dachi or shiko dachi. You will also notice that his back is not bent forward
too much and that his hands are held closely together. I can assume he just
cut the wood at an expert level by leveraging the gravity of the ax. As a
result, he used the minimum amount of his strength and energy. Using
this method, he could probably cut wood all day long without ever getting
tired, and he will not have any back or shoulder pain the next morning
(black-belt level).
When you become a real expert, you can get down to the depth shown in
this next photo and use the full gravity of the ax as well as your own body
weight with a zanshin feeling.
Look how straight his back is. He will not have any backaches
afterward for sure. He can continue to chop all day long without getting
tired. Of course, you must have strong legs to perform at this expert level,
but I am sure that most readers who are karateka can develop their
technique to a black-belt level pretty quickly.
What do you think of this method? If you regularly cut wood, I would
like you to try this and get back to me if this method made any difference
in your activity.
The budo method of efficient movement can be applied to almost all
bodily functions in our daily life. I suggest that you reevaluate how you
walk, sit, drive (see Chapter 11: Jidosha Dojo), play golf, play any
musical instrument, etc., and see if your movements are in accordance
with the budo method. Wouldnt you agree that most of the time we can
tell if a driver is experienced or is a student driver by looking at the way
he sits and holds the steering wheel?
We have digressed a lot, so lets go back to the art of perfect shaving.
You have read that the method of holding the tool is important. You have
seen the pictures of how a razor can or should be held, but you wonder if
this is the end of the technique. No, I have not covered the actual
technique of perfect shaving yet. Holding the razor correctly is only the
beginning.
Finally, let me explain the shaving method. Not to disappoint you, but it
is quite simple. You will remember that you need to hold your razor very
lightly with two or three fingers. Now, here is the secret. You go over your
face with it as if you were petting your face with a feather. It almost
sounds like a commercial. In fact, there is a company with that very name
that produces razor blades for the older type of safety razor (below).
Seeing that Feather is the company name, I suspect that the founder of
that company must have known how to shave correctly.
However, you may complain that you cant shave your beard well if you
do it as I explained. That is true, but that is exactly what is expected. The
idea here is not to chop the beard from the root with one stroke. You are
expected to go over the surface of the face many times and to cut the beard
little by little in a gradual manner.
Why is this necessary? Both shaving methods, crude and artful, will
give you a shave, but the artful method will not cut your face. After
shaving, have you ever had to put pieces of tissue on your face to stop the
bleeding? I suspect you have. Now, is this a big deal? It should be if you
claim to be a martial artist.
I do not know about you, but I consider it to be a part of self-defense.

Maybe my definition of self-defense is much broader than yours, but, for
me, it includes preventing or avoiding all accidents, from a simple shaving
cut to a serious car accident (see Chapter 9: What Is Complete SelfDefense?). I also include avoiding sickness and illness as a part of my selfdefense objectives. From this perspective, a perfect shave will not draw
blood, and, moreover, it will not give you a skin irritation or a rash
afterward. If you shave close to your skin with much force, the blade will
shave not only your beard but also your skin. Even if you do not shave off
your skin, the roots of your beard will be pulled out by the shaving action,
and that causes irritation as the skin on your face is very sensitive. You
can check this by applying some aftershave to your face. If it burns the
skin on your face, then you shaved too hard.

Even if you do not agree on the self-defense part, just think of the
consequences of having cuts and rashes on your face daily. I certainly think
that will age your face skin much faster. I guarantee that a perfect shave
will help you stay looking young and healthy. It is up to you to decide if
this benefit is good enough to motivate you to learn the art of perfect
shaving.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MASTER ASAIS HIP POSITION MYSTERY
When I posted a photo of Master Asai (above) on Facebook, someone

commented that Master Asais butt was sticking out. The same person
commented that Master Kase, of France (JKA), also had the same posture.
I cannot write about Master Kase as I know almost nothing about him and
his karate. But, I believe I can present my theory on Master Asai. I will,
hopefully, be able to shed some light on why he is standing that way. I
believe there is a good explanation for his posture. I have studied Asai
karate for over ten years and had a very close training relationship with
him for the last few years of his life, between 2002 and 2006, the year he
passed.
Before I go into my theory, I would like to take this opportunity to
introduce Tetsuhiko Asai. Of course, most readers already know who
Master Asai was. He was a world-renowned Shotokan master who
traveled around the world and awed everyone with his almost magical
techniques. I am well aware of his abilities, but I want to speak about
Master Asai because I have a compelling reason. This will also explain why
I started my organization, ASAI. Some people have accused me of taking
advantage of his fame by using his name to name my organization. On the
surface, indeed, it does appear so. Hopefully, by reading my explanation,
the reader will understand that I have a much deeper motivation to keep
his name and his karate alive.

Let me explain. Without any exaggeration, he saved my karate and, in
essence, my karate life (I will explain the details later). I owe him so
much, and now it is my turn to pay it back to the karate world since I
cannot do so to him. It became my conviction to spread and share the
karate I learned from Master Asai. As long as I live, I do not want anyone
to forget about Master Asai. I want the name of Asai to be remembered.
This is the exact reason why I created the organization, ASAI (Asai
Shotokan Association International).
We are not an organization that just happened to pick up a famous

name or be part of a fad. We are an organization that intends to do the
following:
Give everyone access to the Asai Karate System
Provide a home for karate ronin
Make dan examinations available to all organizations and styles
Unite all karate practitioners, regardless of organizational differences
Improve the karate skills of all members
Preserve the discipline of the Dojo Kun
Pass the legacy of Master Asai on to the next generation
Lets look at the history of Master Asai from his birth to his last day. I
could write something from my memory, but I think it is more accurate
and complete to quote from the Wikipedia article about him
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuhiko_Asai).
Here is a direct quote from the Wikipedia page:

Early life
Asai was born on June 7, 1935, in Ehime Prefecture (on the island of Shikoku), Japan. He
was the eldest of seven children. As a boy, he trained in sumo. In addition, his father (a
policeman) taught him judo, kendo, and sojutsu. When he was 12 years old, he witnessed a fight
between a boxer and a karateka (practitioner of karate); the karate combatant was able to
disable his opponent with a kick, and Asai was impressed.
Karate career
In 1958, Asai graduated from Takushoku University, where he had trained in karate under
Gichin Funakoshi, Masatoshi Nakayama, and Teruyuki Okazaki. He trained hard and was
allowed to sleep in the karate dormitory. At Nakayamas recommendation, he entered the JKA
instructor training program and graduated from the course three years later. Asai won the JKA
championship in kumite (sparring) in 1961, and in kata (patterns) in 1963. He was overall JKA
champion in 1961, having come in first in kumite and second in kata that year. Asai became the
first instructor to introduce karate to Taiwan. Through the second half of the 1960s, he taught
karate in Hawaii for five years, with his students including Kenneth Funakoshi (a fourth cousin
to Gichin Funakoshi).
Over the years, Asai advanced within the JKA, and was appointed as Technical Director.
Following Nakayamas death, the JKA experienced political troubles and divided; Asai and
colleagues (including Keigo Abe and Mikio Yahara) formed one group, while Nakahara
Nobuyuki and colleagues formed another groupwhich in 1999 was officially recognized as the
JKA. In 2000, he founded the International Japan Martial Arts Karate Asai-ryu and the Japan
Karate Shoto-Renmei. Apart from the ranking of 9th dan in Shotokan karate, he also held the
ranks of 3rd dan in jodo, 2nd dan in judo, 2nd dan in jukendo, and 2nd dan in kendo.
Later life
Reflecting on relations between JKA instructors who had graduated from Takushoku
University, Asai said, We all pretty much get on nowadays, contrary to our official stances and
federations. In saying that, some of us dont, but isnt that life? ... I am happy to say that most of
the deep rooted rivalry has gone amongst my peers. I think that the passing of Mr. Enoeda, Mr.
Kase, Mr. Tabata and Mr. Shoji and so forth has brought many of us back to reality. Obviously
this is not limited to Takushoku University; it is all about us international karate pioneers
getting very old.
Asais health deteriorated with age, and he underwent liver surgery on February 10, 2006.
He died at 2:50 PM on August 15, 2006, leaving behind his wife, Keiko Asai, and their daughter,
Hoshimi Asai. More than 2,000 people attended his funeral, which was held on September 1,
2006, at Gokokuji Temple in Tokyo. Asai received the rank of 10th dan posthumously from the
JKS, and was succeeded as President of the IJKA by his widow. Since that time, IJKA in Europe
has apparently separated from K. Asais IJKA. In 2013, Asai Shotokan Association International
(ASAI) was formed by a former student of Asai, Kousaku Yokota, to propagate Asais style of
Shotokan.
In the past, I have written about how Master Asai saved my karate life,
but many readers may have not read it yet, so I would like to share my
short explanation here.
In the mid nineties, as I was approaching fifty years old, I was a godan
and a lifetime member of the JKA, having practiced Shotokan karate for
more than thirty years. At that time, I keenly felt that I had reached a
plateau with my karate training and could not find any challenge or
pleasure in further training. I visited different sensei and went to
seminars given by masters such as Hirokazu Kanazawa and Masahiko
Tanaka (, 1941), but none of them could inspire me. As a result, I
decided to retire from karate in 1997. This was a big move as I had always
believed karate was part of my life. But, I decided to do so because I could
no longer find a way to improve myself. So, I decided to study ki and hoped
I could find a solution in this art.
I found a job in Tokyo, where I lived for two and a half years. During
this period, I did not wear my gi, not even once. I entered a famous ki
school called Nishino Ryu Kokyuho Dojo () in Shibuya. To
make a long story short, I could not find my answer in ki training.
I came back to California in 2000 and decided to teach karate in San

Jose. At that time, I had already given up on improving my own karate. In
2001, Asai Sensei was giving a seminar in the area, and I participated. Of
course, I knew Asai Sensei from my JKA time and had met him several
times in the past. I had also witnessed, with my own eyes, the impressive
demonstration he gave at the JKAs All Japan Championship (1981 and
1982). But, until I participated in this seminar in 2001, I only considered
him to be one of Shotokans famous instructors and nothing more.
This seminar event happened five years before his passing, so he was in
his mid sixties. Upon observing his techniques and moves very closely, I
was simply dumbfounded by his agility, flexibility, and speed. I knew
immediately that he was the answer to my question of how I could
improve my karate when I was in my sixties.
It took me a year before I finally left the JKA and became a follower of
Master Asai. My close association with Master Asai began only five years
before he left us all too soon. He knew so much, and I just did not have
enough time or occasions to ask all the questions I had. I could never claim
that I learned all of his techniques. He knew more than a hundred kata,
and I have only learned twenty-five Asai kata. Despite this, I feel that I
learned enough to share this knowledge and these techniques with all
Shotokan practitioners, especially the advanced (in terms of both
technique and age) karateka.

His karate was different, and my karate became different from the
standard Shotokan karate. It is different because I feel my moves are
more natural and smoother. I guess I would have to ask the reader to
watch me either in person or via video performance to see if he thinks that
this is true. I am convinced that the benefits are great for karateka of all
styles and ages. I could never replace or duplicate all of Asai Senseis
techniques, but it is my lifetime mission to share what I know and do what
I can do. This year (2014) I am sixty-seven years old, and I plan to do this
for at least the next thirty-three years (God willing), so I will be around
and so will ASAI.
OK, that is enough about my karate life. If you know Master Asais
karate, you will agree that his karate was not only great; it was different.
You can see him in action and right away you will see definite
differences. His moves and techniques are smoother and more circular
compared to the linear and somewhat rigid techniques that many
Shotokan practitioners exhibit. You may ask why his karate was so
different. This is quite difficult to explain. How did he develop his karate?
The answer to this question will give you a hint as to the original question
regarding the position of his butt.
He became Technical Director of the JKA in the eighties, but before that
time, there was a very important stage of his karate life, specifically
between 1965 and 1975. The JKA had dispatched him overseas to teach
karate, starting in Hawaii. After completing his assignment in Hawaii, he
went to Taiwan in the late sixties. I heard that Master Asai had some
exposure to other styles of karate and even to some kung fu styles while
he was in Hawaii. He was always looking for something new to try and to
learn, so it is easy to guess that the diversified martial arts found on the
islands of Hawaii would have given him many opportunities.
However, when he was sent to Taiwan, he got into some intensive

training in White Crane (bihchun []), a style of kung fu. He
became a close friend of a kung fu expert, Master Chen, whose sister
would eventually become his wife. Master Asai was already a karate
expert, so Master Chen did not treat him like a student but rather like a
martial arts partner. I heard from his widow that they exchanged
techniques all the time whenever they met. Master Chen would show a
new or interesting technique one day, and Master Asai would master that
technique almost instantaneously, which impressed Master Chen greatly.
Obviously, he received a lot of influence from White Crane kung fu.
OK, so you may be asking, What has this got to do with Asai Senseis
butt? I believe there is a strong relationship here, so let me share this
new idea with you.
I found something interesting as I did research into the martial arts of
Japan and China. What I found is that there is a difference between the
two categories in the positioning of the pelvis. In other words, among the
Japanese martial arts, the correct pelvis position is for it to be tucked in,
that is, with the tailbone pointing downward. On the other hand, in the
Chinese martial arts, the pelvis is positioned outward or pushed out. The
visible difference is minor, but if you examine closely, you can see it.
Lets look at some photos of judo, kendo, and iaido.
What do you think? Can you see the positioning of the pelvis? Especially
in the judo photo (first of the three above), we can see the tucked-in pelvis
position. By the way, that first photo is one of the rare historical ones of
Jigoro Kano (, 18601938 [person on right]), founder of
Kodokan Judo (), taken early in the twentieth century.
Not convinced? Look at the sumo photo below.
Even though this sumo wrestler is big and fat, his pelvis down and
tucked in. I put the word fat in quotation marks because the fat content of
many sumo wrestlers is much lower than we think, and they are not
medically fat. Regardless of this point, I hope you can see the position of
the pelvis better as he is without any clothing except for his mawashi (
).
Next, lets look at some photos of the Chinese martial arts and see if we
can detect any differences. Here are three typical kung fu photos that
show a horse stance or another similar stance.
Upon checking the positioning of the pelvis of these female performers,

would you agree that all three are sticking their pelvis outward and do not
have it tucked in? Of course, I showed you only a few photos, so you may
not see the clear differences between the Japanese arts and the Chinese
arts. However, the difference is common knowledge among senior martial
artists in Japan. I am afraid not enough research has been done yet to
conclude why there is a difference in the basic concept of the positioning of
the pelvis between the two groups.
Now, what I dare to present here is my hypothesis for the difference.
The foundation of the Japanese martial arts is kenjutsu, fencing. Unlike
some of the lightweight kung fu swords, a Japanese katana is quite heavy.
If you happen to practice iaido, you know what I am talking about.
Obviously, it would be very difficult to swing it around quickly, let alone
jump with it. Therefore, the fighting style of the samurai had almost no
moving around. The posture was very straight with the legs almost fully
extended and the backbone straight to support the weight of the sword.
You may have seen this in a Japanese samurai movie in which two
samurai face each other in a duel, almost motionless until the decisive
attack at the end. In this situation, it makes sense to keep the pelvis
tucked in to support the body weight and assist with forward movement
(remember the first move in Bassai Dai?).
Judo and sumo are also the same. In those arts, kicking is prohibited,
and there are almost no jumping techniques. Practitioners need to stand
firmly on the floor rather than jumping around; thus, the tucked-in pelvis
gives more balance and stability to their stance.
On the other hand, in kung fu, especially in the Northern styles, there
are a lot of kicks and jumps. From a low kiba dachi, I find it easier to jump
and rotate the body quickly with the pelvis pushed back. Please try it and
see if what I am saying makes sense.
Another thing I need to bring to your attention is the difference we see
in the zenkutsu dachi between karate and kung fu. The first two photos
below are from kung fu, and the last one is of Yoshiharu Osaka (,
1947), a JKA instructor.
You can clearly see that the pelvis is pushed backward in the kung fu
front stance, while Osaka Sensei definitely has his pelvis tucked in.
This, again, comes from the difference in the concept or the use of the
stance. In other words, in kung fu, the moves are not always to the front
but can be to the side, to the back, or in a rotation. As you can see in
Osakas very Shotokan-style technique, it is a strong oi zuki going straight
forward. For this move, tucking the pelvis in, aligning the fist with the
rear foot, and keeping the backbone straight produces the most powerful
technique. The principle of the karate punch is ikken hissatsu (),
meaning one punch, certain kill, while kung fu attacks are multiple, and
each punch or attack may not be a sure kill technique.
As a bonus, I will share with you another interesting point. Take a look
at the photos below.
The first two photos are from Okinawan Shorin Ryu (). In
the first photo, Master Choshin Chibana (, 18851969), is doing
Passai (our Bassai) and is keeping his pelvis somewhat tucked in, but the
second photo shows that the pelvis is positioned more toward the back.
Regardless of the pelvis position, you will notice that both of them are
leaning forward, which is similar to the kung fu practitioners shown

earlier. The practitioners in the third photo show a technique from Bassai
Dai. They are from Shito Ryu and Shotokan, respectively.
You can assume that the original Okinawan karate kept some of the
Chinese influence, but when karate was introduced to Japan, it changed
with the influence of the Japanese martial arts. In the Japanese martial
arts, such as kendo and even karate, we are taught to always keep our
upper body straight and to never crouch forward or lean to the sides. I
suspect that the influence on our posture in our karate came mainly from
jujutsu and kendo. The posture of judo practitioners has changed
drastically since judo became an Olympic sport in 1964, but that is a
different subject that is not directly related to the topic at hand, so I will
not discuss it here, though it is a very interesting subject to think about.
So, you can probably easily guess what my theory for Master Asais
posture is. You probably want to conclude that the kung fu influence he
received in Taiwan changed his posture. However, maybe to your surprise,
my theory is slightly different. Master Asai was known for his tenshin
techniques, but, at the same time, he was known for his high and low
techniques. A low technique is one in which he ducks. For example, he
would dodge a kick by going underneath. A high technique is one in which
he jumps around an opponent and hits him while he is still in the air (see
photo below).
I do not believe he learned those techniques from White Crane kung fu

or from any other style. The characteristic techniques of White Crane
kung fu are open-hand techniques and whipping techniques (coming from
rapid wing flapping). I can easily suspect that he took those techniques in
and made them into his signature techniques. However, jumping and
ducking, I believe, were his own creation.
Look at this famous photo of him fighting Mikami Sensei (JKA

Louisiana) in the JKAs All Japan Championship in 1961.
Mikami (left) is delivering a beautiful long-distance oi zuki, very much a

Shotokan technique. You can see that Asai (right) jumped to dodge this
attackI wish I could have been there to watch it. This shows that he was
already jumping in his early karate careerhe was twenty-six years old in
1961.
He was a very creative martial artist, and I understand that he always
tried different things and new ideas that would work for him. Even for a
Japanese, he was a small man (a little over 53 [160 cm] and less than 110
lbs. [50 kg]), so he needed techniques that would overcome his handicap.
He discovered jumping and tenshin techniques. In order to jump and
rotate his body quickly, not tucking in his pelvis worked better for him. He
probably developed his unique posture early in his karate career, but his
peculiar pelvis position was not that noticeable then. With many years of
training, which included kung fu techniques, his posture became more
prominent and more noticeable.
Here are two photos of Master Asai at two different stages of his karate
life.
The first one is a young Asai doing Nijushiho in his twenties, and the
second one is of him doing a legendary deep stance in his sixties.
What do you think? It is true that he went to Taiwan and that he had a
close encounter with White Crane kung fu, but there were, I assume,
many other Shotokan practitioners who went to China and Taiwan. In
fact, Master Nakayama was stationed in China for several years during
World War II. Only Asai picked up many ideas and techniques from the
Chinese styles. This proves my point that his body was far more adaptable
to the Chinese method because of his own unique training and his own
style.
I am not a hundred percent sure if my theory about his pelvis position is
correct, but one thing I can confidently say is this. Master Asai needed his
pelvis positioned that way to deliver his fast and unique techniques. He
was the one and only true master of Asai Ryu karate, and his posture is a
signature of his style.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE IRONY OF FUNAKOSHIS

TEACHING METHOD
First, I must start this chapter with this photo here.
I have known about this photo for a long time. It is a famous photo
showing Funakoshi with Chojun Miyagi (, 18881953), the
founder of Goju Ryu. Miyagi visited Tokyo in 1932, ten years after
Funakoshi migrated to mainland Japan. In the back, you can see two of
Funakoshis students. The one on the left is Yasuhiro Konishi (,
18931983), who founded Shindo Jinen Ryu (). I was able to
recognize Konishi but was ignorant about who the person standing
between Funakoshi and Miyagi was. Some people later informed me that
this persons name was Yamada and that he was the founder of Nihon
Kenpo Karatedo (), a full-contact karate style. This is
different from Nippon Kempo (), also known as Nikken (), a
style that uses full armor similar to that which is used in kendo. Since I
am not familiar with either of these, I will not venture into the
differentiation between them in this chapter.
I did some research on Yamada, and here is a short story about this
interesting man. His full name is Yamada Tatsuo (, 19051967).
He was born in 1905 in a city in Hyogo prefecture near my hometown,
Kobe. He started his martial arts training in jujutsu when he was in
elementary school then moved on to judo training at the Kodokan when he
was seventeen. This was when he encountered karate. Funakoshi began to
teach karate at the Kodokan that very year, 1922, just when Yamada took
up judo training. Apparently, he also became a student of Funakoshi and
started his karate training. I do not know if he continued his judo training.
Regardless, after only two years of training with Funakoshi, he moved
to Osaka so that he could join the dojo of Choki Motobu, the founder of
Motobu Ryu (). Motobu was one of the few Okinawan masters who
came to mainland Japan to teach te () in the early twentieth century.

Unfortunately, he did not have a good reputation as he could not speak the
Japanese language and his training was very rough. He did not teach too
many kata, but his training consisted of a lot of bunkai and sparring.
Yamada obviously was looking for the real fighting method, so he moved
to Osaka to receive his teaching. He must have done well because Motobu
published the book Okinawa Kenpo Karate-jutsu Kumite-hen (
) in 1926, in which he used Yamada as his kumite partner
(photo below).
In general, however, Motobus teaching was not that successful in Japan

even though he stayed there (in Tokyo and then in Osaka) for nearly
twenty years. Due to World War II, most young people were drafted into
the military in the thirties. After losing almost all his students, Motobu
decided to return to Okinawa in 1941 and died there three years later.
Choki Motobu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motobu_Ch%C5%8Dki
Yasuhiro Konishi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuhiro_Konishi
Hironori Otsuka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hironori_%C5%8Ctsuka
Kenwa Mabuni: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenwa_Mabuni
Here is another famous photo of the karate masters gathered after a
martial arts festival by the Dai Nippon Butokukai () in 1938.
In the front row, far left, is Tatsuo Yamada. You can see Otsuka,
Mabuni, Yamaguchi, Konishi, and many other notables. It is curious that
Funakoshi and Motobu are not in the photo.
After the war, Yamada finally opened his own dojo in Tokyo (1955) and
called it Nihon Kenpo Karatedo. In fact, this resulted in a new karate
style. He was the first karate practitioner to come up with the idea of
using protective gear for full-contact karate training. He later introduced a
full-contact tournament without any protective gear except for a pair of
gloves.
In the fifties, Mas Oyama was trying to gain recognition but was not
successful initially because he was Korean and also because he promoted a
full-contact karate style, Kyokushinkai karate. Yamada and Oyama got
acquainted and exchanged students for cross-training. To promote fullcontact karate, Oyama went overseas and challenged professional
wrestlers to knockout matches. Here is a photo of a welcome-home party
for Oyama in the late fifties.
You can see that Yamada was one of the guests (back row, third from
the right).
On the other hand, Yamada made an announcement in November 1959
that he had a plan called The Draft Principles of Project of Establishment
of a New Sport and Its Industrialization. In other words, he came up with

new kumite rules, which allowed full contact using gloves, and called this
karate-boxing, but, unfortunately, it did not catch on as it was so new. At
that time, it was unimaginable to hit each other in karate matches in
Japan.
He was also impressed with Thai kickboxing; thus, he contributed a lot
when the Kickboxing Association was founded in 1966. On December 20,
1959, the very first Muay Thai tournament was held in Tokyo. It is still
unknown whether Thai fighters were invited by Yamada, but it is clear
that Yamada was the only karateka at that time who was really interested
in Muay Thai. Later on, Mas Oyama also showed an interest in Muay Thai
and sent his students to the Muay Thai matches.
Yamada invited a Muay Thai champion from Thailand and started
studying Muay Thai. At that time, Osamu Noguchi (, 1934), a
boxing promoter, showed interest in Muay Thai. Tatsuo Yamada and
Osamu Noguchi met and worked together to create Muay Thai vs. karate
matches, in which opponents could hit and kick each other. It was actually
Osamu Noguchi who coined the term kickboxing, and, after several
matches, this new martial art gained popularity and spread fairly quickly.
Yamada hosted a special event called Karate vs. Muay Thai Fights, held
on February 12, 1963. Around that time, Mas Oyama became interested in
Muay Thai matches and sent three of his Kyokushin karateka to the
Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand. They fought against three Muay
Thai fighters. The three Kyokushin karate fighters names were Tadashi
Nakamura, Kenji Kurosaki, and Akio Fujihira (also known as Noboru

Osawa). Nakamura and Fujihira won, while Kurosaki lost.
Noguchi studied Muay Thai and developed a combined martial art,
which he named kickboxing. This art absorbed and adopted more rules
than techniques from Muay Thai. The main techniques of kickboxing are
still derived from Japanese full-contact karate, Kyokushinkai. However,
throwing and headbutting were allowed in the beginning to distinguish it
from Muay Thai. This was later repealed, and these techniques were
banned. The Kickboxing Association was founded by Osamu Noguchi in
1966.
Kickboxing not only became very popular but also evolved into the K-2
and MMA of today. The rightful credit should be given to its founders,
Yamada and Noguchi. Unfortunately, Yamada suffered from liver cancer
and died in 1967 at the young age of sixty-two.
Interestingly, Yamadas first name was Tatsuo (), which means
Dragon Man. As his name dictates, he spent his entire life in pursuit of a
martial art with fierce fighting. Unfortunately, he could not win the battle
against cancer.
Masutatsu Oyama: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mas_Oyama
Kyokushin karate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyokushin
Kickboxing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickboxing
The main purpose of this chapter is not to introduce Yamada but to
present a very ironic development of karate from Funakoshis teachings. I
can almost call it a tragedy or perhaps black humor. Let me explain. It is a
well-known fact that Funakoshis training syllabus was mostly kata. I am
sure he also explained some bunkai, but, as you can imagine, he must have
kept bunkai only for a few advanced students. For most of the beginning
and intermediate students, he provided kata training only. This practice
led to dissatisfaction on the part of many of the younger university
students who demanded kumite, or sparring-type training.
Let me give you some examples of dissatisfied students as many of them
became well known. Konishi, who was pictured standing on the far left in
the very first photo of this chapter, was one of them. He was an
experienced kendoka before he joined Funakoshis dojo. Konishi openly
sought out the teaching of other masters, including Motobu and Mabuni,
the founder of Shito Ryu. He founded his own style, Shindo Jinen Ryu,
after he departed from Funakoshi. Another unhappy student was Hironori

Otsuka (, 18921982 [photo below]), who was an experienced
jujutsuka who would later be the founder of Wado Ryu ().
With the training experience in kendo and jujutsu of these two students
(Konishi and Otsuka), they introduced the idea of kihon kumite to
Funakoshi. Though Funakoshi was not totally happy with this idea, he
almost had to adopt it to satisfy the strong demands of the young
university students who complained about the lack of kumite-type
training. Just as Yamada had done, both Konishi and Otsuka would
eventually depart from Funakoshi. All three of them created their own
styles (without Funakoshis blessing, of course).
There was another episode. Tokyo University Karate Club was one of
the universities in Tokyo that were following Funakoshis teachings. In
1929, Funakoshi discovered, by chance, that the karate club students at
this university were secretly practicing free sparring, jiyu kumite. He got
so upset that he resigned from his teaching position. A few years later,
Otsuka began to teach at Tokyo University Karate Club, and the style was
changed to Wado Ryu.
In addition, it is not very well known, but Mas Oyama joined Shotokan
in the late forties and trained under Funakoshi for two years. He was also
not satisfied with kata-only training, so he left and joined Goju Ryu.
Eventually, he started his own style, Kyokushinkai, when he opened his
own dojo in 1953.
I am sure this development did not make Funakoshi happy. I can easily
imagine that this troubled him a lot. I can only guess that he could not
understand why so many of his talented students would leave him and
start other karate styles that were unlike what he had been teaching. He
was a teacher throughout his career, so he must have been confident that
he was a good teacher. He also believed in the martial arts and in what he
was teaching. This is why he did not allow any jiyu kumite or permit shiai
(tournaments) all the way up to his death.
The final bit of trivia in this chapter is what happened between

Funakoshi and the Nihon Karate Kyokai ( [JKA]). When the
JKA was established in 1948, Funakoshi accepted the position of Chief
Instructor. However, a very strange thing happened after a few years.
Funakoshi resigned this position in the early fifties (formally in 1956), but
this news was not publicly announced. The reason for this has been hidden
and has become almost taboo to JKA practitioners even now.
Some have claimed that Funakoshi was sandwiched between the JKA
and the Shotokai (), Egamis group. According to these people,
Funakoshi supposedly did not want to show any favoritism to one
organization. But, this is an illogical explanation as Funakoshi kept his
chairman position at the Shotokai until his death in 1957. Others have
said that Funakoshi was getting too old to hold the positionhe was
eighty-four in 1952. But, in fact, the position he had was an honorary one,
and he really did not need to do anything except show up at the shihankai
(, board of directors meetings) if he wanted to. His health was
pretty good until his passing at the age of eighty-eight, so his age might
not have been the only reason.
I am the first one to publicly share the true reason, but, before I jump in
to the reason, I need to ask the reader to understand what Japan was like
in the late forties and early fifties. This information is very important and
has a lot of impact on how Shotokan karate developed in the second half of
the twentieth century.

Japan lost World War II in 1945. She was occupied by the Allied forces
(called GHQ, which consisted mainly of the U.S. Army under the
command of General Douglas MacArthur) between 1945 and 1952. For a
few years, all martial arts were totally banned. Senior karate instructors
such as Nakayama and Obata worked very hard to get permission from
GHQ to organize and practice karate publicly. The story about this effort
itself deserves a full chapter, but we will not go into it in this chapter.
As you can see, the JKA was established in 1948, and it turned out that
karate was the first art to receive such permission. For instance, kendo
was tied to the samurai and thus considered a source of aggression. It had
to wait till 1950 to get permission to form an organization and practice
publicly. Regardless, toward the end of the war, Japan was devastated as it
had literally been flattened by the carpet bombing of U.S. bombers (B-29s)
as well as two atomic bombs. Needless to say, everyone was extremely
poor, and, in fact, some citizens died of starvation.
The JKA could not pay any of its instructors, so all instructors had to
maintain side jobs to stay alive. The JKA opened its doors to the public to
practice karate, but few showed up as the general public was too poor to
afford a membership fee. Besides, they had to work long hours just to live
and did not have free time to practice karate. So, Nakayama had to be
very creative to attract newcomers and to keep students.
During the occupation period, GHQ brought American culture to Japan.
It was called the Three-S Culture, which stood for sports, sex, and screen
(i.e., Hollywood movies). They were to give the Japanese people
entertainment as well as a nonaggressive mentality. The game of baseball
became a national sport in Japan almost instantaneously and is still the
most popular sport even to this date. TVs were also brought in the fifties,
so sumo matches and professional wrestling also became very popular.
Many people would gather around TV sets at electronics shops or
bathhouses, which I remember clearly though I was only around ten years
old.
Soon Nakayama realized that a big tournament would attract a lot of
people. He consulted with Funakoshi about organizing a national
championship in Tokyo and found that Funakoshi was totally against this
idea. The Shotokai group promised him that they would not hold any
tournaments, so Funakoshi began to spend more time with the Shotokai.
As a result, he decreased his presence with the JKA in the last few years
of his life. Funakoshi passed in April of 1957, and the JKA held its first
national championship six months later. This was not by accident.
Nakayama showed his respect by not having held a tournament while
Funakoshi was still alive.
What is ironic is that, thanks to Nakayamas great leadership and his

creative idea, which Funakoshi opposed, the JKA became very successful,
and its organizational size grew much larger than that of the Shotokai.
The JKA was the first and most aggressive organization to dispatch many
young and talented instructors around the world in the sixties, which
contributed to the achievement of Shotokan and its being the most popular
karate style in the world. Shiai and sport karate are becoming more and
more popular. Some people are trying very hard to get karate added as an
event in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Funakoshi really wanted to keep the martial art part in karate, so I
wonder if he would approve of the current trend. I believe it is now time
for all of us to think deeply about what the true meaning of success is in
Shotokan karate. It is not too late for us to bring Shotokan karate back to
being a martial art and teach our students to practice and live by both the
Dojo Kun and the Niju Kun.
Dojo Kun written by Master Asai

In the epilogue, I will state my interpretation of each kun and try to
explain what Funakoshi wanted to teach us through the Niju Kun.
EPILOGUE
FUNAKOSHI NIJU KUN

TWENTY TEACHINGS OF
MASTER FUNAKOSHI
Gichin Funakoshi created both the Dojo Kun, in which five principles are
found, and the Niju Kun, in which twenty more principles are described. I
suspect that Funakoshi wanted to make the Dojo Kun to cover only a few
precepts so that the students could recite it daily. He ended up with the
five most important ones. However, there were many more teachings he
wanted to hand down, so these became the second kun, which was
originally named Karate Niju Kajo (, Karate Twenty
Principles). Now it is commonly called Shotokan Niju Kun ()
or simply Niju Kun ().
Niju means twenty, and kun literally means motto or teaching. The
Niju Kun is a valuable list of twenty mottoes we can use to seek the way
of karate. But, in the end, you must apply these twenty mottoes to your
life through the practice of karate. The Niju Kun has a Wikipedia page,
and
each
kun
is
translated
there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nij%C5%AB_kun.
I will refer to the translation by Wikipedia as it is the most popularly
accepted. I must say that the translation of some of the kun found on
Wikipedia is good, but I find most of them needing corrections and further
explanation. I will include additional information here to complete the
meaning of each kun.
Just as shown in Wikipedia, I will list each kun in Japanese then in
romaji (, roman letters) followed up by the Wikipedia translation.
Then, I will put my explanation at the end.

1.
Karatedo wa rei ni hajimari rei ni owaru koto o wasuru na
Karatedo begins and ends with bowing.
It is true that the word rei () can be translated as bow. So, it is true
that we always start our kata with a bow and end it with another.
However, here I believe Funakoshi was trying to say something that is
deeper and more comprehensive. I believe he wanted to cover general
etiquette and respect with this kun. You can find another word in the
fourth principle of the Dojo Kun, reigi (), which means good manners.
So, the meaning of this kun should be understood as we must not forget
that karatedo means to always live with good manners, whether you are
inside or outside the dojo.
2.
Karate ni sente nashi
There is no first strike in karate.
This is commonly translated as there is no first strike in karate, but

the meaning of this kun is deeper. He did not literally mean that we must
not throw the first strike. He meant that we must not instigate or cause a
fight. But, once it becomes obvious or clear that we must defend ourselves,
we must do what is absolutely necessary, including striking first. On
Okinawa, there is another popular saying, sente hissho, which means a
first attack always brings a victory.
3.
Karate wa gi no tasuke
Karate stands on the side of justice.
Wikipedias translation, unfortunately, makes the meaning of this one
unclear. Gi () means righteousness or justice. Tasuke () means to
supplement or to supply. So, this means that, by practicing karate, we
must always abide by the laws and do what is right.
4.
Mazu onore o shire shikashite ta o shire
First know yourself, then know others.
Funakoshi was an educated person, so he knew about Sun Tzu and his
famous book, The Art of War. In it, Sun Tzu said, If you know the enemy
and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
There are two interesting points here. One is that Funakoshi said, First
know yourself, while Sun Tzu listed the enemy first. I think this is
extremely important as it comes from Bushido philosophy. Another
interesting point is that Funakoshi said to know others instead of the
enemy. I think Funakoshis teaching was more comprehensive and that you
can apply it to your daily life both in peace and in war or battle. I am not
saying Sun Tzus teaching is less valuable. I am simply stating that his
idea focused only on war.
5.
Gijutsu yori shinjutsu
Mentality over technique.
This translation needs further explanation to understand the deep
meaning of this kun. Let me explain the meaning of each word, and that
should help us understand this important kun. Gijutsu () means
technique, but gi () itself means technique, and jutsu () means art,
way, method, or means. So, it means technical method or technical
way. So, it does not necessarily mean karate techniques. When we say
the word gijutsusha (), that is, gijutsu person, we mean engineer
or craftsman. Regardless, by gijutsu, he was referring to karate
techniques.
Then, what is shinjutsu ()? Shin () means heart, mind, or
intelligence. So, we may quickly translate shinjutsu as mind way or
intelligent way; however, this translation is not exactly what Funakoshi
really wanted to say.
The Japanese word shin has many meanings, and it is a very important
word in Japanese. Shin can mean center or core (kan []) and even
stomach or guts (hara []). The samurai considered shin and hara to be
the center of their samurai spirit or value. This is why they cut their belly
open when they committed seppuku (), or harakiri (), to show that
their center was pure.
I do not think Funakoshi was thinking of harakiri, but he was thinking
of the samurai spirit. He was thinking of the gojo no toku (),
which are the five cardinal Confucian virtues. These virtues are jin (,
benevolence), gi (, justice), rei (, courtesy), chi (, wisdom), and
shin (, trust). I will write about Bushido in the near future and will
include further explanation of the gojo no toku at that time.
In short, Funakoshi put the essence in the Dojo Kun he created. He did
not deny the need for karate training but wanted to emphasize the
importance of the mental and spiritual or ethical part of self-development.
He put the concept in a very short sentence, and I suspect that he spent a
lot of time with the students, explaining what he really meant by this kun.
6.
Kokoro wa hanatan koto o yosu
The heart must be set free.
This is another difficult one. Interestingly, the same kanji is used here,
i.e., . The direct translation of the heart must be set free does not make
sense to most readers. As you can see, the pronunciation of the kanji is
different in this kun as here it is read kokoro. Even though the literal
translation of kokoro is heart, Funakoshi meant something deeper. It is
closer, I should say, to the psychological sense and could be translated as
mind. In other words, he was stating that we tend to get trapped in one
way and do not see other options or methods. To practice and improve in
karate, we must not be trapped in one way or one method. One good
example may be bunkai. You may believe one bunkai is correct, but you
need to open your mind and consider other options. He wanted us to be
flexible with our mind and our thinking.
7.
Wazawai wa ketai ni seizu
Calamity springs from carelessness.
The translation I find here is unfortunately incorrect. The first kanji,
wazawai (), is not really calamity in this context. He meant rather a
smaller problem or an accident. The next word, ketai () is a difficult
one, and it means to be lazy or to slack off . He wanted to warn us that if
we slack off in our training or whatever else in our life, it may result in an
accident or a problem. He is telling us to be a hundred percent
concentrated on and dedicated to karate training.
8.
Dojo nomi no karate to omou na
Karate goes beyond the dojo.
The translation here can be expanded a little, though most readers

understand what this kun means. Some may misunderstand that the
meaning of this kun is limited only to self-defense and danger outside of
the dojo. Of course, that is included here, but this kun covers much more.
He wanted to tell us that all the virtues (mentioned above) and selfdiscipline must be applied to our daily life. He also expected us to pay
much attention to the true concept of self-defense, which involves almost
every action in your daily life (be sure to thoroughly read Chapter 9:
What Is Complete Self-Defense? on this specific subject). His
expectation was really high, but he could do this as he exemplified it with
his own actions. He rarely got sick in his adult life and lived to be eightynine years old.
9.
Karatedo no shugyo wa isssho de aru
Karate is a lifelong pursuit.
The translation in Wikipedia is not wrong, but the word shugyo ()
needs to be explained to better understand the meaning of this kun. It
means study, learn, or train. Therefore, I prefer to translate this kun as
karate training is a lifelong pursuit. This was the reason why Master Asai
did not accept a tenth dan during his lifetime. He said he was still
pursuing perfect karate, which he said he had not found. I believe Master
Asai kept this kun and lived by it.
10.
Arayuru mono o karate kaseyo soko ni myomi ari
Apply the way of karate to all things. Therein lies its beauty.
I agree with the translation, but the second one needs further
explanation. The word myomi () is a difficult one to translate. It
literally means good taste, charm or profit. If you can expand the
benefits of karate to your life, you can really enjoy your life.
For an example, Master Funakoshi was always healthy until his death
at eighty-nine years old. He said he was applying self-defense against
illness. Another example is avoiding accidents (in an automobile or just
falling down), and there are many others. So, the translation is beauty,
but it really means true benefit or enjoyment [in life].
11.
Karate wa yu no gotoshi taezu netsu o ataezareba moto no mizu ni
kaeru
Karate is like boiling water; without heat, it returns to its tepid state.
I agree with this translation, and there is no need of further

explanation.
12.
Katsu kangae wa motsu na makenu kangae wa hitsuyo
Do not think of winning. Think, rather, of not losing.
The translation is fine. In the case competitors, you may wonder
whether you should fight to a draw if you are not supposed to be thinking
of winning or losing. Of course, Master Funakoshi was surely not thinking
this as he opposed any tournament or competition. So, I assume he was
talking about a real fight. With this somewhat contradictory kun, he was
telling us that the ultimate aim is to not get into any fight or conflict.
13.
Teki ni yotte tenka seyo

Make adjustments according to your opponent.
I want to mention that teki () is more than just an opponent. It refers
to an enemy or a challenge in general. Therefore, he was not talking about
adjusting only to the people you fight but also to all possible challenges you
may face in your life, including natural disasters, accidents, and illness.
14.
Tatakai wa kyojitsu no soju ikan ni ari
The outcome of a battle depends on how one handles emptiness and
fullness (weakness and strength).
This kun is a challenging one to translate, and what makes it difficult is
the kanji for the word kyojitsu (). Lets investigate the meaning of
these two characters. Kyo () literally means imaginary, hollow,
falsehood or fake. On the other hand, jitsu () means the opposite,
including truth, reality, and substance.
Then, another word, soju (), is translated as handles, which is not
incorrect, but the word handle has a passive sense to it. In fact, soju is
more aggressive, meaning control or drive. So, this could be translated as
the outcome of a battle depends on how one controls falsehood and reality.
In a kumite situation, it could be a fake technique and a real technique.
However, the first kanji, tatakai (), does not necessarily refer to a battle
against an enemy. Funakoshi was thinking larger. He was referring to all
the battles in your life, such as sickness, finances, work, etc.
When he migrated to Japan, he was already fifty-four years old. He was
a respected school teacher on Okinawa, but when he moved to Tokyo, he
had no place to live. For many years, he had to live in the schools very
small maintenance room. He used to say with a smile on his face that he
had a small bedroom but the backyard was huge. Of course, it was not a
backyard but the school campus. He won the battle against poverty by
controlling his mind.
15.
Hito no teashi o ken to omoe
Think of hands and feet as swords.
This is a simple one, and the translation is fine. I would just like to add
that Funakoshi truly believed in this concept. You can see this in at least
two things he did.
One is that he chose not to include Sanchin kata or its training method,
which is a very popular kata among the Naha Te styles, such as Goju Ryu
and Uechi Ryu. I have written in one of my books that Funakoshi created
the new stance hangetsu dachi from sanchin dachi. What he rejected was
not the kata itself but its training method, in which a sensei would hit and
kick the performer to check his chinkuchi (, body tension). This is
an exercise to prepare the practitioner for getting punched and kicked.
Funakoshi thought such an exercise or preparation was useless as he
believed that the opponents hands and feet were swords. His concept was
to not get hit at all.
The other action by Funakoshi was the rejection of the tournament
concept. He had a few reasons to oppose this. One of them was his belief
that a karate technique must be improved to the point of ikken hissatsu,
which means one punch, certain kill.
Just as you do not have a tournament with real swords, he considered it

impossible to have a tournament using karate techniques at full speed and
power.
Despite strong opposition by Funakoshi, the JKA went ahead with the
first All Japan Championship in 1957. It has been more than fifty years
since the introduction of large-scale tournaments in Japan. Considering
that Funakoshi believed that the hands and feet were swords, it is rather
ironic that no one has been killed or even seriously injured in any of the
major tournaments in Japan so far. This would be another interesting
subject to discuss further at another opportunity.
16.
Danshi mon o izureba hyakuman no teki ari
When you step beyond your own gate, you face a million enemies.
This is a literal translation of the Japanese kun. Hyakuman ()
means one million, but it also means simply a lot. This is the same usage
as in the English phrase thanks a million. So, I think ...you face many
enemies is a more appropriate translation.
17.
Kamae wa shoshinsha ni ato wa shizentai
Formal stances are for beginners; later, one stands naturally.
This translation is, unfortunately, a poor one. The words formal stances
are not clear or accurate. We know what kamae () means; it is a fighting
stance. We also know the word shizentai (), and it was translated
correctly. It is a natural stance. The tricky part is the translation of the
words ato wa (). The literal meaning is later, but the question is how
much later. It is not a few minutes or even a day later. The time span is
much longer as it refers to when a beginner gets to be an advanced
practitioner. So, a better translation may be a fighting stance is only for
beginners; when they become advanced, they should fight from a natural
stance.
18.
Kata wa tadashiku, jissen wa betsumono
Perform prescribed sets of techniques exactly; actual combat is another
matter.
I can tell that the translator had a big challenge with this kun. The
translator intentionally changed the meaning of kata (). I do not know
why as we all know that kata is kata, though prescribed sets of
techniques is not totally wrong. However, the translation is done for
karate practitioners and not for the general public. Thus, this word should
be kept as kata. Funakoshi stated that we should do the kata correctly,
which means he did not want us to change or modify them. The
translation for the second part is acceptable. I prefer actual fighting is a
different story.
He wrote this kun as, I suspect, many university students wanted to
change the kata. There was also a big difference between the performance
of the kata and the movements in the bunkai. He must have spent a lot of
energy explaining the reasons for the difference; however, I am afraid the
students did not possess the necessary skills to understand what
Funakoshi meant. He wanted to impress upon them that the kata must be
done as they were taught.
This brings up a very interesting point as Funakoshi was the one who
changed and modified the kata he brought from Okinawa. I know he
received a lot of criticism from the masters on Okinawa at that time, but
he believed those changes were needed. I agree with most of them, though,
with great respect, I disagree with the rest. One good example of my
disagreement is that he switched all neko ashi dachi to kokutsu dachi.
Another is his change of sanchin dachi to hangetsu dachi. In other words,
he de-emphasized short stances and focused on long and low stances. I
suspect that his son Gigo had a big influence on this. I should write about
this one day.
19.
Chikara no kyojaku tai no shinshuku waza no kankyu o wasuruna
Do not forget the employment or withdrawal of power, the extension or
contraction of the body, the swift or leisurely application of technique.
This is another challenging kun, and it contains three essential
elements of karate. I consider this kun to be one of the most important
from the perspective of karate training. Lets look at these three elements.
The first one is chikara no kyojaku (). Chikara () is the power
that a practitioner executes. Kyojaku () literally means strong and
weak. So, Funakoshi is saying you need to know when to use power and
when not to. You see this in many of the advanced kata, and this must be
the same in kumite. The teaching here is not to tense up all the time.
Probably the most difficult thing is mastering how to change the level of
power used. For instance, in mawashi uke, you need to start without
tension (weak) and end with tension (strong). Another situation may be
going from a strong kime technique to a following move that is slow and
without tension (e.g., going from oi zuki [with kiai] to heisoku dachi
morote koshi kamae in Heian Sandan).
The second one is tai no shinshuku (). Tai () means body, and
shinshuku () means expansion and contraction. My sensei used to tell
us to make our techniques big. I had some difficulty understanding him at
that time, but now I understand that he wanted us to expand our body (as
we were too tense). We need to extend our arms and legs when we execute
many of the long techniques, such as oi zuki, gyaku zuki, mae geri, and
yoko geri. Even for the straight blocking techniques, despite the blocking
arms being bent, you must expand the chest or back. Students tend to
contract too much and fail to expand sufficiently.
The last one is waza no kankyu (). Waza means techniques,
and kankyu means fast and slow. What is important is that this fast and
slow is not only describing speed but also timing. I am afraid that
Funakoshi would be crying if he could see how the kata have been
modified in the tournaments. Not only the techniques themselves but also
the speed and timing have been altered these days. I particularly see the
kata done with extremely long pauses and also without the slow tempo or
timing that is necessary. We must remember that the kata were created
from actual fighting experience, and there is a well-thought-out reason
behind each combination and sequence.
20.
Tsune ni shinen kufu seyo
Be constantly mindful, diligent, and resourceful in your pursuit of the
Way.
The literal translation of this kun is always think deeply (shinen [])
and be creative (kufu []). The Wikipedia translation is much longer
than what the Japanese kun says. The translator was correct by adding
in your pursuit of the Way as this kun is not only for karate training but
also for the pursuit of the Way (do []), karatedo.

I suspect that Funakoshi purposely placed this kun at the very end. He
was blamed by many Okinawan masters for having made many changes
not only to the karate techniques, such as the stances, but also to many of
the cultural aspects that went along with karate, including the names of
the kata, the uniform (gi), the dan ranks, etc. I am sure he hesitated in
making those changes, but, after deep consideration, he made those
changes because he believed they were necessary. This was not simply to
justify his behavior; rather, he felt that this stance or attitude was
absolutely necessary if you were to pursue the way of karatedo in your life.
He was telling us how to get to the ha () stage of shuhari ().
He, of course, meant this to apply to more than just practicing karate.
He wanted us to follow this path and apply it to everything in our lives.
Let us continue our exciting karate journey and search for the Way ().

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SHOTOKAN

BEYOND THE STEALTH AND RIDDLES

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Copyright 2015 by Kousaku Yokota

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I dedicate this book to Master Gichin Funakoshi (18681957), the founder

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KOUSAKU YOKOTA BIOGRAPHY

Shihan Kousaku Yokota, eighth dan, is a professional karateka with

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I dedicate this book, Shotokan Transcendence, to Master Funakoshi with a

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O livro que repousa diante de voc possui histria. Trata-se do terceiro

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De la palabra trascendencia, se desprenden elementos valiossimos. Entre

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Nach zweien, fr die Shotokan-Welt wichtigen Bchern legt Kosaku

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passion connect people.

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books is inspirational, especially in todays society in which we live. This

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Con la predominanza dellaspetto sportivo nel mondo Shotokan, abbiamo

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My first two books, Shotokan Myths and Shotokan Mysteries, were

My search continued. In the third book, I started with a simple

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A SMALL MYSTERY OF HEIAN SHODAN

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This is about a small mystery that some Western instructors have

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Would you believe this is from an ikebana textbook? It is to show the

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