Breath Life Into

Your karate

By
Charlie Wildish
 Breath Life Into Your Karate

Gichin Funakoshi said in his latter years that the Karate practised at that time in Japan was very
different to the Karate of his youth in Okinawa. Some of the changes are no doubt very beneficial.
Some very obviously are not. It is very clear that the early Shotokan exported to the rest of the
world in the post war years was very hard, forceful and physical. It’s Okinawan predecessor was
based more the concepts of using Ki/Chi (internal energy). I realise that many practising Karate
today will not believe in Ki energy . . . . . and don’t worry, I’m not going to try to convince you either
way. Nevertheless I think it is fair to say that as the Okinawans did believe in this concept, they
would have had more of a leaning toward relaxed and natural movement, unlike the more muscular
emphasis of the early exported Shotokan.

Since then, much work has been done by many people to return Shotokan to a more relaxed version
of the art. This is partly through great masters such as Kanazawa, Asai, (and others) who have
studied Chinese martial arts and brought back some of this knowledge back into our Shotokan. It is
also due in part to sport scientists looking to squeeze the extra bit of speed out of competitors.
Whatever the route of the influence I think that most “old hands” will agree that Shotokan is
generally a more relaxed, softer art than how it was taught 30 years ago.

The aim of this article is to help Karateka who are trying to make their own Karate more relaxed and
natural but are not really sure of how to achieve it. I’ll be doing this by looking at one of the key
concepts and how I believe it has been badly misunderstood by most of us for many years. In fact,
for decades. That is breathing and its relationship to producing Kime (focus of power at impact).

In an excellent article, The Art Of Breathing, by Kok Hung Poon in Issue 93 of Shotokan Karate
Magazine; he describes how we should inhale during the first half of a technique, and exhale during
the second half. For example when performing Oi Zuki (Stepping Punch); from our starting point in
Forward Stance we should inhale as we start to move and up to the point where our feet come
together. We then exhale as our stepping foot passes the supporting foot to the completion of the
technique.

However, I can remember many years ago training elsewhere at the beginning of my Karate career,
exhaling throughout the entire technique. Some of my latter Sensei's have emphasised that during
the execution of a technique, we should only be tense for about 2 to 5% of the time. Very logical as
tension slows you down and impedes movement. We all know that to be able to move fast we need
to be relaxed.

In his book, Shotokan Myths, (which I highly recommend), Shihan Kousaku Yokota, 8 th Dan tackles
the myth of Kime. Or rather, the over-emphasis of tension when attempting to produce Kime! He
points out how many instructors teach that you should finish like a “bronze statue” with the whole
body tensed very hard. I’m sure most the old hands in the game have at one stage or other seen this
done with veins popping out of the forehead, neck disappearing as it is engulfed into the trapezius
muscles and face distorted with tightly clenched teeth. No disrespect, but it sounds a bit like more a
gargoyle than a bronze statue!

I can remember for years being taught that the strong exhalation at the end of a technique turns the
movement into tension, which in turn produces Kime. But is this really right? As Shihan Yokota
points out in Shotokan Myths, no other style has this heavy tension at completion of a technique, so
why do so many Shotokan Karateka do it? Furthermore, is the point of exhaling sharply really to
create tension?
Lets look at other physical activities outside of martial arts and see how they use sharp exhales of
breath. It is very common throughout the sporting world to use a sharp exhale to generate power
and strength. Notice, I said “power and strength” not “tension”. If you watch tennis, you will often
hear players “grunt” as they hit the ball. This is the same principle as they use the grunt to generate
power. But as the racket connects with the ball, do they freeze like a bronze statue (or gargoyle
depending on your perspective)?

No. The racket is accelerated through the point of contact and comes to rest naturally well past the
contact point. The tennis player uses this grunt, to help generate movement, not tension. If they
tensed, they would not be able to move.

Weightlifters often yell (similar to an extended kiai [shout]) as they lift a heavy weight. True, they do
lock out at completion of the lift in a similar way to how we “freeze” on the end of a basic technique.
However, the weightlifters “kiai” is performed throughout the lifting phase and is all but complete by
the time they reach the end of the lift at the “lock out” point. When the lift is completed, the joints
are locked out and most of the weight is supported by the bodies skeletal structure rather than the
muscles, so again, not that much tension at that point. The weightlifters “kiai” is used to generate
strength throughout the lifting movement, not for creating tension. With tension, their muscles
would bulge, but the weights would not be raised.

The only physical activity that I can think of that requires true prolonged tension is bodybuilders
flexing their muscles as they pose during a competition. But this prolonged tension is normally
accompanied by either a long slow exhale or even holding the breath. There is not very much
movement and there is certainly not the sharp exhalation present in Karate, tennis or weightlifting.

So why is it that so many Karateka think and teach that exhaling is all about producing tension? If
we exhale during the whole second half of an Oi Zuki (Stepping Punch) as mentioned earlier, then
we are exhaling throughout 50% of the technique, yet as also pointed out above we are only tense
for 2 to 5% of the time. That means that over 90% of our exhalation is actually used (like in every
other sport/physical activity) to generate movement. NOT to generate tension!

Now doesn’t that contradict decades of dogma! Before anybody takes out a Mafia hit contract to
bump me of for my heresy, let me elaborate a little bit more.

Why do we need any tension at all on the end of a technique?

Well let’s go back to the weightlifter analogy. Let’s look at a bench press for example. At
completion of the lift, the arms are locked out and the weight is supported through the arm bones to
the shoulder joint, to the spine and into the bench. Does this mean that the weightlifter can relax
his muscles completely and just let his bones support the weight?

No he can’t. Although it is primarily the skeletal system supporting the weight in this locked out
position, he has to apply as much muscular exertion as it takes to support the bones to keep them in
place. It is very important to understand that at this stage, it is primarily the skeletal structure that is
supporting the weight, not the muscles.

The muscles however are still very important is supporting the skeletal system and keeping it in the
correct alignment. However much less muscular exertion is required in this “locked out” position
than is required to lift the weight in the first place. This is why weightlifters can actually pause at
this point if need be and take a few breaths before they continue. They can in effect “take a break”.
As they lower the weight again, the structure in the arms fold and muscles take over supporting
most of the weight again.

So how does this apply to karate?

The reason that we continuously hammer basics, basics, basics over and over again, is also to get the
right structure. We may not have a load bearing down on us like as weightlifter does, but we do
have the reaction force from the impact of our techniques when we strike a target. In the case of an
Oi Zuki (Stepping Punch), the impact travels through the bony knuckles of the fist, through the arm
bones to the shoulders joints to the spine, through the pelvis, through the leg bones to the floor. It
is correct skeletal structure that absorbs most of this impact and bounces it back into the target, not
muscular strength. If any joint is out of correct alignment, it may give way under heavy impact.
Although it is the skeletal structure that absorbs the reaction force from the impact, the muscles
must support the skeletal structure to stop it collapsing and to keep it in place (like the weightlifter
in the “locked out” position).

When you look at the torso, the upper torso has the big shoulder joints and rib cage whilst the base
of the torso has the pelvis. The hara (stomach area) has only the spine so has much less skeletal
structure than the rest of the torso. This explains why we focus our exhalation from the hara,
tightening our core muscles and giving extra support to what could otherwise be a weak link in the
skeletal structure.

However, we don’t actually need a lot of strength to actually support the correct skeletal
alignments, (just like the weightlifter can “take a break” at the top of a lift).

One of my former Sensei had a great way of demonstrating this. First put somebody into a correct
Age Uke (Rising Block) position; then you push down hard on the blocking arm. If the person in the
Age Uke position has a good structure, then they can resist the pushing and maintain their position
with very little muscular effort.

However, change the Age Uke to a poor structure with the arm a bit too bent and with the hips too
square and try again. The person doing the Age Uke will not be able to resist the person pushing
down on their arm, even if he/she uses much more muscular exertion than they did previously. So if
a correct skeletal structure/alignment can be maintained against this kind of pressure with little
muscular effort, it stands to reason that heavy impacts can also be absorbed easily with correct
skeletal structure/alignment and relatively little muscular exertion. Certainly very little exertion
when compared the gargoyle Kime described earlier. This is why little old Karate masters can knock
out much bigger, younger men with seemingly very little effort.

One of the main points of repeating techniques over and over is to get good structure and skeletal
alignment as this is the real key to being able to absorb the reaction force from the impact of your
technique and let all of the impact go into the opponents body. Funakoshi and many Okinawan
masters emphasised the use of the makiwawa. Funakoshi explained that the main point striking the
makiwawa was to learn correct alignment. Hardening knuckles etc was secondary.

The primary role of the rapid exhalation is to induce the muscles to create rapid movement (not
tension) accelerating you to your target. During this stage, most of the breath should be spent. The
secondarily role of the muscles is to support the skeletal structure when you arrive at the point of
impact. As described earlier, this secondary support stage requires less muscular effort than the
primary acceleration (moving) stage. However, it is this secondary stage which is usually emphasised
the most.
Although tension is definitely required at this point of impact, only enough is required to support the
skeletal structure and it is only required at the moment of impact and not a nano second longer. As
holding the skeletal structure requires less effort than generating rapid acceleration of the
technique, it is therefore OK that the breath is all but spent at this point.

These are the main elements of producing Kime .

Any holding of muscular tension beyond the moment of impact is completely futile as it serves no
purpose whatsoever. In fact it will slow you from moving onto the next technique, should you need
to.

Beginners and low grades obviously do not have very good structure and skeletal alignment when
they first start training. Therefore it is acceptable for them to use more muscular intervention to
support the flawed alignment of their skeletal system during their early training. However, as they
progress and their skeletal structure and alignment improves, they should need less and less
muscular tension to support that structure. That is why we should become more and more relaxed
in our training as we progress through the grades. Also, the breath required to produce the
acceleration and support for the skeletal system at impact should get smaller and smaller until it
becomes more like natural breathing and less like the heavy exhalation of the beginner.

Yet so often we see people progressing to become better and better “bronze statues” as they learn
to apply more and more muscular tension to a correct alignment that simply does not need that
amount of tension to support it. As a previous Sensie of mine, Graham Mead would say; we end up
getting 2nd and 3rd Dans who were really just very very good brown belts.

From a pure self defence point of view, this over-tensing means that a lot of energy is simply being
squandered, which you can’t afford to do if ever you had to fight for your life! This is especially true
if you have multiple opponents, you must reserve your energy as much as possible. Also as we get
older we lose some of our natural athleticism, so we need even more to reserve our energy.
Furthermore, this over tensing means that you freeze for a split second longer than you need to do.
A mere split second too long in a real fight could result in a split skull if the attacker has some kind of
club or impact weapon. It really is inviting disaster should it ever come down to a life and death
struggle.

Not only does correct breathing and only using enough tension to support your good structure make
for better, faster, more powerful technique; but it is also better for your health as well. Constantly
over tensing like a bronze statue/gargoyle is not good for your internal organs or joints. Constantly
looking like a gargoyle might even spoil your good looks too, but that’s not so important. If you want
to train Karate for a lifetime, then you need to look after your body.

Although I have just talked about life and death struggles, in all reality unless you live in a really
rough inner city area, go to the wrong kind of pubs or have a job that requires you to go to trouble
situations (such as police, prison officers etc) then in all honesty the ravages of age and ill health are
more likely to get you than a mugger. There is no point in being able to fight off every street
predator if you end up not being able to walk properly through damaged joints or organ damage
later in life.

Many of the older Shotokan Karateka have had hip and knee replacements due to training methods
that are not healthy. This has caused very many high grade and experienced Karateka to give up
training altogether which is a shame after all the work they’ve put in over years, or even decades.
However, the professional teachers must have the operations and find a way to make it work again.

Compare this to the old Okinawan masters who trained into old age with no such hip/knee
operations available. The Karate they trained was far more relaxed with none of the over-tense
kime, yet there are still many stories of their prowess lasting well past the age that most Westerners
have given it up as they are “too old” and have “too many aches and pains”. This was also a time
when your Karate could mean life or death, not winning or losing a point; or training to become a
better person.

Apparently in Shuri-Te (Okinawan style from which Shotokan is largely derived) they emphasised
natural breathing, without any of the “heavy” exhaling that we are used to. I have also been told
(though it is outside of my own personal experience) that in Kendo (Japanese swordsmanship) they
train to breath naturally too whilst performing their moves. You don’t get more “life and death”
than fighting with big pointy sharp things that separate you from your limbs or head for a pass-time,
yet no big pauses with heavy tension there.

Some may point out that when performing a kiai, the shout is extended beyond the finishing point of
the technique, so what is that all about. True, when performing basics or kata, our kiai often
extends after the point of impact and kiai is often associated with creating tension for kime.
However, look at how it is used in competition where you need to snap your punches back in order
to score the point. In order to snap back the punch you must be relaxed, so even a kiai does not
necessarily create tension. In his book Shotokan Myths, Yokota actually suggests that when we
reach Sandan (3rd Dan) and beyond, we should learn silent kiai as don’t have the time to make the
noise. In fact he points out that the earlier Okinawan Karate did not even contain kiai’s.

The over emphasis of tension is not really natural and no other physical activity does it (except
bodybuilders, yet even they do it differently as mentioned above). No other physical activity uses a
sharp exhalation to create tension, they use it to create powerful movement. Furthermore, in all
other physical activities when the power generated is transferred into whatever the objective may
be, they immediately relax again. Once the tennis player hits the ball, or a bowler releases his ball,
they relax. Even a weightlifter, once he has lifted the weight will relax as far as he is able (though
not completely as he needs to maintain the skeletal structure to support the weight). Only in Karate
(and particularly in some versions of Shotokan) do we strike the target and then hold the tension
inside our own bodies rather than relaxing and transferring all of the power into the target.

This goes against the anatomical physics of generating power. We need to do things more naturally.
I do not want to offend anybody here, but this is why Shotokan used to have such a reputation for
being “stiff”. As mentioned at the beginning, many branches of Shotokan have moved on and
developed a much more relaxed approach. With the greatest of respect, many however still need to
learn to move more naturally. If we want to train for a lifetime as the old masters did, then giving up
the overly tense “gargoyle Kime” is not an option, it’s a necessity.

NOTE: You can see this being demonstrated on Youtube at: