Deeper into Karate-do: training camp in Edinburgh |
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Students from the London dojo of Kawasoe Sensei together with Naito Sensei, Kawasoe Sensei, Franco and Omar |
Training camp in Edinburgh with Sensei(s) Tsuyama, Kawasoe and Naito from 17 th to 20 th August 2006 Below I attempt to share a few impressions and my understanding of the contents of the course. All masters instructing at the course are very well known and need very little introduction. They are best of breed Shotokan karate stylists of a certain mature age which brings with it a level of efficiency in developed technique, very few of us will probably ever understand fully and be capable of applying. These masters have been exploring the picture within the frame that to them, as Sensei Naito vividly described, it seems as if the picture is expanding and forcing the frame outwards. It is only those persons who have avidly been studying the picture, trying to capture the emotions and details of the painter for many years that can experience this feeling living through the portrait. I have again had the privilege of interpreting for Sensei Naito in the master class of sandan and above. I am also honoured to have been graded successfully to godan after an exam in impromptu kihon, kata and kumite with all those examinees taking yondan. That said, I fully understand that graduations are finite by their very nature and the day after I was back in the line, feeling a beginner in many concepts transmitted to us by the Sensei(s). I will not attempt to recount the sessions with the individual drills. As Sensei Naito explained, it is the concept that we need to touch upon, but always keeping our personality as the top priority. So I will try to express my understanding of the concepts that were imparted on to us. The point of intersection in the lessons given by the three different masters was as expected, the awareness we must create of the lower abdomen, or ‘hara'. It is from this centre point that technique can be developed further and beyond physical power. Sensei Tsuyama is almost seventy years old, Sensei Kawasoe is sixty-one, and Sensei Naito is fifty eight. I say this to only emphasise the point that the awesome shock they all create on percussion of their technique against a target (on several occasions that target happened to me), cannot be the result of sheer physical strength, as a beginner might tend to think. These masters have managed to compensate for diminishing physical strength, through the use of body dynamics. According to Sensei Naito, most Japanese persons would probably be incapable of doing karate with the physical tenseness that most westerners exhibit. This is because of their physiognomy and culture. Of course, the greater physical strength of westerners creates power in technique. However, that is not the way to create power in karate. If we are interested in karate and its culture, then our aim should be not to imitate the external movement of karate movement and generate power through our natural physical strength, but to understand the Japanese way of creating power through inner strength. Now I am sure that some readers may be thinking, ‘here we go again, the mysterious side of martial arts'. However, allow me to share with you my current understanding of inner strength. I was introduced to this concept many years ago by Sensei Nishiyama. I must immediately say that I was patient and ‘gave the benefit of the doubt' to the masters I trust for many years. I tried hard to ‘see' what they see and ‘feel' what they say they feel. Though deep belly breathing whilst practicing ‘mokso', I feel that I have developed a certain level of control on the inner lower abdominal muscles, in my mind it is that layer deeper than the outer sheath of muscles that we train in the gym with sit-ups and crunches. Through ‘mokso', whilst keeping the mind on the point a few inches below the navel, and also trying hard to keep a state of relaxed body, the breathing became an exercise but for the inner core of muscles rather than the outer abdominal muscles. This control of these muscles now helps me ‘place' the pelvis that houses the centre of gravity. I also find that by focussing my thoughts to that part of my body actually gives me more control on my emotions and anxiety. In this course, the physical aspect of power generation was in my view all centred around the placement of the ‘hara' and control of emotions, whilst retaining a state of calmness in the body. Sensei Kawasoe exhibited graceful movement in shifting techniques using both the front leg and the back leg. The speed of his shifting in ‘yoriashi' (forward lunge using front leg), came as he attempted hard to explain, from ‘driving' the ‘hara' and pelvic area forward through the control explained above. The front leg should respond by reaching forward and at the moment of contact of the front foot with the ground, the fist catapults out into a full kizamizuki or giakuzuki. Practice should as much as possible be directed at using the inertia of the body movement to hurl, or lash out the fist with a completely relaxed elbow, creating maximum shock by sudden breaking of the forward movement using the reverse action of the back muscles. This will, under simple laws of physics, create a whip-lash effect and the shock created at the point of full extension of the limb, cannot be imitated using muscular strength. The next phase of training added on a ‘bouncing' back of the front foot at the point of contact, to compound the whip-lash effect explained. This is quite a difficult exercise when one is not accustomed to lunging forward in a punch and immediately retreating back. It is most important to emphasise here that this sudden retreating of the front foot is done with the sole intention of adding another dimension to the level of shock on impact. If I am not mistaken, in physics, this is termed ‘impulse', or the level of force applied in the least time. Sensei Tsuyama added further drills to try and get the hang of this method of power generation, which also has the advantage of protecting you by hitting and flying off. It may be said that this is a technique which is opposite to Sensei Nishiyama's way of creating power and also protecting you from dangerous sudden counter attacks after your own lunge punch. Sensei Nishiyama applies all the above forward dynamics to create the power of the punch, but after completion of the punch, he recommends a further forward yoriashi, entrapping the shoulders and arms of the opponent with your kamae. I find it intriguing how different masters manage to achieve the the same scope using different applications. Common factor however, is that all masters seem to focus on the ‘hara' or inner core of the central part of the body. With Sensei Naito, we were taken through one of his favourite kihon combinations which is a blend of nidan, sandan and yondan kihon syllabus. For those who have never been in the dojo with him, Sensei Naito is person of medium build but who transmits an aura of grandness and he almost also feels and looks bigger than he is. His techniques are so big and expanded that the momentum they pick up is immense. His combination may sound as simple as stepping forward sambon zuke. But immediately after the last punch, he dovetails into this a further combination of yoriashi kizamizuki, oizuki giakuzuki. The concept he wanted us to grasp here is the quick release of the shime or tension after the final punch and almost instantly turning the hip from shomen into hanmi, reaching the hip and front leg into a forward movement. At the same, the final punch of the sanbonzuki reaches further into a kizamizuki. After that there is the forward step and oizuki closing with a giakuzuki. Here, he tried to instil in us another sharp rotation of the hip from shomen to hanmi, again reaching the hip forward and using the arm that is in hikite position to punch kizamizuki. Amazingly and quite difficult to imitate, Sensei Naito manages to clamber up a maegeri from this extended zenkutsudachi-kizamizuki, and continues by stepping forward with a jyun-zuki. I have been practicing this technique trying to visualise Sensei Naito's performance and I can confirm that mastery of this seemingly simple combination requires a thorough understanding of the centre of gravity, the contrast between expansion and contraction of the body, and correct shifting techniques. The combination, as is typical of Sensei Naito's combinations, continues further with a giakuzuki, then stepping back with a sotouke-gedanbarai-uraken (same arm) then giakuzuki. This is followed by a mawashigeri-motonoichi (return to same position), uraken giakuzuki. Then other hanmi from shomen with a kizamizuki and a maegeri with the back leg followed bu a jyunzuki. After that a yoriashi backwards with an uchiuke-kizamizuki giakuzuki, ushirogeri-uraken giakuzuki. The above only captures my impression of what the masters were trying to transmit. I hope this may be of some inspiration to others. |
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