Eiku kata / bunkai

One of the unique weapons of Okinawan kobudo is the eku or kai (oar).

Here is one interesting form, with a first level application very evident from the performance.

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Mario McKenna Sensei (guest on Episode 12 of The Applied Karate Show) has posted a wonderful post about Dirty Feet in the Dojo, which extends to the quest for purity in karatedo.

In this post, Mario talks about his experiences in Japan (and Canada) of removing shoes before entering the dojo, as well as homes, temples, etc.  He gives a great summary of one of the excellent reasons for removing shoes

… a dojo is a place for studying not simply combative technique, but for training in a way of life. The “do” of “Karatedo” implies a path for us to follow and comes with a host of traditions and behaviours that we must observe. For that reason it requires a level of purity of intent both mentally and physically. This tradition of removing our shoes reminds us of the path we pursue, as does the simple white dogi (training uniform)

I know many contemporary karateka who follow some of the traditions reservedly, and others that avoid them.  They don’t like to wear a gi, and remove many of the traditions of the dojo.  But the dojo is an important environment for the cultivation of your karate mind, body and technique (shin-gi-tai), and the dojo traditions, although not the only way, are an excellent way to help the process.

Mario sensei’s insight into Okinawan karate and kobudo, and the Japanese way of life are wonderful.  You should subscribe to his blog!

Okinawa Karate & Kobudo Blog: Dosoku - Dirty Feet.

Fast becoming one of my favourite martial arts authors is Sensei Kris Wilder, author of Lessons from the Dojo Floor and The Way of Sanchin Kata, co-author with Lawrence Kane of The Way of Kata, and guest on Episode 004 of The Applied Karate Show podcast.

Together with Lawrence Kane, Kris has released a fascinating book called The Way to Black Belt, a fascinating exploration of what it takes to become a black belt, looking at all aspects of mind, body and spirit.  The book covers a huge variety of facets of martial training to reach the level of black belt, including dojo training and all the extra curricular development activities.

In their exploration, Messrs Kane and Wilder have shown that karate, pursued fully, is a total exploration of mind, body and spirit, and that attitude and mindset are the vital foundations for true achievement.

I highly recommend the book, and not just because they authors were kind enough to give a mention and link to The Applied Karate Show podcast.

Buy The Way to Black Belt at Amazon.com.

An interesting post over on The Critical Corner blog about Unorthodox Karate. 

In this post, the author (zenhg) discusses the taboo of orthodox karate that prevents changing things – changing the kata, adding or subtracting kata from a syllabus, etc.  In zenhg’s mind, most orthodox karate styles have a brick wall against anyone changing anything, once the style has been created by its founder.  I am sure that this mindset is prevalent in many styles, and where thats true, I couldn’t agree more with zenhg’s comments

First of all, something that is not allowed to grow is already dead, and something that needs so much protection must be extremely fragile, toppling down like a house of cards with the slightest gust of wind; such is the price of over-rigidity.

I am a believer that one of the most important traditions in karate is that of cross-training.  If you research back only 2–3 generations ago, its pretty clear that the world of karate in Okinawa was pretty small, and most of the “style founders” trained with several instructors, going beyond the boundaries of what today we call styles.  They would absorb kata from various teachers and synthesise them together into their own system.

They would also adapt the various kata to suit their own systems – why else would we have multiple versions of Kusanku, Bassai, Seisan, Naihanchin and others?

The tradition of evolution seemed to stop for many styles in Japan, where karate and its kata became somewhat rigidised.  The Japanese precept of “deru kugi wa utareru” (the protruding nail shall be hammered down) seems to have been realised in karate’s transition to the mainland.

So I am a believer that karate and its kata change over time.  But an important point is that there are seem pretty important threshholds that should apply, IMHO, before someone has the right to change something. They should know a system inside out, fully understanding the ins and outs of its teachings before changing something.  Or they should evolve beyond to form their own new system, with a new name, that will stand its own test of time.

And importantly, anyone who moves down this path shouldn’t be surprised or feel slighted when one day one of their own students does the same thing.

Change is an important tradition in karate.  Evolution must continue to act to ensure that karate is relevant, and not just a cultural relic.

I’d love to hear your opinions on this topic of change in karate.

The Critical Corner II: Critical Light: Unorthodox Karate?.

Haven’t been posting much lately, for a number of reasons.

One of the key ones has simply been that I was blocked from posting due to some software that was doing too good a job of blocking spam – it just blocked everything.  Thats fixed now, and hopefully we’ll be back online now with more regular posting.

There’s also a new issue of the newsletter in the pipeline, and there are two upcoming interviews for The Applied Karate Show podcast.