Getting blood out of a Gi: and other new skills!

I have been training in Karate for a long time now. Three Decades of training in Shotokan and the longer I am here the more I realize how crazy the early days were of Karate. I see that we get weird looks when students who have been doing it for five or so years tell others they do Karate…and trust me its not justified. The Karate we do now is so much different from the original classes I took and the Karate of the 80’s and 90’s…and yes I have been told of the very different Karate of the 70’s and 60’s.

I hate doing the “When I was young” thing that made me roll my eyes when Dad did that, but to be frank, the older I get…the more I understand why he did that. Our training was so different that the only thing you can really look at today and identify what we do now with what we did then…we were the same white Pajamas!

When I started training it was a crap shoot as to what kind of injury you would get at the Dojo that night, and a pleasant surprise when you were not hurt at all. The nature and feel of classes was very different, heck the structure of a class was very different. To start with…back in the day…no warm ups! We got to class and our class started at five, we bowed in right at five and the class began with basics. Not the kind of basics that we do now were some kids and adults flick their limbs out with no purpose and then after ten or twenty they get to rest. Nope, we did 100 Choku zuki with purpose. Everything Sensei saw a weak techniques he started counting over again.

After the crazy basics, 100 punches, 100 front kicks and a variety of kicks and punches…we moved on to Kata. 25 Heian Shodans back to back was normal. No rest, the walls would be covered in condensation and in the summer pools of perspiration and condensation would sit in the low parts of the hard wood floor. More than one Bassai Dai ended on with the student slipping and falling to the floor.

We did Kumite and this is the spot that we got scared. We blasted in techniques like we meant to kill our partner…we would try and run them over and try to push our partners as far as we could…because we knew they liked it and the fact is we wanted it right back!

I think my Mother and grandmothers all thought I was crazy! On more than one occasion I had to ask how to get my own blood, or my partners blood out of my white uniform. My father told me I would get killed if I kept “playing” Karate or break my arms or legs. My uncle had broken one arm and a leg 20 years earlier at a tournament…but I would not quit! And I learned how to get blood out of a uniform!

It became common place for me to come home with bruised and bumpy forearms and sit icing my legs as the shins were black and blue! At first my mom was very concerned with the state of my arms, but after a few months of training she pretty much shook her head and walked away. Actually, it became a bit of a competition with her. She could get a nice blue and green bruise by walking past the corner of the wall, so every time I got a bruise to show her, she had one to one up me!

I think the competition ended when I broke my first toe….or maybe it was my Orbital bone? Anyways at some point my mother stopped trying to keep up with the bumps and scrapes and started to get worried about the broken bones and torn ligaments. But I showed up at class and took on all the challenges every class I could make it.

Getting injured in Karate became so common place that I started doing stupid things like cutting off casts from broken ankles and going back to class months before I was supposed to…and getting “the look” from my mother when I did this. I also cut a hand cast off early because I was going stir crazy at home and trained with sixteen stitches in my leg, arm and armpit from a work incident…I did not tell sensei however and incurred the wrath of the Dojo secretary when she found out!

Back in “the Day” that kind of thing was pretty normal for hard core students. We also had a unique way of waking up students that had been knocked out in class….and don’t get me wrong…this did not happen every day, but the two times it did while I was their…once being to myself….we pulled guys (me in one case) into the rest room and dumped buckets of cold water on them till they woke up…then back to the floor to train…if the nose did not need straightening first!

I also took Judo at the same time, and it was equally as crazy hard core! Many a finger and toe would pop out of joint during training…..it was so common we had a nick name for it! We used to tell the coach we had a “tweeky finger” Normally, if it had not popped back in on its own he would grab it…put traction on it and not so gently slam the joint back to were he felt it should be, we would tape it and go back to training.

One time in Judo my partner and I were doing Randori, he was taller than me and basically picked me up and tossed me with a perfect shoulder throw..and I have to say that until I landed it was beautiful…then I landed on my shoulder and neck with feet in the air….shoulder came out and I writhed in pain on the ground. With out checking to see if any major damage to my spine had been done…the instructor ran over, gripped the wrist of my damaged shoulder and pulled. The shoulder popped back in…sounded like a giant knuckle…and I was sent to the hospital in a sling to get checked out…to the horror of both my mother and the doctor!

Thankfully this never happened to me, but I recall a gent that trained with us that was round house kicked in the face during Kumite, he turned spat out his teeth and returned to sparring. That was just the attitude of training back then. You were not dead so you continued on. We may not have been tougher, but perhaps a bit dumber than we are now.

I stopped keeping count as to the number of busted noses (okay more than 13) and cuts I had or bumps and things needing taping. I also developed a knee disorder thru Judo that cause bleeding into my knee joint and swelling. It hurt, but I still showed up to train at the Dojo night after night. I also learned the hard way that broken ribs….are not taped anymore and you should NOT watch a comedy when you have them!

I became very good at wrapping injuries with ice bags, taping fingers and toes, putting on balm and liniment to bring down swelling, and “annoying injuries” like sprains and shin splints, or raw feet and scrapes form gis became just that…annoying…things that keep people away from the dojo now were simply a bump in the road back then.

Were we tough at the old JKA, Hell yeah, and our instructor was one of the toughest. I saw him do things that would put most men to shame…and at 70 he still does. He would train along with us and on more than one occasion sweep the floor…often literally…with me and other students. No one could come close to him physically…for a guy of about 5’3” he was scary! He also did weird things like rub your arm and get rid of a bad bump…and we are not talking a hard rub to push it down, just a light rub and it was gone…weird things like that were common with him!

Now we were tough, but probably not to smart. Not many guys lasted past Shodan. Three years of hard training and they either left and opened a club of their own…to avoid training….or they simply left! Down town training was a nightly gauntlet. It was scary and we got hurt a lot!

Those that stuck it out were tough and loved Karate. I can think of a lot of the guys from the old days that I still look up to, but a lot of them had heath and physical issues that developed, bad knees and the like.

The training that we do now is more family friendly, and to be honest most of the guys, even the tougher students in the club, would get eaten up by the old guys. But the one major change and benefit that we see now…given ten years of training, the students of todays generation will be much more healthy than us old time students. Their joints will be much more healthy and they may not have the Stories to tell but they will be around to tell them.

As far as the old time hold outs, I only know of two of us still kicking around, and I was VERY young during that training so my body is still not as beaten up as the other students. The training we do today does not break you down, it builds you up. While you wont learn skills like how to get blood out of your gi, you will learn skills like how to stay healthy while learning a very basic and dependable way of defending yourself.

To me a lot of the training of old should be brought back, but tempered to make sense and not destroy joints. We need to not swing so far into some of the family Karate we do today, respect and bring back some of the old ways, but be cautious about the training we do bring back.

Karate has to evolve, but if we move to far away from our roots, we risk losing the whole ball of wax all together.

I hope and pray that the new students learn the same kinds of skills I did with out the stupidity and bravado we had!

Lost but not forgotten: Past instructors

Back in 1987 I was training in the Head quarters down town and we got a bulletin that our chief instructor had passed away. I still remember feeling gutted, he was the chief instructor for the JKA world federation and by all accounts one of the few true icons and innovators in Karate. I remember this mainly because of my own stupidity. But hey I was 15-16 when he came to Winnipeg and at the time I thought that he was just another instructor and I missed his class at the head quarters club.

To this day I kick myself and think of all the times I could have gone and trained with masters and did not for various silly reasons. Hey at the time they seemed like valid reasons, but as I got older I started to realize that a lot of that knowledge they had was going to be gone, and I would never have a chance to learn some things from them. Now I am lucky, I have one of the best instructors in north America as my Sensei, but the classes I messed with these men I will never get back.

About the time I was 20 I started getting really interested in the history and past instructors, those men that I would never meet and those men that had contributed one way or the other to the style that I train in today. I researched them for over 20 years and want to touch on some of the greats that we have lost. If not to give you a spark of interest to read up on these men, then to ensure that you learn from my mistakes and take every chance to train with any instructor that you can. The benefits for your Karate will shock you.

Funakoshi Gichin

By all accounts Funakoshi was an relatively adequate student of Karate. He was not dynamic or very large, but he was dedicated. He was also very well educated and organized mentally. Both of these qualities made him innovative and a good instructor because he could communicate his ideas clearly.

He came from a fairly wealthy family, but most of their money was spent by his father. He was a school teacher and had trained in presentation of information. Most of his students said he was very quiet and very passionate about Karate, but also extremely proper even for a Japanese/Okinawa gentleman.

His Karate was a mix of his two instructors, so he was the first innovator of Shotokan Karate. His style was both quick and explosive as well as strong and powerful, his own ability was very good and he proposed a shift in Karate training to a more cerebral act. This allowed him to spread Karate to people of all back grounds.

Because of his innovative approach and his great instruction, Funakoshi Gichin, the school master from Okinawa with a Samurai family became known as the father of modern Karate and his style of Karate survived world war two and became one of the most practiced style of Karate in the world.

Funakoshi passed away at the age of 88 in Tokyo after starting a Karate revolution.

Itosu Anko

Before Funakoshi Sensei could pass on Karate he had to learn Karate. The instructor that influenced him the most was Itosu Anko. Itosu Sensei served as the secretary to the last king of Okinawa and was a military liaison for him as well. Itosu was born into a Keimochi, or family of position and was raised with a good education and brought up knowing he would be a member of the government.

After the government was dispended and he retired from government, Itosu began innovating the Karate that his instructor had taught to him. He created the Heian Katas (Known as the Pinan Katas in the Okinawan dialect) and also created the Sho versions of Kushanku (Kanku) and Passai (bassai) as well as creating a system for teaching Karate in schools (which the Heian katas were part of).

Itosus influence over Karates spreading cannot be over looked. Not only was he Funakoshi Gichin’s instructor, but he taught him how to spread the style of Karate and was one of the first real innovators of Karate from the island of Okinawa. While Funakoshi Sensei is known as the father of Modern Karate, perhaps he is more appropriately titled the father of Japanese Karate while Itosu takes the title of father of modern Karate.

Itosu was known as a shy and quiet man with lots of Karate power, he once used a sandal tied to a brick wall as a makiwara, and within a day the brick wall was destroyed. He passed away at the age of 84 in the town he was born in Shuri, Okinwa, with perhaps one of the most famous student bases ever.

Funakoshi Gigo

Gigo or Yoshitaka Funakoshi was Funakoshi Gichins third son. Gigo lived in Okinawa with his mother until he was 17. While in Okinawa, Gigo trained with his father’s two most influential instructors Azato and Itosu Anko. He also trained with other visiting instructors that both men had coming in from time to time.

When Gigo moved to Japan to train with his father he began to shape and rework the style that his father had created. He first trained with his father to understand how he merged the two styles that he had learned from his instructors and then be began to make adjustments.

Many of the newer ideas that he brought in were from his experience with other instructors his father’s age who had different instructors. Shotokan began to take on a different appearance and his influence can be seen in our longer stances and our half front facing and higher kicking. He also made changes to the way we did some techniques, like the higher knee chamber in Kicking and the longer distance striking, before Gigo made the changes most of the karate techniques were close range and had joint locks involved.

Gigo also brought in free fighting. Prior to this the only partner work was done in drills. He introduced the concepts of moving in fast, hitting and moving out of the target area, thus creating an need to train in understanding distance. His classes became famous for people passing out and he said that he expected his students to train harder than they would have to in a real fight, his thoughts were that if they over train now, they will be able to fighter better in real confrontations.

Gigo unfortunately contracted TB at the age of seven and while many doctors told his mother he would not live to be an adult, he lived to 39 and passed away after the hardships of world war two weakened him, however he was training up to the week he passed away.

Obata Isao

Obata sensei was one of Funakoshis most prominent students. He also helped finance and form the JKA after world war two. Obatas father owned several silk mills and his family was very well off. He was one of Funakoshis first students and also helped spread Karate to the US when he went on a world tour with Aikido and Judo instructors teaching at military bases.

Obata Sensei was also one of the main influences in University Karate. His interest in spreading Karate and the money and time he put into training and spreading the art helped the JKA spread outside of Japan and gave rise to the JKA and its world influence.

Nakayama Masatoshi

When one thinks of JKA style Karate they are thinking of the creation of Masatoshi Nakayama! Nakayama was a descendent of the Sanada Clan of Samurai, a clan well known for their Kenjutsu skills. His family was a medical family with his grandfather being a famous surgeon in Tokyo and his father being a physician as well. His grandfather had also been a very saught after Kenjutsu instructor and his father a famous Judoka.

Nakyama Sensei entered into Takushoku University with the intent of studying Chinese and becoming a diplomat prior to settling down and earning his medical degree. However a chance meeting with the Karate program at the university set him on a slightly different path.

By the time that world war two broke out, Nakayama was already a Nidan and after the war Nakayama along with Obata and several other students reformed the old Karate club and started the JKA. Ironically none of this was done with Funakoshi sensei, as they thought he had died in the war. Several months later the JKA secretary found Funakoshi and brought him back from northern Japan after Funakoshis wife and son had died.

Nakayama was forward thinking and a lot of the changes that we see in the JKA Karate came from him. He had studied other styles in China and had also trained with other instructors and let their styles influence him. He pushed for tournament style Karate knowing it would draw in new students. He also implemented some technical changes and was part of the great exchange that Funakoshi had arraigned with one of his peers in Karate, Kenwa Mabuni.

Nakyama was a genious when it came to Karate and while he did not enter into medicine he did study sports and athletic training considerably. All of the training he received from his seniors, Funakoshi Gichin and Gigo helped him to develop the Style of Karate we know as JKA style Shotokan Karate. He was also influential and had the forethought to realize that each instructors should be allowed to put their own twist on his style and still call it JKA style Karate. Unlike other strict and ridged styles, we have many flavors to Shotokan and yet we still have enough style flexibility to call it Shotokan and we can all still be JKA. This is thanks to the founder of JKA style Karate and the JKA itself, Masatoshi Nakayama.

Nakayama had a major accident when he was teaching skiing while in his 60’s and was caught in an avalanche. His doctors told his wife he would not live. When he did, they said he would not walk. When he did they said don’t dream about him doing Karate at all or living more than a few years, when he did…he outlived two of his surgeons and continued to spread Karate until he passed away at the age of 74.

Nishiyama Hidetaka

Nishiyama Sensei was born to a well off family. His father was a lawyer and kendo master and as was tradition, Nishiyama Sensei entered into Judo and Kendo himself at a young age. He infact received his black belt in Judo at the age of 14 and also received his Sandan in Kendo. Nishiyama began training at the JKA and earned his second dan before the war broke out. He stated that training was about 80% Kata and 20 % kihon, no kumite. Funakoshi Gichin and his son Gigo had split the training load evenly between the two of them.

Nishiyama enrolled at the Takushoku university and became the Karate Team captain shortly their after. He received a masters in economics and graduated, joining the SAC with his senior Obata Sensei to spread Karate via the US military exchange program. Along with top instructors from Judo and Aikido he traveled to military bases in the states.

Nishyama traveled back to the states and began teaching in Los Angeles and helped spread Karate in the US and north America at the request of one of his juniors, Tustomu Oshima.

Nishyama passed away in 2008 after a long battle with lung Cancer. After he passed his organization gave him the rank of 10^th Dan. He would never have agreed to the rank while he lived. He said that the 10^th dan was perfection and receiving that rank meant that your life of learning was over.

While I have never trained with Nishiyama and much of his influence over modern JKA is limited as he was more of an associate after moving to the US. Nishiyama had many interesting ideas and if you ever get the chance to watch some of the taped classes or read any of his writings you should take the chance. He was steeped in great Karate knowledge and his ideas are very advanced and may help your own Karate.

Kase Taiji

Next to Tanaka Sensei, the instructor I had admired the most was Kase Sensei. Kase Sensei’s father was Nobuaki Kase, a famous Judo instructor who held the rank of 5^th Dan in Judo. Kase had followed in his fathers foot steps and by the age of 15 he was a second dan in judo and very well know. He read a book by Funakoshi sensei that changed his life. Kase continued to train in Judo, but focused his training on Karate. He trained with four influencial instructors, the first two being Gichin and Gigo Funakoshi, and after Gigo passed away he trainined for six years under Genshin Hironoshi and Tadao Okuyama.

Kase was known as the protector of Shotokan Karate because many “challenge matches” were brought to the JKA by young Karate students of other clubs and styles and it was always Kase who was selected to deal with these challenges. Known for his power and ability to quickly end fights, Kase earned a reputation in Japan as a man not to mess with.

He soon moved to Europe and spread his own style of JKA Karate while maintaining his own HQ in France. His influence has been felt in many great masters, and one of the reasons for this is his non-political view of things. He maintained ties with both side when the JKA split, he helped with ITKF members in Europe and in the end he refused to bow to his juniors in Karate who wanted to run things. He kept an open mind and a happy demeanor.

In 1989 Kase sensei had a heart attack, but appeared to recover and even went back to teaching. He fell ill in 2004 and again seemed to get better, but he passed away Nov.6^th of that year. His style became known as Shotokan Ryu Kase Ha or “Shotokan with Kase’s personal touch”. His style was very well suited for actual combat and his movements in the videos, even at his age and physical condition, show great power and speed. Most who trained with him even near his death at 75 said that his blocks were like being struck by lightning.

Enoeda Keinosuke

Enoeda Sensei studied Judo and Kendo like most children but transferred over to Karate when he endered the Takushoku university. After his university years he entered the JKA and trained under Nakayama and Kase Sensei. He is well remembered for his fighting skills and they also earned him the nick name “Toro” or Tiger because of his attitude during sparring.

Enoeda settled in England and opened a dojo on Marshal street. That club produced some of the most noted instructors and competitors in English Karate. In fact his team was so strong that it often challenged the Japanese team and won on several occasions.

Enoeda sensei had battled cancer for a few years and thought that the issue was under hand when he traveled to Japan and had a surgical procedure. However he passed away in 2003 at the age of 67.

Two of my favorite books in my library are the Shotokan Advanced Kata books one and two, I swear that If I ever find a copy of three I will cry with Joy! The books are well laid out and his ability to show the techniques in Kata is bar none the best I have seen in a book. The thing I really like about Enoeda was his spirit, I can imagine what it must have been like to have been in a room with him, his books give off enough energy to impress me, training with him would have been awesome.

Asai Tetsuhiko

Asai sensei began training with his father in Sumo and Judo. His father was a policeman and felt that martial training was very important. Asai entered the Takoshoku university and began training with Funakoshi and Nakayama Senseis. Upon graduation his instructor suggested he join the JKA and become an instructor. He graduated from the JKA instructor program in three years and became the first instructor to introduce Karate to Taiwan. He also traveled to Hawaii and taught their for five years.

When Nakayama Sensei passed away he did not leave an successor. Instead he left many that felt as though they should be the successor. However the way he had the JKA set up that was impossible. After a long legal battle, Asai sensei split from the JKA and formed the JKS, a group dedicated to spreading his Karate.

Asai Sensei had said that much of the ill will and hostility left the older instructors after Kase and Enoeda passed away, with the passing of Shoji he said many of the older instructors were shocked back into reality. He said he actually got on very well with some of the other instructors who were not in his organization and were from the old group.

My thoughts on Asai and his Karate are very open, I think that for me 200+ Kata is just a bit to much, but I also think that I get it. His Karate was not about the Kata. It was about redefining human movement and teaching his students how to move the way he wanted them to. His relaxation and speed were beyond the norm and his ability as natural and I think cannot be taught to everyone. I would say that his Karate was “Naturally elitist” and not for every person. It got further away from Karate for the average person and became Karate for the full time athlete. His ability is with out reproach and his natural movements were very unnatural for most of us.

Asai Sensei spread his brand of Karate the old way, he taught parts to one person and other parts to other students. Many people feel they know his Karate but they know the part that he taught them. I have now conversed with three people that studied with Asai and were lucky enough to learn from him directly, and all three give very different views of what his Karate was. I think Andre Bertel has the closest to what we see on Asai videos as far as styles, but again, he is another very gifted person that seems to train more than most can.

Asai Sensei had liver disease and cancer and diet suddenly at the age of 71. Right up to the last class he taught he demonstrated great flexibility and speed. His natural ability is something that most of us only dream of.

Asai Sensei left behind a big mess in his organizations. Much like Nakayama sensei, When Asai Sensei passed on he left no clear successor, he left several. Kagawa Sensei is generally the most recognized student of Asais, but many other instructors were left feeling that they were left to run his style of Karate. Much like Kase, Asai sensei had put his personal stamp on Shotokan and while grounded and based in JKA Shotokan, it is easy to say his style took on a life of its own.

Shoji Hiroshi

Hiroshi Shoji is one of my favorite instructors to read about and watch. Not as physically gifted as Asai Sensei and not as powerful looking and athletic as Enoeda Sensei, Shoji had that common man look that made him my hero. He was not very tall, but his spirit was HUGE. He won the all Japan Shotokan championships with Unsu on several occasions and many said that despite his apparent disadvantage over the more athletic and boisterous competitors he demonstrated a quiet kind of Karate that had lots of appeal.

Shoji sensei was the chief instructor at Chuo university and had a reputation as being very quiet, shy and never wanting attention outside the Dojo. He never pushed for public rank advancements or wanted to run an organization. He was just happy with his training and teaching at his club and the JKA. However, he was also known as a very tough instructor who turned out great students.

Shoji took over the classes from Mori Sensei when he left for the States to live and teach. The change in instructors was at first taken hard by the students. They were used to Mori Sensei and his hard attitude during training. But when they first saw it was Shoji Sensei, a senior who was known as the smiling instructor, they were very happy. Till his first month of classes were done and he was then known for his hard classes and multitudes of repetitions.

The most outstanding thing about Shoji Sensei was not his techniques, which were very good from what I am told, and not his amazing Kumite skills…which I am told were equally good, but it was his attitude and approach. He was not overly stern, he tried to show people how to be humble and modest and he only took what was offered to him. He never tried to run more than his club and even then he was very generous. It was often said that his wife and him fed most of his clubs at one time or another. His charity did not end there. Despite being a hard instructor he was also the one that would spend hours with students to ensure they progressed.

From researching Shoji Sensei I think I found a model of modesty and hard work that I tried to strive towards as a student and instructor. Born in 1931, Shoji lived thru the hard WWII years and stayed in Japan to teach. He passed away quietly in 2003. But despite not making any major waves in Karate or in the organization his passing rippled thru the Karate world and everyone he had touched knew of his passing within days. His influence, even though he did not seek the lime light, was in fact greater than some who had strived to be the leaders of organizations.

Shoji Sensei left behind one book “Road to Karate” it is one that my library is looking forwards to holding one day.

Yamaguchi Toru

Toru Yamaguchi Sensei was born in 1936. Yamaguchi Sensei was born Toru Iwaizumi and born into a family with three older boys and a very busy father. His father was a home surgeon during the war and spent most of his time working with soldiers that were injured. When Iwaizumi Toru married in 1960 he was asked by his wifes family to adopt her last name so that the family would have a heir to the Yamaguchi name. Toru Sensei agreed and when he was married he took on his wifes name and soon after they had their first son.

Toru Iwaizumi entered tion Ibaragi University near Tokyo and studied Literature and social sciences while participating in track and field. Upon seeing a demonstration of Karate he began training with Nishiyama. Soon after he entered the JKA instructor training program and became a full time instructor at the JKA.

Yamaguchi Sensei entered Karate tournaments and found success competeing for over 10 years. His style was unique and he was never easy to spar against because he was known for his unique and unexpected attacks and defense. His style was very aggressive and he was known for leaping in the air one minute then falling to the floor the next.

In 1971 Yamaguchi sensei opened his first club called the Sei Kan Ku or the Success Karate Club. He later formed his own Shotokan organization he called the Todokai. He formed the organization officially when Nakyama Sensei passed away. Mostly popular in France and Canada, the Todukai has clubs in South Africa, Morocco and other countries.

Yamaguchi Sensei passed away in july of 2010 at the age of 74. He had suffered ill health for the last few years and when last I spoke with his student Alain Faucher he had passed on a invitation to train with Yamaguchi Sensei. While I grew up reading and rereading his exerpts in Best Karate I had never dreamed I would get the chance to train with him. Alas, I could not go and Alain had told me that the last training Yamaguchi Sensei had given was very sad as he physically was not the man he was years before.

Yamaguchi had passed away and much of his physical ability, much like Asai Sensei, will never be seen again. It was a natural and unforced dynamic that no one can fake or learn. But I am still sad I did not get the chance to train with this great man.

Ozawa Osamu

Ozawa Sensei lived a fairly quiet life in Reno and Las Vegas. He started his Karate training under Mabuni of Shito ryu but quickly transferred to Shotokan in University and trained under Funakoshi Sensei.

Ozawa Sensei, by all accounts, should never have made a big impact in Karate. In 1944 he was recruited into the Kamakazi corp as a pilot. His plan never made it off the run way however as it crashed upon take off. The planes used for suicide bombers were not exactly the best quality fighter planes the Japanese military could muster up. He was in a full body cast for months and if he had not been he probably would have committed suicide like many of his fellow pilots did when the war ended.

He went back to university and after his punctured lung and other inuries healed up he restarted his Karate training as well. He graduated with adegree in economics and Ozawa Sensei was part of the group that helped form the JKA and he even because a regional director in Kobe. He became a famous TV director.

In 1964 Ozawa came to the states for business reasons, trying to sell a film he had made. But things did not work out the way he had wanted. He tried to make ends meet teaching private lessons to celebrities like Natalie Wood and Rock Hudson. In 1974 he moved to Las Vegas and opend a dojo in Vegas were he also worked at a local Casino as a black jack dealer.

Ozawa Sensei held one of the most popular tournaments in north America. He set up the Las Vegas Ozawa “Annual Traditional Karate tournament international” a two day tournament that often hosts more than 1200 competitors and has 25-40 countries participating. The event also holds 15-20 demonstrations. This tournament is now just as popular today as it was when Ozawa Sensei ran the event. It has come to be known as the Ozawa Memorial Cup.

Master Ozawa was a very interesting person and someone I respect a great deal because of his life. He went from almost dyeing in a Kamakazi plan to running one of the biggest tournaments in the world and bringing together over 20 different courtiers to compete in a friendly event in Vegas.

The point of this little walk down histories land and write up on all of these men is this. Don’t ever turn down a chance to train with other people. You never know when someone you miss training with will not be available for you to train with again. That and looking into instructors that have passed and history is a great way to motivate your training now.

Impact training: Hitting stuff!

The other day a student asked me what was the best way to train for self defense. I had to think about it because technically we are always training for self defense, be it Kata that introduces body movements and dynamics of technical expression, kumite that introduces the actual exchanges of basic techniques in a controlled mannor or Kihon that shows you proper form and function….but the answer was simple…go hit something!

One of the biggest mistakes that students make in martial arts is lack of impact training! Really I have seen so many people that look very impressive doing Kata, have kumite skills that actually intimidate others and have basics that look like art…but get them into a fight and they jam up! They hit someone and they freeze, its like “DAMN that’s what it feels like” or “Wow, that’s got to hurt”. Or worse yet they throw their beautiful Mawashi Geri Jodan, it lands…and the attacker is like “That’s it”? Some times beauty does not translate into power!

One of my Juniors takes this very seriously and has three Makiwaras in his front yard…lucky for him his neighbors and family don’t have him locked up…and trust me that might be an option…but he IS doing the one thing that I would recommend to anyone wanting to begin learning how to apply the techniques that we are teaching….start hitting things…not just anything mind you but things that you should be hitting…like a punching bag or Makiwara.

It is shocking how many people get to black belt and have never really hit something with power…and a very large eye opener for them when they do. Someone that has struck a bag or post knows what it is like to have the energy come back at you and often knows what happens when you don’t use completely perfect form.

It is ironic that we spend so much time on form in Karate and not much on actually using it. While we use Kumite as a further expression of form, we still don’t actually use any impact in our kumite…well not on purpose…and that means that we don’t actually “use” the form we are so hard at work on. Its kind of like owning a gun, learning how to aim it, load it, pull the trigger…with no bullets to actually use! All of our skills become a bit of a very beautiful and dangerous dance. Add some impact training on pads and bags ext and you are now pulling that trigger and applying the training.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think the ability to hit something is about 90% of the game, I can not tell you how many times I have been hit at work…not where I work now but when I was doing security or working the door at a bar…and the guy had poor form and I just knew it was not going to hurt as bad as he thought it would! The reason we train so hard on form is two fold. First off we need to have good form in order to take advantage of the mechanics of the body. If you have poor form and throw a punch for instance you may do more harm to yourself than your attacker, and how do you defend yourself with a dislocated shoulder? The other reason is we have to hard wire in the proper form so that at a seconds notice we can call upon our form to generate power into a punch to defend ourselves! The repetition not only teaches us physically how to do the techniques, it also makes it natural so we don’t have to think! So, all those reps you are doing…very important!

As for impact training, its also important! Like I stated earlier, I have seen so many people use a punch or kick for the first time on the street, or in an altercation jam up because they really have never hit anything with power before. They may have jabbed at a mitt or thrown a sloppy punch at a bag “testing” the waters, but they never really hit anything. The results were never very good. They ran the gambit of “Deer in a head light” to “Shock and horror” to going “blank” and none of them turned out very well! Most of us don’t run around hitting things growing up, a few rough kids may have but most of us try and avoid fights….and that is a good thing! Impact training however, should be a part of anyone’s training that wants to learn Karate for more than just a good work out…and even then….Impact training is a great work out.

When you hit something in training you need to remember that what you are doing right now is more than likely what you will do when the time comes to hit something, so focus on form, proper techniques and start off stationary! If you have weak wrists, DON’T WRAP THEM! The thing is that you won’t have wrapped wrists on the street…if your wrists are weak…make it a “Call to arms” (pun intended) to train them so they are not weak and you can hit things without damage to them…and that goes for the arms and shoulders as well. Now, line up and have a punching bag, makiwara or target that won’t move to much when you hit it….

For punching

Now that you have your distance for a good reverse punch, start off slowly, keep your spine straight and slightly leaning forwards, push thru the back leg into the ground and rotate your hip slowly into your target. Extend your arm and twist before you make impact (unlike combat punching, if you are hitting a “real” makiwara with rope or rice stalk twisting to late when you first start will cut up your hands and keep you from training…wait till the hands are conditioned to do that). Once you make impact you need to push for a second or two thru the back leg, up the body and into your hand….Look past your actual target and think of pushing into it.

After training slowly like this for a while, start to speed up, remember your target is about two to four inches behind the actual makiwara, or into the punching bag. Don’t strike the surface of the makiwara and let your hand bounce off the pad or hit the surface of the punching bag….far to often we keep “sondome” in mind when hitting equipment and we don’t benefit from the training.

A common problem we see with people who are hitting the makiwara for the first time is the single arm problem. They forget form and go for a hard punch with just their arm. They forget that good form is the key to true power. Throwing a perfect and powerful straight punch takes good form.

For kicking

For kicking I usually recommend a heavy bag or a kicking shield to train with. You can use a makiwara, but normally I reserve this for people with GREAT form because you can miss slightly and hurt hour foot and shin. Line up according to what kick you are going to train (front kick dead on and Mawashi obviously a tad closer, for pads have the angle right). Now throw the kick, but start off with out using full power and using the top of your foot for round kicking. The reason for this is the toes, I have seen a few dislocations from people trying to hit with the ball of the foot and using less than perfect form.

Once you have hit something a few dozen times and feel confident then you can start “nailing it”. The advantage to a heavy bag for kicking is that it conditions the shins, feet and legs and it is much more forgiving than a Makiwara. Remember as well that the target is about a foot behind the impact site for a heavy bag.

I want to offer a few suggestions first however. Have someone hold the bag when kicking…or you may have to chase it down and have it stop before you go back to kicking, slowing down your training. Another one is to remember to snap back on your kicks. We all think it is impressive to throw a thunderous round kick into a bag, make a big “Blasting” noise and then slowly draw our leg back…this totally defeats the purpose of the kick recoil and will get you in trouble if you use that kick for a self defense situation as the person may be hurt by it, but they will grab it and you are then in big trouble. Remember this is about applying your techniques with the same form you were training in Kihon Waza reps.

The next thing you need to realize it that it takes time to condition a hand or foot, a leg or elbow to impact. And you should not start off throwing techniques without conditioning your body correctly. The impact site (knuckles or foot) should be slowly brought to full impact power over time, don’t rush to hit something with full power right off the bat. You should start off in phases and work up.

Phase one

Start off hitting a Makiwara or punching bag with about 30% of your strength. At the same time do a lot of straight arm pushups ( a push up with arms straightening all the way) as well as working your spinal muscles (from tail to neck) to allow for better shock absorbtion…check with your instructor about those exercises. You can do this about four times a week safely.

Phase two

Start hitting the Makiwara about 60% and move to doing Knuckle push ups. This along with core training will allow you to hit harder and condition the hands. Cut back to twice a week to give the skin on your hands time to heal as well as the joints. Lots of people recommend different things to condition the skin, from salt water to balms, I say just let them heal on their own.

They will be red and irritated depending on the surface you are striking so keep in mind that ice is never a bad idea.

Last Phase

Start hitting the makiwara about 80-90% of your power and continue to use proper form. Remember that you should give a day or so off between good Makiwara training to let the muscles heal up and the bones to heal up as well. Watch for injuries and make sure that you rest and take care of the skin on the hands if it is damaged. I also recommend taping a towel around any communal Makiwaras to protect against spreading of any virus or infections.

So, what should you hit? Well, most of the time what is available is a punching bag if you are lucky, a Makiwara if you are VERY lucky, but most likely it’s a phone book or punching target. What I recommend is that you buy a heavy bag and stand for it and put it some place out of the way and hit it as part of a home work out. Any Karate club that is stand alone should have a makiwara and you can build on very easily that is mobile, drop me a line and I will show you how.

Makiwaras are the perfect way to build your punch and hit something relatively forgiving and really make your hands conditioned to impact. But the next step down is that punching bag. I don’t recommend bag gloves be used or wrist wraps unless the only time you are hitting something is with them on. Boxers and pro fighters use them because they know they will be hitting their opponent with the same protection they wear to hit the bag,. And a funny thing happens when a pro fighter hits someone without hand wraps and tape…they break their hands because they are not used to hitting without that protection. An alternative is to have a partner hold a phone book, with a cushion against their chest…phone book out, cushion in…and you hit them with that. Problem is that you don’t want to hit the partner to hard or you could hurt them…even with the phone book in place. But its okay for phase one of hitting were you are only using about 30% impact.

Always use good form and focus on slowly improving power, its much harder to hit with all your power and slowly put technique into your strikes after that.

It is one of the most frustrating things that I get bugged bout from my kick boxing and MMA friends. Most of them think that we cannot defend ourselves because we don’t hit each other. Truth be known, if we were to all implement impact training in our personal training regiment we would blow past MMA work out junkies in seconds. We have better form, our technique is focused on in class so much and we have great sparring habits that lead to better understanding of distance and timing than a guy that is used to wailing on pads and bags for 2/3 of his class and then tip taps with big gloves and head gear on for 1/3 of his class, but because we don’t actually use impact training they are more used to getting hit and don’t shut down mentally when they hit someone.

My recommendation is that students focus on Kumite, Kata and Kihon up to about green belt, then start adding some Impact training, be it bag work, Makiwara or pad work. You have to give a reality to your training or you are missing a major component of Budo-shin Karate do, or Warrior spirit training in Karate. Without this spirit in your training you end up doing a dance and calisthenics that may help you keep healthy, but does little for you if you need to use. It.

By Black belt you should be hitting things whenever you can, Heavy bags, Makiwara, Pads should all be old hat to you and you should be able to work your basics for real and use control but intent in sparring so that you and your partner know you “could” use these if you needed to.

In the ‘70’s I remember seeing videos of Karate masters with big calloused knuckles and deformed hands. This is not what I am talking about here. I am not saying that you have to cause major damage to your hands to be any good at impact training, Prudence and intelligence will allow you to avoid this.

While I count impact training amongst the most important form of training a intermediate to senior student can undertake, I also caution you to not jump in on your own, seek out an instructor who understands impact training and can show you proper ways to actually hit something, you would be shocked how many of us don’t know how to actually hit something and how few of us have had to use Karate to defend themselves. Reguardless, Impact training is one of the few components of training I think is missing and would benefit students the most!