Tode Jukun: The 10 sales pitches of Anko Itosu

In 1908 Anko Itosu, the father of Modern Okinawan Karate wrote a letter to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of war in Japan trying to draw attention to Karate. His intent seems to meander from pushing Karate as a form of fighting to a pushing it as a way of developing health and the body. This to me shows two things; first that Itosu was writing this off the cuff without much planning or thought out intent and secondly that he obviously was not as elegant a writer as Funakoshi and even Sakukawa Sensei was.

The letter starts out:

“Karate did not develop from Buddhism or Confucianism. In the past the Shorin-ryu school and the Shorei-ryu school were brought to Okinawa from China. Both of these schools have strong points and I therefore list them below just as they are without embellishment.”

In the letter he writes about the stances of “Tang Te” or Chinese hand, which is a telling point about when it was written and the ideals at the time. The Ministry of War at this time would refer to the Japanese ministry of War and using the “Tang Te” name may have actually served to slow the progress of Karate as Japan was still not on good terms with China.

One point of interest right off the hop is that Itosu refers to Karate as not coming from either of the most common religions of Japan and China, however it does not say anything about Shinto. Also, Itosu comments that the two schools of Karate were brought to Okinawa from China…. not the three….and he refers to them as Shorin and Shorei not Shuri and Naha. 

Itosu then goes on to list his 10 “Precepts” or explanation points about Karate. Keeping in mind that he is presenting these to official Ministry officials and trying to help build his following and bridge the gap between the martial art thought of as a esoteric and elitist activity and bring it into the mainstream. Karate was not always the art that it is today, practiced at every community center and seen as a common activity in every community. It was once a art form that was practiced by the elite in Okinawa, created for the body guards and officials that were in charge of working with and protecting the Okinawan king.

Itosu and his peers (of which many did not fare as well as Itosu) now had to transition into other careers and support themselves and their families after the weak Okinawan emperor fell and abdicated his rule over the island nation to the Japanese.  He is using this letter with ten points to reach out to two very different groups, the military and the education ministry, to see if he can find an in with one of them to help teach his art and earn a living. In the end the education ministry showed interest and Itosu and his students flooded into the school system and started teaching Karate to school children, altering their approach to training to suit the children they were now presenting the system to.

This was a stroke of luck for all of us, the art form would have been very different if the Ministry of War (military) had picked up the art form for training their solders and the Ministry of Education had rejected this art form. I will present the twisting and turning, and somewhat desperate sounding, letters 10 points to you and add my own notes so you can see what Itosu had presented to the Ministries and what we should take from this letter.

It is very important to note that BOTH directions he was aiming for would still have created a great art form and the art form that Itosu was presenting was still functional and effective, he was however at a cross roads in his life, which is why the letter seems to be aiming in two directions at the same time.

At this point in time the Sino-Japanese war over and Japan had invaded Taiwan, Japan was about to force Korea into being a protectorate of Japan as they expanded their empire all over the Pacific region. Japan was ramping up to invade Manchuria in a few decades. The nation was growing, and its influence was being felt across the pacific. Itosu had lost his position and was desperately looking for a way to make ends meet.

It is with all of this in mind that he sent the following precepts to the Education and War Ministries to try and gain traction, grow his art of Karate and create a industry that would help him earn a living. Unlike the laws of Bushido and the Dojo Kun the 10 precepts of Itosu are more a sales pitch, the ideals that are presented are meant to introduce Karate to those that do not practice Karate and in such they create a very unusual chance to see what a well known practitioner thought of Karate as he presented it to the outside world.

The 10 Precepts of Itosu:

 1. Karate is not merely practiced for your own benefit; it can be used to protect one's family or master. It is not intended to be used against a single assailant but instead as a way of avoiding injury by using the hands and feet should one by any chance be confronted by a villain or ruffian.

               

                This is an interesting way to start the 10 points. Essentially Itosu is talking to both the Education and the Military Ministries with this starting point. He is also not very direct when you read it over and over. He says basically Karate will give you a strong body, but it also mentions being able to fight and have the courage to risk one’s life to support an effort of defense. This is obviously to attract the War Ministry directly.

                Duty and honor were very big in Japan at this time, they were in the middle of an expansionist era with a focus on nationalism. The idea of honor and duty of the general population would have appealed to the ruling class. Also, the focus on creating a system of teaching basic fighting skills to students and youth would have kickstarted the military careers of many of the youth that would be feeding the War machine that Japan had turned into at that point in its history and to have a disciplined fighting force that was prepared prior to military training would have been ideal to the War Ministry.

2. Karate’s primary purpose is to strengthen the human muscles, thus making the physique as strong as iron and as hard as stone. One may then use the hands and feet as weapons – such as the spear and halberd. In doing so, Karate training cultivates bravery and valor in children and should, therefore, be encouraged within our elementary schools. Do not forget what the Duke of Wellington said after having defeated Emperor Napoleon: “Today’s victory was first achieved from the discipline attained within the playgrounds of our elementary schools.”

It is obvious at this point that he was hoping the War Ministry would take notice of the built-in military like training that the students in Okinawa would be getting. Ironically the Okinawans were not seen as equal to the Japanese in the military and were instead often put into Boeitai units or “home guard” units made up of 20-40-year-old reservists in places like Okinawa, Korea and Formosa. Nearly 20,000 Okinawans served in Boeitai units on Okinawa during the battle for Okinawa. These Boeitai were seen as lower class than the imperial army counterparts however. It still seems ironic to me that Itosu is trying to sell that his art would create a perfect fighting force…when the fighting force would not be part of the IJA (Imperial Japanese Army) and many of the Okinawans still did not see themselves as being imperial subjects.

Proving however that training would create good soldiers was Itosu’s focus. As proof he was correct nearly 10,000 Boeitai soldiers, mostly armed with spears and hand grenades died fending off Americans for the Japanese at the war of Okinawa.

 3. Karate cannot be quickly learned. Like a slow-moving bull, it eventually travels a thousand leagues. If one trains diligently for one or two hours every day, then in three or four years one will see a change in physique. Those who train in this fashion will discover the deeper principles of karate.

                Now Itosu backs away from the War Ministry and aims at the Education Ministry. Also, this creates “real expectations” kind of feel to his pitch. The reality of training, as is laid out in this part of his sales pitch is that Karate takes time to learn and to be able to practice properly. You won’t see a miracle change in someone with in the first year of training, it takes up to three or so years of hard training for a student to have enough skill to defend themselves and allow for enough time for Karate to impact the body in such a way as they can use the skills they have learned.

 4. In karate, training of the hands and feet are important, so you should train thoroughly with a sheaf of straw (#). In order to do this, drop your shoulders, open your lungs, muster your strength, grip the floor with your feet, and concentrate your energy into your lower abdomen. Practice using each arm one to two hundred times each day.

                You may have to read this one several times to understand this statement. Itosu is suggesting that you have to work with a Makiwara (Sheaf of straw). He then explains how to it the Makiwara for maximum improvement in your Waza. Note that the striking is set at about 100-200 times a day. This would lead to the hardened fists that we are used to seeing on practitioners as well as the calluses that we see today on many hands of those that use the makiwara.

                This is his suggestion for Hojo undo or auxiliary practice, however you will note that he does not stipulate that this is the ONLY training you should do. Itosu was also not the definitive source for Karate training, his history suggests that he was not very high on the ladder when it came to knowledgeable masters.

 5. When you practice the stances of karate, be sure to keep your back straight, lower your shoulders, put strength in your legs, stand firmly, and drop your energy into your lower abdomen.

                I find it strange that in the middle of Itosu’s sales pitch to people who know nothing about Karate that he added this to the mix. The advice and explanation is dead on, it’s great to see that he is explaining the basic Karate stance…to someone that has no idea what he is talking about. This is not just out of place but also kinda weird.  We go from really a letter focused 90% on sales pitch to outside sources and then into the stance of Karate. Its like he transitioned from talking to people who were uninitiated to writing to his students…..and it continues…..

 6. Practice each of the techniques of karate repeatedly. Learn the explanations of every technique well and decide when and in what manner to apply them when needed. Enter, counter, withdraw is the rule for torite.

                So, Itosu himself is now suggesting that one should study the movements and techniques and come to a decision as to what manner to apply them and when these are needed. My interpretation is Itosu is suggesting that we need to train…Duh…and then interpret the movements in Kata for ourselves. This seems to identify the fact that even at Itosu’s level and generation there was NO SYSTEMIC IDIOLOTY REGARDING BUNKAI OR OYO.  So, all those modern day Bunkai guys that say the old Karate guys had a plan for each move of Kata…. yah, not so much!

                Its like I tell my students, train hard with an open mind and figure out applications for yourself, what I teach you are my interpretations for Kata movements, and Itosu seems to be backing me up here.

7. You must decide if karate is for your health or to aid your duty.

                Back to the sales pitch here! Itosu is now flipping a coin, he is presenting his approach to two groups that may have similar ideals for the people they would employ him to teach, but he is now saying it could be a health thing…or to aid your duty! By aid your duty he is inferring its for defending yourself and your country again.

                I honestly think that he is using this to infer that you can train for defense or you can train to be in good health, you can not do both, which is counter to all modern dogma and sales pitches.

 8. When you train, do so as if on the battlefield. Your eyes should glare, shoulders drop, and body harden. You should always train with intensity and spirit as if actually facing the enemy, and in this way, you will naturally be ready.

Um, so now he is telling people that their mindset during training will get them ready for combat against an enemy. Duh!  He is now back to telling the War Ministry that you can create warriors with Karate that will be good at fighting and defending themselves because they will have mentally prepared by training in Karate.

                I have no issue with this other than he seems to be mixing up his audience again. This is a letter to the two different Ministries and yet the line is written as if it meant for a student. Very confusing and I am thinking that he is confused a great deal at this point in his life. He knows that he has to create a opportunity to make money and live after having lost his job with the government of Okinawa, but he is writing this as if he is talking to actual students.

 9. If you use up your strength to excess in karate training, this will cause you to lose the energy in your lower abdomen and will be harmful to your body. Your face and eyes will turn red. Be careful to control your training.

So, Itosu is now suggesting that hard training or over training is not good for a student. Again, this is geared towards the students and suggests that one should not train to hard. I know that intensity training is a more modern construct and in the past one would think of health and train to keep moving, a light easy approach with some focus on harder training intermixed with lots of easy training. Also, the training was geared towards younger students who were in better shape than older practitioners.

It would seem that Itosu back peddles a bit on his assessments of hard training previous, he had pointed out that Makiwara training was needed, and he now suggests that lighter training done for a life time is better. I have no clue how this fits into the sales pitch that he is making to the Ministries but he threw it in their to remind people not to overdo it in training.  

 10. In the past, many masters of karate have enjoyed long lives. Karate aids in developing the bones and muscles. It helps the digestion as well as the circulation. If karate should be introduced, beginning in the elementary schools, then we will produce many men each capable of defeating ten assailants.

                Back to the duel sales pitch!  I agree that people who train in Karate often see great physical improvements (Flexibility, cardiovascular health, muscle tone ext) however the fact that a few of the masters lived longer than the average is the better sales pitch.  However, its also important to note that most of them died of very normal things that Karate did not affect really.

                His go to is to sell the ministries on starting kids in Karate so that they can help produce students that will grow into great warriors for the War ministry. Great approach if you are looking at creating a bunch of soldiers that will die for their country. Most modern instructors would not relish the thought of their members dying in wars or going to war in the first place, but Itosu had a living to make and if only a few of the young children he was teaching became military members to die for Japan then so be it.

If the students at teacher training college learn karate in accordance with the above precepts and then, after graduation, disseminate this to elementary schools in all regions, within 10 years karate will spread all over Okinawa and to mainland Japan. Karate will therefore make a great contribution to our military. I hope you will seriously consider what I have written here - Anko Itosu, October 1908

                Itosu ends the letter basically laying out that his system of fighting, this new aged (At the time) martial art could help the country build up many students into military warriors and it will spread quickly, in one decade those that were taught Karate from a young age would be ripe for military service. He brings around his sales pitch and drops it on the Ministries as a great way to help them.

                Pretty much anyone who reads my blogs knows I am not a fan of Itosu and I also think that Azato was Funakoshi’s primary instructor and he probably had little time with Itosu. This letter from Itosu to the ministry really makes me feel that he was a man of lesser character than Azato. Not only was he pandering to the Japanese Ministry, a government body in which most Okinawans did not have a lot of respect but he is basically is saying “let me train kids to go die for Japan”.

                I really started reading this sales pitch when I was researching a book on different “Kun” from Sakukawa and Funakoshi. I had included it in the book research at first hoping to include it in the book, but after really looking at the precepts and digging into them, reading what others had said and reviewing it I pulled it from the book because, to be honest, it has no place in a book dedicated to how to do Karate or how to behave while doing Karate.

Shibui : the proper complex simplicity in your Karate.

                I came across a word the other day that totally made sense in reference to the ideals of Karate. The word is Shibui and it means Simple, subtle and unobtrusive beauty. It infers quality with economy of form, line and effort. Another way of defining or translating it is Refined Simplicity.

                For something to show Shibui it must be modest, natural, every day, imperfect and silent or not boastful.  Most of the time this is applied to the concepts of art or aesthetics, but this should also define good Karate. Elegance/simplicity, Effortless/ effectiveness and beautiful imperfections. It’s a way of explaining how something so basic can be so beautiful.

                The term came into use during the Muromachi period (1663-1573) as Shibushi, a term used to refer to sour or astringent taste. By the beginning of the Edo period (1615-1868) the term gradually began to refer to a pleasing aesthetic and it became a term used for almost anything, from song to dance. The term is used to refer to anything that is beautiful in a direct and simple way with out being flashy.

                To be Shibui an object or thing must appear to be simple but have depth to them with subtle details and texture that is balanced simplicity with complexity. The balance of simplicity and complexity ensure that the item is never obsolete, and one can constantly find new meaning and beauty that causes the value to grow over the years. It is very complex and walks the line between rough and elegant as well as spontaneous and restrained.

                Shibui is also a feeling of evolving perfection. The thing that is being felt is the life or spirit behind the qualities of any experience. This can be in simple everyday events, like watching the sun set or observing the waves splash against a dock. It’s the simplicity and “matter of fact” existence of something that makes it Shibui.

                Martial artists should strive to practice and bring Shibui to the performance of their techniques. This brings life to the Karate and performance of the Waza.   With great practice the expertise gained from the training causes the performance or repetition of the forms and waza to be naturally beautiful and uncomplicated. This means no one part of the performance stands out from the rest creating a balance of beauty in the performance. The training must make the performance effortless in performance.

                When I think of Shibui I automatically think of Kata from Osaka Sensei or the Kumite of the greats like Tanaka Sensei. They train so hard to make the work effortless, they chip away at the excess movement and they create a natural feel to what they are doing that makes it look effortless and yet beautiful. This is what you should focus on when training, getting to the point that the incredible effort you have put in to learn, refine and perfect form and function seem to create a Waza so every day and effortless in its execution.

                The current trend in Karate is to add so much fluff and glitter to a Kata or to be super fancy in Kumite and it has gone against the idea of Shibui that comes from the Japanese culture. You can still see this in the way that the Japanese perform the martial arts and other art forms however. Watching a true master do a Kata is an act of simplicity unto itself. No added movements, no screeching, just the simple but powerful movements along with the proper attitude and executions. The result is a simple, elegant and straight forwards presentation that shows the true cultural understanding of Shibui.

                For some reason the modern Karate scene, influenced by the “bigger is better” attitude that is so dominant in the west, has affected the presentation of both Kata and kumite in tournaments and in the dojo. Students rush to learn the deadly hook kicks and fancy high kicks, they bounce around like kangaroos and they focus their sparring on movements that “Score more points”, something also influenced by the west. And Kata…. don’t get me started. Modern day Kata is often filled with ego and extra screaming, with adding moves or exaggerated and altered techniques. Kicking the hip level is replaced by head kicking, snap kicking has been replaced with over exaggerated super high kicking and the total lack or loss of rhythm is masked by more screaming and horrible, but impressive, form.

                We have lost our appreciation or understanding of simplicity as an aesthetic. To truly understand the beauty of simplicity you have to watch a master who has perfected simplicity and who has created the cleanest of waza. One should focus on training with the most simple and efficient of movements. It is much better to end a fight with one perfect Ippon style waza than to win a game of tag in which you score more points. My opinion is that people got lazy, they failed to find that perfect form and that beautiful waza so they shifted their prerogative and changed the game.

               

                If training with simplicity or Shibui is hard for you, then you should really focus more on it. As a Karate practitioner we should be focusing on what is hard, not altering the game to make it easier. We should be striving to remove the excess and create the most elegant and simple style that we can, not adding flash to cover up blemishes. Shibui, to some extent, is not just elegant simplicity, it accepting our flaws and moving past them. Using them as a strength and pushing our self to refine even our weak points till they are part of who we are as a martial artist and building up the strengths by making them as simple as possible.

Tai no Shinshuku – Compression and relaxation

                In Mechanical Physics compression is the application of balanced force inwards or Pushing forces to the center of material. This is the opposite of tension or traction, which is the application of balanced outward, or pulling forces. It is also different than shearing forces, which is the direction or displacement of material parallel in two different directions. The compression strength of material and structures is an important consideration in engineering as it defines part of the equation for strength of a specific material.

                For our purposes we will be looking at Compression as a unilateral compressive force, or compression of a material in a single direction as well as the spring effect of materials under a compressive force. My goal is to explain the reaction of the body as we use Tai no Shinshuku or compression and relaxation/extension of the body to generate power.

                When put under pressure any material will suffer some deformation, even if imperceptible, this causes the average relative position of the molecular structures of the item to change. In some cases, this deformation is permanent and in others it is temporary and when the compressive force is removed the reaction force that opposes the compressive force is normally equal and balanced to the initial force. This reaction is similar to the way a spring reacts to force.

                A spring is an elastic object that stores mechanical energy in the form of potential energy. Springs normally refer to a metallic substance that is coiled to crate the sprint, however there are many different kinds of springs. When a spring, with out stiffness variability, is compressed or stretched from its resting position, it exerts an opposing force approximately proportional to its change in length. It can load a great deal of potential energy over the range of the springs surface that can be stored and released as kinetic power.

                To make this more relevant to Karate we have to look at “Torsion springs”. A Torsion spring is a spring that works by twisting it, when it is twisted around its axis it produces a torque force proportional to the tension. This is loading potential energy that can be used to create torsion power around its access once it is released. Think of the twisting in the back leg as you extend your lead hand and prepare to execute a reverse punch, this is using the torsion spring effect as you release the tension in your back leg and straighten it. The turning of the hip and straightening of the back leg simulate this kind of loading and unloading of the leg to generate torsion power.

                Generally, contraction and relaxation or contraction and expansion of the body refers to the compression of a joint using the muscles of the Agonist muscles to create pressure and then using the antagonist muscles to release this compression. However, the muscles are only really able to do two mechanical things; contract and relax. So the contraction and relaxation principle is not about single muscles but more about the joints and muscle groups that work to affect movements in these joints.

                There is a symbiotic relationship between contraction and expansion in the body. If one only contracts the body or uses tension, then the amount of actual force that someone can execute and put towards and attacker will be limited, and the amount of energy used to maintain the tension will deplete the body of energy. In the symbiotic relationship it is often seen that Contraction is the act of storing the energy that the body can create, and expansion is the act of releasing the energy. For good Karate you must be able to use both of these forms of energy storage/expression to make power in your techniques.

               

                When you realize that muscles can basically only contract or expand you start to realize that the idea of a muscle storing energy is a tough sell. Instead you have to look at the muscles in their agonist/antagonist relationship and realize that the power is actually stored in the form of potential energy because of the muscle’s compression/contraction around specific joints. So, the “Potential energy” is in the joint not the muscles. However, the muscles must behave in a specific way to use the spring force or extension to generate greater power.        

                One more thing that has to be stated is that your body should never be sitting in 100% of either state. If you are totally relaxed in the center, then you are totally not ready to move. If you are to tense you limit your speed and the power, you generate will be limited greatly because you will lack the speed/acceleration component of movement. One should feel as if their body is much like a traditional mouse trap, the spring-loaded kind. Your center should always hold a bit of tension but the second that you are called to move you use a total contraction of the body to move to the point of strike, the agonist muscles contract completely and the antagonists relax to allow for complete movement, prior to this however the muscles are use in the opposite way. So, in your ready position the muscles that pull you away from the target are compressed/contract while the muscles that would propel you towards the target are relaxed, then instantaneously you reverse this and propel yourself towards the target with great speed and greater impact force.

                The goal of each Karate practitioner is to develop and improve “Explosive power” in their techniques. To do this you must master the art of relaxation and contraction or expansion and contraction. Dingman Sensei used to say that you should be at 20-30% tension in your torso at all times and the same in your limbs, then when it comes to the movement you should be zipping up to 80-90% tension for a split second then returning to the original tension levels. Keeping the agonist at 30% allows for control and creation of pressure or compression in the muscles. Then you will contract the opposing muscles that move your striking limb towards your opponent.

                 The almost complete “natural” Contraction and relaxation is required to build up speed and in crease the impact force of any technique. This is the nature of contraction and relaxation in Karate. 

Considering speed in power generation for Karate

The Karate body can make power in several different ways, actually its how to handle, redirect and focus your power. The truth is power is defined in physics as work/time so the more work you do in in a set time…. or the rate of work in a set amount of time. Power in the mechanical systems is the combination of forces and movement. So, power can be the product of a force on an object and the objects velocity or the product of torque on a shaft and the shafts angular velocity.

Speed kills

Whey is this even important?  Well both directly relate to how the body produces power. The first is how the body creates force by moving a limb causing Impactive force to an object. Impact is a high amount of force acting on a object over a short period of time. This is also called Shock impact. This kind of force generally has a greater effect on the target or object that it is being applied to than a lower amount of force over a greater period of time. The effect therefore depends greatly on the relative velocity of the two bodies to one and other.

Speed of movement is very important to effectiveness of a technique. Normally when an object (person in this case) is struck the resulting impact is absorbed or converted into heat and sound energy, a result is that the kinetic energy is transformed into different waves (Heat and sound waves) and dispersed across the surface of the object. However, the faster the impact is imparted the less efficiently the energy is converted into waves and thus the object behaves as though it is more brittle than it would otherwise, and the majority of the applied force goes directly into fracturing the material.

This also applies to objects that are not at a sufficient temperature to create mailability or pliability. Ergo, impact resistance decreases with a increase in the velocity of the striking force or a decrease in temperature of the item being struck. One way to illustrate impact force and its effect is to use a hammer and a nail. If you were to take the hammer and just push on the nail as hard as you can the nail would not move. Add velocity/impact power to the equation and each strike you will overcome the friction force between the nail and the object it is entering. Another example is a torque wrench. This tool is used to tighten and loosen bolts by applying impact via torque to the bolt. At normal speeds the force that is applied to a bolt would be dispersed via friction and the bolt would not move. However, with an impact wrench the force acting on the bolt is done with great speed and this forces the bolt to move as the force does not have time to disperse.

In a ballistic example, a bullet uses speed of impact to puncture surfaces that could otherwise resist the force that it imparts on the subject. A rubber sheet would flex and absorb the strike of an arrow/ as would leather and other woven materials. However, as the bullet is traveling at a greater speed the rubber fractures and does not have time to stretch and absorbed the impact by converting it to vibrations.

So speed and velocity impart damage to a target, how can that help us in Karate. Well first thing we need to realize is we have to train for speed but we also much use that speed properly. When striking we have several ways to increase speed, efficiency and also ways that we move that affect the power that we are transmitting to our targets. Power and speed together equal an increase in impact force, or rather increase the efficiency of the impact force which leads to impact damage. In Karate we aim for weaker, smaller targets, the point of the chin, a specific “soft spot” at the solar plexus and then we try and strike as fast as we can with as much power in the strike. The combination of power with speed is velocity and the resulting impact, if the technique is managed, is greater and thus the efficiency of movement is better….IE “one strike, one kill”.

The Asai Branch of Shotokan.....Diversity, Ego and issues....and some solid leadership!

               Early on Shotokan was made up of essentially two smaller groups set up in the university system and a small group of senior professional instructor. It would not stay this direct and small for long. The style BLEW up and dozens of off shoots were formed and continue to form little off shoots for years to come. Groups sloughed off of the main body as issues, personality clashes or just old fashioned money arguments started to pile up and people through the hands up in frustration or the larger groups would send them the “Dear John” letters alerting them to the fact that they were no longer welcome in the family.

               Some left for more freedom, some left to rule their own fiefdoms, some left because they did not get along and others left because they lacked patience or just plan were feeling like they deserved more. Right or wrong the splits began with little chunks of groups, single masters and clubs moving over and the once clean and clear organization became a sea of new organizations, practitioners getting more attention and then seeking to form their own groups.

                

               Essentially you have two main branches that form the Shotokan lineage or tree, the JKA and the ShotoKai. Again, I have spoken at length about the Shotokai and The main body of the JKA and I don’t want to rehash that here. The JKA branch however is very interesting as it intersects with a lot of sub branches and groups that can look back and say they were formed off the JKA branches.  

               The JKA wing or branches origin falls under Masatoshi Nakayama and Isao Obata Sensei’s as the leadership, creators or founders of the JKA. Yes Obata left and came back and then left again but his money helped make the JKA and he deserves recognition as one of the founding fathers of Shotokan Karate as a JKA entity.

From Masatoshi Nakayama Sensei however we see a vast degree of changes and separations that create a flowing branch with off shoots like crazy. At some point it’s important to note that Kanazawa was the first real senior or “Big name” star to leave the JKA and his departure was because of a change in his thinking, training and system he taught (well that’s part of it). He also wanted financial separation from the JKA so he could make a living and also he felt he was advanced enough to make his own way. Details of that are for another time however.

               Many small off shoots appeared and have split away from the JKA over the years, mostly ego, money and power issues caused the split, but the biggest split, one that formed  a huge separation was the split with the Asai group, made up of many JKA seniors. The initial split formed two sides, the JKA and Asai side, but what happened later is more interesting. Now I know I have gone over this split before, but its important to rehash a few details here to point out a interesting bit of info that I fell upon a while back and just decided to clarify recently.

               In 1987 the split occurred and both sides went to war, by 1999 the courts had finally and completely sided with the Nakahara run JKA and expelled all the Asai side members. The repercussions of this were far reaching, but I don’t want to actually look at the JKA at this point. I want to go and check out the Asai group.

               While the court battle was going on the Asai group was super close knit, they were strong and they taught a brutally traditional system of Karate, Asai holding close to the most detailed traditional system he could as he wanted to following Nakayamas path and then veer slightly when he could. The court ruling however allowed him to pull off his gloves and make changes to the training as he wanted to, he began showing his own ideas and creating an “Asai Karate” system that he had previously not demonstrated openly. He had researched Chinese styles and had implemented some Kata changes previously but it was when he realized he was not going to be the next JKA chief instructor that the changes started coming fast and furious.

               Abe and Yahara split to form their own groups shortly after the court battle saw them “no longer JKA”. Abe formed his JSKA to keep super traditional and honor his instructor and Yahara formed his KWF to also go back to a more Budo style art that he could put his own personal stamp on. However the whole point of this blog is to look at what Asai did after finding himself on a splinter group side and no longer the leader of a JKA group.

               When Asai Sensei lost the court battle he formed the JKS or Japan Karate Shotorenmei as well as the International Japan Karate do Association or IJKA. The JKS was a Japanese based group that began to teach the altered system of Asai Sensei and allowed him to experiment and develop his system. Asai went about creating many new Kata and introduced them to the students. The result was a style very unique and different than JKA style Karate with roots in the Japanese art but with a great deal of personal changes that he implemented after studying White Crane Kung fu.

The JKS became the Japan arm of Asai’s teaching and much of his mainstream changes began with this group. He began introducing different kata and movement drills to reflect changes he was making. His students who had trained with him in the JKA Matsuno faction mostly moved to this group when he lost in court. The changes in syllabus and curriculum soon put the JKS membership at odds with each other and members like Yahara, Abe and others left.  

               After Asai Sensei passed away the organization was headed by Kagawa Sensei, a man whom had a great tournament record and was perhaps more JKA than he was in line with the New Asai Karate. The JKS began to change and move away from the change that the former founder had put in place and move back towards solid traditional JKA style Karate but they do maintain some of the changes and the alterations that Asai Sensei had put into play, they just temper them a bit with more traditional Shotokan ideals and movement patterns. 

               Along with the JKS the IJKA was being run by Asai as his European branch. The main instructor was Kato Sensei, who unlike Kagawa moved a great deal like Asai did and the changes became second nature. The IJKA is probably the closest to the changes that Asai wanted to put into effect of the two groups. Flowing, relaxed and more Chinese than the JKS version of the changes the differences between the two are striking when you see seniors practice side by side. However watching their Kata demonstrations and Kato showing the proper form, you can still see a great deal of Nakayama Sensei’s Karate influence.

               My impressions of the different movement skills of Kagawa, Kato and seniors from these groups, the focus of the groups was similar, to spread the teachings that they were introduced to by Asai Sensei. The JKS was based in Japan and had a great deal of hype about being “The Asai” Sensei group. However the IJKA was heavily represented in Europe, with a headquarters in the UK.  The JKS has stretched out to some of the world, but the IJKA seems to have started in Europe after Asai passed away.

               Now all this back ground has taken me to this point in talking about Asai Sensei and his legacy. Other than the two “Official” or “Original” Groups of Asai style Karate (and the many little off shoots like WTKO and others) there are now two new groups set up to represent Asai Karate and they are very much different from each other.

               Upon Asai Sensei’s passing his wife was sort of out of the Karate world for a bit, she had never really had much to do with Karate or running the organization before this as well. The seniors did not really see her as having a place in the JKS or IJKA as she was not a Karate practitioner. However as the wife of their late master she still was afforded a great deal of respect, and a lot of students would contact her and stop by her home to pay respect to Asai at the little temple they had in the house. However she was not part of a board, she was not, obviously, part of a senior council and I think this began to cause her distress. She felt that she had inherited a right to the Karate system, or at least a piece of the political pie.

               The JKS was run by Kagawa and Kato ran the IJKA and did not need her being involved, which probably would have only lead to issues. However she did keep tabs on them and at some point she decided she needed to “Protect Asai Karate” and establish an organization to safeguard the memory of her late husband. At first she approached a few people to assist her in setting up the group, but shortly after it was established a few things became very clear and those who had helped her set up this group left. One of the first things that came to light was her assertions that Asai sensei “would have done it this way” and using her late husband’s name to make some very strange decisions.

               One of the decisions she made was to hijack the IJKA name that Kato had been running for years.  She had fought with Kata publicly and did not take well to his standing his ground to her. One of the people helping her to set up the organization had warned her that the use of the name could lead to issues, to which she ignored the suggestion and bullied forwards.

                The second and biggest issue that she created was that she put her brother in charge as the Nidaime Shuseki Shihan or second generation head of the style. Who cares if her brother never studied Asai Karate and was a kung fu student who had limited interaction with Asai Sensei and his Karate. Today the IJKA is an organization basically in Taiwan and has not grown much aside from a sprinkling of Dojos in Europe and other Asian areas.

               It became very obvious that Mrs. Asai would attack anyone she felt would hinder her progress, as extremely limited as it is. She posts on their web page the dirty laundry most would not post and she attacks people who had been loyal to Asai Sensei very publicly. A spat with one of Asai Senseis students was posted on the web site and a picture that is obviously of Andre Bertal appears where she says that the certificate he holds is not a real Asai certificate.

               Mrs. Asai also is prominent on the web page as she posts her ideas of Bushido and other things, which as she is a non-practitioner of Karate makes it all the more interesting.

               No other group I have seen does  the kinds of things that the IJKA out of Taiwan does, but that stands to reason as they are not really high level Karate people and don’t have the depth of training or knowledge most have. Its unheard of for groups to air dirty laundry like this….but damn if it aint entertaining.       

               The Mrs. Asai lead IJKA group created a conflict internally by not actually focusing on Asai Karate, letting to much drama run the show and this lead to several people leaving the group to form their own groups. One such separation created the ASAI or Asai Shotokan Association International. The group was formed by Yokota Kousaku, a former JKA member who worked with Okizaki Sensei of the ISKF and had moved to the JKS before being a founding member of Mrs. Asai’s IJKA.

The ASAI group teaches 26 of Asai Sensei’s additional Kata as well as a solid JKA based curriculum. The group was forged out of Yokota Sensei’s trying to help Mrs. Asai set up the organization that was supposed to be dedicated to continuing teaching her late spouses system of Karate. To say that did not work out very well is a understatement. One of Mrs. Asai’s personal attacks on her web site is dedicated to Mr. Yokota. Having read both her site and his sites rebuttal I can say that he puts forward a much better argument and is much more respectful than she is…..but go read both for yourself.

The very public spat that came about when he left did not look good for Mrs. Asai and ended up creating a new group she has zero control over. In the end Yokota’s Asai Karate organization has become much more prevalent and has a much better growth curve than the IJKA-Mrs. Asai group. And as part of the full disclosure of this blog, I have been in contact with Mr.Yokota about his group and he is super open and wants to share his organizations goals and how he is running it with an open door policy and no hidden agenda.

After Asai Sensei passed away he, much like his mentor Nakayama Sensei, did not really leave one single person to continue in his quest. Asai Sensei and his Karate are perpetuated by qualified instructors like Yokota, Kagawa and Kato Sensei and their many followers, while I remain JKA I respect the fact that Asai Sensei had some different ideas that may very well be worth looking into and these men openly teach and train in the system that he generated and perpetuated, unlike instructors like Chen Hontsung and his sister these men will honor Asai and his traditions and create an open door for people to continue training and growing in Karate.

                

Meiyo: Honor

Meiyo is one of the cornerstones of Bushido, which is the code by which Japanese warriors lived. As of late I have been looking at the 8 tenants of Bushido and really seeing the connection to Karate and the practice of the fighting arts, and more so how modern training and traditions (I am looking at you MMA) is devoid of these tenants and actually how many modern Martial artist are not taught these, or don’t exhibit them in their daily lives.

               Funakoshi Sensei is famous for saying “Dojo nomino Karate to Omou na” or “Karate goes beyond the Dojo> This means that Karate and the behavior of the artists that train in the Dojo must go outside of the dojo. The honor, respect and traditions must seep into your daily lives. This is why we get upset when students misbehave outside of the Dojo as much as we do when they act poorly inside the club.

               It is equally as disgusting when you see instructors use their “powers” or “position” to do things that they should not be, or act ways that they should not be acting. I hate when people don’t own their misbehavior and or have excuses built in for their poor behavior. Some will look at the behavior and say “well that’s just Don” or “that’s just his way”. No, its not….Don is  a jerk (not all Dons, just that done…you know the one acting like a jerk).

               The laws of Bushido were the “unwritten” kind for many years. The Nobility sort of knew what was expected of them and they behaved as nobility would, to extremes sometimes mind you but hey that’s nobility for you (See built in excuses).  When Bushi finally started to write out the virtues and discuss them in training they came up with several “Ideals” of what they needed use to affect how the powerful were acting to both keep the peace and also bring a certain responsibility to the noble warriors.

               The virtues that were put forwards in the end all of them were geared towards behavior and how a warrior must conduct themselves. All of them are still pertinent and should be adheared to by Martial arts students and instructors and used as a guide for selecting Uchi Deshi and general students. Some are harder to gage in others, but things you have to think about in yourself.

               Meiyo or Honor is a very personal thing and reflects directly on the individual but also their club and instructors. How one carries themselves, reacts and interacts with others are all reflections of the persons character. Honor is one of those things that is judged by many  who interact with you but true honor is only owing to one judge, the self. How you do things, how you treat others, how you behave are all part of Meiyo and reflect your true inner character.

               Webster’s Dictionary defines Honor as “A keen sense of ethical conduct: Integrity”. Honor and integrity are closely connected. Honor is one of those things that can be faked. I have met a lot of people that laced integrity or Honor as they told lies or found excuses for their actions and hid behind them not wanting to tell the truth. They lacked honor and were cowardly.  Personally I have had to apologize for my actions in the past, but I own them. I feel that this is my way of expressing my honor. I have made big mistakes, honest mistakes and when I found out about them….if I felt that I was wrong…I issued an immediate apology. Others will push past mistakes, blame others, lie and deceive themselves to avoid taking ownership of their issues. This is a total lack of honor!

               As a martial artist I have accidently hurt other people, or inadvertently done something that harmed someone, like trying a Shiho nage on a friends kid as a “Funny thing” and hurt their shoulder. I was showing off a bit and hurt him. I immediately felt bad and apologized a for the injury (it was minor but I was very upset with myself). However I also use the Shinai and sometimes a Bokken to correct people and on occasion I will swat someone’s butt with it if they are not fast enough, or inadvertently nick them with the stick. I have never hit anyone hard enough to leave a mark as that is not the point of correcting with these. The one time someone complained about it to me (through someone else) I apologized that they felt that way, explained my thinking and then said to the person I will continue to do this however as it is part of teaching Karate! I have the integrity to admit that it may have shocked or upset someone, but equally I have the integrity to let them know its not about to change.

               Meiyo is personal to an extent. Only you should internally judge yourself, when others judge your honor it is false for the majority of the time. They are judging your actions externally and most of the time they don’t know what is going on in your head, why you reacted that way on that specific occasion, they are judging the act not you and confusing the two.

               Honor is one of those things that you should strive to correct, forge, polish and reinforce as often as you can. Its about learning how to treat others, how to react properly and how to live your life morally and with integrity both inside and outside of the Dojo.

              

                

Traditional progress in training.

 

               

Again, I am admitting that I am a bit of an old fashioned guy when it comes to my Karate training. As part of that adherence to the old ways of training I take pride in monitoring and managing the training of my students. I don’t teach them things that are beyond their current skill set, I used to think instructors who let their students learn Kata way outside their training level were bad instructors….I now think that they are just misguided. Students learn at different paces but when you attend some clubs you see brown belts doing advanced Kata way outside the curriculum and they normally…are not doing them well.

                Growing up in Karate we were told to train in your own lane, or to keep your nose in your own book. Basically we were told that if you were a white belt you did Heian Shodan (Granted now things have changed a bit with rank requirements, but you get the point) and you did not do free style Kumite much or work on any Kihon that was just outside your ability. This was supposed to help bring your skills up to the next level and help you improve your skill set slowly, get you ready for the next step and not rush you or let you jump to far ahead.  It worked well and the curriculums were cemented because of this. The JKA has even gone to great lengths to improve on this ideology by including more junior ranks, adding Taekyoku to the mix and addressing the need for better Kihon by slowing down ranking in the Kyu levels.

                Now I see brown belts learning Sochin, not just having fun with it but honestly learning them for training and competition purposes. I see purple belts learning Kanku Dai and I see Orange belts working on Jion. It’s maddening for someone that knows that they are not ready for this leap. They are not technically mature enough to handle this and it shows in the demonstration of the Kata. This also draws away from their training on the curriculum.  Most students train 2-3 times a week maximum, they are not in the Dojo every day like we were in the old days. I would be doing Bassai Dai (when I was a brown belt) 4-6 times a week in class (most times 2 classes a day when I could) and on the week end I would slip into the club (I had keys I was not breaking in) and do more of the 15 Kata but always Bassai dai over and over. This added up and over time you begin to internalize the Kata, but the new students only get 1-2 classes a week in some cases and they don’t work out on their own, add into the fact that some are now doing Sochin, how well do you think they get to know their grading Katas?

                I also see young orange belts doing Jiyu Kumite at tournaments and I physically flinch when I see the horror show that is in front of me. They barely know their own body or the techniques and suddenly they are hitting each other and throwing horrible techniques, some get hurt from the hard impact and some get hurt from twisting joints the wrong way. The instructors shrug and say that they are accidents, but they are preventable. The instructors say that the students want to learn the advanced Kata or Kumite training…so? Students are STUDENTS they should be taught the basics, given a solid foundation and then when they are ready they should be taught the next level of techniques or the next Kata or given training in the next level of Kumite. Until that time they should be working on the fundamentals for THEIR level!

                We use rank belts to denote rank…this is the level of understanding a student has and what they should be working on.  The Niju Kun was one of Funakoshi Sensei’s greatest compilations of work that he left to us. In the Niju Kun it says “Karate do no shogyowa issho de aru” or Karate is a lifelong pursuit. As my instructor used to say “Karate is a marathon, not a sprint”! Don’t rush to know things above your skill set or outside of your own syllabus, instead focus on the core fundamentals of your Karate.  As students and instructors we have to step back and focus on the things that will make solid Karate-ka out of our students and not rush to learn above our grade. Funakoshi also said “Hita kata sanen” or “one Kata….three years of training”.  We don’t come close to this kind of training today, more like “One Kata…three months of training”.  For our part the JKA has slowed progress and JKAMB has slowed it even more. We now focus on the improvement of Waza over fancy training and we teach students patience, perseverance and focus on improvement.

                What strikes me the most as an instructor is the students focus and insistence on advancement in skill when they simply are not ready to move forwards. What strikes me as a student of the arts is that some instructors are blinded by the same need for advancement as the students are. They don’t see that the goal should not be on doing the next level Kata or getting the next color belt, but on perfection of the weapons and systems we are training in.  My instructor always said that you have to learn to crawl before you stand, you need to perfect standing before walking and you need to walk well before you run, or your running will get you hurt!...okay, it falls apart at the end but you know what I mean.

 

                I remember going to Ottawa  a bunch of years back and Tanaka Sensei had brought with him the students from a university he taught at. The students for the most part wore white belts, the odd member of the troop was wearing a black belt and was shown a great deal of respect by the other students. We had a tournament that year and I thought that it was going to be a bunch of white belts all competing against other white belts, but the white belts were all lining up to spar with seniors in the Canadian group. I was rather perplexed by this and scared for the white belts, whom all looked eager and friendly enough…My thoughts were that they would get torn up and think us mean people for making them spar against seniors…the funny part they did not look scared at all and Tanaka Sensei did not seem upset at all that they were going to face Saeki Sensei’s seniors.  Then the tournament started…..

                A curious thing happened, the white belts were all lined up and one by one they did their Kata against a Canadian counterpart, they all did Bassai Dai…white belts doing Bassai Dai….and PERFECTLY. They were sharp, snapped and had perfect form and waza. It was a bit embarrassing watching our best go against white belts and not really match up! They Canadians held their own in Kata…..but white belts were making our Senior brown belts look pretty bad! I watched the Kumite matches go on and saw perfect speed, execution of waza so fast and accurate it was scary so I had to ask Mrs. Saeki who the heck these kids were!

                Mrs. Saeki explained to me that the kids were all senior brown belts and black belts with the university that Tanaka Sensei taught at, those wearing white belts were because they refused to wear Kyu level rank belts we normally see.  They have only worn white belts and one of the students was waiting on seeing if he passed his Shodan (which I am sure he did) and was going to wear the white belt till he got the okay to wear a black belt…..all this confused me and really struck me as totally strange!

                The students who came with Tanaka Sensei valued the training and process more than most of us in Canada were. They practiced every day for an hour (on the week ends….4 hours on week days) and I was told that the training was mostly Kihon, basic Kumite…not much Jiyu Kumite and a great deal of Kata work…nothing higher than Bassai Dai however. They were ANIMALS.

 

                Fast forwards to a more recent experience I had. I was talking to a friend on line and they were saying how great the students they trained with were doing, some were fresh Shodans and were training for nationals learning Unsu! I was floored! Then I watched the aforementioned Unsu…and it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that the students should not be doing Unsu. The problem is that instructors rush their students to try and keep them entertained or for fear of losing them to others who will let them push beyond their acceptable skill level. This to me is the epitome of stupidity! Never mind that someone may get hurt or that the school is watering down the training. The students are getting ripped off! They expect traditional standards, traditional skill development and they are getting fast food martial arts.

                A friend of mine once said sport training was important, but roots in the traditional essential. My goal is to focus my students on the traditional essentials, the fundamentals and build both my foundation to be strong as well as those of the students. Students should be focused on learning, working and polishing the basics and the instructor should be holding them back from their natural tendency to push to hard forwards and they should be working on ingraining and hard wiring basics to the students to ensure a proper base in training. This is traditional Karate training and proper progress in the art of Karate.