Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Kyohan
The History and Fundamentals of Goju-Ryu Karate
by Yamaguchi Gogen "The Cat"
This article is an excerpt from the fourth Limited
Edition book, "Goju Ryu Karate Do Kyohan,"
written by Master Yamaguchi Gogen "The Cat."
Submitted by Masters Publications http://www.masterspub-mas.com/cat-books.htm
Karate-do was born combining kakutojutsu [fighting
martial arts], which had been studied in Okinawa 500
years ago, and kempo, which was introduced from China.
As you can see in many countries, fighting martial
arts have been handed down in each country. Some remain
a national sport and others remain just a sport among
others.
In Okinawa, for a long time, using any kinds of weapons
was prohibited because of a policy of prohibiting
weapons. For that reason, they had to invent toshukuken,
the way to fight without a weapon. This was especially
true in the beginning of the 17th century since it
was thought that fighting martial arts, referring
to Chinese kempo, was invented among Ryukyu [Okinawa]
samurai because their weapons were banned. In Okinawa,
before it was called karate, it had two names, one
was Naha-te and the other was Shuri-te.
These are the names of regions. The source of present
day styles are these two te. Naha-te was invented
by Tono [Higaonna] Kanryo Shihan, who went to Fuku-ken-sho
[also Fuken-sho, Fujian Province] in China and learned
Chinese kempo, which was combined with Naha-te and
named Shorei-ryu.
Shuri-te was represented by Matsumura Soken Shihan.
It has been separated as Matsu-Toukan-ryu, Shito-ryu,
and Wado-ryu. The history of Goju-ryu begins with
Miyagi Chojun Shihan who is an unparalleled saint
[fuseishutsu no kensei].
Miyagi Shihan was born in Meiji era 20 [1888] to
a famous house in Naha, Okinawa. He had practiced
karate since he was 14-years old with Tono Kanryo
Shihan. In Meiji 36 [1904], when he was 16 years old,
he was ordered to go to Fuku-ken-sho, China, and practiced
Chinese kempo.
In China, Miyagi received rough and strict training.
At the same time he studied theory from old books.
After he came back from China, he compared Chinese
kempo and Okinawa-te. Miyagi adopted his unique and
effective way of breathing, which he called ikibuki
[also ibuki], a way of preliminary exercise that is
necessary for mastering karate-do. Ikibuki is also
a supportive scientific exercise that is related to
the structure of the body and its movement.
After that, Miyagi continued studying and reorganized
both Chinese kempo and Okinawa-te's merits and added
his own ideas. This is how Goju-ryu was born. Goju-ryu's
name was extracted from the Bubishi, a Chinese documentary
record.
One of eight Kyo phrases in the Bubishi is called
"Hogoju." Because it means "the method
of absorbing and releasing hard [go] and soft [ju],"
the style was named Goju-ryu. Miyagi taught karate
at an Okinawan police training school, a Naha public
business school, an Okinawan teachers' school, and
an Okinawan health centre. In Showa 4 [1929], Miyagi
was invited by a karate club at Kyoto University and
by Kansai University, with honor, to become an advising
teacher. He was then invited to teach permanently
by Ritsumeikan University. Over time, Miyagi spread
his methods throughout Japan and took the initiative
of Goju-ryu.
By that time, the author of this book was recognized
by Miyagi Shihan and was left the responsibility of
spreading Miyagi's method of guidance, creating a
family of Goju-ryu, and organizing the All-Japan Karate-do
Goju Association. Moreover, Miyagi Shihan was invited
to Hawaii by a newspaper company, where he taught
karate for one year and contributed to Goju-ryu karate-do
in and outside of Japan. After World War II, Miyagi
went back to Okinawa and quietly worked for the civil
administration as a physical education coach. In October
of Showa 28 [1953], he passed away.
FUNDAMENTAL IDEA OF
GOJU-RYU KARATE-DO
Goju-ryu karate-do is composed of Yo [Yang], which
is positive; and In [Yin], which is negative, as the
ideographs [kanji] "Go" and "Ju"
indicate. This is why the fundamental idea is so unique
and has beauty. The eternal life of the universe deve
lops with positive and negative working together.
This is the same for the lives of humans. Life has
Yo and In, or Go and Ju, both sides for all our lives,
sometimes connected by becoming the will and harmony.
The ancients who chose karate as a means of fighting,
endured their strict and rough practice to protect
themselves and to win.
You can see that Goju-ryu is still keeping a primitive
form for actual fighting when you practice the Sanchin
and Tensho kata, which represent Go and Ju. In Sanchin,
you make the whole body, all the nerves, etc. extremely
tense and do not let your guard down even for a moment.
On the other hand, in Tensho, you do not show a gush
of fighting spirit, you keep it inside your body and
wait for a chance to use it. As a result, Tensho draws
a gentle curve and flows. The techniques of Goju-ryu
is its own unique method of breathing, which is called
ikibuki. The technique can be changed from Go to Ju
or Ju to Go; and while you move without distraction,
you still go along with the movements of the opponent.
If the opponent comes by Go, you respond with Ju and
restrain him. If the opponent comes by Ju, you use
Go and temper him. Ikibuki is the way of breathing
that controls conscious breathing from ordinary unconscious
breathing. You go with the movement and breathing
of the opponent and lead your physical condition to
most advantageous situation. It is useful for concentrating
your muscles and mind.
Goju-ryu has many postures that use the names of
animals, like the cat, dog, crane, tiger, and dragon.
In ikibuki, you imagine that a lion is roaring. When
animals stand ready to fight, they are on their guard
and all their power is concentrated for fighting.
That form does not have anxiety or fear. They are
just thinking about defeating the enemy. There is
no desire of self-gratification and no dishonesty.
You can say that they are desperate. The reason that
the colour of the old budo is very strong in modern
budo is that we see the importance in the forms and
the ikibuki of these animals. These aspects are the
original aspects of Go, however, it is not perfect
to emphasize the aspect of Go, in other words, the
height of the form. If a strife of Go is one side,
there has to be Ju on the other that avoids strife.
That is how character building can be accomplished
by Goju-ryu.
In the future, karate-do should not be a technique
to defeat humans. When it gives an edge to others
and yourself, then initially, it becomes a precept
as Do and practice becomes valuable. In modern times,
there is a method of instruction and a way of studying
karate-do as a sport, but I do not know how the readers
interpret karate-do, as a budo or just a sport in
common with the West. Certainly, you can think that
there is no difference from other sports when you
refer to the rules of the game. Also, the main purpose
of sports is to train the mind and body at the same
time. It applies to budo as well. Yet, it is difficult
to say that the many events that have been invented
in the West are simply sport and that only Japanese
ancient grappling games are called budo. Presently,
there are Olympic games and many kinds of events.
Judo, kendo, and karate-do have been introduced as
sports. Their sporting elements are emphasized and
introduced by many people and have also been reformed
to become a sport. Still, there will be a big difference
in the mental attitudes between people who practice
karate as a sport and as a budo. This is because our
society is formed into many organizations, sometimes
in a family, school, or workshop. In these societies,
the purpose of sports is to make healthy minds and
bodies, to bring together a sense of cooperation to
make a member of society adapt to this human society.
Moreover, it promotes the improvement of a member
of society. By having characteristics common to all
by sports, the events are used to encourage making
peace in the world.
What about budo? Budo did not originate in a peaceful
atmosphere. It was necessary to protect one's life
at the time, and to learn how to use budo as a weapon
and achieve one's responsibility as a warrior. It
was the warrior's duty to develop spirit. This rule
was established in the hierarchy. It was the theory
of a warrior to desire winning a war.
Modern budo is not the extension of ancient budo.
Right now, there is no hierarchy like in samurai society.
Society does not force you to destroy human life;
however, one of the conceptions of ancient budo is
skill inherited in modern budo. Before, warriors practiced
budo and respected it as Do, suffering, and facing
death. In spite of the fact that death is the destiny
of all human beings, the idea of death is dreadful.
I do not doubt that the ancient budo philosophy was
resisted by human beings facing death and yet also
the way of character building to learn to overcome
death. For a living thing, instead of knowing that
life is the most precious thing, death was the naught.
As a result of putting oneself in the naught, they
could ignore their fear of death.
In the ancient budo book, Hagakure, it is written
that budo is death. In these words, you can find the
spirit of budo, which is superior to death. In other
words, an object of the fear of death is neither others,
nor weapons -- it is oneself. As a result, it was
necessary to obtain a technique to protect oneself
and one had to have a strong spirit to correspond
to that. When one could overcome a conception of death,
there was an improvement of a human being as a samurai.
When it was developed, karate-do was used in place
of weapons and studied that way so that the spirit
of the samurai was needed at the beginning of its
conception to learn karate. Now there are rules, but
the techniques and elements have not changed.
The goal of many sports is competition; however,
there is a sense of entertainment or hobby. On the
other hand, karate is the fight against one's self
without having an object. In sports, records are saved
and defeating these records becomes the success. They
are introduced to many people as a means of character
building and harmonizing mankind, and they are kept.
In karate-do, there is nothing to be recorded. The
more superior is judged by the technique used. Now,
karate is the battle against one's self and a means
of the way of one's life not to defeat others or to
die. This solitary fight is to know one's own spirit
and the desire to the naught that is superior to the
limitation of the body. If one's aspiration is a formal
victory or defeat, that is just a stage of learning
techniques, not a faith of kyo or mu. As an author,
I also studied Yoga and Shinto to seek this faith.
I also trained myself to get closer to the strictness
and mystery of Do.
In conclusion, it is not necessary to be strong even
though you practice karate-do. You want to be stronger
than others because you compare your strength with
others. The object of karate-do is Do, not comparing
with someone else, and this Do will continue forever
and ever.
The Significance
of Kata
BEFORE YOU START KATA
(1) The Significance of Kata
Today, karate-do has become widespread not only in
Japan but also all over the world and competitions
are held in many places. Most of them are title matches
by a game of kumite. For that reason, the purpose
of practice is to win the competition, therefore,
most of the players emphasize practicing kumite. They
do not practice kata as much as is needed. I think
this is because karate has spread internationally
by turning to competition, like other sports, instead
of the unification of each karate ryu-ha. I feel that
this is very unfortunate.
While learning karate from the late Miyagi Chojun
Shihan when I was a student, it was Okinawan karate
itself. Therefore, all the practices were basics and
kata training; the practice of kata was very strict.
I had to express the fruit of effort by basics training
in kata. After that, I reformed many techniques that
are used in kata for kumite and when I started to
practice jiyu kumite, I could confirm that the Goju-ryu
kata are very theoretical for the actual fight.
Kata is the attitude of self-defense that you perform
with a presumed attack in mind as well as your defense
on a fixed embu-line, to protect yourself from a hypothetical
enemy with your body that is trained well by strict
practice. Which means you structure the attack from
the hypothetical enemy with a meaningful and effective
counterattack systematically. You perform individually
with the interpretation based defense and eon that
theory. Moreover, the purpose of Goju-ryu kata is
not only the practice of techniques but also the training
of the body (or gathering your internal thoughts),
as a result, you can say that kata is the "expression
of yourself when you learn karate-do."
You can learn kata wherever and whenever you want.
Anyone, old or young, men or women can learn at their
own pace. Especially girls and boys. Not only can
children learn the real meaning of self-defense, which
is the original purpose of kata, but it can also be
one of the methods to train their body. Still, the
structure of the acts of kata has the elements of
symmetry and balance so that the value of it (aesthetic
expression of body form) can be obtained.
Kata is composed of these elements:
1) The manner of Rei
2) The direction of embu-line
3) The combinations of techniques
4) The uses of attack, defense and postures
5) The strength and the speed of techniques
6) Kiai and Kihaku
7) Gathering one's thoughts
8) The strength and speed as whole kata
9) Introduction, development, turn and conclusion
10) How to breathe (Ikibuki)
11) The time of embu
THE ORIGIN OF KATA
When karate-do was called te in Okinawa, there was
neither an organization nor a ryu-ha at that time.
The practice of te had been accomplished secretly
in Naha and Shuri (which divide Okinawa in two). The
practice was very strict. It was not like the practice
you do in a team at the dojo, which most people do
now. The practice was done headed by a teacher with
a few students, or one-on-one training. The place
was sometimes in a room floored with tatami mats,
sometimes in a field or on the beach. Training was
always done in a natural environment while hiding
from others and in secret. For that reason, there
were no textbooks to hand down dealing with kata.
It was instructed by the ancients, body to body so
that the origins of many kata are unknown.
Currently, there are 60 types of kata from Naha and
Shuri; however, because the origins of Naha-te and
Shuri-te are different, the names and the way they
are done show a big difference. The person who systematically
structured kata for Naha-te is Higaonna Kanryo Shihan,
who was the shihan of Mr. Miyagi Chojun. For Shuri-te,
it was Matsumura Soshu Shihan. As I explained in,
"The History of Karate-do," Higaonna Kanryo
Shihan went to Fukuken-sho in China and learned Chinese
kempo. He put Naha-te and Chinese kempo together and
created the basic form of Sanchin and Tensho. Ikibuki
was invented by Miyagi Chojun Shihan, who inherited
the style from Higaonna Kanryo Shihan. When the breathing
method was taken into kata, the kata were improved.
After that, the kata Gekisai numbers 1 and 2 were
created to spread the kata of Goju-ryu.
Chinese names are used for Goju-ryu kata because
both Higaonna and Miyagi Chojun Shihan learned Chinese
kempo in China. Presently, the names of kata are written
in katakana [one of three Japanese syllabaries), however,
in this book, Sanchin and Tensho are written in kanji.
ABOUT EMBU-LINE
An embu-line is the fixed direction and angles of
the body when you perform kata or when you attack,
defend, and turn the body. There are eight basic directions:
front and back, left and right, oblique of front,
back, left, and right. For performing kata, embu-line
has to be structured in these eight directions in
a fixed order and you have to perform the prescribed
technique from a prescribed standing position on this
line. Each kata has a different embu-line.
THE METHOD OF
PRACTICE AND POINTS
TO PAY ATTENTION
When you perform kata, the most important thing is
your mental attitude. Kata is not a play. You have
to perform it seriously. It is easy to remember the
order of kata, but the essence is not only to have
performed the kata, but how you acted. For that reason,
you have to practice the basics, such as the standing
position, how to defend, how to thrust, and how to
kick every day.
When you remember the order of kata, you have to
practice the used techniques in kata individually
and repeatedly, then you can connect the techniques
you practice. When you are able to do this basic practice,
you have to think of the technique as kata and not
the individual techniques. You have to pay attention
to how long it takes, strength, and speed, so that
you can move and turn the body without waste.
The embu-line is fixed. You start from the starting
point and come back to the starting point. One way
to practice is to put a mark on the starting point
when you act. When dan [black-belt level] grades perform,
individuality appears in kata, but it is better not
to develop an extreme habit.
There is no end to the practice of kata. Even though
a person who has a high dan performs, the acts are
never perfect. The practice is unlimited because kata
is for improving yourself mentally and physically.
Yet the performance has to be improved in different
ways with each step as a beginner, whether you have
kyu [colored belt level] or dan, although you are
performing the same kata. Knowing a difficult kata
does not mean you have a high dan. In some foreign
countries, sometimes they evaluate a person by the
number of kata they know. I believe that it is not
the number of kata you know, but the substance of
the kata you have acquired.
The important things are:
1. How to bow
2. The posture
3. The placement of the eyes
4. Kiai, kihaku
When you perform kata without an opponent, you feel
like there is no meaning in the technique so that
the fist of seiken-tsuki or the tightness of the standing
position can be loosened. You should not think that
you are doing the attack or the defense by yourself,
you always have to think that you are defending against
an attacker.
And of course last, the secret of improving kata
is to repeat the practice since just the theory will
not help.
Gorei of Kata --
From Rei to Hajime
Usually you do kata by the gorei [commands] of a
person who has a higher kyu or dan than you. There
are two ways to gorei: One is to gorei in the beginning
and the end. The other is to gorei each technique,
by numbers. Especially, the latter is used for practice
of Fukyu-gata (it will be explained later). It is
used when you practice with many people, such as beginners.
However, in principle, the practices of techniques
are done without gorei. All the practice of kata is
done by starting the gorei of "rei," "mokuso,"
the name of the kata, "yoi," and "hajime"
by a leader. If there is no leader, you try to gorei
in your mind by yourself.
Rei, Standing at Attention.
Stand in musubi-dachi and put your hands down with
the fingers straight. The thumbs have to be bent from
the second joints inside. This is the posture of kiotsuke.
You have to release the power of the body. You bend
the upper part of the body by the gorei of "rei"
by a leader. The eyes have to be staring at the floor
two meters in front of you .
"Mokuso" is for calming your mind and gathering
your thoughts before you perform. You stand straight
and close your eyes lightly. Mokuso is different each
time. The leader will call gorei and the name of the
kata when he judges the performer's mind is calm.
(Usually it takes three breaths, or about ten seconds,
to be calm.)
When the leader calls "yoi," you have to
cross both hands in front of your body while you breathe
in; and then, while you are breathing out, bring both
fists to your sides as if you are tightening your
belt, then tighten both armpits like you are pushing
at the floor with your fists and put power in your
whole body. You open both heels to the outside and
when you breath out, bring them to heiko-dachi. This
posture has another name, jinno-dachi. It is the posture
before you get in ready posture (kamae). All the muscles
of your body have to be tensed. The placement of your
eyes is a little bit higher than the height of the
eyes.
The reason you cross both hands in front of your
body is to cover the groin area from a sudden attack;
at the same time, you show the opponent that you will
not attack suddenly. As in the etiquette of the samurai
in which they take off a katana from the waist and
change it to the right hand showing that no cowardly
act, such as slashing the opponent without notice,
will occur. From that meaning, the inside of the hand
that is crossed has to be your dominant arm.
The points to pay attention to when you are in yoi
posture:
1 ) Do not put the power on the shoulders.
2) Pull in your chin and put power in the abdominal
muscles; however, do not be stooped.
3) Straighten your back but do not stick out the abdomen.
Performing Kumite
BEFORE STARTING KUMITE
In kumite, you use all the basic techniques, movements,
and kata for actual attacks and defenses. There is
yakusoku kumite, in which the movements are performed
by the book; and jiyu-kumite, in which the movements
are performed freely.
In either instance, the practice will be changed
from a single practice to a practice with more than
one person so that there are many things you have
to pay attention to.
First of all, you have to choose the right opponent.
The first condition is, you should choose someone
who is the same level as you are, or preferably better
than you are. You can see that when you practice the
basics or movements of kata, it is helpful if you
have more than one person to practice with because
you can defend against many types of opponents.
The techniques and standing positions used in the
practice of kumite are the same as the practice of
basic techniques; however, in jiyu kumite, different
techniques or standing positions can be used. Yet,
the foundation has to be the extension of the basics.
Although you did very well in individual practices
and you have very good basics, having an opponent
in actual kumite is very difficult and you cannot
perform as you want. When you practice kumite, you
have to pay attention to the next points:
First, there has to be a certain distance. Even though
you have a strong attacking technique, if the distance
is too far, the attack can fail. Kumite is the combination
of attack and defense, therefore, a one-sided performance
is useless. The timing has to match the opponent's
movements. When you use techniques in attacks and
defenses in an actual fight, you have to have kime-waza
[timing] when you attack consciously. In the game,
this is the technique to gain the point. For the technique
to be effective, your mind will have to be enriched
and it appears outwardly in your kiai.
When you proceed with your techniques, speed is needed;
however, if you attack or change position continuously
and recklessly, you cannot make use of timing. For
that reason, after you perform kime-waza as zanshin,
you have to leave some place in your mind to enrich
your power.
Furthermore, to catch the opponent's movement in advance
and read his mind and therefore know which technique
he will use, you have to gaze into his eyes, which
is called "me-tsuke."
(1) Yakusoku-kumite
Yakusoku-kumite is the performing of movements against
an opponent structured by the basics with an opponent
by having the kind of techniques and the directions
arranged in advance. It is decided by how many techniques
the attacking side uses. It can be ippon-kumite [one-point
kumite], nihon-kumite [two-point kumite], or more.
The most basic techniques, which are standing, thrusting,
and catching techniques, are used. It follows the
basics, and both have the same standing position --
if the opponent has the right leg out in front, the
other has the right leg out in front as well, or if
the opponent thrusts with the right hand, the other
catches his hand with his right hand. In yakusoku-kumite,
the person who performs defense will use attacking
techniques at the end. On the other hand, there is
applied yakusoku kumite, in which the basic and applied
techniques are structured promisingly for use in an
actual fight. The number of techniques used are not
limited in applied yakusoku-kumite; therefore, the
number of structures are uncountable. Still, this
is promised kumite and is usually performed by two
people; however, there are practices in which three,
four, or even more people perform what is called applied
kumite . When applied kumite is practiced by many
people, depending on how many are involved, the person
on the opposite side will be indicated.
(2) Jiyu-Kumite
Jiyu-kumite refers to the practice using all the
techniques you have learned until now against an opponent.
You cannot be off your guard even a second. This is
a very serious training method. If you do it for enjoyment,
you can get injured. Jiyu-kumite is not designed for
deciding victory or defeat. It is the practice of
offense and defense with the development of the techniques.
You can not improve if you always think about victory.
As a matter of fact, you should not excite (or stimulate)
your opponent more than needed when you practice kumite.
You have to respect any opponent you have when you
practice.
In kumite, it is forbidden to attack your opponent
with direct contact. As a principle, any technique
you use will have to be stopped before it connects.
However, when you are in defense, you have to practice
as if you are actually being attacked. Any injuries
in kumite are usually because of carelessness. Especially
common is the injury of fingers when the fist is opened.
The fist needs to be firmly closed. Practicing using
an open hand should be restricted until you improve
enough.
There are eight kyo to take advantage of when you
attack:
1 ) Instantaneous kyo. Right before the opponent changes
to the next movement
2) Right after the opponent has made a movement that
was not effective.
3) When the opponent lacks harmony between the techniques
used and his mind, during both attack and defense.
4) When the opponent's mind is dispersed and is not
really ready.
5) When the opponent loses his balance when he makes
a movement.
6) Right before the opponent breathes in deeply.
7) When the opponent is confused because of your movement.
8) When the opponent is daunted by your tactics or
ability.
The five unguarded moments you have to prevent when
you are in defense:
1) The unguarded moment in the mind.
2) The unguarded moment in the spirit
3) The unguarded moment in the technique.
4) The unguarded moment in the appearance.
5) The unguarded moment in the act. (The same as in
normal life, if you behave badly, you have to take
responsibility for your actions.) If you use techniques
that do not follow the rule, that is faulty.
(3) Yakusoku-Kumite by More Than Two People
Usually, yakusoku-kumite is done by two people. One
does the attack and the other the defense. Practice
by repeating the attacks and defenses as the preceding
stage of jiyu-kumite and shiai-kumite. I especially
recommend to students who have a black belt, or who
are more than third-dan, to practice yakusoku-kumite
against two or three opponents, besides the one-on-one
practices. Jiyu-kumite and shiai-kumite are both practiced
by two people. For that reason, some people interpret
that the practice against three or four people is
the art of self-defense, which is unreasonably emphasized
in karate.
However, the purpose of practicing is to build up
your strength in kumite, and when you have many opponents,
extreme reflexes are needed; therefore, you will improve
changing your positions and the continuous techniques
of uke, tsuki technically and mentally.
Practicing is not done to win against many opponents,
it is to grasp the opponents' movements quickly and
precisely and for yourself to gain the advantage.
Moreover, even though most of these techniques are
simple ones, you have to try hard to learn that these
techniques can be useful and will eventually be performed
unconsciously by repeating them over and over. To
learn that when you have many opponents around you,
that these opponents will take the most advantageous
place and that you will be in the middle, a disadvantageous
situation, will allow you to think and move with all
your strength.
(4) Kumite of Self-Defense for Women
Karate-do is spreading rapidly among men. As yet,
there are not many women who want to learn karate-do.
However, recently, some women who are interested in
karate-do, can be found here and there practicing
in dojo. Few women are practicing karate with men,
especially in foreign countries. There are classes
just for women and more women are becoming interested
in karate-do.
Since ancient times, the practice of karate-do was
very strict and designed for fighting. For that reason,
karate had unrelated techniques for women. However,
as the eras went by, karate-do modernized and now,
it is thought that through practicing kata many people
start learning karate as a self-defense. When women
want to learn karate-do, the purpose is for self-defense
as explained above. The discipline acquired during
the practice, character building through courtesy,
and the increased body strength are all beneficial.
From ancient times on, the techniques that are used
for karate are adopted to the dance of the East and
the dance of Okinawa. In dance, the meaning of the
dance and the movements of the hands and legs of karate
are taken in an aesthetic sense. Especially, the harmony
of the systematic movements in a kata is worth performing
without question, by both men and women. Compared
to the powerful performances by men, the elegant performances
by women can be equated to a dance. It is no exaggeration
if I say there are elements of the stillness you can
see in Noh (Japanese ancient dance) in the movements
of karate, as well as the rhythm you can see in modern
dance and the delicate balance of Thai dance.
How To Practice for Women
Primarily, it was said that the women were weak and
the violent movements that men do was moderate among
women. Now, as you can see in the Olympics, women
who train well exceed the average man. For that reason,
it is not unnatural for women to practice karate as
men do; however, although women have become stronger,
there is a limit for women who fight in karate without
the benefit of any equipment.
It is important for women to get stronger mentally
before they get physical strength. In modern society,
it is not allowed to put up with the idea that you
are a woman. In the work place, the responsibility
must be the same as well. Even though women are ladylike
and cheerful in the modern day, moderation, courtesy,
and endurance are asked for. The training of the body
and mind are not only for men. The practice of the
basics of karate and the movements and discipline
are needed. Still, although women do vigorous exercises,
they will not develop the strength of men.
In the practice of kata, you have to realize the
importance of basics and have to remember them precisely.
It is important to practice self-defense techniques
with the attitude of passiveness. It is not the practice
to twist men around your finger. There are many ways
to defend yourself. It is how you judge to defend
yourself when the danger comes suddenly that is important,
you have to cope with the situation calmly without
panicking.
There is a proverb that says: "Discretion is
the better part of valor." Self-defense techniques
for women is as the proverb says.
In the explanation of the techniques, they appear
from the uke to the kime-waza, but if you have composure
to throw down the opponent, it is better to run away
rather than fight. Half-confidence is a big mistake.
The important thing is not to go to a dangerous place,
and avoid these troubles to begin with.
----------------------------------------------------
This is the fourth book in the Limited Edition series
translated from Japanese into English and published
by Masters Publication; the first was "To-Te
Jitsu" by Funakoshi Gichin, followed by "Okinawan
Kempo" by Motobu Choki and "Wado Ryu Karate"
by Otsuka Hiroki.
For more information contact:
Mastersline/Rising Sun Video Productions
310-477-7604
fx 310-383-3135
http://www.masterspub-mas.com/
You can also contact Masters via email at: donrw@earthlink.net
Let
Us Know Your Comments & Opinions On This Article
About the Author:
Pat Christi, MA, is a Buffalo, NY, teacher, writer
and educator. He is an Assistant Instructor to Sensei
Mike Hawley in Wadokai Aikido (Roy Suenaka Sensei's
aikido organization) at the Kintora dojo in Buffalo.
He has also studied Karate, Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Tae
Kwon Do and Kickboxing.
back
to top
home
| about
us | magazine
| learning
| connections
| estore
|