Virginia Dojo - Alexandria Karate Dojo Insight of a Karate 9th Dan

Sensei Iha's Self Defense Karate Training Tips

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 02:57:54 GMT

Grand Master Seikichi Iha, 10th Dan, Shorin Ryu Beikoku Shidokan Karate Do, Provides Self Defense Karate Training Tips

Proper kata, makiwara, and partner practice are at the heart of Okinawan Shorin Ryu Karate.

When doing kata on your own, one must balance between complete exhaustion and a lack of outpower. Sensei says this balance is found in your own body only if you train to complete exhaustion much of the time.

He recalled that in his younger days in Okinawa, he and his friends would figure out different ways to bring their bodies to exhaustion. For example, they would use isometrics and see who could bring themselves to sweat first. Or they would assume various stances and push against immovable objects and see who could go longest while giving full outpower. Sometimes they would see who could break the makiwara or lift the heaviest weight. Sensei gave these examples to illustrate the point that we only grow when we put ourselves in situations where we max out regularly. What weight lifter never adds weight to the bar?

He says Kata is only kata if it is done like a spirit, not a marathon. While it’s true that at times we have to go slower to refine the technique, we must not stop there but rather understand that it is a martial technique that requires a certain balance, speed, and outpower as its end. This feeling in kata is called “ijiki”. Ijiki is this lively action that gives onlookers a sense of awe, that they can see that you are visualizing fighting when you move in kataIjiki combines breath control and a balanced and rotating center (jiku) through correct posture (head always over center) and lower abdominal awareness (moderate pushing out from below the belly button). This, combined with the connection of the elbows to the body, allows for outpower to come from the hips and spine and not the shoulder and tricep. This centrifugal force is called “enshin ryoku”. Punches and kicks are whipped out rather than pushed out.

The Kata's Kiai should be jarring and off-setting. It is the audible manifestation of your spirit.

Partner work is never about competition. After a few moves a person’s skill is very apparent. Partner work demonstrates your ability to control yourself and harmonize with your partner. This difficult ability is “kakehiki”. Sensei says it is easy to sing a solo but much harder to harmonize.

When students demonstrate strikes on the bag and board, distance and recoil control are important. This is only learned by doing it on a regular basis, but since students are using a bag and board that they are often unfamiliar with at Hombu Doo they should understand how heavy and stiff the objects are before they strike it.

Sensei says the ability to put your power into someone else is primarily developed by makiwara. It is your other sensei.

Sensei Iha's Self Defense Karate Guidelines

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 02:19:58 GMT

Sensei Iha Taught Me to Focus on Self Defense

Sensei Iha said most people only need to learn percussion-type karate focusing on the punch-kick-blocks taught in most martial arts schools for sport or self-defense karate. When Sensei learned I was teaching First Responders, Security & Military personnel while stationed overseas he started teaching me more self defense-focused applications based on the brief summary below.

Virginia Dojo Self Defense Karate Guidelines

Perform Your Kata as a Fight
No Dancing in Your Pajamas!

1. Break out of the Punch-Kick-Block Paradigm with
Hidden Hand Applications:

Hikite: What is in your Pulling Hand?
Punch/Kick = Block = Throw = Punch/Kick
Kata Turns are Grappling Throws, Breaks, or Dislocations
No Foot Spins in Self Defense! Try a fancy kata competition-winning 270 degree spin while grappling and your opponent will fall on top of you. (see Fo-Hi-Ha below)

2. Fo-hi-ha: move your Base Foot first, then
move or thrust your Hip, then
complete the application by using your Hands. All movement performed together in rapid unison as if a tidal wave.

3. Force = Mass X Acceleration (Newton's 2nd Law)
Focus on Speed Not Muscle!
Sensei related that his instructor, Katsuya Miyahira, told him he'd only do true karate when he reached 70 years old when his muscle strength would mostly abandon him and he'd focus on performing technique rather than using muscles. Avoid waiting until you are 70. You will be amazed when you focus on performing applications with technique only.

4. Kata counts may be Combined for Effective Application or Discover Applications by doing Kata with no count.
If your hikete has a hand, arm, leg, or head in it, what could you be doing with your other arm and legs?

Sensei Iha said, "Okinawan Kata is like an onion"

Sun, 20 Oct 2024 01:32:35 GMT

The more you peel onion layers back, the more you find.

Sensei's comment that Shorin Ryu Shidokan "Kata is like an onion" has taken me decades to understand. If it confuses you don't worry. We'll work on these concepts so you understand them.

Now looking back on Sensei's initial teachings of these three levels of Shorin Ryu Karate kata it all makes sense. Well, the concepts make sense. I still need to work on the applications.

I understand better what Sensei Iha meant when he said that Shorin Ryu Karate kata was like an onion. As you peel back layers you would discover something new.

- I trained in Judo before meeting Sensei Iha. He enjoyed practicing the throws found in kata on me. He would often perform up to 10 different throws on me from the same middle punch. When he found a throw that didn't work as well as he expected, he would modify his repsonse to improve it. I discovered that most on-lookers only saw that he was throwing me, not the various applications he was using to do so.

- In 1989 while visiting Sensei Iha while on home-leave from an assignment in Chile he discovered I was teaching karate to the US Marines, and others, who needed/used karate for self defense and life preservation. He said everyone learns the punch, kick & block basics in karate kata and that is all that most people need.

He said, “Practice as if there are no blocks in kata! ” What! He said, "Now do kata with no blocks and you will find the self defense applications!" Then he did soto uke on my punching arm elbow while trapping my punch in hikete. He then trapped my punching arm in hikete and performed uchi uke (cross block) followed by gedan barai (down block) from Kihon Kata 2. Each time I thought he’d snap my arm. We all marveled whenever he showed us these moves over and over on videos, at NTS, at seminars, etc. He showed us but we never trained in them. Suddenly, he was showing me how to use the blocking arm as the attacking arm for self defense.

For the next 8 years, I focused on modifying my kata block applications to strikes. I think I may have finally completed that task to modify most all kata blocks into strikes/attacks about 40 years later.

- In 1997 in preparation for my assignment to Italy, and eventually Austria, he said now do kata with no punches, kicks, or blocks . I was visibly confused by this concept. So he grabbed me with both hands and threw me to the ground with the first turn and soto uke block of kihon kata 4.

As I stood up, he grabbed me and did it again, but I contentedly resisted falling this time so he stepped forward and used the hikete motion to trap my arm and used the punching motion as a palm heel on my shoulder to throw me.

Then we started again, I smugly resisted falling the first two moves. I thought I had him! He then hooked his arm under mine and did the 180 degree turn nearly separating my arm from my body and then stepped forward and threw me with a punching motion. He pointed out that this grappling/throwing moves only when you turn your base foot and place it in position first, then turn your hips, then hands. No spin. “See?”, he said, “now you do.”

- During the first NTS and seminars he used to focus on first planting the base foot, usually the back foot, for the Kihon and Pinan katas . As more sport karate focused dojos increased his focus on "no spinning turns" greatly diminished. At one seminar, I watched as students focused on tournaments questioned him over and over about the 270-degree spin in Kihon and Pinan katas. They would demonstrate their spin and ask him, "should I do it this way, or this way?" Sensei Iha was clearly uninterested. Finally, Sensei said, “pretty good” and we started the seminar again.

As the seminar began again, I performed the spinning turn in Kihon Kata 4 others had just demonstrated to him. He asked, “why you do?” I said you just told them. He said, “That for them. Not for you!” I was stunned and confused. It took me forever to realize that he was teaching me effective self defense karate because of my students' needs while he was teaching sport karate or the punch-kick-block karate to others. Many times he would show or demonstrate kata moves or applications and then tell me, "not you!" I didn't understand.

Being suck a quick learner, It only took me a decade or so, to realize that there was a big difference between Iha's self defense focused karate he was teaching me (because of my students) and sport karate. Setting your base foot, moving your hip, and then your hands (Fo-Hi-Ha) once again rises to the top for self defense because if you grapple with sport karate spinning moves you wind up on the ground or very off balance. It looks pretty to win a trophy, yet it doesn't work for self defense grappling.

So I have spent 20+ years trying to understand how to apply each move in kata for grappling. I understand now how Kata is compared to stand up jiu jitsu.

Streetfighters always laugh at karate and martial arts focus on kicking and punching (dancing in white pajamas, they say) because in a fight you might get only one chance for a kick or punch and then you are grappling by pulling, pushing, grabbing, and throwing. Yet focusing on, and practicing Fo-Hi-Ha movements with partners makes your karate self defense effective.

I often wonder what Sensei might have shown me if I had another overseas assignment!