Thursday, November 30, 2006

Ken Williams

Aikido is a combination of many martial arts including ju-jitsu, Kendo and Karate. Most Budo (military arts) originated from a kind of physical fitness programme, developed into self- defence arts and then on to refined Budo.

A physical fitness programme may be compared to preventive medicine programmes and prophylactics. If we move our body adequately and if the movement agrees with the 'natural laws', we still have a well-conditioned body and will not be affected so easily by disease. When we consider various physical fitness programmes we will soon discover the ideal of Aikido.

The Background of Aikido

Aikido is a scientific form of self-defence created over fifty years ago by Master M. Uyeshiba, who is still practising at the age of eighty-six at the world centre of the fighting art - the Aikikai, Tokyo, Japan. Aikido was a secret known only to a relatively few privileged Japanese up until as recently as 1948. The requirements to gain entrance into the inner chambers of the Aikido gymnasium and to learn Aikido's art and philosophy were many including at least two recommendations from well-known, respected citizens of Japan.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Your original purpose was to master karate. To accomplish this you must persevere to overcome every obstacle. Some students become so absorbed that they dream of little else but karate even during their sleep. Others, however, soon forget their original zeal. It is a pity to forget or lose sight of the essence and depth of karate-do while attending to the details. Those who have the patience or imagination to keep on to the end win the fruits of life itself.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

if surrounded by real enemies. And you must polish each technique that you learn until it becomes a natural reflex - only then are you ready to move on to another technique. When you really know a technique you will discover for yourself its connection with other techniques. You will thus gradually come to master a series of techniques. Should you, on the other hand, be in too much of a hurry to move on before fully understanding the techniques that you study, these techniques will seem to lack coherence.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

The relationship between instructor and pupil is to a large extent telepathic - particularly during the advanced levels of training.


Sometimes you will be bored by your training, tired of practising techniques 'in the air'
'ad infinitum'. This is inevitable and you must simply accept that you're going to be bored. But at the same time you must hold nothing back. You must punch and kick 'in the air' exactly as

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

17. The Essence of Mastery

It is often very difficult, perhaps impossible, to know which instructor or school of karate is right for you until your training is under way. When choosing fruit, you may want an apple to help if you have indigestion; a banana because it's good for stamina; or perhaps an orange if you have a cold, because it contains vitamin C. Concerning tastes, however, all we can say is that there's no accounting for them - and the same might be said of instructors or schools of karate. What really is important is that, having chosen an instructor, you should trust and respect him wholeheartedly and unselfconsciously. Your aim should be his own high level of attainment. The moment you begin to doubt his attainment you will cease to make progress under him and would do better to give up karate or change to another school.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

There are less common forms of 'tameshiwari'. A plank or board may be thrown into the air then broken with a kick or a punch as it falls. This demonstrates the performer's speed and precise timing.

To demonstrate how the balance of the body and focus of strength can be transferred, four planks may be placed in front of, behind, and left and right of the performer. These must be broken in a continuous flow of movement.

There is something else, however, which it is most important for the serious student to prove to himself: that through dedicated training a human being can sometimes achieve the seemingly impossible!

Monday, November 20, 2006

Comment on Wood Breaking

You must get into the habit of thinking only in terms of victory, whatever aspect of your life is under review. You can practise winning in daydreams. It should finally be impossible for you to imagine not winning, even when you dream in your sleep at It's perhaps appropriate that we should reserve a short chapter near the end of this section for the aspect of karate that so many people think is karate!

Although not so important as these people think, 'tameshiwari' is not practised purely as exhibitionism. It provides the more serious student with additional indications of the progress he's making. It helps us appreciate how powerful and effective a given attack is when it is not withdrawn short of impact, as it must be when the target is part of a fellow-student's anatomy.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Confidence and skill - these are probably of equal importance in karate contest. Most of the foregoing matter has been concerned with methods of acquiring the latter, which is more easily explained. About the former, I can say this much in addition to what has been said about breath-control: confidence must become as much a habit as the correct way to stop a kick.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Remember to be aware of (but again without concentrating on) the rhythm of your opponent's breathing, this will reveal his physical and psychological condition and it also can be an indication of when you should attack. When his lungs are empty and he's just starting to take an in-breath his reactions will be slower and his muscles less responsive.

Control your own breathing - keep the in-breath and out-breath equal in emphasis and smooth - and you will not only give your opponent a discouraging impression of imperturbable confidence, but will actually increase your confidence.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Whenever possible, when your opponent attacks you should move in on him. This doubles the power of your own counterattack and gives your opponent half the time in which to change his tactics. However, it does require both boldness and skill. If your timing is less than perfect you stand a good chance of getting hurt. And, of course, if you are injured from moving in on an attack you will lose the point!

With regard to your opponent's tactics, it is essential to understand his psychology and not be misled by superficial movements. No movement must escape your notice, but you should interpret correctly the intention behind it. This is, of course, more easily said than done, but it helps if you observe your opponent 'peripherally' - that is to say without ever focusing on any one detail. Although your eyes will be directed toward his eyes, you must actually be equally aware all the time of his body as a whole. His eyes, however, are important. They will often reflect his intentions, for which reason your own eyes should be kept half-closed and your expression unstrained.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Contest Hints

The two most important aspects of karate for contest are timing and distance. You must react the moment you see an opening and be close enough, given the maximum speed of which you are capable, to get the attack in before the gap is closed or the opponent can move out of distance.

Of course, getting an attack in successfully when your opponent is just waiting and on his guard is very difficult. You may put him off his guard by relaxing - or, rather by appearing to relax - or else by giving a really strong 'kiai'. Or you may feint an attack, say to draw your opponent's attention down to his groin or his legs, and then attack to the face. Alternatively, you may simply wait for your opponent to attack first, taking advantage of any opening this may create in his defences, before or after parrying his attack, or better still you may invite him to attack by deliberately leaving an opening in your own defences. In this last case you should be able to anticipate his attack and therefore the opening or openings likely to be offered you.

Monday, November 13, 2006

In spite of these precautions, free sparring does have elements of genuine competition and is gaining wide popularity as a spectator sport in Japan and elsewhere. Enormous suspense is created by the 'battle of minds' that typically precede a physical attack, and this latter is so swift, and the technique that wins the point so convincing, that the imagination is easily satisfied as to what the outcome might have been were the rules less civilized.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Of course,

at this stage there would be danger of serious injury if a vital point were struck with a focused attack. But the ability to focus even powerful techniques a fraction of an inch short of contact is one of the measures of proficiency in karate. The rules forbid any actual contact being made by an attack, and also any such auxiliary action as stamping the instep strongly enough to cause injury.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Note that it is very important to practise all the forms of basic sparring with full spirit. As the attack is predetermined, the defender should be able to cope with it. Therefore, the attacker should try his hardest to 'get through'. The counter-attack, on the other hand, must never make contact, because the first attacker must make no attempt to resist it. He offers himself as a target.

Jiyu-kumite (free-style sparring). This is the most advanced form of sparring. Beginners are not encouraged to practise it, not so much because it is dangerous because beginners haven't really the power or the technique to attack dangerously, but because it can impede the development of power and technique. Faced with an opponent, the beginner will forget all the basic training he has so far learned. At a later stage, however, it is the most realistic application possible of the skill he has acquired.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

immediately

parried and countered by the defender, also with a 'kiai'. After the final counter, in both the one-step and five-step forms, the participants are 'frozen' for a few moments with the fists extended.

Jiyu-ippon kumite (free one-step sparring) is the next step towards free-sparring. Both the attack and the defense are again pre-determined, but this time each participant assumes a ready position and moves around, the attacker looking for an opening and making the correct distance preparatory to his attack. The defender must be ready for the attack at every moment. A variation of the free one-step sparring which is even closer to the free-style proper is to predetermine only who should attack and who defend. Again, however, only one attack should be used. In free one- step sparring the participants do not 'freeze' after the counter but immediately resume ready positions.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Kihon-kumite

(basic sparring). In this kind of sparring, the attack and the target are both predetermined, the participants facing each other from a fixed distance and taking turns to attack and defend. Commonly, beginners will practise both one-step and five-step basic sparring. To begin either kind, the attacker steps back into zenkutsu-dachi (gedan-barai) while the defender waits in hachiji-dachi. In five-step sparring, the attacker announces whether the attacks are to be to the face (jodan) or stomach (chudan) and then takes five steps forward, attacking with each step. His partner takes five steps backward, parrying each attack and countering with a 'kiai' after the fifth and final attack. One-step sparring is similar, but only one attack is made which is

Monday, November 06, 2006

3. Sparring

Basic sparring (kihon kumite) was first introduced into karate in the 1920s by Gichin Funakoshi. It was made possible by the contact of karate with the ethics of Japanese martial arts, which stress mutual trust between opponents. Gradually, basic sparring was developed until free style sparring and finally contest became possible. The modern student, in his own personal development, follows the same path from five- and one-step basic sparring to competition. All forms of sparring begin and end with a standing bow to one's partner.

Friday, November 03, 2006

A kata is a set of predetermined defences and attacks against four or eight imaginary opponents who approach from various directions. Each set follows a fixed course, which may be a straight line or a letter 'T' or 'H' or some more complex figure. However, the starting point should always coincide with the finishing point. If it doesn't, there must have been some mistake in distancing or direction, and it is important to take great pains to determine where the mistake was made and eradicate it on the next repetition.

One's aim in practising a kata is always to attain technical perfection. Every detail must be attended to. The stances and postures should be suitable for text-book illustrations. Muscles and breathing must at all times be controlled. Finally, the kata must be felt as a rhythmic and organic unit, not as an arbitrary sequence of independent techniques.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

12. The 'Katas'

There are something like fifty different katas or formal exercises in karate, but all are based on elements contained within the five basic 'heian' katas and three 'tekki' katas.

In the early days of karate, when sparring with partners was considered dangerous because no one had thought of focusing attacks short of contact, katas afforded the most realistic training possible. It is still an advantage that they enable one to practise alone. Another great advantage is that they force one to use, and co-ordinate, a wide variety of techniques and manoeuvres. If one practised only sparring, there would be a tendency to narrow one's repertoire down to a few favourite 'tricks'.