Baptizing Kyudo

 I love practicing Japanese martial arts. My oldest love is shotokan karate. I began my shotokan voyage in 1977 in Madison, Wisconsin. At fifth dan, I feel like I'm just beginning to understand kihon.

Next came batto-do. Though I dabbled in kobudo, mastering, and understanding all those weapons seemed overwhelming. Batto-do, the art of the drawn sword, seemed like the right path for me, and I started that journey in 2017 in Tucson, Arizona.

I also took a few kyudo lessons when we lived in Tucson, Arizona. Like other Japanese arts, it is stylized and formal. I did archery for years with a 70 lb pull English longbow. Instinctive shooting means you pull back the arrow and let it fly immediately. No aiming, no holding, no exhalation, just let it go. 

Kyudo has hassetsu, the eight individual stages of drawing and shooting an arrow (ya) with a yumi bow.

I've never internalized the zen philosophy that permeates many Japanese martial arts. The Roman Catholic faith is so full of meaning and superior in every way to zen emptiness, if you'll permit a little Catholic chauvinism. While I enjoy reading Funikoshi's 20 Precepts and Karate-Do My Way of Life, the Hagakuri, Musashi's Book of Five Rings, and the Bubishi, I choose not to internalize or adapt zen's influence. 

In kyudo, zen insists that the objective is to replace the desire to hit the target by not thinking about hitting the target. What does that even mean? The point of shooting an arrow is to put it right where you want it to go. In most cases, in a bull's eye or equivalent. Of course the object of kyudo is to hit that target straight on. Why else pull back an arrow? 

Over the next few posts, I plan to replace zen with Catholic insights, images, and comparisons as I attempt to teach myself the hassetsu of kyudo. Yes, a teacher is necessary to learn such a complex and challenging martial art, but there are none available to me right now. Besides, I am myself a teacher. 

Step One: Ashibumi (stance, foot position). Stand perpendicular to the target with toes in a line pointed to the middle of the target. Feet should be like in shiku dachi with about a 60 degree angle pointing out, spaced about half the archer's own height, or the length of one arrow. In my case, this would be about 105 cm. In other words, get grounded well so your base supports what the arms, legs, hands, back, head, eyes, lungs, heart, and chest are about to do. This is like grounding your faith in Scripture, especially the Gospels. Jesus is not being obscure in the New Testament. He's laying it all out. Love God, love your neighbor as yourself, take up your cross, follow Him. Make a good, strong stance. Get ready. 

Ji'in and Anan

I am teaching myself the orphan kata, Ji'in. It is not usually included in the 25 shotokan kata canon. It is not in the Best Karate series or in Sugiyama Sensei's 25 Shotokan Kata. It's a lot like Jion, one of the Sentei Katas, and has a similar starting move to Jitte. I love training Jion and Jitte, so Ji'in will make a nice addition to kata repertoire.

I also want to learn the Shitoryu Kata, Anan. It has some really interesting movements like palm strikes and shiko dachi stances. 

Image taken from Kevin Watson's YouTube Channel

LDK = Loose, Drop-y, Kime

In today's training I did two repetitions each of Nijyushiho, Chintei, Sochin, Meikyo, and Bassai Sho. One of the many gifts my karate teachers gave me was a mental approach, a method for self-training and continuous learning. It might have been Shunsaku Kogo Sensei years ago at the University of Wisconsin's Madison Japanese Karate Club where I started the shotokan journey in 1977, or it might have been Dick Schultz Sensei. Or, it could have been Chris Smaby Sensei or Joe Gonzalez Sensei. It might have been Hidetaka Nishiyama Sensei.

But the method I used in today's kata practice traces back to one or maybe all of them. With each repetition, the instructor would ask us to deliberately think about one aspect, such as breathing. During the next repetition, we were asked to think about low stance, the next repetition, looseness. But what I loved in the approach was the challenging invitation to bring what was emphasized from the previous repetition into the present performance. Thus, we were asked to build proper kata, step by step. That was challenging, especially around the fifth or sixth repetition.

Let's see, as I do this kata, I should remember to keep low, squeeze and expand, visualize opponents, kime during impact then relax into flow, spirit first technique second, keep eyes up, pointed where you want your body to go.

Today I only did two reps per kata. The first rep I tried to be loose and drop-y, sort of like Rick Hotton Sensei's emphasis on the "letting your weight just drop into the floor" feeling, and what Ohta Sensei looks like when he does kata. On the second repetition, I tried to bring the loose, drop-y feeling along into the performance of the movements with kime, focus. I love that that Japanese noun comes from the verb "kimeru," to decide. Today, I decided to put kime in ten kata.

Hiki-te

Iain Abernethy put out a video clip last week forcefully arguing that the pullback hand (hikite) in karate is primarily intended as a grabbing, pulling, and twisting motion, not for power generation.

He uses logic and authoritative sources to support his claim. Boxers do not use hikite in their punching. He sites Gichin Funakoshi's Karate-Do Kyohan: The Master Text. "Pulling-in Block (Hiki-te). This technique is a variation of the hooking block. In blocking the opponent's attacking fist, grasp the opponent's fist and attack while pulling him inward. His balance broken, the effectiveness of his attack is lost and that of the counter-attack enhanced. A pulling motion coupled with a twist is much more effective here than a straight pulling motion (Figure 34)." p. 22.

I remember a seminar in Wisconsin many years ago in which to demonstrate the power boost of hiki-te, the instructor asked us to imagine throwing a rock, first with non-throwing arm dangling at our side, then again using natural movement. The pull-back seemed natural.

I suspect that hiki-te is both. It does have grabbing and pulling application, Mr. Abernethy's main interest, but I think the physics of human motion also play a part as power booster. Besides, my three years of boxing training showed me quite clearly that the twist for both jabs and counter punches with the right hand involved twisting and pulling non-punching side of the body backward. Perhaps not straight back, but a counter-rotation nonetheless. 

Karate Accoutrements

Today, the last day of 2018, I tried something new in daily training. After kihon drills, I did ten heian kata, two each of the five, the first of which was done very slowly while holding ten pound dumb bells. The second repetition was done kata tempo. The purpose of holding weights was not so much to gain strength, except insofar as the campaign against sarcopenia continues, as to get an exaggerated feeling of what Mr. Rick Hotton encourages, the feeling of falling into technique, the feeling of dropping into blocks, punches, and kicks. The weights exaggerated that feeling, especially when I put them down to do the full speed kata. Drop, fall, move easily and swiftly into the next groove.

Weights help. So do jump ropes and exercise bands. In batto-do we use the suburito to exaggerate the feeling of which muscles contract and when to improve basic form. In boxing we use the heavy bag and the speed bag to improve the power and accuracy of punches.

In 2019 all the accoutrements of my exercise will be pointed to improving my shotokan and battodo. Jump rope work will increase stamina. Weights will preserve and extend muscle mass. Bands will build explosive power. The heavy bag will advance the power of punches and kicks. 

Karate Cart

I've trained every day this week, and for most of the weeks this year. What a difference daily training makes. I like Funakoshi Sensei's comparison of karate training to pushing a cart uphill. You can't stop or the cart will roll backwards. And another adage I like is there are really only two things in karate that matter; beginning and continuing.

Also, I trained with Bruce Green (8th dan, ISKF) Sensei's shotokan group at the Mapleton YMCA on Monday. It was wonderful to sweat together with so many dedicated karateka pursuing similar goals. The black belts got to do Tekki Nidan too, which is one of my favorite katas.

Hold On to Hojo Undo

During today's training, I did all "blocking" and striking techniques holding ten pound dumbbells. Naturally I worked the techniques slowly while holding weights to avoid injuring these aging elbow, shoulder, and wrist joints. It feels great after working for ten or fifteen minutes to put down the dumbbells and do the same techniques full speed. Such snap, such power, such speed.

The integration of hojo undo, or supplementary karate training, is also called kigu undo. Most karateka know about the centrality of makiwara board training, but few realize that hojo undo is a rich field of many strength and conditioning training opportunities.

When shotokan karate moved from Okinawa to Japan, some of the hojo undo training opportunities did not take root. However, this is part of our roots and we should work hojo undo routines and devices into our regular training. The difference it makes will become obvious very quickly. I worked Meikyo and Gojyushiho Sho today too. Love those kata.

Antidote to Jittery Jitte: Repetition and Realism

Today I did Jitte kata many times. Once the moves of a kata become ingrained I can relax into them. There is no thought of what comes next, only the "do-it-now" urgency of simulated combat. I never liked the bunkai that emphasized defense against bo. I am largely self-taught in kobudo but occasionally an advanced kobudoka friend will give me pointers on sai, nunchaku, and bo. Watching someone who knows how to fight with a bo makes you realize how pathetically unrealistic are most of the bunkai against bo among karateka for this kata, including Nakayama Sensei's exemplified in the clip above.

I prefer Didier Lupo's more practical applications portrayed below. His approach is more simulated combat than idealized combat. The next time you are tempted to imagine your Jitte is defense against a bo, resist. Stick to thinking of more practical applications like strikes, throws, and more strikes.

Bassai Sho Off

Today's training was fun. I worked about 25 minutes on kihon and then 25 minutes on kata and kumite. I train on my own so kumite work lacks the advantages of a partner, but I work the jyu ippon kumite drills that Yahara Sensei pioneered, working on that recoil-explode dynamic.

For kata I worked Tekki Nidan and Tekki Sandan. Then I worked Hangetsu, working that steal-step-block-kick-punch-block sequence. Love that.

And finally I worked my chosen kata for next rank exam, Bassai Sho. I try to model Ohta Sensei's example, pouring power and kime into every move. 

This morning I read the 10th and 11th Principle of Karate by Funakoshi Sensei. Now I turn to grading my AP Stats students their fall research projects. I bow slightly to the work ahead.

10. Put Karate into your everyday life and you will find its subtle secrets.
11. Karate is like boiling water, without heat, it returns to its tepid state.

These are great ideas. I now approach grading like facing an opponent. I need to prevail. And the constancy of training reminds me that karate, like life, is pushing a cart up hill. Don't stop.

The Bombur of Bassai Dai

Today I did the so-called "brown belt katas," including tekki shodan. During Bassai Dai I think of Bombur the fat dwarf stuck in a barrel fighting orcs in the river battle in Peter Jackson's film version of "The Desolation of Smaug." Big core, swinging techniques, breaking through defenses.

During Empi I think of alternating between high and low attacks. Strike high to the head, then drive in, unbalance foe and strike again. During Jion I think of power, lots of power.
While doing Tekki Shodan I think of being able to fight from the side, turning sharply and sending strikes from odd angles.

Do I love my karate, warts and all? Yes, I do. Funakoshi Sensei in the 20 Principles of Karate tells the Hagakure story of the Master Swordsman who said the point of training is to get better than you were yesterday, and tomorrow to be better than you were today. Another Sensei said only two things matter in karate; beginning and continuing.