Many martial arts utilize tactile sensitivity (the ability to respond to what your opponent is doing based on touch), and train it with a wide variety of drills. Most people think of Chinese martial arts and their push hands, sticky hands, and listening hands drills, while some also think of Okinawan karate’s kakie and kakidi (hooking hands) drills. As you […]
In one of the study groups I am a part of, the nami-gaeshi (returning wave) movements from Naihanchi was brought up as one that doesn’t often have applications shown for it. This movement is also present in some versions of Passai, Kusanku, Seisan, and more! How could something so common and distinctive have no practical application? Well, it does have […]
A childrens’ BJJ competition In many martial arts schools, gyms, and dojo, there is a competitive environment. This is seen as a way to promote self-improvement through “healthy competition.” In particular, this idea manifests itself in whatever form of “sparring” that school/gym/dojo participates in–every (or almost every) sparring session is set up exactly like it would be for a competition, […]
This weekend, I recorded a few kata application videos. The first one is an application for the last few movements in our Passai Sho kata, also called Itosu Passai. In the kata, you perform a yama-tsuki (mountain thrust), followed by a turn and a sukui-uke (scooping receiver). This movement almost perfectly matches a variation of tai otoshi (body drop throw) […]
Here is a collection of video clips from Ulf Karlsson Sensei’s KishimotoDi seminar at our dojo last month. You can see some of the material he taught, most of which comes from his system’s version of the kata Naihanchi.
Tuidi in MMA – Shoulder Wrench Chibana Chosin performing the shoulder wrench in Naihanchi Sandan I make no secret about my dislike of UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jon Jones. He is arrogant, condescending, disrespectful, and likes to skirt the edges of the Unified Rules of MMA. That said, he seems to be the most frequent user of old-school karate techniques. […]
Some of our Youth Karate Students Lately, I have come across a few discussions online about what karate material is appropriate to teach to children. From what I have seen, this discussion is always a Catch-22 situation. If you say that you teach effective techniques to children, then a bunch of people jump on you, saying that it’s too dangerous […]
Author’s Note: This essay is one that I wrote in 2012 as a poetic way of expressing my philosophy on the development of karateka over time. It has been published on other websites, before, but they have since been taken down, and I thought it might be valuable to re-publish it on my own site. Karate training can be very […]
Me in KishimotoDi Uniform Before he left Phoenix, Ulf Karlsson Sensei gifted me a keikogi (training uniform) for KishimotoDi. This uniform consists of a kendo uwagi (jacket) embroidered with the kanji for KishimotoDi, and a black, Okinawan-style, narrow-legged hakama called a no-bakama (field hakama). The older style no-bakama do not have a reinforced back plate, but this modern reproduction does, […]
KishimotoDi has a total of four kata; Naihanchi, Nidanbu, Passai, and Kusanku. The foundation of the system is Naihanchi, which is not unusual for karate that comes from Shuri-Te/SuiDi. All of the other kata build on the material and methods in Naihanchi, so unless you get good at Naihanchi and its applications, the other kata won’t make sense. I find […]
Higa Seitoku KishimotoDi is the name given by students at the Bugeikan to the system of Shuri-Te (Sui-Di, in the Okinawan dialect) that was passed down from Tode Sakugawa by Bushi Tachimura, who taught it to Kishimoto Soko, who taught it to Higa Seitoku, the founder of the Bugeikan. Although it shares a common ancestor with the systems we now […]
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