Kakedameshi Seminar in Review Recently updated !
A review and testimonials of my recent seminar, Kakedameshi: The Original Kumite of Karate, hosted by Shorei Ryu Karate Studios of Bradley, IL.
kumite
Seminar Announcement – Kakedameshi: The Original Kumite of Karate
Learn how to spar using your kata through the practice of kakedameshi, the original kumite of karate!
Are Karate Drills Bad?
Drills are a hallmark of martial arts training, the world over, regardless of art or style, and they come in many different forms, with different intentions. In general, though, how do we define what a “drill” is, and how do we know if they are any good?
Preemptive Hand Trapping
Hand trapping is an aspect of Okinawan karate that has been lost in many dojo. So many, in fact, that it is not uncommon for karateka to comment on videos of Okinawan trapping techniques with things like “looks like Wing Chun”–they simply can’t believe that it is a native aspect of karate! Of course, if you search “hand trapping” on […]
Punching: To Center, or Not to Center?
Centered Punch by Hironishi Motonobu (L), Off-Centered Punch by Funakoshi Gichin (R) When practicing kihon (basics)–which carries over into kata practice–there tend to be two schools of thought on where to aim punches. One says that you should aim to the center, as if your opponent were standing directly in front of you, so that you can work on your […]
Stepping on Toes
Recently, there was a UFC event here in Phoenix, which was headlined by a very competitive fight between Junior dos Santos and Stipe Miocic. In one of the earlier fights during that event, a minor thing happened that caused some interesting discussion on some MMA forums. One of the fighters stepped on the foot of his opponent. Normally, this would […]
My Visit to Wah Dojo
Myself with Evergrey at Wah Dojo Some of my readers may be familiar with Evergrey, the author of the old Crazy Kyokushin Chick blog. I connected with her through that blog, but we have kept up on Facebook over the years. Last week, I had to travel to her neck of the woods for work, so she […]
A Demonstration of Ti by Motobu and Konishi
The image, above, comes from Page 204 of Konishi Yasuhiro’s book, Karate Nyumon. I was inspired to go back and look at this publication by Victor Smith Sensei, who wrote an article on another section of the book. This book, in its original Japanese, along with many others, have been made available for free by Charles Goodin Sensei and the […]
Karate Padwork 2
A valuable training tool that many traditional karateka choose to abstain from is the punching mitts, or focus mitts. These come in many different styles, from very basic to high-tech, but all of them facilitate the same thing–a way to turn a training partner into a mobile, modular platform for practicing full-speed striking combinations to various targets without injuring that […]
Kumite as a Training Method vs. Kumite as a Goal 3
There are many different ways to spar, but almost everyone who spars does so to become better at sparring. When sparring is the goal of a person’s training, then what you are training is a combat sport, but not necessarily a martial art. MMA fighters, boxers, submission grapplers–all of them train and spar to get better at sparring so that […]
The Three K’s and the Misconceptions of “Tapout Dudes” 4
Karate has three staple components–kihon, kata and kumite (basics, forms and sparring, respectively)–that make up the curriculum for most schools. The basics are the individual techniques in the style, consisting of stances, punches, blocks, open handed strikes, kicks, etc. The forms are patterns of basics strung together to, on a basic level, build muscle memory, condition your body and practice […]