On February 4th, 2020, Ulf Karlsson landed in Phoenix, AZ for the first time in nearly 6 years. For those who are unaware, Ulf Karlsson is the foremost expert (outside of Okinawa) in the rare style of Shuri-Te called KishimotoDi, and is the only person to be granted a Shihan license in the art by the Bugeikan on Okinawa. On […]
The art of KishimotoDi (AKA, Kishimoto-Ha Karate/Shuri-Te) is an interesting look into the Shuri-classified (or Tomari-classified, if you prefer to look at it that way) karate of the past, before its popularization by Itosu “Anko” Yasutsune and his disciples. As this style is is rare, only a small number of practitioners around the world study it, so it has been […]
Chris Denwood is a karateka, fitness expert, researcher, and the author of “Respecting the Old, Creating the New,” and “Naihanchi (Tekki): The Seed of Shuri Karate Vol. 1.” The latter is easily the most comprehensive book on Naihanchi Shodan fundamentals that I have ever read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who practices Naihanchi kata that can be traced back […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
A standard balled fist The balled fist is a fairly standard tool in martial arts and it is a fairly natural method for forming your hand to strike someone. That doesn’t mean it is the only method, or even necessarily the best method. I would like to introduce two other methods–Shuri-ken and tate-ken. The word ken we know to be […]
