Private lesson for Higo Tyler San

Today, Higo Tyler San visited Aso-shi and had a private lesson. Higo San is a student of Nakamura Shihan at the Shototakuhirokan (which operates as the central branch of JKA in Kumamoto City). The following notes are primarily for him as reference to the points we covered.

 

Generic focus of the private lesson: The focus of the training was `division of energy in the fundamental techniques’ in order “…to transcend speed and power plateaus and increase elasticity of movement”. To do this, I focused on techniques and sequences from the two kata Higo San is working on: namely, Jion and movements 1-25 of Kanku Dai. We also briefly went over a non-syllabus kata focusing on the points applied in Jion and the first 25 movements of Kanku Dai: this was simply to reinforce the correct use (and division of) chikara no kyojaku. In sum, the critical point was `junansei’.

In particular, the following techniques/sequences were covered:

·         Movement 17 of Jion (chudan oi-zuki (chudan jun-zuki) and hip work with jodan age-uke and chudan gyaku-zuki leading up to it: movements 12-16.

 

·         Movements 18-21 in Jion (migi sokumen jodan uchi-uke doji ni hidari sokumen gedan-barai turning 270 degrees into migi kokutsu-dachi followed by migi chudan kagi-zuki—via a rightward yori-ashi into kiba-dachi; then hidari sokumen jodan uchi-uke doji migi sokumen gedan-barai—turning into hidari kokutsu-dachi—followed by hidari chudan kagi-zuki coordinated with a leftward yori-ashi to move into kiba-dachi).


·         Movements 22 and 42 in Jion (hidari gedan-barai transitioning into hidari zenkutsu-dachi from kiba-dachi).

 

·         Movements 26-29 in Jion (migi sokumen jodan uchi-uke doji ni hidari sokumen gedan-barai turning 270 degrees into migi kokutsu-dachi followed by hidari sokumen jodan morote-uke—while moving the right foot to the left and forming heisoku-dachi; then hidari sokumen jodan uchi-uke doji migi sokumen gedan-barai—turning into hidari kokutsu-dachi—followed by migi sokumen jodan morote-uke bring the left foot to the right and, once again, forming heisoku-dachi).

 

·         As mentioned before, the opening of Kanku-Dai up to movement 25 (saken gedan, uken migi koshi pulling back the lead leg from hidari-ashi-zenkutsu into hidari-ashi-mae renoji-dachi).

 

·         Special emphasis on movements 16 and 21 of Kanku Dai (in particular, the first two migi shuto jodan sotomawashi-uchi doji ni sasho jodan-uke moving into hidari-ashi-zenkutsu with gyaku-hanmi).

 

·         I also emphasized fundamental turning in relation to the winding up of ukewaza. Again, this was related back to the utilisation of natural energy and, ultimately, the fine tuning of te-ashi onaji.

 

Needless to say, other techniques and applications were covered (and ‘physically clarified’ in depth); nevertheless, these are for Higo San for having the spirit to come and train. Higo San, thank you for your friendship through Karate-Do. I wish you—and your lovely family—the utmost best in the future! Of course, you are always most welcome at my private dojo again in the future. Osu, Andre.

© André Bertel. Aso-shi, Kumamoto, Japan. (2015).