On a personal note…The last time I was in that region of the country, I was
competing there, which was all the way back in 1993, which was also the year
when I first went to went to Japan to train. Thus, my beginnings with Asai
Tetsuhiko Sensei. So it was a full circle, so to speak.
This seminar also marked the 10th Anniversary of the KKA Karate Academy, so I’d
like to once again offer my congratulations to Allan Sensei and all of his
members. おめでとうございます！！！
In regards to the seminar content, as I have not been in New Zealand for
several years many of the kihon, drills and fundamentals points overlapped with
the South Island/Christchurch course (a week earlier); that being said, several
other aspects were worked on, as it was my first time to teach there.
As promised, the kata was different. As it was my first-time teaching in Kapiti
(and many of the karateka were unfamiliar with Asai Sensei’s advanced
extension JKA-style Shotokan) I used 鶴翼初段 (Kakuyoku Shodan) to connect the
dots between kihon and jissen-kumite —via this kata—and its respective 応用
(Oyo).
To reiterate, a key point was Nakayama Masatoshi Sensei’s differentiation
between 分解
(Bunkai) and 応用
(Oyo). This aspect is critical in physical training for Shotokan to be the
highly effective self-defense art that it is (as opposed to merely being a form
of ‘fist kendo’). The karateka attending clearly embraced this point,
especially pertaining to the practical use of our art.
Overall, it was great to share classical applications of Shotokan, from the
pre-WW2 /pre-competition era; in sum, a return to the ‘self-defense focused’
karate of Funakoshi Gichin Sensei. It is my hope that “…while we strongly hang
on to the advancements of karate in the more recent decades, that we work
together to preserve the bujutsu knowledge of the past”.
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