Loving karate

I’m really looking forward to the final group training of the year, being held at the dojo this Saturday. At last week’s group training we literally did both Bassai-dai then Kanku-dai ten times, in addition to jiyu (free-choice) kata to warm up the body. The hardest part of the session was surviving all of the Bassai and Kanku, after doing some really intensive kihon. Come on, you've gotta love it!!! I’ll give you a brief description (just below) of this practice, as I found it to be ‘particularly tough’, but typical of 'karate here in Japan'. I’m writing this in high anticipation for this weeks 'big' class, which really comes back to the title of this post 'loving karate'. Not teaching, thinking about, typing about, or anything else, but simply loving the sweat, and often blood loss, in hard karate-keiko.
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Junbi-undo (Preparatory exercises): The jiyu-kata training we did was literally straight after the junbi undo, so it was the easiest part of the session. I focused on Junro and Unsu. Actually Tachibana Shihan had not arrived at the dojo yet, so the senior present, Sumi san, told everyone to do jiyu-kata. About 15 minutes later, Shihan arrived, and immediately spotted that some of the younger black belts hadn’t reached a good sweat. He was infuriated, so after ‘roughing them up’, the training session really began!

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Kihon-keiko: The kihon we did was as follows: (1) Stationary chudan gyaku-zuki from tate-shuto kamae (I think 30 with each hand, if not, more); (2) Stationary jodan kizami zuki typically followed by chudan gyaku zuki as a renzokuwaza (100 times on both sides); (3) Stationary mae geri to the front followed by yoko kekomi to the side returning back to zenkutsu dachi shomen, without dropping the kicking foot (100 times each side). Then finally ‘the nails in the coffin’… (4) Stationary gyaku zuki, followed by yoko kekomi to the front, then jodan kizami zuki (50 times each side)... Hips, hips and more hips!

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Kata-keiko: After a ‘blink of an eye’ break, it was on to the kata portion of the class… Bassai-dai and Kanku-dai were the order of the day. Whether 16 or 60, everyone was already shattered at this point, so to execute 10 Bassai and 10 Kanku was particularly strenuous. We were lucky to get a couple of breaks (gasps of beautiful oxygen and muscle recovery in slack musubi dachi) during Kanku-dai when Tachibana Shihan demonstrated 'Asai Shuseki-Shihan like' applications for ura zuki/hiza geri followed by going to the ground. And the last section of the kata from tateshihon nukite/te osae uke onwards. This was the only kumite featured in this class.

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More kihon and the completion of keiko: To cover yoko keage, which was not included in the kihon practiced earlier, we also went through Heian-nidan and Heian-yondan. This training was related back to the various yoko keage found in Kanku-dai. To wind down the 2.5 hour practice we executed yoko keage, simultaneously with uraken yokomwashi uchi, about 30 to 50 times (consecutively on both sides). This was concluded by some well-needed partner stretches and ‘heavenly time’ in mokuso.
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Thanks to my teacher, Tetsuhiko Asai, 30 years down the track, I progressively love karate more and more, no matter how hard training is . Why? Because I train with the heart of a mukyu (total beginner), just as Sensei did throughout his life . Honestly following this 'karate way', has meant that my ego cannot restrict my submission to vigorous practice, and the harsh scrutiny required for ongoing development. For more information on my my 'practice philosophy' please read my March 16th article on shoshin wasuru bekaraku: http://andrebertel.blogspot.com/2008/03/shoshin-wasuru-bekarazu.htmlebertel.blogspot.com/2008/03/shoshin-wasuru-bekarazu.html This is the biggest key of self-motivation and an ongoing/evolving passion for the art. Simply keep loving your 'karate training', and forget the rest!

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OSU

© André Bertel, Japan 2008