Any action without KIME is not true karate... But what really is KIME?

 Nakayama Masatoshi Sensei famously emphasized that “...irrespective of how much something resembles karate, anything action without kime is not true karate”. 

Today I’d like to talk about this statement from my personal experience and, in doing so, hopefully contribute towards people’s understanding.

 

To begin with I need to point out that while I’ve spent well over a decade training here in Japan, I never trained with nor met Master Nakayama. Actually, when I first came here in 1993, it was just over six years after he had passed away. Furthermore, I never had the opportunity to attend any of his classes outside Japan.

 

With this in mind, I need the clarify that most of the information I know about Nakayama Sensei is from his publications. Asai Tetsuhiko Sensei, Osaka Yoshiharu Sensei et al., (and other prominent personal students) have told me about him, but only minimal things and mostly not technical. In actual fact, I learned the most about him from Nakamura Masamitsu Sensei, but again, primarily personal stories outside of the dojo.

 

So, it’s fair to say that the publications have been the most informative source for me, about Nakayama Sensei’s actual karate technique.

 

That brings me to his statement about kime.

 

What does it mean? Well, clearly it means everything! Literally, anything without kime is not karate...

 

But what is kime?

 

Indeed, I’ve written a lot about this in the past but I still find that many people still fail to understand kime in karate.

 

Yes, kime means to be ‘decisive’ (kimeru, to make a decision/to decide) but, again, what exactly does that mean?

 

Is it only in waza which abruptly stops/concludes on one point in space or on/through a target? Then, and if so, can it also be in say, continuous flowing movements? Can it be anything which is ‘decisive’? Or must it be specifically defined?

 

The answer in karate is a combination of both intent and the sufficient ability required for that intent to fulfill the technical objectives of the art. Therefore, precise actions and effectiveness cannot be independent of each other. Accordingly, yes, pinpoint precise waza and flowing waza potentially have kime; however, abundantly lacking in either of the two aforementioned criteria determine that kime is not there or insufficient.

 

One may believe that ‘capacity’ is not important, however, in budo that is like having a gun without real bullets in the chamber. Even if you can rapidly draw the weapon and have precise targeting, that means very little if the ammunition is made of Styrofoam.

 

Consequently, a seemingly good performance of karate may be seen as having kime but, in actuality, if the individual is unable to apply the waza effectively in freestyle, it does not have kime. 

 

What’s so sad is that ‘performance karate’ coupled with ‘car salesman kuchi-bushi’ skills is extremely commonplace now. What’s even more sad is that so many people are unable to perceive this, and believe it to be ‘real’ and ‘good karate’. This is because, irrespective of organization and grade, they themselves do not understand what kime is (nor seemingly wish to). Thus, everything is based on ‘sound' (talk) and 'vision' ('movement' performance) which, needless to say, is pathetic in any form of ‘so called budo’. 

 

Never forget that kihon, kata and kumite are inseparable, they are a trinity which are held together by this correct understanding of kime, without which, as Nakayama Sensei said “...is not true karate”.

 

This is why all the greats excel in both kata and kumite. Why? Because kime technically permeates everything they do: and kime means that “kihon, kata and kumite are truly one”. To conclude, whilst I never met Master Nakayama, this is what he meant about kime in karate.

 押忍!

© André Bertel. Oita City, Japan (2023).