Tuesday 27 August 2024

和 (WA)

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和 (Wa) in Japanese is a concept which is integral in Japanese culture and is best translated as ‘HARMONY’. In particular, in the daily lives...
Friday 23 August 2024

半月立ち (HANGETSU-DACHI)

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 半月立ち (HANGETSU-DACHI) 立ち方  (Tachikata) Originally known as Seishan-dachi, the Hangetsu-dachi (the ‘half- moon stance’) is a mix of zenkutsu...
Wednesday 21 August 2024

International Budo/Bujutsu Karate Seminar: NEW ZEALAND (February 2025)

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 Besides my regular karate teaching here in Japan, I will be in FREITAL, GERMANY in two weeks from now (September 7th/8th). Also, next Febr...
Saturday 17 August 2024

Visit from Brian Toomey Sensei

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  My friend and senpai Brian Toomey Sensei (7th Dan) came to Oita. Brian Sensei is a direct student of Kato Sadashige Sensei and my teacher ...
Thursday 15 August 2024

The 18th Asai Tetsuhiko Sensei Memorial Training

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 Today was the 18th Memorial of Sensei's passing. Our deepest thoughts are with his family today.  To mark this day, every year I (and a...
Thursday 1 August 2024

Saturated Dogi

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 I completed my first daily self-training for August today.  It was an extremely hard two-hour session due to the sweltering heat and practi...
Tuesday 30 July 2024

霞の剣 (Kasumi no ken)

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Deceive the opponent with a forward pressure, telegraphed arm movements and a 'must block' action.  This is an example of the HAZE.....
Saturday 27 July 2024

TRUE KARATE - CLASSICAL BUJUTSU: OLD SCHOOL SHOTOKAN RYU

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順路初段 (Junro Shodan) Kata at my self-training today. One of things that contemporary karate has widely lost is what I call ‘the generic persp...
Monday 22 July 2024

Asai-Ha Shotokan-Ryu: The extension of 'JKA-style' Shotokan

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Asai Tetsuhiko Sensei personally told me that the additional kata were like  ‘blank canvases’ when he taught people. He particularly stresse...
Saturday 20 July 2024

48th Birthday Training, no comments, just images (unedited). OSU!!

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 Big things to come in 2025!!! OSU!!! © André Bertel. Oita City, Japan (2024).