If I had a pound.......

If I had a pound for every time a martial arts instructor has told me I'm leaning forward when doing kihon or kata moves I'd be a very rich woman by now!

 

I have been told this by several instructors now so it is obviously a persistent problem. Unfortunately, I don't realise I'm doing it. I don't feel as if I'm leaning forward and when people straighten me up I feel as if my back is hyper extended!

 

When I'm teaching others I can see the same problem in some of them. In fact I got my young white belts to do some kihon with a bean bag on their head to stop them leaning! However, seeing the same problem in others doesn't seem to help me correct it in myself (perhaps I should try the bean bag trick!).

 

When I make a big effort not to lean forward when, say, doing an oi zuki, I make an error with my foot or hand position because I'm thinking about my back. Naturally Sensei notices the hand or foot error but doesn't seem to notice that on that occasion my back was straight! (Is there no justice in the world?)

 

Other errors that I have made along the way have been much easier to correct but this one seems pretty intractable at the moment. I feel very frustrated by this because it must seem like I'm just not listening or taking on board the criticism. I am, I just can't seem to correct it.

 

I went on a course last Saturday and lo'and behold my 'leaning' was pointed out at least four times. One instructor suggested that I try holding back the shoulder of my hikete arm more and stretch out my 'guard' arm a little further. Well, I will try this, it may work.

 

Do you have a specific problem with an aspect of your technique that seems intractable at the moment? How do you try to deal with it? Any tips for curing my 'leaning' problem?

 

If I don't sort this one out soon I may just have to start charging a pound for every time someone tells me........I may as well be a rich 'leaner' than a poor one!

 

 

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Self defence training - are you scared enough?

Do you ever think of why you are doing karate? I expect that between us we have a variety of reasons – general fitness, sociability, sport and competition or maybe we like the aesthetics of martial arts. Some of us may have slightly loftier aims of mental and spiritual development. However, all these goals can be achieved through other types of activity such as aerobics, gymnastics, dance, team sports, yoga or meditational practices. Therefore, there must be another aim that binds us all together – a desire to learn self-defence.

For some of us learning effective self-defence will be the main, overriding aim of training in karate and for others it will be a secondary consideration. How important the self-defence element is to you, may depend on your perception of your risk of being attacked and needing to use it. This will be related to your upbringing, past experiences, job and probably your gender.

If you were brought up in the rough end of town, witnessed or were involved in several street fights and/or work as a bouncer , or, as a woman, you’ve been the victim/witness of domestic violence, then learning karate may be all about self-defence and not much else. However, if you are a middle class housewife who’s never even seen a fight or ever felt threatened by violence in any way, or, a mild mannered man who knows how to stay away from trouble, then your motivation to really learn self-defence may be much lower.

Whatever your circumstances, learning self-defence must be in the back of your mind somewhere because you are reading this blog and you’ve joined a karate club; in which case, you will probably agree that there is no point in approaching the self-defence elements of karate in a half-hearted fashion. Yet many of us do!

However remote the possibility that we may get attacked, if it happens, it may be a life or death situation. You will either get attacked or you won’t – it’s all or nothing. So is there any point in only half-heartedly preparing for such an eventuality, however remote the possibility seems?

There is a Japanese phrase – Ichi-go, ichi-e, which means, “one encounter, one chance”. This is what it will be like if it ever happens to you – you will get only one chance to defend yourself, so you have to make your training count. Do you train as if you are preparing yourself for a real encounter? Are you scared? If you train half-heartedly then you are clearly not scared enough.

So, what is a real fight like? Obviously your attacker won’t hold out their arm or leg six inches from your body whilst you think about what to do with it. Neither will they casually hold onto your lapels and wait patiently for you to respond whilst having a nice chat about something. They won’t let go as soon as you attempt to put a lock on or fall over as soon as you start to push or pull them.

In reality, an attack is fast, furious and unrelenting – at least a man on man or woman on woman attack will most likely be like that. The attack generally consists of repetitive punching and kicking. There will no ‘thinking’ time, no time to use complicated techniques, no time at all. The person who seizes control first will be the winner. You will only seize control if you have trained to do so and practiced to the point where you need ‘no time’ to think.

A man on woman attack is a slightly different scenario. According to crime statistics, the most common ways in which a woman is attacked by a man is by being grabbed. The five most common ways of attack are by variations on the wrist grab or arm and wrist grab. This is followed by bear hugs and strangles. A man rarely starts the ‘fight’ by striking the woman, though striking may come later if the woman needs to be subdued.

So, how will you react if you are attacked? Well, according to the experts in self-defence training, “you will fight as you train”. They also say that, “You won’t rise to the level of your expectations but instead you will fall to the level of your training”. Depending on your attitude to training this will either sound encouraging or alternatively, make you very scared!

Perhaps this is a good time to examine you own attitude and motivation to your training. Take kata for instance. It is said that when a lay person watches a kata performance they should recognise that they are watching a ‘fight’ in progress. Not only that, they should realise that you are winning! Do you perform your kata to win the fight?

Then there’s kihon (basics). Do you ever get bored standing in rows drilling basic punches, kicks and blocks? Maybe you think that you’ve been doing this so long now you can do those kihon combinations with your eyes shut. Good! That means you’re reaching a state of ‘no mind’ (mushin). Remember, you’ll have no time to think in a real fight, a state of mushin is what is required – so keep drilling!

And what about kumite? We do light contact point kumite; it’s not fighting as such, it’s sport. So does it have any value in self-defence training? It depends how you look at it but I think it has a lot of value. It teaches you to deal with confrontation, control your fear, speed up your reaction times, deal with unpredictability and ultimately achieve a state of mushin. The best ‘fighters’ just spar and don’t think but you have to train extensively to reach this mental state.

These three cornerstones of karate: kata, kihon and kumite, all feed into the ultimate aim of self-defence training. So if you are giving your all to these elements of training then it makes sense to give your all to the self-defence element of training too. Remember itchi-go, itchi-e – one encounter, one chance…..make sure you will win.

 

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Seienchin kata - calm in the storm

In preparation for my black belt grading next year I have begun to learn the kata, Seienchin. Anyone who knows this kata will immediately remember the lingering pain in the thighs as much of this kata is spent in a deep shiko dachi (horse stance)!

Seienchin is the only kata in our kyu grade syllabus that comes from the Naha-te style of karate in Okinawa. The name of this kata is most commonly believed to mean "Calm in the storm". It seems likely that the kata originates from China and was brought back to Okinawa by Higashionna (Higaonna) Kanryo around 1883. Higashionna spent many years in  Fuzhou, a town in the Fujian province of China and learnt several styles of gongfu or 'monk fist boxing'.  On his return to Okinawa he developed the style of karate known as Naha-te, the forerunner of Goju Ryu karate.

Higashionna had many notable students, including Chojun Miyagi (founder of Goju-Ryu) and Kenwa Mabuni (founder of Shito-Ryu). Both of these masters would have learnt the kata from him and Seienchin kata is preserved in both these systems as well as in Isshin-ryu (Isshin-ryu's founder, Tatsuo Shimabuku, had been a student of Miyagi in his earlier years). Mabuni is generally credited with being the person who took Seienchin kata to Japan when he moved there with his family in 1920. Seienchin is believed to be one of the most conserved kata practiced by different styles.

Seienchin kata is described as having 'Yin and Yang' in its performance due to the contrast between hard and soft or slow and explosive. It is as if the 'storm erupts from the calm phases of the kata'. It utilises very low shiko dachi stances, and the dynamic breathing and block/striking techniques are typical of the Naha-te style.

Here's a video of the Shito-Ryu version of the kata:

 Sources: Seienchin (2nd edition) karate and the kata. Dr Jason Armstrong. http://www.downloadkarate.com/

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Nanba Aruki

For the able-bodied, walking seems like the most natural thing in the world. We learn to walk at such an early stage in our lives that I assumed the process of walking, with opposite arm swinging to leg, was due to some kind of biological programming. In other words, I assumed that our walking style was nature rather than nurture.

Then I read about nanba aruki. Now I realise that the way in which we walk is nurture rather than nature. It only feels natural because we have been doing it for so long!

Nanba aruki is a style of walking in which the same arm and leg are moved at the same time. The centre of gravity is lowered and the legs remain slightly bent with the torso relaxed. The left arm moves with the left leg and the right arm with the right leg. The centre line of the body acts as a pivot as the person takes small steps forward in this manner, landing on the ball of the foot first.

Here's some Nanba walking:

Nanba aruki was a style of walking that would have seemed very natural to the Japanese during the Edo period (1603-1868).  It is thought that the word nanba means 'difficult place' and aurki means 'to walk'. So one interpretation of nanba aurki is to walk away from a difficult place. In other words nanba walking was designed to get you out of a trouble or do difficult jobs more easily.

The bushi walked in this style and farmers tending the fields used a variation of it. It is difficult to walk in a sodden paddy field in the usual way so the farmers adopted a stance with the right leg and arm forward and shuffled forwards in this semi-sidewards position, pushing the hoe in front of them. This variant of nanba walking (where the same leg and arm remain in the front) is called hitoemi and essentially means to move the body along a single line as one mass. Hitoemi is used extensively in many sword arts as well as in bojutsu and other weapon arts.

The principles of nanba aruki are inherent in the classical Japanese martial arts including karate, aikido, jujitsu and kobujutsu. This style of movement is more energy efficient, less fatiguing and quicker than the more Western (sport/athletic) way of moving and suits martial arts in particular. The centre of gravity is kept low and centred; and the upper and lower parts of the body remain unified all the time. In the Edo period, samurai messengers and couriers (hikyaku) would travel between Edo and Kyoto (310 miles) in as little as 6 days running in nanba aruki :- that's 50 - 60 miles per day, carrying a load!

In martial arts the principles of hitoemi and nanba aruki are used in tai sabaki, most of the stances and kamae positions (same arm and leg forward) and oi zuki (step through punch). In the skillful practitioner this principle of movement allows concealment of the transfer of body weight because the torso remains relaxed and movement starts with the hips, projecting energy in a horizontal plane. The rotational movement around a central axis means the body can move as a whole and allows increased speed with little muscular effort.

Here's a video of some karate nanba:




 In Japan, nanba aruki fell out of favour during the Meiji restoration when Japan wished to adopt all things Western. People were taught and encouraged to walk with opposing arms swinging. Many martial arts became sports focused and adopted Western patterns of movement. Karate adopted the gyaku zuki (reverse punch) which actually aligns more with the boxing or kick-boxing techniques and is counter to the principles of classical karate and nanba aruki. Many people lament the introduction of western style sports principles into classical martial arts as they consider it to be a distortion and erosion of the essence of the art.

What do you think? Does your art utilise the principles of nanba aruki or have you adopted the western 'sports' way of moving?

Further reading:

http://www.nanbanote.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/The-Way-You-Walk.pdf
http://www.budomontreal.com/Document/History_of_movements.pdf

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What do you wear under your Hakama?

I have just received my new hakama! This is the first time I've ever owned such a garment. And what a strange garment it is. I need to wear the hakama in my kobudo class when training with the bokken. Up to now I have just trained in my gi but I will have to wear the hakama at my grading in December so I thought I'd better buy one so I can get used to it. A lot of people have told me it takes a lot of getting used to!

I tried it on and was quite perplexed by a few things: Firstly, how do you tie it? It has two lots of ties, one at the front and one at the back. Secondly, what do you wear underneath? That may sound a little like asking a Scotsman what he wears under his kilt, but honestly I have no idea. You have to wear something because there are large vents either side. I can't imagine wearing my gi pants underneath - surely that would be too bulky and too hot? Do I wear shorts, big bloomers or what? Thirdly, what is that little hard plate at the back for?

I managed to find an answer to my first problem, how do you tie it?, in this YouTube video:

Okay! Now I just need to practice all that.

I had a look around some forums to see if there was anything about what people wear underneath the hakama. Apparently, a lot of people wear their gi pants or cut-off gi pants. Some wear cycling shorts or ordinary shorts. Traditionally  a kimono is worn under the hakama but I think this is when it is being worn ceremonially.

According to Wikepedia the spoon shaped plate hanging at the back of the hakama is called the hera and slots into the obi, keeping the hakama in place.

Just out of interest the pleats of the hakama have a symbolic meaning: There are seven pleats, five at the front and two at the back, and they represent the seven virtues of Bushido: the five at the front represent- Jin (mercy), Gi (righteousness), Rei (etiquette), Chi (intelligence), and Shin (trust).  The back pleats represent the virtues of Makoto (loyalty) and Chu-kou (allegiance). The front pleats are also arranged asymmetrically, in keeping with Japanese aesthetics.

So now I know all about the hakama. However, I still want to know - What do you wear under your hakama? (Or gi)?

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