Karate ni sente nashi

This term meaning ‘there is no first strike in karate’ is one of the most well known sayings in karatedo.  Largely made popular by the writings of Funakoshi Gichen Sensei of the Shotokan, it remains a poignant reminder of the spirit of karatedo, however it is also a term which is easily misunderstood.

The phrase karate ni sente nashi, as with many such things of Okinawan origin, is not supposed to be taken literally.  Many stories relating to Okinawan masters of old are spiced up with exaggeration and are often over romanticized in order to convey a strong message to the reader / listener.  They are supposed to inspire the student to train harder in order to reach that unattainable level of mastery.  They are certainly not supposed to be viewed as historically accurate accounts of past events eg; jumping up and breaking tiles on the shuri gate, tearing raw meat with fingertips, or crushing bamboo poles with only grip strength.

So, as with these stories, the phrase karate ni sente nashi is supposed to inspire the student, and suggest the correct mindset for the practitioner of karatedo.

As I have said, the term karate ni sente nashi suggests the correct mindset for the practitioner.  It is not a guide to self defense strategy. 

The use of pre-emptive strikes is without doubt one of the most important parts of self defence.  With the correct use of pre-emptive striking, a conflict can be finished at minimal risk to yourself.  For people who disagree and maintain that there is no place for striking first in budo, I ask, what about iaido?  Iaido is a budo art in which it’s principle strategy is to draw your sword and cut down the opponent before the opponent has a chance to draw their own sword.  This is no different when it comes to speaking about unarmed combat.  It is also essential to bear in mind an equally well known karatedo related phrase of i-ken hissatsu – one strike certain victory!

If you are going about your day to day business in the company of your family, not bothering anyone, and an attacker singles you out as his next victim, why on earth should you be asked to wait for him to make the first move?  As in Iaido, the opponent must be cut down right away before he has any chance to mount an atack of his own.  This requires good awareness skills, and of course, requires justification in that a pre-emptive strike will only be justifiable if you are placed in immediate fear of violence being used against you, and only use reasonable force in order to manage that threat.  The cicumstances will ditacte the means…( I highly recommend Geoff Thompson’s books pre-confrontation rituals, fear control, and pre-emptive striking)

Now, back to karate ni sente nashi…

As I have said, this phrase is concerned with creating the correct mindset in the practitioner of karatedo.  Conflict is something which for most people can be avoided if they use correct awareness and take steps to avoid, or difuse the confrontation at its early stages.  I have written previously about Miyagi Chojun Sensei and how he dealt with confrontation (see Miyagi Sensei’s method of self defence).  The student of karatedo must never be the one to instigate violence, in fact they are to take all possible steps to avoid it.  There are many stories relating to how Miyagi Sensei would tell his students to take the long route home so that they wouldn’t have to walk through a rough neighbourhood.  In doing this they were using karate ni sente nashi in a practical way.  By not putting themselves in the potentially dangerous situation in the first place, they are taking steps to avoid conflict.  This would also be similar to crossing the street early upon seeing a large group of young men on a dark street corner, or not drinking in a notoriously rough pub. 

Equally karate ni sente nashi is not leaning on your car horn and yelling out of the window at the person who has just cut in front of you in their vehicle.  Who knows who might be in that vehicle?  By taking the first step in yelling at the guy, you have potentially set yourself upon a course where violence may occur.

In my opinion the term karate ni sente nashi is all about courtesy, avoidance, and in having the self control not to allow yourself to be drawn into unnecessary battles.  People who go around looking for trouble are to be avoided and have no place in karatedo. 

Karatedo sanka

I heard this song for the first time a few days ago and found it quite interesting.  Karate-do sanka was written by Nagamine Shoshin Sensei.  There is a video on youtube which includes many old karate related photographs, and uses this song as the background music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iec9h9IKiHg

As you can see from the translation below, the words describe the spirit of Okinawan Karatedo very well; 

Ah, beautiful islands of sunlight,

And the color of the sea,

The proud fighting spirit of the Islanders

and the empty handed Sword of Justice.

Training spirit and training body

Ah, this is Okinawan Karate-do!

O, but if an enemy should happen to attack us,

and the method of courtesy prove to no avail,

if he should cut our flesh with his iron weapon,

even then we will punch through to his bones.

Courtesy and defense together

This is Okinawan Karate-do!

O! Ever since the mythical ancestry of Japan,

the bell of peace has been ringing continually in Okinawa.

The way of courtesy and the five bodily weapons of Karate together,

to make a straight character and good Etiquette,

This is Okinawan Karate-do!

Something to think about

‘Someone who can truly control his mind need not purify his body, mouth, or mind in particular.  Such a person will not be corrupted even in a tumultuous crowd and will not be affected by changes in his environment: it is just like the moon, which itself stays the same while the image of the moon on the water changes as the tide surges’.

Yagyu Munemori

Yoi

The practise of Yoi in karatedo is an often overlooked and misunderstood element. 

The word Yoi means ‘preparation; caution’ according to the Martins dictionary (Tuttle).   Yoi should not just be thought of as the posture we assume prior to undertaking any form of training in the dojo, or as a way to begin and end kata.  Yoi must be understood as a mentality.

There is much to be learnt from practitioners of Iaijutsu when speaking about Yoi.  The quiet peacefullness of their demeanour hides a razor sharp alertness and total confidence in their actions.  There is nothing rushed about yoi, and nothing which is not in full control of the practitioner. 

Upon assuming yoi, we need to engage the warrior spirit which has been mercilessly tempered through austere training.  As the hands move to meet in the centre, our body weight shifts slightly forward onto the balls of our feet, ready to move.  The tanden is now engaged, and our eyes widen.  As the body performs this action, the mind displays zanshin and is ready to react. 

This action can be likened to the way an animal undergoes physical and mental changes during confrontation.  The fight or flight response is something that can be trained and controlled to a certain extent through the use of yoi and correct visualisation.  Often in nature you will see one animal back away from the confrontation without any fighting taking place through the effective use of yoi working to discourage the attack.

The performance of yoi at the finish of kata should be no different from its application at the start.  It is said ‘when the battle is over, tighten your chinstrap’ meaning your concentration must not be allowed to faulter even though this battle is potentially won.  On a practical level, this helps respond to the tunnel vision which results from the effects of increased adrenaline on the body.  Because of this tunnel vision, there may be further potential opponents which were not readilly noticable at the time of dealing with the immediate threat.  Once this immediate threat is dealt with we need to re-evaluate the situation and confirm that there is no further danger.

Upon repeatedly practising yoi with this intensity, this feeling of prepared concentration and readiness will display itself in other areas of the practitioners life without being forced.

Any time we are about to undertake a difficult task, our bodies will assume this mentality and prepare itself to endure hardship with a strong fighting spirit.

Mae Geri & Empi in kata

A common technique which features a number of times in the various kata of the Goju ryu system, is the combination of Mae Geri being followed by Hiji Ate (front kick & elbow strike as in Geiksai, Shisochin, Sanseiru, Kururunfa, and Suparinpei).

In fact, in all Goju ryu kata where the kick is performed travelling forward, as opposed to static ie; seipai & seisan, it is always followed with hiji ate.

The most obvious reason for this that  springs to mind is that if we are making up ground with the mae geri, as we land we will be placed in quite close proximity to the opponent.  In effect, punching range is lost so we must rely upon close range strikes.

The effect that the kick has on the opponent will dictate how you follow up.  The targets avalible for you to attack will vary each time as it cannot be guarenteed that the opponent will bend forward at the waist upon being kicked.  It is equally likely that if the kick makes a strong connection with the opponent, he may be pushed backward and be out of range for the elbow.

With this in mind I have found that the technique works well when the mae geri is used to strike upward into the groin.  This way has more likelihood of bending the opponent forward and dropping his hands.  The other advantage to this is that even if the kick fails, or misses its target, the very action of striking forcefully towards the opponents groin forces a pre-determined response in an untrained person where  the opponent will bend forward at the waist, throw his hips backward and drop his hands slightly.  This response in the opponent will expose a number of targets which can then be exploited with the hiji ate.

This is the main advantage of this technique in that if the kick is successful, great, but if not, we’ve also forced the opponent into a disadvantageous position which can then be capitalised upon with the elbow strike.

The other important thing to remember with this technique is that depending on your distance from the opponent, the mae geri is the same as hiza geri (knee strike), and at a range halfway between the two you can make contact by using the shin as the striking point. 

The bunkai need to be fluid and interchangeable depending how the opponent reacts.  This is why there are variations of the same technique.  With this technique we see variations in Kururunfa in the method of striking from shiko dachi rather than zenkutsu dachi, and in Suparinpei where the elbow travels along a horizontal path rather than vertical as in the other kata.  These subtle variations allow use to utilise various angles to find our way past our opponents defences.

This is an area in which I am continuing to study at the moment…

4th Uchinanchu Festival

I came across this link today from the 4th Uchinanchu Festival in Okinawa.  There are demonstrations from some of the leading karatetdo and kobudo practitioners performing various kata from their respective schools.

Particularly outstanding is the demonstration by Masahiro Nakamoto Sensei of the Bunbukan dojo performing nicho nunchaku jutsu. 

I was a little dissapointed at Morio Higaonna’s demonstration of Suparinpei being cut short, however, it’s still worth a look if you a spare ten minutes.

 http://www.okinawabbtv.com/international/karate/kodansya.html

Enjoy!

Balance training

While on my recent honeymoon in Hawaii, I managed to find a bit of free time to make use of the excellent waves to help improve my balance.

For those of you who haven’t been, Hawaii is famous for the power of it’s waves, and even though the photograph above doesn’t show 40′ foot monster waves eating surfers, you’d be surprised at how powerful the ocean is, and how easy it is to be pulled off balance!

Having read about how Miyagi Sensei used to train his sanchin kata neck deep in the waters of Okinawa, the child in me decided it would be cool to do the same.  Also I remember reading that Miyagi Sensei had visited Maui on his travels to Hawaii, so it would be another chance to walk in his footprints in a way.

There really isn’t much point to this post, I made no great discoveries into how to keep my balance under hard conditions, I just confirmed once again to myself that I still have a lot to work on.  I found I was constantly pushed off balance, and it felt very much like doing kakie (pushing hands training) with Kinjo Seikichi Sensei of the Jundokan. 

I’d be uprooted from the feet up, pulled forward, pushed backward, and forced to the side.  Constantly kept off balance and not given a chance to settle in order to re-establish myself, and think about how to regain control.

It is said that he who controls the balance, controls the fight.  The strategy of the sea, off-balancing and keeping off balance gave me no opportunity to control myself.  The strategy of Kinjo Sensei keeping me off balance in Kakie training, gave me no chance to establish myself and work on controlling him (even though he was well into his 70’s!!). 

In terms of relating this to self defence, once you make the decision to strike, it must be done with full committment and followed up on immediately, not giving the opponent a chance to settle.  This will greatly affect his ability to launch a committed counter attack.

Back on line

Hi folks,

Just a quick note to say that I’m now back in the UK, and will be resuming work on this site.

Thanks to everyone who keeps visiting the site, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who have taken a look while I’ve been away.

Cheers!