Learning from mistakes

At training last night something hit me…..

When practising a particular bunkai from suparinpei I literally lept face first into a punch, hitting me in the mouth and giving me a bit of a fat lip. 

If you practice a fighting art then it must be accepted that from time to time you’re going to get hit.  At such times you should thank your training partner for allowing you to see for yourself that your technique was ineffective.

When practicing with a partner you should always be aiming to hit them.  By throwing strikes that fall short of the target you are lying to your training partner and lulling them into a false sense of security.  They may be thinking that their blocks are working fine, when in reality if the strike was actually intended to hit, they might be eating a fist.  In addition to this, by aiming to fall short you are also teaching yourself bad habits.  If ever required to defend yourself against an attacker, you may repeat what comes naturally to you and aim to miss.

I’ve heard stories where a person has successfully disarmed a knife weilding attacker, only to immediately hand the knife back to them!  The defender automatically did what he had drilled hundreds of times with his training partner.

So if ever you are lucky enough to be hit by your partner, thank them for being honest with you.

Going to the ground

As the sport of MMA becomes ever more popular, it’s becoming increasingly more common to see karate practitioners including groundwork in their training.  Many of these same practitioners also claim that groundwork has always been a part of karatedo, and some even make statements about how Naihanchi kata is actually supposed to be applied from the ground.

If you drive your car into the sea, it doesn’t suddenly become a boat…..

I do believe that anyone serious about self defence should have some experience of fighting on the ground, but this is purely so that you can learn how to get back onto your feet as fast as possible.  The practice of going to the ground intentionally is strategically unsound in a self defence situation.

Miyazato Eiichi Sensei said that karatedo is a defence against four opponents, not one. 

Recommended article

I highly recommend the following article by sensei and martial arts historian Charles Goodin.

http://karatejutsu.blogspot.com/2008/03/most-difficult-thing-i-do.html

Please take a look!

More on kakie

How then does the practice of kakie relate to actual fighting?

Kakie comes into play every time you make contact with your opponent.  To break it down very simply, if your opponent strikes chudan tsuki and you block with chudan uke, you will end in the kakie position with your limbs touching. 

This is why developing a feeling of muchimi in your uke waza is so important, and why the blocks are not performed as fast as possible, but more with a feeling of heaviness, sticking to the opponents limb and blending with the strike.

The practice of kakie is the bridge between bunkai and actual application in that you are ‘playing’ with an un-cooperative partner who will be looking to defend against your attacks.  Kakie practice helps the practitioner to study the ‘what ifs’ of kata application by forcing the practitioner to think of his next move should his current attack be unsuccessful.

In addition to this kakie will help the practitioner develop a strong root, sensitivity, fluid reactions, and the ability to read the opponents intentions through feeling his movements through the link of the forearms.

Kakie

Something which I find quite puzzling is how it appears to be only the Goju school which has preserved the practice of kakie in its system.  If oral testimony is to be believed then the practice of kakie dameshi was a common occurrence in pre-war Okinawa.  What a kakie dameshi would actually look like, and whether it would bear any sort of resemblance to modern day kakie is something which continues to interest me.

A practitioners reputation would have been very much dependant on how well (or not!) they performed in a kakie dameshi.  It would make sense that all practitioners of karate around that time would have gone to great lengths to research and become proficient at kakie so as not to let themselves or their schools down. 

So why then do we only see this practice within the goju system?