Rei

It is said that karatedo begins and ends with courtesy (rei).  This is displayed in many ways, but most obviously through the action of bowing. 

Those who train from Miyazato Eiichi Sensei’s line of teaching perform the bow by bringing the hands onto the front of the thighs.  From what I can see, this is unique to the Jundokan.  The reason for doing this, rather than holding the hands rigidly still at the sides as in most Japanese dojo, is that bringing the hands to the front is considered more humble.  It is a way of actively expressing courtesy through visible movement.

Although rei is something you hold inside, within your character, it is important that practitioners of karatedo express rei in their everyday actions.  In a world which is becoming more and more self-centered, karatedo can have value by instilling within its practitioners this sense of courtesy. 

Just like expressing rei in an obvious way through bringing the hands to the front of the thighs, rei must also be expressed through visible actions such as having good manners, being true to your word, and behaving respectfully toward other people. 

If practiced with this in mind karatedo can be judged on its value as a tool of personal development, rather than its mere physical acts which, if viewed on their own, have a questionable value in todays society.

Building steps

Something which has always amazed me about the teaching methods of true sensei is the way in which they can relate anything and everything to matters relating to budo.  What may seem at first to be a routine chore will often have a much deeper meaning.

There are many stories relating to how Miyagi Chojun sensei would assess the character of potential students by having them perform menial tasks such as weeding the training area, removing small stones, even moving larger stones to sweep underneath them before placing them back in exactly the same spot!  All the while Miyagi Sensei would be watching the student closely, assessing their patience and temper.

In China they say that it takes three years for a teacher to truly see whether a student can be trusted.  I wonder how this relates to the stories of learning nothing but sanchin for three years?  Anyway, I’m drifting off subject again so we’ll return to that thought later….

About 6 years ago I went to stay with my sensei for a while, training in the morning and evening, and helping with the building work during the afternoons.  One day sensei had me help build a staircase leading onto the roof of his garage, which would later become his practice area for kata.  The staircase, he told me, had to be larger at the bottom, and gradually taper to become smaller at the top.  This caused a number of problems for me as building is not exactly my forte, and he was very strict in that the angle of each individual step had to be exact.  Nearly right wasn’t enough, it had to be spot on!  In fact there was no difference in his approach to building or karatedo, if you were going to do either, you had to do it correctly or you had may as well not bother.  Just when I thought I’d got it about right, sensei would appear with a tape measure and tell me to change it slightly as the angle was a little off.  Although the difference couldn’t even be seen with the naked eye, and the staircase was hidden around the side of the house where nobody would ever notice them, they had to be perfect!

I was about halfway through when sensei came wondering out from the house to check on my progress, again with his critical eye and a tape measure.  After checking my current step and telling me to change it slightly he asked me if I knew what the steps were for.  I replied knowlingly that they were to lead up to the top of the garage.  Sensei then said, but why big to small?

I began muttering some nonsense about how you begin your training by learning lots and as time goes on, you learn less and work on improving what you’ve got……..to which sensei responded, as he often does, by slowly shaking his head and looking at me as though I’d just turned up at a funeral dressed as a clown!

Sensei then told me about how Miyazato Eiichi sensei would say when you are teaching a beginner you must have them make every movement big, exaggerating the full range of movement for each technique.  As the beginner progreses, you then start to make the movements smaller, bringing them back closer to their correct proportions.  This continues throughout your whole lifetime of training as you further refine and chip away at your karatedo.  It’s much easier to make a big movement smaller, but if a student gets into the habit of making all of their movements small, it can be very difficult to break this habit.

It’s human nature to try to shortcut, so if you teach the beginner a small refined movement, they will shortcut this and the true nature of the technique will be lost over time as the student becomes teacher and passes on their corrupted version of the technique to their own students who further corrupt it.

The staircase at my sensei’s dojo serves as a tangible reminder that the treasure of karatedo needs to be preserved and passed on with great care.  If we do not correct out own individual faults, these same faults will be passed on and in time will come to be seen by later generations as the correct way, damaging the integrity of the art forever.

Whenever I look at that staircase now I am reminded of the path of budo.  Although that particular staircase finishes at the roof of sensei’s garage, the staircase I picture in my mind continues to stretch on into the distance, further than the eye can see. 

The path is endless…

 

 

 

 

Studying the principles and tactics of kata

With regards to the principles of Goju, there are a lot of different elements which are all linked, and this is what makes Goju unique. 

Ideas such as circular motion, blending, unbalancing, drawing in, sticking, getting off line, moving to the outside of the opponent (ideally), tracking back, closest limb meets the attack – and all these things are just on the topic of blocking! 

Most Goju these days seems to be lacking in many of these elements, and the karate is becoming too linear, too impact based, and too much Go not enough Ju.  This is most easily seen in how people practice sandan gi and kakie.

For me, when thinking about the tactics of Goju, when I practice the kata I’m asking myself ‘what is this movement trying to show me?’.  I’ll then break it down part by part.  In the case of the first movement of saifa, where there’s a defence against a single wrist grab, my thinking will be; drop your weight to unbalance opponent (kazushi), move off line away from opponents free hand, move in to your own hand (pulling your hand to meet your body relies on physical strength, no good for little guys), disengage grip and secure opponents hand to prevent escape, controlling the maai, pull and strike.  Remain side on to opponent to present less of a target.

I’ll also look at why certain stances are used, in this case shiko dachi is obviously more stable for pulling an opponent, but it’s also great for unbalancing by attacking the opponents legs with your structure. 

The next progression will be how to make the bunkai even more effective by using distraction strikes such as striking, slapping, biting, spitting etc whilst you’re transitioning to keep the opponent guessing and maintain the initiative.

The kata when analysed in this manner provide a detailed step by step manual to self defence.