sensei's blog

The "Never Say Die" Spirit as Applied to Age

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:17:15 -0400

I was discussing the idea of "reptition beats intensity" with a new and older student. That is to say, a student, new to karate, but well acquainted with the world. He was concerned about his speed of learning. When you first start kata, it can seem overwhelming, as well it is. The first katas are simple, kinesthetically speaking, but they represent a different psychological approach than most people are used to. Intentional simplicity? Very confusing. But this post is not about kata, but about where one goes with one's karate. This student was intimidated by the learning curve. Yet the learning curve is not what karate is about. Sure, everyone is climbing that curve, but where you are on it, and how fast you climb, it is irrelevant, as long as you don't stop. It's hard to see that when you begin, hard to look at others and gauge the progression one will follow oneself.

Beginning Kata: What is it?

Sun, 07 May 2006 11:25:51 -0400

The initial tekis have no real world application. Then why learn them? They are a crystalization of several ingredients which give future katas their flavor. Th flavor is too complex for the beginning student to savor, so they are broken out to be sampled a little bit at a time in an underwhelming format.

Kata and the Borg Scale (Rate of Perceived Exertion)

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 02:24:43 -0500

I was going through my empty hand katas today in the USF Rec Center. They had the Borg Scale (also known as Rate of Perceived Exertion) listed on one of the walls. Between forms I would glance at it, and I started thinking about how I would rate the performance of kata. Also, what should it be? If you are not familiar, the RPE is an arbitrary number indicating how hard you are working. It starts a 7 (I assume below 7 your are comatose or dead), and goes up to 20: maximal exertion. Around 10 is an easy pace.

Exercise program adherence, tenacity, and the never say die spirit.

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 22:14:40 -0500

I often find the classes I dread the most turn out to be the best. Perhaps I've had a bad day, and would like nothing more than to take the day off. Lately, I've been at the computer too much, (ah, the travesty of having a real job, too), and don't want to stress my joints too much. Almost invariably, I find the class to be good. My joints put themselves back in the right places. Class goes smoothly, or it will even be a breakthrough.

The joys of kiba dachi (horse stance)

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 01:19:50 -0500

I gotta tell you. I love kiba dachi. There's something about it. The root, the ch'i. Sure, it has its flaws. At first blush, it appears 2 dimensional, off balance. But a deep horse stance is stable. You see it in sumo. It is a place of balance, but its advantages are hidden, like sanchin dachi. Only years will unlock this koan.

Being a "sparring" dojo

Sat, 19 Feb 2005 18:21:21 -0500

I've always been a kata-type of karateka. Kata comes first, and kata comes last. No matter where I am, I can do kata, even if I can't move, I can still do kata. But sparring brings people to the dojo.

age vs skill

Wed, 09 Feb 2005 22:44:19 -0500

It's an adage that a good martial artist gets better with age. This kendo blog has an interesting post about baseball skill and age. The data referenced are certainly interesting to look at, but the use of drugs masks its relevance. A question though: I don't think it's so much trickery as experience, so is baseball a good comparison to a martial art? Weightlifting would be another poor example. Loss of muscle with age is will understood. Archery I would imagine a good example, as would any skill where it's more brain than brawn.. This assumes brains are actually more important in martial arts than brawn..

Counting in Japanese: shi vs yon, shichi vs nana

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 09:09:33 -0500

Had a question about counting in japanese from a student's parent the other night so I did some research. We count as follows, but this family, who lived in japan for awhile, learned as you see in bold:

See, I told you Kiais did something.

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 22:54:56 -0500

Chasing burglars away, with a bokken no less.

Kids and Bunkai (Saturday 11/13)

Sun, 14 Nov 2004 12:01:31 -0500

Kata can be difficult to get kids into. I used the recent Halloween to get the class thinking about being in character. This worked pretty well and you could actually see them looking at their imaginary attackers, though of course they were a bit silly at times. We went from this into bunkai. The group was sufficient to do a "three attacker" scenario. The silliness reached a new level here at times, but I think it solidified the imaginary concept. We'll see next week...

choosing a karate dojo

Fri, 12 Nov 2004 13:05:45 -0500

I get this question alot. Here is a post of some good questions to ask. I would add to this list: look at the students. This is who you will be. If the instructor is impressive, but the students appear to have trouble, this issue will probably come to haunt you, too.

class 11/9

Thu, 11 Nov 2004 00:48:29 -0500

First class we did kata and sparring and discussed the upcoming tournament. The kids are getting used to sparring child vs. child, but the problem with "pawing" remains, of course. Second class was small, 4 people, so we did bunkai based on "three attackers".

traditional	numeral
ichi	1
ni	2
san	3
shi/yon	4
go	5
roku	6
shichi/nana	7
hachi	8