On the 11th March 2011 after the Tohoku Earthquake devastated the mainland of Japan with a massive Tsunami, we lost a great Karate Instructor and the local teacher in Otsuchi Machi in Iwate. Sensei was lost as the great wave completely destroyed Otsuchi. I had the great fortune to visit Sensei in Otsuchi several times and enjoyed the great training there, as well as our several trips to the local Karaoke clubs after training. Sensei was my mentor, my Sempai, and I will miss him.
On my last visit to Otsuchi in January 2010, Sensei had been recently promoted to 8th Dan by the Japan Karate Federation, and he was very proud of this honour. I managed to obtain a photo of the certificate as the original was lost in the destruction of Sensei’s Dojo by the wave. It is reproduced below.
On the 11th of March 2012, 1 year after the tragedy, in honour of Sensei and his contribution to Karate, I have decided to name the Main Dojo of our Club after him. From this date forward it will be known as the
Chibakan (千葉館).
Regards,
Glenn Irvine
Chief Instructor – Kodomon Karate-Do
11 March 2012
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Budō (武道) literally means the Martial Ways and refers to the Martial Arts of Japan. A distinction should be made between the Martial Arts (Dō) and the Martial Sciences (Jutsu) in that the Martial Arts often includes elements that denote a Way of Life based on the Martial Arts practices, whereas the Martial Sciences are studied specifically for the knowledge and often the practical applications of them. This distinction can be seen in the differences between Karate-Do and Karate-Jutsu. A practitioner of Karate-Do will often have a number of precepts or principles that guide their life beyond the practice.
Many of the Japanese Arts have this dualism:
- Judo vs Jujutsu
- Karate-Do vs Karate Jutsu
- Aikido vs Aikijutsu
- Iaido vs Iaijutsu
- Kendo vs Kenjutsu/Battojutsu
Many of the Arts will also have a sporting branch or component as well, and various schools decide for themselves whether they will adopt a sporting aspect to their training/life.
Over the years I have seen martial artists refer to differences in Kumite (Sparring) as “Sports Karate” or “Budo Karate”. In truth they probably mean the differences between Sports and Jutsu, but that is an element of the semantics that is often overlooked. Essentially they mean the key difference is between Karate being turned to the game of rules in the Sport of Karate, with departures from the ideas of Self Defence (Karate Ni Sente Nashi) only, and the key differences in mindset and goals. Karate-Jutsu has no sporting mindset, it is one of combat, and often one of deadly combat.
A student of Modern Karate can actually partake in all of these aspects of Karate. It is like saying “I study a martial art for self defence, therefore I won’t ever play tennis!”. The Japanese are masters in partitioning their life, and certainly can differentiate between Karate for self defence, and the skills from Karate that are used in a Sporting game. The aspects of a Lifelong Art can encompass all of these things, developing the correct mind and body for the science (Jutsu) as well as the mechanics and correct sporting attitude for the game.
A good Karateka should ponder the Budo of our Art, much of the ethics and principles lie there and is worthy of study.
Regards,
Glenn Irvine
Chief Instructor – Kodomon Karate-Do
by Tracey West
My journey began back in 1989 where I started out as a white belt. I first started learning Karate with my husband Mark at the Australian Academy of Martial Arts with Sensei Graham Keleher. I loved it…
My first tournament was in Lismore in 1991 where I was a blue belt (4th Kyu). I came first in my division and second in the Black Belt division. What an experience that was. I learnt to fight the demons. That was the first of many tournaments to come. I fought in the State Titles in 1992 and 1993, where I came second in Kata and first in Kumite both years. I fought in the Goodwill Tournament, where our club from Japan came over. I achieved equal third in Kumite, and at that stage I had already graded to 2nd Kyu.
I graded to 1st Kyu at the end of 1993 and trained for 3 years after that, until I stopped training for personal reasons.
I gave birth to a son in 2000, and by 2007 we were interested in putting our son Matthew into Karate. We looked up one of our old club members and found he was running a club of his own called Kodomon Karate-Do. We put Matty into Karate at the beginning of 2008 with Sensei Glenn Irvine and not long after I started back at training.
I have really enjoyed coming back. I trained pretty hard and finally went for “Shodan Ho” in June 2009 and passed. It doesn’t end there; I still have a lot of training to do, as I eventually will be going for “Shodan”.
I am also in training to become a qualified coach, which I thoroughly enjoy, and thanks to Sensei Glenn Irvine, I now have the opportunity to better my skills at Karate.
Tracey
Tags: by Perry Smith
Someone asked me the other day, “What is it about Karate that you like so much?” This was not a question to which I had ever given serious thought, so I gave the usual glib answer, everything. It did however, prompt me to consider the question.
I started to think about the three basics that Sempai drills us with, Kata (Forms), Kumite (Sparring) and Kihon (Basics).
The Kata I don’t mind, and a few I feel I can do slightly better than abysmal (although its only just!). Whilst not a huge strength, I can at least learn the pattern and try harder to improve both my understanding of the Kata and my performance of the Kata. I did conclude however, that my love of Karate does not stem from the Kata component.
Next I considered the Kumite. I have thus far been in two competitions. Anyone who has heard me pontificate on the subject will know that Kumite, especially in competitions, ranks with me about as high as rubbish skiing at the local dump. Each bout I have entered irrationally scared the living daylights out of me. I don’t like the butterflies in the stomach immediately before the match. I don’t like the days of anticipation and nervous tension leading up to the bout. In fact, with regard to competitions, I will quote Karen’s response to our last camping trip. Sat around the campfire on the last day, each of the family was saying what they enjoyed most about the camping. Karen’s reply was, “Leaving”. The same is true with competitions and me.
So then I turned my attention to Kihon. Do I enjoy walking up and down a freezing hall with a wooden floor in the depths of winter? Cannot say that I do. Do I enjoy the lengths of the hall in summer, dripping sweat with every step? Nope, can’t say that thrills me either.
By this stage, I was beginning to wonder why I even train. Each line of thought so far led me to conclude that I was not keen on yet another aspect of my training. It was about this time that I started to recall some of Sempai’s non-physical teachings.
On many occasions, whilst learning yet another twist or turn of body, and another mind confusing contortion of Kata, Sempai has often commented that the true meaning of a Kata in Karate are hidden and not obvious. To understand a particular Kata can take many years and much searching of its elements. This can and should be extrapolated to encompass most aspects of the martial art, not just the Kata.
With this thought, I began to re-evaluate my earlier conclusions with regard to the three K’s.
Kata teaches the correct forms and moves to be used. One always steps forward in Kata, to build spirit in the budding Budoka. Whether an individual is ‘good’ or not is principally a matter of training, repetition and perseverance. These three without a lot of natural ability are probably not sufficient to get you to the world titles. But, they will teach you the basics of Karate and they will certainly build mind and body over time. I personally believe they will also teach every budoka humility. Many times I have been asked to do an earlier ‘simple’ kata and mucked it up. So, I conclude that from Kata, I learn the alphabet of Karate, humility and the ability to see a bit beyond just the physical contortions of a particular Kata.
Kihon teaches exact basics. It teaches the nature of a punch, kick or strike in a formal way. The body learns to perform, correctly, many attacking and defensive moves as instinctively as breathing (eventually anyway). Kihon also teaches control of mind. Simply by being able to switch between Kumite mode and Kihon mode requires a substantial mind shift. So, from Kihon I learn more about the nature of my body, its capabilities and its limitations. I also learn how to control the body more effectively.
Kumite (sparring) and the bunkai (analysis) teach the spirit and application of the forms and techniques learned. In Sensei’s words, you are forced to ‘Face the tiger’. In other words, within a controlled environment, you are forced to confront and overcome your own fears. You move well beyond your comfort zone of sparring in your own Dojo with people you know and trust.
Until I had actually competed in a competition, I really did not understand the purpose of a competition to achieve this goal. After all, I rationalised; it is a non contact sport in a totally controlled environment.
Post competition, I can fully appreciate the naivety of such thoughts. The mind reacts to the perceived threat of your opponent! Hence, the fact that your opponent won’t really hit you is totally supplanted by the fact that the seen intent is that of a punch thrown at your face, that’s reality!!!
The final thing I considered was the ritual of Karate. Each session we bow at the door, bow to Sensei, Sempai, each other, the front wall (although this is really symbolic of all prior generations of teachers), and each other. This we do not once, but many times throughout a session. When one considers why, I guess there are many possible reasons. For me, I perceive the important ones to be
- Respect – For our teachers, all their past teachers and for each other
- Humility – Lest we become over zealous with our new found physical abilities, before we have truly absorbed all the teachings, not just the physical
- Patience & persistence – Nothing good ever comes easy goes the saying. In my opinion, this is truer in the Martial arts more than anywhere else. If you think you are really good at whatever level in training you have achieved, just ask Sensei or Sempai to grade you in an open grading, and learn yet another lesson about the long road to success.
So now if I consider the original question again, “What is it about Karate that you like so much?”
My answer is far less blasé, I hope much more balanced and considered, and above all, a resounding Everything.
Hope to see you at training, all the best
Perry
by Glenn Irvine
One of the many training methods used in Karate is the Makiwara. (pronounced. Mah-key-wah-ra)
This apparatus which loosely translates as “Striking Post”, is often misunderstood by novice students as a method for toughening the fists and creating callus. This couldn’t be further from the truth, although it does assist in strengthening the formation of the fist and wrist positioning.
The main purpose of the Makiwara is to develop striking focus and to perfect the timing of the strike. And like all training methods, only comes with continuous practice. The dimensions of the Makiwara are illustrated below, with the height above ground allowing for the hitting area to be positioned at the height of your solar plexus (Suigetsu). It is best to use a leather cover with “beach thong” rubber underneath, and protect it from the weather with a bucket.
The material should be hardwood, like a Kwila in Australia. Not Pine or softwoods.
Itosu Sensei advised that Makiwara training was critical for the development of serious Karate Practitioners.
Children should not use a makiwara unless appropriately supervised.
