Lyoto Machida has trained in Shotokan Karate since he was a small boy. These punches don’t look like Shotokan techniques, but they worked just fine.
Lyoto Machida is a lifetime trained Shotokan Stylist. Machida can get away with jump kicks against a fell opponent like Randy Couture. You cannot get away with such kicks in the local Bucket of Blood on Saturday Night.
In general, in a bar, you can always tell which guy is about to be examining the tile between the bar stools by watching who is attempting a kick in a fistfight.
Some days you won’t train in Shotokan; the dojo may be closed for Christmas, or your Sensei may be traveling to conduct seminars or testing in some corner of the world.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to have something you can do on your days off training for fun, flexibility, and aerobic exercise.
You could always run with the bulls at Pamploma. And if one of the bulls catches you, you can practice blocking, fueled with some serious motivation.
On the other hand, you could also practice Sepaktakraw, the sport in the video above.
It seems to have a lot to offer a martial artist; training for focus, timing, distance, aerobic exercise, flexibility, and break-falls.
Although these gentlemen seem to have given up breakfalls for Lent!
Sensei Ohta has inhumanly good technique. Now, most of the high level Shotokan Instructors have remarkable technique. His is remarkable even in that exclusive group.
This video starts slow, but gets more interesting as it goes.
Sensei Shojiro Koyama, my instructor, is now 75 years old.
When I’m 75 years old, I want to be able to do what he can do at 75.
The smart money doesn’t bet that I’ll get my desires, but he who lives longest sees the most.
I like a lot of the bunkai outlined by Sensei Lupo in this short video; I get the feeling that he’d be a tough customer in a fight.
And Nijushiho is a remarkable kata; it seems to me to have a lot of practical applications, many of which are outlined here by Sensei Lupo.
Here Sensei Kanazawa in his prime demonstrates Unsu; and I am impressed with his skill.
I strongly recommend his dvds on Amazon, by the way. And you can see my reviews of them on Amazon, here.
This is a nice series of defenses. My guess is that they’d work just fine in the real world.
Jion is a tranquil kata. I like it very much. It has no athletic, flashy movements, so it’s not as popular for tournaments as Unsu, which has flashy, athletic movements, and is also a wonderful kata.
Not as tranquil, though!
Iain Abernethy is one sharp cookie, and he loves to teach the way a glutton loves to eat. And he is a Wado-ryu Stylist, and he knows a lot of practical applications for a lot of kata!
