The karate video is only for fun. The real meat is the lecture. Listen closely, Grasshopper!
And then there is this, which experienced martial artists already know.
You don’t need to worry about black belts. Oh, sure, they know some stuff.
But grey belts? Be very respectful.
Very.
When I watch a serious karate exponent demonstrate, I tend to sigh, and say “I could do that, with a lot more practice!”
But, you know, there aren’t enough hours in the day!
And Sensei Kanazawa has always had good technique, and also spars very well. He bested Enoeda in the first All-Japan Karate Tournament, and Sensei Enoeda was very capable indeed.
This is a lovely JKA video, and it starts artistically.
And slowly!
On the other hand, if you keep the faith, you’ll see some interesting karate techniques, and very, very good technique at that.
This is the old black and white film shot with Sensei Nakayama and early karate students, who transmogrified into Senior JKA Instructors.
It looks a little rough by today’s standards, but for a world that had never seen Shotokan Karate, it was remarkable.
I like watching enthusiastic Shotokan Practitioners demonstrate sparring.
It reminds me why I don’t spar much!
Note: this isn’t very much like a real fight at all. Bad guys really never learned to attack properly!
They attack effectively, but not very well at all. In fact, I give most muggers very low points for correct form.
In the old days, these are the sorts of exercises that Shotokan Karate Students used during warm-ups.
Did I say, “old days”?
Some approaches to studying the techniques embodied in Shotokan Karate are more intense than others.
University Karate Clubs in Japan are notoriously hard-core, and sometimes involve more contact than other places you might study Shotokan Karate (was that politically correct enough?).
Japanese Military Karate is another venue that does not appear to be for the faint of heart.
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.
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.
This is a nice series of defenses. My guess is that they’d work just fine in the real world.
