Shotokan Karate E-Dojo

Probably the best variety of self-defense is not being in the wrong place at the wrong time, which certainly includes places with the trifecta: pretty girls, lots of alcohol, and pool tables (as a source of sticks). The second best variety of self-defense is probably Nike-do, or covering them with heel dust.

A distant third is fighting, of any sort.

Now, karate specializes in percussive techniques.

So does boxing.

Both boxing and karate use the knuckles of the fists in an effort to set up a vibration in the lower part of the brain, which results from strikes to the chin and jaw (there are other targets for knockouts, of course).

This video demonstrates that punches delivered to the chin and jaw can result in a knockout.

When someone is asleep, they are unlikely to harm you extensively.

But not being there, and running, are both better choices.

If you have choices.

Sensei Tanaka is a nice man. When Sensei Nakayama came to Arizona to visit Sensei Koyama, he brought Sensei Tanaka with him to the class at Arizona State University.  That was a lotta Senseis!

Sensei Nakayama was one of my instructor’s instructors, and he studied karate with Sensei Funakoshi.

I am honored to be able to study karate with Sensei Koyama, who taught me Jion a few years ago.

Sensei Tanaka’s Jion is better than mine.

But in a few more decades, watch out!

I really respect Bill “Superfoot” Wallace; he’s a smart, practical guy who likes to teach.

One reason I respect him is that he was consistently a winner in his professional kick-boxing career.

And he’s crippled.

No joke; he lost a tendon or ligament in a judo match before he took up karate, and that meant his right leg was useless for kicks.

So he devised a system that worked very well for matches with referees and either points or full contact competition.

In essence, he stuck his chambered left leg out, made mental note of the location of his opponent’s opening, and then smacked him right in that opening!

Now, his style of karate isn’t particularly traditional or academic; but then, a traditional approach to karate would have left him losing in every contest. Because he didn’t have an effective right side.

His right leg was useless, and given his stance, his right hand was so far back that it didn’t play much of a role except blocking or interposing.

But he used his most useful martial tool, his brain, and found a strategy that used only the few techniques he could execute, which permitted him to win in competitions.

I also give him points for this; he seems to avoid taking himself too seriously, which sometimes happens with guys who don’t actually spar.

Now, will his strategy work perfectly in a bar? No, because the counterstrategy used by saloon warriors is to get so close to you, smiling, that your reaction-time zone is penetrated before they ever throw their one untrained-but-effective roundhouse right, again and again and again.

And that is a very effective technique; the saloon warrior is almost a perfect Musashi-trained fighter, because he remembers Musashi’s injunction to think of nothing except cutting and killing the opponent. If you substitute clubbing for cutting, the parallel is pretty close. Which is why a saloon warrior can take out almost any trained martial artist when he’s close enough.

How do you avoid letting him get close enough?

Well, that’s an interesting question, isn’t it?

p.s. The Wallace System is optimized for a particular set of rules, and that’s why it works very well in some tournaments, and won’t work well in others, with different rules and judges.

p.p.s. Could Bill Wallace win in a real fight? Well, with his wrestling background, and his judo background, and his undefeated professional career in kickboxing and full-contact karate, I don’t think I’d want to kick him in the shins and talk about his momma. But that’s just me.

And as you can tell from this short video, Bill is a good teacher.

p.p.p.s. No, he’s not a traditional Shotokan Sylist. And? A Shotokan Student does well to learn from every source, just as Funakoshi studied with at least five different teachers in Okinawa. Wallace has a special genius; he actively creates openings. That is what you should want to learn from him, because in that context, he is very, very capable.

There is an upside to some bankruptcy cases, like the Borders Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

And that is that I got to buy a ton of cool books in the last days of the Borders at the Biltmore Shopping Mall in Phoenix, on Camelback and 24th Street.

One of those was called “The Art of Hojo Undo”, by Michael Clarke.

The book is a survey of supplemental karate training methods using traditional Okinawan Equipment.

Most karate practitioners in the United States will not be familiar with many of the training tools discussed in this extensively illustrated book.

Now, will this book instantly make you a better martial artist? Of course not; no book will do that.

But you’ll see how folks on a tiny island worked to become more fully trained martial artists, during a period when that made a lot of difference (Remember, if weapons are forbidden, you’d best be a little bit handy, right?).

Obviously, certain martial arts are anachronisms; after Crecy and Agincourt, well-trained knights on horses with lances were seldom as useful in battle as previously. And there were a lot fewer French Knights after those battles, in any case. And after Samuel Colt’s contribution to world technology, the use of martial arts of all sorts were a bad idea when confronted with firearms, which at a distance trump empty-handed martial arts and hand-held bladed weapons (See A Book of Five Rings for a discussion of this point by Musashi, as well as discussions of the Boxer Rebellion).

So what are these exotic tools for karate development, and why didn’t they get ported over to Japanese Karate?

Well, some did. The most obvious is the makiwara, which is a punching board that is apparently original to Okinawa, and made the cut when training was standardized and karate missionaries sent by Sensei Funakoshi and Sensei Nakayama went to the far corners of the earth. Iron geta are also used in the Japanese versions of karate.

Other tools, including the lifting tools developed in Okinawa, did not make the cut; my belief is that Japanese Karate Exponents simply preferred the convenience of “off the rack” progressive resistance exercise equipment, including barbells and dumbbells of graduated weights.

The Okinawan Martial Artists used tools to toughen the hands in addition to the makiwara, and also tools to toughen the body by progressive impact training, and tools to strengthen grabbing and pulling an opponent into the strike.

All in all, it’s an interesting read, and Michael Clarke did a fine job of tracking down examples of seldom-seen exercise and conditioning equipment, and explaining the uses of that equipment. The photos and drawings are clear and instructive, and the text and research are well done; the author is an expert in the history and use of these tools, having received instruction in their use on Okinawa.

And I personally was particularly taken by a makiwara variant called the ude kitae, which in some forms is simply a round post firmly fixed in the ground, big enough around to handle some bashing, and with a top cut at an angle and height that it provides a handy way to condition the hammer-fist to the forehead (which, with an unconditioned hammer-fist, may not be a very good idea; heads are very hard. I’ve read that the clavicle is a better target.).

If you are a serious martial artist, and interested in the percussive arts, you will be interested in browsing through this book and seeing what tickles your fancy; you may like the Okinawan grip trainer, or the kakite bikei, or the tetsuwa, or the “blocking cube”.

Hey, if you mix it up, it’s not work, right? And a change is as good as a vacation from training.

Better, actually.

p.s. if you actually build or use these tools, be careful, for heaven’s sake! Don’t overdo! Ask a doctor if you’re healthy enough for exercise! Use your head! Excessive exercise or unwise beating of your hands or other body parts on hard surfaces can make you sad that you ever tried this stuff! Always be gentle with yourself and use gradual increases in intensity. Very gentle, and very gradual.

Karate training is for life and health; train that way!