Isshinryu karate

Random ramblings from an Isshinryu practitioner that's been training non-stop since he was 8 years old.

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Tokyo

So I have arrived in Tokyo on my way to Okinawa to train and see the sites. More to come..

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Chatan Yara sai drop and recovery at 2014 AAU Nationals

Colton drops and catches sai on bounce and keeps on going during Black Belt short Kobudo at 2014 AAU Nationals.

Nice save!

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So, I've been practicing Isshinryu Karate since I was about 6/7 yrs old until I was 13 or so, when I stopped after getting sick for about a month and a half, and never took the opportunity to come back. So currently, I am 15 and still at the rank of Ik Kyu. Might I ask you what the best way is for me to start training again, and come back into my dojo prepared? [though, I know they'd accept me back regardless if I remembered anything or not].

Hi. Nice to meet you. You will probably not like my first suggestion, but I would just go back and start training again. You won't remember everything ( but it will probably come back fast once you start again) and that can be hard for people since they feel everyone is expecting a lot out of them due to their rank. But don't worry about that. Just go back, get in shape and prove anyone that might have doubted you wrong. In the end the important thing is to get back on the dojo floor and start training again. Just talk to your sensei and let her/him know that you don't remember everything and will need time to remember but you are back to train hard and learn.

If you really want to try to get ready to go back I would say to go through everything you can remember as well as you can so the few things you do remember you can do half way decent.

If your family took any video footage of you training/being promoted I would also review that footage to see what you once knew and use it as a review.

Or if you are from a lineage such as Angi Uezu's, Arcenio Advincula's, Harold Mitchum's or other lineages that have video footage that you can buy you might think about checking those videos out to help your memory. But be careful videos can lead you astray and there is not telling if you sensei teaches like the videos.

You could also just starting working out and getting back in shape. It won't help you with remembering anything about the specific ways you did things but it will help you keep up physically with the classes.

In the end I would like to encourage you to go back and train!

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Bunkai thought process

So, one of the things I have been thinking about lately is the mistakes (to me anyway) that I have done, or have seen others do when thinking about bunkai.

I will start with what I consider an important thing to keep in mind when working out new bunkai for kata. When going through potential new applications for kata I have seen, and been guilty of it myself, that many will only think about attacks that they are familiar with. If their system is based on very linear motions then that is usually what they design bunkai to defend against. I know I have seen this within my own training  since Isshin-ryu is very linear on many levels with less hooking and swinging attacks. Because isshin-ryu has less of the swinging attacks, at one point it took me some time to consider such attacks because they were outside of the normal things I practice myself.

To me now, it seems like a very obvious thing not to over look, but I have seen it many times and found myself doing it as well. I would assume it is common because the people we practice bunkai with are almost always from our own dojo/style. This causes us to over look the ways other styles attack and can also lead us to the false conclusion that the person we are fighting knows any kind of martial art at all (and bad ass doesn't count as a martial art!).

For me once I started looking at the way other styles attacked, and just used common sense, I started to come up with new applications that proved to be effective and simple (my favorite kind of bunkai!). More importantly it helped me give myself good answers for parts of kata I never felt comfortable with the application for.

For me breaking out of the box that my brain had put my bunkai into started when I attended a seminar with Tsuyoshi Uechi Sensei in 2010. During a break he showed a simple bunkai to someone for part of chinto that really made me realize I had been missing a lot of obvious applications that I never should have been. From there, I started looking at the ways other styles attack from videos on youtube, books, talking to others, and etc.

Breaking out of the box that your style might put you into can be done many different ways: working with people from other martial arts, watching other martial arts, looking at untrained fighter's attacks, learning proper body mechanics. The most important things that should be done though is just working with a partner and just getting down to business working through kata.    

I hope this was all clear. I am rusty in writing my thoughts out ( and I was never that good to start with).

Feel free to comment. I know I have just touched on the surface of what could be said here.

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suprised by my number of followers

I did not realize just how many people had started following my short ramblings. It might be the motivation I need to write some more ramblings.

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where do i get this from

What are we talking about ?

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chinkuchi push up bars

I just got some really cool chinkuchi push up bars. Supper hard to do a pushup with!

 It really shows how little we use our stabilizing muscles and how under developed they are. If you are not familar with the term chinkuchi you can look it up and get a feel of it from googling it or looking up Aj Advincula

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I put a hole into my Shureido gi (the most expensive gi they make) by making a mistake with a sai on Monday and knew we had someone that was real good with a needle in the dojo and asked if she could patch it so it wouldn't get bigger. I also had her at the same time put the words isshinryu on my black belt. Well, I got it back today and I was over joyed with how much I liked the belt and the patch job (not pictured) was great as well. Then I felt like crying as soon as I saw the back had a new, and big, stain. The pictures don't do this justice. I have manged to get out 98%+ of the stain thankfully.  I'm not real sure how it happened since I haven't talked with her yet and I don't even know if she realized it happened. Hopefully it is at least a funny story.

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I haven't gotten very far into this, but it at least looks interesting

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My little space for a few of my karate related things. My sai and tonfa and my brothers sho dan certificate and my san dan. As well as some little statues my sensei gave to me as gifts over the years.

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Wow. I guess I should start this back up

I had no idea I had so many people were following me and even rebloging a few of my posts. Very humbling.

Thanks!  I hope you are finding some of this all at least a little bit interesting.

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Home made nigiri gami (griping jars/sanchin jars)

Took a jar that had shelled hemp seed in and turned it into a home made nigiri gami.

Second picture is what I have in it. It weighs about 5 pounds. I just need to make another one for my other hand now!

Hopefully I will be posting more home made hoju undo training equipment sometime this month

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New videos isshinryu Videos

I love living in a world where I can see such things as these! Kensho Tokumura demonstrates the Tokumine-No-Kun Kata of Isshin-Ryu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpbtS6-WDv4 Kensho Tokumura demonstrates the Tokushin-No-Eku Kata. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o6Q9t3BnD4 Kensho Tokimura Tokushin No Tekko Kata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KE1hD0SNF0 Kensho Tokumura Isshinryu Basics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vol62pCCK5Q Kensho Tokumura Isshinryu Hama Higa no Tuifa kata and Kumi Waza http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnUS_oaBZAY Sherman Harrill Sanchin Kata 1991 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRbeyyn--B0 Richie Ruberto 1991 Chinto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmUnIjgq594 Kusanku http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZCxUPQTdrs Michael Calandra 1991 Seiunchin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rv4fKQATdw Pete Haddad 1991 Naihanchi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNTF8gbUADA Angi Uezu 1970's Isshinryu Kobudo Kata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znZkTBO2iD0 Isshinryu Kata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC4rXtL_Ekk Nick Adler – Sunsu kata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPJxceq3xlE Albert Mady Sunsu Kata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M6j0Jq1TF4 John Hughes Chinto kata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNAfvVPWZyE Michael Calandra seisan kata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URR7fS1BOXc

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The way you think!

Great interview. It's nice to know someone else out there believes in this same kind of thing and has put it into words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNGf3fcGPas

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Interview with a karate legend. H. Kanazawa, 10th Dan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atk9aiunwBo&feature=relmfu

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states of mind

The way I see it there are two states of mind that I need to have for my karate training.  I would guess that many others use something sort of the same mindsets.

At the start of learning something new or perfecting something I need to be mindful of what I a doing. I need to watch and listen to my teacher and absorb what is being said. I need to be able to practice what I was taught effectively paying close attention to the details of the task sat hand. Being mindful helps me to be careful in how I am training my muscle memory. Trying to change your muscle memory after even a short amount of time  can be enough to drive some batty.

 The mindful part of training can make or break you in someways. It is so important in making a persons basics a strong foundation to their karate training. You can practice for years and years, but all of that practice can be a waste of time if what you are doing is incorrect. Incorrect practice just reinforces sloppy bad techniques that not even you mother likes. If feel we must be mindful in our techniques and our practice.

Mushin, or "without mind". This the other half of the puzzle for to me. You need your Mushin to take over when you need it in a real life or death situation, while you are playing kata at a testing/grading or tournament or anywhere that you need to get specific job done and you need your training to take over. The last thing you want is to be looking like you are thinking all you are in front of judges or being thinking too much as someone tries to end your life for enough money to their next hit of crack.

Part of the way I see the mushin is that it is a state of mind where you need your training to take over from (hopefully) years of mindful training to save your life.

Hopefully I will write on this more later, since I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface of what I could say about this.

IF anyone actually reads this and they disagree or or agree, let me know! I am no expert on this (or anything else for that matter), but I like to always learn and hear no ideas.