Seventh Kyū – Blue Belt with One Black Stripe

From

Heart, technique and body must be strong.
You cannot establish this in one day.
Remember, water one drop at a time can make a hole in a rock.

Soke kaicho Kinjo

Set Goals

It’s great to set a long-term goal of obtaining a black belt. Without a definite long-term goal you cannot set short term goals for your progress in karate.

Intuition versus Science

The karate techniques that were created and painstakingly refined over hundreds of years were not based on the principles of science. Surprisingly, though, the techniques of karate correspond well with the principles of science.[2]  physics — physiology and pressure points…

According to the authors of the textbook used a source for the following discussion of the physical basis of karate, when one tries to apply the basic laws of physics to real problems one is frequently forced to oversimplify in order to be able to treat the problem at all.[1]  Billiard balls do not have perfectly elastic collisions and life cannot be defined by an equation.  However,  

---

[1] Melissinos, Adrian C. and Frederick Lobkowicz: Physics for Scientists and Engineers, vol. 1, W. B. Saunders Company (1975), p. vii.

[2] Internet at www.shihanryu.org/resources/principl.htm

Students who began their karate training in Pangainoon Ryū may remember being taught that seiken zuki must begin palm up in hikite position and travel along a straight line to the target, keeping the elbow close to the body. The force of this style of punch is isolated to the use of the arm alone. The Kōburyū seiken zuki is relaxed and loose and is powered by the whole side of the body.  The body tightens at the moment of contact, delivering all of the force to the opponent.  The fist does travel efficiently in a straight line but the elbow moves a little away from the path of the attack for a more natural use of the arm and shoulder.

Former Pangainoon Ryū students may remember being told that the purpose of turning the fist over was to increase pain by twisting the skin. This may have had some additional effect on a bare-chested opponent.  It is not effective when applied to a clothed opponent, where the fist either twists the clothing or slips harmlessly across the surface.  Besides, the additional pain can be little more than the pain of a good pinch.  Compared to the potential for broken bones or organ damage, who cares about a pinch?

The fist is tateken at contact and turns over as a natural result of follow through. Strikes are always to vital points of the human body.

Is turning the fist over at the moment of contact effective?

From our earliest days in Kōburyū training we have been taught to turn our fist over at the moment of contact when punching.  While commonly found in Okinawan styles, the corkscrew punch is not universal to Okinawan styles.

The corkscrewing action is said to make the punch more penetrating than a punch that does not twist.  A turning or twisting force produces torque.  Torque is an extra amount of work applied to the body in question at impact.  By turning our fist over at the moment of impact we naturally focus our maximun effort at impact.

The corkscrewing action is also said to cause additional pain by twisting the flesh.  This may have had some additional effect on a bare-chested opponent.  It is not effective when applied to a clothed opponent, where the fist either twists the clothing or slips harmlessly across the surface.  Besides, the additional pain can be little more than the pain of a good pinch.  Compared to the potential for broken bones or organ damage, who cares about a pinch?

Is there a valid argument for punching with a vertical fist?

Isshin·Ryū, the one heart or whole-hearted way, a declining style in Okinawa, raises some interesting points about the validity of the corkscrew punch.  Established in 1954 by Tatsuo Shimabuku, Isshin Ryū has roots in both Shorin·Ryū and Gōjū·Ryū.  It employs a “snap style” of movement.  Punches are delivered with a vertical fist with no turn over at the moment of contact.  According to the author, the vertical punch is safer, faster and leaves the practitioner better positioned to deliver follow-up techniques. [1]

---

[1] Internet at bestkarate.org/isshinryu.htm

In Japan the martial arts fall within the category of geido, or “artistic ways.”  The Japanese believed the arts could only be learned by doing rather than reading.  The meaning of techniques could only come from total mind and body understanding obtained through practice.[1]

The type of practice employed by schools teaching the arts, including martial arts, is called keiko.  Keiko is learning which requires polishing through repetition of established forms, or kata.  Kata are the basic methods by which techniques are transmitted from master to student. 

The method of instruction was to repeat the kata under the guidance of the master.  Learning involved a rote imitation of the teacher’s kata, with no resistance, no attempt to embellish, no questions asked and commonly with no explanation of the individual moves.  Constant polishing of the moves, inner reflection on the process, down to the tiniest detail of stance or how one held one’s hands, it was believed, would untimately result in understanding.[2] 

---

[1] Hurst, G. Cameron: Ryūha in the Martial & Other Japanese Arts, Journal of Asian Martial Arts, vol. 4, no.4, 1995, p.20.

[2] Hurst, G. Cameron: Ryūha in the Martial & Other Japanese Arts, Journal of Asian Martial Arts, vol. 4, o.4, 1995, p.13-25.

O’hayou gozaimasu. (before 10 am)	おはようございまし。	Good morning. (polite)
O’hayou.	おはよう。	Good morning. (casual)
Kon’nichi wa	こんにちは。	Hello.
Kon ban wa. (after 6 pm)	こんばんは。	Good evening.
Sayōnara.	こんばんは。	Good bye.
Hai.	はい。	Yes.
IIe.	いいえ。	No.