Age-uke

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1. Starting from the yoi (ready) position in shizentai (natural stance). Place the left arm above the head, so the elbow is directly above the shoulder, one fist away from the head and just above the eye line.

2. keeping the elbow as explained above, bend the left arm, so the fist is just above the head. The fist, forearm and elbow are about a fist to a fist and a half away from the forehead. Try and keep the wrist straight.

3. The left arm is now in the upper rising block position. The right arm should be in the hikite (hiki=pulling, te=hand) position. The right hikite fist should be clenched and placed on the right side of the body, palm up, at the bottom of the ribs, with the right elbow pulled in tight.

You should now be in the age uke position. Lets look at the actual sequence of arm movement, when practicing Age- uke.

1. Open the left hand. Now imagine you are going to use your right hikite fist to punch your left arm, in the middle of the forearm. That is roughly, the path your right fist is going to take.

2. As you start to lift the right blocking arm, drop the left elbow and turn the left hand, so the thumb (which should be bent), is facing towards you. As you lift the right arm and drop the left, both arms should cross in front of the chin. The right blocking arm should be on the outside, so the left pulling arm, is closest to the face. Still keep the arms, a fist to a fist and a half distance, from the face.

3. Continue the upward movement of the right arm, remembering you were aiming a punch at the middle of the left forearm, when it was in the age uke position. As you raise the right arm from the crossed arm position (5), start to rotate the forearm counter clockwise, so the palm faces away from you. The left arm now becomes the hikite (pulling hand), moving down to the finished hikite position at the left side of the body.

4. Breathing should be silent and natural. Breathing in on the preparation and out on the execution of the block. Both fists should stop at exactly the same time.


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Karate Moves The Karate Chop?

At school, my friends used to run around me shouting ‘aya eeeyaa aiyyyyya hai ya,etc,etc’, whilst performing a strange chopping action with their open hands. It used to drive me crazy. But I always made out it didn’t bother me in the slightest. I never quite understood my friends doing this and I don’t believe they realised how stupid they looked!

I always used to wonder why, not just my friends, but people in general, associated karate with these open hand strikes, it must have been something to do with the old films like, the pink panther films, not Now Kato!!!!! Or the James bond movies, where ‘Odd Job’ would be karate chopping his victims, into an untimely demise, or even one of my favourite cartoons, Hong Kong Fooey!

But as the years have rolled by, I now realise that the karate chop is used in karate, way more than I first realised.

Shuto or knife hand, is everywhere in karate! From the basic shuto uchi (knife hand block), through the heian kata, eg. double knife hand block and counter in Heian Yondan (pictured), to the more advanced brown and black belt shotokan karate kata. The karate chop is everywhere.

My friends were right! I believed, that I very rarely used open hand, but in reality it’s everywhere in our karate training!

Ossu
Linden

Heian Yondan

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Karate Classes and Distance Part 2

We covered basic distancing in Karate Classes and Distance Part 1.

Distance is extremely important, but often overlooked in many karate classes.  Without correct distance, strikes will be ineffective and the ability to control the fight will be gone!

There are many different types of distance to be aware of. The one below, basically covers your distance in relation to an opponent.

1. Safe Distance. The distance at which you know you have time if your opponent attacks, this is obviously quite a long range, where your opponent would need more than one step to attack.

2. Green Distance. This is where you first acknowledge danger, but the distance is as number 1.

3. Amber Distance. This is where you have acknowledged the danger and realize an attack is imminent.

4. Red Distance. This is where an opponent is within easy striking distance and is about to attack,  you must act!

When practicing kumite in your karate classes, there are many different striking distances for your karate moves.

1. Closest Distance. Grappling, biting and very close strikes.

2. Close Distance. Knee attacks, head butting, elbow attacks, upper cuts, hooks

3. Medium Distance. Jabs,hooks,uppercuts,reverse punches,back fists,bottom fists, knife hand attacks, shortened kicks

4. Long Distance. Stepping attacks, long range kicks, jumping attacks

Once you understand distance, the next factor to imcorporate, is timing.

Check out more on correct distance in part 1.

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Karate Classes and Distance Part 1

One of the most important elements of karate, is distance.

You need to have the distance between you and the person you are fighting  just right, in order to deliver effective karate moves.

A good fighter always has excellent distance and timing, but we will not focus on timing, lets just concentrate on distance in this article.

Shotokan karate for beginners classes teach a very basic form of sparring, that is excellent for distance training. This kumite (sparring) is referred to as gohon (5 step) kumite or sanbon (3 step) kumite.

You face your sparring partner, bow (rei), then come to Yoi (ready position) in shizentai (natural stance).

When you are first learning karate, this is where you will adjust your distance. Simply extend one arm and touch your partner on the shoulder, with your arm straight.

This is a good starting position for basic sparring. The attacker will step back downward block (gedan barai) with the right leg and block gedan barai with the left arm. In this basic sparring exercise, you will step and attack oizuki (stepping punch), either 5 or 3 times, depending on the karate dojo you attend.

This is good distance training for both the attacker and defender.

Imagine the sun, a magnifying glass and a piece of paper. Once the sun, magnifying glass and a piece of paper are aligned correctly, the paper will burn! Your karate techniques are the same, there are lots of other elements involved, but distance is one of the main ingredients that will ensure the your karate techniques ‘burn‘ their intended target!

We will cover more on correct distance in part 2.

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’
Lao Tzu

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Learning Karate The Way Of Karate

To many, karate is simply a fighting art, but to others, it is a way of life. How one conducts theselves through life, is way more important than how well they fight. Martial arts philosophy goes back hundreds of years and one of the best places to access this wisdom of the masters, is the old 1970′s ‘Kung Fu’ TV series. The clip below is taken from one of the episodes.

“ The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind.
- Wayne Dyer”

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Kihon Kata (Taikyoku Shodan) Sample Video Tutorial

Kihon kata video tutorial sample, taken from the members area of http://karateclassesonline.com where you can access some free karate videos.

Kihon kata is the first shotokan karate kata practiced. Kihon means basic and kata means form.

Kihon consists of only one karate stance, zenkutsu dach (front stance) and two basic karate moves, oizuki (stepping punch) and gedanbarai (downward block), this kata is usually the first karate kata practiced in shotokan karate dojo.

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Self Defense Courses The Good and the Bad!

Karate and the martial arts have evolved over hundreds of years and will continue to evolve. There are hundreds of different martial art styles, but where real self defense is concerned, the attitude needed is exactly the same.

There are of course, effective self defense moves and ineffective self defense moves, But what concerns a lot of people, is the fact that there are martial arts instructors, who have little experience and are conducting self defense courses. These rogue instructors are endangering people, who are looking for quality self defense information.

I do not believe in self defense courses that concentrate only on physical defense and counter techniques. Awareness should be taught first, i.e. what signs to look for, where not to go, how to stay calm, being aware of your surroundings and the people around you, should be a priority.

Strikes should concentrate on eye gouging, biting, groin attacks, with maybe some open palm strikes. People have to understand, it takes a long time to be able to strike with effective self defense moves and the hardest thing for people to understand is your strikes should have the 'intention to do harm', behind them. It simply will not cut it, to just throw a self defense move.

The good self defense courses, will always talk about the latest tools, such as stun guns, pepper sprays, wireless home alarms, surveillance equipment, personal alarms and child safety items to help protect your family, your home and yourself.

Understand, the people that attack innocent people, care not, what happens to their victims, some do not care if the victim dies. These are the monsters that attack people in the street and one day, you may need to take extreme action to survive. I sincerely hope not, but these attacks are getting more and more common around the world. Simply being aware can stop some of these attacks, being conscious of who is walking near by, or watching you should be a priority.

Although the chances of you being attacked are still rare, studying self defense principles some basic karate moves and simply being aware when you are out and about, should be on everybody's list. Stay safe!

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After School Karate

When parents are looking for karate classes for children, the first place they usually look is their children’s school.

The after school karate clubs are becoming more and more popular and most of them are great!

However there are children’s karate instructors who are not qualified and because they flash some certificates and insurance papers, the schools happily let them in.

The most important part of our lives, is our childhood. We develop our character traits, likes, dislikes, we basically forge our adult lives in our early years, so having a really good karate instructor is imperative.

This is a true story. Several years ago a black belt came to our dojo, he was cocky and arrogant, but we welcomed him. He proceeded to tell us how good he was, but was unable to train in our senior karate classes because of work.

His karate was very poor and we were surprised he managed to attain black belt. Anyway, he came to our kids class and ‘tried’ to help out, this went on for about 4 weeks, then he was gone!

Several weeks passed and I received a phone call from a senior karate instructor (who was world class). He said he had received several complaints about me, from parents. I was shocked and asked for more details. Sensei said I should not be teaching knife defense to 5 year olds! I nearly fainted.

When we got to the bottom of the story, it turned out that this so called black belt, had opened his own dojo, where he taught karate for children and knife defense. He was now passing on all his hard earned martial arts knowledge to children in our area.

He was teaching knife defense to 5 year olds with real knifes! And he was hopeless! Not a good combination.

A parent came to us who had taken his children there and said that the karate instructor told them he had trained with all the top Japanese karate masters. I told this parent that he may have watched a DVD, but he had never trained with the masters.

So even if you want your kids to go to an after school karate club, look at several, it may be the right one, but DO NOT settle for the one on your doorstep, just because it’s convenient, you may end up with someone like the guy in our story!

Ossu
Linden

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Martial Arts For kids And Master Po!

Martial arts for kids is something that every parent should consider.

When i was very young I watched the Kung Fu series with David Carradine, I was mesmerised, not just by the fighting, but more importantly, by the martial arts philosophy in the show. The young Kwai Chang Caine would have regular martial arts lessons with master Po (my hero).  I vividly remember the one below:

Master Po (blind shaolin monk), was fighting with the young Kwai Chang Caine, he defeated Caine with little effort and said ‘Ha, ha, never assume because a man has no eyes he cannot see. Close your eyes. What do you hear?’
Kwai Chang Caine replies, ‘I hear the water and I hear the birds.’
Master Po says, ‘Do you hear your own heart beat?’
Caine replies, ‘No.’
Master Po says, ‘Do you hear the grasshopper that is by your feet?’
Kwai Chang Caine looks down at his feet and sees the grasshopper, then replies, ‘Old man, how is it that you hear these things?’
Then Master Po says, ‘Young man, how is it that you do not?’

There are some amazing children’s martial arts schools out there, you just need to go find them. Martial arts teachers vary in skill and ability, so it really is a good idea to attend and watch, several martial arts lessons.

So if it is for your child, or yourself, i hope you find a great school!

Linden

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Master Gichin Funakoshi

“Karate ni sente nashi” There is no first attack in Karate

Gichin Funakoshi from Shuri, Okinawa (November 10, 1868 – April 26, 1957) was the founder of Shotokan karate. Master funakoshi has also been accredited with being the ‘father of modern karate.’ He was also a poet and philosopher.

He began practicing karate with two karate masters, Anko Itosu and Yasutsune Azato, then later on trained under other masters, including the legendary Sokon “Bushi” Matsumura.

Master Funakoshi visited Japan in 1922 and gave a karate demonstration, the demonstration went so well, he stayed in Japan and in 1939 built the first Shōtōkan dojo in Tokyo. In 1949 the Japan Karate Association (JKA), was formed and Master Funakoshi was made chief instructor.

Many believe Funakoshi did not agree with free sparring in karate and instead preferred the ‘old way’ of training, which was predominately based around the karate kata and in depth study into these karate forms.

Master Funakoshi believed karate practice should be predominately about character development, as can be seen in one of his quotes, ‘The ultimate aim of the art of karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the characters of its participants’.

He really disapproved of some of the new training methods that were implemented after karate’s introduction into Japan. He especially disliked the idea of competition in karatedo.

After the master died, some of his original students formed the shotokai and hoped to reclaim the original karate teachings of Master Funakoshi.

The name Shotokan comes from the great master’s pen name ‘shoto’, which translates as ‘pine waves’. ‘Kan’ translates as ‘hall’. So Shotokan translates as ‘the hall of pine waves’.

‘Kara’ translates as empty and ‘te’ translates as hand. So Karate translates as ‘empty hand’.

As karate evolves and changes, there are still many karate sensei who believe in the original teachings of master Funakoshi, so I will finish with another Funakoshi quote ~

The correct understanding of Karate and its proper use is Karate-do. One who truly trains in this do [way] and actually understands Karate-do is never easily drawn into a fight.

Ossu

Linden Huckle

Karate Classes Online


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