Sirens at Night
We train. Because we cannot predict when we will face a powerful, devious enemy. Or what it will take to prevail.
Bunkai: First Kata, 4-5
There is another possibility which is more likely: The opponent drops and attempts a take-down. That is a standard mode of attack for many grapplers. We need to train to prevent that.
Pinan Sandan – In The Beginning
In this interpretation of pinan sandan this opponent is inside your defensive zone and has a hand on you. Here is how to stop this multistage attack.
Seize the Moment
If you fail to seize the moment, the moment may seize you. There are counter-grappling techniques throughout our kata.
Chudan Uke Critical Points
We do not advise covering your chest with an x and then hook around to push the incoming punch toward the outside edge of your body. Chudan Uke does not work that way.
Loyalty and Integrity
John Boyd and Musashi Miyamoto did not triumph in their quest for mastery by seeking approval from strangers. They trained diligently, relentlessly, seeking knowledge everywhere and anywhere they could find it, tested it thoroughly and applied it assiduously.
Tied Up Right Now
…we flow through postures to meet changing conditions. Like the course of a river, or a rope in the air. In this sense there are no postures…
Painful Indecision
…That kind of fantasy moves through the minds of untrained and inexperienced people when they think ahead to the possibility of violent confrontation. They think they will do something they saw in a show. Or that they will “just do it.” Or that, with right on their side, and innocence in their heart, that they will somehow be able to win. Not bloody likely…
Burning Books
If we treat the kata as fetishes, as objects possessing magic powers, as if they could confer mastery on their own, just by knowing them, then they fail in their purpose.
The End of Pinan Sandan
There are only two moves in which we turn our back on our opponent. Both are in Pinan Sandan. This video shows the one at the end: In this bunkai, for the last moves of Pinan Sandan, the end is victory. But that is not inevitable.
August Outdoor Training
Mountain Karate August Outdoor training area. Some visitors, accustomed to an urban, built environment, find this area to be not really real. Most find it a challenging and inspiring place to train. And return again and again.
Yakusoku San
Demo of Yakusoku San. This shows embusen, and some of the quick reversal motions we emphasize. In this drill we stay in range, evade the incoming technique, reroute it, and counter, on two revolutions of the koshi.
Too Fast To See
The use of instant reversals and deceptive maneuver, what Boyd called fast transients, is a staple of the combative technique of throwing and grappling arts. This essential tactic is built in to all of our karate techniques. It has not been fully grasped.
Sakiyama Sogen’s Last Letter
“As I am writing to you, I can vividly feel your sincerity and passion to pursue this and to master karate-do. ‘Do’ is an endless and severe way. Therefore, we must endlessly exert ourselves to attain it. How wonderful the ‘Do’ is!” – Sogen Sakiyama, Roshi
