Bunkai: Wankan the Beginning
…following the exact movement-pattern of the technique called “shuto chudan uke,” but with a completely different use than that name indicates…
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.
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.
Old Karate in Modern Kata
As karate was modernized and popularized some styles did narrow the technical range and made it more suitable for matches and more accessible to people who wanted a sports and fitness experience rather than combative self-defense.
Groundbreaking New Book
“One of the best books I’ve read in years, inviting and compelling… A splendid achievement.”
— Philip Zaleski, Editor, The Best Spiritual Writing series
Farm Raised or Wild
One difference between the natural world and the virtual world is that in the natural world you are somewhere. You can be there and do something. You can stay where you are, or go somewhere else. That may be obvious. But it may not be obvious that in the virtual world you are never anywhere. […]
Karate as Life Skill
Our karate is for everyone who wants to do it. Not just for a few competitors, not just for unusual people who are dedicating their lives to the pursuit of a martial arts ideal. We do have some amazing athletes in our style. We have a few who are dedicated practitioners, aspiring at a very […]
Surrounded
We generally train using a single-combat model. That is a challenge. Size matters. So do skill, speed, determination and defiance. To engage multiple opponents, to be outnumbered and surrounded, is much harder. We can’t just figure we will know what to do. It is possible to take an advantageous position, moving to stack the opponents, […]
Self-Defense in Fading Light
People debate the right to self-defense. In some places people can be charged criminally if they use a gun in self-defense, even in their own home, against an armed home invader or robber. Business owners and employees have been charged with felony violations for using deadly force in self-defense, even after they have been attacked […]
Training In the Shadow of Science
Because of the advances in science and technology more people are able to be more ignorant about more things now than at any time in history. This is a stunning achievement. It is not because of science, which, like guns or butter, has no agency of its own. It is because of what people have […]
Making History
They say the modern world is in an advanced stage of decline. We don’t need to decline with it. We are not helplessly riding an arc of history. History is not a thing. History is what people do. We can think in accord with accepted norms or contrary to them. Or neither: we can make […]
Why They Did It
…the essential inner stream of east Asian martial arts culture… When you make something, you change the material you are working with. And you change too. Anyone can fight. Kids hit. It takes no training, no brains and no skill. Impulsive ones lash out. The other ones learn what to do about it. People cannot […]
As Dangers Multiply
We carry our training with us everywhere we go. Our skills include our mental attitude. We make our minds strong. Here is one way: we acknowledge shortcomings and we fix them. Here is another: we acknowledge our strengths and build on them. We do both every day. It is how training works. Self-criticism can be […]