Bunkai: Passai Nukite
This is an unusual two-handed application of nukite in our kata. Other nukite applications depend on body inertia or momentum for counterpressure, so you do not need to apply it with your opposite hand.
Second Kata – Outdoor Demo
Second Kata, Fukyugata Ni – Outdoor Training. Kata demo in flow style, from Mountain Karate – Castro Valley
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.
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.
Under Investigation
Our approach to kata bunkai interpretation treats kata as a subject for continual investigation. We look at ways to make each move effective.
Renzoku 連続
In renzoku our energy will follow a complete pathway, making a firm connection between the waist (the koshi and the hara, the mechanical and energy origins of the techniques), the foundation, and the target contact point – unifying our body, tactics and will in purposeful combative motion.
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
July Training Site
Today is a good day to train. We train where we are. Sometimes in beautiful and nearby places. Sometimes not.
