Category Archives: karate bunkai

You Feel the Karate Power! You can Kick Butt! What Then?

Within the Karate Fist is Great Spirit

Karate makes power. Karate is power.

You do those forms and you feel the power start to take hold, you feel your body energize and get stronger and stronger. Finally, you have the power! You can explode with instant energy that is unstoppable. What now?

Well, what now is that you need to take a second step. The second step is not more power.

What? You don’t like that answer? But you’ve already got enough power…what do you need more for?

Let me ask you a question, if you had to fight ten guys, would you fight ten times as hard?

Nope.

You’d fight one tenth as hard for each guy.

So you don’t get more energy and violence and move faster and faster…that just wastes you. What you do do is learn to be efficient, to create the effct of more energy with less effort and less motion.

So when you get your black belt, start to look around. See if other arts will compliment this concept. Look at yourself, see if you can hit softer…and yet create greater effect. There are methods, you know. It is possible…you just have to break out of the method you’ve been trained in and…reverse your path.

Yeah,

you read that right.

Once you hit black belt…you have to  train in the opposite direction, get softer and softer, until people can hardly even see you.

I used to train with some of the toughest guys in the world, outlaw bikers. But they all bowed quickly and stood silent in the presence of the most polite man in the world. What he knew in gentleness was far greater than all their massive muscle.

Well, think about it, and while you’re thinking about Karate power, head over to Learn Karate Online.  If you have always wanted karate but never went for it, this is your chance. If you started, and, for whatever reason, dropped out, this is your chance.

The Importance of Pinan Five (Heian Five) Karate Kata

Perfection of Body...Perfection of Character!


Back in 1967, when I was studying Kenpo Karate, I used to drive my instructors crazy. I kept coming in with books and doing forms out of them. Specifically, from the Best Karate Series by Nakayma, I found first Heian Two Karate Kata, then Heian Five, and I was in heaven.
I loved the power of those stances, I loved the feeling in the air when I did those whole body movements.
And, of particular interest to me was the art of the jump. I figured out how to swing the leg and rock the body into a launch. I figured out how to pull those legs high up under me, and then land low. The idea was to jump over a low sword swing, and then land under a high sword swing.
These are things that you don’t learn in MMA. I have nothing against MMA, I just don’t study it because it is sport instead of art.
The intent of sport is to beat another person, the intent of art is refine the self (achieve perfection).
I don’t mean to speak ill of other physical disciplines, because there is something to be learned from all, and darn, there is a part of me that just loves a good competition. But when it comes to my personal evolution, I prefer the art, and to this day, near forty-five years later, I still practice the Karate Kata known as Heian Five, or as it was called in the traditional martial arts school I later went to…Pinan Two. Check out my site for Evolution of an Art, it has three complete classical martial arts, dozens of forms, hundreds of techniques, and all sorts of things that will aid you evolution as a martial artist.

Karate Secrets of the Universe

Karate Power

Karate Secrets...hidden for all to see!


Karate Secrets, eh?
Sort of interesting, you hear about secrets, but, when you get there (black belt?) you find there aren’t any.
You find that water is wet, rocks are hard, and life goes on.
And the real martial arts secrets deal with things like geometry and math and…school stuff.
Well, you actually start to apply basic physics to the body, and you find the good stuff.
I’m not going to go deeply into this, because I don’t want to give away the store. You’re going to find the answers on the Matrix Karate Course, or the Master Instructor Course.
But, the universe is based on the square, the triangle, and the circle.
Karate happens to be the square. It creates the base, the foundation, and a rock solid platform to build all arts on.
Unfortunately, people tend to look for the secrets, instead of building the foundation.
That said, when you do Karate you should be looking for ways to apply a triangle, perhaps to angulat the stance a bit, that sort of thing.
And you should be looking for places where the circle exists, in the performing of a block, smoothing out the edges of a punch.
So the secret of Karate is to simply sink your weight into the stance, learn how to generate the explosion of the tan tien, study how the body moves, and keep doing it until you…transcend. Until you slide a bit out of the body, until you see energy, and can appreciate it, and even start to use it. At that point you can shift arts, but you shouldn’t until then, or you won’t really see all the glorious karate secrets, and the martial arts secrets, sitting in plain sight for all to see.

Funakoshi Says Karate Is Not The Karate It Was!

It is a well known fact that the only thing that doesn’t change is that everything changes. That is the unavoidable truth residing at the heart of this universe. That this is true in Karate (and other martial arts) was put forth by Gichin Funakoshi, the father of Karate.
Check out the video. It shows how one should examine karate form applications to find all the possibilities. The article will continue below that.

Before I tell you what he said, let me make a point through the sayings of Matsu Basho. Don’t (merely) follow in the footsteps of the masters, but rather seek what (the truths) they sought. While this bit of writing I present to you may seem like an attack on the classical approach to the martial arts, it is really merely an admonishment to look deep.

To look deep is to find the soul. To look deep is to find the true martial arts. To look deep is to find yourself.

Hoping to see Karate included in the physical education taught in our public schools, I set about changing the kata so as to make them as simple as possible. Times change, the world changes, and the martial arts should change too. The Karate that school students practice today is not the same Karate that was practiced even as recently as 10 years previous [this book was written in 1956], and it is a long way indeed from the Karate I learned when I was a child in Okinawa.

The paragraph you have just read are the words of Master Gichin Funakoshi. There may be some paraphrasing, so if you want the exact quote, simply examine his book. It is titled…Karate-Do: My Way of Life.

The point here is that to memorize the forms and techniques is fine, up to a point. And at that point one must give up the Monkey See Monkey Do type mode of instruction and start digging deeper. This is the only way to get to the heart of the real martial arts.

The Martial Arts, and we are speaking specifically of Karate here, were created for specific times to solve exact problems. Was it designed for defense against weapons that are no longer in use, armor that is no longer worn, mind sets that are no longer showing? Was it translated for children, for different cultures, for languages and beliefs and mind sets?

The answer is resoundingly yes, Karate has changed over the years, and not always for the best. Thus, one must look beyond form and bunkai, beneath words, and beyond even the imagingings of our sensei. One must look hard and deep, else one will never realize what Master Funakoshi meant when he said that Karate is not what it was, and they will miss seeing the truth of themselves.

If you want to learn more about Real Karate, and how to find it in any method or style, head over over to Learn Karate Online. Pick up a free boo on ‘How I Discovered Matrixing,’ while you’re there.

How Violent Should Karate Be?

How Violent Should Karate Be? It’s an interesting question, you know? Check out the video, then I’ll give you an answer that’ll sizzle your pants!

Two things brought me to this question this blog.
One, I was teaching a fellow this past week, and he hesitated, and I suddenly snapped…’Kill him! What the F do you think this is about?’
The look in his eyes, I knew I had tweaked him.
His parents tell him to be polite, society tells him to hug trees, Rodney King says we got to get along…excuse my French, but…BS!
One, my parents weren’t always right,
Two, we can grow more trees, so cuts the F-ers down.
Three, Rodney King said what he said because he didn’t know the martial arts and he suffered a bad beat down.
Look, get up in the morning, swagger, get in an argument with somebody….don’t compromise…win it! There is nothing wrong with winning, especially if the other guy is an idiot. And if you lose, then you were an idiot for getting in an argument when you didn’t know what you were talking about.
That brings us to the second point. I came across this quote…
“Where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence.”
Who do you think said it?
Ghengis Khan? John Wayne? John Wayne Gacy?
Who said it was…Ghandi.
that’s right, Mr. Peacenik himself.
My, peel the onion and there’s no end to the tears.
So, I believe in peace, I believe in fat babies and happy mothers. But I don’t believe in getting along at all costs, compromising my ideals and values, and living a life of S*** just because somebody says…’we all get to get along!’
Remember that when you practice your martial arts, and I hope that answers all questions as to how violent Karate should be. Check out my new website, Learn Karate Online. It’s got the most kick ass course you could imagine!

Real Karate, Real Freestyle, Putting Aside Fighting

Back in the sixties real karate instructors differed in their opinions towards freestyle. Yes, it was necessary to keep students in the door, but there was freestyle, and there was fighting. Check out the video, my student is really trying to stab me, and I use control instead of fighting to manage him. I’ll tell you about one of the wildest tournaments ever right below that.

My school went to a big tournament in San Francisco.

During one of the matches one of the brown belts jammed his finger, and the second bone on one of his fingers actually came out of the socket and slid over the third bone. The refs looked at it, said he had to go to a hospital and have somebody straighten it out. He wanted to fight, however, so he pulled it out himself and kept fighting.

Interestingly, in spite of this type of die hard enthusiasm, my instructor pulled the entire school out and went home. Well, he didn’t pull them out. He just gathered everybody together and said fighting had little to do with learning how to control an opponent through kumite. He said we were free to remain, and then he left. Everybody followed him.

He was right. Fighting is for people who don’t know the martial arts. A person who knows the martial arts controls his opponent. He predicts him, manipulates him, and does what he will with him.

That’s the difference, of course, between real karate and somebody who likes to fight, and that’s the difference between sport and a real martial art. Check out the variety of different Karate programs at Monster Martial Arts.

Real Karate Techniques Don’t Use Muscle Memory!

I come across these internet huckster sites every once in a while, or some psycho babble fellow who thinks he knows something, and they talk about increasing muscle memory, but they are just plain wrong. The fact is that real karate techniques don’t use muscle memory, nor do any other martial art, be it kenpo or aikido or whatever.  Check out the video, and I’ll tell you all about it in the article right below.

First off, who’s fighting (doing the martial arts drill)? You are. You use muscles, they don’t use you.

When somebody punches at you, do you jump out of your body and let your body fight? Nah. That’s just silly.

When you get in a  fight  you tell your body what to do, and it does it. And you don’t rely on muscular memory patterns.

Yes, when you first memorize something, there is a pattern, and you could call that muscle memory, but it is really installing a circuit in your mind. Incorrect training and that circuit stays there. Correct training and that circuit goes, and you take charge.

The real key here is that people are interested in selling other people hogwash by fancy labels. So don’t believe that muscle memory crap. It is you memorizing, and then you doing, and you should be in charge of your muscles, telling them what to do in the moment, and without putting things on some sort of muscle automatic thing.

Look, the guys who won the championships will tell you that you must do the work, but that is a matter of spirit. You must do the punch, but that is a matter of you. Muscle memory has almost nothing to do with actual fighting, real karate techniques, nor any real martial art worth its salt out there. Check out my site, Monster Martial Arts, and you’ll find an approach that is so far removed from that type of thing you won’t believe it.

The Problem When You Learn Karate and How to Freestyle

When you learn Karate there are the forms and the techniques, and then there is how to freestyle. Why are they different? Why can’t you use the techniques from Classical Karate in Freestyle? Check out the video, then I’ll tell you about it.

There are two answers to this.

First, you can use bunkai in kumite, you can use those form applications in freestyle, when you are a black belt. But you can only use them against lower belts. Upper belts will be wise to your tricks, grin, and they won’t fall for it. But the lower belts, they just don’t know enough, haven’t practiced enough.

So your form techniques should work on the street, if you have a good instructor, a good system, and you have been a good student.

Second, there is a huge, massive gap of data; there are chunks of art missing from Karate (and other arts) which, if understood, will close the gap between classical forms and freestyle.

This is the thrust of the Matrixing method, to enable students to see those missing pieces, downsize that chunk of what you don’t know down to nothing, and you will find that classical forms and freestyle are virtually the same.

No, I am not kidding you…that’s the truth.

Over the years well meaning teachers have just not figured out what was missing, and have, in certain cases, contributed to the occlusion of data.

Here’s what one instructor had to say after seeing the Matrix Karate Course…

“…because of the Matrix concept, I have totally re-structured my self defense program…”

I get these kinds of wins every couple of weeks. Some guy is introducing matrixing, restructuring his class, and basically getting rid of that huge chunk of missing martial arts information.

If you matrix, you can learn  karate, and you can learn how to freestyle, and they will mesh and merge and come perfectly together. There will be all sorts of things that suddenly appear and make sense…things you didn’t even know existed. The Matrix Karate course is available at Monster Martial Arts.

The Problem is that Matrix Karate is Too Fast!

Within the Karate Fist is Great Spirit

Matrix Karate is too fast, what a weird complaint, eh? Yet, it is true.

When I am running the Matrix drill on the Three Month Black Belt course, you can see the speed of learning, and it is amazing. Logic replaces randomity, and the student suddenly opens his eyes, and we’re off to the races.

And, there is nothing that can match the reality of the drill. The strikes are all hard, the blocks are all tested by the drill, and everything makes sense.

The problem is that I don’t have time to make my student smooth. He just catches on too fast, and one has to validate his knowledge as it grows, or you risk miring the student…he will start doubting himself if you don’t do this.

But, I’d rather have a guy who is real, and knows the fighting connection, than is pretty. When you think about it, pretty is a state of polish. Now that I’ve got him to Black Belt his intuition has turned on, and polishing is going to be very fast and efficient.

Anyway, we’re about to start the next segment of his training, and it’s going to be fun. Matrix Karate may have been too fast, but the benefits can’t be refuted, and now it is time to polish. Check out my page on the Three Month Black Course. You’ll probably understand what I’m saying when you see what my student says in his testimonial/win.

The Singular Attack of MMA Jujitsu v Karate Style Classical Martial Arts

classical martial arts

A Good Stance is a Good Defense Against a Single Leg Takedown!

The one thing I am always asked aout, as an instructor, is what do you do about the MMA Jujitsu type of attack. This isn’t just jujitsu, it’s wrestling, or any art where you take somebody down.

The attack is dive with a grab for the leg, and zingo bingo, you’re on the ground. At least, that’s the way it is in the MMA and the UFC.

Well, not really. You’ll notice that fighters in the octagon are relying on the single leg takedown less and less.

And, it used to be that nobody would even try it. Just too risky, somebody could clock you in the head while you’re bent over grabbing a leg, or maybe just knee you in the face. It just wasn’t a good attack.

What happened to make it popular?

What happened is that people who specialized in it entered the ring. People who spent hours a day working on that one martial arts technique  look unbeatable, so everybody decided that was the unbeatable technique.

What they should have done was realize that it wasn’t the technique, it was the dedicated training regimen. You put in an hour a day on single leg takedowns for a year and you will be able to do them to most people. Unless that ‘people’ has spent an hour a dya learning how to avoid that martial arts technique.

I am not attacking MMA or Jujitsu, or wrestling or any other sport. I am just advocating that people need to get more dedicated, then such thigns as the single leg takedown won’t look so great.

Truth, you need to be a well rounded martial artist with good conditioning and a healthy mind set.

Truth, while the single leg takedown is a great technique, you may want to avoid it on the street. It’s dangerous to roll around in the blood and the mud and the beer…and while the friends of the guy you’re fighting are coming arunning.

If you want a really well rounded approach to the martial arts, check out Monster Martial Arts. There’s an article there which will detail how to round yourself out. It is called ‘What’s Wrong with the Art?’ I hope it will help abuse people of lop sided training methods that result in such things as putting MMA Jujitsu v Classical Martial Arts.