Get Real!

What is Kata to you? First, we have to ask "What is Kata in general?". A kata is a predetermined set of defensive and offensive moves, almost always beginning with a defensive move. Kata utilises blocks, strikes, body movements, hip movements and leg movements.

With this sort of a definition, you could look at Kata as a dance of sorts. An artistic series of moves, used to express the feelings of the performer. While this is somewhat true, it is not what Kata is.

To truly understand what Kata is, and what Kata means, you have to understand the times that they were created in, and why. In Feudal Japan, warriors would train in flat valleys, and were constantly watched by the enemy. In order to not be predictable on the battle field, they put the techniques they would use into Kata. Within Kata, there are obvious techniques, and hidden techniques. Moves that look like they wouldn't work in combat are used to hide certain techniques from the enemy.

With all of this said, we use Kata for the same purpose. We train Kata to sharpen our techniques, and increase speed and power, focus and movement. Even so, some of us become laxidasical in our Kata, simply viewing it as a fancy dance, or some cool moves. The techniques are sloppy, or weak, because we just see Kata as a destination, rather than a journey. Something to learn, rather than something to perfect. We just want to get it over with, and move on. This isn't what Kata is. Every move should be crisp, powerful, and concise. Every part of the sequence should be performed as if you are defending yourself from a dangerous attacker, whose aim is to kill you. If you don't block, you will get hit. If you don't attack, you will get attacked first. If you don't throw, you will get pushed to the dirt.

Kata should be done strongly, but not in anger. You shouldn't visualize somebody you dislike attacking you, or the techniques will become angry, and while, may become more powerful, will become sloppy, and technique will fade. It will turn out more like a brawl, than a controlled offense.

The next time you do Taikyoku Shodan, remember this. It's not just down blocks and punches, or wrist releases and counterstrikes. It's You defending yourself from a malicious attacker. Make it strong, make it fast, make it concise, make it efficient, make it real. If it's not real to you, it's not real to anyone watching.

Until next time, stay blessed.
~Alex

Chado - The Way of Tea

Tea was first introduced into Japan in the 9th century, when a Bhuddist monk returned from a trip to China with it. Since then, it has become somewhat of a staple of what we think of when Japan comes to mind.

While to some of us, tea may just be a good drink, a way to calm the nerves at the end of a long day, or something you drink with honey and lemon when you're sick, it is serious business to the Japanese. The art of Chado (The Way of Tea) is a very involved, intricate art. While some may not see it as a true martial art, it involves physical, as well as spiritual and mental training. Just as with Karate, Kung Fu, and many other arts, it also has kata.

The tea ceremony was also practiced by Samurai, the warriors of Feudal Japan.

Chado flourished during Japan’s centuries-long civil war, the age of the samurai. You may have read that the warrior class embraced it because it offered a moment of peace and contemplation amid the chaos of battle. That’s mostly nonsense. The samurai studied chado because it was a concentrated form of the interactions, on and off the battlefield, that gave them critical insight into life. It wasn’t an escape from their everyday lives; it was, and remains, a direct confrontation with life.

Source:Black Belt Magazine Online


The way of tea experienced its' prime in the sixteenth century, when the aristocrats of Japan would use tea as the center of large parties to show off wealth, drink large amounts of Sake(Japanese rice wine), and generally just live it up. The Zen monks "rescued" tea from this. The monks would rather use tea as a way to enjoy finding beauty in ordinary life.

Cha-no-yu, literally "hot water for tea", is the name for the actual tea ceremony. To begin, the host kneals at the door of the tea house, while his guests remove their shoes and weapons, washing their hands before entering. The guests enter, and kneal before a tokonoma, which is a sort of a shelf, which serves as Shomen for the ceremony. The host comes, bearing simple teaware, displaying it. The guests may leave to prepare while this is being done. As soon as the water boils, a gong is sounded, calling the guests back to the room, and given food. The tea powder is put into a bowl, and covered with hot, but not boiling water, and beaten with a whisk until it is frothy. The bowl is passed to the most important guest, and he pours his tea, passing it to the next, and etcetera. Sometimes, the head of the ceremony would give away all of his teaware at the end of the ceremony, except for the bowl, which was broken, to symbolize the end of the ceremony.

This all seems very formal, and very straightforward. You may ask "Alright, so where's the art in this?". The art is in the preparation of the tea. At least, a good bit of it is. The idea of Chado is to see beauty in every day life, to calm the mind, as well as to think and act efficiently. One of the ideas is to make as high quality tea as possible, with as much efficiency as possible.

Chado is an obscure art, that few have heard of, but a very interesting and useful one, nonetheless. If you are interested, I encourage you to research it more.

I hope that you enjoyed reading about Chado, and as always have a blessed day.

~Alex

P.S.
If you feel that there is an article I should write, let me know. If you'd like to give it a stab yourself, by all means, do. If you send me an article that I like, I will post it, giving you full credit.

Just Checking In

Hello, all. I hope that everything is going well in your lives. I decided to make an entry to let you all know that I'm doing alright. Haven't had much time to make any posts lately, but soon, there will be a new one about the obscure art of Chaodo.

Until next time, be blessed.
~Alex

Competition Results

Well, this is a bit overdue, but the competition went amazingly. I was nervous at first, but that was long gone when I stepped up to the judges.

I would like to give you my results, and also congratulate two of my fellow martial artists, as well as my instructor, Sensei Tom Larmondra.

Jacob (purple belt) placed second in his division for traditional kata.
Jacob (blue belt) placed fourth in his division for traditional kata.
Sensei Tom placed first in his division for traditional forms, as well as traditional weapons.
Finally, I placed first in my division for traditional forms.

All of these people worked very hard to train for this competition, and they all did extremely well. I was surprised at how well I did, and I also commend the young lady that I competed against, she did very well also.

I want to thank everybody who supported me, as well as my instructor, Sensei Tom, who I could not have done this without.

Have a great day.

Competition

Many martial artists find that tournaments are a good way to hone their skills, help them to compare and contrast themselves against other martial artists, and to simply make new friends. While all of this sounds good, if you’ve never been to a competition, it can be scary. I would know this first hand, after all, I’m competing in my first tournament this coming Saturday.

While I don’t have any competition experience to share with you (yet), I can tell you what I’ve been doing, and plan on doing so that I do well at the competition.

First off, just remember. A competition is nothing but another training session. When you perform kata, or spar in class, you’re not nervous, because you know it’s a safe environment. Just know that no matter how you do, you haven’t lost anything. Try and blur out the crowd, and it’s just another day of training. Tune everything else out. This is your time. When you’re out there, it’s just you, the mat, and the judges.

Practice. I would think that nothing would kill the experience of competition more than being ill prepared. It would only add to the already high level of stress of performing, and you probably wouldn’t enjoy yourself as much. The only way to get something down is to practice it over and over and over, and then over one more time.

Directly before the competition, make sure you get adequate rest so that you can focus when it comes time for the competition. When you wake up, go through your routine, and eat a good, high energy breakfast. You’ll need this fuel for the taxing competition atmosphere. Also, make sure to hydrate. It will help you to focus better, and not pass out on the mat.

During the competition, stay hydrated. Keep a good attitude towards yourself, and others. Don’t let the stress get to you. Try using calming breathing exercises. Make sure to stretch out well, and make sure you’re adequately warmed up. Watch other people compete. Find what the judges do and don’t like. When it comes right down to it, you have to go out there and give it your best. If you walk in and give 100%, then nobody can take that away from you. If you leave it all on the mat, no matter how you place, you are a winner.

Taikyoku - First Cause

A universal theme in the martial arts (true martial arts, that is) is peace. One of the most basic lessons that I’ve learned in Shotokan is called First Cause, which is the literal translation of “Taikyoku”(the first kata that I was taught). First Cause can be interpreted as several things.

First cause can mean that you never start a fight, and this lines up perfectly with the first precept of the Dojo Kun. The best way to overcome a conflict is to not enter a conflict in the first place. Sometimes, conflict is inevitable, but when the conflict is started by you, there is no excuse for it, and any effort spent on overcoming the conflict is wasted energy. When conflict arises, you can usually talk the situation down, but in some cases, you may be forced to defend yourself, which martial artists should be trained to do. This brings us into another interpretation of first cause.

If you are backed into a corner with no possible way out, what do you do? Some would attempt to get out of this situation the Steven Segal way, and knock all of the opponents out with several well placed kicks. While this works in the high intensity, amazing world of Kung Fu flicks, back in the real world, it usually just ends up with the defender injured or dead. When backed into a corner, with no other option than to fight, you HAVE to take the initiative if you want to survive. But what is the most effective way to do this? You have to take out the attacker on the edge. If you attack the one in the middle, the gap you created can be closed rather quickly, trapping you again. This wastes time and energy. If you attack the adversary on one of the outsides, the gap is not so easily closed, and you may have more time to escape.

In learning Taikyoku, you learn these lessons. Even though Taikyoku Shodan is the first kata in many styles, that does not mean that it is not for everyone’s benefit. It is a black belt kata, preformed starting at the white belt level. If you learn the lessons it has to teach, and always remember them, you will go far in the martial arts.

It's All In The Hips

People who train in the martial arts realize that it's all in the hips. Well, mostly anyways. Your legs are your rooted connection to the strong Earth element, and tapping into that force, by gripping the ground, and using it to turn your body makes your punches, kicks, blocks, and other attacks stronger by atleast ten times.

Your punch in itself is powerful, even without hip rotation, but look at it this way. Imagine your hand as a chisel. If you strike something repeatedly with a chisel, you will eventually knock it loose, but it takes much more effort than if you use a hammer behind that chisel. Your hips are the concussive force that drives the chisel right to its' mark, making it more powerful, and more effective. Force = Mass x Acceleration. It's simple physics. A punch off of the shoulder has the mass of the arm and fist, and all of the acceleration that the pectoral and arm muscles can muster. Whereas, a punch coming from the ground up has the mass of the ENTIRE body behind it, plus the acceleration of the hips twisting forward, and the punch rocketing forward from its' chamber.

One of the first things you have to understand about hip rotation, is that you cannot and will not get a good hip swing until you have developed strength and stability in your lower body. After developing stability and strength in your lower body, the next step to achieving your full power is developing strength and stability in your core. The last, but not least important step is the strengthening of your arms and upper torso.

The last tip that I'll share for now is that without a proper stance, you won't be able to fully unlock the power of your hips. If your stance is too wide, too narrow, too deep, or too shallow, your hips will not become unlocked, and much of your power will be lost, and expelled in the wrong direction.

I hope you've found this article helpful. Until next time, have a blessed day.