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"...WARM UPS! ALL DRILLS ARE ONLY WARM UPS!! WHATEVER YOU ACHIEVE IS JUST PART OF YOUR WARM UPS!!!"
OKINAWAN SAYING: Be kind to your body, exercise it in conjunction with your mind, and your only competitor is yourself.
Eizo Shimabuku Inside Karate, May 1985 Vol 6#5
“Sanchin is very good for the young. It is less good as you grow older. The tension of the kata can be very hard on the internal organs as you age. Many of the great Goju masters - Master Miyagi himself- did not live to a great age. I believe this was the result of the Sanchin training. As one grows old, one’s body and one’s power must grow softer as the understanding of karate deepens.” page 23
Toshihiro Oshiro Karate/Kung-fu Illustrated, August 1986 Vol 17#8
“The level of many karate kata is really much higher than the average person realises. Those throwing, joint-locking, and elbow techniques often look like a punch, but they hide the real meaning. After all, there is much more to effective fighting than just straight punches and blocks, and the originators of karate realized that.” page 30
Takayoshi Nagamine Karate Illustrated March 1975 Vol 6#3
“good foundation builds good advancement. Once you master kata, you have balance, co-ordination; you’ve got everything. Then as long as you know how to apply the principle, it will be useful.” page 43.
Takayoshi Nagamine Kick Illustrated, Nov. 1983 Vol 4#11
“Kata is always very important. It teaches the student the foundation on which he will build the rest of his karater. Good form, technique, speed, balance, power - all are emphasized over and over again. Without this basic training the student will not be able to develop his body to maximum efficiency.” pages 33-34
“After years of preactice the student begins to take moves from the kata and make practical applications. From one move in a kata can come a thousand such applications...to any kata therre can be many variations in the bunkai. It is up to the advanced student to explore these possibilities.” page 34
Shoshin Nagamine Karate Illustrated, Nov. 1983
“Kata is something you do and benefit from when you are too old to engage in kumite. Also, there are three aspects to be concerned with in karate. First, how to build your spiritual and mental attitude. Second, how to develop technique. Third is building up the physical body. These three elements have to be balanced to have complete training.” page 74
Angi Uezu Inside Karate July 1988 Vol 9#7
“Kata must include bunkai, explanantions: “What’s this block, why is it this way?” ” page 67
Kichiro Shimabuku Official Karate, October 1984
“When kata comes along, it is essential that each kata be learned completely: physically, mentally, and practically (applications).” page 22
“Sparring (kumite) is very important in karate. the basics are the foundation of the kata, which is the foundation of karate itself, but jiyu-kumite (free sparring) is essential for practical application. Only kumite can teach you how to apply karate techniques effectively. It is the closest thing to real street survival.
I know some people who just do kata, but by doing this, they never know if they can truly make their karate work. Practice is not enough. You must do kumite: you must learn what techniques work for you, and which do not.” page 22
Kichiro Shimabuku Karate Illustrated, April 1978
“I teach weapons kata to serious students who have developed that spiritual sense. You must first learn to protect yourself without a weapon, for you could easily be without the weapon and defenseless. Weapons kata also promote a proper frame of mind. I do not believe in teaching weapons kata...to people who have not developed a respectful attitude.” page 47 (?)
“we are not machines and the same kata does not look the same when two people do it. My body is small, yours is tall, his is heavy. Each of us must adjust the move to our body type. The essence of kata remains, but the interpretation may be slightly different between two students. This is not to say that beginners do not practcice correct forms, because they must practice correct forms. Each student has limitations and we must be aware of those handicaps.” page 47 (?).
Shinyu Gushi article on dragon-tsunami website, orginally in Dragon Times 8
“The reason that we practiced Sanchin for at least six months was to make our bodies strong and capable of taking punishment. If your Sanchin is good, you can protect your whole body, with the exception of the face. If your opponent cannot hurt you enough to stop you fighting he will lose...Sanchin is important because it allows you to build a shield of muscle that you can use at will, and that will both protect your body and give you a lot of power to attack with.” page 2
George Mattson article on www.uechi-ryu.com/oldstyle.htm
“When I asked Tomoyose the difference between the Uechi-ryu training and Western exercises he stated that all the strength, speed, coordination, accuracy and most importantly the “spirit” comes from the kata...and most especially from Sanchin.
Although we practiced specific techniques from kata as drills, Tomoyose stressed that this was to help learn the sequences of the moves. The ability to use the movement comes from the kata. He further clarified the issue by saying that the further removed the techniques were from the kata, the less effective they became. Learning a snapping block (Hajiki-uke) as part of a kata, creates a more effective “muscle memory” than a block simply repeated a thousand times in the form of a drill.” page 1
Morio Higaonna Traditional Karatedo Vol. 3 Minato Research/Japan Publications 1989
“To think that the kata of karate is the practice of one person battling against an imaginary opponent is a complete misunderstanding of kata practice. If one comprehends the kata in this way, then the way to practice the kata will also be misunderstood. It is because of the belief that the kata is only for individual practice that the kata have suffered changes over the years.” page 9
“None of the movements of the kata is restricted to only one application - in a real fight the variations of each application are unlimited. Thus, if you practice the kata enough, in real combat the techniques from the kata will surface naturally in a practical way. It is because of this that within karate the kata are the most important aspect of training.” page 9
“it is through the kata that all the gokui, the secrets of karate, may be preserved.” page 10
"Kata is the heart of karate, and it is on kata that karate is based. Karate without the kata is not karate. The goal of karate is serf-mastery and it deepens and strengthens with training and perfection in the kata." - Richard Kim
Kofukan 25th Anniversary Celebration Programme April 1997
Chojiro Tani wrote “When I trained with Master Chojun Miyagi, founder of Goju-ryu, 50 years ago, he told me that there used to be three “Suparinpai”katas, but there is only one left now.” page 3
“it is important for a kata to be artistic. Each component technique should be correct, but the rhythm odf the whole kata is important. A simple compilation of techniques is meaningless...It must have a good feeling and express deep emotion.” page 3.
"Kata is shadowboxing"
Karate-Do Taikan Pinan Ryusho Sakagami Kyusei Inc., Tokyo 1974
“If one does not fully comprehend all of the movements within a kata, the kata serves no purpose. However, when actually executing a kata, one must be filled with spirit.” page 6
“The martial arts have numerous varities of kata. Predecessors, over long periods of time, created kata through experience, changes and imagination.
It is obvious that these kata must be trained and practiced sufficiently, but one must not be “stuck” in them. One must withdraw from kata to produce forms with no limits or else it becomes useless. It is important to alter the form of the trained kata without hesitation to produce countless other forms by training.” pages 19-20
“ “Kata” is to express; as a mirror does, it changes with every action and situation.” page 20
“when using the kata of martial arts, one must use it in accordance to the meaning and objective it has, or else it becomes useless.” page 20
“Kata must be correct, unlimited, and most of all, alive. Martial arts progresses from kata to kumite, kumite to combat and so on. Kata is a fundamental aspect of martial arts and hence is unyieldingly important. It can never just be “form.” It is essential to train for the “living” form.” page 21
“A kata that does not accompany a heart that possesses kata is dead. A "dead" kata has no meaning. The same can be said for an artist who paints with no soul in his picture. In every movement of a kata there is a meaning or an objective. If one’s movements do not incorporate these meanings or objectives, then no matter how long one practices, it is pointless.” page 27
“Some people pronounce “Pin-an” as “Hei-an” and call “Ni-dan” kata as “Sho-dan” and vice versa. This does not matter to me; change is inevitable.” page 71
“Even to use one kata properly and efficiently is not an easy task. One must remember that it is quality over quantity when practicing any kata.” page 72
“Simply, to master kata, one must practice and practice.” page 73
OKINAWAN GOJU Ryu 2 by Seikichi Toguchi
Don't be deceived by the embusen rule.
Techniques executed while advancing imply attacking techniques. Those executed while retreating imply defensive or blocking techniques.
There is only one enemy, and he / she is in front of you.
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