Shotokan Karate Talk

The Dojo Dog “ShotoBear”
ShotoBear Coburn
August 25, 1998 – May 21, 2010

ShotoBear passes away

Father: Kozmo Kodiak Bear
Mother: Tenshi Umaretsuki
Son: Bear Coburn born in Scottsdale, Arizona 8/25/1998
Breed: Akita
Bear grew to weigh a solid 113lbs.

Bear was truly a very unique beautiful Akita dog who will never be forgotten. He was a humans best companion.
Bear was your friend, your partner, your defender, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart – This was Bear.
You will be missed but never forgotten.

ShotoBear Slide Show

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Instructor Class with Sensei Field by Dave Bracklow
Saturday, May 22, 2010

Andre McWilliams and I went to California on Sunday May 16th for Instructor training class. If you plan on doing this in the future, I recommend allowing 1.5 to 2 hours min travel time between LAX and the Santa Monica dojo. (get with me and I’ll give you the details)

Training started promptly @ 1:00 and finished @ 2:30. The subject matter for the day was lesson #2 “What parts of the body do we use in Karate, Heian #1 and 2, Sanbon Kumite”.

As we started training Sensei told us to “think about what parts of the body we use in Karate” I thought feet, hands elbows. Mostly striking and blocking. We’ll see later that I was thinking to small.
One of the main things he mentioned in this class and the one at the Spring Camp was to show the technique as if a white belt was watching. Don’t talk about it; demonstrate the technique so that they can copy. Obviously if your basics are bad the student will see this and replicate the same bad technique.

We practiced side kicking for quite a long time. I guess the group as a whole didn’t have very good basic side kicks. (considering we were all Nidan and above)

Then we practiced Heian 1 and 2 emphasis on complete hand movements i.e. first movement down block (gedan bari) moving left right hand towards the target left hand to the ear. (repeating this throughout the kata) Same thing with knife defense (Shuto uke) “DON”T MAKE SMALL HAND MOVEMENTS”

Last 15-20 minutes was discussion. He asked the group “What parts of the body do we use” One of the students responded “the whole body” He asked for a demonstration. (the student used reverse punch as his subject) Starting with the heal on the ground, straight leg, rotated hip, core (body center) tight, lats, arm wrist, knuckles. Sensei asked if we need to add anything else we all agreed he cover it pretty good. Sensei said, “What about draw hand (hiki te). Stumped again. Draw hand though a small part of a punch is not the least important. I relate draw hand in karate to the lug nuts on a car. Probably the smallest element, but just as important as the engine.

That’s all for now. There were a lot of small points, but I think you need to be at a class to appreciate all the information that was given.

Good training as usual with Sensei Field. We all enjoyed it. As usual tons of traffic returning to LAX allow plenty of time if you plan on doing this.
My goal is to do 2 or 3 a year in Santa Monica. Plus Mr. Field will teach one class at each camp.

I still need to schedule a trip to Master Camp. (a pre-requisite to testing)

OSS – Dave Bracklow

The “Best in the West” Spring Karate Dô Camp and Shiai take place on April 15-18, 2010 .

This is the 3rd Annual Spring Karate Dô  event held in Mesa, Arizona at the Mesa Community College.

Special Master Guest Instructors: Shihan Yutaka Yaguchi 9th Dan & Sensei James Field 8th Dan.

The event starts with an Annual Golf Tournament called the Yaguchi Cup. The golf event takes place on Thursday, April 15th at the ASU Karsten Golf Course. First tee time is at 11 am. The event is open to anyone that likes to golf. You must pre-register for the golf event. Details can be found at Budo Events

On Friday, April 16th Karate training begins at 7am with Master Yaguchi. This class is an optional class to the camp and is held at the SKA dojo with a limited number of participants. The first regular camp class is Friday at 5:30pm at Mesa Community College. All camp details and registration can be found on our karate websites and our new event site, Budo Events

OSS! See you all there – Sah iko “Sai Go” (Let’s Go!)

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We begin our 3rd Annual Spring Karate Dô Camp & Shiai Cup 2010 with the    Annual   Master Yaguchi Golf Cup Tournament on April 15th.

This year’s golf tournament is being held at  the  ASU Karsten Golf Course.

Details can be found on our new events website. Budoevents

Thank You Sensei Field!

For making our 1st Annual Kangeiko 2010 such a great and enjoyable experience which was held January Saturday 23 & Sunday 24, 2010.

The training was great! Everyone enjoyed it very much and we look forward to seeing you again at next year’s Kangeiko 2011, in Arizona.

Next year, possibly Flagstaff, Arizona ? Real Winter Training? Everyone get ready! OSS!

Fall Camp 2009:

What a great camp we had this fall with Master Okazaki, Sensei’s Field. This was my first training with Master Okazaki and, although there was a lot to learn, what really stayed with me was his telling us to “go back to the beginning” and “to move forward, you must go back”. It was his way of saying we must never forget the basics and always practice and return to them. This is the foundation of Shotokan karate and should never be forgotten.

Master Okazaki was a student of Master Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan, as well as Master Nakayama and was sent to the US in 1961 to spread Shotokan karate to the Western world. He was only supposed to be here for 6 months but as we see, he has remained here to teach us the Way. I also had the honor of testing for Nidan with Master Okazaki and I must say it was rather intimidating to perform in front of such a legend in our art.

It was truly an honor to train with these gentlemen and continue to carry on their teachings to the next generation of karateka.

Oss!

Sincerely,

Matt Tomory

During the camp Master Okazaki taught us a series of basic combinations to practice outside of our regular karate classes.  The combinations started simple, but with each session he added more complexity, focusing on hip rotation and the development of more powerful techniques through proper body mechanics.  We also practiced one step sparring with multiple attackers, starting basic then moving up to multiple attackers with random attacks.

There are a couple of points that stand out for me from my time with Master Okazaki.  First was the importance of training outside of formal karate classes, even if it is for a short amount of time. He stressed the point that if we can train the basic combinations he taught us for 15 minutes each day outside of class our performance in class would significantly improve over time.

Second, was the concept of Seika Tanden.  I realized that though simple in appearance this concept can potentially have a profound impact on my practice of karate. Master Okazaki referred to seika tanden as a point located slightly below the navel, in the lower abdomen.  If a karateka  can  focus their mind at this point during a movement, the movement will be biomechanically correct and naturally have strength, power and flow.    For example, if we are punching without focusing on this point, our punches can potentially come from our upper body, shoulders and arms.  However if we do the same punch yet focus our minds on seika tanden then we naturally integrate our full body into the punch and generate much more power.

Since that weekend I now have a new mantra when I practice, “seika tanden, seika tanden, seika tanden.” Thank you Master Okazaki!

Andrea Lore

Master Okazaki 09 Fall Camp Phx

OSS! This was a great event!

Sempai Cheryl and Julian have done a great job of capturing the essence of this training. It really pointed out that we are only as good as our basics, and our basics are only as good as our understanding of our body and the biomechanics involved in techniques and our ability to apply these in all aspects of our practice.

Sensei Dorfman’s points about dead feet were well taken! It was amazing to see how little each of us used our feet in kata, and for those that did how incorrectly we used them. Slowing down our practice, focusing on how our feet moved and were positioned in each stance, in between each stance, gave us the experience of how much more power we could create with proper form.

Sensei Dorfman also pointed out (very clearly) the importance of contraction and expansion in ALL techniques. We practiced punches and blocks totally relaxed with the mindset of “throwing a ball”. The more we relaxed the quicker our movements. When I looked around it appeared that most of us could throw faster punches than blocks. Sensei pointed out that block has to equal the punch in speed and power to be effective.

In closing I have to admit that I too was sore from the trainings. I think it was the full body clapping push ups that did me in!

Andrea Lore

Malcolm Dorfman Seminar

Sensei Hyder organized a seminar last Saturday 19^th September 2009 at Hilton Garden Inn led by Sensei Malcolm Dorfman 8^th Dan of the Karatenomichi World Federation South Africa. Sensei Dorfman was accompanied by his South African Elite Team trio, Nick, Kevin and Nick enroute to international competitions.

Sensei Dorfman took time to explain that in his short time he would like to give us some ideas to think about, supplementing not contradicting our individual teachers. Ideas accumulated from a lifetime of training and a lot time with Japanese Shotokan Masters.

The training was practical with each idea being explained and demonstrated then practiced: mistakes being highlighted and corrected.

Some questions posed were, “What is an effective technique?” What works for you? Why train a technique if it is not effective? As an example after a minutes light free sparing the question was posed was why oi-tsuke (front stepping punch) was not used.   This was then discussed and an effective technique demonstrated along with footwork. The foot work from a fighting stance always pointed forward with the hip pulled back, torsioned to release into action. Groin protected at all times with the rear leg compressed ready to push off.

For me one of the most important ideas discussed was “dead feet.” For any technique the question asked was “How did the back foot contribute to that technique into become the most effective that it could be?” A foot pointing 90 degrees away was not contributing at all compared to one pointing in the direction of motion: like a sprinter off the starting blocks.

We did Jion kata once then repeated it stepping through considering the contribution of the back foot for each technique. Each move was broken down to part movements and the leg dynamics explained.  Particular emphasis on weigh shifting, compression, hip rotation and alignment of the back foot prior to exploding into the technique.  These same concepts were repeated with the second session using heian shodan.

Common themes for the day were “what is an effective technique?”, “does it work?” and “if it does not work, why does it not work?” this was followed by examples of how to make it work.

During the second session we went though Kihon basics, with emphasis on contraction and expansion, relaxing and tension. Relaxed enough to whip into position without forcing or pushing using the correct effective technique. Mae geri, front kick starts with the heel hitting your bum and flicking out with the knee rising before snapping back. No pushing of hips and totally relaxed. If the foot slides up the target you are not focusing the ball of your foot.  This was the start of some telling examples and paired training.

A drill on getting to the target built on the earlier sessions hip tension and release to propel forward to make distance. This was tried with stepping punch and front kick.

Sensei Dorfman is very passionate about karate and enthusiastic about teaching. He described karate as “95% passion 5% technique, anything else is might as well be aerobics.” Some of the other quotations were “One blow, one person down.”

“Use effective techniques, why would you use anything else.” “You cannot hide in Heian Shodan, which is why it is used in 7^th Dan exam.”  “Do not confuse a pose (the end position) with an effective technique.” “Kihon is Kihon, kata is Kihon, kumite is kihon. (basic techniques are fundamental and should be consistent throughout forms and sparing)”  “Winning competitions is fun, and I enjoyed it, but there has to be more to it than that: there is otherwise I wouldn’t be still training.”

Nick, Kevin and Nick respectfully assisted in the seminars and were willing participants in demonstrating and being demonstrated on.  They really enjoy karate and the challenges of competition. Keeping in mind that they are not sponsored and they have to work hard to raise funds to get to these international competitions all of which are quite a distance from South Africa. I’m sure they get a lot out of it in return.  A long time ago I worked in South Africa and it is good to such great and capable ambassadors out internationally.

Sensei Dorfman succeed in sharing a lot in a very short time. To me it could be summarized as to think about what is right for you to produce a single effective technique each and every move. This reminded me that these are all concepts we are told day in day out by our Sensei.

My thanks to Sensei Hyder for organizing the event, also my apologies for not being able to stay to watch the competition that followed. And my special thanks to Sensei Dorfman for his time and insight.

OSS - Julian Fisher

Waking up the following morning after participating in Glendale’s 1^st Annual Top Competitor Tournament and Camp, I thought, “what a great camp that was!” As I sprang out of bed, I had to grab my behind as I realized for some reason my gluts hurt.

What an extraordinary experience it was to train with Sensei Dorfman. He not only taught how to develop and increase the dynamics of oi-zuki, but how much we should appreciate the art of Shotokan karate. He started the seminar by asking us to free spar with a partner as he skillfully observed. Calling, “yame”, Sensei Dorfman asked how many of us used an oi-zuki and if we did, was it powerful enough to stop your opponent? Pure silence.

He tantalized us with his demonstration of how to perform oi-zuki with a meaningful “killing blow”. Breaking the technique into three parts, Sensei Dorfman explained that one of the most important parts of your body is one that we rarely use. Your feet! They must always be pointed toward the direction of your technique. “Step 1!” Step 2!!” Step 3!!!” Now, to include using everything else that we are not used to using; to create explosiveness! Point feet toward the target, tighten your gluts, keep knees bent and toward the direction of the target, push off of your heel, back muscles tight, keep the back straight, hikete!

Then using all that we have just been taught, he asked to do Heian Shodan like a black belt performing with black belt skilled techniques, not as a black belt using beginner’s techniques.”  EXHAUSTING! Never knew Heian Shodan could be so hard to do.

Sensei Dorfman showed a little favoritism toward the women as he had us demonstrate our revised oi-zuki and mae-geri techniques using a male counterpart to see if we could force them back. Great fun.

Competition began promptly after a short break, when we were able to observe the South African team perform a skillful Gojushiho-Sho. Congratulations to Pilar Ramos for winning 1^st place in both kata and kumite and to Simeon Ekrissen for Sensei Dorfman recognizing him as the best male competitor for his phenomenal spirit and his competitive tenacity.

We ended a great day of training and competition, dining with Sensei Dorfman, Sensei’s Hyder and Coburn and all of the ENTIRE camp participants at the Cherry Blossom restaurant. Mr. Dorfman explained to us how important it was to continue to support and train with each other to keep the spirit of Shotokan Karate alive.

We look forward to another time to meet up with Sensei Dorfman again and thank him for his valued instruction. Congratulations to Sensei Hyder for the opportunity to train with Sensei Dorfman and providing a “Class A” tournament and seminar.

The memories are almost enough to make me forget how bad my gluts and my “21 square inches“ of feet hurt!

OSS! – Cheryl Coburn