Posture and Uke (Posture for Defending)  

1892-1982 

There are many varieties of posture. There is no, one, fixed stance. In essence, a stance must be able to respond to any changes that the opponent makes, defend, or simply take the blow that the opponent strikes with.

However, in Japanese martial art, there is no defense whose prime objective is to simply defend. The prerequisite of defense is offence. Postures, similarly, are taken with offence as a prerequisite. There is no need to defend or even take a posture if attacking the opponent is not an objective. Posture is for offence and defense; defense is defense because on is not on the offensive.

Hence, attacking after defending results in a draw of attack, or one falls behind in the offensive. It must always be defend/attack, or attack/defend. Since offence is the prerequisite of both posture and defense, these must both be able to produce an attack immediately, as well as being able to respond to any attacks in return. If this fact cannot be seen in one's kata, then that kata is useless. If too much strength is placed in a posture, or if one's wrist is bent after punching, or if one looks down as he is kicking, these actions only serve to make that action meaningless. In essence, it becomes a "dead" kata.

To use a "live" kata is so difficult, that it may take ten or twenty years, even a lifetime of experiences to even begin using the kata properly. In kendo, one must be constantly prepared to withdraw his sword, even though the sword may not be drawn - this is similar to the posture in karate. If posture is not "alive," it serves no purpose. This can be found in any writing or book of any martial art.

Part two, "The Philosophical Analogy of the Belt Exam Process", looks at three basic styles of belt exams and philosophies used in today's modern martial art systems:

       a. Low standards with quick ranks

       b. High standards with high failure rates

       c. High standards accompanied with a comprehensive education system

Low Standards-Quick Ranks

Unfortunately today, "low standard-quick rank" belt promotions permeate the majority of martial art schools. It is not uncommon to see six year old black belts or twenty year old students holding 5^th Dan certificates.

This isn't because these instructors are bad people or they don't care about their students, though some do exist. It is because these instructors do not have the ability to teach technical martial art skill, don't want feelings hurt, want to avoid conflict with disgruntled parents, hoping to minimize student dropout, monetary corruption, and to mask the overall low standards of their schools.

The majority of these instructors came out of similar programs themselves. Many of them simply do not know any better. They were never instructed on how to teach proper technical development from white belt through black. Without understanding the numerous developmental steps of a technique, which rank should mirror, the process has been short changed with ranks given more quickly.

Just like with parents, instructors do not want to see the feelings of their students hurt. Because these instructors do not teach properly, which give students the skills to handle setbacks and disappointment, they give artificial ranks to combat this problem. You see this similar scenario with some parents and their parenting skills.

Ray Hughes

Scottsdale Martial Arts Center

SMACUS.com 

rhughes@smacus.com 

Robert Hunt

Chaos

The Karate Tapestry - Part 8  

            We yearn for our style to follow a nice, reassuring, linear path, from some ancient teacher straight to us. How comforting t'would be. Lu Lu Ko to the Goju dojo down the street. Shushiwa to Uechi to George Mattson. But, alas, it's not. The foundation of karate was nothing like linear - in fact, it was chaos.

            There is nothing linear about karate training, anyway. Even today, if you practice Shotokan, it is not what Itosu taught nor even Funakoshi. Your Wado is probably not what Ohtsuka intended and there are a half dozen Shito Ryu's, with Mabuni's own two sons each offering different takes. The Meibukan, the Shobukan, the Seibukan and the Jundokan all claim Miyagi. Watch their kata side by side - you'll scratch your head.

            There never was anything linear in karate. We all like to envision that ours is the "real thing", handed down on stone tablets from some bygone Chinese Moses.

           Dream on.

            Once Itosu and Higaonna started teaching in schools, every one with a room big enough to accommodate 10 people and a dog started a program. The mix of teachers and students was mind boggling. Miyagi, for example, the purported inheritor of the art Higaonna learned from Lu Lu Ko, was an assistant instructor to Itosu - that other guy. All the names we associate with our history were jumbled together under a few bewildered teachers unearthed from the shadows of Okinawa's past. 

Click  HEREto read the rest of the article              

To contact Robert Hunt  

steelmoon@hushmail.com