Some Useful Lower Body Movements

Several lower body movements from the video

The Best of Tadashi Yamashita

 

 

I  had never met Tashidi Yamashita, but had read about him many times in the martial arts magazines and seen him in various movies.

 

The description that he personified old school intensity seemed quite accurate.

 

So when it became available I purchased a Tashidi Yamashita self defense video from Panther Productions.

 

What I found was something I never expected.

 

I don’t want to imply he did not demonstrate what he was showing most effectively. What surprised me was how different his demonstration was from what I thought Okinawan karate was. That was quite different for me.

 

Perhaps it was me, but to me his demonstration of defensive technique was closer to what  I had come to expect from the Ed Parker Kempo I had seen, and most unlike what I saw as Okinawan.

 

Not perhaps that VHS tape was not representative of Tashidi Yamashita, and made just to sell for the market. Not that I am suggesting a VHS tape should be used for instruction. But from that point forward I did not look into what he was.

 

Then finding this video clip of his technique :

 

1) I realized it gave a clearer picture of who he was than the tape I had seen so long ago.

2) I found some of what he demonstrated as useful examples as I show in this blog post.

3) there is no question there is much showmanship in his demonstrations, which also contain much extraneous material instead of simpler execution and just finishing the attacker.

 

Perhaps that was the aspect of that VHS tape I saw that did not appeal to me.

 

This is the video where I found those lower body applications I wrote about.

 

The best of Tashidi Yamashita

 

 

 

Absorb what is useful, then perhaps ignore the rest.