Sunday, July 5, 2020

The uses for karate presented by Mutsu Mizuho


 
 
Mutsu Mizuho’s Toudi Kenpo is extremely interesting. A student of  Fuhakoshi Ginchin, he also went to Okinawa for some study there
 

Written before Funakoshi published his own Karate Do Koyan, it is extremely extensive with many, many illustrations of kata and applications.

 

But to me the most intriguing feature is almost ½ the book is given to presentations about how karate might be used. This is far more extensive than any other karate text from the 1920s or 1930s, or even to today for that matter,

 

The karate applications are not presented by kata, instead they are grouped by the style of  the use against attacks.

 

Not reading Japanese I am going to attempt to characterize what I see. Any errors are solely my own.

 

1.     Dodging, weaving and bobbing as an opening against an attack. 5

2.     Uses of body displacement then striking to stop an attack. 12

3.     Just striking to stop an attack  6

4.     Block, grab and counter.167

5.     Block then strike  10

6.     Grabs to stop a strike  and/or create an opening for a counter strike   9

7.     Multiple blocking striking combinations  8

8.     Blocking then body displacement to striking 11

9.     Layers of blocking/striking to kicking combinations  6

10.                         Grabbing into the body and then grappling the opponent  6

11.                         Countering various wrist grabs 8

12.                         Countering various chest grabs and shoulder grabs 15

13.                         Seiza defensive techniques 24

14.                         Knife and sword defenses  45+

 

By count (and as I can’t read the accompanying text it might well be more) that is at least 69 karate technique studies.

 

I would assume that might suggest the art practice would be far more than the kata practice.

 

It does IMO show a depth of how karate could be used in response to a variety of attacks. I wonder how many programs approach karate use against attack in this manner.

 

It shows far more than just how a technique is executed in kata described the art he presented.

 


 

Additional suggested reading:

 





 

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