The
other day I viewed a video shared on the FB Karate group by Lara Chamberland.
On that video one of the early American students of Nagamine Sensei shared a
very interesting story about Okinawa outside of the dojo that I had never heard
before.
My
synopsis of that discussion on the video follows:
The discussion begins with a story about a someone striking a kid’s arm with a simple flick side strike and when questioned and when questioned the one striking said he did not study karate, rather he worked just at striking the makiwara continuously. That developed his using his full body in his strike.
The lesson one does not need to study karate to be dangerous.
Someone from that tradition without karate is still dangerous.
They
have people on Okinawa who do not know martial arts, they have just generation
after generation of continually striking a makiwara. In his system everyone
strikes makiwara.
The story just points out how much we really don’t know about Okinawa outside of our own karate studies.
1 comment:
There is so much we do not know about the past development of Te,Tode or even karate. What were those students being prepared to face. I really doubt those arts were really shaped to face other individuals with training in the same art(s).
However in that past there were obviously individuals who just worked makiwara and had such striking ability. More importantly you could not spot who they were. Even in the days of te or tode development, when that training was for very specific service to Okinawa you really never knew what abilities you could face.
This is more a past study by some, as I doubt there are many or any today that spend their time just striking the makiwara.
But is seems more a practical reason to develop body and arm hardening as a part of training, to attempt to neutralize such strikes if they are faced.
I believe there is great value understand the environment which Te, Tode or Karate developed.
Now I have also been involved in studying, teaching and researching karate for over 40 years. Not for one instant did I study that karate was budo. I read about such thoughts, but never experienced anyone teaching that. And I had many incredible instructors. Apparently the forces that shaped my training were different than that that shaped yours.
But never in my years did I train my students to break arms. However a part of my senior students training was how karate technique could be used to ‘break an arm’. It was an important component of advanced study such as what understanding was necessary for the instructors I developed.
The reality is that you do not need makiwawa training to break an arm. There are a whole range of techniques within all kata that can do that. You have even taught kata that can be used that way.
Of course the difference is intent.
My purpose to offer such training was to enable students to understand what they could face and then to work to interrupt someone doing that to them.
As it goes an arm is quite easy to break. My son at age 3 running while playing Power Rangers with his younger sister fell and broke is arm. Perhaps ‘reduction ad absurdum’ should apply and children ought to be banned from watching Power Rangers. Perhaps I wax to episodic about that.
The training from the past was developed realizing such trained individuals were out there. In fact all those trained via makiwara could use their strikes from karate to cause great damage even when arm breaks are not involved.
The more important thing is how you develop the students you train not to misuse that training.
It is something I always begin on day one of their studies.
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