HIS Karate-Do

The practice of Karate-Do has often been described as a metaphorical “walk in life”. The Google AI defines Do as follow, “In Japanese, “do” (道, pronounced “doh”) means “the way” or “the path,” a profound concept referring to a spiritual or philosophical path of discipline, self-improvement, and finding purpose…”. Therefore, we may all be focused on practicing technique, strengthening our bodies, and learning something new about the art, but each of us is also walking an individual journey along a path towards becoming the person we are meant to be. Sounds kind of esoteric eh?…but this is why we are practicing what is termed Karate-Do versus Karate-Jutsu. We’ve all heard of that saying, “Walk the walk vs talk the talk.” Very simply, it means that your actions reflect what you say you’re going to do. In your first or second training lesson, you were taught the basics of the zenkutsu-dachi (forward stance) and how to take your karate “walk”. As you practice it countless times over many years, you are always working towards improving this basic move. More accurately, I’d call it “lunging forward” which is very different from a pedestrian walk. Recently, Sensei Peter’s and my very first instructor, [...]

I don’t think I’ve ever written about the seiza (the formal way of sitting before/after class).  One usually sets one’s body down with the left knee first followed by the right knee.  Etiquette usually has the women’s knees together and the men’s knees apart at a 90-degree angle.  One should sit in a relaxed but erect posture, hands resting on one’s thighs, just below one’s obi (belt).  When rising, the right knee goes up first, followed by the left.  The ancient reason for this was to allow the samurai to easily unsheath his sword in the event of sudden attack while rising or lowering himself.  This assumed that he was right-handed with his sword sheathed on his left side. For some of our older members or others with knee/ankle/hip issues, we allow dispensation from this position.  So many of our karate practices can be healthful to one’s body and the seiza is no exception.  See this article about the value of such a posture.  https://postureclinic.in/seiza/ That said, one of Sensei Trisha’s favorite childhood stories concerns the seiza.   She had woken from bed late one night (she was around 5-6 years old) to get a drink of water and found [...]

Gee, what a strange title for this karate note eh? Actually, there’s a jingle from an old 1960s commercial that often plays in my head – “There are Smiles”, sung by the Dutch Masters singers. Dutch Masters was the name of a cigar company in the old days. It was a marketing tool – their symbol was a painting by Rembrandt of a group representing the old Dutch master painters from centuries ago. Anyways, they had a series of popular commercials with what must have been a barbershop sextet (6 men) singing the catchy song that was in my head, extolling the potentially different meanings behind a smile. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1645197482410899. So long ago that it was in black and white but as a kid, I always enjoyed their singing about what could be behind a simple smile. I actually used to join in and sing along with them, haha. Which brings me as to how this relates to karate and the drills that you practice in every class. As you must realize by now, Sensei Peter, Wayne, and I, each has our own particular flavor of drills that we teach. Sensei Wayne tends to run drills that are practical and are [...]