HIS Karate-Do

Just found out that Momilani Rec Center is having the PCCA Family Fun Day event next Saturday (August 19), which means an “end of summer” break from training so that you folks can buy last minute school supplies and clothes, go for a last chance summer picnic at the beach, or spend a couple of hours training at home (as if!). As you know, we recently held exams for some of our blue and green belts.  In regular dojos, such testing is held every three months.  Such testing helps keep students focused on short-term goals on the long journey of Karate-Do, and the truth be told, often serves as an additional source of revenue for some commercial dojos.  In fact, over the years, we have seen the number of different color ranks grow and grow for some organizations.  Such places have added additional colors and even striping on the belts to differentiate amongst rank levels within the same color belts.  The cost to take exams in many places goes up and up, especially within the brown and black belts ranks, reaching into hundreds of dollars in some places.  At HIS Karate-Do, we try to keep costs low so that our [...]

During much of our basic training in Karate-Do, much emphasis placed upon the importance of power and speed.  Later, of course, we work on things like: timing, accuracy, weight displacement, momentum, using imbalance, breathing, and on and on.  At the beginning, however, kime is mentioned in almost every class. There is, however, a hidden element to the concept of kime – the importance of…non-kime (made up this term, haha) or being relaxed for 99% of the technique. We use the term “relax” but we don’t mean it in the western sense of being relaxed.  Rather, we’re talking about the lack of any unnecessary tension within the muscles throughout execution of the technique, except for the point of impact.  Kime before impact acts to slow down the technique.  Holding kime after impact (except for harmonic force back in thrust techniques) doesn’t increase the effect and actually: 1) leaves one open for a counter attack and 2) delays your following moves in any combination attack.  So being “relaxed” is just as important in “hard” styles of martial arts (like Shotokan) as it is in “soft” systems like Aikido and Tai Chi Chuan. Speaking of “tenses”, here’s a short note to discuss tense when it comes [...]

Wow, how time flies, it’s June and once again, it’s summer…my daughter and daughter-in-law, along with the grandkids are on summer vacation. So are many of our younger members…and, of course, the ahem, older members are enjoying that “Endless Summer” known as retirement, haha. This month also marks sixteen years since we started this particular club – sixteen years, can you imagine? Yet, Sensei’s Peter, Wayne and I, all feel the rejuvenation of youth once we put on our capes…..er, our gi’s, even though we’re all on Medicare these days👴.  When you think about it, in another sixteen years, (with the exception of Sensei Trish), all of your sensei’s will be in our eighties!! I wonder if our magical gi’s will still be able to rejuvenate us then? Doesn’t matter, I’m sure that before we become too decrepit, we’ll have passed on our teaching duties to some of our younger members to share with others who are eager to learn the art. Remember, each time you come to class and diligently train, it’s not just for today nor just for you; it’s really for tomorrow and for others…in the event you are ever called upon to share your knowledge with [...]