Each of us can probably remember the first time we entered the dojo to begin our journey with the art of Karate-Do.  It is an intentional act, and for most adults, a pretty big decision to put on a gi and commit the body and mind to learning the exercises and philosophy of Shotokan.  For some, it ends up being something of a lark or hobby that’s tried for a few classes, a few months, or perhaps a few years.  For others, it eventually becomes a natural and long-lasting part of one’s life. Ironically, while the first karate lesson is usually planned and prepared for – the last one is usually unintentional.  One might gradually get too busy at school, work, or with personal activities.  It might be a health issue or some minor injury.  Often, it’s a temporary break due to some circumstance that slowly becomes a permanent break long after the circumstance is gone.  In any case, few of us ever know when the last time we train in the dojo will be.  The only sure thing is that for each of us – there will, inevitably, be a last time we get to place on our gi [...]

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 [...]