No Training – Oct 7 Saturday

I always know when October and the holidays are coming around each year, as we get a slight increase in cancelled classes due to activities at the Momilani Rec Center.  This go around, class for this Saturday, Oct 7, is pre-empted by the annual Fall Craft and Gift Fair, running from 9 am to 1 pm.  So, instead of training, you could actually go to the dojo and look for Christmas presents early in the shopping cycle.

When one can’t train at the dojo, there are various vicarious venues that one can choose to augment class.  One of the easiest is to watch a short video.  Here is one that I sent out a few years ago, likely before many of you had joined our group.  With the recent decision to include Karate as a sport in the 2020 Olympics in Japan, it seemed like a good idea to resent the link out so one can see what Olympic-level kata will be like.  I have watched the performance a number of times just to appreciate the high level of technical ability these young karateka have achieved.  It is from the World Karate Federation 2012 Championships.  It is the winning three-man team from Japan, performing the kata Unsu.  Out of the nearly 30 katas in the Shotokan pantheon of katas, Unsu is usually ranked as the highest.  It includes a difficult 360-degree jumping back kick as well as roundhouse kicks launched from the ground at an impossible angle.  It was our sensei’s (K. Funakoshi) favorite tournament kata and you’ll note that his b/w pics on the HSKF website show him in several poses from an Unsu demonstration.  At the 2000 Aloha State Games, Sensei Trish won the gold in the black belt women’s division using this kata.  Aside from its signature moves, the kata is based upon powerful punches, kicks in strong stance, rapid pivots enabling power techniques to be shot out in 180 degree change-of-directions, just a split-second apart.

In 2012, these men were rated the best in the world.  Their pre-arranged bunkai of Unsu techniques against attackers is awesome.  Athletic, artistic, well-timed, with little room for error, it looks like something out of the movies or CG action…yet, this is live, where a single mistake in timing can lose the contest.  When I first saw this, I thought that something about their execution was familiar.  As it turned out, their coach was Kagawa Sensei, designated as Chief Instructor of the JKS by its founder, the legendary Tetsuhiko Asai.  Some of you may know that Asai Sensei was the personal sensei here in Hawaii of both Sensei Ed and Sensei Kenneth Funakoshi – who taught all of HSKF’s sensei’s so many years ago.  None of us may ever reach the technical heights of these young men, but it is an inspiration to perceive the apex towards which each of us is climbing to and reaching for, in our daily training.

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