Over the years, I’ve attended seminars given by various Shotokan Karate-Do and Aikido masters. Every one was so knowledgeable and I always learned something new. I especially enjoyed and was amazed by those given by the late Tetsuhiko Asai as well as the late Koichi Tohei (Aikido). Beyond their amazing expertise and knowledge, each master was gracious and seemed happy to share their wisdom with the attendees.
Recently, I came across a video of a 2013 demonstration that was given by the late Shito-Ryu Master Yoshimi Inoue. I was immediately taken by the concepts about body movement that he shared with a group of black belts in Italy. Shito-Ryu is a close cousin of the Shotokan system and his techniques will be readily recognizable to you. His ideas resonated with me since they are similar to much of what I believe – though he demonstrates and articulates them far better than I can. You may not be able to replicate his flexibility, control, and speed; however, gaining some insight into this approach to basic technique and movement can be invaluable towards understanding how you can continue to improve your own techniques in the future.
This clip is from a seminar he gave in Italy just a couple of years before he passed. He was in his mid-sixties then, but I think you’ll see that he still had blurring speed and awesome control over his flexible shoulder and hip joints. While he had a reputation for being mild-mannered and humorous – he was also a very effective instructor and coached several world kata champions. His English was limited and the translator was doing a great job of translating to…Italian. Fortunately, as with most martial arts, much of the teaching was on a non-verbal level. You could learn something just by watching him. If you’re too busy to watch the entire 10 minute clip – just FFW to the 9 minute spot and see how loose and flexible his shoulder and hip joints were, even as an older karateka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWIcmBidZOw
Here’s a photo of him practicing kata in a younger day. Our Shotokan system includes 26-30 katas, depending upon the organization. Shito-Ryu has something like 60 katas. It actually includes all of the Shotokan katas and the Goju-Ryu katas, as well as a few Chinese sets.
P.S. Goju-Ryu katas are sometimes performed sans a gi top so that the instructor can check proper muscle tension of this hard style.