HIS Karate-Do

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 [...]

I’ve spent most of my 55 years in Shotokan Karate-Do training and teaching right here in the islands. The exception was the several years I spent on active duty with the Air Force in California. While there, I was fortunate to discover a sensei with several Shotokan dojos in the area. I joined immediately and was able to continue practice and help teach amongst my new dojo mates. Eventually, I became friends with the head senpai there. George was a tall, lanky, and quiet man who was several years my senior. We often trained together outside of the dojo, exchanging ideas about the art. He had achieved his black belt in two karate styles but eventually settled on Shotokan as his preferred art. After a couple of years, I was forced to cut back on my karate time – I had become a new father and was also attending graduate courses at night (no computers or online classes back in the 1970s). The last time I saw George, he dropped by my home to say farewell. He and his family were leaving for their next Air Force assignment. I later heard that he’d retired from the service and settled with [...]