HIS Karate-Do

Hi Everyone, All of you who have been training for awhile are familiar with the three basic Shotokan stances (dachi): zenkutsu-dachi, kokutsu-dachi, and the kiba-dachi.  While practicing kihon, you go into these stances on most every class.  This strengthens your legs and flexibility, of course – but one uses these in the 26-30 katas that make up the pantheon of Shotokan katas.  Many of our students may not know that there are additional dachi that, while not covered in basic kihon, are a part of higher katas and jiyu-kumite (free sparring).  Today, I’d like to share a little bit about Gigo Funakoshi, his impact on modern Shotokan, and his signature stance, the fudo-dachi.  Gigo was the middle son of Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan Karate-Do.  If I were to ask what stance is pictured below, I doubt that our color belts would be able to identify it since we never teach it in regular practice.  The fudo-dachi has been described as a combination between a zenkutsu-dachi and a kiba-dachi.  A very strong and centered posture, advanced students sometimes with briefly shift into this stance while blocking, then repulsing an incoming attack. The fudo-dachi (rooted stance) is a very powerful [...]

I’ve often written about Shihan Kenneth Funakoshi, who taught your HISKF instructors so much of what we know.  Sensei Peter, Wayne, and I were fortunate to have him personally instruct us for years at both the Special Training classes at the main dojo in the 1970s and, years later, at the Mililani dojo.  Even Sensei Trisha’s first lessons were under his tutelage.  Shihan is in his mid-eighties these days and retired from active teaching. In our memories however, he is still that young, charismatic karate champion of our youth.  In his prime, he was a burly, solid, and powerful presence both inside and outside of the dojo.  As earnest young students, we all tried out best to emulate his movements.  The magic of YouTube allows you to see how we remember our teacher’s movements in kata. This was filmed back in 1986 at Magic Island.  Shihan was in his late forties at the time and had been asked by Panther Productions to film a series of videos on Shotokan Karate-Do.  As I recall, it was a perfect day in the perfect location to feature Shihan performing kata in the natural tropical outdoors.  In this video, he’s demonstrating Heian Godan.  That [...]

When my walk with karate-do began over fifty years ago, I had just two objectives; learning how to throw a karate punch and learning how to execute some basic kicks.  I persuaded my good friend (now Sensei Peter) to sign up with me, and so we entered the dojo together.  Previously, my training in aikido had provided me a decent background in how to fall, applying wrist locks and throws, and a feel for distance and leverage.  Although atemi is a part of aikijutsu, our aikido training did not include any striking techniques.  All I wanted to do was to gain a basic proficiency in this. Despite what Sensei Peter has said about our early training, we were both quick learners. I was able to acquire basic punching and kicking skills within a couple of months and so…I quit!  Mission accomplished!  Not a very good example for new karate students, eh?  Fortunately, Sensei Peter realized that there was so much more to learn from karate-do and kept on training.  I watched him continue to improve and get promoted over the following months.  After telling my then-girlfriend (now my wife), “Wow, he’s doing so well…if I had continued, I could have [...]