HIS Karate-Do

Can you believe that it’s been over 21 years since our karate group held its first practice? The kids that were in our earliest classes must all be in their thirties and forties by now. Going further back to the early 1970’s, the kids that Sensei Peter and I taught at the KAH Pearl City Dojo (we were assistant instructors) would be in their sixties by now! HISKarate-Do students always seem to be a never-changing cast of parents and children training together, but realistically, over time, the actors gradually change, in and out. Kinda like that old 1939 movie classic, “Goodbye Mr. Chips”, the host of young students that Headmaster Chipping (“Chips”) taught for over six decades seemed changeless to his tired old eyes until it was pointed out that some were actually grandsons of the boys he mentored as a young teacher. Beyond nostalgia, going deeper into the philosophical, there’s a saying from the old Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “No man ever steps into the same river twice. For it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” The implication is that the seemingly constant river is actually an illusion, consisting of moving waters that change with every [...]

You might remember when you had just begun learning the zenkutsu-dachi, I always said that your front foot should have the exterior blade facing straight forward – kind of a pigeon-toed position.  It probably seems like just another of the numerous rules  on position and posture that we ask you follow eh?  You may have thought, “What’s the big deal about my foot blade pointing in the direction I’m facing versus my big toe?”. In this video, Sensei Jessie Enkamp does a great job of describing the value of foot/knee/hip alignment and the reason why centered placement of weight on one’s feet is so important. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNdc3bDnXB8 You might be interested in why our kumite practice is limited to pre-arranged five-step, three-step, and one-step kumite.  This is for your protection and safety, as the free-style kumite that your sensei’s constantly practiced in our younger days resulted in many unavoidable injuries for each of us (safety wasn’t as big a concern for karateka in the 1970s).  Although in the spirit of gambare (Japanese for “Keep fighting!”) we continued practicing while hurt, that’s not really appropriate for the HIS group. To give you an idea of what a JKA style tournament kumite looked [...]

Now here’s a “trivia question”.  Do you recognize the man on this book cover? In  case you don’t, he’s the late karate legend, Master Masatoshi Nakayama.  His eminence in Shotokan Karate-Do is perhaps second only to that of the founder himself, Master Gichin Funakoshi.  As one might expect, he was a good Shotokan Karate-Do technician, but the talents which elevated him were in his long-term vision and organizational/leadership skills that have had a direct and significant influence on most every Shotokan practitioner in the world today.  Master Nakayama was one of the founders and long-time Chief Instructor of the Japan Karate Association (JKA), a global karate organization through which all of your sensei learned so much of what we are able to share with you today.  His book, “Dynamic Karate”, is considered a classic and was published over 60 years ago.  It is so valued by karateka, I see where the price of a used hardcover now starts at $87! (Master Nakayama was kind enough to sign Sensei Peter’s and my hardcover in kanji) Both his father and grandfather were physicians so perhaps it was natural that he would become a professor and Head of the Physical Education Department at [...]