HIS Karate-Do

When I think about it, the first time I ever visited a karate dojo, an examination was being conducted.  My friend, Dennis, was a black belt in the Karate Association of Hawaii and a member of its best dojo, the University Karate Kai.  Coincidentally, Dennis was also the reason that Sensei Wayne and Sensei Peter became interested in the art.  One day at the university, Dennis invited me to join him in watching a UHKK practice session.  As it turned out, “practice” was a special examination being given by Sensei Funakoshi for only two white belts.  Dennis told me that watching the exam was a good way to view karate techniques and see what might be expected of a trainee.  As I watched the two beginners being tested, I thought to myself, “Wow! These white belts look really good – in fact, they look really great!”  Not knowing any karate at the time, I couldn’t believe what was expected of a white belts taking their first promotion test…and it was a very long one..  It wasn’t until after the exam was over that Dennis revealed that both examinees were previously brown or black belts in other karate schools.  The Karate [...]

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 [...]