{"id":270,"date":"2015-06-14T09:37:51","date_gmt":"2015-06-14T17:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/?p=270"},"modified":"2017-04-11T13:52:54","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T23:52:54","slug":"tekki-katas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/?p=270","title":{"rendered":"Tekki Katas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest article on the Asai Shotokan Association International blog has an interesting perspective on the Tekki katas by Yokota Sensei; but I really wanted you to take a look at two of the photos contained therein. You’ll find the article at: http:\/\/asaikarate.com\/category\/asai-blog-english\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The two pics are around 3\/4 of the way down into the Tekki article. The first is from an early JKA tournament showing Mikami Sensei having just launched a lightning-fast lunging gyaku-zuki, which the nimble Asai Sensei has evaded via a flying taisabaki, likely followed by one of his whip-like counters. Please note how different the jyu-kumite attacking gyaku-zuki is to the basic gyaku-zuki we teach beginners. The photo immediately following this one, is a fine example of a well-executed front thrust kick stopping the incoming attacker in his tracks. Note that this is not the basic snapping mae-geri, and that it involves throwing one’s weight forward of the supporting leg (slightly pivoted), with the hips thrusting in the hanmi position. While the throw-weight and full locking extension of the kicking leg increase the technique’s power, the foot pivot, acute angle of the supporting leg, and center-of-gravity forward shift also extend the effective distance of the kick.<\/p>\n

Yokota Sensei uses these and other photos in the article in order to support his description of “invisible leg” techniques used in kumite and real-life application, as learned in movements from the often neglected Tekki katas. These also help us realize just how much more we have to learn about Karate-Do techniques, and how color belt techniques and brown\/black belt techniques may entail different approaches towards applying speed and power. Of course, it’s pretty hard to effectively apply advanced technique, unless one has achieved some level of competence in executing good basic technique.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to believe that these excellent karateka were once all white belts, learning the basic gyaku-zuki, mae-geri, and zenkutsu-dachi. It is a naturally long, drawn-out process, one in which they each persevered over many years of practice. Every one of us learns to crawl before standing up to walk; and masters walking before ever starting to run. Each is a necessary and related phase that leads to the next – but each involves a different set of body mechanics and the speed of each movement differs greatly. In the same way, Basic, Intermediate and Advanced movements in Karate-Do represent different phases of development in learning the Art. Gives special meaning to that old saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Kind of corny, I know, but while it’s sometimes frustrating, it’s ultimately comforting to know that each of us (your senseis included) is an eternal “work…er, walk in progress”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest article on the Asai Shotokan Association International blog has an interesting perspective on the Tekki katas by Yokota Sensei; but I really wanted you to take a look at two of the photos contained therein. You’ll find the article at: http:\/\/asaikarate.com\/category\/asai-blog-english\/ The two pics are around 3\/4 of the way down into the Tekki article. The first is from an early JKA tournament showing Mikami Sensei having just launched a lightning-fast lunging gyaku-zuki, which the nimble Asai Sensei has evaded via a flying taisabaki, likely followed by one of his whip-like counters. Please note how different the jyu-kumite attacking gyaku-zuki is to the basic gyaku-zuki we teach beginners. The photo immediately following this one, is a fine example of a well-executed front thrust kick stopping the incoming attacker in his tracks. Note that this is not the basic snapping mae-geri, and that it involves throwing one’s weight forward of the supporting leg (slightly pivoted), with the hips thrusting in the hanmi position. While the throw-weight and full locking extension of the kicking leg increase the technique’s power, the foot pivot, acute angle of the supporting leg, and center-of-gravity forward shift also extend the effective distance of the kick. [...]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=270"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":381,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions\/381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}