When we break things down to their base principles three hundred things become two, maybe three things and that is really all one needs in order to be safe, to defend and get away, even to take it to a level of putting someone down if necessary.
It is not complicated and, deep down inside, we all know this as we are the product of many generations whom have effectively applied this in order to stay alive long enough to pass on their genes.
None of this is new, it is already there within, maybe a jumbled unfortunates mess and atrophy if we have not been forced into situations that require these things (and many haven’t), but they are there nonetheless.
Striking. Grappling. Throwing/Takedowns.
Awareness. Assessment. Engagement.
My own take is that we train to hone skills already present on a barely conscious level and these are not just physical skills.
Most approaches are as though they are ingraining something not yet ingrained, rather than waking something up they are building something up.
Perhaps both approaches may be valid? Maybe. What I am most concerned with is cutting through to the core that can be readily used.
Training three hundred responses to one thing might be fun, but is it useful? For me it would be more useful to bring out what is already there, to get to know the principles, and not really care what the assailant does other than getting the assailant down and getting away.
For this I only need to know maybe two or three things and maybe I do not even really need to know them on a conscious level because thinking is often too slow and stands to get you maimed or murdered out there.
In contrast I am also a Kata guy; I find great value in analyzing those principles, maybe I find the exercise to be a lot of fun, but fun is how humans internalize things. Very similar to how baby animals play fight.
They do not learn a specific way of doing things, no techniques, they just learn to flow and the principles tend to come naturally.
These two things seem mutually exclusive unless you START with free play, move to examine the principles of Kata, then go back to free play and really start to see some amazing things happen.
Break it down and focus on specific things, I do not just do rote Kata for the sake of performing a pattern to perfection as I am not a tournament player.
Focus on locking principles one week, focus on striking another, muchimidi another, practice against a wall, around tables and chairs, with stuff strewn all about the floor, sucker punched or attacked from behind, ambushed rounding a corner, practice escape and running.
All very important stuff, shift back to Kata with new eyes, then shift back to play.
Some might prefer a more technical or technique based approach, which is fine, some might prefer something else.
I once heard a story of an Okinawan Karate Sensei that would teach simply by saying ‘do this’ in whatever language it was and then demonstrate, straight to the point.
Drills and routines serve as tools to hone our understanding of principles, which are nothing more than physics in action.
Some train to fight, some train to compete, but when you remove both from the equation what is left? A predator is not looking for a fight, they are looking for an opportunity. We are not Samurai, we are not Kung Fu Killers, most of us are just people looking to survive and navigate a world that can be very treacherous, although not always.
So while I do train Traditional Drills and Kata, interspersed with some other things I pick up and notice to fill in the holes, I do not train to preserve a Tradition. I train to put things to use and, I feel, this is how the Old Dogs would have wanted it.
Shihan Roseberry preserves his Teacher’s Teachings and built upon them, even creating new Kata based on what he had come to understand.
His Teacher, Seikichi Toguchi, had done the same prior to him. Roseberry Shihan’s last great lesson that I took away from his last International Convention, besides spirit and endurance through extreme fatigue, was ‘If it makes your Karate better then use it.’
Words to live by. It is and always has been MY Karate. Dascenzo Sensei, Roseberry Shihan, Todd Sensei, Iller Sensei, and Wilder Sensei only guided me to what was already present.
Gassho.
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