Fighting Strategy

In an entry last year, I asked if your teacher (or you) had a strategy about and for your fighting art. This doesn't pertain to sport kumite/sparring; it is relevant to the fighting system you and I study, whatever that art happens to be. My former Yoshukai Karate teacher had a maxim: block, strike, take the joint, and throw. This strategy was/is essentially and escalation of violence on the part of the person receiving an attack, or defender if you prefer.


For years I followed this mantra, but as we do as we mature in the arts, I began formulating a strategy that more effectively mimics that upon which I teach and focus. To me, kata is the essence of karate-do, and within that karate is the stratagem created by the old masters who then passed the art to the next generation of budo-ka. Kata practice for me is one of technique/application centered violence used to counter "intent," rather than off-set another technique.


What does that mean? A prime example is the raising of fists by an attacker--this is intent. I have little desire to wait for him to throw a punch at me to know what the result will be, nor do I want to get into a battle of counter-fighting. I prefer to be on the offensive given the opportunity once I glean enough information to warrant an attack by me.


I realize much of what I'm writing here is likely counter to everything modern budo-ka are taught, but for me it's reality and what I have trained myself to do and react. This is what I teach my students, and I stand by this creed. Never do I condone looking for trouble or embroiling oneself in violent behavior, but should the intent of another human being be one of harm, then I fully endorse defending one's self in every manner possible.


With that, I will outline my fighting strategy as I've come to understand the art I study and teach:


Engage
Disrupt
Destroy


Here, I will attempt to explain each of these three categories. When I teach engagement, I mean make contact. That contact may come by means of a punch or kick, grabbing to set up a throw, or simply placing a hand on the opponent to make initial contact (being sure to maintain the connection until a desired technique or outcome is affected). Engagement means the critical distance between self and opponent is established and violence is imminent, and the defender makes and maintains contact until such time as his/her attack has been deployed. Engagement may last a split second, or take a little longer depending on the situation, but the space between attacker and defender is an intimate one.


Like engagement, disruption can take several forms. In a nutshell, disruption causes the opponent to cease motion and intent and fall back to countering or a defensive posture. Disruption can mean an attack is launched by the defender essentially removing or circumventing his original intent. To take it to the next level, stopping an attack on a mental and physical level is disruption, which sets up the last piece in my personal violent strategy.


To destroy sounds ominous, but it doesn't necessarily mean to render another human being lifeless. Like the previous explanations, destruction comes in several forms and layers, the final one being the warranted taking of life. Destruction means, in my mind, total commitment to a technique until such time the attacker no longer has the wherewithal to press onward. Destroying an opponent's will to fight, destroying a bone or joint, or simply destroying his balance is all part of the definition. What does not change is the commitment to technique and application by the defender until such time the attacker is incapable or  no longer desires to continue.


This is my condensed stratagem taught to my students and practiced by me. Your thoughts on the topic are appreciated and welcomed!

So Much Has Happened Since My Last Post

Wow! I have not done a good job keeping this blog updated. I sometimes amaze myself with my absolute love and passion for everything budo, yet find that I fail miserably in updating others with regards to events that I witness or take part in over time. Sounds like the things New Year resolutions are made of, yes?

At any rate, In October, for the second year in a row I made the wonderful journey to Pittsburgh, PA to train with an exceptional group of Chito-Ryu Karate-ka (and others of the Chito lineage). I love the fact that this has become an annual pilgrimage for me, and am always awestruck at the amount of exquisite martial knowledge shared by instructors from all over the U.S. and Canada. I cannot begin to detail how open and accepting the Koshin-ha Chito Kai, United States Chito-Kai, and Ryusei karate-ka are.

We spent the first evening working universal techniques shared between the Chinese art of Baqua and Chito Ryu/Yoshukai. Valentino hanshi always hosts a wonderful "pre-training" at his home dojo before the main event to be held the following Saturday. We beat on one another, laughed at jokes, and sweat together in the glorious surroundings of Valentino sensei's beautiful home. I cannot thank the Valentino family enough for hosting this event and putting up with a group of smelly, overaged budoka beating on one another followed by an evening of drinking and being merry.

The next day we all gathered at the northern Pittsburgh Koshin-ha Chito dojo to continue the previous night's onslaught, albeit with a much larger group. Classes led by Gerry Beshears, Peter Giffen, the Sbuscio's, and Tony Hedderman, kyoshi. This excellent group of instructors opened their hearts and minds to share their knowledge gleaned over decades of dedicated training. Yoshukai budo-ka would do well to spend time with any of these fantastic sensei!


Even more special was being a part of Terry Valentino hanshi's promotion to ninth dan in Koshin-ha Chito Ryu. No person is more deserving of this honor than this fine gentleman warrior!

I won't even begin to detail the jokes and laughter shared at the after training party. Rest assured, my ribs hurt as much from laughing as they did from the training. The separation between the two were mere bruises! Beshears sensei is a hot mess, and Mina Ludwig shihan is an amazing intellect with a dark sense of humor that I simply adore. :)

November 2018 brought a long awaited meeting between Gary White sensei and yours truly. We have followed each other on social media for some time, but had yet to meet. That
was remedied when I made the short drive to north Atlanta to train with him, Seth Selke, Chris Nelson kyoshi, and Stephen Labar sensei. White sensei allowed me to take the floor and teach some kata applications then followed with his own interpretations of the kata. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing and learning with this wonderful group of karate-ka!

On December 1st a reunion of sorts was in order at Rachel Camp renshi's beautiful dojo in Albertville, Alabama. Chris Ball kyoshi, Alex Brice kyoshi, Scott Tomlinson kyoshi, Rachel Camp renshi, and myself taught a day long seminar that encompassed lessons in kumite, bunkai/oyo, and bo basics. Although it had been ten plus years since I had seen many of those folks, it was as though we picked up where we left off. We enjoyed one another's teaching, friendship, laughter, and camaraderie only known when you sweat and bleed on a dojo floor. These are truly my budo brothers and sisters!

Lastly, on December 8th, Shintai-ha Yoshukai Karate-do was honored to host Paul Lyle for training and testing. Lyle sensei was scheduled to test for his nidan and flew from wintery Woburn, Massachusetts to enjoy training, bruises, sweat, and different ways of "doing business" in our method of what I refer to as martial violence.

We were happy to have our contingency of black belts on our testing panel, and also welcomed Tim Lewis, shihan to join the fray. For those who don't know, Lewis sensei is a gem in Yoshukai karate-do, and if you have not spent time training with him and getting to know him as a gentleman karate-ka, you are missing out on something special.

Lyle sensei tested and received a lot of feedback, but prevailed to receive his nidan. It was great seeing this gentleman again and introducing him to some of the Yoshukai seniors I have come to revere.

Lastly, we were honored and blessed to award Tim Lewis sensei with his rokudan (6th degree black belt) and renshi license in Yoshukai Karate-do. This humble man choked up for a moment when receiving his new rank and mumbled, "I don't deserve this." Following was a chorus of "no one other than you deserve this honor, sensei." He is a man we all strive to emulate.

Osu!

Yoshukai Kata Application

Jim Davenport, hanshi (Koshin-ha Chito Kai), once told me, "Kata has all the answers. The problem is, we have to know which questions to ask before understanding the answers."

Over the years I have spent a lot of time pondering this statement, and on some level, have come to understand these words. When I was younger, I enjoyed sparring on all levels--point, semi-full contact, and full contact kumite. Each of these activities are steeped in benefits, but all are bound by certain rules and regulations. None of them share common traits when it comes to kata application, insofar as ending a close quarter combative situation.

As we age, we realize "fighting fair" is fighting ignorant. The old men who created our kata did so with particular strategies in mind, and none of them included constraints by which the participants were required to follow. In fact, many of our kata include techniques, in my opinion, that will stop an assailant permanently.

I do not recall an MMA or full contact martial arts sporting even that allowed elbow, knee, wrist, or neck breaks, yet all these things are a part of who and what we do as budo-ka, and more specifically Yoshukai karate-ka. To fail to see those applications, or fail to train them, is to ignore what Dr. Chitose compiled in his own system of karate-do.

Punching, kicking, and blocking are miniscule in comparison to what is available to us as karate-ka in the world of Chito Ryu and Yoshukai. The reality of our art lies within, rather than without. What does that mean? The sporting aspects are outward; they represent those hard aspects of the art that can be applied with reasonably safe outcomes. At the onset of this editorial, I want to make it clear that I am not being condescending about the sporting aspects of the art; on the contrary, I think they play a very clear role in the development of a budding budo-ka.


Beyond the obvious lies the hidden techniques. "Hidden" is an interesting term--it does not necessarily mean "secret." In the realm of kata application, hidden techniques are those that are not obvious to the human eye, and the very essence of the kata as designed by the founder. When a teacher pursues an exploration into the kata of a system, the karate-ka must strive to understand what was intended by the creator of the system, and also have a grasp on the founder's background.

We are entering exciting times in Yoshukai Karate-do. I have seen movement by different members of different splintered organizations getting together to train and share, although there are some stylistic differences. The differences should be embraced along with the similarities; interpretation of kata by one may or may not fit with our own understanding of kata, but those interpretations should not be summarily dismissed.

Periodically, I post my own understanding of oyo (application) after spending time considering training a technique (bunkai). Here are some basic interpretations from a single technique found in our seisan kata. I implore all teachers of Yoshukai to share as well!