Self-Perfection vs. Self-Protection
From Martial Arts to Martial Sport In many dojos, karate has shifted from a martial art focused on self-defense to a discipline centered on personal growth. Students are often encouraged …
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Tag: Bunkai
Application of Kata techniques
Kata was created to function in a perfect fight situation. Everything is predetermined. When we are attacked in a certain way, then we use a certain series of defensive techniques …
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Hidden techniques in Kata
Some instructors claim that Kata harbors hidden techniques, asserting that these were concealed during Karate’s integration into the Okinawan school system to prevent potentially dangerous injuries. The notion was that …
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Interpretation of techniques (short version)
Most practitioners of Karate do not pay much attention to the whole technique. I think that is a fundamental mistake. Let us take Gedan-barai as an example; in most cases, …
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Three levels of bunkai
Bunkai means “to break down”, and thus describes the whole process that lies in breaking down and understanding the application of the techniques in a Kata; we simply peel a …
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