• Kihon –   Basic blocks, punches, kicks and stances
• Kata –     Prearranged forms simulating combat situations
• Kumite – Sparring

In each category the beginner is given instruction at the most basic level until the technique becomes spontaneous to him.

As the Student progresses technically, he progresses physically and his practice demands greater stamina. At this stage he involves himself with more intricate and difficult katas and more dynamic forms of kumite.

As the student approaches black belt level, technique, stamina, speed and coordination become natural to him as a result of strong practice. Is is at this stage that the serious student discovers that he has only begun his study of karate. The object of true karate practice is perfection of oneself through the perfection of the art.

Notes on Practice

There are some other aspects of practice that are not directly tied to katas, kihon or kumite, but they are very important for making a sincere practice in a good atmosphere.  The most important point is that no matter where we are or what we are doing, when we practice, we try to express our best.

Our understanding of karate comes when we make many strong practices and special trainings.  We need to practice until our techniques come out naturally in front of opponents without conscious thought.   Then we know that we really understand them.  Everyone is capable of reaching this strong mentality.  One big step is to focus your mind on practice every minute that you are training.  Eliminate all of your thoughts and concentrate on just your practice.  Look at your mind honestly and strictly all of the time.

Master Funakoshi said, "Do not think that karate is only in the dojo."  Every day we have the opportunity to face ourselves very strictly.  And even though we are disappointed with ourselves most of the time, because we don't improve very quickly and always seem to be back to the original level, we still don't give up.  Even when we face ourselves very strictly, sometimes we feel that we are weak and stupid and everything seems hopeless.  Then we have to apply all of our training, naturally and strongly to go through this critical time.  That's why we practice.

* Reference Notes on Training - Mr. Ohshima.

Notes on Kihon

Kihon is the practice of basic techniques, one technique at a time or maybe, a combination of two or three techniques.  It is important, whenever we experience confusion about sophisticated practice, to go back to the practice of basics, for it is in basics that we find each clear answers.  No matter what level you reach, you should go back to the basics from time to time.

There are three important points in basics:

• Eyes showing a strong mental attitude

• Strong Stance

• Pulling Hand

First is mental attitude.  There is a strong connection between our mental attitude and our eyes, so always keep your eyes open and level.  Don't look down or blink or turn your head all of the time.  When you are practicing with other people, especially if you are a senior, don't give the wrong impression and create bad habits by looking down to check your feet or your pulling hand.   These are things that you can check when you practice by yourself.  When you are with juniors, always emphasize keeping strong eyes.

Second, you have to make a strong stance.   No matter whether you are blocking or attacking, or whether you are making oizuki or gyakuzuki, the important thing is simultaneous dynamic hip movements.  The strongest stances emphasize the rear foot on the ground connected to the hips with a strong back leg.

Third, when you execute a block or attack, you must make a proper pulling hand (hikite) with the hand just above the hip bone.  This is important because it develops both sides of the body.  Usually, people stand mainly with the front leg, and the rear leg is weak.  Or they execute their favorite technique with one side but the other side is asleep.  Therefore, we always make proper coordination with the pulling hand to remind ourselves that both sides of the body need to work together.  If you understand these elements, your techniques will start to be effective because your mind and body movements become one.

* Reference Notes on Training - Mr. Ohshima.

Notes on Kata

Katas, also called forms, are sets of twenty to sixty or so continuous techniques which represent combat against a set of opponents.  These katas were created by the masters and geniuses in the past to transmit their ideas and understanding to later generations.  Katas hold crystals of knowledge which are passed down from senior to junior.  Even if someone makes some mistakes in transmitting a kata, it still retains some of its feeling from the person who created it....

...Katas were originally the only method of practicing in karate.  Later we divided katas into basic techniques, to improve each stance, each movement of our hips, each block and attack, or to learn how to kick with a strong standing leg and so forth.  Later we wanted to apply katas with partners to prepare for real combat, so we invented kumite.  But all our basics, all our kumite, everything comes from kata....

...Kata is realistic combat formalized into exact lines so that we can repeat the same motions over and over.  We should have strict and strong eyes to look at ourselves.  What kind of stance are we making?  What kind of back foot are we making?  If an opponent sweeps our front leg, how do we continue to fight? And when we block, is it realistic against against the opponents particular attacking techniques?  when we execute a technique, is it the strongest, best kime (focused energy) we can make or not?  Even as we do the kata over and over, always in the deep parts of our mind we are seeing realistic situations and realistic combat.

Notes on Kumite

Kumite is sparring, fighting against an opponent.  In Japanese kumite means cross arms, so it means we train each other.  That is an important element to realize, we don't make a sparring practice just for ourselves.  We do it to learn from each other.

This respectful mentality is first.  In kumite, we start with rei and end with rei.  We bow to show our respect for our opponent before and after each match.  At the beginning of each match, to make it clear why we are sparring, we ask our opponent to please teach us.   At the end we thank our opponent for the match.  this is our practice.   Sincerely, we show our respect for our opponents and make our honest sparring.   This mental preparation must be made before you face each opponent.

Because we have this mentality, there are two important elements in our kumite practice.  The first element is to keep as much of a realistic feeling and sense as we can so we can learn to face real attacks.  The second element is to avoid damaging each other in practice so we can continue to practice long enough to learn.  Although these two elements may seem contradictory, we still have to keep them both in mind whenever we make kumite.

There are several things that we do to make a realistic feeling.  From the moment when we bow to our opponent, we don't show our teeth - that is a Japanese saying which means that we don't smile and we don't laugh when we face each other.  Both sides keep a serious attitude.   Someone with serious eyes is coming with an attack.  You've got to keep serious eyes and make a strong counterattack.  If someone is being silly or hoping for a weak attack, there is a much greater danger of someone getting hurt. The worst case is when one opponent is serious and the other is not.  The best matches come when both opponents respect each other.  Then the attacker can make powerful, realistic attacks and the defender can block or avoid the attack and make realistic counter attacks.

In many of our sparring practices, such as sanbon gumite, we declare that exactly which attacks we are going to use.  When the opponent known the attacks, we can make them as strong as possible and as quick as possible with solid basic stances.  With this basic practice we can avoid accidents and still practice strongly.  Think about your own practice and how much more you wake up when you face someone who is making his attacks for real.

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