KishimotoDi has a total of four kata; Naihanchi, Nidanbu, Passai, and Kusanku. The foundation of the system is Naihanchi, which is not unusual for karate that comes from Shuri-Te/SuiDi. All of the other kata build on the material and methods in Naihanchi, so unless you get good at Naihanchi and its applications, the other kata won’t make sense. I find […]
Higa Seitoku KishimotoDi is the name given by students at the Bugeikan to the system of Shuri-Te (Sui-Di, in the Okinawan dialect) that was passed down from Tode Sakugawa by Bushi Tachimura, who taught it to Kishimoto Soko, who taught it to Higa Seitoku, the founder of the Bugeikan. Although it shares a common ancestor with the systems we now […]
Lifetime karateka Nakazato Shugoro (left) and Nakazato Minoru (right) Serious martial artists, who dedicate their lives to developing their skills and knowledge, have a tendency to criticize those who train as a hobby, or just for fun. I will admit that I have actually done this, myself! We are so passionate about our training, and our beliefs about that training, […]
Last week, a Kyokushin karateka friend of mine mentioned learning a new takedown, and after reading her description, I thought it sounded rather similar to a throw that we work as an application for the morote-tsuki (double punch) in Naihanchi Shodan. As it turned out, she was talking about the “wedge throw” that is very popular in Shotokan–UFC fighter, Lyoto […]
The word “udundi” means “palace hand,” and is used to refer to the martial arts of Okinawan nobility. Today, these arts are really only seen in Seikichi Uehara Sensei’s Motobu-Ryu Udundi, which you can see demonstrated in the video, above. As you can see, the techniques are very light and dance-like, relying heavily on Aikido-esque redirection and joint locks. Indeed, […]
For those who don’t know, Sarah Mayer was the first non-Japanese woman to earn the rank of Shodan (first degree black belt) in judo, which she did in 1935 after less than a year of training. She is a very interesting and important figure in martial arts history, but most martial artists (judoka included) don’t know anything about her. I […]
Sonja Power Last week, an online friend of mine shared this article about Sonja Power, a girl who felt degraded by the treatment she was given by her Aikido sensei at the behest of a new student, because he was strictly adhering to his religion. I was a bit dumbfounded by the article, to be perfectly honest, and I shared […]
The bruises left by the #1 attack against women–a grab to the upper arm According to UK crime statistics, the most common attack that women reported being the victim of was a right-handed grab to the right upper arm, which was used to try to control them and drag them to another location. From talking with women who have been […]
This past Saturday, the UFC held their 168th pay-per-view event, and it was a very good one! While there were many spectacular moments, there were two that stood out when all was said and done–Ronda Rousey’s rematch with Miesha Tate, and Anderson Silva’s rematch with Chris Weidman. The Rousey-Tate fight was exciting, with fiery exchanges of strikes, slick grappling, and […]
During Sensei Bethea’s most recent visit to our dojo, I had a chance to sit down with him for a bit and ask him some questions. It’s taken me quite a while to get the interview video edited and uploaded, and I forgot to zoom the camera in before we started, but I don’t think it turned out too bad. […]
I did some video recording last Saturday, and finally got a few clips edited and uploaded to share. The first is an application for the one-legged turn (a jump, in some styles) in Kusanku/Kanku. The technique is a throw found in Okinawa Shima (a grappling sport in Okinawa that descended from tegumi) and Sambo. This video simply shows the throw […]
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