REVIEW: The Warrior Fitness Guide to Striking Power

Here in the Northeast U.S. things are starting to turn cold. That means a lot of my physical fitness is going to take place in the dojo or my apartment.

As such, I’m always on the hunt for new and interesting perspectives on ways to enhance physical activity and keep away those winter doldrums. That’s why I was pretty pumped when I got a chance to read The Warrior Fitness Guide to Striking Power, by Jonathan Haas.

The WF Guide promises low tech fitness routines specifically suited for practitioners of striking arts. I definitely fit that target audience.

Found Within the Pages

This ebook is focused on a select few tools that you can utilize to enhance your training. The author spends the first part of the book going over fitness basics and the importance of breathing, posture, and good habit development. He also introduces the reader to a handful of valuable principles and studies on the topic of training routines and method.

For those inclined to get active right away, don’t worry – the author provides the needed information in a brief and easily digestible manner. He seems to know that the focus of the book is on action and moves the pace of the book along nicely.

After the initial exercise theory, the reader is introduced to the following low tech training tools:

• The Sledgehammer
• The Medicine Ball
• Resistance Bands
• Empty Hand Bodyweight

By keeping things very fundamental, the author stays focused on the dynamics of the body and how each exercise closely relates to martial art movement. He shows how to isolate the muscles and rotational components that are often used in striking techniques, along with means of strengthening posture and impact transmission.

My Impressions

I consider this book a timely and valuable addition to my information library. In a style like karate, striking power and speed are always high on the priority list. Furthermore, the methods described by the author keep the same spirit as Hojo Undo in classical karate, practiced for generations and made a mainstay in many karate styles.

Western practitioners don’t have easy access to chiishi and kongo ken, but they can easily obtain the items used by Haas.

Another positive aspect of the book is the images. Although I would certainly enjoy video or extensive image series of each exercise in order to ensure proper technique, the images provided are clear and of good quality.

At 53 pages, this book is a manageable size and could even be printed for travel and dojo use.

Final Thoughts

I’m not a fitness buff, but I am a fitness enthusiast and am always on the prowl for ways to improve my art. As such, I feel like this book’s tone and content was right for me. If you’re in a similar boat it might be right for you as well.

Click here to find out more about the book.

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My Thoughts on Yelling Kata

Of the many formalities that come along with traditional martial arts, shouting kata names has to be one of the most noticeable.

The actual execution of the kata announcement varies wildly, from calm utterances to screams that cause nearby glass to shatter. Interestingly, the act of yelling a kata name is extremely old and almost universally practiced among traditionalists.

Lately I’ve been doing it less and less. I’d like to share some thoughts on when I think it’s appropriate, and when you might be able to forego it.

When To Shout It Out

There are a few realities in modern training that make kata announcement necessary. The first, and most obvious, is tournament play.

Judges can’t possibly know what form competitors will be attempting, so it’s prudent to give them a heads up. Of course, judges of different styles many never have heard of the form anyway, and even if they have their style might perform it differently. Nevertheless, it seems like fair courtesy to inform them.

But if you walk up to the judges and tell them the name of the kata, do you need to yell it again right before you start? By informing them of your name/style/kata, didn’t you negate the need for the big name-scream-dramatics?

I’ve always found the polite, informative introduction to be more prudent.

Another time kata yelling seems appropriate is in a big group setting. A teacher has to keep all pupils on the same page. When a student is first learning a kata, it is quite helpful to repeat the name in context over and over again. This repetition helps learn proper pronunciation as well as mental association of the name with the movements.

When I’m teaching, I’ll generally announce the kata and wait a moment for the students to repeat. We’ll all then begin together.

Declaring the kata name puts everyone’s focus on the kata. I can use the tone of my voice to indicate what level of intensity students should be expending. If I say the kata softly and calmly, they can infer that our intent is to go slowly and discuss things. If I say the kata forcefully, they will know that a high level of power is expected.

By saying the name of the kata, I can also transition from one form to the next without an extended explanation. In a dojo environment where there are multiple students, this seems like a reasonable practice.

Foregoing the Shout

When I train alone or via the older Okinawan methods of ‘independent togetherness’ I rarely announce kata because the intent and focus is much different.

When training a kata for depth, a severe amount of visualization must occur. The mind becomes like a taut string. Intensity has to be carefully balanced with control and purpose. This mixture of emotional content and physical expression is directed at the imaginary yet vivid opponent in front of you.

Shouting the name of kata in that environment is awkward and rips you from the moment, reminding you that you are practicing a form. If there were an opponent in front of you, you certainly would not begin your life protection by yelling kata at him/her.

You might argue that yelling the kata gets you amped up or puts you in the right frame of mind for combat, but I don’t think that is a good habit to rely upon. “Flipping the switch” into a mental state of readiness should occur quickly and silently; a subtle shift that causes the hair on the back of your opponent’s neck to stand on end.

There is also a bit of ego and showmanship that can slip in with kata yelling. It’s a moment that can be used to draw attention to oneself, even in a group setting. Therefore a student may become obsessed with yelling louder than anyone else. During individual performance, they could be worried about how tough and intimidating they want their shout to sound.

It’s all distracting, peripheral stuff that doesn’t relate to good performance of kata.

How to Shout

To me, the best kata announcement is serious but not obnoxious. Whenever I have someone screaming kata at me it makes me doubt their focus. Screaming is a result of uncontrolled anger and intensity. These aren’t the makings of a skilled martial artist.

On the other hand, meekness or lackadaisical tone gives me a clue that the practitioner is not yet in the right state of mind. What are they waiting for? I feel like the focus should be activated well before the kata name is spoken.

Final Thoughts

You won’t catch me lecturing people away from saying kata names before performance if they want to do it. In fact, I do it myself in certain situations. But at times it feels like it goes against the true nature and culture of Okinawan karate (my personal background). As such, I’ll be voicing my kata less and less….

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What is Karate? (An Overview of the Okinawan Art)

The word karate (kah-rah-tay) has become ingrained in our western culture. One simple Google search will reveal a vast amount of movies, books, and “dojos” all based around this foreign art.

Unfortunately it can be very tricky understanding what karate actually is. Hollywood is no help. They’ll do whatever turns a profit, even if it means taking a movie like “The Karate Kid” and making it about Kung Fu.

This article is here to provide important highlights that will help you understand karate, where it came from, and what it looks like in the modern world. Don’t worry – this won’t be boring. In fact, the real story of karate is better than any Hollywood flick I’ve seen to date.

The Misty Past

Our story begins long ago on a tiny island off the coast of Japan. It was known as the Ryukyus, now called Okinawa. The native inhabitants of Okinawa were an industrious people, laboring for generations in the arts of farming, fishing, and trade. Over time their island became a popular port thanks to their fortuitous geographic location, placed amongst larger Oriental powers. For almost as long as history can record, traders from countries like China and Taiwan have visited these welcoming shores.

The Okinawans, or Uchinajin in their native Hogen language, lived with all the ups and downs of ancient civilization.  Their troubles included (but were not limited to) invasions by marauders, pirates, and thieves, as well as territorial conflict between island factions. The Okinawan soldiers of the time compiled a method of combat to better kill enemies. It was known simply as Ti, “hand”, and was hard, aggressive, and effective.

The Three Kingdoms

Like most ancient civilizations, Okinawa developed as a series of provinces, each ruled by a lord (anji). By about the 14th century, Okinawa had whittled itself down to three main territories: the Hokuzan (northern), Chuzan (middle), and Nanzan (southern). Around 1429 one particularly ambitious lord named Sho Hashi of Chuzan decided it was time to bring everything under one roof.

Sho Hashi made aggressive and swift raids against his neighbor to the north, whom he saw as a potent military threat. Upon seizing the capital of Hokuzan and annexing their land, he turned his attentions to Nanzan and conquered it as well.

Throughout this entire process, Sho Hashi injected more and more Chinese culture into his territories. Naturally the Chinese emissaries approved of this, and the relationship between China and Okinawa grew with Sho Hashi’s successes.

By this time, The Ming Dynasty (China) had asserted dominance over trade in the area and had brought Okinawa under it’s umbrella as a tributary nation. Due to this, travel between the two countries increased heavily in order to trade, pay tribute, and share knowledge.

Chinese and Other Outside Influences

Thanks to the territorial unification and geography of Okinawa, a wide assortment of emissaries, bodyguards, and soldiers made their way to the island from countries like China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Some of these visitors brought great martial knowledge from their respective cultures and shared it with the higher class Okinawan Gentry and bodyguards (known as Shizoku and Pechin).

These influences slowly combined with the indigenous art of Ti, especially as China became more and more dominant in the operations of Okinawa’s trade routes. Eventually, the predominant self defense art of Okinawa became known as Kara Ti, or “China Hand”. It was at this time that karate began to exude some of it’s sophisticated philosophies along with soft, circular techniques. In addition, since the Shizoku and Pechin of Okinawa had less territorial struggles to deal with, they could spend more time in the thoughtful study of their fighting “arts” while integrating new sources of knowledge.

The result was a method of self defense that was hard and soft, simple yet in-depth, and utterly devastating.

Weapons Ban – A Great Idea!

Around 1477 the second Sho Dynasty was in full swing and lord Sho Shin was beginning to flex his political powers. Sho Shin was a skilled ruler and economist; in fact, his reign is often referred to as “the Great Days of Chuzan”.

Sho Shin was also a crafty politician. He knew the territorial nature of Okinawa, and decided to bring the provincial rulers (anji) into a more centralized government. He forced the anji to live in the city of Shuri, making it much easier for him to watch them and more difficult for them to form insurrections in their homelands.

Sho Shin took things one step further. He decreed that all of the wartime weapons (swords, spears, bow and arrow) from the provincial soldiers were to be stored in Shuri and kept for governmental use. This was, effectively, a weapons ban on anyone who wasn’t in the central government’s armed forces.

Up until this point most of karate and kobudo (the unique farm tool style implements of Okinawa) had been the property of privileged Shizoku and Pechin who had access to Ti and Chinese envoys. Now the art was beginning to disseminate into the masses who needed more inventive ways to protect themselves.

Weapons Ban – A Terrible Idea.

Sho Shin’s policies stayed in place even after his death. In fact, the weapons ban was still active when the Shimazu Clan of Satsuma, Japan invaded the island in 1609.

The Okinawans had an armed central government, but compared to the lethal invasion force of the battle hardened Satsuma, it simply wasn’t enough.

The Satsuma swiftly conquered Okinawa and declared it a province under Japanese rule. They analyzed the weapons ban put in place by Sho Shin and decided to reinforce it. Now it was the Japanese who were armed on the island with only a very small peace keeping force remaining of the once strong Okinawan military.

The Okinawans had a whole new set of problems to deal with, including ronin (rogue Samurai), heavy handed Japanese enforcers, and entitled Japanese lords who had their way with Okinawan land and people. In these times karate became a rare and priceless tool of defense.

The Okinawans knew that if the Japanese learned too much about karate, they would instinctively seek to snuff it out. Therefore, the Okinawans made a strong effort to hide their vicious means of life protection. Karate and kobudo became hidden in dance, farming chores, and night time meetings among masters.

A Tough and Winding Road

It was tough sledding after the Japanese invasion. For awhile relationships were not particularly friendly (as you might imagine). Karate and kobudo continued to be passed along among pockets of Okinawans. They would collaborate as much as possible to share and improve knowledge, but it wasn’t always easy.

In fact, the lockdown on gossip about karate was so tight that very few records exist about specific karate masters until around 1733 when Satunushi “Tode” Sakagawa came onto the scene.

Sakagawa was allegedly the student of an Okinawan named Peichin Takahara. It’s believed that Sakagawa combined his study of Ti with Chinese martial arts, received from an individual named Kusanku. He passed on these learnings to one of the most famous Karate practitioners of all time – Sokon “Bushi” Matsumura.

After Matsumura, records surface of other practitioners with their own unique stories and influences. In fact, three general “styles” of karate develop, known as Shuri-Te, Naha-Te, and Tomari-Te (all based on the cities they developed around).

The Spread of Karate to Japan

Just like any good secret, the word about karate eventually got out. The Japanese ultimately witnessed a few small demonstrations of this “indigenous Okinawan art”, but it wasn’t until wartime that karate became something worth talking about.

During the Sino-Japanese war the Okinawans were forced to enlist and fight alongside the Japanese. It wasn’t a smooth relationship (The Japanese thought of the Okinawans as rather backwater, and often had difficulty understanding their language of Hogen). Nevertheless, the Okinawans proved fit and capable soldiers with tactics enhanced by their study of karate.

In time the Japanese emperor decided it might benefit wartime efforts if young Okinawans all learned karate and became fit soldiers.

Of course, karate was a highly complex fighting system with Okinawan culture heavily ingrained in it’s practice. The Japanese overseers thus decided it would be best if karate was simplified and regimented, with more nationalistic overtones for the good of Japan.

An individual named Itosu Anko, student of Bushi Matsumura, was placed in charge of this effort. He headed up the introduction of karate to schools in Okinawa. One of his students, a school teacher named Gichin Funakoshi, began introducing this new version of karate to universities in Japan. Due to the tumultuous relationship between China and Japan at the time, Funakoshi used a homonym of karate (same pronunciation, different meaning) which meant “empty hand” instead of “China hand”. This interpretation of the word karate, first referenced in a book by Hanashiro Chomo entitled ” Karate Shoshu Hen”, has stuck ever since.

The Spread of Karate to the World

The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II, and the Okinawans bore a large brunt of it. In fact, more Okinawans died during that 82 day maelstrom than Japanese did during the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

After the Americans defeated the Japanese and took control of the islands, the soldiers stationed there naturally began interacting with the native inhabitants. In time they learned about the culture, food, and lifestyle of the Okinawans, including a peculiar self defense method known as karate.

During their tours of duty after World War II and through Vietnam Era, many of the soldiers studied diligently with the Okinawan masters. In addition, non-military travelers from the U.S. and other countries began taking advantage of the new western occupation and arranged for extended visits. From that period of early 1950s and onward, karate began it’s steady climb toward globalization.

The Diversification of Styles

After World War II, many different styles of karate began to develop. There were two major factors for this happening:

1. During the early spread of karate to Japan and other areas, karate instructors needed a label for their art in order for it to be recognized by governing bodies. Thus, many of the senior practitioners chose a specific name for their brand of karate. Goju Ryu, Shorin Ryu, Shotokan, etc were born.

2. During and after the Battle of Okinawa many of the old masters died. This left a void in how the arts were passed down from generation to generation. Many of the senior students, now left masterless, had to decide how to proceed and keep the arts alive. New styles and branches of existing styles developed as students attempted to decide the best way to proceed.

Nowadays many styles are born for marketing purposes, or because practitioners never received a full art and instead pieced together bits from various different arts. Sometimes new styles are created out of necessity, but often they are created for profit and personal gratification.

What You Find In the Strip Mall

If you’re looking to get involved with karate you have a tough decision to make. As elaborate and in-depth as this history of karate has been, it is only a brief overview of all the factors and key players that have gone into the development of karate as we see it today.

In America, every small town has a handful of schools and “masters”. Some are likely to have real credentials, while many do not. Some karate isn’t even karate; it’s taekwondo that has experienced a name change for marketability.

Much of what the original Okinawans developed has been sifted out, first during the spread of the art in schools and universities, and second as business people watered down the art for commercial gain.

Nevertheless, if you do the research and look hard enough, you can still find outstanding practitioners of karate that have devoted their lives to the propagation of the life protection arts, founded centuries ago to preserve a very unique island nation.

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