Karate for a productive life

 

 The way of Karate

The story goes on to say that the roots of Karate started in India and moved its way down to Okinawa with the trail of Buddhism. Karate developed to the present systematized form in the 17th century in Okinawa.  After Okinawa was annexed to Japan and carrying weapons was banned, Okinawan warriors secretly assembled in Buddhist temples to study their own body and mind through meditation and physical exercises. What resulted through a long process of perfection was an art that is now shared by the entire world for its benefits in daily life. To fully understand Karate, one has to understand traditional Japanese culture. In this short blog, I will try to elaborate some karate concepts through some traditional Japanese ways of life based on my 5 year experience as a graduate student. Please take what you like to improve your life just like we took this tradition from Japan and made it part of our lives.

 

The Okinawan warriors who developed the art of Karate discovered that certain exercises could sharpen and strengthen our own body parts to function like weapons. For instance, “shuto-uchi” refers to knifehand strike. These warriors also closely observed how animals stand (“ashi dachi”) during combat. For instance, “neko ashi dachi” means how a cat would stand when it is about to strike an opponent. It releases the weight off one leg that is prepared for a fast kick while loading the other leg with bent knees either to spring forward or to stabilise the body during strike. 

They studied the biomechanics very closely and realised how the effectiveness of a punch or kick can be maximised through careful control of shape, stiffness, and speed without injuring the one who delivers it. In every Karate punch and kick, the body remains as relaxed as possible right up to the point of contact. The fully stretched hand or leg then goes through maximum acceleration just before contact with stiffening, and then bounces back as fast as possible. The strongest joints like the hip joint is key to provide the acceleration. Therefore, perfect coordination of the entire body is required for effective Karate. This is called “katachi (form and spirit)”. Therefore, a student would train themselves to perform a series of fixed patterns of physical movements called "kata" in the karate syllabus.

Just like pioneers of Karate perfected the art through self reflection, observation, inspiration from the way animals fight, karate is a mentality for self study. A “Karateka” is someone who practices and reflects on the art of Karate. They aspire to be free from fear, anger, hatred, and ill-will while being efficient during combat. These ideals are written in the word Karate itself. In Japanese “Kara” means empty, and “te” means hand. The term “empty handed” has a broader meaning of facing adversity free from impurities in the heart. It needs years and years of physical and mental training. A claim that I am this or that is not important. 

 

Training

A traditional karate dojo is usually an empty room with “tatami” or wooden floor. It is not just a physical room to practice karate, but also a community of very positive minded people who learn and help each other to challenge their physical and mental limits. A karate dojo is full of positive spirit. One has to get into a dojo environment and test how the body and mind respond during physical exercise, kata (forms of movement), and combat (kumite). In UK, we usually use gymnasiums as makeshift dojos. The colleagues I meet in the dojos in UK are the most positive spirited people other than my close colleagues in the robotics research community. Seniors take care of juniors and take pride in their development. Sharing skills, encouragement, observation and feedback, challenging peers to push their limits, and acknowledgement of mistakes with a will to improve are all part of this positive spirit.

 

Training continues outside the dojo

Karate demands endurance. Therefore, if you are a karate student, it is very important that you adapt your lifestyle to take care of yourself. I run about 15 km every week in the Richmond Park near where I live. I like it because my running track goes through nice greenery and ends at Pen Ponds with swans and ducks. Being close to nature has magical healing effects. It refreshes the mind and uplifts spirits if you observe how nature responds to challenges. Even simple things like how soft branches of a tree would bend and let the wind go through than resisting and breaking carries a lesson. How a duck mom would defend her offspring or how she would teach skills to find food carry valuable lessons. 

 

 

In the winter the park closes early. So, I do a 10 km run on each Saturday morning before practicing 2 hours in the dojo in the evening. In the summer, since the park is open till 10pm, I do three 5 km runs on alternative days, and on other days, I practice kicking on a kick bag continuously for about 40 mins. I pick a track that has sufficient elevation gain to train myslef to go through rapid loss of energy such as in a kumite. This is a great way to train the mind to stay focused on a step at a time.

Physical combat

Combat (kumite) training first involves training some reflexes in a known series of attacks, receiving an attack, and counter attacks. Go-Yon kumite is one example. It involves five kicks (In Japanese "go" is five), and four punches (in Japanese "yon" us four). In Go-Yon kumite, the defender doesn't even block the attack, but just dodges it. This is a skill we aspire to develop. In English we use the term "blocking" to stop an attack. But the original Japanese term is "Uke" in short to refer to "Ukeru" (receiving). Through training, we try to learn how to let the power of a kick or punch go through than to block it. This has parallels in the Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang too. It refers to meeting power with softness like how grass bends in the wind. Often stiff branches break in the wind, but soft branches just wave and survive in strong wind.

Grades of skills

Karate has belts to show training levels. The tradition says that you have just one belt for life. The only thing a Karate student would not wash is the belt. The color of the belt is a testament of your hard work. A student starts with a White belt. Over time, it becomes Red, Yellowish, Brown, and finally Black. Therefore, a Black belt means one has gone through a long process of training. However, modern Karate traditions have distinct belts.

The Karate mentality in daily life and work

In my experience Karate training makes us calmer people with focus, attitude of cooperation, will to help, empower other people, and with a warrior attitude towards challenges. When I say warrior attitude, it is about respecting the challenge for its depth and complexity, continuous assessment, and working on it with caution than destroying one's confidence by taking challenges in the worng way. A true warrior would advance when it is right and withdraw and re-think when needed. There is no shame in withdrawing or re-routing because you always keep respect for the challenge as it stands. You would see in a kumite that we often move to the side, go round the opponent to find an opportunity to attack, and never hesitate to jump back when close proximity is no longer needed.

With training, it becomes harder and harder for the external events to make us angry, fearful, or hateful. It trains us to stretch capabilities as much as we can. It certainly helps to be productive at work. I don't know how others see me at work, but if they see me as a helpful person with things to share and uplift group spirit, I consider myself a successful Karate student. Trained Karate students never initiate aggression. To my knowledge, I have not heard of a trained Karateka becoming a criminal. It has to be rare, because a Karateka will never want anything they don't deserve. They believe in hard earned things just like their own belt. 

 

There is a myth in the society that one has to start Karate when you are young. In fact, you can start whenever you want. In our dojo there are people who started Karate in their 40s or 50s and continue to train in their 60s and 70s. Remember, Karate is an attitude. The traditional Japanese culture itself is one that challenges age. When I was a graduate student in Japan, a colleague told me that Japanese people look at life like a Sakura flower. Even a fallen Sakura flower is fresh: "Live like a Sakura Flower. Be fresh in mind till you die". Therefore, do not hesitate to join a nearby dojo no matter what your age is. The dojo community will welcome you and help you to improve in your own way. Experienced teachers know this art of training students of any age and gender.

 

A fallen Sakura Flower, Courtesy: Muza Chan's Gate to Japan: https://muza-chan.net/japan/index.php/blog/fallen-sakura-flower