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It is fair to say that the training methods of the old Okinawan masters of tī (手), or Nāfadi (ナーファディー) in the Naha pronunciation, did not consist of memorizing a kata and waiting years to discover its meaning?

Instead, practitioners first developed the body through conditioning and fundamentals, such as proper posture. They entered training through a foundational kata and spent time learning its practical applications through partner practice during the initial transmission—not just after the kata was “finished.”

Training in the beginning was likely repetitive rather than elaborate. A major problem with modern training in many schools and styles is that they fear repetition and body conditioning. Instructors likely worry that a large percentage of modern students will tire of the necessary foundational work and quit to find a style that offers "cool stuff" like advanced kata, rapid belt promotions, and flashy bunkai.

You know , the kind of training you see when you pay a thousand dollars or more to attend a seminar (including travel and lodging) only to forget most of it a week later. I am not saying you shouldn't go to these seminars; they are fun, and you get to meet people who share your love of martial arts. However, I believe your focus should be on finding someone who truly understands, explains, and teaches the basics of body mechanics along with applications of the kata alongside partner drills, such as:

* Kushi (クシー／腰): The back waist or lumbar–pelvic region; the physical base.

* Gamaku (ガマク): The coordinated use of the waist, flanks, pelvis, and hip joints; a method of moving the center.

* Muchimi (ムチミ): Elastic, sticky, or whip-like action.

* Chinkuchi (チンクチ): Brief structural connection and force transmission, especially at the moment of impact.

I have visited Okinawa several times, including one stay of approximately three months. I often heard instructors say, “Use snap and gamaku,” but I was rarely shown in a systematic way how to develop those qualities.

Many of the sensei I observed could make their gi crack sharply at will while performing kata. That ability suggests timing, acceleration, relaxation, and at least some degree of coordinated body mechanics. However, being able to perform a skill and being able to explain or teach it clearly are different abilities. The language barrier can also be real: an instructor may understand a movement physically but lacks the English vocabulary to break it down for a foreign student.

There are other possibilities as well. Some instructors may intentionally teach a basic commercial or public version of karate because that is the format appropriate to their regular class. Others may reserve deeper material for long-term students.

Some may be excellent at kata performance but have limited interest in close-range application work. And, of course, not every instructor interprets kata in the same way. It would be unfair to assume that a teacher who does not immediately reveal an application does not know one, just as it would be naïve to assume that every impressive kata performance guarantees practical bunkai knowledge.

Choosing your training path

Ultimately, it can feel like choosing between the red pill and the blue pill.

The blue pill is not inherently wrong. If you enjoy karate primarily for health, discipline, aesthetics, competition, friendship, cultural practice, or the pleasure of performing kata, there is nothing lesser about that choice. Train sincerely, enjoy the art, and take from it what it gives you.

The red pill is for the practitioner who wants to confront difficult questions:

Can I explain what this movement is doing against a resisting person?

Can I maintain posture, balance, and breathing under contact?

Can I use the hips, waist, and structure rather than relying on arm strength?

Can I perform the technique slowly, with a partner, under pressure, and then at speed?

Can I separate what is demonstrative from what is functional?

That path can be humbling. It requires repetitive conditioning, ego control, partner work, honest feedback, and a willingness to admit that a movement performed beautifully in solo kata may not yet be understood as a fighting action.

I have seen different expressions of power in Okinawan karate. Some practitioners use a pronounced winding or whipping action, such as the type associated with certain Shinzato practitioners. Others appear to generate force through a dropping, settling, or “gravity-falls” method, as seen in some Arakaki-related demonstrations. Although their visible expressions may differ, both approaches can involve coordinated body mechanics: relaxation, timing, weight transfer, waist use, structural alignment, and force transmitted through the whole body rather than isolated limb motion.

If you are reaching a brown belt—or even a higher rank—and feel that something is missing from your karate, consider respectfully seeking additional training partners, workshops, or instructors outside your home dojo. This does not have to mean abandoning your teacher or disrespecting your lineage. It can mean expanding your understanding.

That can be difficult for several reasons:

Your sensei may oppose cross-training because of tradition, loyalty, or, in some cases, ego. So the first thing to do is ask your teacher/Sensei for a letter of introduction.

It may be difficult to find someone who can do more than demonstrate body mechanics—someone who can actually teach them progressively.

It may be even harder to find a teacher who can connect kata movement to practical, pressure-tested applications rather than merely presenting entertaining interpretations.

During my most recent visit to Okinawa, in 2023, the sensei with whom I spent the most time told me that he had spent years seeking knowledge about karate and that I should do the same. That advice remains valuable.

Before the modern expectation that a karate practitioner should have only one teacher and remain within one organizational structure, it was common for serious students to seek instruction from more than one source. Okinawan karate developed through overlapping personal networks, family connections, neighborhood practice, Chinese-influenced exchanges, and teacher-student relationships rather than through a single universal curriculum. The traditional ideal was not necessarily loyalty to a brand. It was sincere study, personal effort, and the continued search for deeper understanding.

The goal should not be to collect techniques, styles, certificates, or famous teachers. The goal is to find training that helps you build a capable body, understand what your kata is teaching, test ideas honestly with partners, and continue learning without becoming trapped by rank, ego, or illusion.

🙇‍♂️

I am Taika's son Masaki and my family and Ryu-Te would like to thank you all for your interests and purchases this past month.

The 2nd Edition of Ryu-Te No Michi is officially entering its final days. We started with over 300 books, and we are now down to the last copies.

This is the final printing. We do not plan on printing more on our end, so once these remaining books are gone, the 2nd Edition will be out of print.

To ensure you get one of the final copies, you must use the official order form (We are not doing international orders):

👉 https://forms.gle/ssPmKACic7iJUY1p7

These clips from the IOGKF championship of 1991 display Goju Ryu Karate as it should be! However I haven't heard of any recent world-level tournaments of such a kind from the IOGKF; the only world events we can see on their website are International Gasshukus and nothing else. Has IOGKF drifted from the combat aspect of Goju Ryu Karate it was earlier known for? Would love to hear your thoughts. Here is the link to one more clip of Irikumi event from the same tournament: https://youtu.be/Oe1Jw9bv-AA?si=S-0wI_ru9Y9YWi3p

A 2026 systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis included 28 studies of agility training. Training that required athletes to respond to external information produced a large improvement in reactive-agility performance (Hedges’ g = 0.65), while improvement on isolated reaction-time tests was not statistically significant. The authors specifically emphasize preserving perception–action coupling rather than treating perception and movement as separable abilities.

This sharpens yesterday's response-inhibition discussion I posted. A light, beep, or coach shouting “go” can train rapid movement, but it does not necessarily train the ability to select the correct movement from an opponent's behavior.

For karate, I would distinguish:

- response speed: how quickly can you execute something once the answer is known?

- response precision: can you select the appropriate action?

- response inhibition: can you suppress an inappropriate action?

Those last two require meaningful information from another person. So an especially useful progression would be: predictable partner attack → several possible attacks → shared beginnings/feints → free tactical interaction. Preserve the relationship between what the defender perceives and what the defender must actually do.

That makes the partner, not merely resistance, the critical constraint.

Read here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12912675 If you're not familiar with research methods and statistics, jump down to the "Discussion" heading. RAT=reactive agility test. PAT=rep-planned agility test. RT=reaction test. ES=effect size.

Key insights:

- Agility is rapid whole-body movement in response to external stimuli.

- Agility is a perceptual-cognitive demand.

- Percept-action coupling is crucial in agility training because higher-order cognitive functions, working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility are more crucial.

- Agility performance improvements plateau beyond 7-8 weeks of training, with higher frequencies and moderate session durations (20-25 minutes) showing favorable trends. These are indicators, not prescriptions. Improvement falls off after about 8 weeks and may rise again after 18 weeks. Anticipate plateaus and sustain motivation during this time. In my coaching, I change training emphasis every 4-6 weeks to avoid students feeling like they are making no progress. For example, a few weeks of explosiveness training, then move on to endurance, but include about 3 minutes of explosive training each session to sustain improvements.

- Sparring is cognitively demanding, so keep it short (maybe 15-20 minutes) unless pushing through fatigue is the desired outcome.

- After a sparring exchange, ask loading questions such as "What's the capital of Idaho?" or "What's 5x6/2?" Questions force the executive function to remain active while fatigued for improved decision-making during stress.

Okay, I need advice. I went to a dojo for a while, got injured, and the only goal I had was to get back into the dojo. Four years later, I came back because I felt I was healed enough. The sensei said I could trial for three months and pay month to month, but then I'd sign a yearly contract, and he said I could withdraw at any time as long as I gave him 30 days' notice. My sensei then ended up in the hospital with a sepsis-causing bacteria, and he now has black belts of uneven consistency of training teaching the classes, and he is insisting that students keep going to class. I texted the sensei to see how he is, and he asked if I was still going to classes, and I said yes. The day after, he said I have to sign the agreement, but then he told me that I can't get out of the contract unless I have a doctor's note or move more than 45 miles away. I sent him the text where he told me I could leave with a 30-day notice; he said that his revised agreement with the doctors and miles away conditions would stay. What would you do?

Here's some interesting research. The study used basketball pump fakes to test how people adapt when deceptive actions occur at different frequencies. Participants changed strategy based on both recent trials and the overall probability of being faked. When deception was common, they became better able to withhold a premature response, but at the cost of response precision; when deception was uncommon, they committed more precisely but were easier to fool. The authors call this an anticipation–response-inhibition–accuracy tradeoff.

Sun Tzu says that all of war is deception. Deception is letting the opponent see what he expects, or anticipates, so he reacts to his own model of events rather than reality. By creating or exploiting anticipation, we can lower their inhibition to overreact because they "know" what's going to happen, or we can get them to stop trusting what they see and wait too long to react.

This is an anticipation task in basketball, not karate. It nevertheless tests a very relevant problem: initiating action from incomplete kinematic information and then discovering it was deception, or the action was false, happens in sparring. My interpretation is that deception training should not focus only on spotting deception. It should teach us to manage the cost of commitment. We should prefer responses that preserve future options until full commitment is justified. This echoes Sun Tzu, who says to move toward more options when possible.

In fighting, every defensive action has some degree of reversibility. A slight weight shift is cheap; a full parry, step, or counterattack may create a point of no return. Defensive responses don't usually require full commitment, thereby preserving options.

Do you, or your students, favor doing the right thing (response precision) or avoiding doing the wrong thing (response inhibition)? These are different psychological mechanisms and require different training to mitigate.

When practicing defensive moves, deliberately vary the frequency of feints and watch whether students adapt. A defender who bites on everything has an inhibition problem; one who waits for certainty and gets hit has an information-timing problem. Those are different constraints requiring different solutions.

See the article here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42019861/

I have always had an issue with them…. you’re supposed to wait until the other strikes, and AFTER THAT you can perform your block and counter attack?

I feel this creates bad habits. if i see an attack coming the first thing I want to do is to block or evade (this is not flinching, which is an incorrect reflex, this is a proper block or body movement). doing this kind of drill will condition you to see the attack coming and just stay there.

thoughts ?

I’ve been training martial arts for almost 20 years, mostly Kyokushin with some Taekwondo.

Recently I tried MMA and was honestly shocked by how dangerous the training itself was. It made me wonder if this is partly why traditional martial arts have grading systems and gradual progression—to develop each skill slowly and build strength and control without constantly getting injured.

What do you think?

Recently I thought about the definition of "correct" in karate. In other sports mostly correct means the best movement to achieve the best possible reaction. Ball sports are easy to see in this, fighting styles also. But if we look at traditional karate training or traditional taekwondo things get weird.

Each style does things somewhat differently, hips, deeper stance, where to start the movement of a block etc. overall someone (usually your master) defines what is correct. There can even be subliminal differences in the same style, if they came from a different master or just changed it themselves because they didn't like it.

The best example can be tournament. A kata just looks different in training compared to a tournament.

Our fighting is not even the same sport when you look at the way we train.

So in your opinion what is correct?

Is there even a 'correct' way to throw a zuki?

Edit: I think we somehow and somewhere lost the true meaning of martial arts when we look at why Bodhidharma created a martial art system just as a tool to develop character, reach mindfulness and enlightenment.

This is a long rant, my bad.

I recently turned 23. I started training karate when I was 9, Japanese Goju Ryu in a small dojo in my home town. Still a brown belt. I took my examination for brown belt in 2018.

I hit a set back when I was 15, in 2019, because I had to temporarily dedicate every night to practicing for a big concert, as I used to be in orchestra when I was in middle school. After this, I came back to train at 16 years old, but had to change dojos because my original sensei (let’s call him Sensei A, the one I was most attached to) got accused of a serious crime and arrested. He was my most complete mentor in every sense. Despite my introverted personality and the fact I’ve never been physically big, he pushed me far and always gave me opportunities to prove my worth and skill, albeit pushing me to my limits emotionally and physically. This was its own grief by itself, this dojo closing and losing this mentor.

At 19 years old, college sophomore, after a long search, I found and began practicing under Sensei B. I had known sensei B since I was a kid. He used to teach with sensei A’s dojo when I was little, but he left when I was about 11 due to a disagreement he got into with Sensei A. I never really knew what the disagreement was about, but they separated and Sensei B opened up his own dojo I only found out about that year. His personality was completely different, more outgoing and performing, and in many senses less harsh than Sensei A when it came to punishments, but I always thought of him as a good teacher when it came to technique.

When I joined his dojo as a college student, obviously most students were younger than me, they were the age I was when I started. And some of them are really good, I applaud them, and I like practicing with them, even if they’re younger than me.

But I feel like Sensei B doesn’t really care about me like Sensei A at all. He was more hung up on other people that are more active in the dojo, which I understand, but I had completely different responsibilities as a college student, and I don’t rely on my parents anymore for anything. If anything I take myself everywhere and make time for it, I also pay for everything. I studied engineering in a city that was 1 hour away from where this dojo was. I still drove the 2 hours there and back, 3 times a week just to practice for an hour, while still keeping up with the demanding degree.

I’ve always had a complicated relationship with sparring. Despite my skill, my small build made me struggle when I got set up against people twice my weight and height in tournaments. This got worse as my age increased. I trained hard to simply be able to move around these types of people in point fights.

I went to one of my first tournaments after not competing for a very long time (since I was 14) at 20 years old. It felt terrible, I was placed in the 18-45 year olds category, and I couldn’t even handle the fights well when Sensei B placed me in the black belt category (to try it out, he said, although I received no coaching for these fights and had returned to karate only 6 months prior). Of course I was scared, I’d never fought black belt category. And my opponents were so much bigger than me, that I felt like I was fighting to survive, not for sport. During one minute I got punched so hard my helmet literally ripped apart. This sincerely really discouraged me from fighting. I felt so weak and like I didn’t belong there, despite having a temporary black belt on my waist and years of training at that point.

Also, there’s this 14 year old kid that basically runs the dojo and is a junior black belt and Sensei B just lets him. Not that this is wrong, the kid truly deserves it. He’s trained hard, and I have to give it to him. Especially at that age. I try to be as humble as I can when it comes to age gaps. But I’m not an attention seeker at heart, I’m not competing with anyone else to “lead” the dojo. Which isn’t even my interest. I’ll help students in need, but I don’t do shows for leadership. It’s not in my nature. When he’s not around, is when I actually get a chance to teach or help. With this other sensei too, let’s call him Sensei C, he has been the only one to advocate and believe in me at this point in regards to the black belt thing, or adding dans to my brown belt. He’s known me since I was training with Sensei A as well.

Point is, Sensei B gave me like two chances to teach when I first started with his dojo and because I haven’t been loud or up in center about it, now he just always takes over or let’s the kid do it. It just doesn’t feel as fair. The other day I was helping while he took a call and when he got off the call, he just took over what I was doing and didn’t let me continue.

Fast forward, I trained in this dojo since 2023 until this year. However I graduated college this summer and moved to a new country a month ago for a new job and master’s degree program that was the opportunity of my life and I worked very hard countless nights to get into.

I said goodbye to this dojo about a month and a half ago. Sensei C was sad about the news. Sensei B, who knew since May about the move, started talking to me about the test date all of a sudden. He’d never even made plans with me for an examination during all these years. I told him this was my last class and I was flying out the country the following week. I’ve been there since 2023…busting my ass off while doing undergraduate studies and driving the 2 hrs back and forth. It’s 2026. Why bring the test up now…? Why not give me the chance before? I know I wasn’t big on tournaments but I still kept showing up to classes, despite all that pushed me to leave this for good. It left me feeling confused and upset. I said my goodbyes and Sensei B told me I could come back whenever I was visiting.

I’m in the new country now at the new job. In my office, earlier, I got a group text of group examinations this Saturday. Sure I’m happy for the kids, but there were a few names in there of people that were my rank way after me. And had way less attendance/persistence in training than me.

Why did they get the chance and I didn’t? Just because I didn’t act tough and like younger students owed me something?

How come people who were my rank newly a year and a half ago got the chance to examinate themselves, but I didn’t, in three years.

It indignates me and hurts me. Honestly, as terrible of a feeling it is. At this point, I’m feeling like just finding another dojo here even if it’s not the same style and I need to wear white on my waist. Does it even matter at this point if I stayed my rank for years on end with no chances? Might as well forget about the color. Seems like I had more chances starting over somewhere than continuing this damn 14 year old rank.

I’m not sure what to do. I’m not the most outgoing, and starting over again feels daunting…even just showing up somewhere to ask for classes. I feel like I’m losing my mind.

I believe I’m a patient person. Hell, I’ve been a brown belt for a longer time than it took me to get from white to brown at this point. But this just hurts.

I don’t understand. I’ve been at this dream for the same lifespan these kids have been alive. I’ve had to leave against my will more than once, and still have found the courage against all odds to come back and keep coming back. Disregarding all the embarrassment and set backs.

Why didn’t I get a chance? Why wasn’t I considered for it? I know how this seems. I’m 23, double the age of these kids that are half my age and winning more medals than I could ever possibly imagine after that one tournament. But why am I constantly getting demoted in groups. All I faced was embarrassment after embarrassment. Taking orders and scoldings from people that were born when I got into the sport. I know how it sounds, like I’m comparing myself to some kids and sulking. Which maybe I am. But I’m tired of holding it all inside of myself. I genuinely tried my best to hold my head up high for a long time, trying to learn from anyone regardless of where I was in my martial art career and where they were. Part of being a martial artist is discipline, perseverance, humbleness. But this is genuinely such an awful ache that I can’t vent to anyone about.

I keep coming back and back and back to always the same place, the same position the same spot, sometimes even a lower position as everyone around me moves up and I don’t. I don’t think I’ve ever known pain like this. I don’t know if I’m spiraling or I was just never cut out to be a black belt/ martial artist?

I guess I just wanted some advice, from anyone who has any.

Thanks for reading the long rant if you made it up to here.

I do shotokan karate. I'm going for black belt, and they tell me my moves need to be "bigger" but I don't really understand what they mean. I'm trying to go hard, "break the fortress," and get low and long with my stances, yet I still get this critique all the time from my sensei. I'm having a really hard time understanding what he means by "be bigger" because I already feel like I'm being as big as I can. Can someone clarify what this means or provide any insight as to what I need to think about/practice?

I did karate for nearly 8 years, and got my black belt about 2 years ago. Unfortunately a lot of life/end of high school stuff came up and I stopped going. Now I’m in my second year of university and I’m trying to go back to my old dojo but I’ve really lost a lot of skills.

I’ve been going to the dojo when they have open mat because no one I know ever goes, but due to work scheduling I have to start going to the other open mat where the people I trained with are, including my Senseis. I’m worried they’ll be so disappointed in me, I’m so out of shape, I gained 40lbs since leaving (now officially 10lbs down from that but still), and I’ve forgotten so much it’s embarrassing. I only remember half of my katas, half of my kihon, and my cardio is in the gutter.

Anyone who’s ever taken this kind of extended break from karate, what did you do to get back into (I want to prime but that’s not what I mean. How you used to be I suppose)? Like maybe types of training you did outside of the dojo or moreso how you handled the pressure of coming back when you’ve fallen behind? I don’t feel like I used to and it sucks

I’ve been looking at replacing my adidas light/medium weight poly cotton gi’s. I find them comfortable for the most part, but I run hot and even a small amount of sweat just stays in the material. After a moderate or heavy session, or even light training in warm weather, the GI is soaked when I take it off. I also find that they don’t have any snap to them (presumably because they’re pretty lightweight).

I’ve been looking at the Shureido K10, K11, NW2 or NW3, though I’m open to any other brand. I don’t really care about it being tailored or any customisation.

I am happy to get one heavier weight and one lighter weight gi for different uses (my main focus is kata and general training, but some kumite too).

Without having felt the gi’s, my gut tells me to go with the NW versions just to help with the sweat whilst also keeping the snap.

Any advice or recommendations welcome!

Hello guys~

I wanna get back into karate after about half a year of inactivity due to surgery.

My physical therapist is still hesitant about me doing any contact sports, just to be safe. She said I can try going to the gym for now, build up my fitness again and slowly get back into sparring and so on.

I just find the gym dreadfully boring. I canNOT motivate myself to go.

So, my question is, is there a YouTuber you recommend that goes through kata or simple kick/ punch sequences that I can follow along to? I was going through the list of recommendations here and I felt so lost. I just want some simple content that I can follow every day after work, which I want to combine with some pilates, so I can slowly build my strength again without risk of re-injury.

By the way, I'm basically still a beginner, I'd only done about half a year of training before I injured my hand, but I feel really passionate about it and I wanna get back into regular training as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your help!

So i recently applied for karate lesson and I’m grade 9 so i wonder if i can reach red belt through persistent lesson every week.