Grading

The grading event was quite something. I was surprisingly nervous, but it was much more of an ordeal for others. Being the most junior in the class, there are only a few things I can do to be judged on. From the outset the instructor, who had arrived with additional black belt back-up, made it clear that this was a different set up. No talking, no messing about (like we would) and total focus would be required. He adopted an extra serious face. We worked though basics, combinations, pad work, fighting and kata. I was very thankful I only know two katas and spent at least 20 minutes sitting down during the other ones, as I was pretty tired by this point. Although I hate to admit it, since this is just an exercise class which I'm only doing to get fitter, I was really anxious. This did affect my already basic performance level and more irritatingly this would have been obvious to any trained eye. Overall, it could have been worse - I passed along with my white belt pal. Job done. As for the others, they varied from confident, clearly eager to display their skills, to disabled by the pressure. All levels were being graded, even black belts. I had to perform pinan ninan in front of the class and am very pleased that I did not do too bad a job of it (although I am now very aware it was far from perfect). While I know that my technique is not perfect, the most frustrating thing is that I cannot control it. One time the blocks have an incorrect wrist position and a stance is incorrect. Another time it's something different. The fact that I cannot control my movements irritates the hell out of me, since if I consistently made an error, I could try to correct it, but inconsistent errors are a much harder thing to rectify.

What I hadn't realized is that the black belts have to wait five years before they can try for another dan. In reality this means that if you start as an adult, unless you go for every grading as soon as you can, you may not live long enough to get above 4th dan. It's a good job my aspirations are rather limited. However, one of them is coming to pass - I am getting fitter. Today I jogged up eight flights of stairs at work and could still talk at the top - success! My next challenge, the press-up. I can only do the down bit. Press-ups can feature heavily in a class depending upon instructor mood and class level of attention. I am the only one in the class who has special dispensation to do press-ups on my knees. Everyone knows these are not proper press-ups and nobody else (woman or child) has this dispensation. It was granted by the instructor after a few minutes of observation who must have felt that something was better than nothing. I want to be able to do five convincing press-ups and I hope this should also improve my punching. There's only one thing for it - training. I'm going to try to do 100 punches and kicks every day.

Flexible In More Than One Sense

Karate seems at times to be quite paradoxical. You need to be relaxed, yet strong and flexible, yet decisive. These are words that come out of my teachers mouth and until recently I didn't get it. Now I get it, but I can't do it - that's going to take ages, years possibly. For example, if you are relaxed when you punch or move, you are much faster (don't forget to tense the fist when it actually meets its target). Also, since you don't have your own muscular tension holding you back, so you are not just faster, but stronger too. This is demonstrated really well by Inoue Yoshimi, an amazing Japanese man with a great smile, who looks deceptively harmless, in the links below.

Inoue Yoshimi demonstrates the power of relaxation

Additionally, while kata is fixed - there is only one correct move down to the angle of the wrist, ultimately it is a demonstration of combat and combat is not predictable. Here Inoue demonstrates the first three moves of pinan shodan and how they can be adapted in a combat situation. Remember, 'I was adapting it for a combat situation' will not do in the dojo, it still has to be perfect!

Pinan Shodan - flexible in the hands of a master

The Kata Solo - More Mind Than Body

As previously mentioned, I know two katas; pinan ninan and pinan shodan. My performance is far from perfect, which irritates me, a lot. I cannot seem to make my body consistently repeat a series of movements precisely. If the moves are close to correct, then the power is missing. Alternatively, I get the power in, but the feet aren't in the correct stance, or a wrist is angled incorrectly. Sometimes I actually forget the moves because I was concentrating too hard on my stance! It all seems to come down to the stance i.e., the position of your feet, body weight distribution, direction of pressure you exert with your legs and hip position. Without this everything else falls to bits. It makes sense - in Shukokai standard stance, the back leg must be a fixed distance behind the front with the foot angled at 45 degrees so that the hips are at the diagonal to the front foot which is facing forwards. Outwards pressure is applied to the legs so that the feet grip the floor. This allow maximum force to be generated when striking with the foot or hand moving forward. Each time, one move leads onto the next, the stance must be correct. If not, the next move works less well or you loose balance. This is all obvious to an experienced eye, meaning that I can only detect half my mistakes!

Sometimes we'll spend a session dedicated to kata. During these a single person or a couple of the same grade are singled out for a solo performance. This happened to me for the first time the other day. It's quite different from performing in the anonymity of the group. At my stage - stage zero - it's not really done to improve technique. Frankly, where would the instructor start? In fact, the higher the grade, the more severe the correction - they can take it. It seems to me that the real reason for doing this, is to teach performance under pressure. Clearly combat is not relaxed and a person may understandably become stressed if they have to fight for real. I become stressed in a fake fight. This strength of mind is a feature of karate. The mind and body must be controlled and work together. It seems that karate is a long journey, what a shame I left it so long to start.

Am I Addicted To Karate?

I've noticed two things since I started karate; firstly, six weeks into taking up regular exercise and I look a bit better. I'm not lighter, but less bulgy. It's not just me, the secretaries at work have commented and nothing passes them by. Also a friends husband remarked and that counts as formal bloke recognition of improved physical status. Secondly, I don't want to miss a session. I had aimed to do at least one per week, two ideally, but given work, one would be OK. For the last two weeks I've done three - two on one day, plus extra practice i.e., four hours in a day. This is odd because two months ago I did no exercise at all (excluding sex and walking to the car) - so on one level I'm really pleased I can manage it without vomiting. However, there is dark side. I've colluded to acquire play dates for the younger children when the extra lesson is on and called on my husband to do the childcare while I'm out. This is starting to sound like addictive behavior. I also dislike the long gap between lessons - I'm craving karate. I don't want to go for  a swim or a jog, I just want to do more karate. I do it in the kitchen, while things are cooking. Frankly, I think this is excellent practice since it's damn hard to do karate on a wooden floor in tights and a tight skirt. I'm not sure why it's so addictive to me - perhaps it's the combination of intellectual and physical stimulation, I don't know, but I do enjoy it.

It's All In The Hip Movement

I thought I knew all I needed to know on the subject of hip movements in a completely different context from karate. It appears I was wrong. The hip movement is central to the Shukokai style. Whenever you start something which requires a high level of skill, and therefore practice, before expertise can be accomplished two things happen. Initially you are pleased with your efforts - the kick culminated in your foot making contact with the pad - job done. You are convinced that with a bit of practice you will improve in no time. Clearly progression to black belt is just a factor of time and practice. Then stage two arrives (I hate stage two); the realization that everything about your kick was wrong (apart from the fact you used you foot). The kick and as it turns out, like every move in karate (apart from one hand movement which simulates the head i.e., a token movement), involves every part of the body. No really, it's true. A punch for example does not involve punching from the basic stance, but instead you pull back with your leading hand, driving your opposite hip forwards and propelling your punching hand while pushing up with the ipsilateral back foot. A punch delivered in this way is much more powerful than simply driving the fist forwards. If considered in terms of body kinetics, it makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, this is a crushing realization to the novice. Now every movement is highly complex and involves doing more than one thing at once with more than one limb. The kata I thought I knew (and was wondering why I didn't just learn a few more) is now complex beyond comprehension. This is where I'm at now. I know the kata moves, but now I know I am performing them incorrectly, like a dance routine and not like effective combat moves. Now I understand why it takes two decades to be competent and that the black belt is only starting their journey. I now the work begins - there is clearly another arena for hip movements.