AJ Cleary
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Registered: 04-2006
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Martial Creativity
I hope you dont mind, kind of seems im taking over your forum!! Need to get more people!
I think the mind is the most neglected aspect of any art, karate even more so... since most people think just by knowing the technique it will happen all by itself. NOT TRUE!
It takes a certain amount of creativity to unleash the full potential of a karate technique. We are Martial "artists" right ? Which is also another reason I see why kata were created, to make people stop and think on their own! Chojun Miyagi is reported as saying to his students to figure it out themselves.
Of course, your everysday experience will influence how creative you are, this is why its a good think to constantly look at how karate is in everyday life! How you walk, how you stir a pan of sauce, how you sweep the floor, how other people do things. What you watch on tv, what you see in movies, watch boxing matches, wrestling matches, everything... but look for KARATE! : )
A great time to work on your creativity is in meditation, I seem to be in a constant meditation throughout my day... ALWAYS thinking of karate techniques being applied. But a time to just sit and think, eyes open, eyes closed, dont matter.. just think, figure it out, is great to have!
Taking the techniques youve "figured out", work with a partner very slowly of course as to not get hurt AND to understand the small details of the technique ie: Bodyweight distribution, balance of you and your opponent, and the ever "what ifs" what if he does this, what he does that, etc.. etc... what if his friend is right next to me also getting ready to attack, you know... anything you can think of. Figure out which ones work, which ones are realistic, the quicker it ends, and more brutal the technique, then usually the more effective and realistive it will be. If your small, and it takes a great deal of strength, then its obviously not a realistic technique for you... Another good thing to do, is after getting your cradio warmed up a bit, light jog or whatnot, to spin in circles until your dizzy as all hell... now try to apply the technique to the resisting opponent, can you ?? This will give you a good yardstick to judge your techniques on, if it doesnt work in the gym 90% of the time, its probaly no good... keep your arsenal in the high percentage range!! Why do you think there are only a few submissions you see on an everyday basis being applied in REAL fights ?
Now, take everything you got, and basically shadowbox... freestyle kata, this is where your creativity really comes out... combinations, going through what ifs without stopping to think, react immediately... you will get better and better over time. Eventually your techniques are reactions as opposed to actions, you respond the moment it happens as opposed to the moment after you think about it.
Now take it into full resistance sparring, the ultimate pressure tester for your techniques. The better your creativity, the quicker your reactions will be, the smoother the techniques will be applied.
AJ
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4/24/2006, 2:57 am
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charleswong
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Registered: 05-2003
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Re: Martial Creativity
Welcome to the forum AJ and nice post.
While you raised good points, I don't think everyone who trains in martial arts are "artists" or martials arts, esp. kata required us to be creative to derive full benefits from practicing them.
To quote an article written by my Shihan Vince Morris regarding the Heian katas: "Heian katas were...carefully constructed from a distillation of all that Master Itosu considered to be the best and most effective techniques from all the other earlier Kata that he knew!"
So there you go, katas are dictionary of fighting moves. Just find the right intepreter(teacher), and you'll have a compendium of proven fighting moves for you to master. There is simply no need for a creative mind or one might end up "reinventing the wheel" like certain Karate styles, notably Ashihara Karate. I read that they were so frustrated at the "mystery" of kata being useless that they invent their own fighting katas.
Taken in such light, I would also encourage Karatekas not to take the bunkai being taught at face value. Question it, pressure test it, and then maybe add in a few twist here and there based on your own individual attributes (your personal size, speed, timing, strength etc). Like you said AJ, figure it out for yourself. It's a real shame so many schools still teach "techniques" that doesn't work 90% of the time.
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4/27/2006, 1:01 am
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