CHAPTER 1

What Is Karate?

Why do people practice karate? Where did it come from?

Modern Karate

Karate means empty hand in Japanese. "Emptyhand" refers to the ability of karate students to defendthemselves without the use of weapons. Karate consistsof basic techniques that block or avoid an attack, andthen a counterattack of the opponent by punching,kicking, striking, or any combination of these. O'Sensei2explains that karate teaches students to develop fast,powerful punches and kicks, as well as skills in jointmanipulation and throwing. (The characters at the left,from top down, are kara, te and do. Empty-hand way.)

Karate may mean different things to different people. Youngpeople often take up karate because they want to learn how to defendthemselves. Elderly people, on the other hand, may only be lookingfor an interesting and fun way to stay fit.Parents often enroll their children in karatelessons to teach them discipline and todevelop their coordination. Karate is alsoa very good way to learn much about theculture of Japan as well as the culture ofother countries.

Karate originated as a system ofunarmed self-defense using only the hands,feet, and body of the practitioner. Karate asa means of self-defense training is basedon scientific principles and knowledge ofthe working muscles and joints, and therelationship between movement and balance. This allows the studentof karate to be prepared, both physically and mentally, to defendhimself successfully against any attacker.

Karate as a physical art form is almost without equal. It providesfantastic all-around exercise and develops coordination and agility.In addition to its usefulness in self-defense, it is especially useful inkeeping in good shape. It is widely practiced by both children andadults as a means of keeping in top physical condition. O'Senseipromotes traditional karate as a physical art among his students.

Karate's Storied Past

There are many legends concerning the origin of karate, andfor the most part, historians still ponder the possibilities. It is clear,however, that modern karate as we presently know it is only a coupleof hundred years old. The karate we practice today was developed inOkinawa. For hundreds of years, it was influenced by the Chinese,who had been practicing various styles of chuan fa (a Chinese martialart often referred to as kung fu) for centuries. Through trade andexploration, these styles were introduced to Okinawa and ultimatelyintertwined with the Okinawan styles. In 1922, Gichin Funakoshibrought the fighting style of Okinawa to Japan, where it was christenedkarate.

Daruma Bodhidarma

A popular legend surrounding the spread of the martial artscenters on Daruma Bodhidharma, who traveled from India intoChina in the sixth century. Along with his spiritual message, hebrought a physical set of exercises, which formed the basis of thefamed fighting style of the Shaolin monks.

Bodhidharma was born a prince in the southern regions of Indiaand raised as a warrior to succeed his father as king. He had beentrained in the martial arts. Bored with his training, Bodhidharmabegan to study with a Buddhist teacher. On his deathbed, his teacherasked him to go to China to reawakenthe followers of Buddha.

Legend has it that Bodhidharmatraversed the Himalayan Mountainsand arrived in China around AD 526.He set out in a northerly directioncrossing the Tse River and reachedthe Sung Mountain range, where theShaolin temple was located. It hadbeen founded forty years earlier by Buddhist monks. Bodhidharmasought entrance into the Shaolin temple. He was accepted onlyafter he was able to prove that he was committed to Buddhismby demonstrating his spiritual enlightenment through prolongedmeditation.

Legend has it that Bodhidharma then went to a cave and staredat a wall for seven years. He is said to have cut off his eyelids to stayawake in meditation, and so is usually depicted with bulging eyes.Others say that he cut off his eyelashes and that they fell to the groundand became tea plants. Recognizing the ability of tea to help a personstay awake has made tea a part of the practice of zazen, a seatedposition of meditation used to develop spiritual enlightenment.

When he arrived, Bodhidharma was shocked to find the monkswere fat and without the ability to stay awake during his lectures.The monks were unarmed and were easy victims for bandits whenthey attempted to go out and teach throughout the land. Some of themwere so afraid; they decided to stay in the safety of the monastery.This was one reason Buddhism was no longer as well-known as ithad been.

Bodhidharma created an exercise program for the monks thatinvolved physical techniques imitating different animals. Eventuallythis type of training created the famous martial art of kung fu. Afterseveral years, the Shaolin monks became famous as great fightersand defenders of the people. These skills helped the monks to defendthemselves against invading warlords and bandits. Bodhidharmataught that martial arts should be used for self-defense and never tohurt or injure needlessly. In fact, one of the oldest Shaolin sayings is"One who engages in combat has already lost the battle."

Bodhidharma also taught medicine to the monks and arranged forChinese doctors to come to share their knowledge with the Shaolin. Inthree years, the monks became so skilled in both the martial arts andmedicine that they came to be feared and respected by the bandits.This went a long way toward continuing the spread of Buddhism andZen3 throughout China and the rest of Asia.

The death of Bodhidharma is shrouded in mystery. Legend has itthat he was poisoned by one of his followers disappointed at not beingselected as the successor. Regardless of the reason, Bodhidharmadied in AD 539 at the Shaolin temple at age fifty-seven. He was laidto rest in a tomb there.

The strangest legend regarding Bodhidharma is that three yearslater, he was met on the road by a government official, walking outof China toward the Himalayas with his staff in his hand and oneof his sandals hanging from it. Having dined with Bodhidharma onmany occasions, the official was certain it was him. When the officialarrived at the monastery and recounted his experience, the monksopened the tomb only to find it contained just a single sandal.

The forms created and taught to these monks are generallybelieved to be the root of the martial arts in China. While there isevidence portions of these movements existed prior to the arrival ofBodhidharma, it was he who organized and recorded them. Fromthere, they have gone on to spread throughout the world.

From China, it is believed the rudimentary components of martialarts were introduced to Okinawa. They were solidified into thebasis of modern karate during the early Japanese occupation of theRyukyu Islands as a means of self-defense. As the Okinawans werenot allowed to perform their martial arts, its practice was done insecrecy. Following the dismantling of the Sho Monarchy of Okinawain 1879, the practice of karate came out into the open. While theBodhidarma is generally associated with the early origins of karate,its spread to Japan and the rest of the world is unanimously creditedto Gichin Funakoshi, who was invited by the Royal Emperor of Japanto give demonstrations of the art form in the early twentieth century.It was the Japanese who applied the name karate to the style and laterintroduced it to the world.

Gichin Funakoshi

The man most responsible for the systemization of traditionalkarate as we know it today was Gichin Funakoshi. He was born inShuri, Okinawa, in 1869. When only a boy of eleven, he began tostudy karate under two top masters of the art at that time. In time,he became a karate master instructor and an expert in his own right.He is credited with being the first man to introduce karate to Japanproper, when he gave exhibitions in 1917 and again in 1922 at aphysical fitness exposition sponsored by the Japanese Ministry ofEducation. The art soon caught on in Japan, and Funakoshi traveledthroughout the country giving lectures and demonstrations. Themain universities invited him to help them set up karate teams, andhundreds of people studied the art under his guidance.

In 1957, Master Funakoshi, the father of modern karate, passedaway at the advanced age of eighty-eight. Tens of thousands of karatemen who learned under him remain, ensuring that the art that hetaught will not die with him. Today students all over the world arelearning karate, which has become a world art.

Tora no Maki

Master Funakoshi's first book, Ryukyu Kempo: Tode, was editedby Bukyo-Sho in 1922. It included a series of prologues writtenby some of the most famous people in Japan and Okinawa at thattime. On the cover of this book, a famous artist friend of GichinFunakoshi, Hoan Kosugi, placed the tiger symbol that later wouldcome to symbolize Master Funakoshi's karate.

Hoan Kosugi was inspired by the Japanese saying Tora no Maki,which is a phrase that describes an official document established asa reference on a system. So Ryukyu Kempo would be the Tora noMaki of Tode (translated as "Chinese hand," a term for fist fightingused in early Okinawa). He also felt that Master Funakoshi gave theappearance of a feline due to his way of acting and his movements.

CHAPTER 2

The Masters

Hi! My name is Diana Linda Michele. I am fourteen years old; Iwill be fifteen years old on October 1,2012.

I have a twin brother. His name isRoberto Marcus. I live in the San JoaquinValley, near Madera, California.

I like all kinds of sports, but myfavorite is traditional karate. My brotherand I have been studying for six and ahalf years.

Master Vincent Cruz

My teacher is Master Vincent A. Cruz. He has practiced traditionalkarate for more than fifty years.

Master Hidetaka Nishiyama

Master Cruz's teacher was Grandmaster Hidetaka Nishiyama;and in turn, Master Nishiyama's teacher was Grandmaster GichinFunakoshi.

The Rules of Behavior in Karate

Teachers in Japan are called sensei. So from now on, I will callmy teacher O'Sensei in this book. The "O" before sensei means thatmy teacher is a senior master teacher; it is a badge of respect.

Karate is a martial art. You need to know that it requires a lotof discipline. You need to pay attention to what you are doing. Youhave to do things over and over until you get it right. O'Sensei tellsme that practice makes perfect.

There are rules you must know before you start practicing karate.The first rule is that karate begins with respect and it ends withrespect. Another important rule is that karate should only be usedin self-defense and only when there are no other options. You mustnever use karate to intentionally injure or hurt someone else. If youhave the opportunity to not fight, always choose to simply walk awayfrom trouble. Remember, karate is a martial art and a fighting system.With it, we can cause serious damage to others (and ourselves if weare not careful). It is easy to break a finger when we punch if our fistsare not clenched tightly. Once I lost my temper and hit a boy whowas teasing me—right in the nose. O'Sensei was not amused, and Ihad to sit out of karate for the rest of class (not to mention that I hadto apologize to the boy who teased me!).

It is the custom in karate for students to wear white uniforms.This is not to say it is wrong if you happen to see someone with adifferent color than white. O'Sensei tells me that our uniform is ouroutward appearance in karate. It should be kept clean; the uniformshould always be folded and tied with your ranking belt. Since I amin traditional karate, our formal color belts are white, three degreesin brown, and five degrees in the black belt. There are other colorsof belts between white and brown, and they signify advancement atdifferent levels. They include yellow, orange, blue, purple, and green.The colors are used as levels of promotion as students get better. Thelevels of brown belt show how students are becoming strong martialartists and preparing to become black belts.

When you become a black belt, you are really just beginningyour journey of mastery of karate. Each level of mastery is called adegree. As you get stronger and develop better technique, you moveto a higher degree. In many systems, there are as many as ten degreesof black belts. Since you learn most of the technique during the firstfive degrees, the last five are given for complete mastery of the systemand for years of continuous and careful examination of your karate.

Most karateka (someone who practices karate) keep their originalblack belt and if possible use it all of their lives. You can always tellsomeone who has trained a long time because the black belt is oftenfaded and frayed.

CHAPTER 3

Basic Concepts

There are a few karate principles you need to know before webegin. They form the basis for all karate and all karate training. I willtalk a little about each. The four most basic parts of training are:

• Kihon (basic techniques);

• Kata (form or pattern);

• Bunkai (study of techniques encoded in kata or "kataapplication"); and

• Kumite (sparring or paired form)

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] — Kihon

Kihon means "basics" or "fundamentals"; it is by far the mostimportant part of the art of karate. Without strong basic techniques,we cannot hope to perform effective karate. O'Sensei's teacher,Master Nishiyama, was regarded as one of the greatest karatekabecause his basic techniques were of a standard many of us can onlydream of achieving.

Traditional karate is famous for giving its practitioners a strongkihon. In kihon, you learn the karate way of punching, blocking,kicking, and body movement. Often you will do drills for your senseithat may be monotonous and boring; however, you should always tryyour absolute best and snap out your blocks, punches, and kicks. Ialways work out this way because the way

A traditional karate training session will involve hundredsof repetitions of different punching action. It may take a class ofbeginners an hour to reach a point in the lesson where they actuallypunch using both arms at once. Kicking is also very important intraditional karate. The student is required to learn the different basickicking techniques and spend many hours practicing. Kihon is notjust a "beginners" exercise. It is practiced throughout your karatetraining, from white belts to the highest-ranking black belts.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] — Kata

In kata, you learn to combine the basic techniques in a flowingmovement. Each kata is built around a specific fighting strategy foryou to understand. Always remember to look where you're going, andremember what you learned in kihon.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] — Bunkai

Bunkai literally means "analysis." In bunkai, you analyze everymovement in a given kata and develop possible applications in realcombat situations. Bunkai is a transition step to kumite. A single katamay be broken into anywhere from a few to a few dozen applications,and the same sequence of kata moves may sometimes be interpretedin different ways, resulting in several bunkai. This allows the studentto understand what the movements in kata are meant to accomplish.For example, if an opponent threw a punch toward your face, youwould need to defend with a block for a high punch. The samewould be true for a kick or some other strike. By practicing kata,you learn to put combinations of blocks, punches, or kicks togetherthat make sense in a real situation. Bunkai helps you to understandwhat your opponent is doing and how you are reacting. It may alsoillustrate how to improve techniques by adjusting distances, executingproper timing, and adjusting a technique depending on the size ofan opponent. O'Sensei requires his students to perform bunkai forpromotion.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] — Kumite

In kumite, you learn to apply kihon and bunkai in a controlledenvironment. When you train in kumite in a dojo, there are rulesto follow so no one gets hurt. You train to control your strikes socontact with your opponent is not made. Punches and kicks arehard; however, with practice you learn to stop them short of hittingyour partner. Both opponents are trying to score points, not hurt oneanother. While I like kumite very much, this is where I lost my cooland hit the boy who was making fun of me.

(Continues...)