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Kear Sensei, can you explain what ohyo kumite is, and its relevance to the study of the Wado-ryu kata?
In the analysis of Wado-ryu kata we use the term kaisetsu, which can mean an analysis or explanation, or an opinion or theory, whereas the Okinawan karateka would use the term bunkai, meaning analysis by means of breaking something apart to study its components and putting it back together. In keeping with his koryu reasoning, Ohtsuka Sensei preferred the kanji [Japanese letters] to be read as 形 (kata) instead of 型 (kata) used in the Okinawan experience.
It’s essential that the Wado practitioner understands the importance of the balance between the mukei (intangible essence) of kata’s ‘live’ dynamic, and the kata’s yukei (tangible and physical aspects) when involved in the analysis of any aspect of the kata movement. To demonstrate this and test the kaisetsu theory, the technical aspect that is being commented on is subjected to the ‘acid test’ of ohyo kumite. Ohyu kumite, then, is the connecting link between the pursuit of the elegance of the kata and the reality of its pragmatic function for jiyu kumite [free sparring] or self-defence. It is the proving ground where its core principles are applied and tested by more realistic and rigorous methods… If the applied principles of kihon waza [basic techniques] and kata are the basis for all that follows, then ohyu kumite will decide if it is plausible, pragmatic, realistic and dependable. To do this, it’s necessary to physically challenge the application that is drawn from any specific part of a kata.
The tactics of irimi and kuzushi seem to play a big role in the application of Wado-ryu techniques; can you explain what these tactics mean to you?
Wado-ryu is more than karate, so for us we are quite happy working more ‘up close and personal’ and irimi is what is going to get us to where we can use kuzushi technique. Irimi is a learned and developed skill of entering into the opponent’s space to disable and destroy his balance by means of kuzushi — ideally, as he is engaged in attacking, but with the right timing it’s just as effective after or even before [the opponent’s attack]. This is a skill that comes down to us from Shindo Yoshin Ryu [jujutsu]. Most of our solo kata have the irimi factor scarfed into them and many of our kihon kumite kata have the irimi and kuzushi element also. To be effective it should not be overly noticeable so the kata of Wado-ryu, if done correctly, would not impress the tournament judges, who would not necessarily know what they were looking for.
Can we talk ki ken tai no ichi, meaning ‘the body and spirit are one’? What would you say is the appropriate mental attitude to have during karate practice, and should this attitude alter depending on the type of training being done?
Ki ken tai no itchi is to have the mind, body and spirit in accord with the circumstances required — and no, I don’t think it should change or alter because it is a constant striving for unity with the universal truth of the moment. If you’re being attacked or attacking, or deep in study of kiko, kata or kumite, the aim is the same: your timing, rhythm, breathing and a connected body, everything in harmony.
Kansetsu waza: joint-locking
When you consider the speed and acceleration involved in the concept of kasoku, is Wado-ryu a type of karate best suited to the young and athletic?
Ohtsuka Sensei talked of techniques in terms of ‘quick and fine’, with my understanding of his ‘quick’ element being accelerating to close with the enemy, as in irimi, and the ‘fine’ action being defined as ‘actions with no excessive movement and performed in the shortest time possible’.
To accomplish this, it’s essential not to think in terms of speed but in terms of a constant acceleration. Acceleration increases the power ratio on impact. Wado technique should be practised with acceleration on three levels:
- Accelerate the whole body throughout the space and time to bring the whole body into the required striking range.
- Accelerate the body’s energy sequentially throughout the body, from the soles of the feet to top of the head and limbs.
- Accelerate the technique requirements sequentially throughout its duration.
All of these stages require a relaxed and supple mind, body and spirit working in accord. Fine actions appear to be quick but are actually so precise as to appear slower if the acceleration is correct. I don’t think acceleration is only the prerogative of the young, because acceleration and speed are relative.
With regards to the idea of hei jo shin or ‘being your natural self’, can you explain this concept and how it is best applied in the dojo and in everyday life?
Let me tell you a little story. At about the age of 14, I took a job in a butcher’s shop. At precisely 6am each morning I took hot water and a scrubbing brush to clean the butcher’s blocks and counters that I had already cleaned at close of business on the previous evening. The butcher, a meticulous gentleman, was overseeing my cleaning methods while preparing for his day by taking each knife from a rack of 20 shining steel blades and deftly honing each one to razor sharpness, using rapid strokes and a flexible wrist action. I was enthralled because he did not appear to watch what he was doing and yet his fingers were all intact at the finish of the honing on the ribbed steel. His eyes meanwhile were surveying his environment: the store entrance, the counters and benches, the fridges and cold store, plus my efforts with the scrubbing brush and — a little later — the pondering customers. His movements were effortless, precise and smooth.
At a later date the on-job training gave me the opportunity to watch my fingers run with blood as I tried to emulate the butcher’s morning kata. I remember I also failed at what might have passed for an early kyu grading by allowing the sausage machine to blacken my eye with its recoiling handle. I learned a good lesson in hikete from that and from watching him. While he was sparkling with his early morning gambit and engrossed in his surrounds, he was seemingly master of all he surveyed and nothing fazed him, least of all the flashing knives and cleavers. It was a calm and even morning preparation for his day’s work, with frequent encores according to the duration of a knife’s razor edge. It was a performance that showed the artisan’s artistry and, what I think of now as hei jo shin. ‘Everyday mind’ can be explained this way:
平 - Hei = calm/peaceful/even
常 - Jo = usual/ordinary/endless
心 - Shin = heart/mind/spirit.
What this means is you can only rely on what you know in your everyday life when faced with the most urgent of circumstances, if you work hard at creating it. It is too late to adopt a posture that is foreign or a learned response, if we only read about it or wait for it to happen. In martial arts we tend to aspire to ideals that are often far beyond the normal run of everyday life. The inspiration for this is often foreign and often esoteric. There is ample opportunity for us to be foolish enough to lionise and mimic our instructors and their instructors in the practice of Japanese martial arts, where one of the major maxims is hei jo shin — an adage that reminds us to ‘be who we are’. It reminds us that in times of great stress, the way is often easier if we are true to our everyday mind rather than borrowed plumes.
So, what you are and carry around stored in your body, you truly know. You can only embody the benefits of your own experience.
What the karateka knows comes from what he has done. What you do on a daily basis becomes your everyday mind. This is hei jo shin.
When I look at my sensei, I see that he does not need any book or a bag of tricks, or arcane technical manuals. His relentless training is now within him. His power and wisdom is in him; he has become his wisdom. It is there, quite evident in his hei jo shin — his calm, normal, everyday mind.
You make a distinction between the words keiko and renshu, but most karateka would understand both these words to mean ‘training’. Can you please explain why you perceive them differently?
While both keiko and renshu have both come to mean ‘practice’ in the Western world, I think it is necessary to understand the difference and why we train both aspects in San no Ya Wado. An ancient saying, attributed to the Greek historian Thucydides circa 460BC, would have it that, “History is philosophy teaching by examples”, and while keiko has the proven elements and principles at work when considering the old methods and learning from its history, renshu is more concerned with the forging and polishing of one’s mind, body and spirit. Often, to understand a little more about the practice, it is necessary to consider the kanji, which can link back to its historical meaning.
The kanji for keiko can be translated as:
稽 – Kei = think or consider.
古 – Ko = old
However, kanji for renshu is translated as:
練 – Ren = to polish one’s style or to discipline oneself
習 – Shu = to learn.
So the way we practise in one case is not always applicable to the other. Care needs to be taken when considering the reference to the ‘old’ of ‘keiko’ because we must practise here with the intention of learning; absorbing and steeping ourselves in the core principles of Wado-ryu and its philosophy, for its future transmission to the next generation.
Renshu practice, on the other hand, is about ude o migaku, a Japanese saying that urges students and sensei alike to cultivate one’s character by working hard at mastering one’s craft and cultivating one’s skill. Renshu is the main thrust of personal commitment that is shown, in the midst of all the tradition and kata, in the will for the constant repetition of fundamental kihon practice. Renshu develops the willpower for further exploration into kaisetsu, ohyo kumite, henka waza, yakusoku kumite, renraku waza and, of course, more and more kihon. Renshu is the 1000 kicking and 1000 punching nights of exhaustion and the continual fight against the urge to rest for a minute. Renshu is in the physical discipline of the tanren; of stretching and building or rebuilding a body fit and capable of martial purpose. Renshu is in the small victories over the urging of ‘once more’ after an endless night of kihon and renraku waza. Renshu is the uke [demonstration partner] role, when you are up close and personal in the nage waza.
What is San no Ya, the name of your school?
My two brothers and I all teach Wado-ryu under one banner, and we call that group San no Ya, which simply means ‘Three Arrows’. It is an association of like minds, which allows each of us to pursue a personal Wado-ryu path but at the same time gives access to each other’s knowledge and history, and also provides checks and balances to keep the technique as pure as possible. It is a slightly strange name; the usual explanation concerns a famous Japanese folktale about the Mori clan and three arrows, but the story may be too long to relate here.
Currently, I like to look at it this way: If an archer has three arrows in his quiver, it gives him three chances to hit the target. In the same way, each student of San no Ya has access to three distinct points of view about Wado from each of the three founders. Each view is different but also fundamentally the same, since we have all had the same teacher, Suzuki Sensei, from the start. San no Ya students should be able to visit any dojo within the group to further their Wado knowledge. Each teacher should actively encourage this if the group is to flourish.
Since Suzuki Sensei first gave us this name, I have often pondered on the nature of three or san. It seems intrinsic to much of Japanese folklore and it often crops up in discussion of martial arts — the concepts of san mi ittai and san no sen spring to mind. The ‘uneven’ quality of three lends itself to constant reappraisal of any situation and allows for subtle inflection, which is fundamental to the nature of human interaction and conflict. Three will always offer an additional viewpoint.
As to the aims of San no Ya, that is fairly simple. We are striving to perpetuate the technical heritage and ideals of Wado-ryu, to offer the benefits of Wado-ryu to its members and, if possible, extend human understanding.
How do you feel about the commercialisation of karate?
Ah, this is a great problem. I think commercialism, when in the hands of the unscrupulous, can be the white ant of the martial ethic. If we look around we can see the current trend of one-eyed kings who ramp up the commercialism for the unwary and make a good quid out of destroying the essence of martial arts. What they don’t have and what they don’t teach is the balance of the tangible aspects and intangible benefits in martial arts. In my experience, there has to be a balance in martial arts between its tangible aspects (yukei) and the intangible (mukei) aspect of karate beyond the technique. This is only ever going to be possible if the student does the hard work that brings these two aspects together.
It is not unusual with our normal Western-centric views and assumptions to accept any overlay of Western values so that we can use the familiar to better understand Asian culture, but this is precisely the problem. These organisations that are selling Black-belts along with the multicoloured dogi just for regular attendance, and bogus achievement patches as tangible emblems of success, are destroying the ethos for their greed and vanity. This is mainly what the average person has come to see as progress and evolution, but acquisition for its own sake lacks any true value and just feeds a soft society. This type of commercialism is diametrically opposed to the benefits of the old warrior’s legacy and wisdom in the tradition of martial arts.
The study of gendai [modern] budo and koryu systems profits from the individual’s own physical efforts when researching the wisdom and legacy of its founders, and financial motives should not be part of that, or its integrity may suffer.
Nage waza: Throwing technique
With regards to styles within karate, do you see this as a legitimate labelling of what people do, or is it more like a marketing tool, similar to the brand profiling used in other industries?
No. I think styles are essential and every effort should be made to understand and preserve the differences in their principles, practice and theory. What a gentle society Okinawa is; Japan also. I’m sure there are a few anomalies, but by and large their societies are orderly and have a great affinity with the nature of universal truths, and yes, I’ve witnessed this for myself. The terrible brown soup of generic karate only feeds the base instincts of mankind to the detriment of the society’s culture and — without that balance I spoke of earlier being understood and recognised as essential in martial arts — is only a waste of one’s life.
Can you speak a little about the benefits of training in karate at such an advanced age as yours?
I can only speak for Wado-ryu, and Wado-ryu, just like life itself, is fluid and defined by circumstance. The progression one is continually making in Wado training — I mean, where you are at any one moment in Wado-ryu — is the same as where you are in your mind at any one moment, and in your life too. Life is based on the constant changes so we are constantly changing and evolving in many aspects of Wado and life. If we have an open mind and are not afraid, we can constantly improve and experience the new more fully. ‘Know your enemy’ is old and sage advice, but it is not always possible to know the enemy one meets on the battlefield of life these days, so one should learn to understand the unknown.
We can understand this by examining Wado principles against Wado technique. If our Wado base is governed by principles and concepts, then the technique will evolve as we evolve, but if we base our Wado on a series of techniques and technical data, then it becomes fixed and unalterable. This is why Ohtsuka was concerned that the right kanji was used for Wado kata. Thinking like this means that one has greater freedom within which to experience Wado (and life) in all its changes. This is why Ohtsuka worked at shaping each student according to their progress and needs. In my experience, the mind does not age anywhere near as much as the body seems to, so the discovery aspect becomes paramount. This tends to drive the body to adjust to the seasons of one’s life and the ever-changing circumstances, bringing flexibility to mind and body.
The process of Wado-ryu can be recognised as a microcosm for life itself. The dojo time spent on the rationale and psychology of its pragmatic movement has benefits as the seasons of one’s life change, and experience is shown to be the greatest teacher of all. In particular, the nagasu and inasu principles of Wado teach the timely avoidance of conflict, along with the strategy of forward (and often pre-emptive) planning.
Irimi & Kuzushi: Destroying balance
With over 50 years of training behind you, what do you know for sure about karate?
What I know for certain is Wado-ryu is not just for the young, because the benefits are there for life. What is amazing is Wado-ryu keeps feeding the interest and keeps the mind supple, and I cannot ever imagine the notion of any voluntary retirement from Wado-ryu, because it is very much part of my life and I can’t retire from that. This is also amazing because there are no secrets, there is only practise — whether it be renshu or keiko, the benefits are many. My one regret is that I cannot do it over again!
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