There are many shotokan karate exercises that you can practice to increase your skill level, here is a shotokan karate exercise involving a kicking combination and different stepping techniques. If you are not practicing in a karate dojo and you are trying to learn karate at home, a punch bag is a great alternative, free standing or hanging. If you have no place for a bag, then visualise an opponent, making sure to get your angles correct.
From left side kamae, 1. Mae geri with the right leg, then step back 2. step 45 degrees forward and to the right with the right leg. 3. step up with the left leg then rotate and kick mawashi geri with the right leg to the back of your opponent, stepping forward after the kick. 4. Step back with the right leg, feet together, then kick ushiro mawashi geri with the left leg and step forward. 5. Next a long step to the back with the right leg and kick fumikomi with the left leg, to the back of your opponents knee. 6. step 45 degrees forward and to the right with the right leg. 7. step up with the left leg then rotate and kick mawashi geri with the right leg to the front of your opponent, stepping forward after the kick. 8. Shuffle left leg to right leg, then push off from the left and step to the front of your opponent with your right leg. 9. As you land with the right leg, kick yoko geri kekomi with the left leg
Shotokan Karate Online Course I get contacted from people all over the world who are desperate to learn karate, but have no way to attend a karate dojo. Does this mean these people cannot learn karate?
Karate is a wonderful art and it should be accessible to anyone wanting to train.
Before I ramble on, I strongly believe, that if possible, people should practice karate with a fully qualified karate sensei, if it’s not possible and you really want to train, then it’s time to enter the world of online karate classes, karate books and karate DVD’s.
Shotokan Karate Online Course
I will be blunt, you are going to find things much harder without a sensei. Without a karate sensei, things become a little more tricky, but with the aid of video cameras and computer technology, you can film yourself, then compare to an expert’s video, you can even edit in a simple program, so your video plays next to the experts video.
The internet has opened up opportunities for people all over the world, who in the past, had no way oflearning karate and other subjects.
The martial arts is steeped in history and philosophy, so it’s a good idea to do some research, karate on wikipedia is a great starting point. The reason i say this, is because karate is not simply punching and kicking, it involves so much more, yes, you can simply kick and punch, but that’s merely scratching the surface of this wonderful art. As a small child i used to watch the kung fu series on TV, it’s full of great martial arts and even better life teachings, wise philosophy passed from master to student.
Please feel free to browse our karate blog, it has lots of content, including karate videos, articles and more. We also have a 10 lesson shotokan karate online course available, which gives a really good introduction into karate, along with an online karate dojo for the serious martial artist.
Originally, karate was ALL about fighting and self-defense. 200 years ago the world was a very different place, peoples lives would be in danger on a regular basis. Learning to defend oneself and family was a priority and in some parts of the world, unfortunately, this is still the case. But in many parts of the world, karate has new meanings.
When I was young, fighting was very important to me, even though I lived in a safe environment. As I get older, my thoughts on karate have changed.
I always ask new karateka at our dojo, why they want to learn karate, most people give very similar answers, which are self-defense and fitness and these are the answers that I expect them to say. I then explain to them that karate is much more than just these two elements. After a short period of attending our karate classes, I soon discover if their character makeup will be suited to karatedo.
For someone who just wants fighting, mixed martial arts (MMA) clubs are the best, for someone who just wants fitness, aerobics classes are great. But if someone likes the karate kata (forms), fitness, self-defense and the amazing history and philosophy that goes with traditional karate, then we may have a match! Self-defence is a state of mind, it is much more than just fighting techniques. You can show someone all the fighting techniques known to man, but if they cannot ‘switch on’, they will NEVER be able to defend themselves. At the same time, you can show someone who CAN ‘switch on’, very few karate techniques and they will be a force to be scared of. In self-defense and fighting, you must have the ability to ‘switch on’ and ‘switch off’ at will. You need to have the same attitude a wild animal has as it’s about to kill it’s prey. A lion attacking an antelope, has complete control of it’s emotions, but at the same time, it has relentless determination to get the job done, because for the lion, it’s either kill or starve!!!!!
With most karateka (someone who practices karate), this ability to ‘switch on’ and ‘switch off’ is not present. If karateka practiced their karate as if their life depended on it, their fighting skills would improve dramatically.
I recently watched a film with the actor Tom Cruise, in the film he played a professional hit man and in one part of the
Tom Cruise
movie, it epitomised the attitude you must have when having to defend yourself. He was tasked with the elimination of a Chinese mobster and had Tom Cruise visiting a night club. The next part of the film reminded me of wild animal stalking and killing it’s prey! Tom cruise was in complete control of his emotions and at the same time, like the lion, he showed relentless determination to get the job done, only in this instant, the reason was not food, it was money!!!!!!!
So in conclusion, for me, my karate is like a jigsaw and fighting is a piece of that jigsaw, but if it was the only piece in the jigsaw, my karate practice would have ended many years ago.
Many karate dojo, focus their karate classes on technique, now karate technique is very important, but if a karateka (someone who practices karate) has no spirit, it does not matter how good their technique is, their karate will be hollow and only resemble karate, it will have no meaning.
For me spirit always comes first! Let us imagine a self-defense situation where someone knocks you down, it is your
Jack Dempsey
spirit that will get you back up. The famous boxer Jack Dempsey (The Manassa Mauler) used to say, ‘A champion is someone who gets up, even when he cannot’, that there, is spirit!
Life is dull without spirit, the spirit to succeed, to finish something that is hard, the spirit to overcome obstacles in your life. It comes in many forms and karate without spirit, is not karate, it is simply body movements.
I feel that the hard part for a karateka, is getting the balance. Karate training should be difficult, but also enjoyable. When I was younger, all of our karate classes were extremely hard and ‘More Spirit’ was a common cry from our senior black belts.
Today we still have hard parts to our training, the difference is, the really hard parts of our karate classes, do not last the whole class and we take care to balance the hard training with periods working on technique. So for me, spirit is very important, along with the concept of Ikken Hissatsu (to finish with one blow). My karate sensei used to say, ‘learn to hit hard, fast and accurately’ I believe in this and without spirit, you can not achieve this.
Some karate dojo practice kumite (sparring), for the entire karate class and nothing else, some practice kata (form), for the entire class. Once again I believe in balance, which is why many karate dojo use the 3 k’s style of karate practice.
The three k’s are ~ 1. Kihon (basics) 2. Kumite (sparring) 3. Kata (forms) Many karate sensei say that kumite is the spirit of karate and kata is the soul. I would also agree with this statement. With the 3 k’s, I do not believe you should practice only one k. once again balance is the name of the game when it comes to soft and hard training.
This article is about spirit and technique and I know I should probably include some information on the karate kiai (shout), but I have some controversial views on the karate kiai, so we will save that for another article.
I have recently been watching videos of the shotokan karate kata Unsu, i watched many unsu videos, but i would always get drawn back to Master Mikio Yahara and his unsu videos. Why?
Well, it’s simple really, it’s REAL!
No fake poses for the judges, no fancy walk ons, no hollywood glaring, just raw karatedo!
All the years of hard training, blood sweat and tears, mean NOTHING, if you’re mind isn’t right. I know many modern champions train extremely hard and they are fantastic athletes, but many of them don’t have what Yahara sensei has, its Ichi geki hissatsu or ikken hissatsu (to finish with one blow).
In all karate moves, you must apply the philosophy of ikken hisatsu, you must hit with the intent to do harm! I know many people will disagree with me and as I get older, i do believe my thoughts on this will change, but all karateka must understand this philosophy, or their karate is simply a gymnastic display of karate moves.
Below is a video of Mikio Yahara sensei performing Unsu 3 or 4 times, there are some of you who will say, his heel is up, his shouders are up, he’s doing this move too fast, he’s doing that move too slow, his timing is wrong. To all of you who say that, you need to go train with Yahara sensei because in terms of real karate kata, this is as good as it gets.
The Japanese phrase Ikken Hissatsu is made up of three kanji, (ichi) meaning “one” , (ken) meaning “fist” and hissatsu meaning “certain kill or death”. To kill with one blow (ikken hissatsu) is a martial arts concept that, in todays modern world, very few karateka adhere to.
No one knows for sure when ikken hissatsu first came into karate, but it may have originated from the samurai. Ichi Geki Hissatsu is an old samurai maxim which means “One strike, certain death”
Ikken Hissatsu
A karateka who lived by this concept was the legendary karate Master, Masutatsu Oyama 1923-1994 He became known as the ‘Godhand’, a living manifestation of the Japanese samurais’ maxim, Ichi geki Hissatsu or “One strike, certain death”.
In 1950, master Mas Oyama started testing his power by fighting bulls. He fought 52 bulls, three were killed instantly, and 49 had their horns smashed off with knife hand strikes.
During later years, he took on all challengers and had fights with over 270 different people. Nearly all of these fighters were defeated with one punch! Most of the fights lasted a few seconds and none of the fights lasted more than three minutes.
To Masutatsu Oyama, Ichi geki Hissatsu, was the true purpose of karate techniques.
………………………………………………………………………..
Ichigeki Hissatsu
A modern day karate master who also lives by this concept, is the amazing Mikio Yahara 8th Dan, who established the Karatenomichi World Federation in 2000. Master Yahara lives by the concept of Ichi geki Hissatsu and is one of the few modern day karate masters who pushes this amazing philosophy.
Many years ago, I remember training with Master Yahara on one occasion and watched him perform his favourite karate kata, Unsu. It was beautiful and scary, all at the same time. I can only explain every karate technique within the kata, was like his life depended upon the outcome. It was REAL, no hollywood performance, no thrills, no stupid facial expressions, just raw, deadly, beautiful karate.
To emphasise the importance of ikken hissatsu, my karate sensei used to explain that each karate move we made, should be executed like your life depended upon it. This feeling is absolutely essential in applying this concept and Master Yahara lives and breathes this concept.
I am all for karate and health over continuous full contact training (which we have all done and you simply cannot sustain such training), but i am tired of watching these so called karate champions performing karate kata like they are on a hollywood film set. They should look at karateka like Master Yahara, where to him, his life really is on the line, for every karate move!
The original name for nijushiho is Niseishi and is still practiced as niseishi in many karate styles and schools. When master Gichin Funakoshi introduced karate from Okinawa to Japan, he changed the name of the kata from Niseishi to Nijshiho. Both names mean 24 steps and many karateka believe there is strong connections with buddhist beliefs, but other karateka believe the kata originated from china
This black belt kata is a very popular karate kata with shotokan karate black belts. There are many changes in tempo, fast to slow and slow to fast. This is a favourite competition karate kata.
Michael Stevenson, who is one of our black belts, travelled to Seattle, to train with the legendary Shihan Akio Minakami. He stayed in Seattle for 2 weeks and trained every day under Shihan Minakami, also participating in other karate classes with some of Shihan’s senior sensei.
Michael enjoyed every second of his trip and said to me that he didn’t want it to end!
Below is a quick video of the Yamani Ryu Bo Kata, Choun No Kon Dai. Michael demonstrates the Bo kata lightly so other karateka can follow easily.
It is possible to learn karate by yourself, but I always recommend joining a professional karate dojo. There is nothing better than being part of a good karate class, where everybody is positive and has great spirit. But if there are no karate classes near, it should not stop you trying to learn karate by yourself.
With the internet today, there has never been so much information available on millions of topics, all at the click of a mouse! If i had no way of attending local karate classes, i would DEFINATELY learn karate online.
Now discovering how to learn karate by yourself has lots of disadvantages, no karate sensei, no people to practice kumite (sparring), no
