Sensei Nishiyama the practical and the philosopher

Next week, on November 8, it will be 5 years to the passing of my teacher, Sensei Nishiyama. He was like a second father to me since we spent most of our days together.
Sensei Nishiyama was very pragmatic and a philosopher at same time.

His greatness was that he merged the old wisdom of Okinawa karate, with the old traditions of Japanese Budo (martial arts) and with latest sport science.

In his teaching he was very methodical and scientific, and every detail had a reason and had to work and be part of the whole picture.
His karate was no nonsense, everything was for application, and every detail meant for more efficiency.

Over the years he created a clear system that meant to bring the full mental and physical potential of the karateka.

When I first came to LA at 1981, I expected hard training, but I also expected karate to be spiritual, and I remember that after my first class, it was the Friday noon class, Sensei told me "put white belt on, step by step, understand?" Only that I did not understand any of that. Sensei "understand" sounded to me like "Zen" and I was walking around all day wondering what words of wisdom did I miss.

Later I realized, that the philosophy that Sensei was taught was in the action, in doing, not in words.

As realistic as he was, he understood that just because we cannot see or prove something it does not mean it is not true, and as much as science proves many karate concepts, there are concepts that we know to be true from experience, and science cannot yet prove. He taught concepts that were intangible such as "don't use eyes", "think by heart, act by ki", "condense ki energy to body center and than give ki energy from center through contact area".

Sensei Nishiyama did not spend a lot of time talking philosophy, for him it was through action that one applies philosophy, he summed his philosophy in few words such as "keep trying", "only dead no come to training", "always do your best", "target is self", "best fight is no fight".

If someone talked and didn't do, Sensei would call it "kuchi Waza" (mouth technique), or he would tell me: "when the body does not move, dreams move".

 He cared about how you bow, because doing it right meant dignity and thanking your partner for being your teacher, being humble, doing it sloppy meant every thing you do follows the manners and will be sloppy.

One night he made bow for 15 minutes till he was satisfied.
He cared that you always respect your opponent in kumite, and never be sloppy "Karate is fighting with dignity, like a samurai, not like Yakuza".
He appeared rigid at times, but in a long run he was usually correct, and had reasons, for example one day he came to my dojo, and in the kids class one of the students dropped the belt on the floor. Sensei Nishiyama was upset at that and kept reminding me of the incident for few months, at first I did not understand why he was so stubborn about that belt, but later I understood the importance of that.
It is the small details and the way you manage yourself outside of class that will influence how precise and attentive to details you will be in training.

Sometimes after 5 hours training I was exhausted and slouched and he used to sneak behind me in the hallway and hit my back really hard explaining that I must keep good posture all the time, he said training is only few hours a day, but rest of life is much longer and therefore have much more influence on developing good or bad habits.

When I was sparring it was not the results that mattered to him, sometimes when I felt that I was doing good, he was not pleased at all "don't do it the convenient way, do it the right way", and that was one of the great lessons in my life, don't look at the results, but rather did you use the right means to achieve the desired result.
It is easy to fall into habits, especially when you are advanced and things work for you the way you do them over a long time, but don't be satisfied with that, keep reflecting on yourself and do not lose the fundamental principles to achieve temperory results.
It is better to lose in the short term and develop in the right direction than to win and create bad habits along the way.

I hear his voice every day in my training, and I actually miss the strictness and the shinai chasing me.
Sensei Nishiyama taught me much more than how to fight and be a technician, but he gave me guidelines of how to live my life according to karate principles.

First Instructors Only Seminar in Czech Republic

Last weekend, October 11-13, we had 3 amazing days of deep karate training, about 15 top instructors from Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Germany, Austria and Czech Republic participated.
The idea was to keep a small group of high level instructors so we can work on small details, and dive into depth of karate giving attention and correction to each individual.
Sensei Nishiyama had this idea, of teaching small groups of instructors in depth, so they can teach on in their own dojos.
We decided to keep doing this instructors only seminar once a year, and limit it to 25 participants.
We worked for a long time on Tekki San Dan, which is one of Sensei Nishiyama favorite katas, how the inside move and the outside follows, and we applied this idea later to kumite.
We worked to details on Ni Ju Shi Ho, another of Sensei Nishiyama favorites,  we worked on details of the outside form, this is a great kata to work on smoothness between techniques, and having no gaps between actions.
We also worked on Chin-Te, with its unusual type of techniques, which is a chance to work on same basic principles in variety of directions, and making our movement vocabulary richer, and enable our nervous system to keep the sequencing in movement even if it is unusual movement.
We spend substantial amount of time working on many variations of Shikake Waza (set up strategies), how to estimate the opponent, bring opponent into your rhythm, and create and seize the chance without space of time.
We went into how to use the distance within each strategy, how to stay calm and sensitive to opponent while setting up. It was lots of fun.

We plan the next year instructors seminar in Sweden, in the beautiful town of Sigtuna, only a few minutes away from the airport.

I am so happy that we have such dedicated, passionate instructors, this is how we will keep Nishiyama karate and bring the level up.

What feels powerful is not necessary powerful.

Butch Harmon was chosen as world best golf instructor since 2003 and he said "for longer drives, forget what feels powerful".
I thought that this is really cool, he said the instinct to try to pound the ball of the tee result in what is known as "hitting from the top", which is a power killer because it disrupts the natural sequence of motion.
He said: "if you cannot hold your finish, have a balanced finish, you are going at a speed your body cannot support. Try to go at 70, 80% of your max speed - and get your downswing sequence right, that will give you more distance for sure."
To me this is so simple yet so impressive.
Sensei Nishiyama used to tell us over and over not to use "top power", get the sequence right, each segment from the ground up accumulates maximum energy and transfer it to next segment, to produce maximum total amount of force, the arms and legs of the technique should be merely an extension, making direction, tools of contact and of course the add some to the total chain of energy.
Sensei Nishiyama used to say over and over that what feels strong is not necessary strong.
Go at slower speeds that you can handle to develop proper sequence and than increase speed gradually, do not go faster than your stance could handle.

Bud Winter was the best sprint coach in US history and he said that he tells his athletes to run at 80 to 90 percent of their maximum speed, and they always ended up running their fastest when they thought this way. Bud Winter was a big fan of relaxing, he requested from his sprinters to relax their facial muscles while they sprint, so the effort is only where needs to be.

Avoid lapse in attentiveness

The other day my student Brian Palmer and I were sparring for about 20 minutes. Afterward Brian, who is one of the smartest people I know (and therefore, I always listen to his comments carefully), told me that he feels that karate is a great way to learn to keep his attention and focus, when we spar for 20 minutes, the moment he has lapse in his attention, that is when he will make a mistake and I would get him.
In karate, when sparring, more than anything else I know, if you lose attention, you get immediate feedback.

But to keep your attention for 20 minutes or more it cannot be forced, it cannot be an attention with effort, than one will get exhausted and momentarily lose of focus is inevitable.

Focus has to be relaxed and effortless, I am just “present” and my body will do what it needs to do.

How do we do that? How do we develop that kind of attentive, present mind?

We say “as if your eyes are behind you over viewing”, “don’t use eyes”, bypass the brain”, “don’t look to opponent’s outside (details), but rather look to the breath and eventually to the heart”, “allow the feet to catch the rhythm and control own movement, feet are the boss”.
All those directions over time will allow us not only to see the small details without lose of the whole, but also to keep our attention for long periods, since we spend minimum amount of mental energy. 

Oji Waza, how you react is not a (Conscious) choice

 Oji Waza is what we refer to as response techniques, or as some understand it as defense techniques.

There are many types of timing and techniques we can use to respond and capitalize on opponent’s attack.
We can use Sen timing and hit the opponent as they intend to attack, we can use Sen timing while avoiding the line of attack, and this is called Nuki Waza.

We can use timing of Go No Sen and catch the opponent after first attack and before they can switch to second attack.

We could use variety of footwork and technique depending on the timing, distance and other factors.
We could use Uke Waza, blocking techniques, which is done usually moving in, attacking opponent’s attack on the way to attacking the body.
We could use Amashi Waza (shifting out of opponent’s range on the way to counter), Mawashi Ashi, foot circle, or other footwork.

It is important to understand that what I do is not a conscious choice; it is not in the brain, because there is no time for judgment, analyzing, decision and than movement.

If I choose what I will do to react, first it takes time and second I am stuck in my choice and not free to do what is necessary at the moment.
When the opponent moves, my breath reacts, and my foot is already in motion.
We learn through kata that the breath controls the body center, and the body center controls our footwork and technique.

We practice many types of footwork, timing and techniques to respond to different attacks till those become our “body system” or acquired nervous system patterns, like a software install in the computer (hopefully quality software).

We face many opponents, and with time we learn that most people have similar patterns, even though different rhythms, ranges and ways of executing techniques. As we face many opponents we learn to read the ques that they give us, we learn to see the “information” that is there before one initiates this action or another.
We learn to use the eyes less and judge less in order to see more, to become sensitive to the subtle changes and the inclination of the opponent.

Finally, when we face an opponent, from our body center, we already have direction, ki energy projected to the opponent, but our feet are flexible to move in any direction on the way to hitting the opponent, depending on how early or late our reaction is and other factors.

As we get more skilful, the choice of reaction is decided by:

·      The breath.

·      Our established “body system”.
 

·      Our accumulated experience of facing many type of opponents.

We do not consciously choose, when we react, we don’t know what we are doing until it is done, yet we are aware, there is "monitoring" of self, opponent and the interaction.

Todome, Maai and footwork – Components that make karate most effective self-defense

Todome-

It is reasonable to say that if 120 lb of mass hits the biggest, strongest man, as one connected, dense mass, with sufficient speed it will be a knock down or make big damage.
Well, this is Todome, in karate we study through generations the details and means of how to connect the whole body, increase energy, by using ground reaction, sequencing body segments from the ground up to increase maximal speed and force and hit the opponent as one connected mass and deliver the full force in shortest instant, by being as dense and inelastic as possible at contact.

We learn how to produce and deliver force in many directions with many parts of the body.
No other martial art have this detailed knowledge of how to systematically develop finish technique to the point that even not so athletic, big or strong person can achieve finishing power.

As Sensei Nishiyama used to tell me: “what is the point of having 8 cylinders if we can only use 2, we must use everything we have” or he used to say “in karate you do not need to be Popeye”.

Maai-

Only karate teaches Maai (distance including timing) so systematically, maybe not all karate, but specifically Shotokan and Nishiyama’s karate.

The knowledge of Maai was not very developed in Okinawa and much of the knowledge was borrowed from sword fighting, Sensei Nishiyama was one of the important contributers.

You see as long as I am out of the opponent range of power, it does not matter how strong the opponent is, being on the border of opponent territory I can create uncertainty and force opponent to expose themselves by attacking, hesitating, or even just stiffening, and in the right timing, which is when the opponent cannot use power, I enter and attack without meeting, or conflict of power.
Weather the opponent wants to hit you or grapple with you they have to close the distance and while they use the technique they expose themselves.

Most other striking arts understand timing and distance from experience, not from systematic teaching that can save years. Most grapplers do not understand Maai since most of their training is on grappling and not Maai and how to control the distance and timing of entering the opponent space.

I don’t rush to attack, can stay safe, if the chance present itself I will attack, otherwise I will force the opponent to commit and expose themselves.

Footwork-

Footwork allows me to control the distance to my advantage and apply technique in perfect timing; it also allows me to start technique quickest, strongest without any back motion, when the chance appear we must capitalize without delay.

I have not seen many other martial artists that can start technique quick without back motion
Even though many martial arts and sports emphasize footwork, in karate it is taught to a very high level, we learn the concept of Ukimi, suspending the legs using the body center, so the spine and body center are controlling the footwork and making the legs soft and free and footwork effortless.

We learn the concept of foot first than body center than power, which makes shifting much faster and technique more effective.
If your footwork is not good even a potentially fast person will lose a lot of time and appear as slow.

Ho Shin - give your mind away (also, learn to use your full muscles potential)

Once decision is made, there is no mind in the technique, no hesitation, win or lose one must give everything.
When we can apply this concept and give everything, the mind is clear, there is no more judgment, and paradoxically we can become more sensitive, more intuitive, and more aware when we try less.

There is another aspect to it, very few of us are able to use our full muscles potential, generally we use only small potential of our musculoskeletal system, because of fear, past traumas, protection of the joints, but hand in hand with the developing the muscles and joints condition, we develop the mental ability not to hold back to apply ourselves fully to one purpose.
Take Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, it is recorded that in each step he takes the reaction back to his body equals over 1000 LB, that is a lot of force production, if an average person did that, after one 100 m sprint it is likely that his/her joints will be damaged.
So how does Mr. Bolt does it and how do we in karate learn to do that?
I am not sure how Usain Bolt does it, one aspect is his form, and maybe he intuitively learn how to give himself totally, 100%.

I will tell you what is the method we use in karate:

Form and sequencing.
First, we develop proper form and postural alignment, which allows for smooth transmission of force, and distribution of force through the whole body, not one joint or another.
Than, we learn proper sequencing of body segments to accumulate maximum force, but some people have good form and timing yet the still use only small amount of their muscles potential.

Stabilization strength:
When we stay in stance for a long time, we develop the smaller muscles closer to the joint, those are the muscles that activate first, before the big muscles, to stabilize the joint, while the bigger, outer muscles are responsible for force production (mainly).
Those stabilizing muscles are design to work for longer periods, and must have endurance.
It shows that when the stabilizing muscles are not functioning optimally the nervous system will not allow for full force production (about 30% less).
Our karate ancestors did not know sport science and the latest research but I guess through experience and correct intuition they developed methods of training that allow us to produce big power safely. 

Body center is intention center.
It is very important that we keep our intention in the Tan Den, our body center of energy. our decision and commitment is not in the brain, since there will always be holding back, conflict in our action if it comes from the brain.
Our body center is the intention and decision center, every action starts here mentally as well as physically, this concept has a lot of benefits besides being able to commit totally to one purpose.

Breathing
Our breath from low stomach activates the center and ground reaction, and allows the whole body musculature to cooperate and allows to maximize the recruitment of muscles in shortest time to one purpose (providing breath, muscles action and external action are matching).
The breath is also the connection between the mental and the physical, our breath allows us to mentally give every thing so the muscles can follow. There is no interference of the brain, and that is one reason we say in Budo: "there is no mind in the technique".
Or as Sensei Nishiyama used to say: "giving all breath is giving all energy" or "Kiai destroys opponent".