These are general notes from the June 2000 trip to Okhaloma to spend a week training
with Shihan Yamkura.
On June 19th-23rd, Ric Kimball, Victor Lim, Matt Davis, & Bill Kane
traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma for advanced training under Shihan M. Yamakura. They were
accompanied by 4 other advanced belts from the Fremont/Finlay Ohio area.
Warm Up
| Toe Stretches |
| Toes one foot at a time (the stretching foot forward) |
| Toes both feet together, both at the same time |
| Toes pull yourself forward using your toes, |
| Knee Stretches |
| Press back on knees |
| Rotate knees (4 times each direction) |
| Bend knees (hands on knees), rock back on heels with knees straight and toes off ground
(stretch out hamstrings) |
| Hip Stretch |
| Lift heel off ground, raise hip up, knees straight, alternate sides, |
Hand Techniques
| Riken |
| Front |
| Over the top to the side |
| Side to the face |
| Side to the stomach |
| NOTE: point of contact is with wrist straight, penetration is with wrist continuing to
rotate. |
| Sanchin dachi |
| Feet should be as wide as possible without losing protection of the groin and without
pointing your feet too much (pointing your feet too much reduces stability) |
| The objective is to protect the groin |
| Zenkutso dachi |
| Transfer weight from NE to NW |
| Transfer weight with seikan szuki |
| Transfer weight with furi uchi |
| Transfer weight with shuto |
| Note: ridge hand is more powerful than shuto and more effective (inside out is trickier) |
| Head and down block |
| Only as high to block a punch |
| Only as far to the side to block a punch |
Foot Techniques
| Yoku geri |
| Typically in goju is from the side (mawashi geri in Ambler) |
| Some people do it directly from side (sokuto geri in Ambler) |
| Mai geri, kogen geri |
| Snap kick forward, toes pointed, striking groin upwards with top of foot (or you can
pull toes back but not as powerful) |
| Especially since we will typically have shoes on. |
| Kensetsu geri |
| A balance between power and quickness |
| Bring knee up higher for more power (but telegraphs more) |
| Bring knee up not as high for quickness (telegraphs less) |
| Nekoachi dachi warmup (movement first, movement plus technique second) |
| Front foot slides forward, back foot catches up, front foot always stays forward |
| Front foot slides forward,back foot catches up, steps in front at end (front foot
switches) |
| Front foot slides forward, back foot catches up, front foot mai geri (same foot forward
the whole time) |
| Front foot slides forward, back foot catches up, back foot mai geri, kicking foot lands
in front at end (front foot switches) |
Kihon Ido
| Alternating stepping/arm techniques, call out
head/middle/low blocks/punches. Students do each one as he calls it. |
Reaction Drill follow verbal command for each step (forward/back/turn)
| Start with stepping each stance. |
| Add blocks |
| Add punches. |
| NOTE: reaction drill is complement to kata (complete
opposite). Kata you know the sequence so the goal is on technique. Reaction drill, the
goal is to react to command as fast as possible. |
Kata
| Learning approach |
| first for technique |
| second for power |
| third for speed |
| Initially you do the kata, eventually the kata does you. (did I get this down
correctly?) |
| In the beginning, you are learning the steps and following the steps. |
| Later, your kata begins to take on more of your personality and style. |
Seisan
| Question: on first three moves, punch was fast, pull-back was slower (not slow, but not
as fast as the punch), exhale on pull-back. |
| Page 58, picture 7: Always three open hand strikes. |
| Some people start with right and end with right. For GKK, start with left and end with
left. |
| App 1: finger strike to eyes (two fingers per eye) |
| App 2: fold thumb in and strike with thumb to pressure point on neck or just under nose. |
| Page 60, picture 3 : the left kake uke is performed almost like a strike. The
left hand/arm goes straight out from chamber to block an opponents RH punch. |
| Page 60, picture 7: the right suku uke is striking groin with fingertips (keep
fingers/hand straight, dont bend). |
| The hidden application is cupping the right hand (fingers/thumb are tight) and striking
the pressure point between rectum and groin. |
| Page 61, picture 5: the application for the small
circle in front of right shoulder is grabbing the side of neck and ripping it out. The
single knuckle strike is to eye. |
| Page 64, picture 2: the first kick is high sokuto
geri, the last kick is to knee. |
| Page 65, picture 2: raise the LH slightly and pull it
back down to chest level (grabbing and pulling in) as the right elbow strikes. |
| Page 67, picture 1 and 2: the LH kake uke is slightly
ahead of the RH kake uke. The tow blocks are a single move. Grab, pull in, kick. |
Thursday, June 22 Notes
| Kata |
| The first three moves for Seiunchin, Sanseiru, and Shisoshin should be as strong as
Sanchin and have the same pace. |
| Always think of your target space. It is not required for kata but it helps if you think
of your target space and cross arms in that space (blocking area). Applications include
archer block in Seiunchin and empi uchi in Seiunchin. |
| In kata (especially Seiunchin) hand position finishes in same spot regardless of
potential application. For example, always finish geidan barai a fist above knee
everywhere. |
| Sparring warmup movements |
| Left foot forward, shift weight to right as you block with left (potentially blocking
kick), shift weight forward and punch with RH using hips, rapidly retrack punch and
retract stance back to neutral position (belt should swing to reflect hip movement). Vary
punch height. |
| Same thing with right foot forward. Note, many people that are right-handed need to move
their hips more to generate power. |
| Do same thing except add sliding step forward. Repeat going backward. |
| With LF forward, do same thing except add ½ step forward with RH and then full step
forward LF (LF starts and ends forward). Repeat going backward. Do again on right side. |
| Sparring tactics |
| An opponents strenght creates their weakness. For example, if they like to punch
with right hand, a good counter attack is a LF mae geri to opponent right ribs. A LF mae
geri as an attack is not as effective. |
| Minimize the number of effective scoring techniques. You need to practice and focus on
what works. Endurance is key. If you try a lot of different techniques in a sparring
match, you will get tired. You want to use your strongest techniques. A common mistake is
to use too many. You can use techniques to set up a situation to use your "best"
technique. |
| The difference between winners and losers in a tournament is tactics and strategy.
Winners create situations to use their strongest techniques to score points. |
Copyright © 2006 Amber Area YMCA Goju-Ryu Karate
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