provincial art of Okinawan karate soon began to undergo a radical revamping. This took place through the teaching of karate in Japanese colleges and universities, and the tireless efforts of leading enthusiasts of the day. At that time, systematic experimentation with various forms of sparring began. Karate (as taught by Gichin Funakoshi) tended to be centered around the group performance of kata, with little training in application, so his students innovated and spearheaded a new approach that included much more prearranged and free sparring. This took karate in a new and popular direction and led to the formation of large, well-organized groups such as the Japan Karate Association. These groups have pioneered the modern tournament systems, borrowing heavily from the methods used in kendo competitions, and karate has in recent years been promoted as a sport. If, however, we wish to understand and fully utilize the benefits of the ancient kata and the intentions of their creators, then a return to the original source is required. This does not amount to an actual rejection of modern ideas, but if you use a wrench to hammer in screws, do not blame the tool or its manufacturer if you hit your hand or produce poor work. The same applies to the proper study of karate, its underlying purposes, and training methods.
The Ancient Kata
A kata is a prearranged sequence of movements that can be practiced alone. Kata have been handed down to us by the masters and teachers of the past as messages in movement. While karate has proliferated into an uncountable number of styles, the ancient kata remain. Unfortunately, changes to the ancient kata have appeared, particularly since the transmission of karate to Japan and the rest of the world. No matter how subtle a change may be, over the years it will make a great deal of difference, just as a one degree error in a compass or map reading will take you farther away from your intended destination the more you travel.
Because the earliest recorded teachers of karate in the eighteenth century are so remote and shrouded in legend, and because they have left nothing in writing, the only directions we can follow are the ancient kata themselves. It is easy to see the need for a precise knowledge of the intentions of a kata's creator (i.e., what it is for). If the function has been understood and the skill assimilated, there is no need to change the kata. If we accept that the ancient forms were created by those who knew what they were doing, then they are indeed the bedrock upon which the empty-hand arts rest. If modern interpretations do not match them or make any sense, we should look again to the kata, rather than willfully alter them to suit our purposes! One of the major reasons for the changes to some kata that appear in modern karate systems is the lack of understanding of the original meaning and function of the individual movements and general patterns contained in each form.
Function Dictated Form
True kata were developed by observing and recording how the human body could successfully respond to direct forces: rolling with, rerouting, and turning that force back on the sender. Continuous contact is an important element, and this accounts for the lack of Western-style ducking and weaving. This hands-on aspect of both the Saam Chin and Nai Fuan Chin kata means that an opponent's arms or legs are continuously monitored by contact, then trapped or neutralized. Neither of these kata make any sense at all as a choreographed fight against multiple opponents and should not be considered as such.
Although these kata are performed solo, the information that they contain gives rise to practical formulae that dictate, as simply as possible, the science of unarmed combat. Attempts to apply any kata without prior understanding of its essence (if it is a genuine kata it will have one), produce highly individualized applications that bear little resemblance to the original purpose of the form. These individualistic interpretations are so unlimited in scope that a situation arises in which you cannot see the wood for the trees, and collecting more and more kata will not help. Unless you can penetrate to the essence, the kata will remain a mysterious set of movements that are very difficult to apply in a practical way.
The real skill lies not in the static or mechanical repetition of a kata, or in acquiring a familiarity with an endless number of forms, but in the practitioner's ability to apply the kata with a training partner, and to improvise spontaneously on its given formula or theme.
The kata is the systems manual for all aspects of karate, including fighting, and should not be considered a separate practice. If students spar in ways that do not accurately utilize or even resemble the range of methods illustrated in the kata of their school, then the shortcut sparring methods will prevail, the kata will become superfluous, and the proven way will be lost.
Chapter Two
Basics
In this chapter I will introduce the physical aspects of the art beginning with a brief description of some exercises that may be useful for warming up. Following that I will describe the stances, basic strikes, and kicks that need to be perfected before one can begin to study the Saam Chin kata and its application. I will finish with a description of the rolling techniques that are so vital for the safe practice the Nai Fuan Chin applications in Chapter Four.
Warming Up
If you believe, as was traditionally the case, that the purpose of karate is either exercise or practice of the art's theories, then the kata become the warm-up for those activities. Zen Shaolin karate does not make any use of the squat-thrusts, jumping jacks, body toughening, or many of the other preparatory movements often found in karate classes. Instead, it uses the traditional kata to prepare the body for the specific exercise in which it will be involved, the application of the kata.
The Zen Shaolin karate warm-up method involves practicing the Saam Chin kata and then the more mobile Nai Fuan Chin kata. While performing these kata, no use is made of kinte (focus) because stiffness or jerky tension is extremely detrimental to the correct practice of Zen Shaolin karate. Also, it should be noted that Saam Chin and Nai Fuan Chin contain no ballistic movements, so one should not throw full-power punches or kicks into thin air as they can hyperextend the elbow or knee.
The need to warm up is apparent, with the most common reasons being getting the body going, "heating" the body in order to avoid injury, and stretching so as to be able to punch, strike, and kick. Convinced that we must prepare the body for a grueling challenge, or pseudo-combat, it is still easy to become confused about how we are to warm up most effectively. Warm-ups need to achieve three things: first, to raise the pulse rate; second, to provide movements for mobility; and third, to stretch the body. The degree to which this takes place is, of course, dictated by the type of activity being pursued (i.e., a table tennis player will warm up in a different way to a sprinter). It is doubtful whether the ancient founders of karate practiced the full splits or the whole host of gymnastic and athletic exercises seen in the modern karate warm-up. The general feeling of modern practitioners is that the ancient masters were not as educated or as scientific as we are. This book postulates the reverse, that the old masters' methods contain a true science based on sound body mechanics, symmetry, and safe, economical movement. They may not have been able to explain it in modern terms, but they could do it!
The aims and objectives have changed in modern karate. I do not wish to degrade or in any way devalue flexibility. I simply wish to encourage a more reasonable approach, making long-term and short-term safety equally important for karate students.
Far from being old-fashioned, traditional karate kata (with their high stances) parallel very accurately the findings of modern sports science, which state:
• There is a fine line between flexibility and joint stability. Some gymnasts
