The modern view of kumiTe: To equal To egypT

iTaru oki. Successor of the traditions of Japanese kata

anTonio oliva Seba: love is the most significant thing in life!

#1. 2015

miki kobayashi.blow not knowing the obstacles!

iT iS CuriouS 6 The modern view of kumite: to equal to Egypt

TeChnique 4 New rules 2013. Part III

14 Itaru Oki. Successor of the traditions of Japanese kata

21 Miki Kobayashi. Blow not knowing the obstacles!

28 New approach in kumite. Part II

helpfull 42 Dojo, where the winners are brought up

gueST of “akf magazine” 50Antonio Oliva Sebа:Love is the most significant thing in life!

CONTENTS

Dear friends!The year that was very eventful in the life of karate is behind now.

But 2015 is still responsible, as this is the year when we need to get an answer to the main question of the recent years: whether the karate will become the competitor in the Olympic movement? We hope that the coming year will give us that opportunity. The unity of our thoughts and actions is one of the factors in achieving these and other goals.

Let all that come in the New Year will bring only change for the better for the AKF team. Happiness, love and health to you and your families!

CHANG, KUANG-HUEIAKF president

How to respond, if several violations of the rules occur simul­taneously? Please, explain how to carry out the refereeing in such situations.

Figure 1.

The “blue” stepped out the limits of the ground, then the “red” performed tsuki.

Figure 2.

Both athletes performed tsuki simultaneously.

New rules

ANswers to the questioNs

Part III. SImultaneouS vIolatIonS

SemInar for refereeS:

to referee accordIng to new ruleS

Ro Respond to violations in oRdeR of theiR occuRRence

During the competition, the situations occur quite often, when several violations almost simultaneously arise at the tatami. Sometimes, one of the athletes permits several violations in a row. And it also happens that the “red” and the “blue” break the rules at the same time.

Under any scenario the referees should adhere to the basic principle of the refereeing – to respond to violations in order of their appearance. For example, if the “blue” has stepped out the mat at first, and the “red” delivered tsuki to him after it, you must firstly declare C2 warning to the “blue”, and then declare warning for C1 violation to the “red” (Fig. 1). On the contrary, if you need to declare warnings to both athletes at the same time, the Chief Referee shall make a decision in this order: at first to the “red”, and then to the “blue”.

Now, let us consider the actions of the chief and additional referees, when both athletes deliver tsuki simultaneously (Fig. 2).

flag signals of additional RefeRees

If you need to award C1 violation simultaneously to both athletes, the additional referee must rotate the red flag, then cross the flags, put them showing C1 violation (“red” flag shall be in front). Then the referee rotates blue flag and puts them forward crossed. Then, he shall inform the Chief Referee of the decision showing red flag.

Having familiarized with the decisions of additional referees, the Chief Referee renders his verdict as follows: C1 is to the “red”, C1 is to the “blue.” Additional referees should hold the flags in front of them without dropping up to the moment the Chief Referee makes a decision.

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to referee accordIng to new ruleS

If more than two referees could not come to the consent, the fight shall continue.

April 1, 2013, All-Japan Karate Federation has introduced new rules of the competition. Despite the fact that many members of the Referee Committees study and successfully master the new rules in practice, often misunderstandings arise because new rules vary markedly from the old ones in part of the refereeing. Given the situation, the JKFan editorial board decided to prepare a series of the articles that contain explanations of controversial and complex issues arising in the refereeing practice under the support of the Referees Committee of All-Japan Karate Federation. If you have any questions about the new referees’ rules, please contact the editors of our magazine.

The main principle is to respond to violations in order as they appear. Additional referees express their opinions using flags, the Chief Referee using gestures and shall make decision taking into account everything.

Flag signals of additional referees, when setting C1 to both athletes.

example 2. Decision making of C1 award to both athletes. The rotation of red flag

over the head

Two is C1 to the “blue”, one is C1 to the “red”

Warning to the “blue”.

Additional decision on C1 to the “red”

“C1 to the red”

“C1 to the blue”

Waiting for decision of

the Chief Referee

The rotation of blue flag over the head

Additional referees Chief Referee

Additional referees

Chief Referee

Chief Referee

More than two concents

Warning to the “red”

gestuRes of the chief RefeRee1. 1. If two additional referees showed C1 to

the “red”, and two referees showed C1 to the “blue”, the Chief Referee awards C1 warning to the “red” firstly, and then to the “blue”.

2. 2. If two additional referees showed C1 to the “blue” and one referee showed C1 to the “red”, the Chief Referee awards C1 to the “blue” at first. If the Chief Referee wants to show C1 also to the “red”, he should show “C1” gesture and declare the violation, when he have received the approval of more than two referees.

3. 3. If one referee showed C1 to the “red”, the second to the “blue”, and the Chief Referee agrees with their decision, he first shows C1 to the “red” (sets a warning in obtaining the consent of more than two referees), and then performs the same procedure with regard to the “blue.”

4. 4. In the case 3, unless consent of more than two referees has been obtained, a warning for C1

violation cannot be set, and the duel should be renewed (command “Tsuzukete Hajime!” – “Go on!” shall be given).In case of any misunderstanding, the Chief

Referee makes decision quietly rendering information to the additional referees by gestures and exchanging views. If you collect a few violations, it is necessary to follow attentively the flag signals of additional referees, in order not to miss them. For example, it happens that more than two referees set C1 to both the “red” and the “blue”, but the Chief Referee forgets to set the violation to the “blue.”

To avoid such incidents, additional referees should keep their flags till the moment, when the Chief Referee will make his verdict. Observers should also immediately report of the errors. Whatever it was, the agreed work of the entire referee team is very important.

In the next issue we will analyze more compli­cated cases.

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Author: Shin Tsuki

Learning the style!

Esra Nabil won the competition in female kumite among cadets in the weight category up to 47 kg

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The modern view of kumite: to equal to Egypt

The favourites from the country of the Pharaohs

Ahmed Ibrahim took the gold medal in the male kumite among athletes under 21 years in the weight category over 78 kg

November 2013, the 8th World Championship for the Juniors, the Cadets and Athletes under 21 years old was held in Spain. The competitions in 23 categories were included to the program of the tournament in the “individual kumite” category. And the representatives of Egypt have won the highest awards in nine of them. Agree that 40 % of “gold” in the asset of the national team of one country is convincing and impressive figure. The winners include two cadets, four juniors, three young athletes under

the age of 21. They are five guys and four girls.

With regard to physical ability of the favorites of the tournament, for example, Esra Nabil, the winner in the female kumite among cadets in the weight category up to 47 kg, is a head shorter than her rivals. And Ahmed Ibrahim, who won the male kumite among athletes under 21 years old in the weight category over 78 kg, has an impressive weight.

I t is impos sible to say that the team members of the Egyptian team have some

physical advantage, rather, on the contrary – they are no better than their rivals. So why did they manage to win so many gold medals? The physical feature which is inherent to the athletes of this country can be called as one of the reasons for this triumph, but we must admit that it does not give them absolute advantage over the competitors. We are talking about the technical element, the so-called Egyptian style.

Next we will talk about the art of this style in kumite.

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Photo 1

I. Kamae – footwork – rhythm

Fig. 1

The essence of the Egyptian style lies precisely in kamae. If the athlete has correct kamae, and his tsuki and geri will be good, and the risk of missing the punches will be negligible. At f i rs t g lance, kamae of the Egyptians may seem the same as that of the other athletes. However, if you try to perform their kamae, you can see several characteristic distinguishing moments. In addition, the kamae of the Egyptian athletes allow responding quickly to the actions of the opponent and switching faster from defense to attack.

The secret of this miracle technology is in the stance and the corpus. The athletes from Egypt have added nine gold medals to the country’s collection, not due to mastering some acrobatic tricks. Simply their techniques have no hint of a hit, and they honestly won “gold” due to their fast, accurate work.

If you ask what the Egyptian kumite is, I’ll tell you what it is kumite, where the actions cannot be predicted. Let us try to uncover the secret of such movements, convent ionally div iding our an a l y s i s in t o t h e s t an c e and kamae.

The sTance in sTyle of The runner before

The sTarTLet’s start with the simple

things – the angle of the legs. All nine winners from the Egyptian team have something common: everyone keep their legs at 90 degrees. To be more precise, in the half-stance kokutsu-dachi, while the body weight is distributed either evenly 5:5 or 4 – to the front foot and 6 – to the back foot.

The athletes from other countries apply kamae in half-

stance kokutsu-dachi, thus, we cannot say that this stance is char ac ter is t ic only for the athletes from Egypt. Outwardly entire stance: the direction of the toes and bending of knees, and weight distribution look pretty normal. However, the secret of this stance is in the conscious. In the conscious, which is inherent to the runners before the start. As you know, the runners star t the race after the following commands: “get ready”, then “get set” and “go”. When translating theses commands into the “language” of kumite, it turns out that at the time of the command “get ready” the consciousness is still in a relaxed state, then movements follow after the commands “get set” and “go”. But the technique of Egyptian athletes contains important nuance: they are always in the state of the command “get set” in kamae, and therefore they are ready to react to “go” at any time. Id est, the state of readiness to undertake something at any moment is hidden behind their movements, which are difficult to be predicted by the opponent.

Compare the readiness of the runner on the command “get set” (Fig. 1) with kamae of the Egyptian athlete pictured on photo 1. You will see to what extent their intentions are similar.

TighT as a bow and a sharp arrow…

Earlier we discussed how the lower half of the body looks like in the stance. The upper half of the body also looks specifically in kamae. The corpus of the Egyptian athletes in kamae looks as if they nocked a bow to shoot the arrow, at the same time their chest is straightened and shoulder blades are connected.

But many other athletes perform the same things.

The majori t y of Eg ypt ian athletes back hand is behind the front hand, back fist is aimed straight at the opponent, and the back hand in the position like nocking a bow-string. The front hand is not fully extended. And they do not just look like a stretched string and vertically located bow. In this regard, the front hand plays

the role of protection, and the back hand is analogous to nocked bow-string, which is ready to make a shot at any moment. In other words, the front hand is a shield behind which the athlete hides his body turning sideways, and the back hand reminds spear ready to fight, which is hidden behind the shield.

Kamae reminding a stretched string is classic for the athletes from Egypt. This position is very convenient: the chest is straight, the mighty bow and bowstring ringing buzzing with the effort, we can only let go your finger – and arrow will rush to the flight… therefore, the Egyptians are ready to start their attack at any time and do this.

8

Photo 2

II. Almost like musketeers

Fig. 2

Compare Figure 2, which shows the archer, with photo 2 depicting the Egyptian athlete in kamae. Such kamae in the form of an archer is inherent only to the Egyptians among all the athletes of the world performing kumite.

such a differenT rhyThm…Our attention was attracted not

only by unusual kamae, but also the rhythm beaten by feet. In the majority of cases the rhythm of the athletes is similar to the national melody. In the case of Japan, special feature of the national music is “downbeat” rhythm, when the upbeat follows the downbeat. A classic example is the folk song “Soranus”. African rhythm contrasts with the Japanese one. Downbeat follows the upbeat.

This suggests that tactless m ove m e nt i s inhe re nt t o the Japanese athletes, so movements without a hint prevail

in their technique. But on the other hand, they are not able to break the rhythm of the opponent by their own rhythm. Unlike the Japanese, the athletes of Negroidal race can knock an opponent out of rhythm, but cannot attack without the rhythmic beat.

This comparison does not mean that one option is better, and another option is worse. The most important thing is to understand how to use this dif ference. Eg ypt, although it is on the African continent, differentiates from other countries in some ways. Thus, the rhythm of its athletes, beaten by feet, has little to do with the leisurely pace of immigrants from other African countries, which are inherent to small downbeat.

As I have said, a feature of Egyptian athletes are tactless movements without a hint, which are based on small downbeat, and that is why they are able to move without a certain beat.

A s ment ioned above, a feature of the Egyptian style lies in kamae and tactless footwork. It is believed that it is very difficult to reflect tsuki, even if you know what follows afterwards, when it is performed by an athlete, moving without a certain beat.

We were very surprised that the Egyptian athletes almost never apply chudan tsuki. However, they use jodan tsuki with a probability of more than 90 %. So why do they manage to take as many points using only kizami-tsuki and gyaku-tsuki to jodan? Let’s try to find an answer to this question.

beT on kizami-TsukiTa l l E g y p t i a n a t h l e t e s

consistently earn points at the expense of kizami-tsuki. It would seem, where should such results

come from? They do not apply a variety of feet moving, do not use tsuki and geri, but they still get points. It turns out that the secret of the Egyptian athletes lies in tactless movement, and also in their ability to reduce the distance instantly without making unnecessary movements and penetrate rapidly into the opponent’s space.

T h i s a b i l i t y t o r e d u c e t he d is t an c e quic k l y has its own peculiarity. forward in tsuki is similar to the forward movement in fencing. An athlete directs the entire body forward in an instant, as if blowing up its lower half, from deep stance similar to kokutsu-dachi. At this moment his rear leg in the air. As soon as the front foot penetrates the opponent’s space,

the opponent receives a powerful tsuki practically at the same time. Additionally, the upper half of the body of the Egyptian athlete remains unshaken.

Let’s compare tsuki of a fencer on Figure 3ab with kizami-tsuki performed by the Egyptian athlete pictured on photo 3ab. Movements of the lower half of the body without tact are similar to the fencing.

To c a r r y o u t d e t a i l e d analysis of the techniques of the Egyptians, we watched a video of their performances and found something interesting. In particular, we saw a similarity in kamae of those athletes who are successful in kizami-tsuki performance.

Kamae of the winners in the Male Juniors Kumite in the weight

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Photo 4a Photo 4b

Photo 4c Photo 4d

Photo 3a Photo 3b

III. That does the blades hide?

Fig. 3a Fig. 3b

category up to 55 kg Gomaa Salama and Mohamed Al-Kotby, acting in the weight category up to 76 kg, is the best suited as examples. Both athletes have the lower half of the body turned sideways to the opponent in kamae, the upper part is half-

rotated only, the body is as if opened, i.e. it is ready to deliver kizami-tsuki in advance.

If you do not know in advance about the technique of such athlete, you have a risk to receive kizami-tsuki during a fight. And when you know his approaches,

you will be able to suppose which punch you shall expect – kizami-tsuki or gyaku-tsuki, depending on the angle of rotation of the upper body.

gyaku-Tsuki and kizami-Tsuki: is There no

difference?The Egyptian athletes have

another feature that is the technique of jodan gyaku-tsuki. Their gyaku-tsuki is performed by moving the feet at the same distance as the kizami-tsuki, and it takes the same time.

When per forming g yaku-tsuki, they adhere to certain rule – the movement starts with the front hand. Id est they succeed to perform two punches per one step – tsuki and gyaku-tsuki (photo 4 a-d).

Movements of the lower half of the body are the same, when performing both kizami-tsuki and gyaku-tsuki. The upper half of the body starts moving from the front hand in both cases, wherein the two punches are performed. As a result of the experiment, we found out that one or two tsukis per one step of the penetration to the opponent are per formed for one and the same time for the same distance.

It is more dif ficult for the opponent to reflect the second tsuki than the first one. And it is even more difficult to respond to the punches. Therein the secret lies, when the lower half of the body instantly shifts the whole body to strike.

The secret of tactless geri is in the work of the blades. We have already talked about the fact that the strength of the Egyptian athletes lies in the lack of the tact. In the case of

geri the same unwritten rule acts. When compared their geri with the technique of other athletes, it is unlikely you will see something special. However, the way they carry out these

attacks, deserves the highest evaluation.

On reviewed video we watched the moment when the athlete begins to at tack and gets ushiromavashi-geri to his face,

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Photo 6a

Photo 6d

Photo 5a

Photo 6b Photo 6c

Photo 5b Photo 5c

the champion in the Female Kumite, who performed among the athletes under 21 years in the weight category up to 53 kg. This strike has not brought her any points, but despite the fact that she has carried out geri using her rare foot, it looks as if she used the front foot to kick. That

is she abruptly bends the back foot and changes the position of the body in this state in a split second. In other words, the first impression is that the athlete involved her back foot in geri, but at some point she rotates the body, and now everyone can

see that geri is performed by her front foot.

Such geri permits to avoid counterattacks, which is com-monly practiced after gyaku-geri. Moreover, the rotation of the body allows sliding the supporting leg and retiring to a safe distance im-mediately after the blow. Such

performance may also beat up the opponent’s rhythm. Sure, such unusual turn of the body can be considered and physiolog-ical characteristics of these athle-tes, but I am inclined to think that the main reason lies in the collec-tion of blades in archer kamae.

without even relevant reaction to it. “How do the Egyptians manage to perform such discreet and at the same time crushing blow?” you’ll ask surely. The answer is: it is kamae again. When you take kamae, as if pulling the bowstring using your back hand, the blades are connected inadvertently. In addition, the lower half of the body is close to the half-kokutsu-dachi, wherein the weight is mainly on the rear foot. In this position, the hip joint is rotated outwards much softer and smoother, and it is easier to lift the leg up (photo 5a-c).

Thus, an archer stance allows you not only performing tsuki quickly, without a hint, but geri as well.

To confuse and mislead The rhyThm

Among all geris performed by Egyptian athletes, gyaku-geri especially surprised us. Photo 6a-d shows gyaku-geri of the athlete Areej Youssef,

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III. Do not look away!

We tried to figure out what is the secret of strength of the Egyptian athletes. All of our researches can be summarized as follows:1. In the stance (in the half-stance similar to kokutsu-

dachi) the Egyptians try to be always ready for any actions.

2. The chest is open, the blades are assembled in kamae in a way as if the athlete pulls a bowstring.

3. Small footwork and tactless attack are carried out.4. Kizami-tsuki and tsuki take equal time to be

performed. In gyaku-tsuki they also firstly perform kizami-tsuki, and then two punches are performed per one step.

5. Geri is also performed without a beat.At the end of our analysis, we have identified

another feature inherent to all Egyptian athletes. We are talking about the eyes. They almost never blink in the time of both the attack and the defense. Not to blink is an absolute condition for top class athletes in all sports. And almost all the members of the Egyptian team succeed not to blink.

Eyes are closed just a split second during blinking, but the pupils need to re-focus on the goal after opening, and certain time period is formed already.

If you look at the faces of the Egyptians at the time of the attack of the opponent, you will notice that they

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IV. Is there any anti-strategy?We have analyzed the Egyptian team kumite, and

now there is a reasonable question whether it is possible to develop a universal strategy to counter these athletes. After all, it doesn’t matter how perfect and dangerous the opponent is, you can always find the “antidote” against his blows. Let’s try to develop a strategy to counter the Egyptian athletes.

First you need to determine what punches the athlete prefers – kizami-tsuki or gyaku-tsuki.

If we divide the Egyptian style into points, then as a rule, the Egyptians are good at kizami-tsuki or gyaku-tsuki. If you watch them from the very beginning of the duels, you’ll notice certain trend. Or you can catch the trend, having researched well their kamae.

Usually, if the athlete takes side kamae, it means that he performs more often gyaku-tsuki. If the body is slightly turned and opened, then the athlete prefers kizami-tsuki.

Definitely, those who prefer kizami-tsuki may perform gyaku-tsuki at any time, and vice versa.

However, i f you are able to suppress the opponent’s basic technique, it would mean that you have halved his ability to attack. Therefore, it is very important to distinguish which technique is basic for the opponent.

cross The sTream where iT is shallowesTNo matter what types of punches are performed

by the Egyptian athlete – gyaku-tsuki or kizami-tsuki, it is most important to go him round from the outside and perform tsuki. Definitely, the approach will be slightly different depending on the stance (left-handed or right-handed) chosen by you and your opponent. But actually it does not change the fact: it is more effective to bypass the opponent from outside and move as if you are going to attack from the back. This relates not only to tsuki, but also geri. In this position, you will not be counter-attacked. Thus, you should always remember that you cannot go right to the opponent to strike.

keep your disTanceMost of the athletes are “downbeat” and cannot

fight from a distance. They feel more comfortable and act with a great advantage at close or medium distance. Therefore, we recommend increasing your usual distance for 10–20 cm, when fighting

against them. If you will comply with the above three conditions during the fight with them, then you will be able to reduce significantly their combat capability.

This article is dedicated to search solving the mystery of the Egyptian style. I am sure that it is necessary to study the style of the Egyptians; in order Japanese athletes could compete with colleagues from Egypt in the future. If the Japanese manage to adopt all their advantages, they will be able to perform more effectively at the international championships.

It is quite realistic to do this, as following points are close to the Japanese kumite style.1. tactless attack without a hint2. movement in “downbeat” tact3. less technique, but efficient performance

If you decide to explore archer kamae, take into consideration kamae of Egyptian athletes. It will be ineffective just copy someone’s kamae. We recommend first to study carefully all the details: how the Egyptians take kamae, what is position of their hands and other moments.

do not drop their eyes, do not blink and always meet the exact counterattack. In my opinion, this is the main cause of their power, due to which the Egyptian

team won a record number of gold medals at the World Championship among Juniors, Cadets and Athletes under 21 years old.

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14

Itaru OkISucceSSOr Of the tradItIOnS

Of JapaneSe kata

Kata Chatan Yara Kushanku conquers the world. Detailed analysis

Itaru Oki, the double champion of Japan can be legitimately called the successor of the traditions of Japanese kata. Itaru is a member of the kata team, he was entrusted to carry the flag of Japan at the international tournaments. And everyone knows Oki as versatile athlete, who is able to perform any kata perfectly: Annan, Paiku, Suparinpei and others. For individual fights he chose the most complicated kata - kata Chatan Yara Kushanku.

Itaru performed this kata at the World Championship in Serbia in the finals against Baltesh and in the finals at the Japan Championship in 2011. And there was no doubt that he will also perform this kata at the World Championship in Paris in 2012.

Today we would like to present to your attention the kata Chatan Yara Kushanku in Oki’s style.

Author: Hiroki Kikuchi

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13

14

15

perform kuri-uke using the left hand

turn back to nekoashi-dachi and

kote-uke (the translator’s

note - uke using a part

of the arm from the

elbow to the wrist)

perform mae-geri

12 perform chudan-tsuki using the left hand

5

6

7

lower your hands as if

outlining an arc, then put

the sharp of the right

hand to the left fist

perform chudan-uke using the sharp of the left hand

perform gedan osai-uke using the right hand

9

10

11

perform side chudan-uke using the left hand

perform chudan-tsuki using the right hand

perform kuri-uke using

the right hand (the

translator’s note - uke by circular motion of

the elbow)

8

perform gedan osai-uke using the left hand

2

3

1

0

put your hands in front of the chest

transfer your hands to the level of waistline

put aside your right foot, toes are unfolded

4

put your hands together, rise them above the head

stand by

Itaru OkIFamiliarity with kata Chatan Yara Kushanku in Oki’s style. Seminar on the pages of the magazine

You will learn about all the movements of the kata Chatan Yara Kushanku interpreted by Itaru Oki. At first, we should understand the main rule of this athlete is to work in full force.

We hope that the materials of this heading will be interesting for both high-class athletes and beginners in karate who wish to learn movements of the kata Chatan Yara Kushanku.

“The the movements starting from movement 7, did not become only work for hands, I perform movement 6 using force. To do this, I toughen muscles of my stomach in movement 5 in sanchin-dachi stance (as it is shown on the top photo) and give away all this force in movement 6,” says Oki.

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perform mae-geri

perform sukui-uke

21

perform morote-tsuki (the translator’s note - punch using both hands)

16

perform a turn back and deliver uke using the edge of the left hand in front of you

17

18

19

20

perform uke using the edge of the right hand

perform uke using the edge of the left hand

perform uke using the edge of the right hand

after performing ura-uke (the translator’s note – uke using back of your palm) the hands are clamped in the armpits

22

23

24

turn back and perform the block chudan to the side using the left hand

perform enpi using the right hand taking siko-dachi stance

perform sukui-uke (the translator’s note - uke using forearm)

25

26

27

perform mae-geri

turn back, the left hand is down

arms are crossed in front of the chest

29

30

31

32

33

the left hand goes down

both hands are crossed in front of the chest in moto-dachi stance

perform the block to the side using the left hand

34

35

36

both fists are drawn to the right side

perform the block to the side using the left hand and mae-geri using the left foot

perform the block in nekoashi-dachi stance, exposing the elbow forward

37

38

39

both fists are drawn to the left side

perform the block to the side using the right hand and mae-geri using the right foot

expose the elbow forward nekoashi-dachi stance

28

perform the block to the side using the left hand

×

×

Kata Chatan Yara Kushanku conquers the world. Detailed analysis

Motion 21 is morote-tsuki. To show the force of the punch, it is necessary to press the armpits tightly when performing motion 20. Armpits should not be open; in such case you lose your power.

“Do not lower your arm in sukui-uke, in order not to lose the balance when performing geri. This movement must be performed in such a way as if you draw the arm to the side, then the posture will be flat and you will be able to perform geri at an optimum height,” the champion recommends.

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44

45

perform crossed uke in front of you in siko-dachi stance

lower your hands in crossed uke in front of your chest

43

perform the block forward diagonally right using the sharp of the left hand

40

41

42

perform the block to the left using the sharp of the left hand

perform the block forward diagonally left using the sharp of the right hand

perform the block to the right using the sharp of the right hand

46

47

48

perform sukui-uke in front of you

perform mae-geri

perform gedan block to the right in crossed stance

49

50

51

perform kagi-tsuki (the

translator’s note - punch-hook, hit with

an elbow bent at 90

degrees) using the left

hand

block with crossed hands to gedan

perform chudan morote-tsuki taking siko-dachi stance

52

53

54

perform a turn back and side block to the right to chudan

perform a jump

land softly

55

56

57

turn back

perform gedan block using the right hand

perform chudan gyaku-tsuki using the right hand

58

59

60

perform the block using the edge of the right hand

look ahead and perform sukui-uke using the right hand

lower the left hand from the right shoulder to the wrist

61

62

63

perform tsuki-te using the right hand

draw your right hand to yourself with open palm

perform the punch using the sharp of the hand backwards

×

In this position, the back should be straight. Try to keep the neck straightened, as shown on the photo above.

“In order the jump to be higher, try to compress in the air as much as possible (so visually your dimensions are diminished). And it is very important to work of your left leg. You need to perform such a motion in the air using your left foot, as if you carry out another push-off, and then bend it,” Itaru suggests.

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64

65

66

perform tetsui-uchi (the translator’s note - “hammer blow”) in siko-dachi stance

perform the punch using the back of the left fist

perform the punch using the right elbow

67

68

69

perform a turn back and block to gedan using the right hand

perform the block to gedan using the left hand in the front stance

both fists are drawn to the right side

70

71

72

perform mae-geri

perform the punch using the right elbow

turn diagonally left

73

74

75

perform mawashi-uke (the translator’s note - uke with a turn)

perform block to gedan forward in kokutsu-dachi stance

perform uke using crossed hands

76

77

78

raise up open palms

turn forwand rotating to the right and bring

your hands together in

front of your chest

perform double geri

79

80

81

perform a punch using back of your hand

taking a step back, perform the block to gedan

taking another step back, perform the block to gedan

82

bring your hands together in front of your chest

83

lower your hands to the waistline level

take the readiness stance

Kata Chatan Yara Kushanku conquers the world. Detailed analysis

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#1. 2015

Blow not knowing the obstacles!Special report on the uShiromavaShi-geri technique

Miki Kobayashi

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currently miki Kobayashi is  the captain of the  female national team of Japan, and its strongest link that repeatedly confirmed at Kumite championships held both in Japan and abroad. as a student of the  third year, miki won her first World championship, and won the bronze medal at the second one. this year she is  going to take part in  the World Karate-do championship for the  third time and become the holder of the champion title again.

to characterize briefly progressive kumite of this athlete, it is enough to call two epithets: strong and rapid. miki’s favorite technique is punches, but lately she is focusing on the development of ushiromavashi-geri, and she told us about it willingly.

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Miki kobayashiShe was born on November 4, 1989 in Mie Prefecture.She finished Keyay High School under Higashi Osaka University and graduated from Teikyo University. She is a coach of karate section of this University. Since the 12th grade, Miki is a part of the national team of Japan. At the moment Miki is a leading athlete of female kumite team in the weight category up to 55 kg.Even as a schoolgirl, Miki performed many times at the World Juniors Championships. In the third year of the university she first came at the adult world championship and won. Miki is still at the forefront of female athletes performing in the female kumite. She strives to become a world champion again.

The latest main resultsThe WKF World Championships

The winner of the 20th World Cup (2010), bronze medalist of the 21st World Cup in the individual and team kumite (2012), two-time Champion of Asia (2012–2013), Champion in individual kumite and two-time Champion in the team kumite (2012–2013) of East Asian Championship EAKF, the winner of the 6th East Asia Championship (2013), the winner of the 2nd World Martial Arts Games (2013), the Champion in the individual and team kumite (2013) of the 68th Japan Championship for Physical Culture, the three-time Karate-do Champion of Japan (2010–2012).

PRoFiLE

Ushiromavashi-geri is miki’s new favorite techniqUe.T he l e a ding a t h l e t e o f

the Japan national team in the weight category up to 55 kg shows impressive growth of skill.

Miki was in her third year of university, when won the “gold” at the World Cup held in Serbia in 2010. That victory became possible due to persistent workouts of the athlete, and the technique of high-speed punches is still called as her hallmark. Miki’s determination reflected in the motto “Attack, if you decided to attack!”, and the courage with which she penetrates into the opponent’s space, remains unchanged.

In 2012, Miki had to settle for “bronze” at the 21st World Cup in France. To stay on the prize positions was also a big deal, requiring enormous efforts. But this achievement did not bring any joy to Miki, she did not hide her disappointment and frustration. According to the athlete’s words, she found herself thinking that she looks for excuse to her defeat, and it was found: it is

difficult to become a champion, when combining training with work. Immediately af ter this tournament, she took part in the Championship of Japan and managed to win the top award. Encouraged by this victory, Miki abandoned her earlier plans to leave the big sports. “I really want to become a world champion once again”, said Miki, explaining her decision. The turning point occurred in the life of Miki in 2013. After experiencing the defeat at the World Games in July, she lost her confidence and fell into depression.

We will talk how Miki found the s t reng th to overcome the depression, and how her kumite changed. And now we return to the fact that she was entit led to par t icipate in the World Championships and tell about her unique ushiromavashi-geri in which Miki have concentrated the whole experience of her participation in sports tournaments. In contrast to her high-speed punches performed by her more intuitively, ushiromavashi-geri technique

became the result of her complex search, deep study and hard workouts . In schools, Miki studied ushiromavashi-geri, but she almost never used it during the competitions. When she performed at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in 2009, Miki received response ushiromavashi-geri and lost with a score 3:2. This defeat hurt her and became the impact to start studying u s h i r o m av a s h i - g e r i . W h e n studying this technique in detail, Miki revealed many hidden details in it that can make the kick successful. Miki’s tactics with a focus on this blow was absolutely right: in the future almost all points at the championships 2013, including the Asian Championship, Japan Championship, Tokyo Championship for Physical Culture and the World Championships held in the beginning of 2014 in Paris, she took ushiromavashi-geri. Moreover, this strike was equally effective in both the attacks and counterattacks.

We asked the world champion to share the secrets of her crown kick.

22

Okay!

Not bad!

Those, who are unable to perform ushiromavashi-geri, should start from the very beginning, with the form. Miki learned this as she was a child. And we can say that this initial knowledge became the basis of her ushiromavashi-geri.

Photo 1. Lean your back against the wall. Support foot is fixed, cope the front foot and touch the wall with your fingers.

Photo 2. Once you learn how to perform the movement in a right way, as shown on photo 1, you can begin to exercise with leg pulling. Front foot touches the wall

drop the front foot support leg is pulled up to the front one pull up the front leg and touch the wall with the fingertips. When performing the exercise, stand along the wall, movement shall be performed in one fell swoop with repetition.

kanami ishizava, the student of Teikyo University, practices

in karate section of this university as once Miki did.

Miki Kobayashi does not hide that has adopted new kamae. Previously, she preferred kamae in which the body weight is on the front foot. Together with this stance Miki started using kamae with the load on the back foot. We recommend you to try this kamae with exercises for ushiromavashi-geri.

Practically do not change the position of the head, but if you slightly lean it, you become further for the opponent.

Body weight. Weight is on

the back foot.

Take that!

Photo 1a Photo 2a

Photo 2c

Photo 1b Photo 2b

Photo 2d

Ushiromavashi-geri: basic exercises

for the beginners

Try to perform

Geri!

Forward!

Kamae with the burden of the weight on the back foot:

take note

It is easier to perform geri using the front foot.Try to get

away from the blow.

Increasing the distance, you can easily and efficiently perform the rearward movement.

Weight is on the front leg.

Body weight.

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Many athletes try to block ushiromavashi-geri. To get around the obstacle, at a time you need to perform mae-geri in a straight line and in that moment, when you are close to the target, to turn your ankle. That is necessary to pass over the block of the front arm around the inner side of the locking arm.

Photo 3a

Photo 4a Photo 4b

Photo 4c Photo 4d

Photo 3b Photo 3c Photo 3d

In close combat you need to shake the hands of a rival!

This is impor-tant!

This is impor-tant!

This is impor-tant!

When you shook

the hand

slightly move aside the support

leg.

Open

To deliver ushiromavashi-geri to the opponent in close combat, you must perform the following steps.

It often happens that we cannot break through geri, because we are in the capture with the opponent, as shown in Fig. 3a. In this case, it is important to shake the hands of the rival.

The person who wants to perform geri (in this case – Miki), shall turn outwards left arm at the elbow area quickly and shake the hand of the rival. From this position the support leg shall be unfolded slightly exteriors. And it is necessary to push easily

the opponent in the clinch position, in order to be able to apply ushiromavashi-geri.

Pushing an opponent, do not step back immediately. As photo 4b shows, it is needed to bring the support leg a little to the inner side of the opponent. If you move the leg back, geri is unlikely to reach the goal. Remember that the secret to a successful implementation of geri is in turning the support leg to the inner side.

Having moved up the foot a little, you will be able to adjust the distance.

support leg

when pushing the opponent

slightly to interior.

The kick reached the goal!

Ushiromavashi-geri breaks any block in a straight line!

As if performing mae-geri

a sharp turn shall be performed at the end of

the movement

Ushiromavashi-geri in a straight line!

Targeting inside of

the block!

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Particular advantages of an angle. Strike back!

To get to the back of the head…

When you lead in a duel, it is very advantageous to use the mat corner in the dying seconds, as in such cases the opponent is almost always going to attack.

At this point, you can strike back: having adjusted the distance by moving back and “read” the intentions of the opponent, perform response ushiromavashi-

geri using the front foot. Here you need to aim at the back part of the head, as if you wrap up the opponent.

To hit the back of the head so as if you want to wrap the opponent up, your leg performing geri should be bent at the knee.

Targeting in this direction

Geri Bending

Counterblow with long transposition!

This is impor-tant!

The opportune moment

The opportune moment

Synchronize the rhythm It is important to choose the moment, when the opponent

will attack

Exploit an advantage of an angle. Move back. If the weight is on the back foot, it will be easier for you to

perform geri.

Target to the back of the head.

During the footwork, it is n e c e s s ar y t o s y n c hr o nize t h e t r a n s p o s i t i o n w i t h t h e o p p o n e n t . S e i z i n g the moment, when the opponent tries to attack from behind, meet

his attack using ushiromavashi-geri, which shall be performed with the front foot. This kick fits very well to athletes practicing a long step. It is performed at the moment of the attack;

therefore, it is very difficult for the opponent to respond to it. It is necessary to “catch” the rhythm of the opponent, and make it so that the opponent could not guess of anything.

If you want to choose the side of the head as a goal, the opponent may guess that you plan ushiromavashi-geri. Therefore, it is desirable to aim at the back of the head.

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#1. 2015

2013: the shell is crackedThe condition for participation

in the World Games, called

the second Olympics, is the

presence of medals won recently

at the Championships of Japan.

Five athletes – Miki Kobayashi,

Kayo Someya, Ayumi Uekusa,

Ryutaro Araga and Ryo Kiyuna –

have been accredited from Japan

to participate in these prestigious

competitions held in Cali, Colombia,

in the last July. Someya and

Uekusa, which are kohais at the

university, won gold medals. Araga

won in a tense struggle in the

heaviest weight category of male

kumite. Kiyuna won the bronze

medal in the kata competition.

Only Kobayashi left the races after

the first meetings and returned

home without a medal.

M i k i ’s p e r f o r m a n c e s b y

their content were even worse

than the results. Shortly before

the Championship she broke her

right arm. The mere existence

of this injury seemed to Miki

the convincing excuse for her

defeat. And additionally, Lucy,

the strongest athlete from France,

who lost to Miki the last World Cup,

was waiting for her on the mat.

“I will not be able to win this

championship…” disappointed

Miki thought for the first time

in her sporting life. There was

neither desire to win in her mind,

nor the courage to come into

confrontation with powerful rivals.

No wonder that in such a mental

state, she could not withstand

the fierce competition and lost.

She was upset by her sense of

helplessness even more than

the actual loss, and at that moment

she lost a very important thing –

confidence, brought up on all her

achievements. Instead, her soul

and mind were filled with negative

thoughts, which she could no

longer cope with.

The world of spor ts l ives

according to its own rules, which are

often very severe. It is very difficult

for the winners to stay on top of

the podium. And if the champion

breaks down, then his falling often

resembles the stone’s falling into

the abyss. The rise after such fall

is incredibly difficult. It is much more

difficult to climb to the top than for

the first time.

After the World Games, Miki came

to the gym of Teikyo University after

her work and practiced completely

alone during the summer holidays.

Going for a run, Miki worked

mechanically with her feet, and

the picture of the World Games

came to life in her mind. Painful

memories made everything blurry,

and she began to work hard, in order

to get rid of anxiety and emotional

stagnation. Just at this time, Miki

began to think of kamae and started

to practice a new stance for her with

shifting the weight to the back foot.

First this kamae seemed unusual

to her, then she decided that this

stance can be used during some

waiting moments. However, Miki

found wider application for this

kamae in the process of its deep

study, due to which she stroke

the probability of ushiromavashi-geri

delivery. And the options for moving

backward and sideward movements,

as well as the types of attacks

and defense increased almost

immediately. The application of both

new and old kamae allowed Miki to

diversify and expand the tactics of

delivering combat.

In October, she won the 68th

Championship for Physical Culture

in her hometown Tokyo. And

in the future she was able to show

the world her rebirth with a help

of her victories at the 6th Asian

Championship and the 2nd World

Martial Arts Games.

Continuing to act in the same

vein, Kobayashi won the Premier

League tournament in Par is

in January this year. Miki, like

breaking a solid shell, became

much more courageous. She is no

longer afraid of any changes and

experiments. And the athlete

showed absolute confidence while

rewarding.

“After the defeat at the first

World Games my mother was

the first person, who supported me.

When I participate in international

championships, she always watches

the duels and is always gratified

by my success, when receiving

preliminary results, and thanks me.

Real amicable support was provided

to me also by my classmate Rimi

Kajikawa, the winner of the Asian

Kata Championship. She, like me,

is now in a difficult situation: kohais

come on the heels of us… Looking

at her, I also try to work with all

might,” admitted Miki.

Miki Kobayashi is very strong this

year. The second raise to the sports

top hardened her will, she became

stronger in times and expanded her

kumite. And there is no doubt that

Miki still has vast opportunities for

growth.

Will the bourgeon pierce out?

Kobayashi is not afraid of any changes

26

mr. abdulayev SarSynbay 2nd vice-president akf

The year 2014 that was very eventful in the life of karate is behind now. The AKF plans to demonstrate its dynamic development in this year again. Important role in this process is played by CAKF, which became the author of a number of projects targeted to diversify the life of the Asian Karate. One of them is the creation of the AKF awards. This proposal was approved by the AKF. The medal designed by Kazakh designers was already approved by the AKF Executive Council.

Awards of different ranks are intended to assess the merits of the AKF members who have contributed to the development of the Asian Karate.

As the project initiator, I would like to assure all my colleagues that the obligations to implement the project and all further actions related to the issuance of awards will be embodied in the nearest future.

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#1. 2015

new approaCh inAuthor: Shin Tsuki Pictures: Tomohito Kamobayashi

The  21st WKF World Championship held on  November 21–25, 2012, became the  most massive for the  entire history of kumite. Technically, it demonstrated the direction of development of this type of combat.

The  article explaining kumite technique in  our first edition received great resonance among the readers: we received significant number of both opinions and questions. This is why we decided to publish the second pool on kumite elements. It will tell about the techniques the athletes used in the process of the international tournament.

NEW EXPLANATIONS!KUMITE-KIHON 2

why does The karaTeka gain 20 cm advanTage in “kani” (translator’s note:

kani is translated as “cancer”) sTance?Last time we wrote that your tsuki reaches

the opponent in side kamae but you will become inaccessible for the opponent. However, evidently, these explanations were complicated for understanding, and we will speak about such stance at first.

We will compare it with other kamae used by the athletes frequently. Firstly, look at figure 1. This is so-called moto-dachi, when you stand in shallow zenkutsu-dachi and the body is slightly turned.

In this position turn the body accurately sideward not moving the feet forward or backward, rotate your toes at 90 degrees, and the head is shifted 10 cm back (Figure 2). And even if the feet will be kept at the same place, the opponent’s tsuki will be 10 cm farther.

KAMAE

28

1

2

3

4

Now let us perform gyaku-tsuki from moto-dachi stance (Figures 3–4). Then change moto-dachi stance for kamae shown at figure 2, and perform gyaku-tsuki again. And you will see that you are able to perform tsuki much farther (figures 5–6), as tsuki will easily come 10 cm further.

Comparing side kamae (kani kamae) and moto-dachi kamae, it shall be noted that it is possible to gain 20 cm advantage from the same location but just changing kamae: you will be 10 cm farther from the opponent’s punches, and at the same time, 10 cm closer to the opponent to perform your tsuki.

The cause of low risks in “kani” kamae

“Kani” kamae has also other advantages. It permits to minimize the risks due to the angle of toe posit ion. As we have already mentioned before, they shall be rotated at 90 degrees, id est you shall take kokutsu-dachi or siko-dachi stance.

When we take moto-dachi, then take zenkutsu-dachi, this is why the toe of back foot is directed diagonally forward.

And here we propose the toe of back foot to be directed either strictly sideward or diagonally back. As such position of the toes will allow minimizing risks of surprise attack of the opponent. The most dangerous moment is to receive your opponent’s blow, when you start your attack.

Firstly, the technique applied by your opponent has rather more significant impact in such moment.

Secondly, you are not ready psychologically to protect yourself in attack position.

If moto-dachi stance will be changed by siko-dachi, your face remotes 12 cm away from the opponent.

And even tsuki, which could not reach the opponent from moto-dachi stance, reach him now.

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#1. 2015

When you move forward in moto-dachi stance, the body shifts together with the foot resulting in the risks.

5 9

6 10

7 11

8 12

We will consider an example chudan gyaku-tsuki. When performing it in moto-dachi stance, the whole body moves with the front foot movement (figures 7–8).

This is why you approach the opponent with all the body starting from the moment of movement and put yourself in danger.

However, if you take semi-kokutsu-dachi or siko-dachi, then only front foot moves forward, while back one becomes the support wall, and the entire body stays virtually at the same place (figure 9–10).

The reason is hidden in the proposed position of the toe of back foot either sideward or diagonally back.

If you take “kani” kamae, even if you penetrate the opponent’s area moving your foot forward, your body still stays at the inadmissible distance from the opponent. And the risk to receive the counterblow is rather low. It is sufficient to turn the body and your blow will reach the opponent from such position. Later, if you take zenkutsu-dachi, your body will stay at the same position. And in case you return to “kani”

stance, you will move away from the opponent. Id est advantage is available in quick distance creation (figures 11–12).

Probably, the readers will have some doubts here: when the body does not move together with front foot, the distance shall not be decreased. However, if you try to perform this technique in practice, you will see that tsuki “becomes longer” in “kani” kamae.

Perhaps you will think then: if the body does not move together with the foot, the punch will occur delayed for some moment. We shall say there is no virtually difference. Id est, we throw front foot in “kani” kamae, thus, penetrating rather deeper to the opponent’s area.

It is required to shift entire body taking moto-dachi stance, where zenkutsu-dachi is the basis. While in “kani” kamae having kokutsu-dachi or siko-dachi as a basis, we throw front foot and shift the body turning the lumbus. In addition, the movement is performed much easier, as the weight is reallocated correctly.

Continue actions 3–4: tsuki will achieve the goal, if it is performed from siko-dachi.

If to penetrate to the opponent in siko-dachi stance, back foot becomes support wall, and then you will be able to approach the opponent by front foot only.

In such position, it is enough just turn the body, in order to penetrate closer to the opponent and reach him.

Then it is possible to move away from the opponent turning the thigh to external side and pulling the hand back.

30

Photo 1a

Photo 1b

Photo 1c

Virtually all the world class athletes take siko-dachi stance.

kamae of The crowned aThleTes

Now we propose to consider kamae of the athletes who took part at the international championship. Photo 1a shows the finals of the best karatekas ever entering the category up to 75 kg, the duel between Busa from Italy and Aghayev from Azerbaijan. The toes of both athletes are at 90 degrees. Such stance allowed them free maneuvering, winning the opponents and reaching the finals. Besides these two karatekas, virtually every participant of the international championship fought taking such stance. And the winner of the previous Bros Championship (Brazil), who reached the victory this time, takes similar to siko-dachi stance (photo 1b).

And both finalists in the category up to 67 kg, Khanafy (Egypt) and Saeid (Iran) also took siko-dachi kamae (photo 1c).

Japanese athletes are mainly taught moto-dachi kamae. Due to this fact, they are not used to apply siko-dachi stance. However, taking into account all above-mentioned advantages, this kamae shall be considered as more favourable and advantageous.

Moreover, such stance is critically important for Aghaev, the lowest athlete in his category. This time Japan team had relatively many athletes applying square kamae. For example, Ryutaro Araga changed his stance and his body posture (which always was shifted forward) became straight, the penetrations of this athlete to the opponent became deeper. This resulted in less number of mistakes. Maybe it was the reason due to which he succeeded to reach the finals?

In the next issueRelocation with crossed legs

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#1. 2015

Having waited the opponent’s going off, Aghayev (Azerbaijan) performs clear ushiromawashi-geri (photo 2). And Biamonti (France) performs ushiromawashi-geri (photo 3) at the moment of going off of the opponent from Turkey. These two photos have one common thing that both athletes do not lose sight of the opponent, flexing the body capably.

In close contact, it is the most significant thing to try to disbalance the opponent as early as possible or prevent him to move. Photo 4 shows how the athlete from Turkey performs geri trussing up the opponent. Photo 5 illustrates how the athlete from Korea pulls the opponent forward and performs geri.

Photo 2a Photo 4a

Photo 2b Photo 4b

Photo 2c Photo 4c

Photo 2d Photo 4d

Photo 3a Photo 5a

Photo 3b Photo 5b

Photo 3c Photo 5c

Photo 3d Photo 5d

Geri

32

geri is considered To be The flowers of karaTe

This blow may restore your position, go forward and put the spectators into a flutter. Especially, at the world arena, when everything may happen even with the score difference amounting three points and the struggle continues till the final signal.

Particularly, sasori-geri used by Ko Matsuhisa to defeat Aghayev two years ago. This technique was widely spread, and many athletes applied this technique at this championship. Sasori-geri became so popular that when Matsuhisa was performing, French spectators shouted waiting namely this technique to be performed by him.

This time the audience was happy to see response geri against the opponent’s tsuki. It was performed at once as response to tsuki or then stepping back: at the moment, when the opponent delivers tsuki or after the punch, he receives response geri. He is disappointed not only by the fact you got three points for geri, but also psychological damage due to the missed blow is rather serious.

When taking “kani” stance with toes being at 90 degrees, it will easily allow you to move back and parry the opponent’s attacks. And as the thighs are also unfolded, you have the possibility to perform geri anytime: it is sufficient just to raise the foot. In other words, you may easily parry the blow, and perform geri with one movement.

Photos 2a-d illustrate how Aghayev performs response geri against the opponent. Here an attention is required to be paid to the following moment: as photo 2b shows, the opponent started his attack, Aghayev turns his body simultaneously and pulls his leg to himself. Rafael possesses excellent flexibility, strong legs and body. He performs utter kick using his amazing force and flexing the body and pulling his leg to himself.

When looking at photos 2a-d at the head level, it is clear that Aghayev forecasted the opponent’s actions. This is why, he comes to geri curving the body. We shall do justice to his discernment and the fact how skilful he uses central tanden. Azerbaijani athlete pushes out his foot up using lumbus, changing the body position and applying force of falling. Due to this fact, it does not matter how far the distance of the opponent performing tsuki, if the moment is forecasted correctly in temporal space, geri will achieve the goal without fail.

Also many other athletes use such response geri. Let us look at Alexander in photos 3a-d. Here he also pulls his leg out using the force of the bending body. Both these athletes do not drop the sight from the beginning till the end and watch their opponents. They watch the opponents even bending; this is why they can control response geri until the blow is completed.

geri in The holdThe championship witnessed another bright

technique – ushiromawashi-geri at the moment of hold. This is by no means new technique, but if it is succeed, it brings three points as well as psychological damage to the opponent.

Photos 4a-d illustrate ushiromawashi-geri performed by the sportswoman Yenen from Turkey. She keeps remotely from her opponent. In addition, she holds the opponent’s left shoulder and delivers geri using right foot from invisible corner.

And the most amazing thing is the toes of the support left foot are unfolded at 180 degrees as it is shown in photos 4a-b. This says of wide unfolding of hips: it is possible to demonstrate strength and obtain points even from such restricted position.

Id est, if you beware of only nage in hold, you may definitely receive geri. The hold shall be considered as the best chance for the attack due to close distance of the opponent. There are such holds, when the opponent is unmovable (as shown in photos 4a-d). Or on the contrary, when the opponent is shifting (as shown in photos 5a-d, where Kim, the athlete from Korea, pulls his opponent forward).

Both techniques are similar in a way the upper part of the body is captured. Due to this, the opponent’s attention is focused only on his upper part, and he may not notice geri.

In case of close contact the opponent’s range of vision is narrowed, hence geri can be used effectively. However, when performing such technique only one foot serves as a support, and you may easily lose the balance. In this case, it is required to act first and try to do the same with the opponent or truss him up. Otherwise, you give him possibility to feel the moment to knock you down.

Lately, sasori-geri in the hold becomes more popular, and it becomes more difficult to dodge it.

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#1. 2015

Photo 6The athlete performs chudan tsuki in siko-dachi stance, approaches the opponent in kokutsu-dachi stance, takes zenkutsu-dachi turning the lumbus, and then returns to siko-dachi and steps back from the opponent. It is important here that he approaches the goal not using the hand but lower part of his body.

To use fully hip Turnings To exTernal and inTernal sides, when performing chudan Tsuki

We discussed chudan tsuki already many times before. The international standard of the punch is deep penetration to the opponent using entire body and head. The instance is illustrated in photos 6a-d.

It is necessary to select required distance moving back and forth, take kokutsu-dachi stance, then bend the knee and perform gyaku-tsuki.

Changing siko-dachi stance kokutsu-dachi zenkatsu-dachi siko-dachi, we minimize our risks, increase chances for successful blow, and gaining the point correspondingly.

It stroke the eye that when returning after the blow to certain distance from the opponent, back thigh rotated to external side at 180 degrees, and the toe looking forward appeared twisted right back.

Id est, the hand is not pulled back, but it is moved back by the turning of the thigh. This witnesses that entire body is used in this technique.

Then it is required to take kokutsu-dachi, it allows shifting the body to the inaccessibility zone for the opponent’s punches. Turning thigh to

internal side from this position, penetrate deeply to the opponent’s area. With it, if the lumbus will be sufficiently unfolded, it is possible to avoid the opponent’s tsuki to the head even involuntarily. And it is possible to move away from the opponent by easy thigh turning. Thus, it is preferably to perform tsuki using the hips.

counTerblow aT The same momenT

And here you may ask: will not be tsuki late, if it is performed from kokutsu-dachi stance turning the lumbus, id est to put the foot first, and then turn the lumbus. We grounded many times that it is virtually no difference whether to perform tsuki in zenkutsu-dachi stance using front foot or penetrate to the opponent’s area in kokutsu-dachi and then perform tsuki turning the lumbus.

However, reach dissonance of tsuki is practically longer in all the cases from kokutsu-dachi stance.

Photos 7a-d illustrate Yauz, the athlete from Turkey (left), performs response punch turning the lumbus in kokutsu-dachi stance against his opponent’s chudan tsuki shifting in zenkutsu-dachi

Photo 6a

Photo 6b

Photo 6c

Photo 6d

Gyaku- tsuki

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stance. As it was explained earlier, Yauz approaches the opponent by the front foot, with it, other body parts do not move forward.

Comparing photos 7 and 7b, it is seen well that upper part of the body is stable. Tsuki of both karatekas achieved their goals vir tually simultaneously, but in the result the point was given to Turkish athlete.

Two jodan Tsukis per one sTepLet us consider what will be with jodan tsuki.

Photos 8a-d show the moments of punches. Two punches were performed per one wide step. When the second gyaku-tsuki reached the goal, the body weight was transferred to the front leg, this is why,

if the punch would really achieve the goal, you may easily imagine what powerful it shall be.

However, as for jodan tsuki, the punch may go through and reach the goal even when the front foot is still in the air. But in the most cases tsuki achieves the goal, when the front foot is put to the ground and the body weight is shifted to it.

Two punches per one step are performed, in order to cause the opponent’s response with the first tsuki, instigate some action from his side and open the opponent’s protection. Photo 8b demonstrates how the athlete deliver kizami, the opponent tries to perform counterblow and drops the protection. In the result, as photo 8c illustrates, the second tsuki is delivered to “open” area.

Photo 7Response punch is performed similarly. It is important to move forward not from zenkutsu-dachi stance, and it is better to penetrate using kokutsu-dachi stance and turn the lumbus.

Photo 8There are a lot of types of jodan tsuki including two punches in one step as it is shown in the photos: we make to activate the protection using the first punch, and perform the second punch, when the opponent opens himself.

Photo 7a Photo 8a

Photo 7b Photo 8b

Photo 7c Photo 8c

Photo 7d Photo 8d

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写写9b 写写9f

Photo 9Subsequent movements of the athlete Bros. He performs flat gyaku-tsuki, pretends to be going to perform geri and freezes for a moment in kokutsu-dachi stance. And he penetrates at once to the opponent’s area curving his body. Than the athlete gets points for kizami-tsuki. He stops in kokutsu-dachi and has opportunity to perform tsuki again.

Photo 9a Photo 9e

Photo 9b Photo 9f

Photo 9c Photo 9g

Photo 9d

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Kizami-tsuki

Kizami

Tsuki wiTh lunge using The bodyThe significance of jodan kizami-tsuki is growing

everyday in fast-evolving sports karate. Gyaku-tsuki is further from the opponent, this is why, the opponent may read your intentions in the way, respond accordingly and avoid your attack. Therefore, growing number of the world top athletes applies kizami-tsuki and other punches which can be performed at close distance.

As a matter of fact: the champions and challengers for such title yield the points using kizami-tsuki time after time and perform the punches with the front hand more often. Aghayev, Tanos, Busa, Kenji and other use them increasingly.

Front-hand punch is the most efficient technique: you are close to the opponent at this moment and the hold is not even supposed. However, as the minimum of actions is required here, you may make mistake relatively the distance and penetrate to the opponent not sufficiently deeply. Therefore, it is required to use the central tanden as the “extension” to achieve the goal, id est to approach the opponent with the help of body bending.

Kizami-tsuki means shortened close-distance technique, and it is necessary to manage to perform the punch within visible range of the opponent.

Bros, the athlete from Brazil, performs kizami-tsuki in photos 9a-g. Having performed flat chudan tsuki, he shows as if he is going to perform geri and waits for the opponent’s response. He freezes for a moment in kokutsu-dachi stance. And he penetrates at once to the opponent’s area bending his body. After that Bros moves forward with all his body.

All the athletes, who succeed to perform kizami-tsuki well, as a rule, control their body masterfully. Special feature of “kani” kamae is also the fact that it is possible to bend the body both back and forth in siko-dachi stance. In other words, the athletes may bend their body and perform tsuki fast not due to the fact they are so talented. It happens rather naturally in “kani” kamae.

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写写11a 写写11b 写写11c 写写11d

TRANSPOSITION AND LOSS OF BALANCE

Photo 10Transposition is performed by Aghayev within just ten seconds.Having performed lunge forward, he returns back (a-d).He comes forward one more time and now moves sideward (a-f).He comes forward one more time, presses the opponent and moves sideward immediately (g-h).Then he presses the opponent (i-m).Using such different movements and transpositions, it is possible to disseminate the opponent’s attention and «kill» his desire to attack.In addition, actions i-m are performed by Aghayev using part of the leg lower the knee, with it the body stays stable, and it means kamae is also stable. Therefore, he penetrates to the opponent’s area at high speed. In this situation, it is more difficult for the opponent to capture the rhythm and choose suitable moment for the attack.

Photo 11Lee, the athlete from Korea, performs undercut excellent using hip of the stationary foot.It seems it was not very intensive, but the opponent was knocked down.

Фото 10a

Фото 11a Фото 11b Фото 11c Фото 11d Фото 11e

Фото 10g Фото 10k

Фото 10b Фото 10h Фото 10l

Фото 10c Фото 10i Фото 10m

Фото 10d Фото 10j Фото 10n

Фото 10e

Фото 10f

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TRANSPOSITIONfree TransposiTion

I think everybody knows that tatami of sport karate has eight quarter meters at its square and presents a regular quadrilateral. So there are four corners and the same number of parties which boundaries can’t be not only crossed, but go away from the opponent and vice versa – to pursue him. Therefore, the athlete shall be able to operate in a square rather than round.

And, of course, moving back and forth does not allow using all the possibilities. Here again it should be spoken about Aghayev’s movements. There are a lot of athletes capable of moving in all directions. But all of them are far behind from Rafael.

A classic example of such manifold transposition is the first ten seconds from the start of sparring. Aghayev (in red helmet) immediately begins to move actively to the opposite direction. Moving forward, he comes back (photos 10a-b) and immediately moves rearwards. It seems that he is moving forward, but already goes to the left (photos e-f). Having rotated the tatami, he tries to “kill” his competitor’s intention to attack.

Now he suddenly approaches the opponent and immediately goes to the left (photos g-h) and then reduces the distance again and approaches the opponent (photos 10 i-j). Probably, there are not such athletes who equals to Aghayev who can demonstrate such small movements. In seconds Rafael succeeds to take the initiative, to “kill” the opponent’s desire to attack, to spread and to dispel his attention in other words to render all the types of pressure to opponent.

Thus, the opponent’s psychology may and must be seized by transpositions.

TransposiTion shall be performed lower The knee

The fight lead in siko-dachi and kokutsu-dachi has many advantages; Aghayev’s movements show it perfectly. This allows not only moving quickly back and forth but not changing the body position up and down. Besides, fast actions admit not to take look away from the opponent. The secret is that transposition is done mainly by body movements lower the knee, as the angle of both thighs remains unchanged.

If you look at various movements of Aghayev, you can see that his thighs are at the same angle without any changes. Further Rafael’s actions (after photos 10 a-j) impressed even more. As photos 10 k-n show, the Azerbaijani begins to press his opponent after plenty of fun over him. But he performs his

transposition by quick and small movements of legs below the knees, but the body remains motionless.

When body is static, the opponent usually does not attack because a person feels the rhythm of the motion. When approaching the opponent rapidly, but the body doesn’t move up and down, kamae also remains motionless. In this situation, it is difficult for the opponent to grasp the dynamics of body movements and choose the opportune moment for attack correspondingly.

Therefore, the opponent is forced just avoid pressings and he doesn’t have any ability to attack. It is impossible to move free and quickly in all direction in moto-dachi stance.

LOSS OF BALANCEsTaTionary fooT is

as a wall in “kani” kamaeFinally, let’s mention the techniques disrupting

the opponent’s balance such as, for example, undercuts, etc. Recently, more cases occur, when scores are obtained for nage performance, but the number of undercuts reduces. However, kamae with the toes turned at 90 degrees recommended by us will definitely provide unsurpassed results.

Photos 11 a-e illustrate the undercut of Lee, the athlete from Korea. Being the champion of Asia, he was one of the contenders to the highest title of the championship. However, he was defeated according to the referees’ decision at the fight with Bros, the winner of the previous championship, although the meeting ended with equal score 3:3.

Lee is good in aiming to lower part of the opponent without losing the sight. It is felt that the opponent, who is undercut, doesn’t understand how it happened. The toe of stationary foot is directed back from the beginning till the end of the kick. His stationary foot is strong like a wall. Therefore, even a slight touch contains enough power to turn the opponent at 180 degrees.

The “feature” of the undercut is to make it with the help of the stationary foot which is strong as a wall without dropping the glance as the athlete Lee does it. It means, the toe is rotated at 90 degrees in kamae and the undercut is performed in the same position. Kamae performed in “kani” as well as the opponent’s balance shall be destroyed in “kani” stance. If the undercut will be performed namely in this way, the opponent will be knocked down by one slight movement.

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Why shall the foot performing geri be put down not forward but closer to the stationary foot?

We should go away from the opponent after performing jodan geri, because there is a danger to be affected by nage, undercut, etc. If you put your foot forward, i.e. become closer to the opponent, your opponent has a good opportunity to attack at this moment.

To form the habit to put the foot to the original location (and thus go away from the opponent), you need to return the kicking foot immediately to the stationary foot. Thus, you can control it to except it fur ther movement mechanically.

Why is not it obligatory for the back foot toes to be directed forward in kizami tsuki?

At the first sight, it may seem that tsuki will be better if the toe will be directed forward. However, entire body is displaced pushing-off the stationary foot here. Try to perform knee bends on one foot and make sure it is more difficult to displace the body standing on one foot.

If the toe of back foot is turned back diagonally the bottom of both feet are on the floor fully. As the feet are bump into the floor, the repulsive force will be stronger. Further we add the work of front hip and body turn. All this will allow moving the body forward faster; hence, the punch will be stronger.

Photo 9 e shows the toe of the athlete Broz directed diagonally backwards. And he performs kizami-tsuki from this position. Such style is inherent not only to him; almost all athletes

perform this hold in this way. They perform these punches from this position not due to the fact they were taught in this way, but because they practice “kani” stance, where kizami-tsuki results in such way naturally.

Why is it impossible to control the whole body in moto-dachi and zenkutsu-dachi stances? You will get an answer, when comparing, where it is easier to curve the corpus: in moto-dachi or siko-dachi side stance. To

curve the body taking siko-dachi is easier, isn’t it?

Now we will compare it with zenkutsu-dachi stance. It is easier to work with the body, but it is impossible to bend back. Whereas the body will be moved freely back and forth in siko-dachi stance. Thus, this stance allows performing diving easily.

Returning back to kizami-tsuki: it is better and more effective to use abilities of upper and lower body together during motions

At the end we will respond to questions received from readers after the first publication about Kihon in Kumite

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In the next

issue

How to become an ideal for the sport-engaged child?

instead of relying only on the lower body, isn’t it?

I have quadriceps ache after performing “kani” transposition. Maybe my motions were wrong?

Perhaps you lean forward in kamae, if you have quadriceps ache. It is needed to change the stance. Connect the blade-bones, hold the fist of front hand at the same line with the front hand. And if even after this you have unpleasant feeling, it means you have ache in other muscles because the most used muscles here are located around blades, g luteus ma ximus muscles, hamstring, etc.

How to perform geri using back foot in “kani” stance?

It may seem that it is better to perform geri by front foot than back one in “kani” stance. However, it is far from true. Many international athletes perform geri using back foot successfully.

A classic example is Ivan Legrelo (Spain) (correct spelling of sportsman name must be specified) who was at the top of the globe podium for a long time. He used the right-sided kamae. But he never used the front

hand or foot. He performed all techniques as guyaku-tsuki or geri using back foot. Although the opponent was ready to the left side kicks, however, his geri often reached the goals.

When performing geri from square kamae, many people believe that the athlete “opens” to the opponent. However, there are ways to overcome such moment. Here are three main points:• Do not penetrate to the

opponent by moving forward but step aside;

• When the leg is pulled to the body, the corpus must have already come forward (so the time, when you are “open” is extremely short);

• Protection (front hand) can not be dropped and disclosed.

Is it possible to get coun­terblow, when per forming chudan tsuki using double step?

As we discussed earlier in this article, if you perform tsuki in moto-dachi stance using double step, you can easily receive the counterblow. But! If you perform transposition in “kani” stance, you penetrate to the opponent with your first step

and disappear from his sight, so your opponent’s counterattacks will not reach you.

Moreover, the first step shall be performed sideways, the entire body is hidden behind the front hand and you become smaller as a target, consequently, the chance of counterattack decreases.

The readers possessing previo-us issues of the magazine can read the issue dated as of October 2006. We already wrote about effectiveness of “kani” kamae that we talk about at the first and current issues of “Kihon in kamae”. You can understand bet ter the answers to the questions No.2–4 after reading the edition as of October 2006. And you may also study the information why kokutsu-dachi and siko-dachi are the basics of karate.

When Biamonti in 2005 and Legrelo in 2006 held their legendary seminars in Japan, they have already used this style perfectly. While only few athletes were able to work in “kani” style in a way they were.

We hope that styles of world karate stars will be widely disseminated and applied due to this edition.

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About advantage of good habits or the Success starts from the order

Sleepyheads and slovens will never reach the victory

The winners are those who defeat their laziness!

Revolution of morning workout

If you have possibility to train the kids in the first half of the day, do it early morning. It takes one hour to practice kihon, kata and kumite minimally. And this hour of the training shall be conducted consciously: to comprehend which exercises to be performed, what actions to be undertaken, what is condition of brain and body of the human. But what will be the result? Satoru Imamura is the author of “habit education” theory which is popular in Japan. It involves clean habits, tidiness, early awakening, etc. These good habits are able to diversify your life and make it more intensive and interesting. In this article Imamura sensei shared his opinion what shall be the best team and how to organize morning trainings.

Author: Satoru Imamura, Executive Director of Mental Risk Management JSC

Illustrations: Kazuha Kohinata Redactor: Aina Kohinata

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The sympathetic nervous system works, when we move or are under stress.

The parasympathetic nervous system is engaged, when we sleep or rest.

The pulse, breathing during sleeping, immune function, body temperature regulation, etc. do not depend on our will, and are under the control of our nervous system, which is called vegetative nervous system. The vegetative nervous system is divided into two systems: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

To use your abiliTies aT maximum

Morning workouts may bene-fit but only in a case, if you take into account a state of soul and body, when starting the exercises.

In the begInnIng we wIll speak about

the specIal features of the mornIng hours.

The sympathetic ner vous s y s t e m , w h i c h w o r k s a l l the day long, has rest at night. T h e o r g a n i s m r e s t s , a s the parasympathetic nervous system comes to the fore. At the wakening moment, when you wake up almost but not totally, the parasympathetic nervous system is engaged in your body. And imagination works very actively before full awakening and sensibility is higher.

This is why the specialists a f f i r m t h a t e v e n i n g a n d night time is more suitable for tex t overlearning, when the sympathetic nervous system is engaged. And if it is required to use imagination for some training, it is better to do it, when the parasympathetic nervous system is active.

When applying these special features of human body to karate, evening and night time is efficient to perform exercises for strength development such as geri, tsuki, etc., with it, their number shall customary. Also it is useful to pay attention to kumite.

I recommend waking up the muscles in the morning; especially it concerns internal muscles, which will give tonus for the whole day.

There is no need to start implementation of intensive movements. It is better to use your state of active imagination at maximum: try to imagine or invent new movements, and start to perform them as if leading quiet

dialogue with your body without harry and bursts.

Morning is wonderful time, when you may watch the condition of your body and soul. When you wake up, something like restart happens. At this moment you may feel what and where hurts you, whether your body is flexible and soul is calm.

an early bIrd…It is interesting, how do you

behave before the morning workout? Do you leave your home earlier or fight against temptation to sleep a couple of minutes?

When sleeping or keeping awake, α-waves appear in our brain. The same waves occur

AboUt gReAt benefit of moRning woRKoUts

Morning workouts will bring you maximum benefit, as you can easily remember new exercises, strengthen your body and improve mental activity.

I think many sections practice daily morning workouts. This article narrates what is condition of our body mornings, and gives the recommendations how to compose the programme of morning workouts in a right way.

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Probably, there is any strain in the spine?

Is there any strain in the belly?

Would I be able to concentrate today?

obligator y at the wakening moment.

These -waves send the data to our subconscious mind starting from the first seconds of their origin. I.e. everything you feel or think about is sent to your subconscious mind. If you wake up with the thoughts: “I must get up again…”, “I did not get enough sleep again…”, etc., such thoughts fill your consciousness fully.

On the contrary, if you get up cheerfully without any delay, saying just: “Ok. I got enough sleep. Get up!”, this sends also the information to the brain, and you obtain actively adjusted consciousness.

These rather simple things contain the answer to the question why I strongly recommend waking up early and tidying up in my trainings for habit education. When you make decision to do something, it always provides respective attitudes. And one of the trainings is to get up early mornings.

good habIts may change the lIfe

If you use to get up at least 15 or 30 minutes earlier, you will have enough time before school or work. And the shortage of time at your workouts leads to the fact you become the party accepting the attacks. In the result, you appear not only in losing situation, but also risk to be injured.

And all the leading companies of Japan and dojos, having the strongest teams of athletes, assessed great benef i t of the order and reach scrupulous neatness through obligatory cleaning. In opinion of the heads of such dojos, if every movement, starting from ordinary tidying up, to be fulf illed according to high standard, the level of the trainings will rise significantly. They are convinced that persons implementing cleaning for 70 % are inferior by both stability strength and duration to those making cleaning for 100 %.

Therefore, abovementioned workouts will be more effective, if they are not spontaneous but performed totally understanding your condit ion in morning hours. Even tidying up, which it should seem, does not relate to the competitions, shall be implemented in full force and effect. Thus, you can adopt a habit to think actively and control yourself at high conscious, and you will learn to take an initiative, strive to the leadership in sport life. I.e. you will have such conscious leading you to the best without any compromises. Even if it concerns daily pursuits such as cleaning, which everyone can implement. Namely such conscious makes the athlete or the team to win.

And now it ’s time to get acquainted with the exercises directed to the training of four main good practices: to get up early, tidy up, keep a diary and swear an oath.

I recommend morning workout for the body which shall be fulfilled as if speaking to it.

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figHt foR victoRy begins fRom tHe qUAlity sleep exeRcises foR good HAbit edUcAtion

The habiTs make an aThleTe sTronger

Get up early Make cleaning

The secret of earlier awakening is known by everyone and is almost banal: you need to go to bed earlier. And it is needed to learn to remove the fatigue and have a good sleep for having trainings with maximum benefit.

Firstly you need to relieve the fatigue. For this purpose I advise to take a bath before going to bed, make a good stretch and have light meal 2-3 hours before sleep.

It is important to remove not only the physical fatigue but moral too. The human brain works 24 hours a day so if you are nervous at bedtime and think about any problem the brain will think about all of this even during your sleep and it will be an additional stress

for your body. And if you think, for example, about gratitude you feel to your parents or those you have karate lessons with or imagine your past or future successful performances before bedtime your brain switches to the pleasant moments and thus you will be able to remove the accumulated moral fatigue.

Champions are much disciplined and everything - whether it’s food, rest or exercises - are treated by them as a part of the training. Follow their example. Remember that for successful performance you need to learn how to remove the physical and mental fatigue and wake up 10-15 minutes earlier than your usual time.

You can have a coffee or open a window and get some fresh air after getting up. In other words, it is very useful to do something that will elate you. And then your brain will program the entire body that getting up early is very nice.

next I recommend doIng cleanIng

Every morning even for just 10 seconds clean your room. To make the room cleaner, it is enough to throw out unnecessary piece of paper or just open the window and ventilate the room. It literally means that it is needed to perform an action that is similar to cleaning for 10 seconds. The main idea here to make such

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Keep a training diary Ten most important vows

“cleaning” from day to day to left for this at least for 10 seconds. If you dream of a champion title you need to clean not everything but, for example, every 10 square centimeters of area a day and remove it so carefully you can say that it is the cleanest place in Japan. And take other centimeters next day. And make it every day. And if to continue to do this even in a limited space the idea to

become the best athlete in Japan will be appeared and reinforced in your mind.

a new look at lIfestyleI want to advise you not just

to fix a list of exercises from the program of your trainings on the paper but record its contents as your coach or sempai said. I explain why. Today when you make these records everything seems as simple and clear but it can happen during re-reading the written records a year or two later you will understand it more deeply. Also it is very useful to write down what you would like to receive in the future. For example, “I want to perform the technique

ideally...” or “I want to win the world championship.” This will give the corresponding attitude to your spirit.

It’s preferable to coach during checking the trainings dairy to pay attention to them who critically evaluates their results and sets the abstract goals. Students, whose records have no specifics, often do not understand what they should do. Therefore, it is

necessary to have a conversation with them to make them think and determine a clear direction for themselves. For example, it is difficult to understand from the record “I want to add physics” the characteristics are missing: strength, endurance or speed. The coach task is to identify such gaps and choose right the understandable exercise that might sound like that: “to conduct three-minute sparring 10 times in a row”, etc. It means it is necessary to ensure the student has formed the accurate and understandable goal.

Go to the next step. Student chooses the exercises that wanted to learn and draws them

into vows and a coach makes sure every day that they are not violated. It is enough to perform 10 exercises daily during three weeks. The detailed and clear description of how hands, mouth and feet are working should be given in vows. It is advised to avoid expressions of negation such as “I will not do ...” It is better to write affirmative sentences like “now I will do ...”

If you set a goal to create a strong team the following vows may be written: “to be ready 10 minutes before training”, “to perform the command training camp immediately after hearing without delay.” If you want to improve the technical side, it is possible to specify the tasks in vows: “it is needed to return to kamae after kicking because it is easy lost a kick after geri”, “once a day to make video of kata and learn it.”

The vows concerning the personal life can be written, for example, “to iron kimono by myself.” If you keep a vow, make the appropriate mark. First try to keep the vow within three weeks.

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7 am - Beginning7:05 am - Warming up,

training

The best morning trainings that allow athletes to win against opponents from all other schools begin with the first command on the bow.

I want to offer you the best program of morning trainings for clubs and sections aimed to awareness rising.

At the beginning we need to learn the basic rule: nobody

dares to be late for training. If you allow yourself to be late even for a minute or to change clothes a minute before training it is said that you are uncollected. Learn to prepare for classes so that you have the opportunity to be wrapped up in training and do your best. If you are morally stronger than your opponent it will allow you to work more than enough and as a result you will be able to avoid the occurrence of injuries and other unpleasant situations. If you are not concentrated in the morning, you will spend the entire day in such condition. Morning sets the pace for the whole day. Everything is important: the mood

you get up with, the expression you have shower with, words you resort to others with... Learn to treat morning more consciously and start the morning training with such spirit. In an effort to raise the level of your team you must make sure that team captain initiated all good habits, for example, to get up early, to make cleaning, to be punctual,

etc. It is useless to force a person to do something until he does not show his will. And captain should try to present these initiatives so that team members feel that they have come to these ideas by themselves.

As I said above it is important to plan the training. The main thing is to understand clearly the purpose of evening and morning trainings. There is no meaning to perform the same exercises in the morning and evening. In the morning you can do the exercises for body and torso training, slowly perform kata and correct these techniques but it will be useful, for example,

pay attention to the sparring or to the amount of striking exercises in kata and kumite, and thus get a great result from the combination of dif ferent purposes in the evening.

Let ’s develop a training program that will allow both instructors and students to focus on one idea and develop a single direction of whole club or section.

Let’s back to the cleaning theme. I repeat the cleaning whether it is morning or evening cleaning or cleaning after class should always be made with such care, if you want your dojo to become the cleanest in Japan. Such attitude would raise the level of consciousness. I think there is nobody who thinks it is possible to chat or relax during cleaning. You should understand that cleaning is also a very important part of training, and as soon as you begin to think so the direction of your mind begins to change immediately.

Let’s consider the box section as an example relating the subject

how do They Train in a sTrong dojo?

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8:05 am - Cleaning8:15 am – Training camp,

mounting

of our conversation. It is involved about 100 persons and there is the world title boxer among them. Imagine he is making cleaning always and does his best as in the ring. Perhaps, this is the very approach when seniors show to juniors by their example how and what they should do.

But from the point when we want to bring up person who can be useful to society I recommend to make cleaning for everybody: junior, senior, temporary and permanent members, etc. It is needed to make sure that common desire to “improve your space and become the best team” all of us consider as something natural and self-evident. If you

have a few free minutes in the morning for meeting you can imagine how your team “thanks the morning”. If you want to give a great importance to morning meeting I propose to pay special attention in conversation to such moments as “goal for today” or “ambitions concerning upcoming championship.” So you give a good start to morning trainings and as a result you will have a great mood for the whole day and a terrific working capacity.

I am sure that bows are performed in every dojo and everybody knows what are seiza and ray. But leaders and laggards can be identified not only during the training. For example, after

the executing the command “bowing forward, bowing to the teacher, bowing to each other” there is always someone who will get up earlier than others. This athlete becomes stronger. Therefore, even to the ray bowing you can’t treat as a daily moral duty. It is also a kind of exercise, training of reaction “who gets up faster.” And it is needed to strive to be faster than others and then yesterday you in everything: to come earlier than anyone, answer, get up, do some technique... All these are the steps on the way to become the champion.

I hope that now you will begin your day with a full morning training too.

Satoru Imamura Sensei, Executive Director of Mental

Risk Management JSC

The author of unique theory which includes sections such as “habit education”, “way of cleaning”, “diet copy” and others.

He enrolled in a section of Shaolin during his study at the University and won the silver medal at the championship of Japan. He was the captain of the team which won championships in Japan repeatedly. However, he suffered a stroke in age of 22 causing him problems with the memory. In the process of rehabilitation he was able to instill certain habits to himself which further were systematized and became the prototype of his currently popular “habit education” theory.

Imamura firstly tested his theory on absentees who shirks from study, and the results exceeded expectations. And today he conducts seminars for company managers and educators. His theory firstly applied in the children training is widespread in various fields.

Imamura’s motto is: “The life can be changed with a help of good habits.” Schematically the basic principles of his theory are as follows: “life = mind * knowledge * action”, “way of habit = early get up * cleanliness * the inner world * 10 vows.”

Satoru Imamura is the author of many publications, has participated in television shows of NHK channel.

Let us be acquainted with each other!

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#3. 2014

“I lived in small village next to Barcelona, where American warships were based. The entertainments of the servicemen on shore were finished by scuffles frequently. Once my friend witnessed how American policemen accompanying these warships managed them. At the same time I firstly heard of karate. Those policemen applied namely this type of combat. The stories of my friend inspired me and I started to explore karate, but I did it only by books at the beginning… I was 14 years old then.”

Many years on, the same kid appeared in the role of Head Coach of the select team of Spain. The select team of the country won the team competitions and 10 individual medals at the World Championships under his leadership.

Having left the post of Head Coach, Antonio Oliva Seba found himself in other area. Long-term practice jointly with fine analytics applied for specified combat found its place in his theory. Indeed, he created the theory, which is basic in his coaching system, in his opinion. It is sufficient to stress the fact that elaborations of Antonio compel attention of

Antonio Oliva Seba:

LOVE IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT THING IN LIFE!

DESpITE ThE lOgICal laW, purSuaNT TO WhICh EvEry bOy, WhO WaS bOrN IN ThE CapITal OF ThE WOrlD FOOTball, barCElONa, Shall DrEam ONly OF FOOTball CarEEr aCCOrDINgly, Our hErO haD OThEr prEFErENCES.

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the sportsmen and specialists of many countries. As of today, Sensei lectured almost in 60 countries.

Our magazine starts the publication of the series of lectures read by Antonio Oliva within the frameworks of the International seminars all over the world, including Kazakhstan.

Brief introduction to my karate coaching system. These diagrams are full survey of karate system.

Asia

AfricaAustralia

You

III level of training

II level of training

I level of training

Sense Technics Tactics

WKF Rules

WKF Rules

WKF Rules

Sense Technics Tactics

My elaborated coaching system can be divided into 3 stages:• Enhancement of body movements or method,• Enhancement of mind movements or policy,

• Enhancement of sense movements – control over emotions.This is why, when you train the newcomers, it is

required to pay attention to three components simultaneously: method, policy and senses.

Id est the control over body, mind and emotions is sketched out as following:

Sense Method Tactic

Undoubtedly, karate training shall be fully adapted to the rules of WKF.

In order to master strong, effective technique, we shall be physically strong, our body, our muscles and bones shall be ready to it. And we ought to support the technique with the sciences studying body motions such as biomechanics, physics, physiology, anatomy and others. And the sciences studying work of mind and balanced conscious – psychology, sophrology and other – will help us.

Technics Tactics

PM

Our brain shall be strong, flexible and trained, in order we could use mental abilities during the combat through the instrument called tactics. Emotions shall receive special address via impulses distribution, id est we are able to learn it through music, literature, nature research, drawing. All

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#1. 2015

FavOurITES OF aNTONIO OlIva SEba:

Antonio Oliva Seba

was born on February 16, 1948.Antonio Oliva Seba won the First National

Spanish Karate Championship in 1970 and retained champion title five years in a row.

PROFILE

1. …favourite movie is “Seven Samurai”, Akira Kurosawa

2. …favourite actress is Meryl Streep,3. …favourite music is classic, when alone and Latin

in the company4. …favourite dance is tango5. … favourite team is FC “Barcelona”6. …the most significant in life is Love7. …the most significant human quality is honesty.

types of arts provide the human with strong control over emotions. Ethics, moral and philosophy also assist to it.

my coaching sysTem is divided inTo Three various levels.

The first level is assigned, of course, for the beginners, id est for the students studying karate about two years, from white to green belt. The student learns the foundations, motions or technique at this level. Every school has its own system. Having studied technique thoroughly, we go to application of the technique to the opponent; adaptation and harmony of the punches and kicks, blocks and their combination towards the opponent.

SenseThis is tactics – adaptation and harmony of

motions, our motions with opponent’s motions according to the rules. For instance, if you study gedan-barai, you shall learn where, when and why you should apply namely gedan-barai instead of age-uke or shuto-uke.

This is why, we shall teach our athlete not just to repeat and copy something automatically as a robot. The students shall understand why it is necessary to do. And then they shall decide where and when to apply this knowledge in practice.

Also technique and tactics shall be supported by emotions, as they contain the spirit of the combat, impulses in punches and kicks.

The first level is the most important of three ones. And if this foundation is strong, you will pass to the next levels much easier. And if you have weak foundation, other levels cannot work. Here are two spectacular examples: this building is solid as its foundation is stable, and the tree grew high with huge crown as its roots went deeply into the soil. Due to this fact, special attention shall be paid to the beginners and the first level students, i.e. the first two years of karate training. Having mastered the first level, we pass to the second level.

The second level is the students learning karate about three-four years, starting from green belt to the 1st and the 2d dan rank. From technical point of view, there are offensive, defensive and interactive techniques.

II level of training

Sense Technics Tactics

WKF Rules

Offensive technique includes any and all possible ways to increase the score.

Defensive technique includes any and all possible ways of blocking, defense and avoidance.

Interactive technique is combination of defense and attack.

It is difficult to overestimate significance of technique in karate. I respect traditional system of training of old Japanese karate school, as this system focuses on technique development.

However, I would like to integrate and combine technique development and tactics. In other words, technique shall be applied in practice on different athletes. If your athlete is very fast, you shall go one way, if the athlete is high and slower, you should better choose another direction.

To be continued in our next.

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«Bruce Lee was very popular, it helped karate to become widely spread. May be some that I have inspired children to start.Even if I m playing bad karateka I ve helped to inspire them...»

Cary-hiroyuki Tagawa

2nd AsiAn kArAte clubs chAmpionchip

Tashkent 2015

TashkentUzbekistan