A couple of years ago I was challenged about my knowledge of Kyokushin karate by a lower graded student who had trained with me years before in the fighting class I instituted at Shihan Hennie Bosman’s Welgemoed dojo along with Jason Dawes. He said that I was just a tournament fighter and not really aware of Kyokushin as I said that Oyama Sosai did not incorpaorate throwing or Judo aspects into Kyokushin. I thought I would prove him wrong as I had trained under Sosai as an uchi deshi for the last 6months of his life. So I went ahead and bought more of Sosai’s books! I would do my research and show this fellow that I knew Kyokushin. After ordering Mastering Karate and This is Karate…I was amazed! Clearly my knowledge of Kyokushin karate was limited to only Kyokushin rules tournament fighting!
Another interesting experience happened a few years ago as well that went towards bursting my bubble of confidence based on having 3 gold bars on a black piece of cloth! This happened when Master Eddy Kaliboti put me in side control…immediately I saw my Sandan flying out of the window as I felt completely immobilized and powerless.
I had more “Aha” experiences when I started doing seminars with Shihan Cameron Quinn. Shihan Cameron explained that fighting is something which is determined by range or distance. He said that kicking range can be defeated by moving into boxing or punching range, this again can be trumped by moving closer into elbow and knee range, this again can be shut down by clinching, from clinching throws may be executed. The fight then may go to ground where ground fighting techniques would be essential. Thus Shihan Cameron stated that as the ranges get closer, the further one is trumped by the closer one.
Let’s examine this by some examples. If a boxer is in trouble by having been struck by one or two good blows, he usually clinches his opponent, and this keeps him safe until the referee steps in to separate the two fighters. In UFC 1, Royce Gracie took all his opponents to the ground where they had no skills to match his Jiu Jitsu and became the first UFC Champion. I recall numerous school days fights which I observed. It usually went something like this. Firstly some shoving and pushing, then a wild flurry of punches which ended when both opponents grabbed each other. Following a type of tripping, falling or throw took both to the ground. The scuffle then continued on the ground until one had the other’s head tightly clamped between himself and the ground, non-powerful, but yet damaging punches were then landed in the face of the restrained fellow. Usually at this point the restrained fighter gave up. So its clear that fighting is something that goes through distance, at outside kicking distance you are safe and have the option to escape. So this is safe and if you can keep this distance between yourself and an aggressive attacker you would remain safe. However, with closer distances the risk increases and chances to escape would be eliminated once you have been grabbed or clinched by a skillful assailant.
In Chapter 15 of his book “This is Karate”, Oyama Sosai states “If, for instance, however, the karate expert finds himself pinned down, there are ways for him to extricate himself, and in actual combat, these may well be vital. After all, it is by no means certain that in real life an opponent is going to employ strict karate methods. He may very well attack with Judo or wrestling tactics, and when he does, it is necessary for the karate expert to know how to deal with him.” In our current times of MMA this statement by Sosai is even more relevant than ever! Yes?
Therefore its clear that skill in fighting means that a karateka must acquire techniques at all the six ranges: kicking, punching, knee and elbow, clinching, throwing or takedowns and ground. Hence like Bruce Lee said in his famous black and white interview on Hong Kong Television: ”I don’t believe in styles anymore…unless human beings have another leg or something…all of fighting is human expression.” ( I have modified his words slightly, but the meaning is still clear in my opinion).
Lets then discuss ideas for techniques which could constitute a modern syllabus for making Kyokushin karate again relevant and in line with what constitutes a fight or violent encounter with reference to Sosai’s books. These techniques could form the basis for a syllabus from white belt to shodan. Before starting with kicking range, we should acknowledge that once we can walk on two legs its very likely that falling can occur! Hence students from white belt level must start to learn Judo breakfalls. These also make for excellent warm up techniques. Beginners may learn these kicks: groin, front kick, side kick to the body, side kick to the knee joint, knee kick, roundhouse to the body and the straight back kick. By mastering these kicks it will build a good platform for introducing the head high front kick, roundhouse and back spin high roundhouse at green belt level. All the high straight leg kicks can be introduced at brown belt level. This means as a student gets better flexibility and conditioning to joints and muscles he learns to kick higher. I believe this is a safer and less injury prone approach to learning kicks.
Punches are easier, as per boxing we have the straight left and right cross, the hooks to the head and body and the uppercuts. Pushing should be taught along with punching as pushes are very effective at stopping an opponent, opening distance and breaking balance. Another important aspect of boxing is footwork and body agility. These allow one to become skillful at evasiveness with skills like slipping and ducking.
Following range knee and elbow strikes which should be learned to flow into clinching or throw positions. From Mauy Thai we naturally understand how effective clinches are for delivering knee and elbow strikes.
Throwing and takedown range means that we need techniques from wrestling, Sambo and Judo. Some examples are single leg takedowns, tackling, double leg takedowns and throws like hip toss and over the shoulder. In my opinion five basic takedowns and five basic throws are adequate. Ground techniques should focus on how to escape from pins or arms/ leg locks and return to a standing position. Remember Jiu jitsu ground fighting has limited advantages outside of a comfortable soft mat or in public spaces where one may be attacked by two or three opponents!
The above is a broad outline of my understanding and yes its similar to MMA or Kudo, but in the dojo using one step or three step sparring we can introduce strikes to soft targets on the body and we can train in aspects of two versus one or three versus one, which is beyond sports karate! Another big advantage of this approach is that when kata are introduced from Shodan onwards, students will spot and understand techniques like grabs, takedowns and throws which are frequently used in kata, but not recognized through the spectacles of only kick and body punch.
In conclusion once we understand the clear fact that fighting is a function (mathematically speaking) or an activity controlled by distance, we understand that we need techniques at the various ranges and be able to transition in and out of a range.
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