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Billy Dunmire, Circle of the Tiger

matt — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:11:36 +0000

I know we’ve already had a post on circle of the tiger, but here’s a slightly ‘crisper’ version of Circle of the Tiger done by Billy Dunmire (courtesy of YouTube). It’s a Nick Cerios Kenpo form that was based on 1-3 kata, and has been adopted by both USSD and MSDC. One more thing, you may want to fast forward about 1:20 into the video, as the first minute is him waiting to start.

“There are no fixed postures in Karate”

matt — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:26:14 +0000

I realize that this is a bit of an ironic followup to Marlon’s previous post on the Crane stance, but that’s why I recruited him to broaden the intellectual offerings of this blog. This month’s issue of Classical Fighting Arts was a real winner for me. Besides a nice article about Choki Motobu by his son Motobu Chosei, (with an uncredited translation by Kiko Ferreira) with recollections of his father, there was an article by Mario McKenna entitled Stances. In the article, the precepts of Nakasone Genwa are mentioned, highlighting the 17th,

“Fixed postures are for beginners; as you advance use natural postures.”

Sometimes I think that I’m forward thinking in my attempts to ‘clean up’ my kempo, my thirst for cross training, and my goals of eliminating wasted movement and bad body mechanics. Perhaps I’m just ‘old school’ and don’t know it.

When I explain stances, I usually refer to them as ’snapshots’ of a position you will be in if structured properly in a movement. My favorite example is in combination 15, the twist stance. I always found twist stances to be disaster waiting to happen. As luck would have it, many years ago a friend invited me to a seminar when Tat Mau Wong was visiting to teach the Siu Moy Fat Kuen (small plum blossom fist) to the Choy Li Fut school where he was studying. He sent me a tape to learn the choreography, and over the course of the day working with master Wong, I learned a passable version of the form. What was really useful however, was a chance to see and feel the body mechanics that he used to transition his stances and generate power in his strikes. I couldn’t do that form to save my life today. In case you are wondering, this is what it looks like, done by Tat Mau Wong no less. Note the twist stance transition at about the 0:47 second mark in the video.

What I did walk away with was a great perspective on the twist stance (among other things) and how he used it as a split-second transition while changing direction. It totally made sense after that, and it has affected how I teach any technique involving a twist stance. Sometimes you have to go outside your art to understand the tools you already have in your toolbox.

I think of stances as examples of structure that crop up moment to moment, and evaluate every technique on posture. Throughout, I maintain good posture, and a constant goal is to disrupt the posture of my opponent to diminish his ability to attack or defend. A good cross block starts in the feet, but you can’t stay in any one stance and admire your work in combat.

Getting Around

Marlon — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:29:56 +0000

Where I am after I ‘block’ not only depends on my footwork but also my attackers reaction to my response. So much of our kempo involves us getting to the side of an attacker or behind them , so the question becomes speed versus technique. A big criticism I heard of SK was that it was primarily built to be effective for young athletes only. Once again I re-examined my kempo and found something interesting, so see if this works for you as well. If my block sends a ’stop’ signal to the attacker then I have to work harder to get where I want to go. However, should I change my blocking approach I can draw a serious attacker into a place where little or no effort is needed on my part to get around them. This, of course, at first, works less effectively against an uncommitted attack, yet in the end even with when dealing with those wary attacks you can win with much less work. Try it out and let me know.

marlon

I must be doing something right.

matt — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:24:08 +0000

Here’s some ‘feedback’ I got. I must be doing something right.

Who cares? Here you are living all caught up and focused on somebody that died way way back in 1981. Get a life, more important live your life. Mitose is dead and gone & since, chances are you never had the courage to confront the man when he was living you come off as a real yuppie ripping him a new ass now that he’s dead. Move on!

He’s right, while I was in junior high school, and unaware of Mitose’s existence, I lacked the courage to confront someone that I had never heard of.

The shame…

Just like some of the ones I learned when I started.

matt — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:31:15 +0000

I was Youtube surfing and stumbled across this video:

‘Bill’ in this video has nearly the same kempos I had when I first went through the ranks. I’m not totally keen on how they are being done, but the fellow here is in the middle of a test, so he might be fatigued. I have no idea where the red belt falls in the scheme of things.

Think about your kempo

matt — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:19:17 +0000

I have a friend in Canada, Marlon Wilson who consistently impresses me with the amount of thought he puts into his teaching. He’s also willing to put up video to challenge the rest of us to demonstrate ‘what kempo is about’ based on some great discussions on Martialtalk.

Here’s an example of a technique he posted to give a good example of a kempo technique. Note the emphasis on uprooting your opponent. As one former instructor told me, “it should be like being in a washing machine”

Mitose Trial Transcript

matt — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:47:28 +0000

There used to be a link to the Mitose Transcript, but the previous host appears to have fallen on some hard times. So, if you don’t have a copy, feel free to download one from this link, and enjoy the 205 MB and 2500 pages of wackiness.

It’s an eye opening read, and is required reading for anyone who wants a real understanding of the actions and treatment of James Mitose.

Listen to this man.

matt — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:24:12 +0000

I had dismissed Jo Simonet based on some articles and some ‘verbiage’ on the old rec.ma usenet group that just didn’t click. I just stumbled upon a couple brief Youtube clips where he tells some folks a few things they might not be prepared to hear. Folks in my classes – you’ve heard much of this already – listen and hear what he has to say. There are no techniques. Professor Chow had principles. People wrote down his examples and called them techniques.

Go to part two after the jump. It’s important.

Kempo Jutsu Kai

matt — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:11:26 +0000

Having spent Friday and Saturday with Professor Kimo Ferreira of the Kempo Jutsu Kai, I was feeling inspired. I then received an email inquiring about the techniques of Kempo Jutsu, so I thought I’d link to some of the clips on Youtube presented by his affiliate in Salamanca, Spain.
Grab Technique

More after the jump.

Punch Technique

Single Lapel Grab

Goshin Jutsu Kenpo

matt — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:49:28 +0000

Goshin Jutsu Kenpo (not to be confused with the Go Shin Jitsu Kai of Bill Chun, Jr. ) is an offshoot of Cha 3 Kenpo as far as I can tell. It’s interesting in an old school way. Gints Klimanis (yep, the same one from the Dog Brothers Documentary) has posted quite a few clips on Vimeo. I’ve embedded one here. This is reminiscent of some real old school kenpo. I find it a bit strange, but you can really see the ’snap’ in these guys moves.

Go Shin Jutsu Kenpo - Rotation 08 (Apr 2004) from Gints Klimanis on Vimeo.