Back Issues

Editorial.

SENSEI MICHAEL BUSHA 5th Dan. Interview By John Cheetham.

CREATING YOUR OWN KATA. By Slavko Bubalo.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

MICHAEL BUSHA 5th Dan. PART TWO INTERVIEW.

THE ILLUSIONARY NATURE OF MODERN LOGIC. By Paul Mitchell.

THE HOUSE OF SHOTO. By Dr Wolf Herbert.

UNMASKING PIT BULLS & COBRAS. By Guillermo Laich, M.D., Ph.D.

ARE THE BEST TECHNICIANS THE BEST TEACHERS? By John Cheetham.

The featured interview in this edition is a captivating story by Illinois based Shotokan sensei, Michael Busha. Without being a famous household name in our style, Michael Busha is a very experienced Shotokan karateka who spent 14 years training in Japan. I enjoyed doing this interview, it reaffirmed for me that it’s not always the famous karateka who have the best stories to tell. In fact, many times, it’s quite the opposite, as I’ve come to realise over the years through doing countless interviews for the magazine. You don’t have to be a former World Champion or Chief Instructor of an Organization to have a substantial narrative to convey after many years of dedicated, continuous practise and experience of Shotokan Karate-do. It’s a lengthy interview presented in two parts, as we’ve done in previous editions.

Karate experience coupled with general life-experience is the formula most SKM readers are looking for, with regards to interviews and stories etc. If we received a really good, interesting interview with a young karateka, I’d publish it without hesitation regardless of their age. The offer is there for everyone. However, most interviews we have received from young students or young instructors are generally focused on the sport/competition element, which is quite natural, they are young karateka! It’s a young person’s domain.

These days, SKM’s focus is on realistic, pragmatic, self-defence, practical-karate and philosophical aspects which are some of the important elements within our art. As well as simply practising Shotokan Karate-do as a Classical Martial Art. Plus, regardless of one’s age, a serious focus on karate for health, staying as fit as possible and trying to remain injury free. It’s a natural progression on the Karate journey.

I thought I’d start off the first edition of the new year with articles by three regular contributors; namely, Paul Mitchell, Dr Bill Laich and Dr Wolf Herbert. Three more diverse articles would be hard to find.

Part of Paul Mitchell’s story basically points out the importance of ‘hikite’, often frowned upon by modern-day karateka. He puts a good case forward for us to continue utilising hikite with our techniques. I really like what he says.... “I believe that martial arts should be a blend of beautiful movements and deadly techniques.”

Dr Bill Laich’s article is a psychological evaluation of different types of aggressive, violent-minded individuals, who I’m certain many of us will have come across at some point and possibly sometimes had to deal with a situation with this type of character.

Dr Wolf Herbert’s piece has a lot of historical content: he states...“The house of Shoto has Chinese roots and design, an Okinawan foundation and is a Japanese construction with Western reinforcements.”

‘Creating Your Own Kata’ maybe is controversial but it also may appeal to some karateka, simply to whet their creative appetite. Or if you have an injury or a disability, it could be beneficial, where doing normal Kata is difficult to navigate. It’s a personal choice. It’s interesting to read how Asai sensei and Ohshima sensei differed completely on this subject.

Good training, Editor.