Back Issues

EDITORIAL.

The first interview in this edition is with KWF Chief Instructor Sensei Masamichi Otsuka 6th Dan. A protégé and long time student of the legendary Mikio Yahara Shihan. Otsuka sensei comes across as a very humble, quiet individual. However, as you will read in the interview, he is quite the opposite when it comes to his karate. He is deadly serious about training with 100% effort in all techniques, kihon, kata and kumite. It’s easy to see the huge influence of his sensei, the dynamic Mikio Yahara. Although still only 42 years old, Otsuka sensei has a long pedigree in karate, starting from the age of five under the strict eyes of his father, also a Shotokan sensei.

Our second interview features Sensei Errol Mahoney 5th Dan JSKA based in Florida, USA. Errol spent several years training in Japan while stationed at the Yokota Air Force Base in Tokyo. He recounts some interesting insights:

“Training at the original ‘Hoitsugan’ dojo and then training in the Air Force Military dojo in Japan was that the level of discipline and commitment were similar, but there was a greater sense of respect in the Japanese dojo and I think it was simply because of their heritage and history.”

Karate Historian Graham Noble has another ‘Chronicles of Shotokan’ in this edition. Readers seem to like the Shotokan-based historical information that Graham focuses on. This time we take a look at the origins of Jiyu kumite (free style sparring) in pre-war Japan.

Paul Dowell’s article offers a training system for post-competition karateka. Paul states...“Although your focus may not be aimed at competing, you can still use periodisation to prepare for a grading, improve your fitness for a Gasshuku or simply to perfect a new technique or Kata.”

The article by David Stainko focuses on Bunkai and delves into this subject where we learn how Bunkai and Oyo do differ. It also affirms that many Karate Kata contain various techniques from other Martial Arts.

I had an engaging phone conversation recently with a 50 year old karateka who’s been a subscriber to the magazine for about 25 years. We were talking about who truly merits the title; Sensei. To be honest, this partly gave me the idea and inspiration to write my article in this edition.

We also discussed training as we age. He truly believes that he’ll be training with virtually the same intensity when he’s 70/75 years old. I used to think the same way. What my friend could not fully grasp was; at 50/55 years old, whatever you may feel about your future training capacity, you don’t, in fact, can’t, know at that point on your journey how you will be later on. Everything can change massively after another 20/25 years of continuous training.

Physically, many years of wear and tear can take their toll. There are those lucky individuals who stand the test of time well, unfortunately, the majority of long-term karateka (and athletes generally) live with various injuries after many years of training.

Mentally, you may think very differently about your philosophy to training. Many older karateka will testify to this. However, most important – we’re still training.

Good Health, Good Training, Editor.