tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42945381334786708212024-03-14T10:51:07.170-07:00Ryukyu Martial ArtsRyan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-66797683516378266152018-08-26T08:06:00.001-07:002018-08-26T08:06:04.633-07:00Motobu-Inspired Hand Trapping
Another reason I believe Noah Legel has become (and will continue to be) an important voice in the Ryukyu Martial Arts community for many years to come.
Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-9916216705166261172015-11-26T01:06:00.002-08:002015-11-26T01:27:57.446-08:003 Basic Machiwara Exercises (For Short-Power)Here
are three very simple and very basic exercises using a makiwara to build
short-power. Even though these are very basic exercises, this doesn't
mean that experienced karateka can not benefit from them! Indeed, I can
virtually guarantee that practitioners who have never tried these
exercises can make substantial gains in sort-power relatively quickly by
practicing these three methods Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-75825098005654696512015-11-05T07:19:00.001-08:002015-11-05T07:22:20.598-08:00Waza Wednesday (Guest Appearance)
Something which isn't explicitly mentioned in the video is that the
elbow-strike covers the right side of the head (which is important when
working against a right punch or the jab-cross, especially given that
the principle here is a strong entry rather than evasive tenshin).
There
really isn't anything special on this clip, it is pretty standard
Okinawan karate. However, it does examineRyan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-24067544438882677412015-10-31T00:33:00.001-07:002015-10-31T12:16:18.180-07:00Review/Synopsis of the 1st annual Ryukyu Martial Arts Friendship GasshukuSeveral years ago I created a number of Facebook groups which were intended for practitioners of Okinawan Martial Arts ("Naihanchi no Kenkyu", "Sanchin no Kenkyu", "Ryukyu Martial Arts [Research and General Discussion]", "Ryukyu Martial Arts [Practical Applications and Training]" and "Hojo-Undo").
I had grown tired of general "Traditional Karate" discussion groups and more especially of Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-49109868098912508672015-03-20T16:03:00.005-07:002015-03-20T16:09:25.817-07:003 Old-Style Okinawan Bojutsu SystemsHere are videos of three Bojutsu systems for you to & compare and contrast. These clips are "fair-use" and are included here for comparison and educational purposes.
The first video show the Bojutsu of Oyata Seiyu shinshii (with Rokushaku-bo and Yonshaku-bo). This Bojutsu is from the Ufugusuku (Oshiro) family tradition, and was a system developed for use by Suigusuku (Shuri-castle) guards. Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-79558550452376837772015-03-19T19:45:00.002-07:002015-03-19T19:45:56.863-07:00Continuous Motion Drills (& Their Hidden Utility)Continuous motion drills" (drills which are repeated indefinitely in a repeating cycle) and more especially "reciprocal continuous motion drills" (both partners doing the same thing in a continuous cycle) are very useful as a basis for spontaneously inserting techniques.
Used in this way they are fundamentally similar to "sensitivity drills" like Chi-Sau, Push-Hands, or Filipino Hubud-Lubud. Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-79538659657794462942015-03-01T16:02:00.002-08:002015-03-03T15:43:08.421-08:00Oyata Shinshii Teaching Police Officers in LAThis is truly a rare treat. Although I was given access to this video a couple of years ago, it has only very recently been shared publicly. It is footage of the late Oyata Seiyu shinshii teaching a police training workshop at UCLA in 1990. IMO Oyata shinshii is one of only a small number of true masters of old-style Okinawan karate in the 21 century. I recommend studying this video ASAP, becauseRyan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-33508010481981874722015-02-22T09:01:00.000-08:002015-02-28T06:43:04.802-08:00Attracting Interest in the Ryukyu Martial ArtsOver
the last few years I have tried to become more active in attracting
interest into good quality martial arts from the Ryukyu archipelago. To
this end a number of internet resources have been created. I've been
asked by several people to create a list of the resources. Please feel
free to share it if you are so inclined: Ryukyu Martial Arts Blog http://ryukyuma.blogspot.com/ Free RyukyuRyan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-58583091898711574422014-12-25T03:30:00.001-08:002015-01-19T19:12:56.826-08:00Crossing Hands in Okinawan Martial ArtsIn Chinese martial arts there are a plethora of drills, sparring methods, and forms of sticky-hands practice that are performed from a crossed-hands position. Most people are familiar with an iconic scene from Bruce Lee's _Enter the Dragon_ which features this sort of crossing-hands.
However, I don't think many people are aware of the extent to which training with this sort of Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-27237337472402162432014-08-23T18:50:00.003-07:002014-08-24T13:44:08.356-07:00Five Oral Teachings (Kuden) and Gamaku
Kuden are "oral transmissions" or "oral teachings" and are very common in martial arts. Of course most teaching is done orally (as opposed to in writing) but kuden are not just the words a teacher says in a given class... Rather they are usually teachings that have been passed down for generations and the phrasing of these teachings is fairly standardized. Anyone who has been involved in Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-41244189282314391352014-08-14T11:16:00.003-07:002014-08-14T15:47:54.395-07:00The Use of Ryukyu Martial Arts Techniques in MMAI am happy to present an article by Noah Legel as the Ryukyu Martial Arts Blog's second guest-post.
Noah Legel a serious practitioner of the Ryukyu martial arts who has also successfully competed in MMA competition. In his blog (Budo no Kaizen), Noah has frequently mentioned examples of the use of old-style Ryukyu martial arts techniques in MMA events. Because of this, and his background, I Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-9396296397821491412014-08-01T10:20:00.000-07:002014-08-02T08:17:22.480-07:00Ruuchuu Buji The kanji in the picture below are pronounced "Ruuchuu Buji" in Uchinaaguchi or "Ryukyu Bugei" in Japanese. The word Ruuchuu (Ryukyu) is used instead of Uchinaa / Okinawa as a nod to the Ryukyu Kingdom (Ruuchuu Kuku / Ryukyu Okuku), which existed until the late 19th century, and to show respect to the entire Ryukyu archipelago and its culture. The term "buji" (bugei) is the old Okinawan term for Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-32010407278847292952014-07-11T16:50:00.001-07:002014-07-12T07:28:33.317-07:0010 Things Karate Must Do...To Be Taken Seriously As A Martial Art
A while back I was in a discussion about karate and bunkai. Unlike most of my conversations on that topic, I was the only karateka participating. It provided an interesting window on how karate is viewed by long term practitioners of other martial arts. The bottom line was that they could not take karate seriously as a martial art.
There were a Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-22164567572158431252014-07-02T20:44:00.002-07:002014-11-22T10:07:59.897-08:00Tuidi in "old style" karate & Naihanchi (mini-post)
Here is a short entry from the Motobu-ryu
Facebook page. This is the group headed by Motobu Chosei shinshii who is the son of famed karate master and fighter Motobu Choki shinshii. Motobu Chosei shinshii is the current headmaster of both Motobu Kenpo and Motobu Udundi. This entry discusses the existence of Tuidi [取手] within "old-style karate" and especially within Naihanchi series of kata.Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-4049032261527435132014-06-22T18:36:00.000-07:002014-07-03T12:58:32.767-07:00Iron Body Training Tool: The Steel Hitter (Tesutaba)
If you are interested in Hojo-undo (supplementary training) especially Okinawan iron-body training & impact conditioning, Chinese Iron Shirt & Golden Bell Cover training, or even such health, rejuvenation, and longevity practices as Bone-Marrow Nei-Gong & 99-Powers Shen-Gong, then there is a piece of equipment which is extremely useful (arguably almost essential) for all of Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-13536102654827469332014-06-09T17:20:00.002-07:002014-06-09T21:47:19.697-07:00Seipai Kata (十八手型)I am a member of a fair number of karate groups and I hear various kata discussed all the time, but I have noticed that Seipai is not mentioned very often... Which is odd because it is a very nice kata.
What makes it even more odd is that there is a real wealth of good quality information on (and applications for) Seipai available to karateka. This is not just a recent phenomenon, way back Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-87084685541299173752014-05-16T17:19:00.005-07:002014-05-16T21:22:38.249-07:00Systematic Exploration Of Kata BunkaiI have enjoyed exploring bunkai in a systematic (and I hope reasonably comprehensive) way for a long time now... I have alluded to this in Facebook discussion groups, but I don't think I have ever discussed in detail the "formula" or "system" I use to do this. So, I think this may well be the first time I have shared it publicly.
I ask you to keep this in mind, as this is very much a roughRyan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-41080218637862244532014-04-21T18:36:00.000-07:002014-05-06T21:24:30.234-07:00A Hojo-Undo Checklist
It is my opinion that every serious practitioner
of Okinawan karate should have a decent (if not fairly complete) set of
hojo-undo equipment (called "kigu" 器具). Frankly, I think making frequent (ideally daily)
use of this type of equipment is one of the things which sets the very
serious practitioner apart from the endless legions of hobbyists. I also
believe hojo-undo is one of the Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-47455888829827229682014-04-13T22:15:00.002-07:002014-05-28T19:44:29.515-07:00A Chinkuchi Makiwara Exercise Chinkuchi (チンクチ [cognate to Kinkotsu 筋骨]) is an Okinawan word meaning "Tendons/Muscles & Bones". It refers to
the last instant before contact is made when the skeletal structure
becomes correctly aligned, all the agonistic muscles are very suddenly
and sharply contracted, and the muscles which stabilize the relevant
joints are engaged to an appropriate degree. It differs from kime in
Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-80176376438719509902014-03-04T00:17:00.000-08:002014-03-04T00:26:01.015-08:00Family Crests of Okinawan (沖縄の家紋)I just wanted to draw the attention of readers of this blog to an excellent website on Okinawan family crests (Okinawa no kamon). Take a look around. These crests are visually interesting, and in some cases strikingly beautiful. See if you can find the crest of the family of the founder of the style of Okinawan karate you practice.
沖縄の家紋
http://www.okinawajoho.net/pc/culture/kamon/
Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-4876432029180810702014-01-30T08:28:00.001-08:002014-01-30T14:46:27.078-08:00Okinawan ProverbsExcerpted from:
_Kotowaze ni miru Okinawa no kokoro_ [諺に見る沖縄の心] (The Okinawan Mind in Proverbs)
by Zenko Shimabukuro
This is a set of proverbs that is found on many websites, which makes posting it again a bit redundant. However, I believe that the people who read this blog will find value in some of these and (if they have not seen these before) will appreciate having these posted here. Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-75862941653566012032014-01-12T17:11:00.000-08:002015-01-30T09:00:05.191-08:00Karate's Most Effective Form
This page is meant to present resources on Naihanchi Shodan (and to a much lesser extent Naihanchi Nidan) which are designed to highlight its functional utility as a fighting method. This page only attempts to highlight resources which are compatible with my own approach to the kata. It makes no attempt to catalog resources relating to other approaches. This isn't meant to suggest that Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-31641985228026878092013-12-26T17:22:00.000-08:002013-12-30T18:03:49.268-08:00Functional Applications From Naihanchi NidanHere is a video exploring a sequence of 5 movements from Naihanchi Nidan. This portion
of the kata illustrates how to address resistance encountered while
trying to apply tuidi (joint techniques). Instead of trying to muscle
the techniques, the kata shows how to reverse direction and co-opt the
attacker's force while transitioning into a new technique. In other
words it shows how to "go withRyan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-86877041108252544502013-08-01T21:20:00.001-07:002013-08-02T14:41:50.205-07:00Oyata Seiyu shinshii (circa 1980)As I have mentioned here before, I believe Oyata Seiyu shinshii was instrumental in the preservation of many nigh forgotten aspects of the Suidi (Shuri-te) family of Okinawan martial arts. Far more importantly, he triggered an awareness of the deeper combative value of Okinawan martial arts kata (Tichiki / old-style Okinawan bunkai) beginning in the early 1980s.
This awareness rippled throughoutRyan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294538133478670821.post-30905392852745612382013-06-28T07:28:00.000-07:002014-05-17T18:49:09.602-07:00Makiwara Misconceptions
"There are no karate men who do not use the Makiwara." - Nagamine Shoshin shinshii
This is the second article in my series on training with the Makiwara (Machiwara in Uchinaaguchi). The previous article provided a look at my indoor makiwara design to give folks some ideas about building their own. In this article I want to address what I see as the four most widespread Ryan Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10438844540422710276noreply@blogger.com15