Author: Ash Prime

Term 3 begins July 8

Those who paid in full for term 2 receive a 10% discount on term 3 fees due to one missed week.

Important news for Ipswich Wednesday class. We are moving!
From Term 3 onward, Wednesday class 10-11am will now be held at North Ipswich Scout Hall (same location as Tuesday night class).
8A Smith St North Ipswich.
There is also a small playground in the park behind the hall for the young ones.

Karate Books Part 4

Karate Kenpo: The Art of Self Defense by Mabuni Kenwa

One of the few books written by one of the “old masters” as they say. Mabuni Kenwa is known as the founder of Shitoryu Karate, of the well known “styles”. Although, Mabuni has this to say about styles, “There are no styles of karate-do, just varying interpretations of its principles.” At a time when Karate was becoming popular in Japan, each master was asked to name their style of Karate to fit in with the Japanese tradition of martial arts style names. Prior to this, all the Okinawan masters simply practiced Karate, with their own individual methods.

Written in 1934, this book gives a little history and philosophy on Karate, followed by some explanation of basic techniques along with illustrations. A detailed description of Sanchin follows with step by step instructions and illustrations. A large portion of this book is instructions on Se-Enchin kata, with llustrations and descriptions on performing the kata and two person practice of applications. This is one of the few examples of kata applications being clearly recorded by one of the old masters.

All classes will be on this week.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday.
Last week of term 2.
We will have a yellow belt grading on Monday for Sadie and a brown belt grading on Wednesday for Damara and Bella.

Today I’ve created a Karateka Kreator character sheet. Some of you may be familiar with this concept from RPG tabletop or video games. I thought it could be fun for students to have a go filling out their karate attributes. It could be helpful to identify existing strengths and see where more could be done. It wasn’t easy to choose the attributes but I tried to keep it simple while covering important areas. Incidentally, Mind, Body, Spirit are the Three Battles that Sanchin kata refers to.

You can print it out or use a mark up feature on your device. Simply fill in the dots to match your level of each attribute. 5 dots would be extremely advanced, such as an Olympic athlete or master wizard, so be honest when filling it in. Nobody would ever have 5 dots in everything! It’s ok to have 1 or no dots on something too. Having empty dots leaves room for improvement. You don’t have to show anyone but you can if you want and I’d love to see some. Happy to help if anyone isn’t sure about something. I’ll do one for myself as an example. This could be a great way to set some goals for self improvement. You could also use it to create a fictional character!

Hi everyone.
Unfortunately I have a cold so to avoid spreading it we will skip classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. So sorry.

We will have one more week left of term 2 after this week, including the Ipswich grading so hopefully I’ll be fine by then.
Fee credit given for next term.

Karate Books Part 3

“THE HISTORY OF KARATE AND THE MASTERS WHO MADE IT” by Mark I. Cramer. A good book. I very much enjoyed this. Concise yet comprehensive. It covers the cultural context of Karate’s development, Karate philosophy, biographies of notable masters and more.

Karate Books Part 2
SANCHIN Three Battles by Pervez B Mistry.
A whole book dedicated to the best kata, Sanchin!
Sanchin kata develops mind, body and spirit (the three battles), all essential aspects of an effective Karateka. I practice Sanchin daily and there is always something for me to improve on. It is simple in appearance yet highly complex on deeper study. This book goes into great detail on many aspects of Sanchin kata, such as how to perform the kata, breathing and tension with descriptions of anatomy and why things are done, the effects of Sanchin on the musculoskeletal, respiratory, and nervous systems and practical fighting applications of Sanchin. Highly recommend for anyone wanting to truly understand Sanchin and its value.

Karate Books! A student was asking me about books recently so I thought I’d do a few posts on some karate books. There are so many books out there on karate; history, techniques, philosophy… Not a lot of material was documented in the early days of karate but there are a few books by the “Old Masters” and many by modern authors.

Karate by Fumio Demura was the first karate book I acquired. Demura was a modem master who sadly passed in 2023. He has many books on karate and Kobudo. This one is a sort of technique textbook. It goes though stances, strikes, kicks, blocks and more, with photos demonstrating how to perform the moves. A great reference book that I often refer to.

Fun fact: Fumio Demura was the stunt double for Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi character in The Karate Kid movie.

Our new Tuesday night class starts next week, May 28. Come along for a free trial. Age 7-adults. North Ipswich Scouts Hall. 6:15pm

Classes include a variety of training methods including solo kata (forms), partnered self-defence applications, pad work, sparring, strength and flexibility exercises. At higher levels we practice traditional Okinawan Kobudo weapons such as the bo, sai and kama.

Benefits of Karate

• improved physical strength, cardio fitness and flexibility
• develop self-defence skills
• build self-confidence
• have fun with friends or family
• improve self-discipline and awarenss