karate promotion Archives - Ichi Kyu Diary

Joy is Contagious; grief endemic to the human condition

Each day of good health, therefore, is a gift. Every day spent in the company of a dear friend and loved one is also a gift. Karate teaches us to strengthen our bodies so we might have more days of good health. It also teaches us strength of mind to bear pain and recognize truth.

Yesterday, I participated as a judge in a promotion for the first time. It was a truly rewarding experience.

We continue to hold the bulk of our classes over Zoom. However, about once a month, health restrictions permitting, we meet in a local park for a socially-distanced workout.

During yesterday’s promotion, Sensei T felt it was important to meet in person. He offered me a chance to attend, since, as a newly minted shodan, I should learn to judge and assist in promotions. Sensei R was our senior officiating referee. The three of us met our student and his parents at 9:00am.

Go-Kyu Test

Our fifteen year old promotion candidate, TC, had clearly worked hard. His kicks were high and targeted. He knew his required kata well: Tsuki No, Yantsu and Pinan Sono San and of course, Sanchin. He had had personal tutoring from both Senseis R and T. I’d tailored a class and taught Tsuki No kata over Zoom for him. Last Tuesday, Sensei R. went over several of TC’s requirements. He was a yellow stripe, or go-kyu and tested yesterday for his yon-kyu, or green belt. The green belt is the first rank for an advanced student.

Sensei T led the warm-up, then we alternated running kihon with TC. While one of us led, the other watched TC’s techniques. Sensei R.’s eagle eyes were on TC the whole time. TC was sharp, following each technique, and did not show signs of fatigue. Afterwards, Sensei T had him do a couple of the beginning kata to warm-up, then had him do his promotion requirements. I led him through syllabus to his rank, the fourth kyu, also discovering in the process that I need to drill these for myself. That knowledge I will take with me into our upcoming Zoom classes!

Corrections for Cleaning: Evidence of an Advanced Student

Appropriately, most of our corrective notes for him centered on details: paying attention to his hikite hand, curving his foot out appropriately for sokuto or the knife-edge of the foot. Sensei R also demonstrated techniques for making sure your sanchin dachi pose is properly distanced: if you pivot forward into the fighting stance from sanchin dachi, then go down to one knee, your foot and knee should be about a fist apart.

After these, TC was required to do sixty push-ups, sit-ups and squats. Sensei T made the last 15 squats more challenging by having him do punches after each squat, and finally ending with five jump-squats.

The Fight Against Oneself: Developing Perseverance

Karate helps us develop a steadfast, unshaken spirit

A rigorous, eight minute tabata test substituted for his kumite matches. Sensei T had him rotate through a minute of each exercise with a twenty second break in between each. It was similar to the tabata Sensei R had prepared for my Shodan and Sensei T’s nidan tests. In TC’s case, he did bear-crawls, a round of punch-kicks, mountain-climbers and birpees. Of course, this test came last, after his exercises, kihon and kata had tired him out. He did not breeze through this test, but rather came to the brink of his abilities. We saw the moment, during his second-to-last and last set, when he slowed and truly wanted to quit. He was tired, out of breath and worn down.

Sensei R basically told him, “We’re not going to give this belt to you. You have to earn it!” Of course, when you work hard to earn it, you value it so much more.

Sensei T and I both called out encouragement. We watched him hit that moment when he wanted to quit, and we watched him push through it. He did this at least twice. I told him, “You’re climbing the mountain and you’re at the summit! Keep going! Climb on up there!” TC completed the requirements, tired out, but he stood tall to receive his green belt at the end.

Remembering what Sensei R had said to so many of us, I said to TC, “Look at you! Look what you can do!” I also said, “Normally, during a green belt test, you fight others during kumite. During your test, you had to fight yourself. You did, and you persevered!”

A Karateka’s Skill Reflects His Teachers’ Skills

Later, Sensei R told us how proud he was that Sensei T and the martial arts club had trained TC so well. TC’s success was a testament to Sensei T’s leadership of our group. In fact, Sensei R could see the personal style of his own student, Sensei T, reflected in TC’s execution of his kata and techniques. Sensei R seemed touched that I remembered and echoed to TC what he’d said to me and my fellow students.

TC was elated, and his parents were very proud. We took pictures together. We congratulated TC. TC’s parents spoke about how TC works hard and excels in so many areas: school as well as karate! I admit I was not surprised in the least to learn he is an excellent student at school. Given the tenacity and intelligence he demonstrates in our classes, I would expect no less of him.

I was elated for the rest of the day. Even while returning home, and needing to work the sixth day for my job (we’re in the end-of-the-year “crunch” cycle), I could not remove the smile from my face. TC’s accomplishments, and his and his family’s joy was simply contagious.

A Memorial for a Memorable Friend

Today I had another highly emotional experience: we remembered a dear friend, MM, who recently passed away. She was in her seventies and in the late stages of dementia. She and her husband, MW, who also suffered from dementia along with other illnesses, lived in a nursing care facility near her adult daughter’s home. Both our friend and her husband contracted Covid-19 in their care facility. Her husband survived, but she died within a week of contracting the disease. He is currently quite ill.

Her two daughters organized a memorial over Zoom. My mother-in-law, Miriam, and MM were childhood acquaintances and close adult friends. She gave MM’s first remembrance. She described their brief childhood acquaintance followed by a close friendship in college. Years later, Miriam and Richard, her husband, visited MM and MW at their residence in Hawaii. They had a great time touring the islands together.

Ohana Hanai: Family by Choice

However, shortly before their departure, Richard experienced shortness of breath and pain. Unbeknownst to them at that time, he was having a heart attack. MW rushed him to a hospital–and then to a second one when the first was closing. Soon after, they had a difficult decision to make: Richard needed heart surgery. MM and MW took Miriam into their home. Richard had the surgery, then needed time to recover. During that time, MM and MW offered whatever assistance they could. These friends cared for them during a time of great need in their lives. Miriam called them her ohana hanai, her adopted family. While this is normally reserved for infants, that experience cemented the relationship between MM, MW, Miriam and Richard.

Interestingly enough, Miriam’s story echoed through the words of others. MM and MW were rainy-day friends to many. Through their lasting kindness, love, and support to many, they had lots of close friends. MM’s daughter said she was a meticulous collector of friends and she treasured them like jewels throughout her life.

In fact, when my husband and I moved to Hawaii, MM and MW acted as our island family, too. As Miriam and Richard’s son and daughter-in-law, we were welcome at family gatherings, plied with advice, food and love. We are also grateful to MM and MW for their kindness. The memorial put together by her daughters was truly beautiful and we were honored to participate.

Karate, Love, Pain and What Matters

Having these two events close together: a celebration of youthful accomplishment and perseverance, followed by a memorial for one who, through friendship, made so many people feel like family, brings me back to one of the more simple truths taught by the practice of karate.

At the heart of karate, we find that search for truth. That deepest truth in each of us is simply the truth of the human condition. We are each mortal. If we are truly fortunate to live long enough, we will experience the devastating loss of beloved friends and family members. A short life of our own would mean great pain for those closest to us. Pain and loss, then, is part of the human condition.

This and other photos in today’s entry were taken on a family trip through Oregon and Washington State

Saturday July 11th, 2020

Last night, over Zoom for karate class, N. was the instructor, but she traded off with DJ. DJ is an adult yellow stripe; she is having surgery next week, so Sensei gave her an opportunity to promote prior to her surgery. She demonstrated her knowledge of kihon, along with N. After kihon, she did the kata walk required for her rank, exercises and syllabus. She had fourth kyu, the one that features shutos, which, in my opinion, is one of the more difficult ones to learn. It simply has more moves. DJ did really well, though she struggled with Tsuki No kata. That one is a bear under normal circumstances, and she had to learn it in a hurry over Zoom. She passed her promotion, however. She is our first adult to promote over Zoom!

This morning, Senpai B, who is our youngest black belt–she earned her adult black belt at age fourteen–led the class. She called on me to teach kihon. I asked if she’d like me to alternate with F and S, since they were present for class. Senpai B approved, so we lead the entire kihon, alternating between us. F and I threw in some instruction where we thought appropriate. I did some instruction for performing ushiro geri that Sensei had given to DJ last night: he instructed us to chamber first, look behind you, perform the kick, draw your leg back quickly to your chamber, then set the foot down. I repeated the instructions, but had trouble keeping my balance! Nevertheless, I slowed the count and instructed folks to follow those steps, and struggled through myself. Senpai M, our Nidan who moved east, had given us similar instructions a while ago.

After kihon, B took back over and taught Pinan Sono San.

When class was finished, F went back inside to work on her English literature class and S stayed outside with me to practice Bo Sono Ichi. Neither S nor I could remember it, so we did a quick run-through of Pinan Sono Ichi Ura. We did well with that, except that we forgot to do blocks instead of punches during part of it.

We googled Bo Sono Ichi and found this very accomplished video of a black belt demonstrating it. Not only did this gentleman do an awesome Bo Sono Ichi, but he had up videos for Ni and San:

From what S and I can tell, this video and the other bo staff kata videos were first posted about nine years ago by members of the South Delta Kyokushin IKO Club. They appear to be re-posted about 2 years ago. In any case, this karateka is awesome and you should check out his other two videos.

S and I watched the other bo staff kata, then returned to this one and watched it at a quarter speed to learn the hand switches. When Sensei had taught this, and to be fair, he’d taught us bo staff katas more than once, he’d had us drill the hand switches. It was fun to do, but it has been several months since we practiced it. However, I need it now for the Shodan test. S caught on very quickly, then critiqued me while I practiced. Finally, once I had it down, he left to play Mindcraft with a friend, and I drilled it until I felt more comfortable with it.

To mix things up a bit, I practiced Pinan Sono Ichi and Ni Uras, then went back to the bo staff to practice some more.

Wednesday July 8th, 2020

I worried about doing exercises this morning because I’d experienced some pain in my left back shoulder blade and shoulder area last night. This morning, it was better and I was able to do all the exercises. In general, I should try to slow down and not rush through the exercises; if something hurts, then I need to modify what I do or do different exercises.

Since I’d had pains in one thigh last week, and last Monday’s treadmill run did not cause any new pain, I decided to stick with that and avoid jump rope intervals. Mentally, it was a bit of a challenge because I was watching the time go by pretty intently. A good podcast can help, but those commercial breaks are always an excuse for me to look at the time I’ve already jogged and mentally calculate how much time I have left. That is something I’m not proud of.

Last night, Sensei taught karate class over Zoom! A group of us had a small meeting with him after class to talk about promotion, since he’d suggested to a few students that they are ready to promote. For two adults in our group, he felt strongly that they should promote to green, which is the beginning of the advanced level. It would be good for the club, since they could then help teach. He suggested the club hold a promotion soon, particularly to reward the kids for sticking with karate during this pandemic. We are not sure how to pull that off, at the moment. TF suggested compiling a list of everyone’s current rank, and the last time they tested. Then, we can go over that list with Sensei and discuss who is ready.

We also discussed reaching out to a family that recently moved to the East Coast. Three of them studied karate with us for years, and we’re hoping to have them participate with us over Zoom. F has been in touch with the daughter, also an ichi kyu, who chose to set aside her junior shodan in favor of her adult rank.

The class was fun: Sensei went over the nunchuck kata again. SL, one of the junior shodans, also demonstrated a different nunchuck kata that he learned. He is one impressive kid.

This morning, while writing outside, I wrote this: it’s so pleasant–cool breeze, sunny but I’m in the shade; birds are singing, squirrels chirping and mosquitos buzzing. Mosquitos? Out this early? They’re the little “tiger” ones, new to this area.

Tonight, I admit, I did not do exercises. Instead, TF put together a kata study group that included the two yellow belts promoting to green, her and me. We drilled Tsuki No Kata together. It is one of the longer and more difficult kata. Once you get it down, though, it’s very cool. It focuses, at least in the beginning, on stances (kiba, sanchin, zenkutsu dachi) and emphasizes both reverse and straight punches (gyaku tsuki and oi tsuki). Lower-ranking kata will tend to have more mirrored moves and more straight punches, in contrast, and they follow a more clear pattern. This kata also starts from standing meditation, another mark of more advanced kata.

There are two versions on-line that actually look like the same performer, though one version is pretty blurry. I’m posting the more clear one, though I think we actually watched the other while we practiced.

We practiced this kata together over Zoom for roughly an hour and a half. At the end of it, I was pretty tired. I did a few push-ups, and rushed, despite planning not to rush through exercises. D came outside to check on me. I did not do squats or push-ups. It was after 9pm, and I was pretty tired. But I felt good after practicing the kata with friends. Also, kata practice is a good work-out by itself, so it’s an acceptable substitute for evening exercises.