karate Archives - Page 3 of 8

Competency and Writing as a Shodan

How is a shodan different from an ichi kyu? The answer may surprise you.

Sunday, August 23rd, 2020

As you will hopefully see, I’ve created a new category for posting thoughts as a shodan. I will try to keep this up to date. Honestly, I found it helpful to both my karate and my writing practices to keep this on-line journal up-to-date. At the same time, I also feel that the transition from ichi kyu to shodan deserves a “marker,” so creating a new category to post under helps with that psychological transition.

Photo taken in my yard after our Shodan test, August 8th

I have continued to keep a personal written journal of daily ten minute writes, and have not missed any days. My first journal entry after the shodan test, however, was a bit tongue in cheek.

Of course I’d like to draw a line at the shodan test, and say,”On August 7th, I was an ichi kyu, and now, on August 9th, I am a shodan!” While this is true, it is only partially true. First, Sensei will normally invite folks to promote who have done the work to be ready to promote. So typically, you are ready to test for shodan when you finally have the skills to do that test. But also, shodan really means “first rank,” or “competent.” Again, when absorb that information, it is more a reason for humility than for pride. I’ve moved out of kindergarten and into first grade, in the karate world. Yay me!

This entry is actually from August 9th, the day after my shodan test.

Shodan versus ichi kyu

So what does a new shodan need to do, besides finish Masutatsu Oyama’s book?

Laundry! But how would laundry be different for a shodan than an ichi kyu? Perhaps a shodan will pull the laundry out of the dryer when it finishes, rather than restarting the dryer in the “fluff” cycle a few times throughout the day before getting around to taking it out and folding it, like an ichi kyu.
Yard work! Perhaps a shodan will carefully examine the old collection of ocean rocks on the patio for one she can break, rather than pushing the rock box out of the way of the weed eater.
Parenting! The shodan shall take the other shodan and junior shodan to Baskin Robbins to choose a celebratory ice cream.
Dishes! A shodan will part with Tupperware that has no lid, rather than shove it back under the cabinet to deal with later. Unless, of course, this particular lidless Tupperware would work as a replacement for the cardboard box holding ocean rocks.
Cooking! A shodan will pull the old, frozen fruit from the freezer and use it for cooking a large batch of oatmeal, knowing that my junior shodan and young adult shodan like oatmeal. An ichi kyu might put it off for another week.

Why would a shodan be better at chores than an ichi kyu? A shodan understands performing time-consuming, tedious chores can build character, and that these will not become easier if more time is allowed to pass before tackling them. Also, some of these chores will result in happy children with ready-made breakfast for the next several days.

So that was it: my first journal entry as a shodan.

Friday August 7th, 2020

Tomorrow is the big day! Today I am not doing exercises, unless we do some during the karate Zoom class tonight. Sensei said our belts will not have IFK markings, but will have something to distinguish them as his style. So that’s interesting.

Karate as a sport started relatively recently. Masutatsu Ōyama founded his own dojo around 1956. He formally named his style Kyokushin in a ceremony in 1957. American football, in contrast, morphed from rugby around 1875, according to the History Channel’s on-line article on football. Shotokan’s founder, credited to Funakoshi by Wikipedia, lived from 1868 to 1957, to contrast with Oyama. For the first time this year, the Olympics included karate. Due to the pandemic, the Games have been rescheduled to the summer of 2021. While karate’s roots may be ancient, karate as a sport is relatively new. Kyokushin, itself, is as young as its founder.

Now that F and I are approaching our shodan tests, I see how fluid, and non-standardized these institutions are. Karate organizations are people, their approaches and interpretations of history. Even Oyama, in his book, sometimes argues with invisible colleagues over the merits of callouses or the practicality of certain skills. He occasionally laments the loss of more rare skills. He saw karate as changing, and changed it, himself.

So karate is international, with a long, illustrious history. Like Zen, small groups of individuals teach others one on one. Instructors and senpais transmit knowledge in a personal way, tailored to kohai. Yes there are standards, but these are subject to constant interpretation, evaluation, re-interpretation, re-discovery and refinements. There are tug-o-wars over authenticity, alongside both useful, and not-so-useful, innovations. Like any living art, it changes, growing up and out from where it started, but it still remains rooted in fertile soil.

Wednesday August 5th, 2020

I set the alarm for 7:00am and was downstairs closer to 7:20 am. I did exercises, then rushed to be at a dentist appointment by 8:00 am. Upon returning home, I had time to stretch, clear dishes and write in my journal before clocking into work by 10:00 am.

At work, we had a “good-bye” lunch for our head of technology over Zoom. He’s really good, and my coworkers and I are all sorry to see him leave.

Yesterday, I called V, a work friend currently furloughed. (Actually I have posted pictures of her kumquats on this blog.) We discussed the departure of our supervisor. She speculated about the usual work politics issues, particularly given the current re-structuring our company is experiencing. She told me something I had no idea about, however. From an artist friend, she heard one of our business units is requiring digital artists to show up in person and work in the building. Actually, another work friend said he’d been offered a job at this business unit. He debated whether or not to take it for that reason. Moreover, she’d heard that the digital artists were given letters claiming they are “essential workers” that must be on-site. Given that our business unit is a rather large team of digital artists working from home, that’s simply not true.

According to V, the client who hired this particular unit pressured them into keeping the artists on-site for “security” reasons. Basically, they value the secrecy of their story, or the look of their characters, etc., above any risks working on-site poses to the health of artists and their families.

I don’t know what to say about the skewed values and lack of ethics at play there. From my perspective, it’s “bully” behavior. The effects house could refuse to work that way, and then the client would have to find someplace else to go. And if others are equally firm and ethical, there would be no where to go. That is one of the lessons of karate: you have to stand up to bullies. If you don’t, they’ll keep bullying.

Okay, on a less sad note, last night’s story from “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” was a good one. An emperor convinces a Zen monk, Kakua, known for being elusive and shy, to preach at his court. The monk appears before the emperor and his court. He takes out a flute, plays a single, brief note, and disappears. All the more reason to insist we do what we can to preserve life: it is over too soon.

Friday July 31st, 2020

Yesterday I took a late, long lunch for the workout in the figure eight park. The kids and I met Sensei and several of the youth who will be promoting tomorrow. We spread ourselves out on the green and wore masks.

On Sensei’s order, we ran relays, in sets of ten, to a marker in less than twelve seconds, I think. Then he lowered the time to about nine seconds. Anyone who needed more time would have to run another lap. We ran to the mark, then walked back. After each timed run, we had about thirty seconds to recuperate. During the second set, we had somewhat more time but could not stop moving until we’d reached the marker and returned to our starting position. In essence, he’d doubled the distance we had to run without doubling the time. Our starting position was in line with a tree where a lady sat with her dog.

Sensei noted that the dog looked like Benji. The kids had no idea what he was talking about, but the few grown-ups there, like me, knew exactly who he meant. Just in case you don’t:

Apparently, according to this video, it’s been remastered and you can purchase it! But for some history, Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benji

Benji is totally seventies. And I must admit that the dog next to the lady under the tree did look just like the famed Benji from the seventies.

But back to to running relays: so the longer distance required a slightly different strategy: I took maybe two more seconds to run to the original mark and then jogged back.

It was really hot in the afternoon sun, which made the whole workout all the more strenuous. He started us out, by the way, with sixty tricep push-ups, sit-ups and squats, done as quickly as we could manage. We did the exercises before running relays. Afterwards, we practiced high rank kata, then ran the basic ones, including the kicking kata. Finally, we went over shodan and nidan syllabi. He asked for requests, so we ran Kanku for Senpais N and B, our highest ranking members. Here’s a video of Kanku published by the école TajRif de Karaté kyokushin Tetouan:

It is a beautiful kata, and one I do not know. I kept my distance and stumbled along. Also, given all the kata I do need to know for Saturday in a week, I resolved not to worry about it. But once I have the shodan test behind me, I’d love to really learn this kata.

We also ran the bo staff katas without bos, so that was interesting! And challenging.

In the evening, I went back to work and worked until about 8:45pm. I really did not want to do my remaining forty exercises. I even went as far as asking my daughter F, who is actually my Senpai in karate since she started over a year earlier than me, if I could skip.

She asked if I’d had enough water, worried I might be a bit dehydrated after that workout. So she told me to drink more water and dodged the question. I persisted. She suggested tackling the easier exercises first, and leave off push-ups if I was that tired.

F was willing to let me off, but her hedging and the fact that I even felt like I needed to ask permission were all signs that I really should do the exercises. I was about nine days out from my own test. I took her suggestion, had a bit of water, and tackled squats and sit-ups first. Once those were done, I felt good, and tackled the remaining chest push-ups. Funny how much resistance the mind can put up to something that really took little time. Forty is, after all, less than half of one hundred!

This morning, I did exercises right after making a coffee. I went out and bought bottled water for tomorrow’s junior promotion, and I texted Jessica.

We have karate class tonight. The junior promotion tomorrow will be early in the morning.

Wednesday July 29th, 2020

For some reason, I was more tired than usual today. I had really vivid dreams, though. My sister and I were staying with cousins in Beebe, Arkansas. Our oldest cousin was pregnant in the dream, and we were celebrating. C, my sister, had built a kind of wind chime out of string and an umbrella. She spun it. I untangled the strings from the spokes, while it was moving. In the dream, I was so fast, I could do it, and just like in the Matrix, the spokes of the spinning umbrella appeared slow enough for me to straighten the string attached to chimes. I credit my super-dream speed to karate.

Dreaming of a childhood home, though, usually makes me introspective. Interrupted sleep, which probably makes the memory of dreams possible, is, most likely, the tired factor.

Nevertheless, I did exercises this morning and after work. During the forty chest push-ups in the morning, (following the required sixty tricep ones), I went to my knees early, after fewer than fifteen. Yesterday I had managed to stay up for half. Once again, I used pebbles to keep up with the count for one hundred sit-ups, and that worked out better today: no long pauses, and it kept me on track. What is there to say about squats with alternating punches, other than I’m still doing them? In the evening, I did manage to stay on my toes and fists for the sixty chest push-ups, but as soon as I was on the mat to do the forty tricep ones, I went to my knees early, too. I did not do regular sit-ups but my usual lower ab exercises.

I asked my husband, right after the second set of push-ups, “When do you think this will get easier? I’ve been doing this for a year, and it’s still not easy.” He had no answer. To be fair, I supposed doing twenty push-ups is easier now than a year ago. Actually I’m not certain about that: hopefully I’m at least faster.

I am still reading a tale from “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” before bed. Last night’s tale was interesting, and short. A monk named Gasan said, “Those who preach against killing any sentient being are right…. What of those who kill time…. [And] what of the one who preaches without enlightenment? He is killing Buddhism!”

Tuesday July 28th, 2020

My life has been non-stop karate for roughly four days, but as an ichi kyu just days out from my test, that’s appropriate. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

I did exercises this morning. In order to keep track of sit-ups, since I messed up the count yesterday morning, I held 5 little stones in each hand and dropped one after each set of ten. At first, the actual dropping of stones probably gave me too much of a rest as I figured out the logistics, but it did help me keep the count.

During class, I did forty push-ups, sit-ups and squats, so I only had to do sixty afterwards. At ten o’clock at night, I did my last sets of sixty.

During my lunch break, I practiced my bo staff kata and my two ura katas, along with Saifa. F has an exam tomorrow, and her second summer school class has started, so she didn’t practice with me. Yesterday, however, she was a trooper.

Tonight, Senpai TJ taught with DJ as our monitor. My son S and I setup the older laptop outside on a table in the back yard. We also have a flood light set up to turn on, once it gets dark. We have a flood light because, long ago, my my husband bought it to use as a night time light for a short film he worked on years ago.

During class, Senpai covered Gekisai Dai. Initially, S and I seemed to be on different sides from each other the whole time, but we figured it out by the time Senpai called on us to demonstrate. Once we were spotlighted on Zoom, we got it together.

Here’s an awesome video posted by karate35, that I often use as reference for that kata:

We also had a guest instructor join us, but for observation. He is the father of one of F’s buddies from choir. Several months back, Sensei invited him to teach a self-defense class, and it was cool to learn techniques from a different style.

I called him last night. He wanted to check out our Zoom classes. He had no idea about teaching over Zoom, however, so I suggested he observe a class.

Initially he had trouble because he was not terribly familiar with Zoom. DJ let him into the class, but we weren’t sure at first who he was. His video and sound were off and he showed up under a strange name. He couldn’t chat us or figure out how to unmute to speak to us. DJ, cautious, sent him to the waiting room. I texted him on my cell. He confirmed that he was, in fact, our mystery guest, so we let him back in. By the end of the class, he figured out how to turn on his video and unmute his microphone. After class, he talked with a few of us, and confided that this was his first Zoom session ever!

After speaking with our guest instructor, Senpais SF and T graciously offered to go over promotion requirements with S and myself. We drilled shodan syllabus as well as first kyu. I accidentally kicked S during the spin kicks at the end. Later, S somehow got me on the head while practicing one of the kata. At some point, we stayed far enough away from each other to have enough space to work, and far enough back from the computer that we could still be seen on camera.

Afterwards, we practiced several kata. I’m embarrassed to admit I could not remember Pinan Sono San during lunch. I had to look it up, so I asked Senpais to review that one.

Senpai TF has recently injured her rotator cuff, so we talked abut that for a bit. Sensei had warned me not to go too low for push-ups, and to keep my elbows in, in order to hit the triceps. During one of our recent training sessions with him, he had each of us (F, S and me) demonstrate how low we go, to make sure we were not going low enough to irritate the shoulder joints.

I shared that information with TF. I suspect her push-ups are too deep. Initially, when you stop going low, it feels like cheating. However, if you keep your elbows tucked in and you stop just before your elbows line up with the bottom of your rib cage, you can work those triceps well without injuring your shoulders. That, at least, is the idea.

Soon, the kids and I will veg out and watch an episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation. It’s not as funny as Buffy, but still entertaining.

Wednesday July 22nd, 2020

This morning, instead of exercises, I meditated for ten minutes. I sat outside under the loquat tree and tried to focus on natural sounds outdoors. Despite the leaf blower running, I could hear birds and the neighbor’s fountain. However, my mind went everywhere: more changes and cuts at work; concern over this blog since our little martial arts club is unaffiliated, and, though I’m pretty sure I did join the IFK, I only have my daughter’s membership card; fears that the Shodan test will be less meaningful without kumite and in this potentially shortened form; fears that, if I find employment in another industry, the adjustment will be more difficult than expected. When I realize my mind has wondered, I try to find a bird sound or the water, and listen again.

Funny, when I glance over the list of worries above, actually contracting COVID-19 myself, or having a member of my family contract it, doesn’t rate. Why is that? Despite the fact that a good friend and a couple cousins have gotten it, and recovered, the actual threat of the disease feels unreal. My husband keeps a little cheat sheet of the rising national count on a daily basis, which I see, but do not pay much attention to.

Despite the fact that it feels unreal, I act on what I know. In the morning, I still spray down the kitchen counters and frequently touched surfaces, like light switches and refrigerator handle, with a diluted bleach solution. A note taped to the door reminds me and others in my household to wear a mask before answering the door, both to protect us and whoever is dropping off a delivery and ringing the bell. The doorbell, outside and inside door knobs and even the mail box are surfaces I spray with the diluted bleach solution. I take these actions every day. I know that, despite our best efforts, one of us could still contract the disease. Despite this knowledge, I don’t worry about it. I just do what needs to be done.

Other areas of my life could benefit from that treatment: regarding work, I should do my best to look around, and do my best on the job I have, while I have it. It’s not always easy and I don’t always succeed, but that is a good goal. Regarding karate, the same: do what Sensei requires and trust his judgement. He will grant the next rank, or not, depending on how each of us performs during our test. He has given us the requirements and will administer the test. Also, we’ve chosen to continue our karate practice at home, to the best of our abilities, under these circumstances. Our only other option was to stop karate; that option precludes not only a black belt test but also any progress in karate.

My friend Jessica, my “dirt sister,” came over today. Her Queen of the Night started blooming. It only fully blooms at night. We are to check it roughly once an hour tonight to see, and hopefully record its progress. Above, take at peek at where it was at around 5:30pm this evening.

Tuesday, July 19th, 2020

Yesterday and today, I made up for missing exercises last Thursday evening and Friday morning. I did sets in both the morning and evening on Monday, as well as ten sets of two minute jump rope intervals. After doing jump rope, I went over the Ura kata that I need. If you are asked to do, say, Pinan Sono Ichi Ura, this means that, on every other move, you are expected to spin before completing the move. So, using that kata as an example, you’d have to do the initial block, then spin, then do the punch, then spin, then do the next block, spin, next punch, etc. You have to keep up with where you are in the kata and not get dizzy. The little kid in me loves loves loves uras. The grown-up in me has concerns about executing those turns in sneakers.

Sensei also sent email detailing the black belt requirements. Exercises are the least of my worries. We will not be able to fight at all, however. This was not unexpected. He had hoped to surprise us with a visit from a Senpai that we all really love. However, given the current state of the pandemic, it’s just not realistic to think we could spar and not put each other at risk.

This morning I timed my exercises. So here’s where I’m currently at:

sixty knuckle-push-ups, “tricep” style, took about a minute: 55.35. With the additional forty “chest” push-ups: 1 minute 39.19. One hundred squats with alternating punches took 2 minutes, 34.84 seconds. My sit-up routine was more time-consuming: 3 minutes, 14.34 seconds.

For comparison, on June 19th (yes, Juneteenth), I did fifty knuckle-push-ups, “tricep” style, with an additional thirty “chest” push-ups in 1 minute 34.16 seconds. Ninety squats with alternating punches took me 2 minutes and 18 seconds. Sit-ups, and I have in my notes that I did 100 “normal” ones, and not my usual ab routine, took 3 minutes, 22.45 seconds.

So, time-wise, I’m doing more exercises and still in the same ballpark time-wise. That’s good!

Karate over Zoom went well. F taught and Senpai TN monitored the class. F had us do exercises in between kihon sets. Then she held a mini kata demonstration: she highlighted each student and had them do a kata of their choice. She also asked everyone to give feedback on the kata performances. This included two of our members who have autism or learning disabilities. It was so cool to see each of them perform, and do well!

Friday July 17th, 2020

Yesterday morning I did do my usual exercises, but I didn’t last night. During my lunch break, I went here:

I donated blood for the first time. This was something I have wanted to do for a long time, but I’ve been below the weight limit for most of my adult life, except when I was pregnant. At my last physical, I realized I was finally slightly over the limit and discussed it with my doctor. She said the need for blood donations now is greater than usual, due to the pandemic. So, after leaving the doctor’s office, I called the Red Cross from my car and finally made an appointment. Yesterday, I kept the appointment.

I had no idea what I was getting into, but many people do it on a regular basis and it saves lives. That’s good enough for me. Though I played the cool cucumber, the intake nurse noted my pulse was slightly elevated. I confessed I’d never donated before. She pricked my finger to check my ability to clot, and assured me, “That’s usually the most painful portion of it! You’ll do fine.”

A gentleman set me up for the actual blood draw. Their needle was no different from the kind used for blood draws for a physical. The time period was longer, and a nurse gave me a “gummy” toy car, enclosed in a glove, to squeeze. R&B played inside the Red Cross van; I watched in amusement as one nurse, the gentleman who set me up, grooved to the music.

I resisted the urge to make vampire jokes.

My husband did receive vampire jokes from me prior, and responded with fainting jokes. He donated blood before, and knows exactly what not to say. And I knew when to stop paying attention to his texts.

I think of the blood donation in the same manner as a kumite match, or karate fight. It will weaken you, but it is also a learning experience that, in the long term, it can make you stronger.

Perhaps, in the case of a blood donation, it is more about mental strength than physical, at least for me. Once the blood draw had actually finished, I was feeling good, and then I saw the bag of blood and thought, “That came from me?” I immediately felt a bit dizzy, then I thought to myself, “Well this is silly–one or two minutes ago, most of that blood had already left my body and I did not feel this way. I feel this way because I looked at that bag. That bag is a good thing–and I am just fine.” The nurse told me when to sit up and I waited to sit up until I was told, and I felt just fine.

I did have the orange juice, and an entire bottle of water. I thought about taking some of the treats, but had brought fruit and nuts in the car, for the specific reason of not needing to take any sweets.

Once the draw is done, you wait for fifteen minutes to make sure you are okay. The nurse who released me instructed me not to exercise for 24 hours, or drink alcohol. So that was it for both my evening and morning exercises, along with that evening glass of wine.

Today, however, the kids and I met Sensei in the Figure 8 Park for a work-out. He had us do two minute runs broken up with kata and exercises. We one set of 20 push-ups, sit-ups and squats. For kata, we first practiced three of the pinans. Roughly in the middle of the workout, we did the sokugis, or the first punching katas. We ended the workout with Gekisai Dai and Sho, and Sensei led. After a couple runs, we simply drank water and socialized.

During the kata drills, Sensei also had us pay attention to how much distance we need for social distancing during the pandemic: he recommends thirty feet, outdoors, when folks are exercising. He instructed S to count it out for himself, since S, who is quite tall, also has large feet.

Tonight, I am teaching and hope to run the IFK upper 17 moves after kihon. I will ask my kohai and co-teacher to run kihon. We will use this video after the break:

Wednesday July 15, 2020

I have been lax in writing in this blog, but not with exercises. I did rest on Sunday, but since Monday, I have managed to get in my usual 60 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats in, as well as the additional 40 push-ups on my knees. Tuesday night, I was the Zoom monitor for karate class, so I did not participate in the actual class. Instead, I gave feedback to students practicing karate, or changed the Zoom spotlight as needed. Today, during our 3:30pm session, I also substituted for my son S while he finished up a Zoom D&D game.

Today and Monday, I went back to the jump rope intervals for cardio. Also on Monday, I reviewed Saifa kata, Tsuki No kata and Bo Sono Ichi. For Saifa, I found a great video:

This video was put up by a Kyokushin dojo in Cape Town, from the look of the poster. This gentleman is great because you can really observe his hand motions. For the life of me, I could not remember how this kata began. It has been over six months, possibly longer, since I practiced it. I felt I needed to re-learn it.

Still reading “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones,” though the stories are a bit odd. I understand there’s a moral, in a way, but the past couple do not necessarily deal with enlightenment, but rather its opposite: a nun has a golden Buddha; she’s so jealous of other statues receiving her incense that she devises a funnel to send her burning incense directly to her statue, and it turns the Buddha’s nose black. In another, a tea master is very particular about the hanging of a basket, and his astute observational skills are tested by a craftsman.