Training Notes
Sensei Iha’s Self Defense Karate Guidelines
Sensei Iha taught Roberto Curtis to look beyond punch-kick-block applications for self-defense.
Sensei Iha said most people only need to learn percussion-type karate focused on the punch-kick-blocks taught in many martial arts schools. When he learned Roberto was teaching first responders, security, and military personnel overseas, he began teaching more self-defense-focused applications.
1. Break out of the punch-kick-block paradigm with hidden hand applications. Ask what is in your pulling hand. A punch or kick can also be a block, throw, or another punch or kick. Kata turns can become grappling throws, breaks, or dislocations.
2. Fo-hi-ha: move your base foot first, then your hip, then complete the application with your hands. The movement is performed together in rapid unison, like a tidal wave.
3. Force = Mass × Acceleration. Focus on speed, not muscle. Sensei related that his instructor, Katsuya Miyahira, told him that true karate would come when muscle strength mostly abandoned him and technique took its place.
4. Kata counts may be combined for effective application, or applications can be discovered by doing kata with no count. If your hikite has a hand, arm, leg, or head in it, what could you be doing with your other arm and legs?
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