Wen Hsiu Quan

Remember last week's post? I am really happy with the response I got. In that post I have mentioned that the Universe does not have any respect for the  Hikite. This, I admit is not entirely true and mostly applies to real fights or continuous sparring situations like the Dojo Kumite about which I wrote in that post. The truth is- using the hikite simply out of habit in a fight, without knowing its purpose- makes Karate look more ridiculous than the style of a completely untrained brawler and has in many instances led to untrained persons beating up karateka in confrontations throughout that unrecorded history of unfortunate karateka having had to fight outside the dojo (or who did not have to fight, but chose to and got unpleasantly surprised- we all know of such incidents). Now- If you practice Karate you know very well what the hikite is. For those of you who do not know, probably because you do not practice Karate at all, the  hikite is that hand that w...

Hello, everyone This post is dedicated to a very special friend who is soon going to take her 2nd Dan exam in JKF Shotokan Karate. Now we might not all know this, but Dan gradings involve free sparring as well and the type of free fighting used in these gradings is much more intense than the competition fighting which the public sees. Yes- everybody knows that Kyokushin kumite is full contact and does not stop when a point is scored, but how many people that do NOT study Karate know about the Dojo Kumite of Shotokan which is used at black belt gradings and black belt initiations? The videos below show some mild examples of what did manage to come out on the internet. https://youtu.be/dDf-wknmegg https://youtu.be/Uf0yOgTUdQw https://youtu.be/Pbkr_UnX9iM https://youtu.be/zjRejKWoNoo https://youtu.be/I_zmL6BRCOA https://youtu.be/GsjRUMxAyJc https://youtu.be/BKHyXgpqOVs With Kyokushin this is no big secret and lots of videos can be found of their full-contact figh...

 I have started my Saturday morning training sessions with a bit of shuriken throwing, just because it is fun. I have found that it is also a nice warm-up for the mind to get energy focused before one goes on to the punching and kicking of the day. As these photos show, the grouping that I got with the shaken (not shaken, but shah-ken, don't make me want to make you shine... :D) looks really cool. These hits got made with the same motions of the hand and wrist. Theory would have it that if I stand in exactly the same posture and flick my hand and wrist exactly the same way with each throw the projectile would hit exactly the same spot, right? Well... that is not how things normally work out, isn't it? Does anyone remember Ian Malcolm in the first Jurassic Park movie? He had the perfect explanation for this phenomenon. I am no mathematician, but we can accept the gist of the explanation that the posture and movements we use are not the only factors ...

Hello to everyone here for the first time in 2018. My annual break has been quite well and an exciting year is lying ahead. I actually chose to ignore my Fitbit tracker during the holidays and as punishment for that I have to train twice as hard this month to catch up. Still- it has been nice and restful. Well... I have not completely abandoned training during the holidays. As a lot of you would know- meditation is part of every training session for me. This is what today's post is about.  I realise that there are a lot of us who can happily get through the day without meditating. I was surprised to see however how much value MMA fighters place on it. Really- you think the traditional martial arts schools with their white gi's and bowing etc. are preserving the classical ways and then you wake up one day and find that many of the traditional schools do not even bother to teach meditation while the guys in the big bad MMA gyms incorporate Y...

So we have reached the end of another year. To me this has been an exciting year as a fledgling lawyer and as a martial artist. Approaching the age of 40 I can confirm that, although you may acquire a lot of knowledge over time, you never reach a point where you stop learning. I have indeed learnt a lot this year. Before I go on to wish everyone a blessed festive season I first want to thank all my friends in the online martial arts communities who share lots of interesting stuff and who give people like us a place on the web where we can feel we belong. This year I have seen a lot of posts from Karate people. This says a lot for a time when arts like Jujitsu, Krav Maga and the sport of MMA dominates martial arts posts. One of the most awesome new Karate people that we have met on Facebook is Samir Berardo of the Muidokan school of Karate. His bunkai driven style is doing a lot to preserve the valuable teachings that are embedded in t...

Who of you has seen Game of Death? I think Bruce Lee's fight scene with basket ball player Kareem Abdul Jabbar is one of the most memorable fight scenes in all of his movies. (An all-time favourite of mine is the fight with Chuck Norris in Way of the Dragon). Kareem's obvious advantage in the fight was the length of his limbs. We saw Bruce Lee getting kicked this way and that until he figured out a way to beat his tall adversary. In training we find that our basics and forms involve techniques that are meant for someone the same height as ours and whose limbs are the same length as ours. Under these circumstances one can block and counter without having to move at all- except for the instance where kicks are involved, because either the defense and counterattack or only the counterattack shall always require some body movement.  When your partner or opponent becomes taller than you, you realise that avoiding his attacks come a...