Wen Hsiu Quan

I like my routine. I'd lie if I say that it has never been disturbed. One group of people with whom I have grown more and more comfortable giving a Saturday to every once in a while is my karate school.  I have noticed that I don't find Sensei John on the internet if I search WSKF South Africa, but definitely when I search "Shotokan Karate South Africa". Yesterday's year end training for brown and black belts was at Hazyview's dojo. This awesome class room is situated on the farm of Sensei Danie Janse van Vuuren and his wife Sensei Sandra. It was once a tobacco shed.  Sensei Danie told me that the mats and equipment you see on the walls were donated by one of the students- Vincent Galaca. He has recently passed his Shodan Grading. Due to the rubber pistols being there we got treated to a gun disarming demonstration from Sensei John. That was after an intense kihon session with Sensei John (still stiff!), a really harrowing...

At my karate class I am known to stubbornly insist on using kicks not normally practiced in our dojo. Most of these kicks come from my Shukokai days. This particular kick, though, has undergone some changes over the years as I took up Chinese martial arts. I refer to both the reverse roundhouse kick and the back spinning kick as the reverse roundhouse, but recognise that the faster version is done with the lead foot while the back spinning version is more powerful and employs the rear foot.   In karate this kick is usually done by doing a front kick or side kick past the target and then to hook the the sole or heel of the foot around to hit the target from the side. I do not find this version very powerful and substituted it with the Dragon's Tail form that involves whipping the leg around and through the target from the side. A problem that reared its ugly head a while ago, however, was when I did the kick against a wall (don't ask) I saw t...

Before I began my study of the martial arts I have regarded shouting as a natural part of fighting. That is what we do when we are angry, right? Let me rephrase- that is what we do when we are angry and brave enough to show it. Without the mental conditioning of martial arts training a loud voice tends to instill fear in most of us. Hell- even with my mental conditioning I find being yelled at unbearable. Even if it doesn't scare you, you must admit that it stirs one emotion or the other in you. Now before I type out my observations over the years- let me share what I have been able to find on the internet thus far. One of these videos shows a teacher of some Japanese martial art demonstrating the effect of a sudden yell on an unsuspecting student and then- from two of my favourite movies from China- Princess and the Seven Kungfu Masters and Kung Fu Hustle the "Lion's Roar" done by female characters in these movies: https://youtu.be/vrRWGsHttDY https://youtu...

I remember waiting my turn with the punching bag at a gym when this boxer was bouncing it around with a series of punches. Sure- the bag was rocking with each blow and swung around, but none of the blows seemed to be anything as damaging as what I have come to encounter in my exploration of the martial arts. When my turn came the bag did not shake as much, but a loud "BOOM!" emanated with each punch and a nice dent started forming. Oh! And no-one was holding the bag... The difference between the two ways of punching lay not so much in the movement- or the external aspect- but in the internal aspects. Now- most of us know what Bruce Lee said about the difference between a karate punch and a kungfu punch, right? Sure- we have all heard it, but here it is again to refresh our memories: https://youtu.be/SqPPftwiopM What Bruce Lee was referring to here was the internal aspect of the punch. In short- the external aspect is about how the technique is performed...