There is always room for JELLO

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

I have made a lot of statements and comments and OPINIONS about the various kinds of karate and martial arts there are but I have to say with a strong conviction that regardless of my thoughts, comments, statements or OPINIONS on those different types, “They all are great, they all serve a purpose and as long as they all meet the goals of their participants - IT IS A GOOD THING!

I may be of the mind that karate is a civil model and system for self-defense and I may not feel other models or systems do or do not meet that standard, which is my standard, but in truth and regardless of history, intent, essence, etc., Traditional, Classical, Modern, etc., Karate is all good, very very good.

In my rendition of the meaning behind Tatsuo-san’s statement of, “All bottles are good.” …  “All of them serve a purpose, to hold what they were intended for.” Applies to karate past, present and possible future. All bottles (forms, models and systems) of karate are good. All of them serve a purpose, to do what they were intended to do. There is no best bottle, karate, all bottles, karate, are good.

There is always room for karate, all kinds of karate and all kinds of martial arts. They server a purpose and just because they don’t match up with my view of karate does not diminish their purpose and benefits, we all benefit from such a wide range and variety of karate practices and martial arts practices, regardless. 

Bibliography (Click the link)

The Gokui: breathing methods are either hard or soft

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Michael Clarke Sensei of the Shinseidokan Dojo blog provided the following quotes in his recent article, read it HERE, that inspired another view of the ken-po goku-i, in the old version stated as, “The manner drinking (inhaling) and spitting (exhaling is either hard or soft,” and my version, “breathing methods are either hard or soft,” have a new meaning I didn’t think of till his mentioning of inhaling and exhaling, etc., see the quote next:

“The learning of karate is at first a little like inhaling; everything new comes rushing in. At some point you have to exhale, to allow your karate to flow outward from inside. At that point you'll know if you have been breathing oxygen or stale air. The history of karate is fractured and imperfect, it contains fewer 'masters' than some would have you believe, and more heroes than you can imagine. The famous get noticed, the heroes...not so much. So, be particular about the past that you accept, or you may find yourself reading about the people who wrote history, but not the people who made it.” - Michael Clarke Sensei of Shinseidokan Dojo

When I think of inhaling I think of a soft or yin aspect but for this one I would make a stab at learning karate as hard and that to learn, like Clarke Sensei would insinuate, learning karate is hard but you have to take it in, wholeheartedly, to truly learn karate. As he often writes karate is also about what you put out as it is influenced through karate practice matters, exhaling as yang but rather a softer side when in reality it is a soft side or yin because once you achieve proficiency of your practice and training things become easier … BUT …

When I contemplate hard and soft, inhaling karate then exhaling experience, knowledge and understanding of karate while also contemplating the difficulty in teaching or passing along karate I see the dichotomy of yin-yang or hard-soft where both intertwine to make for the holistic wholehearted essence that is karate. 

One reason I advocate the study of the goku-i as well as other philosophical and theories such as yin-yang, zanshin and shu-ha-ri, etc., is that it is a mutual yet separate effort that makes for the one whole that is karate. It is how the yin-yang of principles applied to multiple methodologies that as yin are that which are hidden but crucial to the foundation of karate while karate itself is the outward manifestation, i.e., inhaling to the inner in learning while exhaling to the outer in practice, training and applications. 

In short, the concept provides another way to see your karate, to make it a deeper and wider study of a universe of possibilities derived through the study and practice of such an eclectic form of body, mind and spirit development. 

Bibliography (Click the link)

Void - Universe - Gokui ……….

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

In my continued studies concerning the void. Martial beliefs use the void to denote emptiness, the space between "Things." 

It may turn out that what we think of as void actually is not, like the black of space the void consists of "Some Thing." 

The black of space that surrounds all perceivable matter we humans can see is filled.

What I am considering is the theory of Black Matter and Black Energy filling in those areas we see as the black of space - "The Vacuum."

When studying the "Theory Principal," of the sub-principal of "The Void," we think of the rhythm and cadence, etc., that resides between our actions and thoughts like the space, voids, between the notes in music that form that music.

The reason I venture down this path is due to a strong connection between karate and martial arts to the ancient Chinese classics studied by practitioners where the "Universe" is connected via principles such as yin-yang and so on. Granted we can always assume the ancients didn't know of or even understand such concepts but that would be a huge mistake.

The mere fact they created such symbolism grants them the leeway toward the knowledge. Such as the great tai chi from a singular great start point referred to as the "One," where some action, think Big Bang theory, created duality, I.e., yin-yang, that resulted in myriad thing, the cosmos, represented by the eight trigrams then further to the 56 hexagrams used to Devine the myriad things of nature, life and human existence.

Start by continuing to accept the void for what it currently is then add in that it is not truly a void but a substance that is as real as the principles of the mental, physical and spiritual actions manifested in karate and martial arts, the glue that makes it all work.

The material of the void likened to the strings that connect every aspect of the entire universe from the interstellar cosmos down to the very substances that are our very DNA.

Bibliography (Click the link)

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