The sensei of the karate club I train at has decided to leave the Enshin organisation. No big ructions or fall outs, he's decided for a number of reasons to move away from Enshin. So I'm no longer an Enshin Karateka, which puts me in the position of training outside of a big organisation for the first time. Gary has a lot of ideas for the club and some of them may be of interest here as they speak to some of the debates that pop up regularly. To summarise, it's going to be a knockdown karate club allowing stand up grappling, but with rules that are more open than those allowed under Enshin Sabaki sparring. Still no face punching or grabbing the neck with two hands, but pretty much anything else goes except groundwork. The other interesting issue is no kata. Now, I quite liked the Enshin Kata for how they integrated smoothly into the syllabus, but (for me) there's no arguing with the fact that if you want the moves in your kata to be effective you're better doing the moves with a partner, so although I like solo kata as an exercise in themselves too, I can see the reasoning behind it. Finally the kihon has been cut to a very few techniques and, from what I can see, the way in which you do something is less important than the power it generates. So the details of techniques are suggested rather than proscribed and the end result measured. I quite like that idea, as a man who performs the jump spinning kicks of TKD with the grace of a hippo. A pregnant hippo. A pregnant hippo with real problems with her knees and a wooden leg or two. So it's short but sweet kihon that broadens a little over time, lots of sparring drills including, but not limited to, Enshin/Kyokushin techniques and no kata. To some this may be karate heaven, some may think it's karate hell, but it's going to be interesting! Mitch
What's left when you've cut out everything apart from a few suggestions of basics though? What's the class structured like, as I'm struggling to visualise it?
Warmup, kihon, padwork, partnerwork, sparring, conditioning exercises sprinkled throughout I guess... I've only done one session since the change, but the kihon at lower belts is very limited. Mitch
It's interesting to see as time goes by so many karateka leave their parent organisations and start their own systems. In one sense I wonder how much any of this resembles the systems that they originated from. If I am correct, is this not the third of fourth system in a row to come off of what Sensei Oyama started? Just out of interest Mitch, are you still doing any of your TKD kata?? FWIW LFD
There are way more than that. Even if you just count the different kyokushin organisations, there's more than 4.
Sorry, I meant in temporal layers.... Kyokushinkai Ashihara Enshin G's new system etc make more sense? LFD
It's also amazing that styles like judo, technically older than Japanese karate, have only really only divided into maybe 3 sub systems that are technically just different focuses on which section of the original judo the founders wanted to emphasize. eg Judo... split into Kodokan, Sambo and BJJ Not sure if the comparison is fair but it appears that the younger system has been usurped much more.. is that a reflection of the relative youth of Japanese karate? FWIW LFD
L for D, great topic, something I've thought about a lot: for all of martial arts' trumpeting of the value of tradition, your average school seems to last no more than one generation before a group splinters off. In NYC we have two schools of Matsubayashi Ryu which teach nearly identical karate, but which won't speak with one another or even acknowledge each other, all the while praising the Okinawan founder of 70 years ago! It seems we humans need to constantly put our own stamp on things.
Really must change my forum name ... If I can just jump in. Enshin is a great style and I have enjoyed my time in it, but for various reasons I can no longer give it the time and committment it deserves. I'm not teaching a 'new' style - there's nothing new under the sun - I'm just going to teach in a less formal manner and include a few different ideas. It would be rude of me to leave Enshin and continue to teach their kata. Initially, I intend to teach basic kihon and get that strong foundation, rather than complicate things with infinite variations of the same basic principles. Pad work builds impact and partner work teaches distance and timing. Sparring builds spirit. This way of training won't suit everyone. Some like traditional kata, some like more restrictive rules etc etc. I can't promise a more stylish system, but it will be effective. Best regards Gary
