June 16, 2025 • 57 mins
Are traditional karate blocks real or ritual? In this deep-dive discussion, we question the origins and effectiveness of "blocking" in kata. Is it martial wisdom or stage illusion? With references from Goju-ryu to UFC, and even Jim Carrey, we explore how distance, timing, and intent reshape everything you think you know about defense. A must-listen for martial artists and myth-busters alike.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome back. To great karate.
Myths Debunking the Legends Today we're diving into one of
the most persistent and perhaps misunderstood elements of
karate, the concept of locking. We'll be exploring how this idea
has evolved, what it might have originally meant, and how it
affects the way we train and teach today.
(00:25):
Nathan, you're going to start usoff by laying out the case as
presented in The Great Karate Myth.
OK, that's fine. I won't try and I won't on on
attempt to give the whole case because I'll, as Robert W Smith
put it, I'll be like the man whotried to spell banana and didn't
know when to stop. So I'll keep it.
(00:47):
I'll start with one point just to as a as a question and and,
and. So I've got 3 questions
basically, but they meld into one.
I'll start with this when facingwhen attempting to use a
so-called traditional block, butwhich traditionally consists of
(01:08):
two parts, a preparation. For instance, in a downward
block, the first comes up next to the ear of on the opposite
side and the and the forearm sweets down and to to perform
the so-called lower block, the gidden.
But I obviously similarly, there's a there are middle level
(01:32):
blocks and an upper level and and in, for instance, the tenor
Ketter that we discussed in the last podcast, there are 6 basic
blocks. All of them comprise of two
parts, but Fina Koshi's sense Egyptian said that the the two,
(01:53):
the two parts should be performed as one.
Fine. So if you can learn to do that,
Greg, here's the first question.How do you know what the target
is? How do you know exactly what's
coming in, in your, in your direction?
Whether it's a, a, a, a high punch, a low punch, You know how
how do you know a kick? How are you this?
(02:17):
You know, that's a partly rhetorical question because
I've, I asked this many years ago, I asked this 40 something
years ago of a, of a, of a, a senior black belt who, who said
you just would, it's just experience.
And I thought, OK, I'll buy thatfor now.
(02:39):
But I still have never met anyone that can actually do it.
And if just to kind of develop that just marginally, if you
look at the way the blocks are are usually demonstrated,
they're done in a very ritualistic way, usually against
a, a front punch, a stepping punch called oizuki, which is
(03:04):
either a chasing punch or, or, or or a drunzuki, which is it's
the same hand and same leg. Oh, forward.
How do you know what's what's coming in your direction?
And I just add one more thing, particularly as creatively in
real violence, the person who's assaulting you isn't exactly
sure what they're doing. They they just, they just want
to attack you. And and if you've got any hair,
(03:27):
they want to tear some out and examine the roots, as I once
wrote over to you, Shamir. Tom, can you help us understand
how the concept of blocking might have been interpreted
differently in the original Chinese or Canal into context?
But yeah, there weren't any blocks like anywhere you do find
(03:49):
the blocks is on the stage and screen.
And, and I know it's, it's a subject that we've touched on
already, but I think that the, just how widespread martial arts
were in terms of theatrical martial arts in China shouldn't
be underestimated because it wasthis vast theatrical traditions
(04:11):
and stage combat and ritual, stage slash ritual combat was
very, very commonplace. And, and, you know, people would
travel to go and see different performances and there was lots
of elements to these stage performances.
So that the choreography that we've kind of, you know,
(04:31):
inherited in karate probably hasits roots in the theatre.
And that's, and that's where it belongs, really.
And the, the antique in terms ofthe antique catter that were
used, that were martial skills, there aren't any blocks.
So because they're all going first.
(04:52):
And so there's, there's no the idea of someone attacks and then
there's a defence. It doesn't exist in the antique
catter at all. It's, you know, you can find it
in the theat, stage and screen and in modern modern
recreational martial arts, whichare quite detached from real
(05:13):
fighting and even full contact. You don't even where the
conditions are are set and there's rules and things like
that. There's no blocks being
performed there. There's covers and there's
guards and there's attempts to, you know, exchange in the melee.
But apart from that there there isn't any.
There's no Aggie, OK Or Get Amber Rai performed in the UFC.
(05:38):
I'm sure someone will find a clip somewhere in the thousands
of hours of footage that kind oflooks like a get Amber eye.
But that might be more chance than and luck than intentional.
Yeah. Tom's completely right there
that that we're looking at the basis and the sort of block and
(06:00):
counter attack in in from it comes in in in the main, as Tom
said, quite correctly, from the Chinese theatrical performances.
But there's another element which a point I'd like to
clarify that and we've spoken about this before that where Tom
says, you know, that the real deal, the antique ketter are
(06:20):
about going first. May I, let's just remind
everyone and I'll qualify that, that there's proactive and
reactive or as my old doctor used to say, you can either do
something or you can do nothing.You're going first.
So the, the, the, the original arts, the, the antique Keta were
(06:42):
generally proactive. However, what they're being,
what the demands, current moderndemands made of these antique
Keta is that they are somehow capable of providing the
practitioner with a reactive defence because that's what's
required of them. And that's, you know, that's
(07:02):
what people have come to believethat they are or or should be.
And that's not accurate. They're quite the opposite.
So Tom is quite right. It's they're about going first.
They are about controlling the situation.
They are about being proactive and not reactive.
And OK, another point is above from the difficulty in, in, in
(07:27):
working out what the what the target, what likely targets
going to be an interesting I wrote in, in the, in the myth, I
wrote that in observing a, an internationally extremely well
known and very eminent prominentpractitioner of Gojiri karate,
(07:55):
He gave, he gave a, a, a series of demonstrations, which he was
well known for. And a lot of them came from a
series of films that he he he, he published.
And on examination, if we look at 74 techniques, I think it's
(08:16):
74, the sorry 77 by if my memoryserves me of 77 demonstrated
techniques that were being portrayed as bunkai or or or
carelessly translated as as applications or or
(08:36):
investigations generally explanations.
This is how you use the catter or how you may use the catter.
But these, these were presented 74 different techniques, all
drawn from the catter of the 7455, sorry 77, 55 of them were
(08:57):
against a straight punch, a stepping punch.
And then I think it was around about 11 were against a straight
front kick. There are several, I think there
are about 10 or so clothing grips.
(09:17):
I think there was one risk risk wrist grip like memories not
serving me fully here, but we'regetting close to that 77.
There's probably a couple missing.
The point being 55 defences against essentially a straight
(09:39):
stepping punch in which the opponent pretty much steps and
leave leaves the punching arm inin situ in place.
I think there were one or two where he appears to throw a
second punch. The problem is, how are you
going to know that if you removethat stepping punch from the
(10:00):
equation, then do we still have uses for those 55 defences?
Which leads me to a third question.
And you know, it's rhetorical, but you can, you know, everyone
should be free to supply their own answer.
How many defences do you need against the middle level
(10:21):
straight stepping punch? But it's, you know, I invite
everyone to form, you know, to come up with their own answer to
that question. I I made a suggestion in in the
myth. So these applications cannot be
(10:42):
demonstrated without choreography, without
determining the target. And, and quite often in
certainly when I was growing up and learning karate, the target
used to be called, it's usually one of two Jordan upper upper
level or Judan middle level. And so the target was called
(11:05):
out, Judan and and the defender knew what was coming, Jordan the
same. Of course, when that got to
sparring, the whole thing completely broke down and
nobody, nobody could deal very well with the the snap punches,
especially those speedy backfists that, for instance,
the water Roux style was just sogood at in in the 1970s and 80s.
(11:30):
They were fast and there was no way one was ever going to apply
quotes traditional blocks against those chaps when they're
unloaded to post back fists. And it's the same for the the
Shuka Kai. They were light and fast and and
their reverse punch was just so quick.
Same problem. Yeah, I'll I'll, I'll rest my
(11:52):
case there temporarily. Otherwise I'll I'll I'll over
develop the theme anyone would like.
Yes, but the argument, the counter argument has been that
the catter are are not for sparring.
The counter argument is the catter is that that that
(12:13):
defensive? Block.
Is for your opponent who doesn'tknow karate what's what.
We're we're back into that, thatold myth of the untrained person
who Yeah. And aren't we that somehow that
the fact that they don't know what a block is or a karate
(12:35):
punches makes them in some way more vulnerable to someone's
defensive karate skills? Which is this is bullshit
really, isn't it? And of course in a self defence
situation it's too fast and no one stands at the correct
distance and throws the straightpunch.
It's usually storming in throwing a some sort of scruffy
(12:58):
hook or something like that and it's and the person actually
tries to move out of the way, not they're not going to stand
there and try and do a block. They're going to get out of the
way if they can so. Yeah, indeed, you, you, you.
Also the in the so-called traditional training, the attack
(13:20):
always starts outside of the therange.
They're not even in in the correct distance because they're
actually the the stepping punch commence from a weapons
distance. So that gives both the time and
the space for the defender to, you know, prepare and to and to
and to withdraw or even perhaps even advance accordingly.
(13:42):
So there's enough time and distance for the so-called
traditional movements to occur. But of course, if the person's
already in exchanging range, punching range or then there's
no chance of, of, of that happening, which is why it
doesn't and it, and it can't, itsimply, it, it can't, can't work
(14:04):
like that. There is, if I could just press
on a little bit. There we are going back to what
everyone was thinking in the 80sand 90s.
There have been other lots of different thinking that sprung
up certainly since the 90s. And you know, we were around
(14:25):
when people were starting to say, well, the these blocks are
nerve point strikes as well. And they're in two parts and the
first part disables the incominglimb and the second part
deflects, you know, the the person's force away.
And, you know, again, none of that was could be demonstrated
in inspiring or, or in mixed martial arts, which which some
(14:47):
of us had. We we knew that was going to be
arriving on the scene because it, it was the logical place to
go. We'd, we'd all done our own
training with foul belts, dump Shields, head guards, you know,
and various type type types of weights of gloves.
We'd be we'd done that years ago.
(15:08):
The point I'm making is that the, the, the, you know, we are
pursuing at the moment, the ultra old fashioned idea that
the, that the movements that areblocked a lot of new thinking is
that they're not that they're. And in in some respects we made
significant contributions to that thinking within our group.
But, but, but we didn't come up with the conclusion that that
(15:31):
they were any in any way unarmedballistic movements.
Yeah, we now know that there is a degree of kinetic force
employed, but as we've discussedat considerable length, but it's
generally involving a weapon. If you're not using one, you're
controlling 1. And, and I think that yes, that
(15:54):
Tom's absolutely right there. There were and are no blocks in
the antique Cata, none whatsoever.
Not a single block. I can remember when I trained in
Gojiru, they the teaching potential.
I thought rocker shoe, as we call it, as blocking techniques.
(16:16):
They they were, they were tryingto do apply those the wrist up
upwards as a block and it's like, no, you're just going to
bust your wrist. I'm not joking.
These these were people who should have known better because
they were big guys. I mean one of them was a a rugby
player in his spare time and he's had, he's had loads of
(16:38):
fights so you want to annoy really.
Yeah, I've seen recent interpretation since we opened
the sort of Pandora's box. Perhaps there's recent
interpretations of blocking being suggested that they're for
grabbing and striking. Yeah.
(17:00):
I mean, how if that was the case, are they are they really
good representations of, of grabbing, you know, is, is that
the best someone could come up with for a grab?
Is a Joe a Joe d'anuque or a Gedambarai?
Is that the best, you know, way in this?
It's nonsense. It's kind of grasping at straws
(17:23):
because they don't know what themovements do.
And so it's kind of finding something that loosely fits
that'll do, you know, actually, there's more, there's more to
them. They do serve a really good
function when you know, there, there there is something for
them rather than just, well, they don't quite work as blocks.
We can kind of do them as grabs or something like that.
(17:45):
It's yeah, it's nonsense, but the there aren't blocks in
getting rid of that idea, those movements, what are they for?
And, and so that's why you have to go after the original
functions. That's why you've got to try and
understand what the whole form does.
You can't just pull out it's andit's breaking down of isolating
(18:08):
techniques and saying that one'sthis and one's that or something
like that. It's just not a useful way of
approaching. You've got to be able to look at
the whole form and does it fit within the whole form.
If you take a movement from an anti cater and say that's a
block, you've got to be able to answer why is that block there
(18:28):
at that point in the form, what comes before it, what comes
after it, what's happening at the, you know, and all of those
kinds of questions, which is part of, you know, looking at
Akata. Yes, indeed.
That thing, that thinking that you can just pick out looks like
the middle of the cap. And I, I was born from the
(18:55):
mistaken of you that these caterare some sort of some kind of
formal solo choreographed sort of shadow boxing routine somehow
logically covers all the possible basics of of ways you
could be struck or grabbed or orpushed or pulled.
(19:17):
And and as as Tom so eloquently described and explained in a
previous podcast, how do you catalogue that?
I remember him saying, you know,go ahead, make a cater.
How would you go about it? What, how where would you begin?
How you know where? Well, you know, the person goes
to hit me. Most people are right hand.
(19:39):
Or maybe the first thing I should practise in my homemade
cater is some sort of upper block against the right-handed
punch. Nonsense.
You know, what about the left footed toe punch, kick to your
knee, you know, or it's not a kick or a punch at all.
How about if you jumped on and bundled or headlocked or
(20:01):
assaulted with a sort of hit with a sort of rugby type
tackle? It's, you know, your, your, your
catacreation would go out the window.
Yeah, sorry. Back to you, Tom.
I think that the, the, the distance the distance is, is an
interesting thing to explore as well because in a lot of their
choreographed bunkai, the distance is all very consistent
(20:24):
and you know, no one's sort of taken by surprise or bundled.
It's always very neatly entirelydone as if it was for the stage
or screen. But the from what if you take in
a cutter like Gojushiho, for example, which is, you know,
it's a tomfur form for use against the pole arm.
(20:45):
The idea of it is that you do iton your terms.
You're not engaging on the on the distance that would be
needed to use a pole arm effectively.
You're you're, you're moving right within that range with the
term further and engaging in very, very close quarters.
And so there isn't an there isn't going to be an exchange
backwards and forwards. There's going to be a struggle,
(21:07):
but the idea is to overwhelm andyou've got your map within the
form within the antique cater. And so it's a completely
different type of thinking from anything that A does to B or
something you know, and respondsor reacts.
And so that's, so that's what sets the antique cater apart
from choreography or or you know, applied bunkai against the
(21:30):
straight stepping punch or something like that.
Absolutely. I think the the other.
So distance is, is absolutely a critical factor as you as we've
discussed here. But the other another, it's
(21:50):
quite important to take into consideration, you know, which
we have raised, which is a compound attack.
So usually there's an attack andthere's a block and a counter
attack. Well, you know, how do you stop
simultaneous exchange even if you're grabbing and seizing an
attacking arm, You know, unless the, unless the attacker's only
(22:11):
got 1 arm, which is possible, he's got, you know, three other
limbs he can use in, you know, he could be following up.
He could change his, he could collapse his a failed punch,
shoulder barge or a grappling anything into some primitive
takedown or even a sophisticatedone.
(22:33):
That the point being, how on earth are you supposed to know
that? And unless you're not, unless
you are correctly shutting, shutting the person down.
And the other thing in terms of the awareness of distance is,
yeah, I remember being in the monastery at up at in West
(22:58):
Sussex. It was, it was a very
interesting experience. The monks and nuns were
incredibly serene. They were incredibly skilful.
The shrine room was beautiful, you know, with a huge, great,
sort of, I don't know, massive, great gilded Buddha at the front
(23:22):
of a wonderful environment with a dace at the front around which
some of you know, it was a wonderful and, and I remember
the, the Abbot, I remember, you know, there was, you know, the,
the Sanger had chanted, the Nepali cannon had been chanted
and, and, and the, the, the meditation was begun and the
(23:49):
environment was incredibly tranquil.
And part of the ceiling, the meditation hall ceiling fell,
just collapsed, just not a huge part.
I, I think one of somebody had left some, some taps on upstairs
and it caused some, some damage and something heavy had so the
(24:14):
ceiling fell and I, I don't know, perhaps I was a bit naive,
the sort of Superman thinking expected the senior monks to
just sit blithely, you know, sitabsolutely still as, you know,
as the ceiling fell in on the head.
And I wasn't sure how I felt, probably slightly disappointed
(24:37):
when NASA ceiling began to go. They absolutely scarpered and
disappeared, vanished a bit really quickly.
And I had to give that some thought because, and of course
it's realistic. They're not going to sit on and
you know, in a, in a serene way while the ceiling's falling in
on them. And I think the the analogy I'd
(24:57):
like to make with that is between that it is you can't
expect meditation skills to aid a person surviving, to survive a
collapsing ceiling. And it's, it's the thinking that
says, well, you've got to be able to learn Nihantin or Chinto
or Pasai or Kusenko. And you've got to be able to use
(25:18):
it in a pub brawl or a car park somewhere or a nightclub or
goodness knows, you know, and you've got to be able to be, you
know, able to deal with several opponents at the same at once.
In other words, you know, you'vegot to be Superman.
You, you as a monk. For instance, to go back to the,
the story or the analogy, the monk should AIAA should have
(25:42):
been able to predict the ceilingfalling in or B, should have
just sat still in the Lotus position, but just simply dodged
the different pieces as they fell.
I mean, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense.
You know, they did the proper sensible human thing and got out
the way in case they got injured.
Fortunately, nobody did get injured.
But it's the same with with withour subject, with the, the
(26:05):
karate catta. You know, they're not they're
they're not something that can soul of all all evils.
Their purpose built for very specific arresting and both
civil and militia arresting techniques.
(26:27):
You know, people, you know, let me just put this another way.
Police officers get injured too.They break their legs and trip
up and you know, and we need to really ditch the Superman, the
katta Superman syndrome. I think, I think I've said
enough for a for a bit. I could go on but.
(26:48):
There's a really, really good Jim Carrey sketch which kind of
sums up blocking, really. And it's he's a karate
instructor and he invites someone up to demonstrate with
him and he gives them a knife. And he says, OK, you know, stab
me, go for me. And the the participant says,
oh, Are you sure? And he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
don't worry, I'm a master. And they've stabbed him right in
(27:10):
the stomach. And he starts bleeding.
And he goes, no, no, you've donethe attack wrong.
And he hands the knife back, andhe shows them how to do the
attack with a knife, and they get it wrong again.
So he gets stabbed a second time.
And so he has to teach the rightattack again just so he can get
the block. And I think that sums up
blocking then anything better than anything can talk about.
(27:34):
So perhaps we can link the Jim Carrey sketch on YouTube for
people to watch and enjoy. Yeah, that's that kind of
encapsulates my view on it. Or just thinking then about the
Monty Python sketch, but the banana self defence kings.
Someone attacks you with a banana or something, he gets a
gun out and shoots him. Knife Knife sketch Jim Carrey
(27:58):
Sketch the That's right, two of those techniques from the the
the 77 techniques from cattle that were being demonstrated.
That's right, two of them were against a knife attack.
But both of those knife attacks used the same format, stepping
punch format, except the person you know was armed with a knife.
(28:21):
So to all intents and purposes it was, you know, the same
format, straight punch and a full step.
Simply the person had a knife. And it's not in any way the way,
well, anyone that knows even a little tiny bit about knife
fighting, and I don't claim to be an expert, but anyone's
(28:43):
that's observed it or had any training in it knows that is not
how. For a start, they're all
different types of knives, but even even one that was just
improvised or, you know, a sharpobject.
What is it? The it's, you know, just there
are lots of different ways of using it.
(29:03):
And the more capable and aggressive the person, they
don't even need to be trained. They just need to be determined.
And you're in a whole horrible world of, of risk.
And, and in fact, currently in the UK, our knife crime rates
are like nothing I've ever observed and well, not in this
(29:24):
country in my entire life, whichwhich is a sad fact of the, the,
the, the reality going up against or any involvement to
with a weapon with weapons. That's a, that's an interesting
point that you've just brought up there that you've mentioned
(29:44):
that you know that you've got these self defence against a
knife programmes, but it's just as you just said, the variable
there is the size of the knife. It doesn't even need to be a big
knife, if it's sharp it's going to cut you and it is realising
(30:07):
how easily extreme damage can bedone with a with with a even a
dull blade. You know, it doesn't take a lot
to to cause someone life threatening injury and and you
know, that's a brutal reality ofit.
And I and it's not to be, I don't think it's to be
approached slightly really. I think it's to be taken, you
(30:27):
know, and so when you start talking about blocking or
intercepting someone that's trying to butcher for you or you
know, or whatever it, you know, there's a serious problems, but
there might not be any good solutions.
And that's a hard reality as well and speaks to that
affectionism that Nathan mentioned, where someone blocks
(30:49):
encounters and then the, the jewel is over and the, the, the
good guy, the karate or gal, thekarate's one and the, the
villain with the knife, you know, has been incapacitated.
All this. It's nonsense.
And so, yeah, I think that's it's, it's blocking is there's
(31:10):
nothing, there's nothing to do with that at all.
What takes place in those sorts of crimes and that type of
violence? Yeah.
I I think just I don't want to push to the point too much
because I do want to move away from the lives because that's
not that's I think we've almost done that justice, but just.
But the sad reality is, if you've ever seen the result of
(31:35):
that, and I have in an operatingtheatre, if you see what let's
take a stab to the abdomen, you know, that causes wrecked havoc
with the, the this is, I'm sorryto be close, but the contents of
(31:57):
the bowel end up where they shouldn't be, which pretty much
leads to some horrendous life threatening sepsis.
So it's incredibly serious, incredibly serious and modern
surgery and modern medicine skill for use of antibiotics and
(32:20):
so on. Will you know is is fantastic
and gets great results, but the actual the experience is quite
miserable and and and horribly life threatening.
You know I wouldn't and it's notterritory.
You know that really karate should even be on.
(32:44):
But this is because karate is expected to be a panacea for all
evils. Keep to to use that phrase and I
go back to my ceiling falling in.
Well, you must have a defence for the ceiling falling in.
And yes, there is one and the monks demonstrated it perfectly.
Get out of the way. Don't be there when it falls,
you know, that's the reality. And if, if you are there when it
(33:07):
falls, then I've got news for you.
You get hit by falling plaster and masonry.
That's, that's the that's real life.
And no amount of so that I thinkcan return us quite nicely to
the, the fantasy of the, of the,of blocking and thinking of
blocking. And basically related to what we
(33:28):
think it should be, what we think is possible, largely not
from our experience, but from watching films or or or martial
arts demonstrations. And that can lead, particularly
for people who don't train to a belief that we know what it is
or how it could or should work. And, and quite frankly, it's not
(33:51):
necessarily the case. OK, so we were discussing the
myth of, of blocking. So that does actually come from
the great karate and it's just asub heading like in a chapter
where the subject is is covered.It's also quite useful to note
(34:18):
that one doesn't find set like what meets in in other combat.
We don't find it in boxing for example, we don't find it.
In Muay Thai, we don't find it. In kickboxing, there were no set
blocks. Doesn't mean that that those are
(34:40):
deflected or jammed, but they'renot set blocks.
And certainly obviously there's no cata for them nor nor can
there be. It's not that certain arts are
too primitive and not eloquent, elegant or or educated enough to
have cata. It's just that there's no need
(35:00):
for such a a construct, such an approach, because it doesn't
work for unarmed, it doesn't work for for a confrontation,
particularly one that's agreed, particularly one that's two
things, agreed and reactive, notproactive.
(35:26):
So if we if we move away from teaching formal blocks, what do
we replace them with, especiallyfor beginners?
In a sense, what would it take for mainstream karate to shift
it's view on blocking? Well, you know, they'd have to
kind of rewrite it completely about that.
(35:48):
I think that's their business. I don't think that's our
business. I think that that the one of the
main points of talking about blocking in the myth of blocking
is that it's nothing to do with the antique kata.
So, you know, it's, you don't have to look very far to realise
that you, you can't, the blocking isn't an effective
(36:08):
approach to fighting armed or unarmed.
And having that mindset where you can react, you think you
could react in a, you know, quickly enough to deal with, you
know, being attacked or assaulted or whatever, or even
if it in a some sort of match orwhatever jewel or.
(36:29):
And, and so it's removing that idea from when you approach the
antique catter. And that's the encouragement
that I'm, you know, we're tryingto make here is to not all the
catter contain blocks encountersfor unarmed combat.
And once you remove the myth of blocking, what's, what can you
then do with the catter as well?It's, it's a, it's a way of
(36:51):
approaching the forms. If there's no blocking in them,
what are they? What are those movements that
you previously thought are blocks?
What do they do? What could they do and what can
they do in the greater context of the whole form?
Where do they fit in? And I think that's, that's the
important bit. I mean, from our perspective,
how modern karate evolves is, is, you know, anyone's guess
(37:14):
really and up to the individual.But I think there's it's about
being honest about it as well, which is I think it's really
important. You know, we talked about
serious topics with the with youknow, knife crime and things
like that. If you're, if you were telling
people that they've going to have the opportunity to be able
to block someone that's produceda knife or something like that,
(37:38):
you know, you're putting people in danger, you're putting them
at risk. And so I think there's a
responsibility there for people to, you know, explore these
things a bit further and adapt accordingly.
But our adaptation is is in how we approach the antique forms.
Yeah, I, I think just to lightenthe, the, the note, well,
(37:59):
there's a couple of points. I remember one very senior
Japanese teacher being asked what you what to do if someone
had a knife. And he gave an explanation and
said you could do this, this andthis and this.
And then the queer, the guy asking the questions said, well,
what about if he's got a stick? So the master, the expert said,
(38:22):
well, you can do that, that, that and this.
And then the guy said the chap said, what if he's got a gun?
And, and the expert looked at him and said run, sort of said
run in the in the on the first question, I think it's just to
(38:45):
try and lighten, lighten, lighten the subject a little
bit. There's an issue that that
Koduru is a group face and that is we could be seen as unpopular
if we are going about the business of deconstructing a
(39:09):
karate that so many people love.And you know, we've loved it
too. We've had to make some hard to
face some hard choices and take some very, very tough decisions
over the years as as as the reality of what the the cat are
and what they are not has unfolded.
(39:30):
So we have had to face those certain realities.
But one can understand why, you know why we might be seen as
deconstructors or spoilers of everything but.
But all I can say about that is don't shoot the messenger.
(39:54):
Yeah, indeed. Kev, what's your what's your
experience on all of this? In this, in the, in the blocking
thing, yeah, in the IT doesn't work.
That's my experience. It doesn't work.
I've seen it. And you know, we've all had our
things when we were younger and no, it doesn't work.
(40:15):
I mean, no one does a clean set piece when I when I, when
there's an altercation, people don't, don't do that.
And I've, I have this as many years ago now as one Christmas
walking back across the Guild orin Portsmouth with someone from
work. And there was a bunch of lads
(40:36):
coming one way and this bloke and his misses the other.
And they one of these blokes barge into on purpose.
And this guy, his his partner had a had a knife a big thing
about about a foot long. And he pulled that out and
everyone ran. Everyone got out of the way.
Then no, everyone for Nutter outof the way.
(40:59):
Yeah, so I've seen that, I've seen that happen.
So I don't think, I don't, I don't think anyone's going to
stand there and try and block a,a bloody knife.
No, that's my, that's what I think so and.
I think that that the idea, well, not the idea, the fact
that blocking doesn't work, I don't think that that that's
(41:21):
news either. I think that the people that put
together the antique forms, their martial skills, the
martial strategies into these Qatar, they knew that and it's
reflected in what what is contained in those forms.
And but it was you know that thechoreography is embraced in the
on the stage, in the in the in the martial operas, in the in
(41:44):
the stage performances. And it's when they've become
confused and it became confused in China.
Just have a look at the what thebuild up to the Boxer Rebellion,
you know, where that's where thebeliefs of of what people were
seeing on the stage has overflowed into, you know,
pretty grim reality of coming upagainst guns.
(42:08):
And the same thing is still happening today because we have
such amazing performances in movies.
I mean, it's hard. It's hard to watch the Wing Chun
films, the man films, excuse me and, and not be look at that and
go, wow, Wing Chun's amazing. Look at all those blocks,
counters, traps, pit, you know, you know, Donny Yen does a
(42:31):
remarkable job and they're they're fantastic films.
And you've got, you know, great performers like Jackie Chan and
Samuel Hung and all those guys who've created amazing
choreography and, and, and that kind of has leaked, leaked into
the Dojo as well. So modern dojos, modern Kung Fu
and karate schools, there's an overflow from that choreography
(42:55):
and, and, and those beliefs kindof find their way in.
And so that, that, that the problem of blocking isn't new.
And it's the the same reasons ithappened in, you know, history
in China and Okada and all the rest of it are the same reasons
it's happening now. This this Chinese Theatre, every
time we mention it, I just imagine this like Chinese WWE.
(43:22):
If you, I mean, you know, we're talking about people of the
calibre, like Jackie Chan's performances, we're talking
about that calibre of performance on the stage and
it's a regular thing, you know, and that that's what people were
seeing. And so when you see people
perform like that and they have unbelievable physical skills and
(43:43):
can do all, you know, amazing things, it's hard to not absorb
something of that and it become part of your perspective or view
of the world and things. And it's not that difficult to
convince people either. That's why it's so, yeah, it
becomes believable. There was some There's something
else about this myth in that, you know, the idea that it could
(44:07):
be performed by anyone at any stage of their life in any, any
fitness as well. And it, and it sort of because
again, it's, as you say, it's theatrical and it moves that
place where, you know, it's almost say, well, you don't have
(44:30):
to be really fit and, and, and you know, strong an exercise and
push yourself physically and train physically.
But actually you do you, you it's, it's, it's military
trading, isn't it? It's, it's and, and it's funny
(44:51):
as well that you in any other sport, in any other field, you'd
retire by 30. It's very Yeah, you.
You'd be very unusual for anyonein their 50s to still be very
competitive in boxing. Oh, oh, their 60s.
It's just it's just very unusualif someone's able to be
(45:14):
competitive at that point. But it perpetuates in in in the
martial arts there. Are two yeah, yeah, old master
the, the idea that they could somehow, you know, but that's
choreography again, isn't it? Because on, in, in the, in the
movies you have, you know, if you think about Kill Bill,
you've got π May you know, the old what you know the old master
(45:38):
and he's still unbelievable and you know, but it's believable
because it's so well done. But it's just, it's not true.
It's not the reality. You reflexes do slow down.
You know, you're not, you won't be as quick.
You won't be as it's getting old.
(46:00):
Your visual reflexes will, but your contact reflexes, they
actually tend to remain so. So if you take a pushing hands
approach, although we're not, I'm not justifying, I'm not
trying to go for the old master fantasy, but I, you know, I
think I can still achieve a reasonable standard of push
(46:21):
hands. And you know, I'm, I'm, I'm,
I'm, I'm going towards, I'm heading for 70.
So that's not too bad because I think if I put my hand on, which
I don't want to do, but on a hotplate by accident, I will remove
it probably just as quickly as I, I, I would have done it at
20. But that's a different ball game
(46:44):
altogether because they're, they're completely different.
It's a different honouring system.
That's, you know, that's anothertopic.
But the contact, the touch reflexes through contact
training allow you to pick up a force, determine it's direction
and and and redirect it. Now that that's a different
(47:05):
approach and a different set of skills altogether.
I'm not trying to claim self defence capability through the
back door, but those those qualities can be demonstrated by
by by older people and they're not as limiting as as the
gymnastics sort of sporting capabilities, for instance of a
(47:29):
competition fighter. Not, not, not not the same game
at all completely different game.
Yeah, I'm just well, what's the point of competition just
briefly in the side here. If you do look at karate
tournaments it and you especially let's let's start
(47:54):
with the full contact and and then move back to semi contact.
If you look at full contact and you've got you, you, you can see
bouts. They're all different kinds of
associations all over the all over the globe, hundreds and
hundreds of them in, in America,for instance, in the United
States. And you, you get different
(48:18):
people from different styles or schools.
And once they get in the ring orin the, in the the arena or
wherever it is they're fighting in the cage or whatever,
whatever it is, whatever format,it's really difficult to tell
one style from another which oneis which, you know, you know,
(48:41):
it's very, very difficult because they all trade blows in
very, very similar ways. Let's let's move, move onwards
now to semi contact Karatane. Let's look at that then let's
look at that within, for instance, the global Shotokan
format. What 1 invariably sees then is a
(49:02):
very big stress on the a very quick reverse punch.
It's probably the most used technique that in those
competitions and it's absolutelythe case that it is constantly a
simultaneous exchange in which the referee has all the
referees. There's usually one on each
(49:23):
corner and they have to work outwho landed first or if anyone
landed because there's always lots of shouting and a quick
withdrawal of the punching arm. And the other interesting point
is that the competitors are are dancing on the balls of their
(49:45):
feet. They're not in any way using
approaches that are tied back toeither their basics or their
kata in any meaningful way. In other words, they're using
one of the third sets of types of karate that ostensibly meant
to be 1 style of karate that we discussed in one of our earlier
(50:08):
podcasts. That karate is not one thing,
but three. It's kata, the formal kata, the
kumite or the fixed kumite, the keyon.
It's that's these are fixed movements and and the sparring
and the three aren't the same. They use different body habits
(50:30):
in entirely different ways, and yet they're amalgamated and and
and said to said to be a style. But the three practises aren't
related, which is why so many Kumite champions really dislike
Qatar. Now there were exceptions to
that. I can think of a few.
You know, I don't want to throw names around.
(50:51):
There's there's one UK based Syracan champion, Absolutely
Fabulous, who was both a Qatar champion and A and a Kumite
champion. Never been several of those.
But they're the exception, not not the rule.
And, and lots of competitors in,in competitions would really
(51:13):
love their competition and, and really train for that.
And, and, and there's no evidence to indicate that the
Qatar training, there's no proper evidence to suggest to
demonstrate that Qatar training improves the sparring cumulative
(51:34):
or one's capability in, in in a competition or a tournament.
Yeah, quite. Do you want to be good at
sparring? Do sparring.
That's about it, isn't it? Really?
What's the cage fights? Where are all the moves called
the antique forms in those in those fights?
(51:54):
That they're not there. You never see it do.
You know, and you know, there's there's such there's a nice
range of different movements in the antique category.
It's I know there's we talk about the same cater, but take
Sanso Ru or Kusanku or Nihangchiand you just don't see that
(52:15):
material or emerging in the in the in MMA or anything like
that. And even on footage of real
fires, you just don't see it. So if it if if that is evidence
that it's not for that, if that's how you see it, I do it.
It leaves the question, what arethese forms for?
(52:37):
What were they for originally? You know, the myth of blocking
isn't it's not something that was unknown to the, you know,
the the Chinese creators of the of martial arts and things like
that. It wasn't unknown to them.
So what? And that's what that's the
important thing, I think, is it come ties right back to what
were these forms actually for? If they're not blocks, what what
(53:00):
is it? If it's not blocking, what is
it? Something I was thinking about
the other day, something came upon the feed and it was something
like karate, black belt wins, UFC, and I watched it and I was
just, well, where's the catter? I just, I, I, I was like, he's
(53:25):
doing MMA this where's his? You can't.
There's there's quite a lot of clickbait in that.
In that sense, there's a lot of.And he's probably, he's probably
an exceptional fighter in spite of doing karate, you know, and
there's you can't just because somebody's done karate and won
(53:47):
an MMA title that then put it down to the karate.
Yeah, it was my probably closestthat they're an exceptional
athlete, a natural born fighter anyway.
And you know, I'm not saying that that I'm sure that I mean
there are thousands of capable fighters that do karate where
the karate adds much to the someone's fighting ability.
(54:10):
I think that's a bigger question.
Yeah. And I think this shows back to
the what modern karate is and we've we've covered that.
Yeah, you know. And and yeah, what does?
Walking up and down doing Oizukior doing, you know, go home
committee where you do step back, doing some blocks and then
finish with what? What does that add to someone's
(54:32):
fighting ability? Probably not a lot it's.
Not related. It's not applicable related to
mixed martial arts at all. You might as well say Joe Joe
Soap won the UFC. Joe Soap, the pastry chef, you
know, won. He's a pastry chef.
He won the UFC, Yeah, well, UFC fighting, but we know the answer
(54:59):
to that. But the assumption is because of
the the myth that is karate, thethe karate should be able to
lend a hand to to all sorts of fighting and it doesn't follow
different skill sets altogether.I did well like that.
A screw can be hammered in with a wrench and you know, with
(55:24):
enough training, so some people could get very good.
You could you know, you could imagine a person who had the
screws in his teeth, several of them, and could just sort of
spit one out, bang it in with a into a piece of wood, you know,
with a wrench and and do it, youknow, rapidly.
So he's got 5 all banged it great, you know, but you know, a
(55:48):
screws not meant to be knocked in with with anything he's meant
to be screwed in and it's certainly not with a wrench and
a wrench is not really meant to be used for knocking in screws.
It could use, you know, let's use the correct tool for the
correct purpose. While we're dispelling me.
So I got a just final request tomake.
(56:08):
Could we please make sure we don't tackle the tooth fairy
Father Christmas Don't want themdebunked.
Thank you. Don't want those debunked.
Thanks for tuning in. Today we peeled back the layers
on the myth of blocking, examining its theatrical roots,
its disconnect from real world violence, and its absence in
(56:30):
antique Qatar and modern combat alike.
We challenged the assumptions built into traditional karate
pedagogy and explored how movements often labelled as
blocks, might hold a deeper, more proactive purpose.
If you're questioning what Qatarreally contains, or how martial
understanding evolves across history and context, we hope
(56:52):
this gave you something to chew on.
Don't forget to rate the show follow for future episodes and
share it with your Dojo or training partners.
Got thoughts on blocking or a favourite bananas attack defence
story? Drop us a message, we'd love to
hear it. Until next time, stay sharp,
train smart.
Welcome back. To great karate.
Myths Debunking the Legends Today we're diving into one of
the most persistent and perhaps misunderstood elements of
karate, the concept of locking. We'll be exploring how this idea
has evolved, what it might have originally meant, and how it
affects the way we train and teach today.
(00:25):
Nathan, you're going to start usoff by laying out the case as
presented in The Great Karate Myth.
OK, that's fine. I won't try and I won't on on
attempt to give the whole case because I'll, as Robert W Smith
put it, I'll be like the man whotried to spell banana and didn't
know when to stop. So I'll keep it.
(00:47):
I'll start with one point just to as a as a question and and,
and. So I've got 3 questions
basically, but they meld into one.
I'll start with this when facingwhen attempting to use a
so-called traditional block, butwhich traditionally consists of
(01:08):
two parts, a preparation. For instance, in a downward
block, the first comes up next to the ear of on the opposite
side and the and the forearm sweets down and to to perform
the so-called lower block, the gidden.
But I obviously similarly, there's a there are middle level
(01:32):
blocks and an upper level and and in, for instance, the tenor
Ketter that we discussed in the last podcast, there are 6 basic
blocks. All of them comprise of two
parts, but Fina Koshi's sense Egyptian said that the the two,
(01:53):
the two parts should be performed as one.
Fine. So if you can learn to do that,
Greg, here's the first question.How do you know what the target
is? How do you know exactly what's
coming in, in your, in your direction?
Whether it's a, a, a, a high punch, a low punch, You know how
how do you know a kick? How are you this?
(02:17):
You know, that's a partly rhetorical question because
I've, I asked this many years ago, I asked this 40 something
years ago of a, of a, of a, a senior black belt who, who said
you just would, it's just experience.
And I thought, OK, I'll buy thatfor now.
(02:39):
But I still have never met anyone that can actually do it.
And if just to kind of develop that just marginally, if you
look at the way the blocks are are usually demonstrated,
they're done in a very ritualistic way, usually against
a, a front punch, a stepping punch called oizuki, which is
(03:04):
either a chasing punch or, or, or or a drunzuki, which is it's
the same hand and same leg. Oh, forward.
How do you know what's what's coming in your direction?
And I just add one more thing, particularly as creatively in
real violence, the person who's assaulting you isn't exactly
sure what they're doing. They they just, they just want
to attack you. And and if you've got any hair,
(03:27):
they want to tear some out and examine the roots, as I once
wrote over to you, Shamir. Tom, can you help us understand
how the concept of blocking might have been interpreted
differently in the original Chinese or Canal into context?
But yeah, there weren't any blocks like anywhere you do find
(03:49):
the blocks is on the stage and screen.
And, and I know it's, it's a subject that we've touched on
already, but I think that the, just how widespread martial arts
were in terms of theatrical martial arts in China shouldn't
be underestimated because it wasthis vast theatrical traditions
(04:11):
and stage combat and ritual, stage slash ritual combat was
very, very commonplace. And, and, you know, people would
travel to go and see different performances and there was lots
of elements to these stage performances.
So that the choreography that we've kind of, you know,
(04:31):
inherited in karate probably hasits roots in the theatre.
And that's, and that's where it belongs, really.
And the, the antique in terms ofthe antique catter that were
used, that were martial skills, there aren't any blocks.
So because they're all going first.
(04:52):
And so there's, there's no the idea of someone attacks and then
there's a defence. It doesn't exist in the antique
catter at all. It's, you know, you can find it
in the theat, stage and screen and in modern modern
recreational martial arts, whichare quite detached from real
(05:13):
fighting and even full contact. You don't even where the
conditions are are set and there's rules and things like
that. There's no blocks being
performed there. There's covers and there's
guards and there's attempts to, you know, exchange in the melee.
But apart from that there there isn't any.
There's no Aggie, OK Or Get Amber Rai performed in the UFC.
(05:38):
I'm sure someone will find a clip somewhere in the thousands
of hours of footage that kind oflooks like a get Amber eye.
But that might be more chance than and luck than intentional.
Yeah. Tom's completely right there
that that we're looking at the basis and the sort of block and
(06:00):
counter attack in in from it comes in in in the main, as Tom
said, quite correctly, from the Chinese theatrical performances.
But there's another element which a point I'd like to
clarify that and we've spoken about this before that where Tom
says, you know, that the real deal, the antique ketter are
(06:20):
about going first. May I, let's just remind
everyone and I'll qualify that, that there's proactive and
reactive or as my old doctor used to say, you can either do
something or you can do nothing.You're going first.
So the, the, the, the original arts, the, the antique Keta were
(06:42):
generally proactive. However, what they're being,
what the demands, current moderndemands made of these antique
Keta is that they are somehow capable of providing the
practitioner with a reactive defence because that's what's
required of them. And that's, you know, that's
(07:02):
what people have come to believethat they are or or should be.
And that's not accurate. They're quite the opposite.
So Tom is quite right. It's they're about going first.
They are about controlling the situation.
They are about being proactive and not reactive.
And OK, another point is above from the difficulty in, in, in
(07:27):
working out what the what the target, what likely targets
going to be an interesting I wrote in, in the, in the myth, I
wrote that in observing a, an internationally extremely well
known and very eminent prominentpractitioner of Gojiri karate,
(07:55):
He gave, he gave a, a, a series of demonstrations, which he was
well known for. And a lot of them came from a
series of films that he he he, he published.
And on examination, if we look at 74 techniques, I think it's
(08:16):
74, the sorry 77 by if my memoryserves me of 77 demonstrated
techniques that were being portrayed as bunkai or or or
carelessly translated as as applications or or
(08:36):
investigations generally explanations.
This is how you use the catter or how you may use the catter.
But these, these were presented 74 different techniques, all
drawn from the catter of the 7455, sorry 77, 55 of them were
(08:57):
against a straight punch, a stepping punch.
And then I think it was around about 11 were against a straight
front kick. There are several, I think there
are about 10 or so clothing grips.
(09:17):
I think there was one risk risk wrist grip like memories not
serving me fully here, but we'regetting close to that 77.
There's probably a couple missing.
The point being 55 defences against essentially a straight
(09:39):
stepping punch in which the opponent pretty much steps and
leave leaves the punching arm inin situ in place.
I think there were one or two where he appears to throw a
second punch. The problem is, how are you
going to know that if you removethat stepping punch from the
(10:00):
equation, then do we still have uses for those 55 defences?
Which leads me to a third question.
And you know, it's rhetorical, but you can, you know, everyone
should be free to supply their own answer.
How many defences do you need against the middle level
(10:21):
straight stepping punch? But it's, you know, I invite
everyone to form, you know, to come up with their own answer to
that question. I I made a suggestion in in the
myth. So these applications cannot be
(10:42):
demonstrated without choreography, without
determining the target. And, and quite often in
certainly when I was growing up and learning karate, the target
used to be called, it's usually one of two Jordan upper upper
level or Judan middle level. And so the target was called
(11:05):
out, Judan and and the defender knew what was coming, Jordan the
same. Of course, when that got to
sparring, the whole thing completely broke down and
nobody, nobody could deal very well with the the snap punches,
especially those speedy backfists that, for instance,
the water Roux style was just sogood at in in the 1970s and 80s.
(11:30):
They were fast and there was no way one was ever going to apply
quotes traditional blocks against those chaps when they're
unloaded to post back fists. And it's the same for the the
Shuka Kai. They were light and fast and and
their reverse punch was just so quick.
Same problem. Yeah, I'll I'll, I'll rest my
(11:52):
case there temporarily. Otherwise I'll I'll I'll over
develop the theme anyone would like.
Yes, but the argument, the counter argument has been that
the catter are are not for sparring.
The counter argument is the catter is that that that
(12:13):
defensive? Block.
Is for your opponent who doesn'tknow karate what's what.
We're we're back into that, thatold myth of the untrained person
who Yeah. And aren't we that somehow that
the fact that they don't know what a block is or a karate
(12:35):
punches makes them in some way more vulnerable to someone's
defensive karate skills? Which is this is bullshit
really, isn't it? And of course in a self defence
situation it's too fast and no one stands at the correct
distance and throws the straightpunch.
It's usually storming in throwing a some sort of scruffy
(12:58):
hook or something like that and it's and the person actually
tries to move out of the way, not they're not going to stand
there and try and do a block. They're going to get out of the
way if they can so. Yeah, indeed, you, you, you.
Also the in the so-called traditional training, the attack
(13:20):
always starts outside of the therange.
They're not even in in the correct distance because they're
actually the the stepping punch commence from a weapons
distance. So that gives both the time and
the space for the defender to, you know, prepare and to and to
and to withdraw or even perhaps even advance accordingly.
(13:42):
So there's enough time and distance for the so-called
traditional movements to occur. But of course, if the person's
already in exchanging range, punching range or then there's
no chance of, of, of that happening, which is why it
doesn't and it, and it can't, itsimply, it, it can't, can't work
(14:04):
like that. There is, if I could just press
on a little bit. There we are going back to what
everyone was thinking in the 80sand 90s.
There have been other lots of different thinking that sprung
up certainly since the 90s. And you know, we were around
(14:25):
when people were starting to say, well, the these blocks are
nerve point strikes as well. And they're in two parts and the
first part disables the incominglimb and the second part
deflects, you know, the the person's force away.
And, you know, again, none of that was could be demonstrated
in inspiring or, or in mixed martial arts, which which some
(14:47):
of us had. We we knew that was going to be
arriving on the scene because it, it was the logical place to
go. We'd, we'd all done our own
training with foul belts, dump Shields, head guards, you know,
and various type type types of weights of gloves.
We'd be we'd done that years ago.
(15:08):
The point I'm making is that the, the, the, you know, we are
pursuing at the moment, the ultra old fashioned idea that
the, that the movements that areblocked a lot of new thinking is
that they're not that they're. And in in some respects we made
significant contributions to that thinking within our group.
But, but, but we didn't come up with the conclusion that that
(15:31):
they were any in any way unarmedballistic movements.
Yeah, we now know that there is a degree of kinetic force
employed, but as we've discussedat considerable length, but it's
generally involving a weapon. If you're not using one, you're
controlling 1. And, and I think that yes, that
(15:54):
Tom's absolutely right there. There were and are no blocks in
the antique Cata, none whatsoever.
Not a single block. I can remember when I trained in
Gojiru, they the teaching potential.
I thought rocker shoe, as we call it, as blocking techniques.
(16:16):
They they were, they were tryingto do apply those the wrist up
upwards as a block and it's like, no, you're just going to
bust your wrist. I'm not joking.
These these were people who should have known better because
they were big guys. I mean one of them was a a rugby
player in his spare time and he's had, he's had loads of
(16:38):
fights so you want to annoy really.
Yeah, I've seen recent interpretation since we opened
the sort of Pandora's box. Perhaps there's recent
interpretations of blocking being suggested that they're for
grabbing and striking. Yeah.
(17:00):
I mean, how if that was the case, are they are they really
good representations of, of grabbing, you know, is, is that
the best someone could come up with for a grab?
Is a Joe a Joe d'anuque or a Gedambarai?
Is that the best, you know, way in this?
It's nonsense. It's kind of grasping at straws
(17:23):
because they don't know what themovements do.
And so it's kind of finding something that loosely fits
that'll do, you know, actually, there's more, there's more to
them. They do serve a really good
function when you know, there, there there is something for
them rather than just, well, they don't quite work as blocks.
We can kind of do them as grabs or something like that.
(17:45):
It's yeah, it's nonsense, but the there aren't blocks in
getting rid of that idea, those movements, what are they for?
And, and so that's why you have to go after the original
functions. That's why you've got to try and
understand what the whole form does.
You can't just pull out it's andit's breaking down of isolating
(18:08):
techniques and saying that one'sthis and one's that or something
like that. It's just not a useful way of
approaching. You've got to be able to look at
the whole form and does it fit within the whole form.
If you take a movement from an anti cater and say that's a
block, you've got to be able to answer why is that block there
(18:28):
at that point in the form, what comes before it, what comes
after it, what's happening at the, you know, and all of those
kinds of questions, which is part of, you know, looking at
Akata. Yes, indeed.
That thing, that thinking that you can just pick out looks like
the middle of the cap. And I, I was born from the
(18:55):
mistaken of you that these caterare some sort of some kind of
formal solo choreographed sort of shadow boxing routine somehow
logically covers all the possible basics of of ways you
could be struck or grabbed or orpushed or pulled.
(19:17):
And and as as Tom so eloquently described and explained in a
previous podcast, how do you catalogue that?
I remember him saying, you know,go ahead, make a cater.
How would you go about it? What, how where would you begin?
How you know where? Well, you know, the person goes
to hit me. Most people are right hand.
(19:39):
Or maybe the first thing I should practise in my homemade
cater is some sort of upper block against the right-handed
punch. Nonsense.
You know, what about the left footed toe punch, kick to your
knee, you know, or it's not a kick or a punch at all.
How about if you jumped on and bundled or headlocked or
(20:01):
assaulted with a sort of hit with a sort of rugby type
tackle? It's, you know, your, your, your
catacreation would go out the window.
Yeah, sorry. Back to you, Tom.
I think that the, the, the distance the distance is, is an
interesting thing to explore as well because in a lot of their
choreographed bunkai, the distance is all very consistent
(20:24):
and you know, no one's sort of taken by surprise or bundled.
It's always very neatly entirelydone as if it was for the stage
or screen. But the from what if you take in
a cutter like Gojushiho, for example, which is, you know,
it's a tomfur form for use against the pole arm.
(20:45):
The idea of it is that you do iton your terms.
You're not engaging on the on the distance that would be
needed to use a pole arm effectively.
You're you're, you're moving right within that range with the
term further and engaging in very, very close quarters.
And so there isn't an there isn't going to be an exchange
backwards and forwards. There's going to be a struggle,
(21:07):
but the idea is to overwhelm andyou've got your map within the
form within the antique cater. And so it's a completely
different type of thinking from anything that A does to B or
something you know, and respondsor reacts.
And so that's, so that's what sets the antique cater apart
from choreography or or you know, applied bunkai against the
(21:30):
straight stepping punch or something like that.
Absolutely. I think the the other.
So distance is, is absolutely a critical factor as you as we've
discussed here. But the other another, it's
(21:50):
quite important to take into consideration, you know, which
we have raised, which is a compound attack.
So usually there's an attack andthere's a block and a counter
attack. Well, you know, how do you stop
simultaneous exchange even if you're grabbing and seizing an
attacking arm, You know, unless the, unless the attacker's only
(22:11):
got 1 arm, which is possible, he's got, you know, three other
limbs he can use in, you know, he could be following up.
He could change his, he could collapse his a failed punch,
shoulder barge or a grappling anything into some primitive
takedown or even a sophisticatedone.
(22:33):
That the point being, how on earth are you supposed to know
that? And unless you're not, unless
you are correctly shutting, shutting the person down.
And the other thing in terms of the awareness of distance is,
yeah, I remember being in the monastery at up at in West
(22:58):
Sussex. It was, it was a very
interesting experience. The monks and nuns were
incredibly serene. They were incredibly skilful.
The shrine room was beautiful, you know, with a huge, great,
sort of, I don't know, massive, great gilded Buddha at the front
(23:22):
of a wonderful environment with a dace at the front around which
some of you know, it was a wonderful and, and I remember
the, the Abbot, I remember, you know, there was, you know, the,
the Sanger had chanted, the Nepali cannon had been chanted
and, and, and the, the, the meditation was begun and the
(23:49):
environment was incredibly tranquil.
And part of the ceiling, the meditation hall ceiling fell,
just collapsed, just not a huge part.
I, I think one of somebody had left some, some taps on upstairs
and it caused some, some damage and something heavy had so the
(24:14):
ceiling fell and I, I don't know, perhaps I was a bit naive,
the sort of Superman thinking expected the senior monks to
just sit blithely, you know, sitabsolutely still as, you know,
as the ceiling fell in on the head.
And I wasn't sure how I felt, probably slightly disappointed
(24:37):
when NASA ceiling began to go. They absolutely scarpered and
disappeared, vanished a bit really quickly.
And I had to give that some thought because, and of course
it's realistic. They're not going to sit on and
you know, in a, in a serene way while the ceiling's falling in
on them. And I think the the analogy I'd
(24:57):
like to make with that is between that it is you can't
expect meditation skills to aid a person surviving, to survive a
collapsing ceiling. And it's, it's the thinking that
says, well, you've got to be able to learn Nihantin or Chinto
or Pasai or Kusenko. And you've got to be able to use
(25:18):
it in a pub brawl or a car park somewhere or a nightclub or
goodness knows, you know, and you've got to be able to be, you
know, able to deal with several opponents at the same at once.
In other words, you know, you'vegot to be Superman.
You, you as a monk. For instance, to go back to the,
the story or the analogy, the monk should AIAA should have
(25:42):
been able to predict the ceilingfalling in or B, should have
just sat still in the Lotus position, but just simply dodged
the different pieces as they fell.
I mean, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense.
You know, they did the proper sensible human thing and got out
the way in case they got injured.
Fortunately, nobody did get injured.
But it's the same with with withour subject, with the, the
(26:05):
karate catta. You know, they're not they're
they're not something that can soul of all all evils.
Their purpose built for very specific arresting and both
civil and militia arresting techniques.
(26:27):
You know, people, you know, let me just put this another way.
Police officers get injured too.They break their legs and trip
up and you know, and we need to really ditch the Superman, the
katta Superman syndrome. I think, I think I've said
enough for a for a bit. I could go on but.
(26:48):
There's a really, really good Jim Carrey sketch which kind of
sums up blocking, really. And it's he's a karate
instructor and he invites someone up to demonstrate with
him and he gives them a knife. And he says, OK, you know, stab
me, go for me. And the the participant says,
oh, Are you sure? And he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
don't worry, I'm a master. And they've stabbed him right in
(27:10):
the stomach. And he starts bleeding.
And he goes, no, no, you've donethe attack wrong.
And he hands the knife back, andhe shows them how to do the
attack with a knife, and they get it wrong again.
So he gets stabbed a second time.
And so he has to teach the rightattack again just so he can get
the block. And I think that sums up
blocking then anything better than anything can talk about.
(27:34):
So perhaps we can link the Jim Carrey sketch on YouTube for
people to watch and enjoy. Yeah, that's that kind of
encapsulates my view on it. Or just thinking then about the
Monty Python sketch, but the banana self defence kings.
Someone attacks you with a banana or something, he gets a
gun out and shoots him. Knife Knife sketch Jim Carrey
(27:58):
Sketch the That's right, two of those techniques from the the
the 77 techniques from cattle that were being demonstrated.
That's right, two of them were against a knife attack.
But both of those knife attacks used the same format, stepping
punch format, except the person you know was armed with a knife.
(28:21):
So to all intents and purposes it was, you know, the same
format, straight punch and a full step.
Simply the person had a knife. And it's not in any way the way,
well, anyone that knows even a little tiny bit about knife
fighting, and I don't claim to be an expert, but anyone's
(28:43):
that's observed it or had any training in it knows that is not
how. For a start, they're all
different types of knives, but even even one that was just
improvised or, you know, a sharpobject.
What is it? The it's, you know, just there
are lots of different ways of using it.
(29:03):
And the more capable and aggressive the person, they
don't even need to be trained. They just need to be determined.
And you're in a whole horrible world of, of risk.
And, and in fact, currently in the UK, our knife crime rates
are like nothing I've ever observed and well, not in this
(29:24):
country in my entire life, whichwhich is a sad fact of the, the,
the, the reality going up against or any involvement to
with a weapon with weapons. That's a, that's an interesting
point that you've just brought up there that you've mentioned
(29:44):
that you know that you've got these self defence against a
knife programmes, but it's just as you just said, the variable
there is the size of the knife. It doesn't even need to be a big
knife, if it's sharp it's going to cut you and it is realising
(30:07):
how easily extreme damage can bedone with a with with a even a
dull blade. You know, it doesn't take a lot
to to cause someone life threatening injury and and you
know, that's a brutal reality ofit.
And I and it's not to be, I don't think it's to be
approached slightly really. I think it's to be taken, you
(30:27):
know, and so when you start talking about blocking or
intercepting someone that's trying to butcher for you or you
know, or whatever it, you know, there's a serious problems, but
there might not be any good solutions.
And that's a hard reality as well and speaks to that
affectionism that Nathan mentioned, where someone blocks
(30:49):
encounters and then the, the jewel is over and the, the, the
good guy, the karate or gal, thekarate's one and the, the
villain with the knife, you know, has been incapacitated.
All this. It's nonsense.
And so, yeah, I think that's it's, it's blocking is there's
(31:10):
nothing, there's nothing to do with that at all.
What takes place in those sorts of crimes and that type of
violence? Yeah.
I I think just I don't want to push to the point too much
because I do want to move away from the lives because that's
not that's I think we've almost done that justice, but just.
But the sad reality is, if you've ever seen the result of
(31:35):
that, and I have in an operatingtheatre, if you see what let's
take a stab to the abdomen, you know, that causes wrecked havoc
with the, the this is, I'm sorryto be close, but the contents of
(31:57):
the bowel end up where they shouldn't be, which pretty much
leads to some horrendous life threatening sepsis.
So it's incredibly serious, incredibly serious and modern
surgery and modern medicine skill for use of antibiotics and
(32:20):
so on. Will you know is is fantastic
and gets great results, but the actual the experience is quite
miserable and and and horribly life threatening.
You know I wouldn't and it's notterritory.
You know that really karate should even be on.
(32:44):
But this is because karate is expected to be a panacea for all
evils. Keep to to use that phrase and I
go back to my ceiling falling in.
Well, you must have a defence for the ceiling falling in.
And yes, there is one and the monks demonstrated it perfectly.
Get out of the way. Don't be there when it falls,
you know, that's the reality. And if, if you are there when it
(33:07):
falls, then I've got news for you.
You get hit by falling plaster and masonry.
That's, that's the that's real life.
And no amount of so that I thinkcan return us quite nicely to
the, the fantasy of the, of the,of blocking and thinking of
blocking. And basically related to what we
(33:28):
think it should be, what we think is possible, largely not
from our experience, but from watching films or or or martial
arts demonstrations. And that can lead, particularly
for people who don't train to a belief that we know what it is
or how it could or should work. And, and quite frankly, it's not
(33:51):
necessarily the case. OK, so we were discussing the
myth of, of blocking. So that does actually come from
the great karate and it's just asub heading like in a chapter
where the subject is is covered.It's also quite useful to note
(34:18):
that one doesn't find set like what meets in in other combat.
We don't find it in boxing for example, we don't find it.
In Muay Thai, we don't find it. In kickboxing, there were no set
blocks. Doesn't mean that that those are
(34:40):
deflected or jammed, but they'renot set blocks.
And certainly obviously there's no cata for them nor nor can
there be. It's not that certain arts are
too primitive and not eloquent, elegant or or educated enough to
have cata. It's just that there's no need
(35:00):
for such a a construct, such an approach, because it doesn't
work for unarmed, it doesn't work for for a confrontation,
particularly one that's agreed, particularly one that's two
things, agreed and reactive, notproactive.
(35:26):
So if we if we move away from teaching formal blocks, what do
we replace them with, especiallyfor beginners?
In a sense, what would it take for mainstream karate to shift
it's view on blocking? Well, you know, they'd have to
kind of rewrite it completely about that.
(35:48):
I think that's their business. I don't think that's our
business. I think that that the one of the
main points of talking about blocking in the myth of blocking
is that it's nothing to do with the antique kata.
So, you know, it's, you don't have to look very far to realise
that you, you can't, the blocking isn't an effective
(36:08):
approach to fighting armed or unarmed.
And having that mindset where you can react, you think you
could react in a, you know, quickly enough to deal with, you
know, being attacked or assaulted or whatever, or even
if it in a some sort of match orwhatever jewel or.
(36:29):
And, and so it's removing that idea from when you approach the
antique catter. And that's the encouragement
that I'm, you know, we're tryingto make here is to not all the
catter contain blocks encountersfor unarmed combat.
And once you remove the myth of blocking, what's, what can you
then do with the catter as well?It's, it's a, it's a way of
(36:51):
approaching the forms. If there's no blocking in them,
what are they? What are those movements that
you previously thought are blocks?
What do they do? What could they do and what can
they do in the greater context of the whole form?
Where do they fit in? And I think that's, that's the
important bit. I mean, from our perspective,
how modern karate evolves is, is, you know, anyone's guess
(37:14):
really and up to the individual.But I think there's it's about
being honest about it as well, which is I think it's really
important. You know, we talked about
serious topics with the with youknow, knife crime and things
like that. If you're, if you were telling
people that they've going to have the opportunity to be able
to block someone that's produceda knife or something like that,
(37:38):
you know, you're putting people in danger, you're putting them
at risk. And so I think there's a
responsibility there for people to, you know, explore these
things a bit further and adapt accordingly.
But our adaptation is is in how we approach the antique forms.
Yeah, I, I think just to lightenthe, the, the note, well,
(37:59):
there's a couple of points. I remember one very senior
Japanese teacher being asked what you what to do if someone
had a knife. And he gave an explanation and
said you could do this, this andthis and this.
And then the queer, the guy asking the questions said, well,
what about if he's got a stick? So the master, the expert said,
(38:22):
well, you can do that, that, that and this.
And then the guy said the chap said, what if he's got a gun?
And, and the expert looked at him and said run, sort of said
run in the in the on the first question, I think it's just to
(38:45):
try and lighten, lighten, lighten the subject a little
bit. There's an issue that that
Koduru is a group face and that is we could be seen as unpopular
if we are going about the business of deconstructing a
(39:09):
karate that so many people love.And you know, we've loved it
too. We've had to make some hard to
face some hard choices and take some very, very tough decisions
over the years as as as the reality of what the the cat are
and what they are not has unfolded.
(39:30):
So we have had to face those certain realities.
But one can understand why, you know why we might be seen as
deconstructors or spoilers of everything but.
But all I can say about that is don't shoot the messenger.
(39:54):
Yeah, indeed. Kev, what's your what's your
experience on all of this? In this, in the, in the blocking
thing, yeah, in the IT doesn't work.
That's my experience. It doesn't work.
I've seen it. And you know, we've all had our
things when we were younger and no, it doesn't work.
(40:15):
I mean, no one does a clean set piece when I when I, when
there's an altercation, people don't, don't do that.
And I've, I have this as many years ago now as one Christmas
walking back across the Guild orin Portsmouth with someone from
work. And there was a bunch of lads
(40:36):
coming one way and this bloke and his misses the other.
And they one of these blokes barge into on purpose.
And this guy, his his partner had a had a knife a big thing
about about a foot long. And he pulled that out and
everyone ran. Everyone got out of the way.
Then no, everyone for Nutter outof the way.
(40:59):
Yeah, so I've seen that, I've seen that happen.
So I don't think, I don't, I don't think anyone's going to
stand there and try and block a,a bloody knife.
No, that's my, that's what I think so and.
I think that that the idea, well, not the idea, the fact
that blocking doesn't work, I don't think that that that's
(41:21):
news either. I think that the people that put
together the antique forms, their martial skills, the
martial strategies into these Qatar, they knew that and it's
reflected in what what is contained in those forms.
And but it was you know that thechoreography is embraced in the
on the stage, in the in the in the martial operas, in the in
(41:44):
the stage performances. And it's when they've become
confused and it became confused in China.
Just have a look at the what thebuild up to the Boxer Rebellion,
you know, where that's where thebeliefs of of what people were
seeing on the stage has overflowed into, you know,
pretty grim reality of coming upagainst guns.
(42:08):
And the same thing is still happening today because we have
such amazing performances in movies.
I mean, it's hard. It's hard to watch the Wing Chun
films, the man films, excuse me and, and not be look at that and
go, wow, Wing Chun's amazing. Look at all those blocks,
counters, traps, pit, you know, you know, Donny Yen does a
(42:31):
remarkable job and they're they're fantastic films.
And you've got, you know, great performers like Jackie Chan and
Samuel Hung and all those guys who've created amazing
choreography and, and, and that kind of has leaked, leaked into
the Dojo as well. So modern dojos, modern Kung Fu
and karate schools, there's an overflow from that choreography
(42:55):
and, and, and those beliefs kindof find their way in.
And so that, that, that the problem of blocking isn't new.
And it's the the same reasons ithappened in, you know, history
in China and Okada and all the rest of it are the same reasons
it's happening now. This this Chinese Theatre, every
time we mention it, I just imagine this like Chinese WWE.
(43:22):
If you, I mean, you know, we're talking about people of the
calibre, like Jackie Chan's performances, we're talking
about that calibre of performance on the stage and
it's a regular thing, you know, and that that's what people were
seeing. And so when you see people
perform like that and they have unbelievable physical skills and
(43:43):
can do all, you know, amazing things, it's hard to not absorb
something of that and it become part of your perspective or view
of the world and things. And it's not that difficult to
convince people either. That's why it's so, yeah, it
becomes believable. There was some There's something
else about this myth in that, you know, the idea that it could
(44:07):
be performed by anyone at any stage of their life in any, any
fitness as well. And it, and it sort of because
again, it's, as you say, it's theatrical and it moves that
place where, you know, it's almost say, well, you don't have
(44:30):
to be really fit and, and, and you know, strong an exercise and
push yourself physically and train physically.
But actually you do you, you it's, it's, it's military
trading, isn't it? It's, it's and, and it's funny
(44:51):
as well that you in any other sport, in any other field, you'd
retire by 30. It's very Yeah, you.
You'd be very unusual for anyonein their 50s to still be very
competitive in boxing. Oh, oh, their 60s.
It's just it's just very unusualif someone's able to be
(45:14):
competitive at that point. But it perpetuates in in in the
martial arts there. Are two yeah, yeah, old master
the, the idea that they could somehow, you know, but that's
choreography again, isn't it? Because on, in, in the, in the
movies you have, you know, if you think about Kill Bill,
you've got π May you know, the old what you know the old master
(45:38):
and he's still unbelievable and you know, but it's believable
because it's so well done. But it's just, it's not true.
It's not the reality. You reflexes do slow down.
You know, you're not, you won't be as quick.
You won't be as it's getting old.
(46:00):
Your visual reflexes will, but your contact reflexes, they
actually tend to remain so. So if you take a pushing hands
approach, although we're not, I'm not justifying, I'm not
trying to go for the old master fantasy, but I, you know, I
think I can still achieve a reasonable standard of push
(46:21):
hands. And you know, I'm, I'm, I'm,
I'm, I'm going towards, I'm heading for 70.
So that's not too bad because I think if I put my hand on, which
I don't want to do, but on a hotplate by accident, I will remove
it probably just as quickly as I, I, I would have done it at
20. But that's a different ball game
(46:44):
altogether because they're, they're completely different.
It's a different honouring system.
That's, you know, that's anothertopic.
But the contact, the touch reflexes through contact
training allow you to pick up a force, determine it's direction
and and and redirect it. Now that that's a different
(47:05):
approach and a different set of skills altogether.
I'm not trying to claim self defence capability through the
back door, but those those qualities can be demonstrated by
by by older people and they're not as limiting as as the
gymnastics sort of sporting capabilities, for instance of a
(47:29):
competition fighter. Not, not, not not the same game
at all completely different game.
Yeah, I'm just well, what's the point of competition just
briefly in the side here. If you do look at karate
tournaments it and you especially let's let's start
(47:54):
with the full contact and and then move back to semi contact.
If you look at full contact and you've got you, you, you can see
bouts. They're all different kinds of
associations all over the all over the globe, hundreds and
hundreds of them in, in America,for instance, in the United
States. And you, you get different
(48:18):
people from different styles or schools.
And once they get in the ring orin the, in the the arena or
wherever it is they're fighting in the cage or whatever,
whatever it is, whatever format,it's really difficult to tell
one style from another which oneis which, you know, you know,
(48:41):
it's very, very difficult because they all trade blows in
very, very similar ways. Let's let's move, move onwards
now to semi contact Karatane. Let's look at that then let's
look at that within, for instance, the global Shotokan
format. What 1 invariably sees then is a
(49:02):
very big stress on the a very quick reverse punch.
It's probably the most used technique that in those
competitions and it's absolutelythe case that it is constantly a
simultaneous exchange in which the referee has all the
referees. There's usually one on each
(49:23):
corner and they have to work outwho landed first or if anyone
landed because there's always lots of shouting and a quick
withdrawal of the punching arm. And the other interesting point
is that the competitors are are dancing on the balls of their
(49:45):
feet. They're not in any way using
approaches that are tied back toeither their basics or their
kata in any meaningful way. In other words, they're using
one of the third sets of types of karate that ostensibly meant
to be 1 style of karate that we discussed in one of our earlier
(50:08):
podcasts. That karate is not one thing,
but three. It's kata, the formal kata, the
kumite or the fixed kumite, the keyon.
It's that's these are fixed movements and and the sparring
and the three aren't the same. They use different body habits
(50:30):
in entirely different ways, and yet they're amalgamated and and
and said to said to be a style. But the three practises aren't
related, which is why so many Kumite champions really dislike
Qatar. Now there were exceptions to
that. I can think of a few.
You know, I don't want to throw names around.
(50:51):
There's there's one UK based Syracan champion, Absolutely
Fabulous, who was both a Qatar champion and A and a Kumite
champion. Never been several of those.
But they're the exception, not not the rule.
And, and lots of competitors in,in competitions would really
(51:13):
love their competition and, and really train for that.
And, and, and there's no evidence to indicate that the
Qatar training, there's no proper evidence to suggest to
demonstrate that Qatar training improves the sparring cumulative
(51:34):
or one's capability in, in in a competition or a tournament.
Yeah, quite. Do you want to be good at
sparring? Do sparring.
That's about it, isn't it? Really?
What's the cage fights? Where are all the moves called
the antique forms in those in those fights?
(51:54):
That they're not there. You never see it do.
You know, and you know, there's there's such there's a nice
range of different movements in the antique category.
It's I know there's we talk about the same cater, but take
Sanso Ru or Kusanku or Nihangchiand you just don't see that
(52:15):
material or emerging in the in the in MMA or anything like
that. And even on footage of real
fires, you just don't see it. So if it if if that is evidence
that it's not for that, if that's how you see it, I do it.
It leaves the question, what arethese forms for?
(52:37):
What were they for originally? You know, the myth of blocking
isn't it's not something that was unknown to the, you know,
the the Chinese creators of the of martial arts and things like
that. It wasn't unknown to them.
So what? And that's what that's the
important thing, I think, is it come ties right back to what
were these forms actually for? If they're not blocks, what what
(53:00):
is it? If it's not blocking, what is
it? Something I was thinking about
the other day, something came upon the feed and it was something
like karate, black belt wins, UFC, and I watched it and I was
just, well, where's the catter? I just, I, I, I was like, he's
(53:25):
doing MMA this where's his? You can't.
There's there's quite a lot of clickbait in that.
In that sense, there's a lot of.And he's probably, he's probably
an exceptional fighter in spite of doing karate, you know, and
there's you can't just because somebody's done karate and won
(53:47):
an MMA title that then put it down to the karate.
Yeah, it was my probably closestthat they're an exceptional
athlete, a natural born fighter anyway.
And you know, I'm not saying that that I'm sure that I mean
there are thousands of capable fighters that do karate where
the karate adds much to the someone's fighting ability.
(54:10):
I think that's a bigger question.
Yeah. And I think this shows back to
the what modern karate is and we've we've covered that.
Yeah, you know. And and yeah, what does?
Walking up and down doing Oizukior doing, you know, go home
committee where you do step back, doing some blocks and then
finish with what? What does that add to someone's
(54:32):
fighting ability? Probably not a lot it's.
Not related. It's not applicable related to
mixed martial arts at all. You might as well say Joe Joe
Soap won the UFC. Joe Soap, the pastry chef, you
know, won. He's a pastry chef.
He won the UFC, Yeah, well, UFC fighting, but we know the answer
(54:59):
to that. But the assumption is because of
the the myth that is karate, thethe karate should be able to
lend a hand to to all sorts of fighting and it doesn't follow
different skill sets altogether.I did well like that.
A screw can be hammered in with a wrench and you know, with
(55:24):
enough training, so some people could get very good.
You could you know, you could imagine a person who had the
screws in his teeth, several of them, and could just sort of
spit one out, bang it in with a into a piece of wood, you know,
with a wrench and and do it, youknow, rapidly.
So he's got 5 all banged it great, you know, but you know, a
(55:48):
screws not meant to be knocked in with with anything he's meant
to be screwed in and it's certainly not with a wrench and
a wrench is not really meant to be used for knocking in screws.
It could use, you know, let's use the correct tool for the
correct purpose. While we're dispelling me.
So I got a just final request tomake.
(56:08):
Could we please make sure we don't tackle the tooth fairy
Father Christmas Don't want themdebunked.
Thank you. Don't want those debunked.
Thanks for tuning in. Today we peeled back the layers
on the myth of blocking, examining its theatrical roots,
its disconnect from real world violence, and its absence in
(56:30):
antique Qatar and modern combat alike.
We challenged the assumptions built into traditional karate
pedagogy and explored how movements often labelled as
blocks, might hold a deeper, more proactive purpose.
If you're questioning what Qatarreally contains, or how martial
understanding evolves across history and context, we hope
(56:52):
this gave you something to chew on.
Don't forget to rate the show follow for future episodes and
share it with your Dojo or training partners.
Got thoughts on blocking or a favourite bananas attack defence
story? Drop us a message, we'd love to
hear it. Until next time, stay sharp,
train smart.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.