Читать книгу Empty Hand. The Essence of Budo Karate онлайн

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The Shitō karate developed by my father contains the traditional Okinawan hand-fighting techniques of the Shuri-te and the Naha-te. Apart from some small technical differences, it is a typical feature of the Shuri-te kata that they consist of many effective and fast attack and defense movements designed for long-distance fighting. For the Naha-te kata, close-distance fighting is typical, with “heavy” movements and a special breathing technique derived from Chinese Fukien kempō5. Having such a broad basis it is easy to find the appropriate kata for any age and any kind of physical condition. This is the great advantage of Shitō karate.

Long kata include about 70 different techniques, shorter ones about 20. A short kata does not take more than one minute. During kata practice literally every inch of the body moves, so that results can be seen very soon. Men get strong and well-balanced bodies and women also become more beautiful. No space, no special devices or clothing is needed. So there is no easier method to improve the state of health. Even very busy people should be able to afford the few minutes a day needed to keep fit by kata practice. Some may think that they are already too old for it. But in principle one can start practicing kata at any age. Most of the masters of karate from Okinawa and mainland Japan enjoyed a long life.