Читать книгу Martial Arts Training in Japan. A Guide for Westerners онлайн

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I remember a karatedo class practicing one evening on a beach at Satsuma. From my vantage point about fifty yards away in a formal garden on a hill overlooking the bay, the white dogi of the students glowed as they moved over the black volcanic sand beach. The class began a torturous exercise in which the students kicked as high as they could, as slowly as they could. The sensei spaced the students randomly on the beach with each apparently on his own. The sun began to disappear into the sea and the dogi of the karatedo students took on a misty gray hue as they balanced unmoving in a kicking posture. It looked like some giant had been practicing calligraphy using pearl ink on black paper.

The basic plan of most karatedo classes might entail twenty to twenty-five minutes of warm-up exercises and maybe some strength drills. This will usually be followed by kihon waza, generally practiced as students move up and down the dojo floor, performing the required techniques to the guttural cadence of the sensei or a senior student. Kihon waza may be followed by one- or two-step sparring in which the basic techniques are taught in combinations and practiced with a partner, one acting the attacker for the other. Next may come work on kata, the choreographed series of techniques basic to the style being practiced. In an hour-and-a-half class all of the above may be encountered plus, on occasion, weapons practice (usually bo, sai, tonfa, nunchaku, kama) or a lecture on some important point of history or philosophy by the sensei. A good karatedo sensei will have many surprises to ensure that the training does not become stale. One night you may find mixed into the meat of the class a mini-seminar on binding attackers with short lengths of rope, or the use of the headband (hatchimaki) as a selfdefense tool, or specific customs related to sword handling. Sometimes you might find the entire class devoted to sparring or methods of meditation or breathing exercises. There is always a formal beginning and ending to karatedo classes marked by order and expressions of gratitude. The sensei, of course, can change the plan of a class at any time. Time and space belong to the sensei while in the dojo.