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Post by andyupton on Jan 27, 2011 20:20:06 GMT
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Post by kensei on Mar 2, 2011 14:28:08 GMT
I like Asai, but he was so different that it is hard to see yourself being exactly like him. its kind of like watching a video of a different style that NO ONE can do. even his Bassai Dai is different than most you see, he seems to be able to break spacific physical rules and still look good doing it. If the rest of us did Bassaid Dai with this kind of form it would look sloppy, for him it look natural and on a different level...hard to explain and I know it is coming across as an insult to his Kata..but it should be seen as the highest praise I can give!
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Post by fujicolt on Mar 2, 2011 18:45:59 GMT
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Post by Bob Davis on Mar 3, 2011 10:26:15 GMT
This I like very much, (and the few of the others I've had time to watch on the back of it). It's what I like to think of as "kata with intent" rather than a kata performance. This is what I'd love to be able to do ( in my dreams, I know )
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Post by fujicolt on Mar 3, 2011 18:06:15 GMT
thou art too modest Mr Davis - intent you do not lack sir!
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Post by genkaimade on Mar 3, 2011 21:42:32 GMT
The thing that I think is most difference about Asai's performance as opposed to any others that I've seen, is the yama-zuki. I don't know whether it's just my lack of experience, but he almost seems to "throw" the upper hand like you might throw a cricket ball...
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Post by jimlukelkc on Mar 5, 2011 9:58:39 GMT
Great stuff! Alex when you perform yama-tsuki you will find that the main power-hand is the upper one, it is difficult to generate power in the lower fist ( unless the lower one is not a punch?)
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Post by fujicolt on Mar 6, 2011 12:40:52 GMT
Great stuff! Alex when you perform yama-tsuki you will find that the main power-hand is the upper one, it is difficult to generate power in the lower fist ( unless the lower one is not a punch?) I did giggle at Jim's comment above. NOT i must add because there is anything wrong with it. Tis just that I have seen Jim at work and he LOOOOOOVES to take a Kata apart and come up with really thought provoking Implications - he'll no doubt look at the Yama Tsuki lower arm and it WILL somehow be a ushiro geri that works or a block, or throw or testicle strike or grab, or an arm trap or leg scoop and so on and so on.
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Post by jimlukelkc on Mar 6, 2011 15:46:23 GMT
Ha ha! Steve ya got me there! How about this one? Have opponent grab your right wrist, step into Yama tsuki with right leg forward as normal and the opponent is pulled down and forward so the upper hand connects flush on the jaw and grab is disengaged . Voila!, its neat and requires no adjustment. Just one of many lol !
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Post by stevenm on Aug 16, 2011 20:46:48 GMT
I watched a TV documentary recently about concert pianists, and the incredible amount of work and dedication involved in reaching that standard. One of them said that all the music is obviously written down by the composer, and that, in theory at least, all recitals should sound the same. However, there are considerable differences between the interpretations of the different pianists. They all invested so much of their personality into their playing. It made me think of Kata, and particulary Asai. I think it is the imperfection and personality in Kata that gives it it's beauty, (and ugliness),and makes it worth watching.
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Post by fujicolt on Aug 16, 2011 23:34:34 GMT
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Post by tomobrien on Aug 23, 2011 2:53:58 GMT
My favorite kata! Can't get enough of it! Thanks, Tom
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Post by fujicolt on Aug 27, 2011 22:17:38 GMT
Shame you never saw Enoada Sensei perform it in person - very different feel to Asai Sensei but equally Awesome!
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Post by deckerdude304 on Dec 18, 2011 3:35:21 GMT
Awesome, truely awesome.
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Post by plwilloughby on Dec 18, 2011 22:10:00 GMT
I actually don't particularly care for that performance. Lots of extra foot shifting movements that are extraneous. He's a small guy and can get away with that. A bigger person doing that would just look terrible. I'm not saying I don't think he has great karate, it's just that it fits him and not me so not something I would try and copy.
Paul
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Post by fleur on Dec 21, 2011 9:56:11 GMT
I love Asai, because his style is more like shorin-ryu than shotokan. When Okinawan karate came over to the mainland it lost is fluidity and was replaced with 'well everything that makes shotokan what it is or what people recognise it to be - strong, powerful, some might say stiff, low stances etc...you get the drift.
But Asai never really developed those variations, he always remained natural, fluid and fast - all the aspects that are the features of shorin-ryu or in particular matsubayashi ryu, being the most fluid of Okinawan karate - known for speed and snap. As Steve mentioned to the untrained eye and one that regularly looks only at stiff and formal kata, would think this karate is messy, sloppy and ineffectual. But aahhh... beauty is diffenately in the eye of the beholder as I have come to learn and love.
Here is a video of Jim Sindt - an exceptional Matsubayashi Ryu karate ka those speed is mind blowing. But you will be interested to see some of the same 'messy' fluidity and speed that you see in Asai.
Dont let the it fool you. It's magic, you just might not know it yet.
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Post by deckerdude304 on Dec 21, 2011 22:22:43 GMT
My goodness thats quick fleur, blisteringly quick! My only hope is that one day, i may be half as quick as Mr Sindt! I learnt Heian Sandan tonight, small fry compared to what most of you guys are doing, but i'm getting there AND i loved it--more please Sensei!!
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Post by fleur on Dec 22, 2011 9:06:50 GMT
Thats the way Mikky, how long you been practising and what grade are you?
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Post by deckerdude304 on Jan 26, 2012 21:21:33 GMT
Hya fleur, sorry i never got back to you.....from last year!! Well i've had my White Belt now for close on.....25 years this year.....my GI along with it! Lonnng story, but through one thing and another i've just come back to it-(Funakoshi Sensei has said in the past that, though you may leave Karate, Karate will never leave you, if it is within you!)-just recently. I belong to one Club, The Sussex Shotokan Karate Do, and it operates in two different areas in the East Sussex Region. The main Club in Bexhill-on-Sea places a lot of emphasis on basics/Kihon training because there are quite a few people who come to see if they like it-whilst the 'sub club' near to Heathfield in Kent tends to be more of an intermediate class i think in my opinion. I have the benefit of both basics and intermediate classes, and i love them both! I really did the right thing in coming back to it, so much so that i get incredibly excited on the days that we train! Bye for now!
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Post by Allan Shepherd on Jan 26, 2012 21:54:00 GMT
Watched the video of Jim Sindt doing kata Kushanku of the Matsubayashi Ryu version of Kanku Dai, why after the rei does he project his bottom backwards and look down at the floor whilst performing the opening move that signifies looking at the sky in Kanku Dai? also lots of loose fingers being flopped about!
Best Regards Allan
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Post by nathanso on Jan 27, 2012 8:40:01 GMT
why after the rei does he project his bottom backwards Maybe for the similar reason that shotokan-ers do that it Chinte?
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Post by jimlukelkc on Jan 27, 2012 12:24:42 GMT
Because of the bunkai for that move? Not sure about floppy fingers but one interpretation of the initial "looking at the sky" movement is a to drive the palms of the hands into your opponents forehead as a warding off move that protects your chin and pushes his head back, the opening of the hands is raking the thumbs across the eyes and the arms protect the jaw. The circular movement controls his arms by contact giving you the counter of shuto to the neck/jaw. I know this is just one version of many others out there but it neatly accounts for other styles versions of the same kata, none of which can be said to be wrong of course. ( apart from symbolising looking at the sky bol**ks which I personally cant accept about any kata, including Chinte).
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Post by nathanso on Jan 28, 2012 0:49:46 GMT
Don't forget that the name "Look at the sky" (i.e., Kanku) is a 20th century invention, created as a marketing tool to eliminate the Okinawan/Chinese antecedents, in order to make karate more acceptable to the Japanese
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Post by kensei on Feb 7, 2012 21:26:17 GMT
and it sounds nice! LOL!!!!
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Post by fleur on Feb 9, 2012 8:13:42 GMT
Floppy fngers = relaxation = speed & snap. It's a style thing. The strikes are not with the hands, they are with the arms.
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Post by Allan Shepherd on Feb 9, 2012 21:26:59 GMT
The posting reads "lots of loose fingers being flopped about"
The bottom in Chinte is not projected backwards since the pelvic girdle is lifted to control the core.
The strikes, as do blocks, punches and kicks are done from the hips. Without the hips controlling the core the arms and legs are simply arms and legs.
Best Regards Allan
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