Post by fujicolt on Jan 29, 2011 17:23:02 GMT
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH
SHIHAN KOUSAKA YOKOTA 8TH DAN
Part Two.
SHIHAN KOUSAKA YOKOTA 8TH DAN
Part Two.
Interviewer: Steve Hyland
Publishers: Liam Watt, George Watt - OSS Our Shotokan Studies Forum.
Copyright reserved 2011.[/b]
Well folks, following a great deal of prompting ( I was going to wait a week to publish Pt2) - here is part 2 of the very popular interview with Yokota Sensei.
Thank you to everybody whom contacted me with kind comments about Part 1 of the interview. I can assure you all it has been a real pleasure and a very educating experience for me in working with Yokota Sensei to prepare the interview. He has been so patient and forthcoming I cannot thank him enough.
There has been a great deal of requests for me to bring Yokota Sensei to the UK to hold some courses. I have discussed this with him and we have agreed to organise something a little later in the year. If anyone would like to host a Course with Yokota Senseiat your Dojo please PM me directly here on the OSS Forum to discuss it.
Do not forget that we have a unique (and never before available) opportunity here in that Yokota Sensei has agreed to answer any questions that you have that arise out of your reading of the interview Pt1 and Pt2. This is extremely kind and generous of him and is, I believe, deeply indicative of his stated claim that he wishes to assist western Karateka in widening our knowledge - so please take full advantage of this marvelous opportunity.
Kousaka Yokota Interview Part 2.
Steve Hyland - Q. Please tell us a little about your two most personally influential Instructors: Asai Sensei and Sugano Sensei. We know about them as formidable Karateka and outstanding Teachers. Please tell us a little about them and why they influenced and inspire you so deeply?
Kousaka Yokota Shihan - A. First of all I was not a disciple or uchi deshi (a selected student who gets to live with a master) so I am not qualified to talk about the private lives of these sensei. My experiences of them were predominantly in the dojo and karate environment.
However, there were two common characteristics in their personalities.
One is they were after Budo. They were always talking about real fights and never about tournaments. For example: Asai sensei was one time a champion of the All Japan Tournament but he called it Asobi (a game or a play activity). I do know both of them encountered yakuza (Japanese gangsters) and fought them. Considering the seriousness of that kind of fight I can easily imagine any tournament kumite would merely be only a game or play activity to them both.
The other point is their attitude to money. They are both financially independent. Both of them told me not to mix money with karate. They said if I did then the students become my customers. I will have to cater to them and will be more interested in pleasing them rather than keeping karate at the standard that you are satisfied with. They warned that you will be afraid to fail students in promotion tests and start selling dan diploma.
This is the main reason why I have not transitioned myself to a full time karate instructor. I am still trying to find a way to become financially independent so I do not need to depend on karate to support me but would be able to make it a full time activity that I could fully devote myself to. However, I am open to take a donation of a dojo if one of the readers is a millionaire LOL.
Q. There has been much debate about the value of Kata practice in a modern martial art. What is your position on this?
A. There is little value if you practice kata without knowing the meaning of each movement. So the problem of kata is not in kata itself but it lies in its bunkai or lack of it.
Unfortunately in a regular JKA syllabus, correct bunkai was not taught most of the time. In addition, many of bunkai were modified or changed due to various reasons. For instance most of the techniques in Jutte are against bo attack but now the bunkai is based on bare hand attacks.
Many of the throwing and joint attacks were also eliminated because of Judo (Funakoshi sensei did not want to compete against Judo in the early days of karate introduction to Japan).
On top of that, some of the techniques were purposely changed (mae geri into yoko keage, i.e. Heian Nidan and Yondan), by the modern version kata creators. There are many different reasons for this strange fact. I have touched some of them in my articles and my books so if you are interested please read them.
By understanding the correct bunkai and practicing kata to reflect the applications it has a tremendous value to your budo karate. It teaches you many lethal and effective techniques that makes your karate more "realistic" or battle ready in a real fighting situation.
Q. Do you have a Kata that is your favourite – and if so what is it about that particular Kata that gives you such enjoyment and satisfaction.?
A. My favorites from Asai kata are Suishu and Seiryu. These two kata have the essence of Asai ryu karate. They have many whip arm techniques and the techniques must flow. Take a look at the video on Youtube and you will see what I mean.
Q. Many criticize Shotokan for it being too competition and pre-set grading syllabus focused in many dojo; what do you think about these comments?
A. Even though I am not thoroughly familiar with the recent trend inside of other styles like Shito ryu and Goju ryu, I get the same impression that sports karate is becoming very popular in them. Therefore, the criticism of too much competition must be coming from internally rather than from the other styles. Probably the old timers who had more martial arts mentality when they were young would feel the current trend to be too much shifting to competition.
Again, competition is fine but we must also preserve martial arts karate as that was how karate was created originally.
Regarding the pre-set grading syllabus, I am OK with it. Funakoshi sensei decided to follow the kyu and dan system from Judo. Judging the skill level is very subjective thus we must have a pre-set syllabus to make an "objective" judgment.
The most important thing is to practice and improve your techniques and not the number of your kyu or dan.
Just as a black belt will not help you in a street fight, your dan number will not help you in your performance of karate.
Q. Going back to your early days with the JKA; please tell us of your experiences of the training and the instructors you experienced at that time.
A. I have many funny stories in my early days of karate life. I told a funny episode when I was a white belt in the book I just published last month so I will not repeat that story here.
I can share some funny stories from the time when I was training full time. At one time I was training 6 days every week and spent 6 to 8 hours daily in my dojo. I went to all the classes every day from Monday through Saturday. We had a morning class and two evening classes. In the afternoon I did self-training in the dojo alone so I spent up to 8 hours every day except Sundays.
I was young so I was OK on Mondays and Tuesdays but by the time I hit Fridays and Saturdays my body was completely exhausted.
I remember crawling (literally) upstairs as my apartment was on the second floor. I was too tired to walk up the steps. I was on my hands and knees to go up the steps. The people in the same building thought I came home drunk every weekend LOL.
Let me tell you about our 6 hour class at Sugano dojo on Saturdays. The class started at noon and ended at 6pm. He gave us 5 minute break at 3 o'clock but the training seemed to have lasted forever.
We started the class with one hour physical training including 500 sit-ups, push-ups and squats. Then we started with two hour session of kihon including rubber tube punches and kicks. In the second half of the class we spent about one hour of kumite and 90 minutes for kata.
During the last 15 minutes of kumite session we were all matched in a pair and had to do jiyu kumite. We were OK during the first 5 minutes but after awhile our hands and arms began to weigh more. They became so heavy that we could not keep our fists up. Of course, our sensei and assistants are yelling, "Keep your guard up". But the opponents were the same way. They could not punch too quickly as their arms were down too. We were so happy when jiyu kumite finally finished. We thought "Yes kata time".
In kata we had some resting time between the kata but jiyu kumite was 15 minutes straight and there was no rest at all. Yes we had many accidents and the floor was always wet with our sweat and blood.
Nose bleed and cut lips were very normal thing to happen. If you come out without a nose bleed the other students would tease you after the class saying you cheated. Then you had to say "I think I am getting faster so my opponent couldn't catch me" LOL.
During the winter time, sensei would open the windows even if it was snowing outside. It was terrible during the first 30 minutes or so but we quickly got used to it once the training started. What we hated most was the hot and humid summer days. Sensei would close the windows when it is 30 degrees outside. With the windows closed the temperature inside the dojo must have gone up to close to 40 degrees (no exaggeration). We would sweat like crazy as you can imagine and the floor was like a pond. It became so slippery we could not move fast. All of us fell at least once or twice in each session.
Jiyu kumite on a wet floor was certainly a big challenge. As I remember the scenes now, it was funny because most of us were falling down left and right. Some of us were holding on to each other like dancing or doing judo. It really was a crazy scene but we were dead serious then.
As a matter of fact some of us passed out during the jiyu kumite. So, sensei would tell us before we started jiyu kumite, "Don't pass out, boys". It sounds like a joke now but it was truly dangerous to fall on the wet floor. If you slipped and fell, you could hit your head badly. He told us to kneel down or fall on your own when you started to feel faint. However, we had to grab our opponent quickly if he passed out on you.
In our kata class, we had to do various kata and sensei would count that we would do 100 times. So 100 times in 90 minutes is not too bad if that was the only thing we had to do but as you remember we trained 4 hours right before. Honestly, we were dead tired by then. Try to do Kanku dai within one minute was more than a challenge when we were in that condition.
In addition, when the floor is wet sensei allowed us to wipe the floor before kata session but it got wet again very soon. So, we prayed that sensei would not ask us to do the kata with a jump kick like Kanku and Gankaku.
Sugano sensei, 9th dan Vice Chairman of JKA, was my sensei in Kobe, Japan. He was a gentleman when he was teaching us so we had no worry about him. What we had to watch out for was his assistant instructors who could be mean.
One particular instructor always walked around in the class carrying a shinai (bamboo stick). He was very quick with the stick when he found anyone of us being high in our stance or bad posture, etc. He would use his stick to make us know if something is wrong. He would hit you then tell you like "Your stance is too high" or "Your hips are not tucked in". When he was approaching you from the front it was OK as we would make sure to do the right things. When he was behind you that was when you had to watch out.
However, he knew that we would stay down or keep a correct stance if we saw him. So he would walk very quietly behind us and watched how we would stand or move. If our stance was too high, he would hit our head. If our hikite (draw arm) is not sufficient he would strike our hand or wrist. If our stance was incorrect or poor then our butts were smashed pretty hard. When we got hit we had to yell out "Osu". So the class knew exactly where this assistant instructor was. Of course nobody laughed.
The physical pain was not that bad but I remember like yesterday the feeling of this dead seriousness that filled the dojo and the tension that was very sharp and clear.
Sensei Sugano passed away in 2002 (RIP) and he was one of the last samurai of 20th century. Not too many like him are left and we miss him very much.
Q.Have you ever had need to use your Karate to defend yourself and if yes would you kindly tell us all about it?
A. My answer is very short. No, I never had to use karate to defend myself yet.
I am a chicken so I do not go near any of the dangerous places like bars and night clubs LOL (plus I don't drink alcohol).
Q. please tell us all about the WJKA and how and why you decided to get involved?
A. It is a non-political organization where all Shotokan practitioners gather to train. Our mission is to keep the high standard of Shotokan karate. I do not want to do the selling pitch so I ask the readers to access our website and review what we offer. www.wjka.org
I was a member of JKA for some 40 years.
I followed Asai sensei in 2003 and became a member of JKS until 2009. Very sadly I felt JKS was not following Asai ryu karate after the passing of Asai sensei so I resigned.
I looked around for an organization that is politically free and keeping high standard of Shotokan. I simply could not find any.
Around that time, I met Sensei Jan Knobel of WJKA and he invited me to his dojo in the Netherlands. I got to know him and found that he is also a follower of Asai ryu karate. He also trains every day and very diligently which I respect him very much for.
He told me that he was trying to build his organization to propagate high level of Shotokan karate without the political restrictions. I also found him to be honest and trust worthy. I was looking for an organization in Japan but I realized that here is an organization that meets my requirements.
So I joined the organization last year and have been working with Sensei Knobel very closely to propagate Shotokan and the developments from Asai ryu karate.
I know there are many (as you call them Steve) Ronin (ex JKA and other Shotokan organizations) and we want to be a home for them where they can train and gain the knowledge of Shotokan karate without worrying about who is the instructor or which organization he belongs. This opportunity goes to a single instructor too.
WJKA does not limit its member to stay within the organization. For example; If an Instructor is popular and gets an invitation from other Dojo or organisations we encourage him to go to that non-member dojo or organization. That is the only way to deepen the knowledge and for Shotokan to get better.
Q. Sensei, What would you like to be able to tell me that you have achieved if (and when) I re-interview you in 5 years time?
A. I hope I can tell you that I am teaching karate as a full time profession in 5 years. I also hope I will have my second book being published by then.
But most of all, I hope you and I are still healthy and we are still practicing. I think that is the most important thing.
Q. Finally Do you have any words of advice that you would like to pass on to the Members of the OSS: Our Shotokan Karate Forum?
A. This may be a used up phrase but "karate is more than just a punch and a kick". I am sure all the readers know that it will require continuous training.
But I wonder how many people know that it can be a waste of time if you are not training correctly. If you train incorrectly you will injure your knees, hips, back (particularly lower back), elbows and shoulders. If you do not have a good and educated instructor your training can be detrimental to your health and your body.
Many karate people talk and brag about "hard" training but I want the readers to know that there is something that is more important and necessary. It is "wise" and correct training.
The techniques and movements must be natural and non-damaging to the body. So, my advice to you is to find the instructor who understands all this.
I believe the readers here are lucky as you already have an excellent instructor as a forum member, Steve Hyland. Through our communications and what I have read it is clear that he understands correct Budo Karate.
Always listen to the instructor but at the same time, it is your responsibility to judge and determine what is right for you. You must know your body and learn what needs to be done to improve your techniques. It will require a lot of research, experiments and investigation.
The readers are lucky again as OSS Forum provides the discussion tool and knowledge from the other members for this process to be assisted.
Always ask, examine and evaluate until you are completely satisfied and convinced.
Q. Finally Sensei, i have found our long conversations during the preparation of this interview to be thoroughly educating and totally enjoyable.
I am humbled and honoured by your kind comment about me. I can assure you the OSS forum has many experienced and knowledgeable members, from all corners of the globe, that I have gained knowledge from. I am sure that when you also come to know them you will be very impressed.
Therefore may I, on behalf of myself and all OSS Forum members, please extend to you a very sincere Thank you!
A. The pleasure was mine. I do not know if any of the information I shared is useful.
I hope I will have an opportunity to visit UK and your Dojo's so that I will get to meet you and the members of OSS Forum sometime in the near future.
Steve Hyland. - A. That sounds like a date then Sensei I would be extremely pleased to organise a visit for you.
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