It is always special when you are taught under Shihan and a privilege when you get to go to one of his high grade courses, you feel like you soaked a huge wealth of martial knowledge that will take you months or years to fully digest and to integrate with your own martial art journey.

The courses focus was seiunchin and focus is the key word. We practiced the kata several times aiming to get everyone in sync with one another. We worked on where our focus should be, thinking about application whilst doing kata, looking before we strike, playing a little with the katas tempo exaggerating key moments to focus the mind.

We made it more snapper at one instance and at another far more Sanchin and gentle and Ju like but equally as dangerous.

Shihan has an amazing way of bringing the kata to life, not just a string of techniques, principles or a series of movements, but a living breathing organism that just makes the kata so much better, you could feel electricity in the room when everyone’s seiunchin evolved, it made you think oh my god this is how kata should feel like all the time.

We then looked at a section of seiunchin that a lot of people have a weakness in the kata, where you drive the hip at an angle to deliver a powerful uppercut. We focused a lot of time on this sequence with Shihan explaining about short range shock power. It was at this moment that a light ball clicked in my head, he was describing the short range power that I learnt in China through White Crane, the only difference was that my leg starts of in the air.

The way I like to think of it is like a gunshot as if you pulled a trigger (I never have but I have a very powerful imagination.) it’s not about speed it’s about the right muscles firing the right body structure at the right time, it’s a state of mind, BANG and you explode into it. Too much thinking and you can’t achieve it.

After we worked on this then we practiced this section of the kata in randory, then we use the gun principle to hit pads, reacting before you think, focusing less on chambering but always having your hands in guard and just react.

After this we went through the main kata and for the last section of the course he wanted us to practice principles of tensho. To do this he had to teach the lower grades tensho. I will deviate slightly off topic this was like the best Christmas present, I’ve always wanted to learn tensho ever since I first saw it when I started Goju ryu, when I first really appreciated the karate kid films, when I went to china and saw Tensho like movements within the second and third forms of white crane, when you watch Wing Chun form. I’m surprised I didn’t bounce off the walls! It’s like learning Sanchin all over again, I understand the principles and can only do the basic form but my mind-body connection doesn’t understand the deeper seated principles of  tensho, that will takes many years.

Well back to the topic, after this Shihan showed us how the principles of tensho were useful in sudden confrontation and he ended up looking like a kung fu master from the movies, with hardly any effort of stepping to the side and using tensho’s relaxed movements to get his attacker into a vulnerable position. We tried it with multiplies which was very fun, it was very aikido like and surprising how effective the moves could be. Sometimes I would get stuck because this is a new form of defending and it will take years to master, but when it worked it felt freaking awesome.


By Dan Solomon
Shodan - Ho

You can always tell how good a course is when months later you are still practicing its principles on your punch bag, and this course was especially awesome. The underlying feature was the three mechanisms that Tim and Caz (Bristol’s newest Sandans) use when striking an opponent.  What they refer to as the Sanchin punch. It was really interesting when they showed how they generate so much power just from body mechanics and structure, with a combination of the three principles that derive from Sanchin.

The first one is the simple spear, where you punch through the pad, but rather than just focusing on the punch, your focus is on pulling the other arm back with force which seems to drive your shoulders and hips more into the punch therefore generating power.

The second mechanism they use was the circular hip punch, rather than punching through the pad, you use your whole core to pivot providing more weight to the punch enabling you to deliver power without using tensing your muscles.

The third mechanism was the corkscrew punch , drawing yourself from the ground and using the structure from the hip to the punch. It appears deceptively less powerful than the other two seem but you can generate power at a far shorter distance than the others.

When we combined all the principles together there was a considerable difference in our power output with minimal effort. This in itself is very useful for a fighter, not having to rely on their physical power to give power to the punch it means that your punches can be faster and use less energy. It shows that when you use the principles of Sanchin that you don’t need to muscle your way in. The Sanchin punch relies on technique giving a small person the ability to generate a lot of power though their body structure.

Videoing each punch was very useful as it shows us how each principle works, and what we need to work on to make them far more effective. Mix in watching how the Nidan’s adopted it to how they fight on the pads, surprise Kumite with the London lot, ale and the ingenious use of a collapsible donkey toy it made for a very special course.


by Dan Solomon
DKK Bristol Shodan - Ho

SS is a roller coaster of emotions that by the time we leave we are all pretty drained, obviously some more so than others. It's not just those that graded but that was a fantastic show of spirit, strength, fortitude and determination...4 more Nidans: Andy, Ragi, Si and Ben, a plethora of Shodan-Hos, browns and everyone from new red belts up. Though as we know its not just the gradings that makes SS so special, it's those that attend and take part, giving all they've got, from Caroline icing everyone with a limp and more, to Si C and Matt driving Cassandra to hospital and Rob driving her to London, to smiley doing the daunting night shift rota and Dazzer running errands for me, the Yudansha for helping in the grading to Si M quenching our thirst with home made cider! Thank you for taking part from the 1st timers to the old hands. If I've missed anyone out or not thanked anyone then thank you for making this weekend special. To Sensei Gav for drinking whiskey with me and for the hours of utter nonsense that we gibber together and to our Godan Goran. To Senseis Dave Morris and Alan Vokes for their session on Saifa. To Senseis Roger and Tony of Shinseido Shorin Ryu for a fun and informative guest instructor session on the Bo. To Roger for his kind words and true understanding of who we are in DKK.

Remember this training doesn't stop here. We saw smiley and Siobhan start their Sandan Grading, during the summer Caroline and Tim Clark will continue their grading with their Sandan course in London, make sure you are part of that.
Congratulations to Dave U finalising his Sandan grade.

A selection of photographs from Summer School 2013 can be found in the Summer School gallery.

Dates for your diary:
Winter School: 18/19/20th October 2013
Summer School: 14/15th June 2014

Sensei Dan Lewis

Fantastic support at Sempai Goran's 5th Dan seminar today. It was good to see so many there from all DKK clubs at a really interesting and thought out seminar with some intelligent Q&A after. As shown you never stop learning. Sempai Goran shows he is definitely on the correct martial road. I want to thank all those that were there to support, train and learn and to Sempai Goran for opening minds.

The course covered Yin – the hidden aspects of karate-do. Yin and Yang are complementary opposites that form Tao – the whole (‘do’ in Japanese). Our art of Goju Ryu is founded on principles of Yin and Yang. Yang is easy to appreciate, it is hard, solid, positive. Yin is more difficult to grasp. Rather than being the exact opposite – ‘soft’ or ‘negative’ – it is the other side of the coin that enables Yang. The course looked at at how Yin can enable power and deepen our understanding of kihon, kata, kumite and bunkai.

Sensei Dan Lewis

So,” I thought “what the heck am I getting up at stoopid o’clock for?”

It was 6am on a Sunday morning in March.
“I should be in bed for at least another 3 hours!” And with that, I made the fatal mistake of shutting my eyes… just a couple more minutes… oops! I was due to pick up Sadie at 7:30, but I’m completely useless at getting moving first thing in the morning, so 6am became 6:20… became 6:45.

“Oh sh*t, better get moving!”

Thankfully, I already had my kit bag and lunch packed and ready to go, so a quick breakfast and I was on my way. So, why was I getting up that early? Well, I thought it would be a good idea to go to Lewis sensei’s ‘Psychology of fighting’ course in Braunton, North Devon. I knew it was going to be an interesting day as he had said to me a couple of times “I don’t know what I’m going to do! I really don’t.” I’m sure he was joking.

After an uneventful trip, we arrived at the Dojo at around 9:30, and come 10 o’clock there were 13, plus Sensei Lewis. Three of which were from the host Shito-Ryu club; Pete, Naomi and Jon from Torquay, Bondi and his student Ric from Braunton DKK, and Sadie, Rob, Matt, Tim and myself from Bristol.

We started the session in pairs, one circling the stationary other, to see where we were able to attack, control, feel safe, feel vulnerable, etc. It was quite interesting to see the effect of your personal space being intruded upon. It also became apparent that it isn’t a circular shape around yourself. You need more distance in front when facing your opponent, than you do to a 45 degree angle, or when behind them. I also found that you instinctively feel nervous when a person is close behind you. From there we moved on to exploring how the other person might feel as you control the situation by positioning yourself in various positions in front of the other. People don’t talk standing directly opposite each other – there’s always a slight angle, otherwise it feels uncomfortable. However, an aggressor will stand facing you directly. It is a display of perceived dominance.

Lewis sensei then talked of how there were certain triggers that might flip a verbally aggressive person into becoming physically aggressive, i.e. ‘DON’T YOU TOUCH ME!’ and how a hidden defensive stance can help a person deal with this. A non-aggressive, palms open stance is not really much different to a palms closed – fists – stance, but it has a profound effect on the perception of the other person.

From there we moved on to controlling a pushing or striking arm followed by a neck hold, then we would take them to the floor. Sensei showed us the method he teaches security staff of how to subdue an aggressive person… but also pointed out that this is ok if there is only one person to deal with, but if there’s more, i.e. his mates, then you would have to be more
severe in order to disable the first one, then be instantly ready for
the next.

From there, we moved on to Bunkai practice at high intensity.
To do this, one person would be on the centre of the mat with three to their left and another three to their right. Each of these six would attack one at a time, left side, then right, then left; in the prescribed manner for the 1st bunkai of Geki Sai Dai Ichi, then 2nd bunkai and so on. This would be done without a break, so by the time you’ve finished dealing with one person, the next is already approaching.
At the end, the person would have completed 30 bunkai. Quite exhausting, but a very good indicator of how well you know and understand the bunkai. I did notice how there was a flutter of laughter when Jon was doing his take downs. He’s a big guy, and all he needs to do is swing his arm at a person’s shoulders and they just get knocked to the floor!

After a break for dinner, we had a little workout. Firstly, in pairs, 1 minute on pads, then 50 press-ups, 50 Hindu Squats and 50 sit-ups. For the second round, the same again, but with 10 Burpees a-la-Daz style (thanks for that little invention Daz!). Then 1 more round as per round 2, but with 1 minute of jumping squats.

After a short break, we stepped up the level on physical interaction to shoving a person around in a full-on aggressive manner. Some of us managed to use the tiredness from the workout to fuel the mental focus, but it seemed to me that others were instinctively falling back to a pacifistic manner – they were uncomfortable with the situation. Interestingly, I found that this happened with the less experienced members, but the more experienced ones could deal with it better – to be expected, I suppose.

Personally I found it difficult to switch off the aggressive focus at the end of the session and simply had to let it fade over the course of 20 minutes or so. After packing up and having a quick pint, and a laugh and a joke in a nearby pub, we said our goodbyes… ’til next time!

So… was it worth getting up at stoopid o’clock?
Oh yes! Definitely.

Hope to see you at the next one!

Danny Williams