So DKK summer school 2015 has come to an end. If you were part of it you'll be back next year, what a fantastic experience it has been. The day started with the 3rd dans taking students through the intricacies of stances used in Goju Ryu karate and how their functions are best used. This was follower by Sensei Gavin Mulholland hurting students with the kubotan! A vicious weapon that can be used easily if you have a pen shaped utensil with you. Soooo painful! The last session of the day was eskrima and how techniques can be used with the hands and equally with the feet. 

On the final afternoon, the DKK grading took place under the beating sun. It was fantastic to see so many pass to their next belt to those that badged to green belt. It's going to be a large grading next year with 7 people attempting black belt. Well done to Mike Jenkins who achieved shodan black belt. The evening/ night/morning was rounded of with the 'Instructor's BBQ'. Well done to everyone that was there training for the weekend and grading. Winter School 2015 here we come. Are you going to be part of it??

Shihan Dan Lewis

Well done to all those that graded yesterday, I'm sure a happy but sore group. For some it was an initiation into DKK, for others it was a long awaited deed finalised. 10 years since JD last graded, well done. Louise Thorne showed the spirit that is important to DKK; what ever is put in front of you, get through it, how ever long it takes, be determined to get there in the end. 2 new green belts, Chris and Terry. To all the others that went out and did their thing, congratulations. To the other instructors and those that have once again been there to shout, motivate and ultimately test the resolve of those grading. 

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