This weekend I did something awesome. I'm so happy to have made it through my 2nd Dan grading. A big thank you to all of you who have helped and supported me. Special thanks to Sensei Dan Lewis, for being an awesomely inspirational teacher, Sempai Darren Heywood, Rob Curtis, the fabulously feisty Marjukka Viitala, Michael Parsons, Danny Williams, Chris Taylor, Goran Powell for his great advice and all you other lovely people who have encouraged and supported me. Special thanks also to Matt Savigear my fellow nidan candidate who through injury was unable to continue, its been an honour and pleasure to train alongside you, speedy recovery. Congratulations to my fellow Nidans Jake Hoban and Mike Thornton who were amazing, it was an honour to share the field with you. It's been a fantastic DKK summer school, thank you to Sensei's Gavin Mulholland and Dan Lewis for making it all possible, it's a privilege to be part of such a amazing club full if exceptional people. And yes I'm still smiling! x


Philippa Lovegrove, Nidan

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

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