Karate for Defense-n-Protection

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Opening the Gate to Self-Protection - PART ONE (Ch: 1 - 170)

It is inherent in human nature to protect and defend and this is about that self-protection in a modern society. It is about developing the kind of social and personal skills necessary to handle conflict. Conflict is also inherent in human nature as is both aggression and violence. It is when we are faced with conflict, especially with potential aggression and violence, that disciplines and skills such as karate are a necessity.

It doesn't end there, for those models teaching self-defense through martial arts and karate are often woefully inadequate when the proverbial rubber meets the road involving self-defense, defense strategies. It is fraught full of hazards, dangers and deadly intent, both in the reality of attacks on the street and the reality of the attacks one must bear in the legal systems. In short, it's a real bitch.

That is what this book is all about, to provide inspiration, idea's and theories about the complex and complicated system of social self-defense I refer to as "self-protection." For reasons that will be apparent as one reads this book in its entirety.

Nothing is what it seems; nothing is as simple as one might believe; nothing is know that is not yet known and this is about uncovering the keys to all the doors that provide, and sometimes hide, that which needs to be known, understood and applied if, when, a person has to resort to the skills necessary to self-protect.

My goal in this endeavor is to provide “vignettes” of information, philosophy and pragmatic guidance toward mastering the art of self-defense and its defense. The chapters are short chunks of introductory information necessary to seek out, participate in and become proficient in self-protection that is karate and martial disciplines other than karate. Distinctions that will appear as you read and absorb the material that follows.

First, before the chapters, vignettes, begin I have to present some caveats:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Tomoe Publishing, Alameda California, Copyright 2018, Charles E. James.
The chapters on this book-blog are my interpretation of readings, studies and experiences; therefore errors and omissions are mine and mine alone. The content surrounding the extracts of books, see bibliography, are also mine and mine alone, therefore errors and omissions are also mine and mine alone; and therefore why I highly recommended one read, study, research and fact find the material for clarity.
My effort here is self-clarity toward a fuller understanding of the subject matter. See the bibliography for information on the books.
Please make note that this book-blog is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me.
It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc.
Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.”
This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial disciplines and/or self-defense/protection.
It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular chapter presented.
“You should prepare yourself to dedicate at least five or six years to your training and practice to understand the philosophy and physiokinetic's of martial arts and karate so that you can understand the true spirit of everything and dedicate your mind, body and spirit to the discipline of the art.” - cejames (note: you are on your own, make sure you get expert hands-on guidance in all things martial and self-defense).
If there are mistakes, errors, and/or omissions, I take full responsibility for them as they are mine and mine alone. If you find any mistakes, errors, and/or omissions please comment and let me know along with the correct information and/or sources.
“All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.” - Montaigne
Miller's Law: "In order to understand what another person is saying, you must assume that it is true and try to imagine what it could be true of." - Dr. George Miller, Psychologist.
Every effort is being made to make this blog site as accurate as possible. However, there may be mistakes, both typographical and in content. Therefore, this blog should be used only as a general guide and not the ultimate source of practicing and training in the fighting arts. Furthermore, this blog site contains information on the fighting arts that is current only up to the publishing date and time.
The purpose of this blog site is to educate and entertain. The author shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused , directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this blog site.
When it comes to martial arts, fighting arts or self-defense, etc. nothing here no matter how well presented, can substitute for qualified professional, hands on instruction provided that instructor is properly educated and trained. This blog site and all its materials are for academic study ONLY.
If you do not wish to be bound by the above, you may navigate away from the site at any time.

Now, about me, the author of this material:

Guess What, nothing special

I was a student of some guy named “Henry,” and he taught me Isshinryu while we were stationed on Okinawa. I taught at Camp Hansen, Okinawa; then in Gushikawa, Okinawa; then Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; then in Martinez, California; then in Concord, California; and then I retired from teaching in a dojo. I trained and practiced for a period in Berkeley, California and now I study, train, practice, philosophize and analyze and hypothesize and synthesize my martial disciplines leading to my articles on blogger.

I trained with and around a few proficient and knowledgable martial artists or karate-ka or just really good people. I don’t have a list of legendary teachers even in seminar settings (Oh, Holebecki Sensei did do a short seminar at Berkeley once, about an hour and a half). I am experienced in many ways that in truth should mean absolutely nothing to you.

The only civilian dojo was in my garage while the other was under the auspice of the Civil Service Recreation group where I worked until I retired from my real job in 1999.

My studies both sporadic and full time dedicated span from the age of 17 years to my present age at sixty-five years (2018).

I focused on an Okinawan Karate system, fairly new one circa 1954 or so, starting in 1976 so over all I have studied, practiced, trained, taught a handful of truly dedicated karate-ka, and made it an intricate part of my life in and out of a dojo for around forty-five years or so.

I am a Marine, active from 1972 to 1981 and now on inactive status.

I am retired from civil service: a Physical Security Specialist/Officer; a Container Repair Mechanic; a Materials Expediter; a Communications Security Manager; a Special Weapons Mechanic/Technician; a Radiation Control Technician; a Computer Tech Support Specialist; a Computer Security Specialist; a fledgling Coder of PL-SQL; a Computer Systems Administrator; a Enterprise Application Systems Administrator; a Release Management Analyst and a few other duties as assigned over my years in service.

All the while teaching, training, and practicing various disciplines in the proverbial martial arts communities.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Chapter 1: Discovery

It is hard to find any persons who have not heard of martial arts and karate. Imagine decades past when the Great War ended and occupation of the Asian Pacific opened up martial disciplines to the American Servicemen. It began when we occupied Japan and by extension the island of Okinawa.

If we focus on the Marines who occupied the island of Karate, Okinawa, one of the main concerns was keeping the Marines engaged to avoid boredom and complacency and for some Okinawan's finding a way to care and protect families and villages while the economy started to return to some semblance of normalcy. You would find that for Marines, as with other services, curiosity and engagement were a more positive trait to have so many sought out things of interest to do on the island where Judo and Karate were soon discovered.

Just picture how the open sky back yard type of space where deeply tanned people wearing only what appeared to be undergarments were moving in funny ways, lifting strange looking jars, breathing funny and hitting large wooden posts while occasionally yelling loud and sharp terse sounds. Just imagine Marines off duty exploring the island hearing the sounds and navigating toward it to discover this strange but exotic activity. No wonder, and when they observed the combat-like exchanges in the contests between apparent hand-to-hand combat that triggered instincts born from hard sweat and blood learning through training and combat.

The Marines found gold in them there islands, gold in the form and discipline of, "Karate!" Marines had already discovered the Judo of Japan so seeing the uniqueness of karate spoke volumes to the Marines cause after all, Marines being a small special and unique military organization that already made history in the European theatre as well as the Asian connected to the art and discipline of karate-jutsu.

The Marines, as did other services, discovered what would soon be a major discipline and activity for after work and through the, "Military Special Services," where some karate masters actually earned a solid living under contract to teach Marines.

The Okinawan karate masters passed on to those who would follow their expertise and experiences to these larger than life Marines and Military folks, who would then take home the coveted black belt and open dojo on military installations and in commercial-like dojo in the communities, to expose the general social populace to the, "secrets of karate" not realizing that it would catch on and spread not just in the America's but to most other countries through out the world. All leading to the major Okinawan cultural influences that are from the study of karate.

Chapter 2: Before

Google is our friend, well, it gives us information about things so to start this ball rolling we’ll give it some momentum by defining karate as, “an Asian system of unarmed combat using the hands and feet to deliver and block blows, widely practiced as a sport. It was formalized in Okinawa in the 17th century and popularized via Japan after about 1920. Karate is performed barefoot in loose padded clothing, with a colored belt indicating the level of skill, and involves mental as well as physical training.” This is according the the definition from Google, i.e., “define karate.”

This definition, as people imagine, is not the full Monty of what is karate for karate is not an, “unarmed combat system,” but a defense-protective system utilizing our minds and bodies especially when other tools of defense-protection are unavailable. You may also understand that karate is a variety of things in these socially modern times and that karate comes from a history of an island in the Pacific that has dealt smartly with a variety of cultures in their import/export driven economy prior to, during and immediately after WWII.

Karate was discovered by our militaries during and after the end of WWII. It began to be noticed by the Japanese prior to the war with the world and people in charge using a new term, “Bushido,” to add Okinawan karate to the educational system just to teach and inspire a war-like spirit in preparation for drafting the youth of Asia, especially Japan and its territories, for actual combat. Karate would become a means to create a social spirit along with health and fitness while not consisting of any true combative aspects to use in the theaters of war. Likened to our militaries short, terse, hand-to-hand training that often lasted a few hours so in the event a military person were to find themselves weaponless they had at least a modicum of training to survive. After all, as you can imagine and as our military histories through the world demonstrate no one, be they individual or military unit, would participate in combat without, “appropriate weaponry.”

So, with this limited understanding people interested in karate, and martial disciplines, can now learn what karate is then and today.

Then karate was simply a physical ability to fight, defend and protect oneself, family and village. It was a simple physical training, practice and application of a variety of methods and techniques using not just the fists but almost any part of the body to stop aggression and its resulting violence regardless of reason, intent or objective. In short, “it is how humans break humans for purpose of attaining something be it goal, process or resource.”

Now karate is more complicated and complex because of the influences of Japan, the War, the Education-ification of it and the influences of the occupation and after it has become, evolved, into many things, i.e., “sport, philosophy, protective-defensive tool and others” that appeal to all people, all cultures and all forms of disciplines that will be covered and discussed throughout this book.

Why would people be interested in martial disciplines and karate? People must first see in their minds eye through self-analysis and self-assessment what they hope to achieve and receive from taking up the training and practice. People have to look under their own “hood” to see what drives them toward an interest and then accept that such disciplines are driven by social dynamics that are, in essence, about survival, nature’s basic instinct. But I digress; this will be covered in detail later in the elements that make up the world of karate and martial disciplines.

Most people will go for the sport followed closely by the more self-help, self-confidence and philosophical way of martial discipline and karate. This is fine, it has a ton of benefits for everyone and as people say constantly, “It can be practiced by anyone, at any time and of any age!” Where the chaff needs to be shaken from the wheat is the crossover of sport, philosophy and defense-protection. One does not translate or crossover well to the other, i.e., sport/philosophy to defense-protection. Granted we all understand there are aspects of both that influence the other such as philosophy.

Philosophy is one of those principles that spans all forms of martial arts and karate because their generic nature do not insinuate a defense and protection or sport aspect but remain neutral making them, “principles.”

Defense-protection needs to have a positive and effective mind-state of spirit and philosophy to keep navigating in calm waters because the wrong attitude or mind-state can take folks in either direction, the bad or the good. To properly apply the appropriate skills with intent means one must have that mind-state that won’t give away the goose when things get dicey.

So, as we wrap up this burrito to move on, “we are going to focus a lot on the defense-protection intentions and objectives of martial disciplines and karate. This is the area of expertise that has the most dangerous aspects and exposure often resulting it grave harm and even death of the adept.

Chapter 3: Moving on!

This is about how we modern folk defend and protect ourselves, our family members and our clan or tribe, I.e., tribe and clan symbolic titles to denote those we hold as friends such as neighbors, folks in our neighborhood and people who live in our close knit city, town or social circles who have a cultural belief system similar to ours and our cultural belief system similar to those folks we feel strongly to defend and protect.

This is about how our clan, our tribe, in such modern governmental controlled times, can achieve the type of security and safety necessary to survival. It is hoped that through this effort folks can begin to know what they currently don’t know along with developing a mental-state that will allow them to believe that there are things they don’t yet know they don’t know so they may continue the effort to seek out the very things they don’t know to ensure survival of self, family and clan/tribe (I will use tribe now and as we move along to denote family, clan and other social constructs for inclusion throughout the book).

In this book people should remain open until the entire circle, symbol used is the “Enso circle” by building each “Arc” until the circle is almost complete. Almost because nothing is every complete much like the symbol of the Enso itself that although an artistic rendering of a circle, it as such has a small gape between where it begins and where it is supposed to end meeting up with the beginning - a philosophical thing in martial disciplines.

The Enso when superimposed over another symbol from our Chinese Martial heritage is the, “Yin-Yang.” Yin-yang, to be fully explained in later arc’s, is a complimentary and yet opposite symbol denoting the all sides regardless have an opposite side to counter balance the whole. There is a dark side and a light side making a whole, there is a hard side with a soft side making a whole and when the symbol is applied properly it guides the practitioner toward a whole, wholehearted, singular one that makes the martial discipline whole.

In the arc’s or chapters to follow we will discuss how the practitioners of the disciplines can achieve a whole, singular, wholehearted system of methods to achieve through the entire system of defense-protection toward the safety, security and, most of all, the survival of self, family and tribe.

Chapter 4: Self-Assessment

Let us begin! Ask yourself the most serious question possible to those who take up the “sword (symbolically in karate),”

1. Why do I want to take Karate or any Martial Art?

2.What is my goal?

3.What are my objectives as I travel the path toward karate defense-protection?

4.What results have I found from performing a self-defense analysis/threat assessment (personal, home, neighborhood and overall environmental)?

5.What inspired you toward martial arts?

6.What do I know about the martial arts and karate now?

7.What don’t I know about the martial arts and karate?

8.Have I visited as many of the local, and not so local, dojo in my area to see them first hand before making choices?

Future practitioners of the martial disciplines really do need to determine what they are aiming for in the study and practice of karate because mixing the intentions of each form of practice and training tend to convolute the actual end results causing the mind confusion where in some instances that confusion results in the freeze and freezing at certain moments can be the cause of and result in grave harm.