Black Belt; the Karate journey has just begun.

First, let me back up to the beginning of June…..

It was a week before my Karate examination for Shodan and I made sure that I did everything I could to take my black belt on the day of my exam. I trained harder than ever before. I did over 300 katas in the two months before the exam, studied my Japanese terms, did stance training and pushed myself harder in my classes than I ever did in the past. I walked into that exam more than ready to take my rank and earn my black belt.

Two days after my exam, I learned that I had passed. After almost six years of training, taking up to five classes a week at one point, reading every Karate book that I could get my hands on, assisting with Karate classes for over three years and living, breathing and sleeping Karate, I had reached the top of the mountain. I was a Shodan and the thing that I wanted most, my black belt, was wrapped tightly around my waist. I am pretty sure that I was walking two inches taller than I was before I came to class that day.

That same day, I was in the parking lot talking with Sensei Noia and Sensei Plocharczyk after class and they both mentioned that now the fun begins and I will really start to learn what Karate is about. Sensei Plocharczyk also mentioned, that at this point, I will learn how little I actually know about Karate. I was still living in the moment and even though I heard what my Sensei’s said, it didn’t really sink in.

Fast forward a few days…

I was taking my Thursday class and realized that some of the same things that I was doing wrong for the last weeks, months or years, I was still doing wrong that day too. In my Friday class, Sensei Brien mentioned something that made me think even more about what I do not know. We were all doing kata and started with Heian Shodan and continued up to Heian Godan. After about Heian Sandan, Sensei mentioned something that I don’t remember him saying before. He said that many of us are doing our katas the same way we did them when we first learned them. His point was, even though most of us in the class are brown and black belts, we are still doing our katas like we did when we were lower belts. When we did Heian Nidan, we did it like an orange or yellow belt where as we should look like a brown or black belt doing a lower rank kata. Sensei Cieplik has also mentioned many times, do lower belt kata with higher belt knowledge.

So what does this mean…

Maybe others have found out different than me but I now know that I really am starting over again. I have to take the fundamentals that I have learned over the years and now apply them to all areas of my Karate. I need to do all of the lower belt katas that way I do the higher belts katas.

I have to admit, these are exciting times for me because my Karate journey is not ending, instead it has just begun.

Japanese Karate terms and numbers (Updated)

Even though, my rank examination is now over, I still need to keep up on my Japanese Karate terms. This list is not all inclusive since these are only the terms that the examiners in my club use.

Uke – Blocks:

Gedan Barai – Downward block
Age Uke – Rising block
Soto Uke – Inward block
Uchi Uke – Outward block
Shoto uke – Knife hand block

Geri – Kicks:

Mae Geri – Front Snap Kick
Mawashi Geri – Roundhouse kick
Yoko Kekomi Geri – Side thrust kick
Yoko Keage Geri – Side snap kick
Ushiro Geri – Back kick
Uda Mawashi Geri – Hook kick
Tobi Geri – Jumping Kick (normally this is jumping front snap kick)

Zuki – Punches:

Oi Zuki – Front punch
Gyaku Zuki – Reverse punch
Keage Zuki – Hook punch
Kizami Zuki – Jab

Dachi – Stances:

Kiba Dachi – Horse stance
Zenkutsu Dachi – Front stance
Kokutsu Dachi – Back stance
Kosa Dachi – Cross leg stance
Neko ashi Dachi – Cat stance

Other:

Nukite – Spear hand
Uracken – Back fist
Tettsui – Hammer fist
Haito – Ridge Hand

Numbers:

Ichi – 1
ni – 2
San – 3
Shi – 4
Go – 5
Roku – 6
Shichi – 7
Hachi – 8
Kyu – 9
Ju – 10

Learn the technique first, then make it better.

Just yesterday, I had a really great Karate class. This was a class where I learned to do something the correct way after trying to do it for over five years. The solution to this was so incredibly simple but it took me a very long time and some really simple words from my Sensei to bring it out.

For the longest time, I have struggled to move from my hips. I have been told many times to tuck my tailbone or push the knot of my belt forward but for some reason, I was not able to do it. No matter how hard I tried or how large of an arch I had in my lower back, moving from my hips seemed to always evade me.

Here is where the light bulb turned on above my head. My Sensei had all of us get into a short front stance. From here he said tuck your tailbone under and do not let your hips face the floor, instead let your hips face forward. If the front stance is too long or longer than your flexibility will allow, you can see the hips pointing toward the floor not forward. Also, if the stance is too long for you, the tailbone just won’t tuck under and moving from your hips is impossible.

Once I got into a short stance, I could easily tuck my tailbone and move forward using my hips not my shoulders and chest. When I added a punch for my forward movement, it felt like my hands moved almost automatically. This also changed my timing for the better. When my front foot reached the end of it’s range of motion, my hand flew out and my entire stopped without any extra movements. There was no wiggle or adjustments, it just stopped and the movement was complete.

Here is the point that my Sensei made. Learn the technique first, then make it better. I had been fighting my body for over five years trying to do a low stance while tucking my tailbone and I never felt the correct technique. By raising my stance, I now have felt how the technique feels and now I can work on lowering my stance, increasing my flexibility and range of motion while keeping the correct technique.

It just goes to show, no matter how much you think you know or how long you have been doing it, there is always something that can be learned or improved.