Old School…..
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Those of us that have been around for 45 years or more in the martial arts remember those days when there was no ‘equipment’. We never wore gloves, helmets or protection of any kind when we fought, and we didn’t hit pads…… we hit each other.
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Fighting in Sport Karate Competitions, we didn’t wear protective equipment, we ‘pulled’ our punches, but by ‘pulled’ I mean full contact to the body and a lesser amount to the face, trying not to draw too much blood.
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When not competing in competitions we hit 90% to the body, but the punches tended to go deeper and ‘pushed’ the face with a loose fist, to get the most realistic effect without too much damage. But we still had those occasional ‘nothing pulled’ all out fights, especially on gradings, or when visiting clubs came wanting to test their squads.
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My first black-belt grading felt like a real fight. It was in a large sports centre hall, with several other black-belts. I was the only one grading that night and I couldn’t stop fighting whatever happened. The hall was full, about 50 other club members and families watching, there was blood and damage everywhere. Floor and wall work too, but then that was like any other training night. At one point I was told not to fight back, just defend, move, avoid, I was taking a beating from several opponents all at the same time.
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There were no timed bouts during this period of fighting, no rest, no water break, just keep fighting until you dropped.
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During ‘normal’ training we skipped (jumped rope) with our Karate belts. We tied them at ‘stance length’ around our ankles in basics. We removed our karate-Gi jackets, folded them and used them as ‘target’ pads. We punched unforgiving walls, not to ‘harden’ our knuckles but to be able to control a punch with the closing of the fist on impact. There were no soft flooring to land on, just lacquered concrete.
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I had a traditional straw makiwara in the garden, and used to hit it around 500 times a day. Weight training for grip, wrist, forearms, shoulder, waist and more. All break-falling was done on a hard concrete floor.
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At the end of training we would all lay on the floor, straight legs raised….. for which seemed like an endless amount of time, waiting for our sensei to walk over our stomachs. Trying not moan out loud, otherwise we would stay there, and hear the shout; “keep those legs up”, sweating, breathing hard, muscles screaming.
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There were far too many injuries, being hit in the head was a normal occurrence and I often went home with dazed feeling like my head was about to explode. There were dislocated fingers, toes, broken ribs, feet, hands, ribs and joint damage, all were common occurrences.
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Can you image the litigious cases brought before a judge today if this was a common occurrence in your dojo.
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I miss the good ole days…… Now that really is “Old School Karate”
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Inspired by Steve Rowe 9th dan Shikon International
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