Whap, bam and pow! We watch TV and the movies, and we see kung fu flips in the Matrix and sword standing and eye gouging in Kill Bill and we know we have seen the real masters! Wake up, dude, that's a movie, and what the real masters do is a lot different than what you see on TV!
Gichin Funakoshi is considered to be one of the more important karate masters. He taught karate to Japan, and then to the whole world. If that isn't considered feat enough to be considered a master, why don't you go stand on a rooftop during a hurricane and hold a 3 by 6 sheet of plywood?
That's right, to make his stance strong and perfect in every way, he battled the elements, and word has it he never sailed off to Oz. And, if you want one of the older masters, try Sokon Matsumuri, who made a bull run away just by giving the bull a serious stare. The trick was that he went out to the bull every night and stuck a pin in the middle of that old bulls nose!
Of course you may think intelligence is cheating when it comes to becoming a karate master, and that to figure out how to beat a bull without bashing him is much of a big thing. So try something a little more simple, try pinching the beams of a ceiling with your gnarly, little fingers, not hooking the fingers over the beams, but just pinching them, and hand walking across the rafters. This is something that the karate masters in ancient Okinawa were doing just for grins and laughs!
One of the toughest of the old karate masters was Mas Oyama. Mas was famous for chopping the horns off of charging bulls, and he ended up killing three of the poor beasts. Now, cruelty to animals is not what we are about, and this was a while ago, but think about the muscle, the intelligence, the brute strength, and the sheer artism required to kill a bull with your bare hands. It's not something I would try if I were you.
Okay, you've read my take on the old legends, so let me give you a simple trick to do, and you can start becoming a karate master of legend all on your own. Learn one of the forms taught in Karate, maybe Bassai, or maybe you might want to start off with a simpler form like Heian One. Now, turn the garden hose on that bare patch of ground behind your house for an hour.
Now, the ground is soft and gooey, yucky and messy. So it is time to do that karate form, heh heh. Whap, bam and kazowie!
Your feet go over your butt and your face plants in the mud. Up on your feet you lazy good for nothing! Did you think the Karate masters of the legends would whine just because they got a little mud on their face? - 30300
Gichin Funakoshi is considered to be one of the more important karate masters. He taught karate to Japan, and then to the whole world. If that isn't considered feat enough to be considered a master, why don't you go stand on a rooftop during a hurricane and hold a 3 by 6 sheet of plywood?
That's right, to make his stance strong and perfect in every way, he battled the elements, and word has it he never sailed off to Oz. And, if you want one of the older masters, try Sokon Matsumuri, who made a bull run away just by giving the bull a serious stare. The trick was that he went out to the bull every night and stuck a pin in the middle of that old bulls nose!
Of course you may think intelligence is cheating when it comes to becoming a karate master, and that to figure out how to beat a bull without bashing him is much of a big thing. So try something a little more simple, try pinching the beams of a ceiling with your gnarly, little fingers, not hooking the fingers over the beams, but just pinching them, and hand walking across the rafters. This is something that the karate masters in ancient Okinawa were doing just for grins and laughs!
One of the toughest of the old karate masters was Mas Oyama. Mas was famous for chopping the horns off of charging bulls, and he ended up killing three of the poor beasts. Now, cruelty to animals is not what we are about, and this was a while ago, but think about the muscle, the intelligence, the brute strength, and the sheer artism required to kill a bull with your bare hands. It's not something I would try if I were you.
Okay, you've read my take on the old legends, so let me give you a simple trick to do, and you can start becoming a karate master of legend all on your own. Learn one of the forms taught in Karate, maybe Bassai, or maybe you might want to start off with a simpler form like Heian One. Now, turn the garden hose on that bare patch of ground behind your house for an hour.
Now, the ground is soft and gooey, yucky and messy. So it is time to do that karate form, heh heh. Whap, bam and kazowie!
Your feet go over your butt and your face plants in the mud. Up on your feet you lazy good for nothing! Did you think the Karate masters of the legends would whine just because they got a little mud on their face? - 30300
About the Author:
Al Case has studied Karate, and arnis and a lot of other arts, for 40 years. A writer for the mags since'81, he is the originator of Matrix Martial Arts. You can find out about his training methods, and even get a free ebook at Monster Martial Arts!
