#seienchin

[paolo-the-prude-writes-blog]

Martial Arts Background

I won’t be talking much about karate, so i’ll just include this in my literature blog.

my background in the martial arts started in 2009 after searching in FMA forums for arnis lessons near my area. The closest one, was about 15 kilometers away which i usually ride my bike (one way) to learn for a few hours. Therein I started to learn a few basic joint manipulation with the wrist which was what was needed to master in silat. So I only got an incomplete form for the weapon djuru and the unarmed djuru. 

The one I mainly focused then was Moro Moro Orabes Henerales (i’ll call it Orabes for short) which was modified a bit by my Guro Boy Laurena from his Teacher the late Andy Abrian’s Moro Moro Orabes Heneral from his Visayan roots as well as his short time trianing under the Illustrisimo Family. We had a bit of Tat Kun Tou and a few techniques from Kalis Illustrisimo. We usually practiced espada y daga (sword and dagger), Trankada (sword and dagger locks), Sumbrada (8 - 10 step drills with different angles of attack), Abecedario (5 - 14 linear step drills each one containing many of the techniques in Orabes) as well as two basic drills from one school which were part of drills in generating power for striking. So we’re mainly solo baston (single stick) and espada y daga. My training times had been mainly only once a week, from 4-6 months from 2009 & 2011 and then twice a week from 2012 - 2014. By this time I’m already requesting additional drills and mastering a specific sequence more than what my teacher originally thought which was for me to learn everything already. 

The other side of the coin here is that i’ve tried to learn a bit from people i cross paths with due to a chronic situation of not getting permanent jobs. Hence, I was usually short on cash to train. That’s when I met my current Sensei, HIROSHI, Toriumi, in Karate who taught me for free so that he could also practice his skills. Studied Shitoryu Karate under him from 2011 to 2014, but again only once a week since he still works as a Chief Engineer for six days. He only gave me five classical kata that I only had to learn, Naihanchin, Sanchin, Seienchin, Bassai Dai, Pinan Yondan and his fave kata with Sanchin elements as well as joint manipulation movements, he says that even learning only two is already enough. He mainly focused on non sport karate, which sometimes ends up going home with bloody lips and light bruises. Hence, I really to need to block his punches. 

I really like weaponry, due to Samurai X and Star Wars. Somehow my two fighting forms complement each other. Now though, i’m busy with my own business so I no longer have the usual lengthy time for training. It’s still very close to my heart and had been once something similar to a religion to me. lols.

i’ll be sharing some pictures that I took for recording purposes. 

i can no longer find my pictures in karate though

[theblindninja]

Okinawa Karate kata Seienchin Akihito Yagi senisei Demonstoration

[unitedsoulstice]

Dilemma

For the past 3 years of working hard through karate, I've had multiple injuries. I've gotten sciatica from working my ass off doing drills consisting of a jab-reverse-hook kick. From the time I've gotten sciatica, I couldn't stand up without pain shooting down from my lower left back, down to my left leg. I've went to PT and got treated for the WRONG INJURY. Apparently, my doctor said I had an inflamed muscle in my lower back. So, in PT, I was working out and strengthening my back. Not my leg. I still can't stretch out my leg with pain shooting down my leg. I've sprained both my ankles from bouncing in my fighting stance on judo mats. Those cushioned, soft mats. Both on the same day. I forgot which one but the first ankle wasn't so bad. The second one I sprained a minute later was really fucking bad. To the point where I had a limp. I've also sprained my ankles a lot since then. So much that my ankles are hella weak and that I have ankle braces at the ready. I've recently gotten pain in my knee - times where I can't put pressure/stand. Buts only after the times I squat. Did I mention that all of these happen before major tournaments???? Yep. For the past 2-3 months, I've been going through team trials to get on the Sac-17 trip. I've been broken, ankle weak, period cramps, knees weak. Of course, though the tough activities (for lack a better word), I had to take a break. 18 kids are trying out. 14 are making it. We did tests consisting of push ups, sit ups, and suicide runs. I got ranked 14. I thought I didn't make it but my sensei wanted to talk to me personally to see if my body can handle such intense training. I wanted to go. But after thinking about it, I don't. You see, I'm an 18 year old black belt. Which means I'm in the 18-34 year old black belt division. At the Sacramento tournament, in my division, there are national champions, international competitors, even world's competitors. How am I supposed to beat them??? I'm pretty sure I understand how to do kata the best out of the 18. Maybe better than my senseis, I don't know. I know how to preform well, how to snap my gi, put kime into my kata. But that's only because I've watched world champions do it. I study them. I didn't learn how to do such things under the guidance of my senseis. Maybe because they also don't know how. I don't know. But all I'm wondering is..... how are they, my senseis, going to help me, train myself to become better/as good as those champions?... the answer is that they can't. They're training us to work our asses off only to get our asses kicked on tournament day. They aren't as experienced as those champions (trained under actual world champions). How do I know this? Because when I did my kata 'Seienchin,' my sensei said, "look, I can't really say anything right now. You're 'there' but the competition is 'there'. You just gotta go hard." What does that mean? "Go hard." Punch hard, block hard, sure. Show me. Show me that you understand. The thing is, none of them can. I'm already at the peak of what I can do with this karate school. I just need senseis that can take me farther - to the level of the national competitors. But they can't provide that. I can't improve if I'm already better than my teachers. Surely, ______ would say, "doesn't matter if you get a medal or not, you did all that training and your a winner in my book." Yet ________ would say, "c'mon guys, we want gold medalists, silver medalists." How? How can you make me a champion? It's just a waste. They're only fit to train color belts to be champions. Maybe not all of them. But for 18+ black belts? Nope. The skill level is too high and they're not fit to take us there. I just feel like I can't accomplish anything with them. No, I don't just feel. I know I can't accomplish anything if I stay with them.

[como-si-estuviera]

Iniciando la preparación de Seienchin #karatedo #katatraining #yoshitaka 👊 (en Torayama Karate Do)