An aide-memoire to Kihon Gata

Very early on in my karate journey, I was introduced to my dojo's kihon gata.  These are the routines practiced alongside kihon and kata that form the main element for beginners and intermediate students, all the way through to those who are looking to go for their black belts.   I produced the below aide memoire to her me to remember them.

Kihon Kata	Simple Description
Shodan	2 punch combination, Mae Geri
Nidan	Mae Geri, 2 punch combination
Sandan	2 punch combination, Mawashi Geri off front leg
Yondan	Mawashi Geri off front leg, 2 punch combination
Godan	Right Mawashi Geri (land in front), left Mawashi geri (land in front), reverse punch, jab.
Rokudan	Ashi uke, jab, cross, Mawashi Geri
Nanadan	Mae Geri (land in front) right jab, back kick
Hachidan	Mae Geri (land in front), back kick, reverse punch
Kyudan	Shuffle, backhand forehand punch, shuffle, backhand forehand punch, right then left mawashi geri, spinning kick
Judan	Shuffle, backhand forehand punch, shuffle, backhand forehand punch, right then left mawashi geri, hisa geri

 Before Covid so rudely interrupted things, I had got as far as my blue belt and was expected to know up to kihon gata Godan, as well as starting to learn Naihanchi Nidan.  However, we have always been encouraged to try to learn as far as we can in preparation for things to come.

Since I still practice on my own (with Zoom lessons as well of course, circumstances permitting), due to my own worries because of my health conditions, I decided to try and make all 10 a part of my solo practices, amongst other things.  Apart from the middle two kihon gata, they.can be considered as pairs.

Shoan and Nidan, Sandan and Yondan, Nanadan and Hachidan, then Kyudan and Judan can all be considered as related to one another, and this is how I like to practice them.  Below are the videos of the pairings of Kihon gata taken from my last solo practice, along with a sequential video of the 10 together.  This is to act as a marker for how far I have come so far, and hopefully for me to measure how much I have improved in later years.

           SHODAN and NIDAN

SANDAN and YONDAN

GODAN and ROKUDAN

NANADAN and HACHIDAN

KYUDAN and JUDAN

And finally all 10 of the kihon gata done as a sequence:

I think given practice, I should eventually be able to comfortably remember them all.  However, my favourite is still Judan, as it's the only one that features my favourite knee strike, also it's much easier to execute than the spinning back kick (or is it a hook kick now?), which takes it's place in Kyudan.  That is something I struggle with, as spinning tends to lead to me disorienting myself in the process.

Here's to more practice to come 😄

December Blues and Grading

The month of December was a strange one, work taking up far more time than usual at this time of year.  Something seemed to happen most weekends, and even the time between Christmas and the New Year was busy.  At least I had some days leave left to take, so that broke things up a little.

04 12 Kata Tai Chi style

Karate had to take a back seat in repect of being able to make formal lessons, but still formed a part of unwinding.  Usually in the form of Kata or fundamentals practice, as at the start of the month we were told that we would be grading.  Since at the stt of the Covid-19 outbreak, both my and my son missed out due to him having a cold, and us not being able to attend, this seemed like a really good end to the year 

09 12 Naihanchis

However, my workload lead to me missing a good few lessons, and I began to think that maybe I wouldn't be allowed to grade.  Our Sensei had arranged a session of just me and my son outdoors with themselves, but before we even discussed dates, of course Covid-19 struck again and the infection rates around our area rapidly started to grow, so no grading any way.  😞😞 

12 !2 Short Training

Most of the lessons in December had been geared towards grading, and in my own time that is what I had been practicing, so it felt like a real downer to lose out a second time.   However, a little while later, I got a pleasant surprise.   Over the last two weekends before Christmas, my Sensei told us that they would be holding gradings over Zoom for those that were ready to grade at the beginner and intermediate grades.   Both me and my son were told that we would be grading in the second session, on the Sunday before Christmas 😀😀

19 12 Practice

More practice was in order, and I went through what I knew to be in the grading a good few                    times before the day itself.   It was a good distraction from both home and work (though all have been in the same place for several months now), and there were a few early morning butterflys.  I know my kicks are the weakest part of my repetoire, and tried to work on my Ushiro and Yoku geri kicks.

20 12 Cant sleep

I chatted with my Sensei before the grading and worked on a way to try to improve it, but it still has a long way to go.  The work on the Yoku geri appears to have paid off.  On the day before the grading we had a lesson with Jamie Clubb, about anti grappling techniques; its not often my son likes to work with me in these situations, as there isn't much room for two people to work together inside, but we gave it a go on this occasion.  A few bits and pieces nearly took a hit, but it was fun 😀😀

20 12 Grading - kata

On the 20th.- the day of the grading, as I said, I had a few early morning nerves so I practiced some more.  I needed have worried, I passed with a B grade.  It could have been better, as my Ushiro and Mawashi geri kicks were picked out as needing more work and the kata could definitely have been a bit sharper.  But it wasn't too shabby and now I'm a blue belt. 😁😁

27 12 Time to work off the excess

The was just one more lesson before Christmas, was was in the form of a knowledge test and pad work, then no more lessons until the New Year.  I used a little bit of karate practice to burn off some of the Christmas excesses, and which overall passed quite peacefully for our household.

So hears to wishing all of you who take the time to read a Happy New Year, and hope it's much better than the last.  Thank you for sticking with me 😀😀🙏

0512

Naihanchi
Naihanchi drill 3, solo and on pads with pre empt on start and flank, vital points and incidental strikes eg forearm into brainstem before the neck crank

1012

Grading routine Fundamentals, Kihon, Kata

1712
Grading routine
Fundamentals, Kihon, Kata

1912
Jamie Clubb lesson
Anti grappling techniques, recovery from the floor

2012
Grading, fundamentals, kihon, kata

2112
Last lesson, attended in part
Spotlight on individuals - explaining fundamentals, padwork, teiso, hammer fist, elbow

Covid, karate and pennies dropping

 Due to work, I haven't been able to train as much as I did earlier in the Covid-19 outbreak, and that compounded by some stressful factors led to a flair up of my chest complaint.  My doctor insisted I got a Covid test done, even though I have been working from home and not socialising, waiting for the results only added to the mix.

2010 Kata as Breathing Exercise

Since I already have my own issues, mentally this set of circumstances didn't help either.  Medically I was told to take my crash pack of antibiotics and steroids, and as I had struggled on the previous Saturday lesson, I had to take it easy for a while.  I had to find something to compensate and focus on, and as is typical with me it was Karate.

22100 Slow kata gentle breathing

I put my kata to good use, both as a series of breathing exercises and as relaxation.  But then came the better news, I was Covid free: Thought it was time to start training again, even if only for a part of the lesson and not full speed: Form, rather than strength and speed. So on Saturday I did train again.  some of it I got near to full power, but the best part of it was a penny dropping......

 Kihons and knees 2410

This was my post in one of the Facebook forums:

"Muchimi, pad work and kihon: My dojo has concentrated on online training, plus outdoor training where possible, since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. I have possibly trained more as a result and attended more seminars, but reached a "lights turned on" moment today. Recently, we have started working on knee adaptations of our kihon gata in place of kicks and today our sensei added pad work.

The kihons are very clean, with punch/ kick combinations, so swapping to knees was a change anyway, more in keeping with Shorin Ryu roots. But the addition of padwork introduces the idea of muchimi, as I realised afterwards. For example, the first kihon in my dojo is "jab, reverse punch, mai geri". the knee interpretation without pad is "jab, reverse punch, back leg knee".

Add in the pad, and this becomes "Jab, reverse punch, knee" but because the jab isn't retracted to keep the pad as a target, and the the reverse punch hand isn't retracted to support the pad for the knee: It becomes "Jab grasp, reverse punch grasp, knee" Maintaining contact with the head. Suddenly practice drills developed real intent for me. Does that make sense?"

My Sensei are always telling us about keeping contact in close quarter situations, but finally the penny dropped with some of our basic drills. One of these is given below as an example:

Kihon gata Shodan - different forms

The following day was "Karate Day" and the 100 kata challenge.  I signed up for it ages ago, but given the recent circumstances, I approached it with a certain amount of trepidation.   We were mostly going to do Naihanchi, so that wasn't a problem, but how long I would last potentially was.   I needn't have worried:  The first 20 were a real struggle, but then managed to clear my chest.   I managed the full 100, and though the other 80 weren't a walk in the park, they certainly felt more comfortable than the first 20 ☺☺☺

100 kata challenge

Much to my surprise, I even managed to make a midweek lesson on the following Thursday, and there was yet more new material introduced.  We worked mainly on kata and an old favourite: The Quadrant drill.  However towards the end of the lesson we were also introduced to some new pad drills, Naihanchi drills 4 and 5, so something more to work on ☺☺☺  The Saturday lesson was taken up by a Jamie Clubb webinar, featuring grappling and ant-grappling techniques, but for once I wasn't able to take an active part due to a few technical issues.  My son did though and he seemed to enjoy it ☺☺☺

That's it for now, thank you for reading if you got this far ☺☺☺

2410

Kata

Kihon gata to 7, knees and elbows

2510

100 kata challenge 3 Naihanchis (for me)

2910

Kata

Quadrant drill

5 Naihanchi pad drills

The two new ones:

4: push down and uppercut, roll into backfist, clinch and knee into heel stomp, cm neck crank takedown.

5: Percussive clinch, knee, hammerfist into side of head/jaw, forearm strike into base of skull (forgot to do this in tonight's lesson), turn and throw into wall/person/ environment.

3110

Jamie Clubb - grappling