Showing posts with label arizona martial arts schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arizona martial arts schools. Show all posts

Friday, May 17, 2013

Tameshiwara - Testing A Martial Artist's Ability to Break Boards, Bricks, etc.


The Phoenix sun rises high in the Arizona sky, daylight dominates the early Spring and Fall evening - it may be time for tameshiwara: the art of breaking

In the early 1960s, most people in the US were uneducated in martial arts (most still are), and many had the wrong impression that breaking boards was the primary function of karate and jujutsu when this is actually a very minor aspect of martial arts. I think it was Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon who said, "boards don't strike back". Although not totally true, as most physicists would tell us boards do exert a force on the striking hand. Even so, breaking is a very minor part of karate.

I was told by my mother when I was very young that a person needed to develop callus on the side of their hand to develop a 'judo chop' by daily striking sand and gravel. She apparently had no training in martial arts

Shihan-Dai Kyle Gewecke, head instructor of the Gillette Wyoming Seiyo
Shorin-Ryu dojo, prepares to break rock at the University of Wyoming in
Laramie using a classical 'Judo chop' or 'Karate chop' known as "shuto
uchi" in Japanese.
It wasn't until Bruce Lee in the Green Hornet TV series in 1966 to 1967 that people began to take note of martial arts in the US, even though Mas Oyama had already toured the US taking on any and all fighters to demonstrate the effectiveness of karate 14 years earlier in 1952. I can still remember hurrying home after kyokusin kai karate classes at the Black Eagle Federation dojo next to my junior high school in Sugarhouse (SLC) to watch Kato do his incredible gung fu. At the time, I was studying Oyama's karate and knew of his encounters with bulls.

Years later, I watched David Caridine, a dancer, as he introduced us to the philosophy of martial arts from 1972 to 1975 in the Kung Fu TV series while I was working on graduate degrees in geology at the University of Utah and later at the University of New Mexico. It didn't matter all of the martial arts had to be filmed in slow motion for Caridine; this series was about the 'do' of martial arts - the path, which separates traditional martial arts from lookalike fighting systems like MMA that are not martial 'arts'. I fell in love with karate and martial arts as a young kid. I wanted to be one of the best, so I tried to surround myself with the best in the world. First, Mas Oyama's karate (even though I never met Sosai Oyama), and years later by Dai-Soke Sacharnoski who I see as the best in the world today. I also trained with superstar - Tadashi Yamashita.

One of our greatest fears as men is taking one in
the nads. At a halftime martial arts demonstration
at the University of Wyoming, Sensei Donnette
Gillespie kicked me in the groin so hard that if felt
as if she lifted me off the ground - this was done
without any protective athletic cup or any other
protection.
When most of us think of fearless martial artists, we think of martial artists like Sosai Mas Oyama, Dai-Soke Sacharnoski, or Hanshi Kirby Roy. These three are incredible and stand alone, above all others in martial arts in the world today.

Back to breaking and karate in ArizonaTameshiwara is a very minor part of karate and practiced to assist in development of self-confidence. Many martial arts schools today use rebreakable boards - these may save some money, but they are nothing like good o' lumber, Spanish roofing tile, bricks and in particular, rocks. Even so, if they assist in self-confidence, they are serving a good purpose.

Rocks are usually cheap and one can typically pick them up most anywhere. .

At the University of Wyoming from 1977 to 2007, many students and faculty trained in karate and many of them had the opportunity to  break stream-worn limestone. There were even some  half-time basketball martial arts demonstrations at the university, where students would break boards and the instructor would break cinder blocks with his fist along with rock slabs with his head!  One thing about rocks: it is the martial artist against Mother Nature - and you just never know who is going to win because each rock is different and some will fight to the end to keep a martial artist from breaking it.

University of Wyoming tameshiwara (breaking of rocks), or what I like to
call, Geology 101, or Introduction to Geology for Martial Arts Majors.
Rocks in the Phoenix Valley are different from limestones in Laramie. Limestone is Mother Nature's concrete - its what concrete is made from and a very good medium for breaking. In the Phoenix area, the great majority of rocks are rhyolites, andesites and basalts. Volcanic rocks can be finicky due to their porphyritic texture (rocks with both little and large crystals).

If you have never tried breaking rocks, it is recommended you seek a qualified instructor of martial arts who has - otherwise, it is likely you will end up in the emergency room to get your hand reset. Any attempt at breaking rocks can (and likely will) result in breaking your hand (or head) if you do not have proper training and instruction. So, get some good martial arts training and hopefully, you will not break anything other than the rock or a board.

George Chakmakian, petroleum engineer and shodan, breaks his first rock at the University
of Wyoming.
Breaking tile with bare knuckles at New Mexico State University.

Donnette Gillespie, 9th kyu white belt, breaks her first rock in 1977 at the Laramie
Bushido dojo.


Arizona Martial Arts Instructor and Geologist inducted into two Halls of Fame. The photo shows a folded specimen of gneiss - a rock type that is usually not very good for breaking.


University Professor inducted into National Black Belt Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame induction for Mesa Martial Artist
University Karate Club one of the best martial arts programs!
Karate Professor Inducted into World Karate Union Hall of Fame



Friday, February 22, 2013

Makiwara - Build Your Own Martial Arts Training Equipment

In Arizona, many martial arts schools have heavy bags for striking. Heavy bags tend to respond to force in an unnatural way. They pivot along the axis attached to an overhead chain or rope, just exactly the opposite of striking a person whose feet would be on the ground and pivot along the axis attached to the earth. There are bags available that have water-filled bases that tend to correct this problem, but essentially every one we  tested were cheaply constructed with very thin padding. 

Okinawan karate-ka (karate practitioners) developed an excellent tool in place of a heavy bag that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. All you have to do is go to a local lumber or hardware store and buy a few materials to build one, dig a hole, and ‘walla’ – you’ll have a great striking surface known as a makiwara.

The makiwara can be constructed using a board about 10 feet long. However, the Arizona soils (if we can call them soil) are filled with so much clay, caliche and volcanic ash that they are very hard to dig in. So you can get away with an 8-foot board. In Wyoming, we used a 2 x 8 inch and 2 x 12 inch boards which do not have a lot of give. So in Arizona, we went for a thinner board  (1 x 8 inch) and was pleasantly surprised that the thinner board was much better because of  greater flexibility.

After you purchase the board, take your 8-foot board and dig a 3-foot hole. Go find two large rocks while resting from trying to break through the caliche layer. If you are in Colorado, Utah or Wyoming (or anywhere else in the US except maybe New Mexico), you might want a 10-foot board. In this case, plant it 5 feet deep. I’m not sure what to recommend in Alaska or Canada other than wait for summer before you plant your board. 

Now that you have a hole for a makiwara, place the board to the appropriate depth and take two large football-sized rocks placing one in front of your board at the bottom of the hole. Now fill in the hole. When  it is nearly full, place the other rock on the opposite side ( back) and then cover it. The rocks will provide spring to the board. Now buy some hemp rope from a local hardware store and pick up some carpet pieces from you local carpet store for padding. We found hemp at Harbor Freight in Mesa. The hemp is great for training knuckles and the side of your hand.

Next, place pieces of carpet under the hemp to increase padding. When your knuckles get use to striking the hemp and board, you can remove some carpet pieces.

Ideally, you will want to practice tsuki, shuto, koko and empi uchi along with mae geri, maewashi geri, yoko geri, kozumi geri and other strikes and kicks. Now you have an excellent tool to supplement your karate training at home and drive your neighbors nuts (they’ll love peaking through their curtains and wondering what is wrong with you). At first, it will be difficult to hit the board with a lot of force with your bare knuckles; but after months of training, you will look forward to hitting the board. When the it finally breaks (the board, not your hand), buy another.