"Why are you so rigid?" Surprisingly, that's what I heard from Torben Sensei (IOGKF Denmark) as I practiced kakie under his instruction at the IOGKF South American Gasshuku in Cuzco, Peru, in 2018. Right after, he told me something like: "Karate is more flexible, relax your knees, loosen your shoulders!" At that same event, days earlier, Kokubo Sensei (IOGKF Peru) emphasized that "the body should be like water," focusing on the dynamic in which the force of the tanden is transferred to the strike...
- Water, flexibility, and my rigidity...
Beautiful Cuzco!
I, who was beginning my first steps on the long road of traditional Okinawan karate at that gasshuku (after Zé Mário Sensei - chief instructor of IOGKF Brazil - opened the doors to me for this journey), found that practice a bit strange. Trying to keep my knees bent felt somewhat unfamiliar to me... I was unfamiliar with that 'relaxed' posture, with less tension, with a flexibility that even reminded me of Kung Fu.
Currently, I have realized that this posture is very important for Okinawan karate. This is a point to which I have often drawn the attention of karatedo-kas in our dojo.
For beginners or even those coming from 'sport karate,' training with this 'relaxed' form might seem counterintuitive... something that goes against an innate bodily response expected for a moment of 'violence' and 'strength' usage.
After all, 'blocking' a strong strike requires a strong defense!
- To cause harm to the aggressor, only a strong, rigid strike works!
So, isn't it better to tense up all muscles, arm and leg joints? Right?
I believe not! All this tensing up leads to a robotic aspect that reduces the effectiveness of the technique. It limits movement, preventing the dynamic force transfer Kokubo Sensei was teaching at the Gasshuku in Peru.
Atifa - 衝撃波 - a term in Okinawan jargon that defines ane important principle of energy transfer from the strike to the opponent. It involves performing a technique with a relaxed (flexible) condition and then briefly tensing at the point of impact. This creates a strong mechanical shockwave that passes through the target (the opponent's body) (May, 2014). For those who understand, a hint is enough!
In Okinawan karate, applying the atifa principle aims to cause more than a superficial injury. The principle allows for the amplification of damage to internal organs, incapacitating the aggressor.
Karate must be practiced while attempting to release the constraints of joints and muscles, seeking a state where there is strength but not a rigid lack of dynamism, where there is lightness but never weakness. Without this state, we waste the application of a principle that enhances the effectiveness of the applied technique, potentially leading to a shorter duration of engagement.
'Goju' is a term often translated by separating its opposing components: the rigid and the soft... the tough and the flexible... What I have noticed as I practice Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate is that both seem to compose a single entity: Go and ju are inseparable. Goju could then be more than the simple sum of hard and soft. I've reflected that the term could express a unique property - when the whole is greater than the mere sum of its parts. Who knows, maybe 'goju' might mean that the brutality of strength (go) is gentleness in motion (ju)?
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