October 25th is a special date for karateka around the world. After all, it’s Karate No Hi, World Karate Day, established in 2005 by Okinawa Prefecture. The date was chosen because it was when, in 1936, an important meeting of masters took place to define the direction of art, including discussing the change of the old name “Toude” to “Karate-Do” (incidentally, I intend to talk more about this meeting in the future). Continue reading
Karate is an art with great cultural heritage and many particularities, thanks to its origins in Okinawa and the historical context of its development. Understanding Karate requires knowing these roots, or we risk clinging to myths, common sense, and mere guesses. This lack of knowledge is not uncommon and leads to the practice and transmission of a diluted, misunderstood, incomplete art. Mastering karate requires not only exhaustive repetition of movements, but study. Continue reading
In this video, I talk a little about my relationship with Karate and my goals with the blog Puro Karate. If you like the content, follow on social media!
[The video has English subtitles.] Continue reading
The video has English subtitles.
Check out a little of the museum of the Okinawa Kenjin Association of Brazil (Brasil Okinawa Kenjin: AOKB – CCOB), located in the Liberdade neighborhood, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil! This is a highly recommended visit for all lovers of okinawan and karate culture. Sao Paulo is home to one of the largest okinawan communities outside Okinawa in the world. It is very worthwhile to have contact with the culture and customs of these people, to better understand Karate, martial art we love so much! Continue reading
On May 4th, 2019, we held the Old Style Karate Seminar, in São Paulo/Brazil, taught by Samir Berardo, from Muidokan Karate Kenkyukai, promoted in partnership with Puro Karate blog and sponsored by Associação Karate-Do Tanaka was a sensational Saturday with lots of learning! During both periods (morning and afternoon), Samir sensei presented the foundations of ancient Karate, aimed at self-defense, contextualized by videos and bibliographical references. Continue reading
This is the excerpt from an application of the Seipai kata that I prepared for the Tanaka Karate-Do Association’s birthday presentation. The learning is constant. This is a kata for which I became interested in for several reasons. I hope you find it relevant.
And I thank Samir Berardo Sensei for opening up a whole new horizon about bunkai and karate in general for me. His work was a great influence on this analysis, so it is worth mentioning. 🙏
It is not uncommon to see people, or even karateka themselves, saying that Karate is not for self-defense or that training kata is useless. I have even seen relatively famous practitioners saying that if a person wants to learn self-defense he should practice Jiu-Jitsu. This opinion shows a great ignorance regarding our art and its history. How is Karate not efficient as a self-defense if it was created just for that?
Karate currently trained in most dojos is very different from the original art conception. In the early days of the practice of Karate in Okinawa, before being publicized and trained around the world, the focus was to be a method of effective and direct self-defense. Nowadays, however, it is trained as a sport or as an activity more focused on personal development, emphasizing philosophy. Thus, many ancient and lethal approaches were abandoned.
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In the time we live, with high levels of violence and a general sense of insecurity on the part of the people, it is not uncommon to see schools and Karate instructors promoting courses and lectures on self-defense. And really, having the tools to defend yourself and escape from dangerous situations is something that is necessary and advisable for anyone. But do these courses, for the most part, fulfill their purpose of approaching self-defense effectively? Do we, martial artists, fully understand the concept and complexity of what is self-defense, to the point of objectively and effectively transmitting it? My impression is that a very serious reflection still needs to be made on the subject and that the instructors themselves should make a self-criticism about what they are conveying under the label of self-defense.
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In another year of training in Karate, I understand more and more how the path in this art needs to be followed with an open mind and sincerity. It is much less about trying to prove or impose something on others and much more about your personal development, how much you are willing to fight against the ego, add knowledge and review what can be improved. Continue reading