Innholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2018-19 i Black Belt Magazine

The story of the Shintani Wado Kai Karate Federation is a fascinating one. Martial arts organizations often fall apart after their chief instructor dies, but when the founder of the SWKKF passed away in 2000, the federation not only continued to survive but also flourished. The reasons for its success are worth examining. Masaru Shintani, 10th degree, was the leader of Wado Kai Karate in Canada, as well as the founder of the SWKKF. Before he passed away, he created a senate committee composed of nine senior members he’d hand-picked and mentored to carry on his teachings. These martial artists were selected with the belief and expectation that they would unselfishly represent the best interests of the entire organization, which now boasts 2,500 students, more than 400 of whom are…

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THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD: Along with kung fu legends Douglas Wong and Al Leong, Lew was a member of the “Winningest Martial Arts Team” on the American tournament circuit in the 1970s. How did this conflagration of super champions come together to rock and roll the Kung Fu Fighting era? Their origin story might surprise you. “I lived next door to Douglas Wong forever,” Lew says. “We grew up together, doing kung fu and putting things together in the backyard. When we got older, we took it to the next level and did pretty well on the tournament circuit. We were the kung fu guys in the 1970s tournament-karate world.” With characteristic self-effacing humility, Lew sums up his team’s record-breaking trophy hauls with a laugh and a shrug. “They called Eric…

Knee strikes are among the most versatile infighting techniques. They’re hard to see because they’re used at very close range and come from below your line of vision. The strikes are powerful and can injure you even if you’re just trying to block them. In a standing face-to-face confrontation, you’ve got to protect your groin from unexpected knee strikes. If you’ve been beaten down or are doubled over, you’ve got to protect your thoracic cavity and face from knee strikes. If you take a hard shot and get knocked to your knees, you’ve got to protect your head and face from your attacker’s knees. Let’s start by discussing how to block knee strikes to your thoracic cavity and abdomen while you’re still standing. TO EXECUTE: Bend over — yeah, I…

ALLOWED HAND TECHNIQUES ▶ The straight punch (tsuki). “No round or hook punches, and no uppercuts,” Tom Scott said. ▶ The backfist (uraken). ▶ The ridgehand (haito). “This is rare, though,” Scott added. All punches score one point, he said. ALLOWED FOOT TECHNIQUES ▶ The front kick (mae geri). ▶ The roundhouse kick (mawashi geri). ▶ The hook kick (ura mawashi geri). ▶ The side kick (sokuto/yoko geri). ▶ The spin rear kick (ushiro geri). ▶ The spin hook kick (ushiro mawashi geri). ▶ The sweep (ashi barai). “This is a sweep to the leg that’s meant not to strike but to off-balance your opponent,” Tom Scott said. Kicks to the body score two points, he added, while kicks to the head and takedowns net three points.…

Martial artists who want to boost the effectiveness of their hands by assimilating boxing methods have it easy when it comes to acquiring gear, James Bennett said. “All you need at first is a heavy bag. Don’t pound on it because that can play havoc with your elbows and shoulders later on. Just use it to develop power. “Then get a speed bag for hand-eye coordination and a floor-to-ceiling ball for reflex development. Sometimes the floor-to-ceiling ball is called a double-end striking ball. It’s suspended from the ceiling and attached to the floor.” When you get used to the movements, get some good boxing gloves for sparring, he said. “Don’t try to use martial arts gloves or 4-ounce MMA gloves because they don’t provide proper protection.” When you spar, you’ll…

In addition to karate, I teach traditional Japanese swordsmanship, usually with a bokken. When contact is to be made, however, we switch to ActionFlex padded swords. Not surprisingly, it can be difficult to find a volunteer to go full force with a sword-wielding student who’s trying to improve his or her skills. Enter the BOB. KENJUTSU SWORD DRILLS: The student with the sword squares off against BOB and draws a padded sword. Two people are required to back up the striking dummy — one to push and the other to reach around the torso and swing a sword, using one hand, as if the blade belonged to a live opponent. The second person also can help stabilize the unit. When BOB attacks, the student nullifies the strike by blasting it…

On August 25-26, 2018, Michael Matsuda and the Martial Arts History Museum hosted the Dragonfest martial arts expo in Burbank, California. Founded by Gerald Okamura in 1999, Dragonfest ran for nine years before lying dormant for a decade. Matsuda resurrected it in 2014, and it’s now the biggest fundraiser for the museum. “We have moved every year because we have continually outgrown the facility,” Matsuda said. “We have now settled on Burbank’s Pickwick Gardens.” Although plenty of masters were in attendance, this year’s event once again was celebrity-centric, and fans showed up in droves to snap selfies with members of both groups. The public seemed to appreciate the fact that almost all the celebs had a real martial arts connection, which they eagerly spoke about onstage. Black Belt goes to…

Dur ing a conversation that took place in 1998, I asked Black Belt Hall of Famer Joe Lewis how someone could beat him in a match. This is what he had to say. It’s as enlightening now as it was then. “If I answer this question truthfully, I would have to say luck on the opponent’s part. I was strong on my lead-off move, and I was strong on my opponent’s lead-off move. I was strong on my follow-up, and I was strong on my opponent’s follow-up — and I worked it that way. “But seriously, to beat me — besides having years of experience over me — you had to be good and you had to catch me on an off day. You had to have a strong defense…

On a Preview for This Issue BLACK BELT: Karate champ/2020 Olympic hopeful Tom Scott likes his new Black Belt tee. Read more about him in our December 2018/January 2019 issue. Check out BB apparel at blackbeltmag.com/store. Sally KS: I’m just jazzed that karate finally made it into the Olympics! Everyone should be. On a News Story About Halle Berry Directing an MMA Movie BLACK BELT: Looking forward to this? Paul AP: I am. It’ll be good to see an MMA movie with a lil more budget behind it. I doubt she will choreo the fight scenes … she’ll hire experts for that … silly to think otherwise. Rick Alan Reynolds: Long time coming for a good martial art movie. Not just Hollywood. Lazaro Joaquin: She’s had martial arts training in…

He was sitting in his jungle camp with table and chairs made from polished tree stumps, in front of the thatched bamboo hut where his wife was preparing coffee with lemon-grass stirrers. She was boiling the water in a cast-iron pot on a bamboo fire, between the refrigerator and an unused microwave. “But I won’t practice those black-magic arts,” Putu said, shaking his head with disgust. “Many problems with those arts. When you practice black magic, you have a demon and an angel living inside of you. And each time you eat, you have to eat for three.” I HAD COME to Bali to learn the Balinese grappling art of mepantigan. Online, I’d discovered that it’s a fairly new system, having been created only in 2002. During my nearly two…

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — FALLOUT Last year, the internet was abuzz when Tom Cruise fractured his ankle because a dangerous stunt went awry during the filming of Mission: Impossible — Fallout. Video showed the star crash into a building, climb onto the roof and grimace-drag his broken leg out of frame. In interviews, Cruise said, “When I smashed into the wall, I knew the ankle was broken. First thought, ‘Get the shot, keep going, run past camera.’ After the shot, I said, ‘My ankle’s broken, that’s a wrap, take me to hospital.’” When I visited Jackie Chan on the set of Drunken Master II in 1992, he shared that whenever a stunt mishap occurred, he would say something like, “I don’t care if I get hurt. I always ask, ‘Get the…

Shannen Park competed on Ninja Warrior in 2015 and 2016 and plans to do so again, provided her taekwondo training doesn’t get in her way. As she attempted to climb Mount Midoriyama on the show, she billed herself as #NinjaMom. Thrilled to have found a nexus where Ninja Warrior meets ninja warrior, I visited said hashtag at her home in Central California to fling questions at her the way Scott Adkins might pepper a rival ninja with throwing stars. The following are her answers. ROOTS: “I got started in taekwondo when I was 10 because I was bullied. In first grade, there was a kid who used to follow me around and hit me. I was really shy and petite — I was always the shortest kid in class. My…

It’s always gratifying to see martial artists take an active role in the battle against bullying. One of the most inspiring is a relative newcomer to the war, a man named Arthur Chivichyan. If that surname sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the son of Black Belt Hall of Famer and judo legend Gokor Chivichyan. Two years ago, Arthur Chivichyan started a leadership institute for kids, the nonprofit side of which is devoted to helping victims of bullying. Chivichyan arranges to have former bullies and the people they picked on speak about prevention, but that’s just part of the comprehensive program he’s devised. “For leadership development, I’ve taken elements from old scriptures and from military cultures like the Vikings,” he said. “I use those lessons to help kids. These days, kids…

When lifted, it can leave a dusting of burned charcoal on the side of the brazier, and to brush this away, the host uses a fan, called a hakobi, made from a single tail feather, usually of a hawk. The brushing movement, like everything else in the ceremony, is done according to strict form. As the hakobi is lifted with one hand, for instance, the host places a finger of the other on the far end of the feather. It’s a gesture of respect for the fan. The fan comes in two types. If you look at a bird’s tail feathers, you’ll see that those from the left side of the tail have the spine of the feather (it’s called a rachis) slightly offset. There is more “feather” on the…

Running the gauntlet has manifested in many forms with the running theme (sorry) being the warrior — or, in many cases, the captive — being tested, tortured and/or trained by: • Forcing him or her to move through a dual row of warriors who are punching, kicking, slapping and otherwise abusing the person as he or she progresses from one end of the gauntlet to the other. • Giving the weaponless runner a small head start, after which weapon-wielding pursuers follow in waves, and sometimes en masse, to hunt down their prey. CINEPHILES READILY CAN SEE two representations of the latter form of running the gauntlet in Samuel Fuller’s Run of the Arrow, in which Rod Steiger is pursued by the Sioux, and in Cornel Wilde’s grittier The Naked Prey,…

BLACK BELT: Martial artists who are worried about breaking bones in their hands often opt for palm strikes instead of fist techniques. Are they as effective? JAMES BENNETT: Of course! You can throw a palm-heel strike and smash a person in the face, then rip his eyes out or hit him in the nose. We kenpo guys do it all the time. The jaw is a wonderful target for a palm, especially when it’s used with a hook. Anything done with the heel of the hand can put someone to sleep: the hinge of the jaw, the temple, the chin. I don’t see a palm strike to the face putting anybody to sleep, but it definitely would do some damage.…

This article first appeared in our June 1977 issue. Tonight, while you sleep your deepest sleep, 100 black-clad figures gather in meditation. Their mantra fills the air around their clandestine mountain retreat and contrasts with the hiss of their controlled breathing. They prepare for their upcoming mission by believing they are turning into tigers; by force of will, they drift into a different phase of being. Their breathing becomes deeper, and they count backward from nine to one, mentally taking a step down an imaginary flight of stairs with each number. They control their inner voices and bring what they call their “five minds” into a single point of focus. Their preparations complete, they arm themselves with shuriken, garrotes, knives and crossbows. Then they depart, their destination a guarded building…

Vol. 17, No. 9, $1.50 • “Someone walks into my school one day, clumsy and awkward. But two years later, he is a totally different person. This makes me happy.” So says Bong Soo Han when asked why he teaches martial arts despite having what could be called a burgeoning movie career. • “I send students into different tournaments such as karate or taekwondo once in a while,” Han continues. “It’s a good chance to see how much you can do with strange people you never met.” • Wally Jay completes a tour of the East Coast of the United States and the Bahamas designed to spread his small-circle jujitsu. • Martial arts cinema is going gangbusters. Recently released or in production are A Force of One with Chuck Norris,…