It doesn't all work

One thing I dislike about Karate is explanations that just can't work. This usually has something to do with movements in Kata. I love Kata, and every move has at least one meaning. What I hate is simple, throw-away explanations.

At the third rising block in Heian Shodan. "You break your opponent's arm." Really? You just do a rising block that smashes through a 2 inch diameter bone. Really? Sometimes it's explained as "Grab the arm, twist, and as you pull down you break your opponent's arm." Really? I've done that move on people, and had it done on me many times. It hurts the tricep like crazy, but the bone is under no significant pressure at all.

Or Heian Nidan, nukite (spear hand strike). "You jam your fingertips into your opponent's solar plexus." Really? My money is on the torso, not on the fingertips.

So often the easy, but silly explanation is taken as gospel. Anytime the move is to break a bone, or to attack with a weak weapon, it should be thought as a code to mean, "This is NOT the explanation, and you better try and figure out what is a better truth."

I like looking for better truths. Sometimes I find one. More often I find an instructor who has done the research, and who shares with me. Often, blocks are really attacks, and attacks are blocks, or done differently than the obvious. Sometimes a block is a throw, or a kick is a diversion. My old instructor, Sakurai Sensei is a master at this. Living near my home, Ogawa Sensei, is also a genius at this form of Karate.

Most instructors, even good instructors, just don't have the interest or the knack.

I wish I were better at it, but at least I learn from the best.