Fighting

Class was wonderful today. First, I thought I wasn’t going to class; however, I was woken up by a phone call by the missionaries. They asked me if I could participate in the missionary discussion with Andrey. Last time, I wasn’t there because he asked me not to for an unknown reason. When I got up, I had an hour to get ready. I was a little late because I had more things to do than usual because I thought I wasn’t going back to my house after karate.

When I arrived there, I realized that I forgot my card that I had to run under the scanner that records that I was at class today. The class was the smallest that I’ve been to because it had only four people including me. It ended up that I wasn’t late because we were still waiting for Villa Sensei. We first started by punching the target bags. My partner made me take off my sterling silver ring when we started. I put it on top of a wall that’s about wait high. I knew I was going to forget it and I did. I hope no one steals it on Monday. I really want it back because Andrey gave it to me when we first started dating. I miss it too because I wear it almost 24/7.

I need start focusing on punching with my first two knuckles with the target bags. I don’t bend my wrists when I punch; therefore, I hit my first middle knuckles. The first time I worked time when I worked with target bags, my middle index knuckle on my left hand became raw. Today, none of them became raw. However, my middle index finger on my right hand is a little tender when I rub it.

I learned that Sensei Chinen didn’t teach me how to fight. He didn’t teach me to protect my head, to jab, or to cross. During a sparing exercise, I remember a white belt using boxing techniques, Sensei disapproved of his fighting because he wasn’t fighting the way traditional way or the way he wanted him to. I remember that we could have used any technique. In the Northwest Profiles video, one can see that Sensei Chinen fights with his hands down at the waist level instead of protecting his head. When ever a person would tell me that I could hurt them because I knew karate, I knew that wasn’t true. I knew that I couldn’t defend myself against anyone with Sensei Chinen teachings.

I would write more, but it's way too late. Spent too much time watching vidoes. Note: Today is still Saturday because I haven't gone to bed yet.

Differences in Gekisai kata

I liked class today in karate. It was a small class today like last week. Yesterday, we had a lot more people. Is it because of the sparring class? Maybe nobody like to train in kata. I personally would like to work on kata more than we have been. However, we worked on Bunkai that I have only done once under Chinen Sensei. It's the attack and defend in a straight line Bunkai for Gekisai Dai Ichi. When I did it at my old dojo, I remember being better than my fellow Sempai Kurk because he couldn't remember what happens next. A few times I think I swept kicked and he couldn't remember how to counter that. I remember Sempai Linda being gone that day, so in the next class, Sempai Brooke told her about the Bunkai that we worked on. Sempai Linda said that she hasn't worked on that Bunkai for five years. I noticed that in this dojo, not many people knew it either. I glad that I was pared up with Anna because she's a black belt and two years younger than me.

While I was doing the Bunkai, I learned a new stance called the Han Zenkutsu dachi which is Zenkutsu dachi but shorter. We use this stance with the beginning blocks in the Gekisai kata. In Chinen's dojo, we used Sanchin dachi. Plus, we use Han Zenkutsu dachi in Saifa when we high punch, Han Zenkutsu dachi, and turn 180 in Neko Ashi Dachi. When ever I get into this stance, I have to check myself if my feet are correctly far enough apart by kneeling with my back leg and lining my knee up with my toes on my other foot. They do the same thing with Zenkutsu dachi; however, the knee lines up with my heel. I noticed that's shorter than what I've been doing in Zenkutsu dachi. Chinen Sensei would have us get into a deep Zenkutsu dachi where it burned my lead thigh. Sometimes, he would call me a lazy girl and have me go deeper. That's not the case with this dojo.

I learned more differences in the Gekisai kata this week. After the second block in Shiko dachi, I was taught to step directly to sanchin dachi instead of going towards to my other foot. I noticed that's going to be hard to break because my arm and leg are used to moving in a circular motion at the same time. The double punch or Morote tsuki is different too. Chinen Sensei taught me just have the hands parallel to each other and have the arms fully extended. With this dojo, the hands are not parallel to each other. The lead hand is fully extending pointing a little down where the other hand isn't fully extending pointing a little up. This dojo doesn't breathe either in any of the kata except Sanchin and probably Tensho. So with these differences, I have to rework my Gekisai kata.