Kumite: A Story

Kumite:  A Story



What do you think about when you think about Karate?  When I was a child, I used to get all excited when I saw old Kung Fu movies or when there were Bruce Lee specials on during holiday.  All the high kicks, jump kicks, spin kicks and nunchuku kung-foolery had me on my toes and my father had me on lock down whenever I came close to putting my foot through the wall or my mother's favorite lamp. 

Growing up, I had all the delusions of grandeur thinking that I was bigger than myself.  This continuously got worse as I entered adolescence and noticed that I was capable and that I was bigger than everyone else in my age brackets whenever I competed.  The one thing that I lacked was confidence.  If my kumite started out strong and if I had my opponent on the run, I was very hard to beat.  However, if I had made a mental mistake or if I could not figure out my opponent, there were many a time where you could literally see me sink in quicksand and not be able to recover because my self-confidence was shot.

Luckily, I had very patient senseis willing to work with me and found ways for me to work on my self-confidence so that my kumite outings were more consistent with my ability.  However, this did not happen overnight.  My senseis really had to work on my perception on what Karate was really about. 

The problem was that I was a little man trapped in a big man's body... meaning that I wanted to do little man karate in a big body.  It didn't help that my senseis, Takafumi Hamabata (7th Dan Eibu Kan / JKF) and Katsuhide Kinjo (6th Dan Eibu Kan/JKF) are both mid to high 5 feet weighing about 140, respectively.  In contrast, I am 6 feet and weighing in about 250.  Coming from an organization that does not believe in churning out students that are cookie cutter versions of their senseis, I believe it was a major project for the both of them to try and figure out how to get me to become an effective fighter, both in and out of the ring (competitive and traditional).

Looking back, I believe that their solution was brilliant.  Taking a young karateka with self-confidence issues and focusing on a reactive style of kumite so that blocking was a primary factor in the style of combat was their answer to his many Karate issues.  Lessons and drills included many blocking and intercepting drills to negate offensive momentum, working on instinctual training by focusing on timing and jamming techniques, and finally the endless drilling and repetition back and forth on the dojo floor after class until my body learned how to react without having to think (developed mushin and my zanshin through repetition).  While this worked for this Karateka, I yet to test this similar style of training with my kohai because it may not be what is necessary for them.

I now can say that I have taken what was developed and have made it my own. I can proudly say that no one in my dojo has my exact style of kumite... and I can proudly say that my senseis do not want exact replicas of each other either... they would like to see more individual growth like myself and the other black belts in my class.  When I step out on to the floor, I have the confidence to say, "come and hit me... if you can..." and be in position to go toe to toe with anyone.  This is a good feeling to have.

Have you thought about how your senseis have drawn your Karate out of you?  Do you know your own story or are you still currently figuring that one out.  Sit down and think about it.  Your Karate is continuously being developed.  What is your focus?  Traditional or Competitive?  Both?  There is a lot to think about in developing your Kumite.

ps.  While my adolescent training in Kumite was mainly for competition, the training forced me to see application of kata better because of the defensive mind set I was trained with.  ALL Goju Ryu Kata begin with blocks... and that was the start of another chapter in my Karate life.