The month ahead

October promises to be a fistful of action with a ringful of seminars going down in addition to usual practice. In the 1st week of October Sensei George Andrews, one of the UK's original Goju Ryu men and founder of OTGKA, holds a Goju Ryu Gasshuku (training camp), which is followed the week after by a look at Dayan Wild Goose Qigong with Michael Tse, editor of Qi Magazine and founder of the Tse Qigong Healing Center.

The 18th sees Sensei Tony Christian coming to London and running a day seminar at the Institute of Traditional Karate Do. Sensei Tony Christian is yet another Liverpool's fine fighting exports and the seminar looks likely to be most lively.

Master Morio Higaonna inspiring us wimps at the European Gasshuku, Bournmouth 2007 - photograph by the Howie Lama

The following week I'm flying out Poland to take in the expertise of the lineage holder for Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate Do - Master Morio Higaonna. The literature IOGKF Poland (full Word document in English is here) have distributed for the event states of Master Higaonna:

What does he say about his trainings?
“I am pleased to say my training has hardly changed over the years. Recently I started to study meditation with Sakiyama sensei who is a famous Zen priest. Everyday I run, practice hojo undo, kata, and also meditation. My family is as supportive as ever so I am free to train for at least six hours each day.

“Of course you must remember that physical training is just the gateway to mastery of the mind. That's why you must strive to achieve true humility through training. Good karate makes good people, and I feel a responsibility to pass on what was given to me as a way of thanking my teacher, An'ichi Miyagi. (...) If you do not train hard you should not teach!”

What do other masters say about master Higaonna?
Don Draeger said “(he) is the most dangerous man in Japan in real fight ". Terry 0'Neil – the famous European karate Shotokan champion (kata and kumite), said: “As close as one can come to the model of the classical karate master". Harry Cook, when asked about the greatest artist of martial arts, said:“Of the Japanese teachers I would have to say Morio Higaonna. Higaonna sensei can do it all; his basics are very powerful, his kata are excellent and he can demonstrate many bunkai for all the kata. There is no doubt about his fighting ability and he is exciting to watch. We used to watch him do demonstrations in Tokyo and you were always glad that you weren’t his assistant! He’s also very good at grappling; when he gets you in close you are in trouble.

All to be held near a MiG jet fighter factory in North Poland! The ever excellent Sensei Nakamura is also there as are most of the UK's top Goju exponents such as Sensei George Andrews and Sensei Linda Marchant, so I'm really looking forward to seeing Master Higaonna again.

My first post and general introduction

Hi there, welcome and thank you for visiting my blog. I'm Dan and I've been fascinated with martial arts myths ever since watching Monkey Magic and The Water Margin as a kid. As a teenager, I was introduced into traditional martial arts and studied under a great many disciplines including Karate (Shotokan, Wado-ryu, Goju Ryu and Kyokushin-kai), Ninjutsu, Jujutsu, Aikido, Kendo, Shaolin Tiger-Crane Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Qigong. I train to this day, settling on Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate as my primary style under the expert guidance of Shihan Morio Higaonna and his IOGKF instructors.

Goju Ryu Karate has it's origins in a style know as Naha-te, Naha being the capital of Okinawa and Te meaning fist, therefore that style was literally the Naha Fist style. In honour of those great masters that preserved traditions for us to learn from today, I call my blog, London Fist and hope it will pay tribute to those who keep the fighting spirit alive through all the dark winters and rainy evenings that Britain throws at them.

All martial arts have something to them and require skill and dedication to practice. To me, the better martial art is not necessarily the one which is the most ferocious but the one is has the greatest depth. It should enable the practitioner to enjoy health over the long term, otherwise what type of self defence is it when we kill ourselves daily in preparation of an incident that may never happen? I also feel a true martial art might help the practitioner develop their character since it requires much devotion and often a certain level of suffering even to become a master of the art. Since martial arts are combat sports, how one learns to deal with stress, suffering and defeat must be clear pointers as to whether one can become truly adept, no?

Legends within martial arts abound. From stories of people defeating gangs single handed to fighters who kill with one strike, it excites the imagination to hear of what is possible on the outer boundaries of human performance. Fighters break solid objects with their empty hands while other masters endure blows so fierce the on-looker cowers away in pain. How true are these stories? Just what is possible in martial arts? And how many people have been able access these secrets? While there are many fight clubs around, they vary immensely in outlook. There are sport oriented styles like the kick boxers and judo students, through to the more esoteric and obscure like the Qi energy moving Shaolin fighters, Aikido-ka and Ninjutsu warriors. I have a very open mind and a lot of background in Chinese metaphysics so over the coming few months I hope to find out more about what is possible as I travel through the back streets and sweaty dojos of London, meeting the people who put put their fists to work on a daily basis to keep the traditions alive. I hope you'll join me, share with me your insights and help preserve the traditional ways of the warrior.