By Claus Hansen, Member until 2017
It was a rainy Friday afternoon after a long work week that I met with 24 other brown and black belts for Hsingi B. I think everyone was excited about what this training would bring.
The first training had been a lot about attitude and we had spent almost 3 hours getting to the right attitude. I thought to myself that the most important thing today was not to make the same mistake as the last time there was hsingi. I was in good time and had time to think about how I could get the right attitude.
I had to be open. After all, DO JO means the place for information. I therefore thought a good place to start was to be open and assume that what Kimu sensei said was true. How do you do just that. Before I had gotten very far in my train of thought, however, Kimu Sensei appeared fresh and smiling as always.
Just before the start of the course, the last stragglers appeared and we could start on time. After a short refresher on the last hsingi course and after warming up, it was time for physical exercise.
For this training, a number of batting pads were brought, one per pair. This course was much more physical than the previous one. Kimu Sensei also made no secret of the fact that we had to look up the theory ourselves, as this was a dan course and contrary to all kyu courses where the theory comes first, it only comes later in the dan course and you are encouraged here to seek knowledge yourself.
We started with something as "simple" as ido unsoku. I usually tell my own students to also train black belt ido unsoku. They often look at me as if to say, not again, we can do that. And many of those who were there this Friday probably also had students who thought the same. However, many of them have also learned that if you are asked to do something you think is simple, there is often a purpose to it. In this case, it was just an introduction to the training we were about to start. After ido unsoku we were asked to perform unsoku 1.
After running them both through a few times, Sensei began to ask what the purpose of these was. There were many good suggestions as to what these simple exercises were used for. Kimu Sensei's answer was that it was very simple, it is moving from A to B.
When Kimu Sensei now thought we had understood this, we moved on to the next exercise, which consisted of striking the pad with optimal force, speed and precision based on ido unsoku and unsoku 1. Most karate students have struck tsuki walking in senkutsu dachi or kokutsu dachi. The hard part is not to move or hit. The hard part is getting it right every time. With optimal power, speed and precision. This is also THANKS MY CT which the nimble student will remember from other courses like ken-jutsu and Task and ShindenFight.
After practicing Oi tsuki and being stopped a few times by a chant from Kimu sensei, we had to try it out with gyaku tsuki. At first the one with the pillow didn't move, it was really easy enough to hit with a powerful blow. Once the pad started to move away from you it became significantly harder to hit it powerfully. It was almost hopeless if the person holding the pillow read one's attack.
One might ask what was the purpose of this exercise. It goes without saying that if you fight someone they rarely stand still and wait for the blow to come. It is more likely that they will move, which is why the exercise was important. A good 1.5 hours had now passed and we finally had the right attitude, a considerable improvement compared to the end, when it had taken 3 hours. With a little luck, we might get down to the last hsingi course in 30 minutes 🙂
After trying both oi tsuki and gyaku tsuki both against stationary targets and then moving targets, Sensei asked us to evaluate which technique was the most powerful, fastest and accurate. This was to take place in groups, where one had to discuss and test the technique, which technique best met these criteria.
When everyone had thoroughly discussed the topic and thought they had found the most suitable technique, we were allowed to demonstrate it to the others. Tasks for the others were to assess whether the technique in question was powerful enough to knock someone out. Most came up with a technique that worked when the target was stationary. Some could also make it work when the target was moving. However, not many blows would have knocked anyone out when the target was moving.
This demonstration provided by ourselves clearly emphasizes how difficult it was to deliver power to knock out someone who moved. It was therefore all the more impressed when Kimu sensei playfully demonstrated how it should be done. Which technique should be used and how. It was very simple and it was only made more impressive by his choice of victim/cloth for the demonstration, which is far from slow. I know this from bitter experience from kumite with him. It was none other than Jens Hanshi-dai. But again and again he was caught by Kimu sensei's speed, or as sensei modestly said, it is not only speed that is important, it must also be optimal and precise.
After this demonstration, we were able to test it ourselves on moving pads. Fortunately, it had become much easier and sensei had made it all a lot simpler. It was a great feeling when it all came together, which unfortunately it didn't do every time, but how cool it is, I can learn something. And as it almost always is when it starts to be fun and you enjoy yourself with a lot of good friends, well then it's over.
I was slightly "drunk" and very tired when I drove home. It had been a great course because many pieces started to fall into place. I could recognize some of the same things from hsingi in the other courses I have attended. The common thread is starting to become much clearer to me and ido unsoku is in any case not an empty exercise.
