........Interview with Kanazawa

I have studied this a lot and have even been visited, and interviewed by representatives of a big religious sect in Japan on this subject. It is basically a contact with nature - all of my movements, power and speed are dependent upon my breathing and all the actions should be harmonized with the breath. On a philosophical level, I believe that if I can harmonize with my own body, that I can harmonize with others and, indeed, with nature. Everything breathes - animals, plants . . . I repeat, correct breathing techniques are very important.
You will remember, as one of my first students in GB, that before I did not teach so much about breathing etc.-I adhered to power ... quite a natural thing as I was young and the young favour a power style. But with time and thought, I have come to an appreciation that winning can be done with using only 60% of your power - 100% is not necessary if you have good waza (technique) - just enough is sufficient! Whereas before I would try to use all of my power to accomplish something, now I try to use only 60% and rest the other 40%. To simplify, if I use 60% correctly and I also use 40% of my opponents power against him, the total is still 100% and the combination will result in more damage to him.
I must say that my Tai-chi training and studies have greatly influenced my personal style of karate.

How exactly?
Well, Tai-chi and karate are opposites and studying both makes for a balanced view. Tai-chi has allowed me to step outside of karate - to view it from the outside, in much the same way as you need to step outside your house to fully appreciate all of it. From the inside only, you do not have a complete view of it. And this act of stepping outside afforded me a chance to see karate from an entirely different viewpoint and to appreciate it even more.
lam now forty nine years old and l will tell you that my body is not as supple as it used to be ... it does not respond quite as quickly as it once did. This is a physiological reality and is perfectly normal, that's whywhy I adapt my karate to the needs of my body and Tai chi has been of great benefit to me. I have many students who did not start karate until around fifty yeas old and they all get along quite well-they could not fight the young men, making hard contact but then that is not their approach. Of course, young men need to train differently.

Next a question which I'm sure you have been asked before..... is your karate still 'pure Shotokan?'.
Yes, I have been asked this before and my answer is that 'Shotokan pure' does not exist - the J.K.A. (Japan Karate Association) practices a Shotokan, but it is a Shotokan of the J.K.A. and likewise, Ohshima (a famous teacher in Japan and an original disciple of Master Funakoshi Gichin Editor) practices a Shotokan and again it is his Shotokan. Each master has a different view, a different brain, a different comprehension of things - this is normal.
I have also been asked/accused of changing the Kata but there have always been differences in the performance of Kata. Not only the obvious style differences in the various ryu(schools), like when the same Kata is performed by the Shotokan, the Shitoryu and the Wadoryu, but also minor differences from how you interpret the move and also from your age and physical capabilities. In the Kata,Nijushiho,two side thrust kicks are performed ... a twenty year old may have no difficulty performing them but forty years later . . . how will it be then? The same technique cannot be expected of a sixty year old -rather he should just lift the leg, as the kick was originally done.Likewise, I have sometimes taught a roundhouse kick in the Kata 'Enpi'.I did this because no other Kata contains a standing roundhouse kick. I felt that the addition of this kick was beneficial - yet it did not change the basic concept of the kata.

As you mentioned them, what relationship do you have with the other karate styles in Japan?
A good relationship. I sometimes invite different style instructors to teach at my dojo, like Higaonna of the Goju-ryu and Yamaguchi Goshi of the Goju-kai, also a Sensei of the Shito-ryu has taught there ... Likewise I visit other ryu dojo and I occasionally teach at them. Everybody has good things - they must be shared. I tell my students that they must sometimes go to other styles dojo. Some organizations forbid this - this is a closed mind and only political thinking.

Have you developed any new techniques?
Yes, several. One example is my tsuki - this, I believe, has developed considerably since my younger days, but it happed sub-consciously - I mean. I was not thinking about it, it just automatically developed. I now have a double focus (kime) . . . physical focus first, then a speed focus, which gives a lot more shock. I did not realize what l was doing until it was pointed out to me by a very famous teacher in Japan, Mr. Matsuda Ryuchi, an authority on Chinese martial arts. He visited many karate H.Q's. in Japan and he wrote, in his observations that only two people had impressed him on his trouble- a Mr. lwai, lwai, a Goju-ryu and Wado-ryu sensei and myself. He told me that my punch was from Chinese Kempo, but I was unaware of that fact.

Do you feel that you still have further to go in your studies?
Yes! As long as I live ... things are never perfect, we must continue to learn. In the universe there is no limit - nor is there a limit to a person's mental capacity.

Do you think that karate in the West has 'caught up' with Japanese karate?
The standard of karate is universally high and the level is now equal worldwide. Unfortunately, there is one important aspect that has not developed along with the physical abilities and that is the philosophy of karate - this is a very neglected part of karate and this neglect is true not only in the West but also in Japan.

What do you feel is wrong with karate today?
I dislike and disagree with the trend that karate is viewed as and indeed has virtually become, merely a sport in many peoples eyes. The karate of the J K.A. (Kanazawa was formerly Chief Instructor of' the International Section of the J.K.A. Editor) has become a very hard karate - based essentially on competitive fighting. In such an environment, there is a tendency to practice only that which works in competitions and forget the rest. So it is a karate of force and therefore it becomes more and more elitist, suitable only for a particular group of karate-ka - the young, strong men. That is a contradiction of my basic idea, which is karate for all and for all your life.
Yet, I do agree with competitions and championships because they are excellent for developing certain mental and physical qualities in handling difficult situations. But this is only one part of karate . . . karate is not - must not - be only a sport, its a martial discipline which educates and strengthens the spirit. And, to repeat myself ... all the world should be able to practice karate,from children to old men.
As I have said, I am certainly not against a sporting side to karate but even here, I feel there is much room for change. Take the actual fighting system for example . . . this is a problem which many people connected with karate are aware of. For example after viewing two tournaments - one a karate event and the other, a Tae-Kwon Do championship, a senior instructor in Mexico - (where I was teaching upon the invitation of the Mexican Governments Sports Council) - told me that the latter had attracted a much bigger audience and also appeared much more exciting. The Tae-Kwon Do participants apparently were a lot more flamboyant - also they suffered a lot more injuries than did their karate counterparts. Whatever the reason for that particular unevenness, I do fee that in karate, the many kamae (on-guard positions) and the long waiting periods in between the fighting - sometimes this goes on for the full three minute match - are very boring to watch and are not interesting to the audience.
I believe to rectify this, we must be thinking about the next step in karate. Now Budo and sports are a mixture - we must make them separate again -we have not been thinking enough about their individual identities, only regarding them as one. In Budo, there is much philosophy but karate people engaged just in the sport do not have much philosophy or any such thoughts at all.

What do you think about Contact Karate?
Contact Karate like Western Boxing, is both very good and no good ... if you are young and strong and like that type of training it is very good but of course for older people, ladies and children it is no good.

Do you practice any weapons?
Yes, the Nunchaku and Sai ... I have also studied the Bo and Jo, but only briefly so I did not become as proficient with them as I would have liked. It has long been my plan to introduce the traditional weapons into my karate teachings. I believe that by studying the ancient weapons and their usage we can learn and re-capture, in a way, the spirit of the people who invented them - therefore they are of historical value as well as a good system of training.
As you know, I now teach the Nunchaku to all my black belt students, if they wish to learn and, as with all my teachings nowadays, I endeavour to pass on many different aspects - for example, I have found that the Nunchaku, used lightly and on the correct vital points of the body can act as a form of massage. Also of course. to further this line of thinking, Nunchaku obviously promote good health, because to use the weapon correctly required a lot of concentration and the development of good reactions. Finally, I have developed a good sporting aspect to the Nunchaku and using special nunchaku - the design of which I have patented in Japan - and full protective equipment, similar in appearance to that of Kendo only lighter, I will soon introduce a new sport which I think people will find very enjoyable.

What are your future plans?
I get tired with so much traveling but so many people want me to teach all over the world - I can only refuse people for so long - I now have fresh invitations from Africa and Australia ... Yes, I shall continue to utilize and pass on to my students my knowledge of the martial arts that I have gained over the years.
It is also my desire to build up my own Organisation but, and this is an important consideration, I would not like it to become so big that I could no longer oversee the development of my students. The karate population now is very very big and organisations can become so big they can not politically control ... it is very important to me that all my students, the World over, understand the philosophy of karate and budo.


My philosophy is that I try always to be true to myself and to others ... I can say that I fear nothing - not even death, and this I do not say in a big-headed or conceited way. My meaning is that I always try my best in everything I do, so I will be satisfied when I do die - I think the reason that people fear death is because they want to do and accomplish so many other things that are still undone . . . they always want to do more.
Also, I truly believe that life continues after physical death - all life continues ... life is a circle.

Excerpted from Back to