Budokan Newsletter

April 2010     

Quote of the month:

“If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?”- Dogen Zenji

Ten Reasons Traditional Karate is Effective for Self Defense

By Daniel Hovley

1.  Learning how to strike. 
-The mechanics of a punch and a kick are a little more complex than just balling up your fist and throwing away.  Without an understanding of how to strike, a person has a good chance of throwing ineffective blows and even injuring themselves in the process. 
2.  Power.
-While I do mean that strikes will be stronger.  People with martial art training gain confidence in their abilities to defend themselves and an understanding of the importance of posture.  Each of these characteristics can be just as powerful as a well timed punch.  A person with confidence and good "posture/presence" without doing much else will appear more powerful.   
3.  Muscle memory from drills.
-The repetition from drills and forms build muscle memory.  In a self defense situation a person won't have to think about the mechanics of how they want their body to work.
4.  Balance.
-movement through the drills and forms helps develop an increased ability to move one's body while maintaining good balance and position even in surprise/unknown situations
5.  Conditioning (wind).
-watching fights on tv, in movies, and in video games give a false sense of how tiring a fight can be.  Even quick fights can leave someone much more "winded" than they might expect. 

6. Conditioning (body).
-How a person receives a blow can be just as important as giving one.  Conditioning in this way will limit the pain and damage your opponent can inflict.  This training can cause one's opponent to injure themselves.  
7.  Maintaining proper distance from opponent.
-Someone may be a powerful kicker or striker, but if they are too close or too far away they will be ineffective.  Drills and sparring will their personal distance and how to read striking distance of others.
8.  Quickness and effectiveness of techniques. 
-The philosophy "one punch, one kill" is apparent.  The techniques taught are to end the fight quickly and effectively.  
9.  The use of large muscle groups to avoid adrenaline and other factors affecting technique.
-the majority of the techniques don't rely on "catching" or small digit manipulation that can be very easy to miss. 
10. Awareness. 
-The training deals with the reality fighting more than one person and dealing with surprise attackers.  
11. Your going to look awesome.
-pretty self-explanatory

Important Dates:

-April 17th Jujutsu Test  3-4:30 pm (Nate A., Karsten C., and Josh H.)  Come Show Your Support!

-April 24th Japanese Cultural Festival Salt Lake City

www.nihonmatsuri.org

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www.budokanutah.com/photo

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