Ah, what a beautiful comment, Michele! Truly the way is long for us all - there is a depth to Goju that makes it so special, and a worthy lifetime study. Thank you so much for watching and commenting 🙇🏻♀️
A wonderful video by Sensei Che, that links Hojo Undo to Kata and bunkai - which gives meaning to the Gojuryu System and context for doing what we do in the dojo. Chi-Ishi come in various sizes and weights, the long one in the Video trains the entire arm, should and back muscles, the small one we'd use to train the wrist - I think this illustrates the intricacy of Gojuryu training as a system, and also that of Sensei Che's dojo to have both sizes on demo (lots of people have demonstrated/tried the large one, not so the small one (I've only seen them in Sensei Higaonna's home dojo years ago).My sensei used to teach this: During the Chi-Ishi exercises, one should also grip the handle of the Chi-Ishi tightly, in-order to train gripping power at the same time, also we were trained to slow down on the last part of the action of lifting the Chi-Ishi upright, thus relying on the forearm's and the wrist's rotational strength rather than momentum of the swinging Chi-Ishi to complete the exercise. Sensei Che covered some aspects of Ageuke, showing how it could be a parry, deflection with muchimi - yes, Gojuryu traditionally didn't have the Jamming upper block that we now find in the Geki-Sai series Kata. The Geki-Sai katas were only created in 1940, with the view of creating unified/universal Kata that covered techniques from different traditions, hence Chojun Miyagi Sensei incorporated the Ageuke that we see often in Shotokan/Shorin Ryu. The only Ageuke in the other Gojuryu kaishugata is really the open-palmed pull found in Seiyunchin, a technique that intercepts and drags the opponent's arm rather than a jam (as Sensei Che pointed out). Anyway, raising one's arm to block something coming at our face, is almost an instinctive response that even untrained people will resort to without ever spending a day in the dojo, so I think it pays to build on this instinctive response and make it into a robust form of defense/offence. We were taught to make the Ageuke posture with the forearm at a slight angle (not horizontal) twisting the forearm into position upon the final approach, then end with a little drag/muchimi for the last two inches.....also, we were taught to emphasize using the power of the upper arm to do the raising, so that overall this block is applied more as a parry towards the side of the head. Anyway, we'd also train this block while holding the ishi-sashi or the Chi-Ishi.
I am so bleak at myself for missing this thorough and informative comment! Truly, the instinct to lift a hand to protect the face really should be drilled and refined. With the little ones, we bop them over the head with a lollipop (pool noodle with conduit through it) and teach them to work that reflex and get it faster and stronger. In conjunction with that, they use 500g (aprox 18oz) chishi to start building those neural pathways and all the other wonderful things that come with chishi. If I had to choose one piece of hoju undo to do for the rest of my life, it would absolutely be the chishi.
Hi Che and Zoe, Appreciated the muscle and bone illustrations! Also, seeing a familiar name was a pleasant surprise! Happily, there is a 2 pound sledge available. We also have a 16 pound sledge hammer nicknamed "Arnold" for beating on a large tractor tire. Merry [almost] Christmas! Terry.
The best chishi is the one that's available to you! Glad the anatomy instructions were useful - Ché's degree (with a year of anatomy) came in handy for this one. Merry almost Christmas!
Thank you so much for this video. When Sensei Che said: "Chi-ishi is Karate training" a big smile on my face appeared. I absolutely LOVE practicing with my Chi-ishi. It's my favorite Hojo Undo tool and since I made one for myself there's an extra connection to it. 🙂
I can train for ages with my chishi, and one of my favourite personal training routines is to alternate sets of chishi exercises with kata. Ideal when I'm training alone, because if I don't have a blueprint, I just faff and waste time 😅 The chishi you make is the one you'll treasure, and making your own already is proof that you have what it takes to get to the top of the karate mountain :)
Thank you Sensei and Deshi for your continued hard work. Once a again a great watch. Missing classes already.... Thank you Sensei Zoë for you hard work and editing. Sending love to all. 💗💪🥰
Ah, thank you so much, Barbs! We miss you too, and the dojo will be open again soon soon! Get lots of rest, because 2022 will hopefully be more like 2019 💪🏻
Greetings from Oz, y'all! Thankyou, Senseis (and deshi) for yet ANOTHER edifying clip. Wonderful idea to correlate hojo undo with kihon/kata, and REALLY appreciate the anatomical/physiological exposition, and the insightful editorial additions provided by Zoë... i learn something from you guys every time i watch, and love the purity of what GRKC 'brings to the table'. Have been pondering the pros/cons of including light chiishi drills as regular part of training for our kiddles, and you've convinced me we should. And breathlessly atremble in anticipation of ANYthing you might do on Suparinpei! Dow'nunder we call chiishi (and axe handles) 'aussie memory sticks'... one whack with that and they never forget THAT bad choice (memory stick is aussie slanguage for a usb drive). Hoping you good folk enjoy a safe, blessed, peace-and-joy filled CHRISTmas!
Ah, thank you so much, Sensei Jed! Your comments bring great joy to our hearts, each time! We start the kiddies from age 5 with very light, 500g chishi, and over the years we have seen a wonderful improvement in strength, coordination and proprioception. It is a bit more demanding to teach because they can default to lazy chishi form, and injuries can happen with a weight flying through the air, but overall, the benefits are amazing! Seeing a kid upgrade to a heavier weight never ceases to delight. Ché made all the ones in our dojo himself - he bought plate weights from scrap yards and pawn shops and then made dozens of them on the lathe. Wishing you a most delightful, beautiful and blessed Christmas! We're hoping for sun (it's been gray and rainy here, boooo) but most importantly, we hope to all sit together again 🎄
@@GojuRyuKarateCentre you must be burning th'midnight oil! 'Flying chiishi'! Great title for a 70's kungfu movie! The joy is reciprocal, trust me. Yes... it was Ché's weight-plate chiishi that prompted me to evolve from the futility and frustration of many too many failed attempts with concrete. I'm exploring the use of industrial hose clamps and 'clip on' barbell collars to enable adjustable weight with minimal number of handles. Works great with weight up to about 7.5kg, but not sure i'd trust the rig much heavier than that. Also allows for adapting to having the weight in the centre of the handle alà traditional lifting stone for two-handed drills....
Chishi may have come from those objects, but I guarantee the creation itself (putting those objects together) was influenced by Indian Clubs, which had spread far and wide by this time, and we know Okinawan was a huge trading country with many, many countries.
Definitely! We are seeing the resurgence of mace training now, and the weighted lever is a true classic. We actually have a baseball bat filled with lead in our dojo to mimic the club. Thank you so much for weighing in and sharing your insight, much appreciated!
Thank you for a very interesting and informative video. I believe that hojo undo would help develop a strong healthy body even if you don’t practice Karate Kind regards
Definitely! Sensei Miyagi would make his students do tons of hojo undo before he believed their bodies were ready for the demands of the kata - a strong body is essential even without the kata! Personally, hojo undo is my favourite way to practice karate on my own - I like doing kata with other people. Thank you for the comment! - Zoë
How much training would you recommend before starting hojo undo? Should a student be familiar with several kata beforehand, or can they start with lightweight chishi without much experience (a couple months maybe)?
A wonderful question! We introduce chishi right from the beginning, as it supports the basics of karate. We start with our 5 year olds and very light weights, as it has massive coordination benefits for them. Ideally, you should start under the watchful eye of a Sensei to make sure your form is good, but the wonderful thing is that chishi allows serious practice at home without needing much space. I would recommend using a mirror to check your posture and stance as you go. Sensei Miyagi put hojo undo before kata, as hojo undo provides the strength needed to perform goju katas at their correct speed and power. So start with a lightweight, and work steadily! As Michael Clarke writes in his book The Art of Hojo Undo: be honest in your efforts and realistic in your expectations. Arigato!
It was recorded that the first year of Karate under Kanryo Higaonna and Chojun Miyagi would be primarily focused on Hojo Undo, makiwara, basic techniques of kicking punching and moving (kihon waza) and Sanchin, other high level Kata was introduced only subsequently when the students were deemed fit enough. Each series of moves in a Kata would be accompanied by a corresponding set of Chi-Ishi exercises to make the techniques effective. But therefore the progression in terms of Kata learnt was slow but the depth of training would be substantial. If you trained the Hojo-Undo (Chi-Ishi etc) the Bunkai sort of becomes apparent. That later had to change because they were teaching middle-school kids with only a limited number of years in school- and so Kata training was simplified to be separated from the corresponding Chi-ishi training, and the first year of body conditioning and strengthening was reduced, and became simultaneously taught with general Hojo Undo (like a weights training regime). So, like Sensei Che's dojo, traditional Gojuryu dojos will teach Hojo-Undo with Sanchin and Geki-Sai right at the beginning, as it was the tradition and it supports the Kata syllabus.
Every comment a gem! I only started getting explosive power in my kata when I increased the amount of chishi and kongoken in my training. I wish I had had it from the beginning, but my very small university dojo had no hojo undo equipment. And with kids being more sedentary, we've found that more hojo undo has led to better kata. Thank you for the history, @Matthew S 108! -Zoë
Sensei Zoe made magic with all the editing
I've been doing goju since 1987, but watching your video, I understand that the Way is still so long. Thanks Sensei!
Ah, what a beautiful comment, Michele! Truly the way is long for us all - there is a depth to Goju that makes it so special, and a worthy lifetime study. Thank you so much for watching and commenting 🙇🏻♀️
Do mugen... endlessness IS The Way (there is no spoon, Neo)
A wonderful video by Sensei Che, that links Hojo Undo to Kata and bunkai - which gives meaning to the Gojuryu System and context for doing what we do in the dojo. Chi-Ishi come in various sizes and weights, the long one in the Video trains the entire arm, should and back muscles, the small one we'd use to train the wrist - I think this illustrates the intricacy of Gojuryu training as a system, and also that of Sensei Che's dojo to have both sizes on demo (lots of people have demonstrated/tried the large one, not so the small one (I've only seen them in Sensei Higaonna's home dojo years ago).My sensei used to teach this: During the Chi-Ishi exercises, one should also grip the handle of the Chi-Ishi tightly, in-order to train gripping power at the same time, also we were trained to slow down on the last part of the action of lifting the Chi-Ishi upright, thus relying on the forearm's and the wrist's rotational strength rather than momentum of the swinging Chi-Ishi to complete the exercise.
Sensei Che covered some aspects of Ageuke, showing how it could be a parry, deflection with muchimi - yes, Gojuryu traditionally didn't have the Jamming upper block that we now find in the Geki-Sai series Kata. The Geki-Sai katas were only created in 1940, with the view of creating unified/universal Kata that covered techniques from different traditions, hence Chojun Miyagi Sensei incorporated the Ageuke that we see often in Shotokan/Shorin Ryu. The only Ageuke in the other Gojuryu kaishugata is really the open-palmed pull found in Seiyunchin, a technique that intercepts and drags the opponent's arm rather than a jam (as Sensei Che pointed out). Anyway, raising one's arm to block something coming at our face, is almost an instinctive response that even untrained people will resort to without ever spending a day in the dojo, so I think it pays to build on this instinctive response and make it into a robust form of defense/offence. We were taught to make the Ageuke posture with the forearm at a slight angle (not horizontal) twisting the forearm into position upon the final approach, then end with a little drag/muchimi for the last two inches.....also, we were taught to emphasize using the power of the upper arm to do the raising, so that overall this block is applied more as a parry towards the side of the head. Anyway, we'd also train this block while holding the ishi-sashi or the Chi-Ishi.
I am so bleak at myself for missing this thorough and informative comment!
Truly, the instinct to lift a hand to protect the face really should be drilled and refined. With the little ones, we bop them over the head with a lollipop (pool noodle with conduit through it) and teach them to work that reflex and get it faster and stronger. In conjunction with that, they use 500g (aprox 18oz) chishi to start building those neural pathways and all the other wonderful things that come with chishi. If I had to choose one piece of hoju undo to do for the rest of my life, it would absolutely be the chishi.
OSS. Nice the mention that concept, the inmobility of the elbow.
Love the chishi, and any video where I get to throw in anatomy pics 🤣
Hi Che and Zoe, Appreciated the muscle and bone illustrations! Also, seeing a familiar name was a pleasant surprise! Happily, there is a 2 pound sledge available. We also have a 16 pound sledge hammer nicknamed "Arnold" for beating on a large tractor tire. Merry [almost] Christmas! Terry.
The best chishi is the one that's available to you! Glad the anatomy instructions were useful - Ché's degree (with a year of anatomy) came in handy for this one.
Merry almost Christmas!
Thanck youuu sense,this will help many karatikas to understand kata,next time🙏
Thank you for the kind words, Mounir! We are always so happy to hear that our channel is useful to karate-Ka all over the world 🗺
Thank you so much for this video. When Sensei Che said: "Chi-ishi is Karate training" a big smile on my face appeared. I absolutely LOVE practicing with my Chi-ishi. It's my favorite Hojo Undo tool and since I made one for myself there's an extra connection to it. 🙂
I can train for ages with my chishi, and one of my favourite personal training routines is to alternate sets of chishi exercises with kata. Ideal when I'm training alone, because if I don't have a blueprint, I just faff and waste time 😅
The chishi you make is the one you'll treasure, and making your own already is proof that you have what it takes to get to the top of the karate mountain :)
Thank you Sensei and Deshi for your continued hard work. Once a again a great watch. Missing classes already.... Thank you Sensei Zoë for you hard work and editing. Sending love to all. 💗💪🥰
Ah, thank you so much, Barbs! We miss you too, and the dojo will be open again soon soon! Get lots of rest, because 2022 will hopefully be more like 2019 💪🏻
Greetings from Oz, y'all! Thankyou, Senseis (and deshi) for yet ANOTHER edifying clip. Wonderful idea to correlate hojo undo with kihon/kata, and REALLY appreciate the anatomical/physiological exposition, and the insightful editorial additions provided by Zoë... i learn something from you guys every time i watch, and love the purity of what GRKC 'brings to the table'. Have been pondering the pros/cons of including light chiishi drills as regular part of training for our kiddles, and you've convinced me we should. And breathlessly atremble in anticipation of ANYthing you might do on Suparinpei! Dow'nunder we call chiishi (and axe handles) 'aussie memory sticks'... one whack with that and they never forget THAT bad choice (memory stick is aussie slanguage for a usb drive). Hoping you good folk enjoy a safe, blessed, peace-and-joy filled CHRISTmas!
Ah, thank you so much, Sensei Jed! Your comments bring great joy to our hearts, each time!
We start the kiddies from age 5 with very light, 500g chishi, and over the years we have seen a wonderful improvement in strength, coordination and proprioception. It is a bit more demanding to teach because they can default to lazy chishi form, and injuries can happen with a weight flying through the air, but overall, the benefits are amazing! Seeing a kid upgrade to a heavier weight never ceases to delight. Ché made all the ones in our dojo himself - he bought plate weights from scrap yards and pawn shops and then made dozens of them on the lathe.
Wishing you a most delightful, beautiful and blessed Christmas! We're hoping for sun (it's been gray and rainy here, boooo) but most importantly, we hope to all sit together again 🎄
@@GojuRyuKarateCentre you must be burning th'midnight oil! 'Flying chiishi'! Great title for a 70's kungfu movie! The joy is reciprocal, trust me. Yes... it was Ché's weight-plate chiishi that prompted me to evolve from the futility and frustration of many too many failed attempts with concrete. I'm exploring the use of industrial hose clamps and 'clip on' barbell collars to enable adjustable weight with minimal number of handles. Works great with weight up to about 7.5kg, but not sure i'd trust the rig much heavier than that. Also allows for adapting to having the weight in the centre of the handle alà traditional lifting stone for two-handed drills....
@@GojuRyuKarateCentre oh... and hoping Ma Gaia gifts you'n'yours with sunshine for your clan's hearth gathering
As usual a brilliant video and explanation, gave me lots of food for thought. Merry Christmas
You are so welcome, Steve! Chishi is the gift that keeps on giving 🎁
Merry Christmas! Wishing you a safe and joyful festive season 🙇🏻♀️
Thanks for another great video! Love what you're doing with your channel.
Ah, thank you so much for the kind words! We do our best to make Goju Ryu accessible and interesting 🙇🏻♀️
Chishi may have come from those objects, but I guarantee the creation itself (putting those objects together) was influenced by Indian Clubs, which had spread far and wide by this time, and we know Okinawan was a huge trading country with many, many countries.
Definitely! We are seeing the resurgence of mace training now, and the weighted lever is a true classic. We actually have a baseball bat filled with lead in our dojo to mimic the club.
Thank you so much for weighing in and sharing your insight, much appreciated!
Thank you for a very interesting and informative video.
I believe that hojo undo would help develop a strong healthy body even if you don’t practice Karate
Kind regards
Definitely! Sensei Miyagi would make his students do tons of hojo undo before he believed their bodies were ready for the demands of the kata - a strong body is essential even without the kata!
Personally, hojo undo is my favourite way to practice karate on my own - I like doing kata with other people.
Thank you for the comment!
- Zoë
cool🧐
Thank you, Mr Muzzy!
Bunkai of chiishi is when you hit somebody with a chiishi. Osu!
The best bunkai! OSU!
HI
You Need to open up classes on Zoom
You are very kind to say that, Tristan! We might start offering Zoom seminars next year - please watch this space 🙇🏻♀️
How much training would you recommend before starting hojo undo? Should a student be familiar with several kata beforehand, or can they start with lightweight chishi without much experience (a couple months maybe)?
A wonderful question!
We introduce chishi right from the beginning, as it supports the basics of karate. We start with our 5 year olds and very light weights, as it has massive coordination benefits for them.
Ideally, you should start under the watchful eye of a Sensei to make sure your form is good, but the wonderful thing is that chishi allows serious practice at home without needing much space. I would recommend using a mirror to check your posture and stance as you go.
Sensei Miyagi put hojo undo before kata, as hojo undo provides the strength needed to perform goju katas at their correct speed and power.
So start with a lightweight, and work steadily! As Michael Clarke writes in his book The Art of Hojo Undo: be honest in your efforts and realistic in your expectations.
Arigato!
@@GojuRyuKarateCentre Sensei, thank you for the thoughtful answer and all the great videos!
You are so welcome! Long may your training last 💪🏻
It was recorded that the first year of Karate under Kanryo Higaonna and Chojun Miyagi would be primarily focused on Hojo Undo, makiwara, basic techniques of kicking punching and moving (kihon waza) and Sanchin, other high level Kata was introduced only subsequently when the students were deemed fit enough. Each series of moves in a Kata would be accompanied by a corresponding set of Chi-Ishi exercises to make the techniques effective. But therefore the progression in terms of Kata learnt was slow but the depth of training would be substantial. If you trained the Hojo-Undo (Chi-Ishi etc) the Bunkai sort of becomes apparent.
That later had to change because they were teaching middle-school kids with only a limited number of years in school- and so Kata training was simplified to be separated from the corresponding Chi-ishi training, and the first year of body conditioning and strengthening was reduced, and became simultaneously taught with general Hojo Undo (like a weights training regime). So, like Sensei Che's dojo, traditional Gojuryu dojos will teach Hojo-Undo with Sanchin and Geki-Sai right at the beginning, as it was the tradition and it supports the Kata syllabus.
Every comment a gem!
I only started getting explosive power in my kata when I increased the amount of chishi and kongoken in my training. I wish I had had it from the beginning, but my very small university dojo had no hojo undo equipment.
And with kids being more sedentary, we've found that more hojo undo has led to better kata.
Thank you for the history, @Matthew S 108!
-Zoë
HELLO
Hi, Senna!
Hi Che can I send you a private message?
Hello!
Yes, of course - please drop us an email at dojo@grkc1978.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Che Can I send you a private message ?
Hello!
Of course - our email address is dojo@grkc1978.com. Looking forward to hearing from you!
HI
Hello, Senna 👏🏻