FULL TRANSLATION FROM RUSSIAN, PLEASE LIKE SO THAT PEOPLE CAN FULLY ENJOY THIS AMAZING FOOTAGE AND UNDERSTAND THE BEAUITIFUL WORDS OF SENSEI KAGAWA, THANK YOU! OSU! TIME 00:02: The world of Japanese Karate is a bright and very dangerous place, which is full of people with many medals, titles and honors. Yet even among these Masters there are those who would make you feel like you just stood in front of an Olympian god. TIME 00:18: Today our hero is one of those people Masao Kagawa, 8th Dan, Chief instructor of Japan Shotorennimei, 4 time champion of Japan and World champion. We met with this legendary person inside the comfortable “Shiki” restaurant surrounded by friends where we could have a conversation. Regardless of his tremendous popularity in Japan, Sensei Kagawa remains very humble and dislikes talking about himself. TIME 00:43: Naturally our conversation centered around Karate, after all his life is Karate and Karate is his life. Sensei Kagawa was born in 1955 in Osaka city, he started training Karate in his early youth and his first teacher was his brother. During his long Karate life Sensei Kagawa has achieved a lot, he has walked a very long and arduous path, carving his way in Japanese and World Karate. Now things have changed tremendously, the world has changed and so has Karate. Traditional styles of Karate which propagate the discipline of an individual’s character by practicing martial arts. A big focus is also the sports side of Karate which has separated into different styles, with their own specifics, philosophy and techniques. Often disputing between one style and another we forget that sometimes we should stop and simply listen in order to find an answer to the most important question of all “What IS Karate of the Japanese Sensei?” TIME 01:49: SENSEI KAGAWA: “There is a big difference between Karate as a sport and Karate as a traditional Martial Art. Karate as a sport is but a part of traditional Karate, please understand when I say, that I am glad Karate is developing in this direction. Now there many styles and directions of Karate, for example do you know that Karate now exists as a fitness class, people do it in order to keep themselves healthy. But real Karate is that which you find in your heart. In general people are weak and they always strive to defend themselves and real Karate concentrates the power of your soul and your heart. In order to practice Karate you need to feel and understand not only yourself and your heart but also the heart and soul of your opponent. And in this way you will be able to respect those people that walk with you on your path. Exactly that is the reason why in Karate there is such focus on Ritual, that’s a basic and inseparable part of Japanese culture and tradition. This is part of me, of my students, it is that part which allows us to remain Japanese and correctly understand Karate. The acknowledgement that Karate is our national style of combat helps us become stronger as a nation. You must always remember, the true aim of Karate is to make your soul stronger. It is very difficult to train and practice every day and sometimes people think to themselves ‘I can’t practice today, I am tired’ but you must not let your weaknesses control you. If you don’t have willpower, you will never be able to understand real Karate. This must be inside your soul. There are two sides of a soul, one side strives to do things with all its strength, do things carefully. The other side is always lazy, and those two sides constantly combat one another. And when the part which tells you that you need training wins, it will help you work on your Karate every day.” TIME 03:40: Sensei Kagawa demonstrates Sochin Kata, translated from Japanese, this kata means manly, courage, strength and it is the favorite Kata of Sensei Kagawa. Demonstrating it he won a number of competitions and you must admit, there is something symbolic in it as it encompasses the life and spirit of this man. TIME 04:29: The split between Karate as a sport and traditional Karate is so big that overcoming it is impossible. The truth is that there is too big a difference between the views and the understandings of those who practice the different forms of Karate. An in this confusing world Sensei Kagawa keeps going. His methods of training karate and his position of Chief Instructor of the Japanese Karate Federation (JKF), are the highest example of Karate not as a sport, but as a way of disciplining and developing a true Japanese character. Much of this is difficult to understand for people who have no notion of the development of old traditions, the Nakayama way, teacher and champion of which is now Sensei Kagawa. TIME 05:22: But let us observe with our own eyes what is Old Shotokan Karate, which was propagated by the Japanese Karate Association (JKA), Karate which many critics now call no contact Karate. But we will not skip steps, now you are seeing the 1984 Japanese final, where Sensei Masao Kagawa met another legends of Japanese Karate Hideo Ymamoto. Many Karate critics consider this fight to be one of the most uncompromising in all the history of Shotokan Karate. The time period when Chief instructor of the JKA was Masatoshi Nakayama is considered to be the Golden Age in the history of Karate. The spirit of the Samurai in combination with incredible technical ability and individual mastery is the reason why this style of Karate is rightfully considered to be the king of all Japanese Karate. TIME 09:03: In spite of the fact that Sensei Kagawa lost, this fight can serve as an example of that uncompromising spirit that ruled during that time in a Shotokan Dojo. Rushing forward I must say that I might not be able to understand the Karate of Sensei Kagawa and answer the load of questions were it not for another meeting with Sensei Kagawa which took place in Tokyo. I am sure many viewers of our channel have seen our “Dan-Test” series, as a result of which we were able to capture video images of something no European man has ever been able to capture. This is the footage you are seeing right now and during this time I was able to observe the total authority of Sensei Kagawa in the Dojo as well as in life. Regardless of his inner strength and physical ability, not once did I hear him raise his voice, which we must confess happens all too often in our own Russian Dojo’s. That it is, the fundamental difference in Karate.
OSS!!! sensei kagawa. A taste to see sensei, does not give scholarships to go to Japan to practice karate? I am of Argentinean of a quite poor place, furthermore I am not young.
funny, I just saw a video of Chinzo Machida beating the crap out of a MT fighter...knocked the other guy down with a basic gyaku tsuki, sen-no-sen, then finished the fight with punches on the ground...guess you haven't heard about Andy Hug, Francisco Filho,etc? they're kyokushin but still is karate...
FULL TRANSLATION FROM RUSSIAN, PLEASE LIKE SO THAT PEOPLE CAN FULLY ENJOY THIS AMAZING FOOTAGE AND UNDERSTAND THE BEAUITIFUL WORDS OF SENSEI KAGAWA, THANK YOU! OSU!
TIME 00:02: The world of Japanese Karate is a bright and very dangerous place, which is full of people with many medals, titles and honors. Yet even among these Masters there are those who would make you feel like you just stood in front of an Olympian god.
TIME 00:18: Today our hero is one of those people Masao Kagawa, 8th Dan, Chief instructor of Japan Shotorennimei, 4 time champion of Japan and World champion. We met with this legendary person inside the comfortable “Shiki” restaurant surrounded by friends where we could have a conversation. Regardless of his tremendous popularity in Japan, Sensei Kagawa remains very humble and dislikes talking about himself.
TIME 00:43: Naturally our conversation centered around Karate, after all his life is Karate and Karate is his life. Sensei Kagawa was born in 1955 in Osaka city, he started training Karate in his early youth and his first teacher was his brother. During his long Karate life Sensei Kagawa has achieved a lot, he has walked a very long and arduous path, carving his way in Japanese and World Karate. Now things have changed tremendously, the world has changed and so has Karate. Traditional styles of Karate which propagate the discipline of an individual’s character by practicing martial arts. A big focus is also the sports side of Karate which has separated into different styles, with their own specifics, philosophy and techniques. Often disputing between one style and another we forget that sometimes we should stop and simply listen in order to find an answer to the most important question of all “What IS Karate of the Japanese Sensei?”
TIME 01:49: SENSEI KAGAWA: “There is a big difference between Karate as a sport and Karate as a traditional Martial Art. Karate as a sport is but a part of traditional Karate, please understand when I say, that I am glad Karate is developing in this direction. Now there many styles and directions of Karate, for example do you know that Karate now exists as a fitness class, people do it in order to keep themselves healthy. But real Karate is that which you find in your heart. In general people are weak and they always strive to defend themselves and real Karate concentrates the power of your soul and your heart. In order to practice Karate you need to feel and understand not only yourself and your heart but also the heart and soul of your opponent. And in this way you will be able to respect those people that walk with you on your path. Exactly that is the reason why in Karate there is such focus on Ritual, that’s a basic and inseparable part of Japanese culture and tradition. This is part of me, of my students, it is that part which allows us to remain Japanese and correctly understand Karate. The acknowledgement that Karate is our national style of combat helps us become stronger as a nation. You must always remember, the true aim of Karate is to make your soul stronger. It is very difficult to train and practice every day and sometimes people think to themselves ‘I can’t practice today, I am tired’ but you must not let your weaknesses control you. If you don’t have willpower, you will never be able to understand real Karate. This must be inside your soul. There are two sides of a soul, one side strives to do things with all its strength, do things carefully. The other side is always lazy, and those two sides constantly combat one another. And when the part which tells you that you need training wins, it will help you work on your Karate every day.”
TIME 03:40: Sensei Kagawa demonstrates Sochin Kata, translated from Japanese, this kata means manly, courage, strength and it is the favorite Kata of Sensei Kagawa. Demonstrating it he won a number of competitions and you must admit, there is something symbolic in it as it encompasses the life and spirit of this man.
TIME 04:29: The split between Karate as a sport and traditional Karate is so big that overcoming it is impossible. The truth is that there is too big a difference between the views and the understandings of those who practice the different forms of Karate. An in this confusing world Sensei Kagawa keeps going. His methods of training karate and his position of Chief Instructor of the Japanese Karate Federation (JKF), are the highest example of Karate not as a sport, but as a way of disciplining and developing a true Japanese character. Much of this is difficult to understand for people who have no notion of the development of old traditions, the Nakayama way, teacher and champion of which is now Sensei Kagawa.
TIME 05:22: But let us observe with our own eyes what is Old Shotokan Karate, which was propagated by the Japanese Karate Association (JKA), Karate which many critics now call no contact Karate. But we will not skip steps, now you are seeing the 1984 Japanese final, where Sensei Masao Kagawa met another legends of Japanese Karate Hideo Ymamoto. Many Karate critics consider this fight to be one of the most uncompromising in all the history of Shotokan Karate. The time period when Chief instructor of the JKA was Masatoshi Nakayama is considered to be the Golden Age in the history of Karate. The spirit of the Samurai in combination with incredible technical ability and individual mastery is the reason why this style of Karate is rightfully considered to be the king of all Japanese Karate.
TIME 09:03: In spite of the fact that Sensei Kagawa lost, this fight can serve as an example of that uncompromising spirit that ruled during that time in a Shotokan Dojo. Rushing forward I must say that I might not be able to understand the Karate of Sensei Kagawa and answer the load of questions were it not for another meeting with Sensei Kagawa which took place in Tokyo. I am sure many viewers of our channel have seen our “Dan-Test” series, as a result of which we were able to capture video images of something no European man has ever been able to capture. This is the footage you are seeing right now and during this time I was able to observe the total authority of Sensei Kagawa in the Dojo as well as in life. Regardless of his inner strength and physical ability, not once did I hear him raise his voice, which we must confess happens all too often in our own Russian Dojo’s. That it is, the fundamental difference in Karate.
Спасибо, что делитесь с нами!
OSS!!! sensei kagawa. A taste to see sensei, does not give scholarships to go to Japan to practice karate? I am of Argentinean of a quite poor place, furthermore I am not young.
Ruh-oh, someone just got back from their 2nd Muay Thai class and is feeling feisty.
Why did Kagawa leave the JKA?
funny, I just saw a video of Chinzo Machida beating the crap out of a MT fighter...knocked the other guy down with a basic gyaku tsuki, sen-no-sen, then finished the fight with punches on the ground...guess you haven't heard about Andy Hug, Francisco Filho,etc? they're kyokushin but still is karate...
no shame in training under kagawa