Kotikitae question

[SAN-DAI-RYU]

They still however use a used tire to train their sokusens (toe kicks)

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this is the best and but safe way to train the toes. I have made east training per decades and is a way to train sokusen without hurting itself.

[jorvik]

I have always wondered how that training came about .in China they wear shoes .so what possible use could it be to toughen your toes??....did this originate in Okinawa where they wear sandals

[Bill Glasheen]

That's easy, Ray.

A sokusen is actually a more practical kick with your shoe on. It's difficult to pull your toes back in a shoe. Instead, it's easier just to use the strength of the shoe, and hit with the tip. Anyone with a half-baked sokusen can kick with the tip of a decent shoe.

- Bill

[jorvik]

....but if you are going to wear shoes why do you have to harden your toes

[f.Channell]

Ray,

Your in your bed and you hear a bump and voices downstairs.

You going to put on your steel toed boots?

Hopefully you load a clip, fire, and toe kick the corpse to make sure their dead

Besides, the type of tire training Carlos is talking about also develops the ankles, and absorbing impact.

I plan on one of those for the yard this summer.

F.

[Bill Glasheen]

....but if you are going to wear shoes why do you have to harden your toes

Because KISS works when performing under stress.

It is my personal philosophy in teaching martial arts to get more from less the way a RISC computer does speedy calculations from a parsimonious assembly language.

A sokusen works with or without shoe on. You teach one thing, and teach it well. Maybe you'll never get great at punching holes in sheet rock with your bare toes. But that same foot orientation can provide you with an effective weapon when you are most likely to be attacked - with your shoes on.

It's also a mindset and an attitude in the root system. Concentrate your force on as small a surface area as possible.

FWIW, it also makes your whole lower leg stronger, healthier, and even better looking. Anything that makes you stronger and more coordinated is a good thing - providing you don't damage yourself in the process.

- Bill

[SAN-DAI-RYU]

http://www.okinawabbtv.com/internationa ... eiryu.html

it watches when finalizing the kata, with or without shoes, you need a prepared foot this way, to be able to hit with great power without hurting your foot

[jorvik]

I have never heard of Chinese stylists doing this did Kanei bring this from China or was it a later Okinawan practise?

[Bill Glasheen]

I'm pretty certain Uechi Ryu's sokusen is of Chinese origin, Ray. It's actually a rarity on both Okinawa and Japan. Many "karate" systems weeded the technique out of older kata in favor of a ball-of-foot front kick.

It's quite similar to Miyagi Chojun changing Sanchin kata to a closed-fisted exercise. Even their original Sanchin - introduced to Okinawa by Higaonna Kanryo - was an open-handed variety.

- Bill

[jorvik]

I have a book showing the practice of standing on your toes barefoot...........rather like a ballet dancer does it. I was only today thinking about how much in Uechi has been changed in recent years. In the US you have much closer links to teachers in Okinawa than we do here and there are many things that are shown here as traditional which are in fact modern additions.
I can think of a couple of different things from different sources.
one is body conditioning, it wasn't done as hard or as much as we see now, also Sanchin has changed ( even in Uechi),,,,,the guiding hand on the Wauke is a modern addition...then of course there are differences in the Big three kata recently pointed out master Toyama does them differently.......and of course the fourth kata .....so that is basically where my question is coming from, just showing you the thought process.it's not an attack on the practice, I'm just thinking out loud

[f.Channell]

The toe kick might be an Okinawan thing.

Most famous for it is Arakaki Ankichi.

His toe position is different from ours. Go through some good historical Karate books and you'll find him and a picture of his kick.

F.

[Bill Glasheen]

You are correct that there are 2 different ways that the sokusen is done.

George and Yonamine Sensei use a straight toe model. It's similar to what a woman doing ballet might try.

The "classic" - as illustrated in Uechi Kanei's kyohon - is a kick with a double bend in the big toe. The other toes go along for the ride with a similar orientation. But the big toe delivers the goods.

I like the version pictured in Kanei Uechi's book better. Why? Because the double bend allows for a flex when you hit things. One way I train my sokusen is to do sokusen leg presses on the hip sled. When I use enough weight, the toe bends so much that I essentially default to a ball-of-foot contact.

In my view, this flex function is much easier on the articular surfaces of the toe joints. Using engineering parlance, the flex on impact acts like a low pass filter to forces going through the toe joint.

Just yesterday I bought my son one of those high tech metal bats. The one I bought him - to be used after having recently broken his wrist - is designed to flex a bit on impact. It cost me an extra hundred bucks to get this (Easton) model. It's easier on the body that way. And if you have enough follow-through on your swing, the entire force will be imparted into the ball. Only with the flex, it happens with lessened painful forces on the batter's wrists and hands.

- Bill

[f.Channell]

Bill,
If you see a photo of Ankichi you'll see a third way. Combining the big toe and the one next to it.
Kind of freaky looking.

F.