Board breaking

[Deep Sea]

Many of us have had a crack at it, halford. There could be an isolated Uechi dojo, somewhere that does boards, I don't ever remember seeing a board in a Uechi dojo, anywhere anyplace I've been in the country and a lot in New England.

Yes many have no use for board breaking, and for a number of reasons. Nothing wrong with that.

Yes many places use gimics and props for show, and yes there are a number of attention-getter or attention-needer showoff types.

nearly everyone can break a pine board that is not too thick and when it is placed properly so they can safely do so,after being guided and shown how to do it.

Pine boards don't always break. I remember one TKD test where I hit a single one-incher with all my might and the power was just right. The board did not break but I did send the two board holders reeling back quite a few feet, almost into the visitors as I followed through with the technique. It WAS a real good strike and the visuals I created were much more impressive than if I had broken the board. When I went after that same board a second time, it was afraid of me because in my my mind I could hear it crack before I made contact, and it disintegrated when I nailed it the second time.

And then there are two-inch pine boards which are nothing like two one-inchers. They are HARD to break, real hard. I had to break two of them with my hand to pass a 2nd dan TKD test but only managed to break one on the first try. The first try was all there was because the throbbing rush felt like I punched a cinderblock wall with everything. That was the toughest event I did in all my MA life, because even though I was decent at breaking, maybe better than average at that time, I sufferred a terrible and shameful humiliating defeat in front of all my friends and collegues as well as the group of onlookers that I wanted to cry as I folded and gave up. But I grew out of it and that event, as distasteful as it was, helped me mature even more into the martial arts.

Most TKD board breaking, BTW, is serious stuff. At least in the dojang I've worn my belts in it has been.

But boardbreaking is fun too. I used to break a lot of boards with a 360 deg spinning wheel-kick to head level. The preipheral speed one can generate with that kick is tremendous. Eddie DeCosta, my first Uechi-ryu master taught me that kick. HE was phenomenal.

Breaking with the elbow is fun at first because that one also lends itself to snapping a thick stack of boards in half too. One wouldn't think so, but there is tremendous power in the elbow and to be able to generate that power is awesome.

Forget about the clowns who break, halford. There are clowns in every walk of life. I don't even think about that abberation. You just have to turn your head sometimes and look for the good in other people.

I have seen, many times over in my travels, halford, people who had sucky kicks with not enough strength go through a wet paper bag take some board-breaking training and in a very short amount of time develop better-than-average kicks.

Uechika just don't do boards barring a few exceptions to the rule. Those same people often scoff at board-breaking as well. Why? Lack of self-esteem and lack of self-confidence of their own karate system -- and a subconscious fear of failing. Remember, if you are afraid to fail, you WILL fail. Breaking a few boards, and they don't have to be set up in stacks, either, in the right context can exorcise that fear from the soul.

Get out there, break a few boards, have fun, get it over with, say you've done it, and if you don't like it just move on to something else.

[2Green]

Quote:"Uechika just don't do boards barring the exception to the rule. Those same people often scoff at that component. Why? Lack of self-confidence of their own karate system. "

Alan Dollar shows quite a lot of it in his book, and points out that the wood in Okinawa is quite wet and tough.
The rear cover of his book shows a Uechi-ka punching through a baseball bat.

Mr. Mattson's book shows some examples too...Mr. Gorman having a 2 x 2 broken over his arm, etc.
So, it was in the Uechi culture/system at one time.

Is the REAL reason we don't do it nowadays " lack of self confidence of our own Karate system"? (paraphrased)

NM

[Halford]

Many disdain board breaking themselves,perhaps, but think it's great for others to do it for them! Well, it's like butchering hogs or killing chickens, they eat the meat but don't do the slaughtering! Same way with so many other things in our society! Let someone else do it. As for a pine board, maybe on the first attempt, of a half inch board, you might fail,but the test used where I used to do this, was to place the board on two supports(wooden) and use a shuto to break it. Later,a fist or hammer fist could be used,etc. Of course,you can, as you say, encounter difficult woods, cross-grains,etc. Yes, Asian woods tend to be tougher. Palette Cheena(Palette China) in the Philippines is one such wood.

[Deep Sea]

Well, 2Green, Allan Dollar's is a different and unique brand of Uechi-ryu. Stronger and more aggressive than the mainstream. His group, Kenyukai, likes to break, especially bats. I've got some pretty neat pictures of multiple bat breaks from Kenyukai in the South-East United States; I think 4 or 5 bats at once with a single kick and it is very impressive.

Mr. Mattson's book shows some examples too...Mr. Gorman having a 2 x 2 broken over his arm, etc.

So, it was in the Uechi culture/system at one time.

It still is, here and there. Those who own my first book will see a series of photographs showing one of Bobby Bethony's students braking a particularly hard piece of 2x4 with his shin. I know the wood, I was there shooting the pictiures.

Is the REAL reason we don't do it nowadays " lack of self confidence of our own Karate system"? (paraphrased)

That's part of it. I sense a number of indicators that I read to be that.

I would say that maybe several better defined reasons would be 1) lack of self confidence of the self in the personal ability of the usefulness of the style, and 2) There's not that many Uechi teachers out there who are both knowledgeable of board breaking techniques coupled with the lack of interest.

Board-breaking comes with some styles as an integral component. That could be a reason for it's continuance and success. So here, then, is another reason, but approaching the issue from a different perspective. Board-breaking was not incorporated as a standard set into the system in the early days when GEM introduced it to the US. That's neither good nor bad. Many systems simply just don't do it.

Well, halford, good ole American Oak and Ash are tough woods too.

Hi Fred. I've got the Anniversary tape, and there IS some fine Uechi breaking in it.

[Halford]

names, like leverwood. The trees grow straight and aretough and were used for wagon tongues, tool handles,etc. I used to shimmy up these on the farm since they were like poles! Anyway, bricks, blocks, glass, and other materials often represent breaking challenges that some do undertake,sometimes with showmanship and other times just for fun. All breaking feats have risk,however, and the usual warnings apply. Sometimes, the audience or spectators or witnesses to such are more at risk than the performer(s). In the early days, such feats as brick breaking and board breaking were seen by the general public and the endall- beall of karate(judo).....Some still are no wiser on this!