SENDING AN UNPREDICTABLE KICK, TSUYOI STYLE...


and more useable skills taught through the lightly humoured, pleasant but absorbing methods of the Tsuyoi instructors. They get to know their students on a personal and respectful basis, adapting their classes to fit particular needs rather than belting out fixed instruc- tions from a distance. In doing so they allow Karate to be flexible and simultaneously meet children’s different needs.


Whilst Karate will always be about self defence I consider it backwards thinking to throw a child into a class just to ‘get tough’. If that is their reason for joining and they are committed, they will learn to defend themselves under Tsuyoi Karate, but it is wholly wrong to put short-term gain in front of long-term development. Tsuyoi and many other styles of Karate have evolved beyond this primacy and I hope this statement seems abnormal to some readers because it proves that my interpretation of Karate is both breaking the stereotype and importantly being unorthodox.


For an adult however, the goals of Karate often differ with a shift of interests towards staying physically fit and learning to effectively fight and defend one’s self. They are certainly not the only goals (indeed the above social and academic interests may well be included) but, from my experience, this is what I consider to be the aims commonly associated with adults. Here, Shi- han Joe Ellis applies his unorthodox Karate to a


great ability that can best be witnessed in his prac- tical sparring applications. Whilst still practising the fundamental techniques of Karate (of which our style is heavily influenced


by Shotokan Karate), Shihan Ellis appreciates that when applied during sparring or in a real life situation, one of the most advantageous skills you can have over your opponent(s) is an unorthodox delivery.


ALEKS AND JOE ELLIS


There are many ways Tsuyoi Karate practises unorthodox delivery to enable the student to throw their opponent off guard. Faking techniques is an obvious one. For example, instead of throwing a stereotypical 90-degree roundhouse kick from in front of your opponent to his body/head, chuck it in at an angle by coming in close or to their side. My personal favourite, which I also saw Shihan Peter Manning (Shotokan) demonstrate at my Black belt grading, is to combine the roundhouse with a ‘feint’ front kick so it looks as if you are about to hit the body but then it comes in from the side. Any one of my training partners will admit to the difficulty of spotting such a kick. In addition to classic strong punches and kicks, we are taught to hide our ‘main’ technique behind less powerful but distractive combinations.


Another well taught method under Shihan Ellis is changing the tempo of your attack. The stere- otype Karateka throws two or three techniques in one go, but the unorthodox Karateka will throw two heavy blows, four light blows and then ten techniques from out of nowhere. Tsuyoi Karate encourages imagination and allows you to safely practise in the dojo. This often contradicts many other styles that prefer a more orthodox delivery. However, the danger of being so robust is that your technique becomes readable to your opponent and, in a real life situation, you may be unable to break away from the fixed fighting moulds you have learnt to adapt to spontaneous and unusual situations.


This leads on my final and arguably most important element of Shihan Ellis’ unorthodox Karate, which is fundamental


to any real ‘Budo’ application. It is the ability to ‘switch’. The terminology may seem strange (in- deed I thought it was) but having ability to switch involves changing your mental state from ‘nice’ to ‘necessary’ (not nasty!) in an instance so as to deal with whatever situation you find yourself in. A stereotype Karate class is one of a 100 students belting out a well timed, synchronized ‘Kiai’ on demand, but doing one of Shihan Ellis’ practical Karate application classes brings out an often unsynchronized, unorthodox urge to shout, dig deep and complete the technique, combination or exercise in your own personalized way. Through such training, the Karate you develop becomes personalized, but because it is built on strong traditional foundations, you are much less at risk of losing the balance, speed and power all Karate seeks to achieve.


Ultimately my experience of Tsuyoi Karate is that it takes the ‘stereotyped’ aspects of Karate but places them under a new light for both children and adults, allowing the student to achieve their own personal aims, whether physical, mental or both. Tsuyoi Karate teaches focus, respect, strength, confidence and the never-ending list of adjectives used to describe Karate but does so through truly unique methods, giving its students an exceptionally good ability to deal with a whole variety of matters outside the dojo.


I hope this article has raised eyebrows, whether for good or bad, but I am confident that it gained your attention. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS UNOR- THODOX!


Osu.


SENPAI ALEKSANDER WULFF martial arts illustrated / 91


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