Monthly Archives: June 2015

Niju Kun Part 4

Niju Kun Part 4
by Dan Blackmore

29 June 2015

Welcome to Part 4 of my continued discussion of the Niju Kun, which are Gichin Funakoshi’s twenty guiding principles to keep in mind while training karate.  Check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 to see what I have explored so far.  The remaining principles seem to be focused on technique and strategy.  This piece will investigate the following principles:

  • Victory depends on your ability to tell vulnerable points from invulnerable ones.
  • Move according to your opponent.
  • Consider your opponent’s hands and legs as you would sharp swords.
  • When you leave home, think that millions of opponents are waiting for you.


Victory depends on your ability to tell vulnerable points from invulnerable ones
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Karate involves the element of maximizing efficiency.  We do not want to waste any time or energy by wildly striking, by requiring great strength, or by striking ineffective targets.  Simply put, we train our bodies to develop strength and speed, but it is crucial that our efforts are not lost by targeting poorly.  Just as in hockey, a goal is not a goal if the puck strikes the crossbar, post, or is stopped by the goalie.  The shot must make it through an opening; a vulnerability in the defence.  Through karate training we need to acquire some knowledge of the human body, and where “soft spots” can be found.  These soft spots are often nerve centres that register higher pain levels with minimal applied force.  With proper targeting, we should not have to have hit the gym and gained 30 pounds of muscle to defend ourselves from an opponent.  Instead, direct the strength you do have to where it will be most effective.  Likewise, we also learn what targets on the body are more resilient to attack and are best to be avoided, given better options.  We must develop knowledge and skill to help overcome or subdue any physically dominating opponent.

I would also extend this principle to not only mean any vulnerable/invulnerable points on the human body, but also to mean vulnerable/invulnerable points in our techniques or tactics themselves.  Sometimes certain techniques, like a wrist or arm lock, may only work if performed correctly, and applied in the appropriate situation.  If you are unsuccessful in your first attempt, you could face harsh retaliation on the street, but receive constructive feedback through your experiences in the dojo.  We will benefit from the experience of working with different partners.  By training with people of different heights and sizes, we can discover what targets or tactics may or may not work across different situations.  For example, if our opponent is taller, then we may not be able to reach the face/head as easily as an opponent matched to our height.  Here, we might aim for weak points found lower on the body, rather than trying to stand up, raising our centers of mass, and becoming more vulnerable to being unbalanced.  Also, we can learn where and when we may show vulnerabilities to our partner so that we can tighten up our movements.  If we were paired with a quicker opponent, we may learn if we are losing time in delivering counter attack.  We all start-out moving more slowly to learn the action, but we must not meander in low-gear for too long.  Perhaps we discover that we drag our leg, pause too long on the finish of each technique, or lose connection to the floor.  Without training in high-gear, we might not realize these vulnerabilities in ourselves.  We must be encouraging as we train to seek out any vulnerabilities found in ourselves and each other so that we may work to minimize them.  Posture, stance, distancing, timing, and speed must all be working properly, and together, to support the action of the technique or tactic applied.  We benefit from facing many different types of opponents in the dojo to discover when and where a particular technique or tactic may be applied to maximize its effectiveness.


Move according to your opponent
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Developing a sense of your opponent’s movement is crucial to maintain proper distance and timing, and to anticipate his/her intent.  This principle says to move according to your opponent, but that is not to say that you allow the opponent to control the situation.  Whether your opponent wants to move all around, or be stationary, you control when you both are within striking distance.  In this way, even though you may allow the opponent to lead the rhythm of the encounter, it will be on your terms.  The idea here is to be like a shadow, not a mirror.  A mirror reflects the object, so if you move towards the mirror, the reflection moves towards you.  Likewise, if you back away from a mirror the reflection moves away.  To be a shadow, you move to stay in-step with your opponent.  An opponent who backs away may be uncomfortable engaging at closer ranges, so follow to maintain distance and keep pressure on him/her.  If you mirror, and move back, you give relief to your opponent and essentially hit the reset button; you must now work to again close the distance.  Similarly, if your opponent moves in to close distance, be ready to move to maintain distance.  This will disrupt the opponent’s judgement of distance and timing, and you will have a chance to retaliate.  Be weary of moving straight backwards in closed spaces, however; it may be prudent to shift sideways to get off your opponent’s line of attack.  The goal in shadowing would be to maintain distance to your opponent and goad him/her into attacking first.  It is far easier to defend and counter than to attack first.  Only allow the distance to your opponent to close when you are able to successfully deliver a strike.

When it comes to grabs or holds and pushing/pulling, shadowing avoids creating clashing forces.  To paraphrase Newton’s First Law of Motion: a body in motion stays in motion until an external force is applied, and a stationary body will remain stationary until an external force is applied.  The Second Law implies that the bigger the mass of the body, the more force will be required to accelerate/decelerate it.  The Third Law states that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.  It is important to remind of the three Laws of Motion because you should not be concerned about being the source of that external force that will push or pull around your opponent.  Instead, let your opponent exert him/herself to move, push, or pull, and you simply assist the motion.  If you are being pushed, pull; if pulled, you push.  You do not want to have a push/tug of war or wrestling match.  By shadowing your opponent’s motion and force, you contribute to their established momentum, and this can result in pushing or pulling your opponent off-balance and gaining control with minimal effort.  After you break their stance, follow-up with a counter attack. 

For striking an advancing opponent, mirroring your opponent may work over shadowing.  By moving towards an advancing opponent, you increase the total kinetic energy.  If you strike while both of you are in motion you can increase the power of your strike.  Be mindful that this tactic reduces the available time you have to defend, as well!  A quick uraken or kizami can be more effective in this head-on collision situation, just be sure to either be out of the way of their attack, or be faster than your opponent!  Also know that having good connection on the point of contact is even more important, due to the increased reaction forces.  A muscle that is not fully engaged can create a point that absorbs the shock of the impact, such as a raised shoulder or an improper fist.  Follow-up the initial strike with an appropriate finishing technique, or escape while the attacker is phased.

No matter what the situation or tactic used, it is better to follow the lead of your opponent in order to control the distance between you both than to try to take the lead and show your intent to your opponent.


Consider your opponent’s hands and legs as you would sharp swords
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The big lessons one learns from training with weapons are to get out of the way of the attack, avoid clashing forces when blocking, and to end encounters as quickly as possible.  When dealing with bladed weapons, you would not block the weapon itself, but the arm swinging it.  You would prioritize grabbing and controlling the arm wielding the blade, and/or attacking the person’s vulnerable spots directly.  You must close distance to the attacker to achieve proper blocking and controlling of the arm, effectively tying him/her up, and delivering counter attacks.  You would want to conclude the encounter as quickly as possible because the longer it goes on, the more swings and jabs the attacker can perform, and the higher the risk of you getting slashed or stabbed multiple times.  The stakes are higher when an opponent is armed; generally speaking, a fist can cause injury while a weapon can cause death.  You would want to end the encounter as quickly as possible because you are fighting for your life against an armed opponent, not just for your health.

The first lesson is to get out of the way.  Often when encountering an unarmed opponent, some may rationalize being able to absorb a strike or two to deliver their own attack.  This is a flawed rationale as a normal tactic.  First, if you are able to absorb a few strikes, so could your opponent.  If this is the case, then getting hit to deliver your own “absorb-able” attack does nothing to gain any advantage.  Second, we lose sight of what karate is about if we allow our pride to convince ourselves to bank our safety on how “tough” we see ourselves to be.  Never underestimate what an opponent’s strike can do to you.  At the end of the day, karate is about not getting hit, not about how much punishment you can take before you tap out.  By believing that we can intentionally take a few strikes, we stay more passive, and fail to fully commit ourselves to our own defence.  We should not be focusing on preparing ourselves to get struck and mitigating injuries.  Instead, imagine everything were a blade or spear.  Now the stakes are higher.  See how quickly we can move to get off the path of incoming attacks now!  By focusing on body shifting to avoid getting struck, the block becomes secondary to protecting yourself, and can instead become a controlling technique or strike.  When we do shift out of the way, we want to put ourselves at an advantage and prevent the attacker from being able to strike again.  You do not want to leave the attacker with enough space to readily follow-up with more attacks.  This generally means closing distance to your opponent and using in-fighting techniques, such as elbows, knees, grabs, or takedowns, to end the encounter.

For the second lesson – to avoid clashing forces – picture some swashbuckling movie with swordfights in it.  *Clang* *Clang* the characters repeatedly strike sword-to-sword.  All this does is damage the swords, putting large dents and blunting the edges, not to mention that the fighters remain unharmed.  The duel gets to continue its back-and-forth.  This may achieve some dramatic purpose for the story, but in reality it would be exhausting and show that the fighters are focused too much on the swords, and not enough on the opponent swinging it.  Getting back to karate: if we focus too much on hard blocks, we are giving-up opportunities to control and/or attack our opponent.  Instead, focus on redirecting the path of the attack.  To achieve this, picture the hands or legs of the incoming attack as blades, with the leading surface being the sharp edge or point.  When we apply a block, do not touch the leading edge or point, but apply pressure to the side.  By doing this we will redirect the path of the attack, and reduce or eliminate any energy that would be delivered to our bodies.  By applying pressure to the backside of the attack, such as applying a scooping block to an incoming maegeri, we help the limb to further accelerate.  We might stretch out the attackers stance, disrupt their balance, or enable ourselves to run them into an object or bring them to the ground.  If we perform a hard block, the opponent realizes the attack was stopped and just rebounds with something else.  By redirecting, it takes longer for the opponent to realize something in their plan went wrong.  Ideally, the opponent would  be struck, or on the ground before he/she knew what happened.  Do not spend all your power on the block; save it for the counterattack.

For the third lesson, we must end the encounter as quickly as possible.  We do not want an armed attacker to have more chances to swing the weapon, so we must arrest the attack.  This involves controlling the distance between you and your opponent.  You have two choices when it comes to weapons: you must either be too far out of range for the opponent to reach, or be too close to allow the opponent to attack effectively.  You do not want to stay in your opponent’s range of attack.  If you back out of range, your first priority would be to escape and run away, of course.  If you move sideways and maintain distance, the attacker can attack repeatedly, and you’ll be kept busy with blocking.  If you move in, you must act without hesitation, and gain control over your opponent.  The goal would be to grab the arm/wrist that is holding the weapon tightly while striking an available vulnerable point, and then conclude the encounter with follow-up attacks or some controlling technique. 

Think of the distance between you and your opponent as having three tiers: escape range, attack range, and in-fighting range.  Once again, it would be ideal to stay out of range in the first tier, but that may not always be achievable.  If the opponent is determined to keep advancing, you will eventually be in the second tier, attack range.  In karate, both opponents are able to attack each other in this range.  If your opponent has a weapon, chances are that his/her reach is much longer than yours, so you can be struck or cut before being able to deliver an attack.  Here, you must either retreat back into escape range to let the weapon swing past, or close-in to the third tier to intercept the attack before it swings.  Whichever tactic you choose, you must not hesitate, and move quickly, especially when closing the distance.  Once you are in in-fighting range, you must quickly end the encounter with a counter attack.  To get back to escape range from up-close, you would have to pass back through the attack range, leaving yourself vulnerable.  The only safe way to conclude the encounter from this point is to take down the attacker, usually controlling him/her to the ground.  Elbows, knees, arm and wrist locks, trips and sweeps, choke holds and throws – whatever best suits the situation. 

To summarize: you are relatively safe in tier one, escape range.  You want to avoid staying in tier two, attack range, because you are under fire there.  While in attack range you have the option of retreating back into tier one, or moving forward into tier three, but either way, you must devise and not hesitate.  If you move in to tier three, in-fighting range, escape is no longer an option without endangering yourself and you must end the encounter as soon as possible.  Ideally, you’d want to close distance early enough to stop your opponent from even swinging; this would require sen no sen timing to move before your opponent does.  Alternatively, you could shift back out of range to allow an attack to miss you before advancing in to counter (go no sen timing), or move forwards to attack while parrying (tai no sen timing) before following up with a takedown or control.  Whether shifting towards or away from your opponent, always try to get off the line of attack.  Disruption of your opponent can allow you to take control of the situation.


When you leave home, think that millions of opponents are waiting for you
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This principle is not meant to make us feel paranoid about going outside.  It’s true that by imagining that there are a million opponents in the crowd, you will pay a little more attention to the people around you as you try to suss-out who would be “waiting to strike.”  We do not want to live in constant suspicion, however.  Maybe save that level of suspicion when walking alone in risky areas, but we’re talking about the normal everyday.  This principle is a reminder that maintaining awareness and remaining in a ready state is the first step to self-defence.  If you’re ever caught off guard to an attack, that’s it; sometimes there will be no second chances.  This is the same as being a defensive driver while on the road – stay vigilant and aware of other drivers and pedestrians, and focus further down the road ahead for any potential problems.  In terms of self-defence, we must stay vigilant and aware, and face the world with confidence.  When we fear being attacked we become tense, and freeze-up when faced with a real attacker.  Panic sets-in, and we become defenceless.  By imagining that a million opponents wait to attack you, you realize that attack would be inevitable, so you might as well be prepared!  One simply cannot live in fear of something that is inevitable.  It would be like fearing the rain: it will eventually fall, no matter your fear, so you’d best come to terms with it, and buy an umbrella or raincoat.

One mental exercise that I recall involves walking through a crowd or street, imagining that people walking towards you will strike suddenly as you both approach each other.  Your goal is to imagine defending by covering their hands with yours, preventing a sucker punch.  You do not stare and assume a fighting stance or any of that, but you keep your core firm, walk with good posture, and keep your limbs relaxed.  You look ahead and scan with your eyes, but do not focus on anything specific; keep a wide view.  Pick an oncoming person from the crowd and assume that he/she is your “opponent.”  Now, as you walk past your would-be opponent, you imagine your hand repeatedly darting out and touching his/her arm as if to prevent a strike from being performed.  Once the opponent has past, pick a new “opponent” and repeat – one side, alternating sides, or both sides simultaneously.  You do not actually reach out to touch anyone – this is a mental preparation only!  The idea is that if one of these people actually did strike out, you would have already prepared yourself, visualized blocking the strike, and not be caught unawares.  The whole point is to attempt to avoid being shocked, where we would be stunned, tense, and unable to move.  This exercise can be simulated in the dojo: form two lines facing each other, with an ally in-between.  An individual will walk through the ally, from one end to the other.  As the individual walks, he/she will mentally (not physically) pat-down everyone’s hands, as if in the crowd.  The students in line will either stay still, or choose to tag the walker.  No one tags the walker from behind.  There will be passes through the alley where the students are told not to tag at all, and where they may tag at will, but do not have to tag.  Regardless, the walker will continue to mentally prepare to block everyone, respond to any real attempted tag, and continue walking along to the end.  Try some passes without the mental pat-downs to see if response time is any different.


This ends Part 4 of my look at the Niju Kun.  Think about how you interpret the Niju Kun and how they can apply to your training.  Only four principles remain, and I will cover them in my next piece.  Until then, safe training!