I’ve mentioned Andre Bertel previously here in my little Shotokan Karate blog.
He had the privilege of studying directly with Sensei Asai, a Shotokan Karate Master. Yeah, with all capital letters.
Really.
All of the advanced Shotokan masters moved in somewhat different directions after they had absorbed the syllabus of Shotokan, exactly the way that some boxers focus on mobility, some on power, some on evasion, and some condition themselves so they don’t care if they get hit.
My impression is that Sensei Asai thought it might be a good idea to get out of the way of attacks, and it might be better if the guy who was striking at him wound up looking at the sky and contemplating the error of his ways.
Hence, the really, really cool techniques that Sensei Bertel teaches in this video.
Now, if you’re a beginning Shotokan student (and by the way, I certainly am), you probably don’t understand that Sensei Bertel’s techniques, which look like a love child born of Karate and Aikido, with a marriage conducted at some later point in time by William Fairbairn, are all implied in orthodox Shotokan Karate.
In fact, you might say that all of Sensei Asai’s techniques are ultra-orthodox, because Sensei Asai was for a time the head of the Japan Karate Association.
But orthodoxy is only important sometimes and in some places. If someone wishes to rearrange your face, it is little defense to tell him that you practice only the purest and most orthodox of techniques.
On the other hand, if you sweep aside his technique, stun him with an inner arm to his vagus nerve, and gently place him on the ground to contemplate the errors of his ways, you get to keep your nose in the center of your face!
And that might be a good thing, depending on your feelings toward your nose.
NOTE: I have a friend with vast medical knowledge, which I lack. If you practice any martial art, you’ll get a broken nose, EVENTUALLY. I don’t care what art you practice, noses are wimpy. I was told (and I don’t know whether it’s accurate) that when you go to the emergency room with your broken nose, you want to ask them to let you wait for a plastic surgeon or an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist. The reason is that you’re more likely to get a repair that doesn’t involve a deviated septum, whatever that is.
ALSO NOTE: In Okinawa, the birthplace of karate, there were a lot of teachers and a lot of styles. It was normal practice to study multiple styles and to study with multiple teachers. There is no disloyalty in studying as much as you can in as many ways as you can, from books, to videos, to live classes. On the other hand, if you are studying techniques with conflicting techniques, that can scramble your synapses.
For instance, the idea of keeping a shoulder UP to guard against counters shows up in some boxing classes; the idea of keeping shoulders down so that power can be generated properly is standard in karate classes. There is no real contradiction there (boxers pop their shoulders up at close range when they might get countered, not at greater distance when it would slow down their punch), but you may be confused.
In fact, if you’re like me, you’ll just stay confused!
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I agree with you about the broken nose! Thank you for posting this.