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.In 1964 Tairawas awarded the title of Hanshi by the All Japan KobudoFederation for his devotion and preservation of the art ofKobudo.He died in 1970, recognized as one of the mostTaira Shinkenknowledgeable practitioners of kobudo and the person mostresponsible for the arts compilation and preservation.Taira s efforts helped preserve Kobudo, but not to the point of its being overly regimented.The fighting arts practice retained an eclectic nature as individual taste dictated the weaponswith which one became proficient.Kobudo s inclusion into modern karate was resolved ina similar manner as each style s progenitor determined the weapons included in his ryu-ha s teaching format.Thus, each style of karate is, in essence, a case study of one individual slikes and dislikes concerning Okinawan weaponry.Kobudo s Role and Practice TodayWith sport karate s popularity today, the majority of kobudo training conducted is oftenfor competition.Many is the time when a practitioner stands before an audience in a highschool gymnasium, then executes a kobudo kata tailored to reap the highest possible score.Although this method of execution is both physically and mentally taxing, it doesn tapproximate weapons combat.Since no antagonist is present, the threat of danger is notreal, therefore the biological reactions combatants have during mortal combat are removed.As a result, the executed techniques do not exhibit the same mannerisms as those performedin the heat of battle.If one aspect of a fighting art s teaching syllabus touches upon the life and death experienceof combat more so than any other, it is weapons training.Throughout history man hasfought bare-knuckled for both sport and honor, yet only when weapons are introduceddoes the scenario take on an air of mortal combat.Consider: a warrior can kick an adversaryin the solar plexus, and the adversary will survive, but if struck in the same place with a bo,kama or sai, that person s chances are limited.Kobudo serves as a balance for karate s empty-hand strategies, teaching the practitionerhow to use weaponry it also provides valuable insight into the behavior patterns associated64Comprehensive Karate - Michael J.Rosenbaumwith armed combat.Range plays a key factor in weapons-based systems where combatusually begins afar and then closes until one fighter or the other has landed a fatal blow.Richard Kim described this  dance of death in his book, The Weaponless Warriors, when hewrote about Yara fighting the Samurai:In a split second, Yara had the oar firmly gripped and spun around to face his enemy.Thesamurai, cursing to himself over having lost his tremendous advantage, stopped and assumeda jo-dan kamai.Yara countered this ploy by holding his oar in a dragon tail kamai, and forwhat appeared to be an eternity to the female spectator, the two men faced each other likestatues.Only the sound of their throats and chests heaving for air disturbed the eerymusical harmony of the wind and surf.Suddenly, the samurai struck.Yara s reaction was instantaneous, striking the sword at thehilt with his oar.The blow was perfectly executed, sending the sword skyward, but at themoment of contact, Yara inexplicably jumped upward as though he had anticipated thesamurai s next move.This was a dangerous gambit, but it worked.As soon as the Satsumahenchman felt his grip loosen on the hilt of his sword, he immediately squatted to oneknee and pulled his short sword.Yara was in perfect position and took instinctive advantage, unleashing a frighteninglypowerful side kick which connected with a sickening thud to the samurai s head.The kicksent him sprawling backward, at the very feet of the girl he had been molesting.Desperately,he tried to raise himself off the ground, but Yara was soon upon him in an instant, slashinghis oar downward and crushing the samurai s skull (Kim, Weaponless Warriors, 14).The two antagonists in Kim s story began their engagement at a range of twenty foot, ifnot farther, and then closed to a distance of around six feet where the final blow wasexecuted.Although his is a vivid account, in no part of the story does Mr.Kim makemention of acrobatic maneuvers.This is because, from a neuromuscular standpoint, thecloser one gets to their enemy, the more conservative their actions become since any mistakecan prove fatal.Likewise, as combat becomes inevitable, the body will assume a positionsimilar to the hunter s crouch with knees bent, back slightly arched, arms close to the sidesand weapon held in a position to threaten the enemy.Additionally a person s movementswill grow restricted, due to an increase in adrenaline, and he or she will gaze upon theopponent, much the same as a predatory animal stalks its prey.In layman s terms, what this means is that during mortal combat, or even scenarios whichenact it, the restrictions we hold towards violence are cast off, along with our society scorresponding prohibitions, as we revert to a primal state that places survival at the forefrontof our agendas.This human survival instinct, born out of a predatory nature and honedover thousands of years of warfare, is the foundation for almost all mortal combat systems,particularly those that employ weapons.For it is through constant refinement of oursurvival responses that they become learned techniques.65www.iainabernethy [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]