Kihon or foundations of our practice

Kihon or foundations of our practice

Let’s not dream - karatedo is not learned from one day to another. It takes several years to properly master fundamentals. The basic techniques such as positions (tachi kata), attacks (tsuki waza and uchi waza), blocks (uke waza) and kicks (keri waza) are performed thousands of times until they are polished and done almost by instinct or reflex, without any conscious thought. Truly mastering a technique needs this state of “no mind” – “mushin” in Japanese. And as the saying goes, practice makes perfect – consequently achieving “mushin” takes loads of repetition.

However it's easy to get bored or frustrated by repeating the same thing over and over again. But kihon is not necessarily done in line, merely stepping forwards and backwards. Although this is the traditional way to learn techniques at the beginning, it lies in our imagination to spice it up with various drill exercises or series of techniques (renzoku waza). Combining kihon techniques either with body shifting (tenshin happo) or with one of the five principles of defense (e.g. rakka or kushin) is a good way to keep basic practice versatile.

Indeed, we need to redefine or nuance the word “know”. When do we really know a technique? At the beginning, when techniques are introduced for the first time, we discover their form, their meaning and their purpose. We practice them repeatedly to habituate our body, our muscles perform these movements. Gradually we manage to harmonize them with proper respiration, concentration, energy and speed to achieve “kime”. And finally when training with a partner, we should be able to prove its efficiency.

When we stop thinking about “what”, “when”, “how” and “why” during practice, we are getting closer to this state of no mind which is the goal of efficient practice. After all, knowing is not enough. We should feel it. It is not consciousness, but instincts that should be moved.

And to get back to where I started this article – let’s dream instead. On strong foundations we can build great things. Kihon is just a way to reveal our potential to accomplish our dreams with patience, hard work and perseverance.