Blackpool & Wyre Shotokan Links

Kevin Berry, who maintains the blog for the Blackpool and Wyre Karate Club, has posted some reports on my seminars in Great Britain. Kevin is a great bloke, with super sense of humour—he could even tolerate my lame jokes! Moreover, he (along with Naz and Michael Barr Sensei) completed special training. Here are the links to his articles in chronological order:

http://wyrekarateijka.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/andre-bertel-2-day-uk-course.html

http://wyrekarateijka.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/andre-bertel-uk-seminar-part-2.html

http://wyrekarateijka.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/andre-bertel-returns-to-new-zealand.html

Osu, André

(L-R) Kevin, Andre, Michael & Naz.

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand (2012).

England 2012 Seminar Video (Part I)

I have just arrived back from three weeks of teaching Asai-ha Shotokan-ryu in the United Kingdom. Here is the first video from the open seminars in Poulton. Many thanks to the organiser, Michael Barr Sensei (IJKA 4th Dan) and his lovely wife Nathalie, Ron Bellwood Shihan (IJKA 7th Dan) and the members/families of the IJKA Blackpool & Wyre Shotokan Karate Club. Also a special mention of Nazz and Kevin, and all the participants who attended my classes. It was wonderful for me and Mizuho to see you all gain a better understanding of Asai Sensei's karate and also enjoy social time together. Osu, Andre

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand (2012).

Greetings from England

Greetings from Lancashire, England.

Featured here is a photo (click to enlarge) from my Asai-ha Shotokan seminar over the weekend in Poulton-le-Fylde (organised by Michael Barr Sensei and hosted by IJKA Blackpool and Wyre). A big "OSU" to all of the karateka who attended.

Upon returning to New Zealand several reports will be posted here on this site (supplemented by video footage) – so stay tuned. As always, this will be particularly useful for the karateka who participated.

Overall, if you would like to offer some feedback, you are welcome to email me at: andrebertelono@gmail.com.  

OSU, André

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand (2012).

The Kahanshin

The weakest point of most people’s karate, especially yudansha (holders of dan grades) nowadays, is failure to use the kahanshin (lower body) correctly. Irrespective of rank, tournament accolades and the like, failure to use the kahanshin correctly means that the person is literally not worthy of dan. The reality is that many of the current “world karate champions” and people having high dan ranks, including those from Japan, execute their kihon and kata without properly using their kahanshin; thereby, taking away (or more commonly, "seriously limiting") karate's prime source of power. For that reason, it shouldn’t be surprising that many people view karate with contempt: insofar as being an effective martial art.

As discussed countless times before on this website, rotation of the waist is also insufficient without the drive of the legs. Personally, I teach that the rotation and/or driving of the hips is an automatic consequence of leg thrust, as opposed to being an independent action; moreover, it is harmonious with one’s waza (technique), unsoku/ashi-hakobi (foot work), kokyu (breathing) and zanshin (mental preparedness).

From this common-sense perspective, which like all things in karate must not only be theoretically understood, but must be perfected and maintained through regular training, simple kihon-geiko is paramount. I’ll say this again… just "knowing the theory" is useless: one must train.

How to train? In particular, to develop the kahanshin, stationary kihon is essential. The most simple ways are: (a) practicing koshi no kaiten (hip rotation) from hanmi into shomen in zenkutsu-dachi (and naturally in other tachikata as well); (b) training individual techniques from tate-shuto gamae i.e. - gyaku-zuki , yoko shuto-uchi etc; and (c) renzonkuwaza: most commonly kizami-zuki kara gyaku-zuki.

From there, ido-kihon, training in jiyu-dachi and impact work must be done. Of course, practicing kata and kumite further groove the proper use of the kahanshin. Overall, the full use of the kahanshin must remain homogeneous if one wishes to practice karate: as the unsurpassed martial art of self-defence that it can be when practiced correctly.

Osu, André

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand (2012).

Palmerston North Seminar 2012

It is confirmed I will now be conducting an open course up in Palmerston North, which will be hosted by Morgan Dilks Sensei (Chief Instructor of the Universal Shotokan Karate Union of New Zealand). Morgan always runs awesome events--where everyone is welcome--and I'm sure there will be ample camaraderie in addition to technical seminars.

Please click on the poster for more details. This will be my final seminar for 2012, which after teaching in Germany, Italy, Australia, England and Christchurch (the South Island of New Zealand) will have to end with a bang in the North Island!

It is going to be a super weekend of Karate-Do: see you there!

Osu, André

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand (2012).

Kyouga nokorino jinnsei saisyo no hi

 今日が残りの人生最初の日or “kyouga nokorino jinnsei saisyo no hi” literally means “Today is the first day of the rest of my life”. This is an important saying in Karate-Do. Physically this is reflected by one having a beginners mind in their training; moreover, using each day to maximise their efforts. Osu, André.

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand (2012).

WEEKEND KARATE COURSE IN NZ

At the end of this year after returning from teaching karate-do in the United Kingdom I will hold an Asai-ha Shotokan-ryu Karate Weekend Course here in Christchurch (New Zealand). This will be held on the first weekend of December (Saturday and Sunday - the 1st & 2nd) and is open to all traditional karateka. If you wish to attend please email me at: andrebertelono@gmail.com There will be four "two hour sessions": 1pm-3pm & 4-6pm on the Saturday; and 9-11am & 1pm-3pm on the Sunday. This is always a small course as many people are busy during December, so this makes it quite a personal event for the attendees. You can get an idea about this seminar on youtube as there are two videos from last year. Osu! Andre

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand (2012).

My Karate Courses in UK & South Africa

Soon I will be flown to teach Asai-Ha Shotokan-Ryu Technical Seminars in England. Rather than contact me, please click on the poster to book a place with organizer Michael Barr Sensei (4th Dan IJKA). 

Likewise, for South Africa! I believe these two courses, in England and South Afirca, may well be my last (outside of New Zealand and Japan) for a fair while.

OSU! Andre.

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand 2012.

TO THE LIMIT

Please forgive my recent absence from posting any technical articles on Asai-ha Shotokan-ryu and Shotokan karate-Do in general... My workload has been out of control (but wonderful) at the University of Canterbury, so my daily self-training and attendance at the IJKA-NZ Christchurch Dojo is my priority. As I always say, TRAINING is the priority "karate-wise"; thus, when time is short, my posting always suffers. Anyway, after October 16th I will finally be free! So, expect lots of posts, videos etc... By the way, I sent Abe Keigo Sensei my footage from training in his classes at the JKA (Japan Karate Association) Sohonbu in Ebisu in the early 1990s (which he wanted a copy of). He said he will have these videos transferred onto the internet and will then put them on his JSKA (Japan Shotokan Karate Association) website so look forward to that. Once they are uploaded, I was told that Naito Sensei will contact me, and I will post a link here.

 

Anyway, the photos here are from my self-training today. As always, heaps of work to do in order to "level-up", so I must continue to push myself "to the limit!" Like all things, Karate-Do is a journey with no limits; therefore, the destination functions as the motivation: whilst the quality of the voyage is what really matters.

I wish everyone who visits this site good health and training!

OSU, Andre

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand 2012

Andre Bertel Karate-Do Seminars in England: November 2012

The Blackpool and Wyre Karate Club, where I will be teaching at in November, have put up an article about the event on their site (To get these details first hand, through their site, please click on the link at the bottom of the page).

I am very much looking forward to teaching in the UK, and are preparing some very special courses on Asai-ha Shotokan-ryu Karatedo. The Open Weekend Course will be an event not to be missed for anyone serious about studying Asai Karate in the United Kingdom and further afield in mainland Europe.

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu, OSU! See you all in England.

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand (2012).

Blackpool & Wyre IJKA club, England: http://wyrekarateijka.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/andre-bertel-is-coming-to-blackpool.html