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 The Complete
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 Code: 528
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ISBN: 978-0-89750-206-1
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V
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22

BLACK BELT - DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 - VOLUME 53 - NUMBER 1

CONTENTS
VERSUS
In the martial arts, different names are sometimes
used to refer to the exact same technique. That’s not
the case with the kimura and the double wrist lock,
however. Mark Hatmaker outlines the differences
between the two moves.

K?<F==@:@8CJFLI:<=FI
24
FIGHTBOOK
D@:?8<CA8E@:?ËJ In this discussion of the role the emotions play in the
martial arts, Paul Vunak gives his take on the physical,
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D8IK@8C9C8;<:FE:<GKJ#
8E;;8D@K?LIKJ@C8K;M;j 26
DESTINATIONS
Temporarily absent from Asia, Antonio Graceffo gets
schooled in pro wrestling at the New York Wrestling
Connection. Lesson of the day: why the audience is
so important.

28
KARATE WAY
Dave Lowry pulls no punches in his analysis of the
differences between karate pursued as a combat art
and karate pursued as a sport.

30
D9:K?<<E?8E:<;M<IJ@FE FAR EAST
8:iXj_:flij\@e;\]\ej`m\Be`]\KXZk`Zj
In “The Man Called Shaolin,” Black BeltSURÀOHV
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who teaches in New York and New Jersey when he’s
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I\]c\oKiX`e`e^;i`ccj18;peXd`Z#JZXcXYc\ WAY OF THE WARRIOR
8ggifXZ_KfI\]c\o;\m\cfgd\ek Japan correspondent Keith Vargo provides a sit-rep
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D9:MFCLD<+ 12 EDITOR’S NOTE K-1, Martial Arts Japan Kickboxing Federation, Krush,
Jg\\[Jkfgj18:fdgi\_\ej`m\I\m`\nf] Shooto, Pancrase and DEEP.
=`^_k$Jkfg`e^;\]\ej`m\8ggc`ZXk`fej 14 MAILBOX
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16 TIMES
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I\m\ij\$>i`gBe`]\=`^_k`e^ 69 ESSENTIAL GEAR To achieve the core strength required for martial arts
K_\D9:8ggifXZ_ excellence, you need more than just sit-ups. This ab-
;M;#(?fli+-D`e%)0%0, 76 BLACK BELT PAGES building routine is guaranteed to get you up to speed
D9:MFCLD<- fast for more powerful striking and grappling.
8:fdgc\k\>l`[\Kf:Xiip`e^8e[ 82 FROM THE ARCHIVES
;iXn`e^KXZk`ZXc=fc[`e^Be`m\j 72
;M;#(?fli*)D`e%)0%0, VOL. 53 NO. 1. BLACK BELT (ISSN 0277- BETTER BUSINESS
3066) is published bi-monthly by Cruz Bay
Publishing, Inc., an Active Interest Media Manhattan-based taekwondo master Andrew Hahn
D`Z_X\c;%AXe`Z_ company. Advertising and editorial of- knows the keys to running a martial arts school in an
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8 BLACK BELT I OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014 BLACKBELTMAG.COM
SYSTEMA
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NEW DIGITAL
BRUCE LEE TIME CAPSULE
Black Belt: The Bruce Lee Collection is a
3,500-page digital download that traces Lee’s
martial journey through 29 issues of Black Belt
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FREE DAN INOSANTO DOWNLOAD
In 14 Life Lessons: Kenpo and JKD Expert Dan
Inosanto Remembers His Martial Journey, the
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JKD grappling. This journey of collected wisdom
is peppered with quotes from his life, offering a
substantive glimpse into the mind of a master.
blackbeltmag.com/inosanto
NEW
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Translated and introduced by Japanese
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paint a broad cultural picture of feudal Japan
between the 13th and 17th centuries. Each
warrior’s text is preceded by a brief summary
of his life and career, demonstrating concepts
that can enrich anyone’s life: self-awareness,
accountability, honesty, respect and other
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for $9.99.
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 VOLUME 53, NO. 1 DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015

A NO-WIN SITUATION? GROUP PUBLISHER Cheryl Angelheart

DIRECTOR OF BRAND DEVELOPMENT
Alexander Norouzi

A
VZHSUDFWLFHRXUDUWVDQGSUHVXPDEO\KRQHRXUVHOIGHIHQVHVNLOOVLW·V EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Robert W. Young
easy to start viewing the heavy bag as an attacker, the focus mitt as a GROUP ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
face, the grappling dummy as a rapist. Visualizing opponents in this way Donna Diamond Riekenberg
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out the importance of visualization in the acquisition of physical skill. Al Berman, BJ Ghiglione, Julie Stone,
However, when we spend too much time imagining that all self-defense Laura (Flores) Thorne DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL
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closer to being on the right track because of a potentially deadly incident that
WEB EDITOR Jon Sattler
almost happened to me.
0\ZLIHDQG,ZHUHRQHRIWKUHHFRXSOHVZKRDWWHQGHGDQRXWRIWRZQ COPY CHIEF Jeannine Santiago
festival. Once the partying ended, one couple joined us on the shuttle ride COPY EDITOR Gretchen Haas
back to our hotel. The other couple had to wait for the next one. The following STAFF WRITER Mike Carlson
morning, we learned what went down on that second shuttle. A/R MANAGER Alice Negrete
The husband and wife were riding in the back of an open-bed, military- PRODUCTION MANAGER Patrick Sternkopf
surplus troop carrier equipped with bench seats arranged so the two rows of ART DIRECTORS Dana Collins, Paul Duarte,
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started arguing, and one pulled a knife and threatened to stab the other guy in MARKETING MANAGER Laureen O’Brien
the chest. Repeatedly.
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
All this was happening while the truck careened down empty roads at
VSHHGVXSWRPSK7KHZLQGQRLVHFRXSOHGZLWKWKHPLOVXUSPXIÁHUNHSW Floyd Burk, Mark Cheng, Antonio Graceffo,
the driver oblivious to the whole incident. Mark Hatmaker, Mark Jacobs, Dave Lowry, Kelly
$IWHUKHDULQJWKHVWRU\,VSHQWKRXUVWKLQNLQJDERXWZKDW,ZRXOGKDYHGRQH McCann, Keith Vargo, Dr. Robert Wang
then posed the question on Facebook.com/BlackBeltMagazine to foster a CONTRIBUTORS
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simple, safe solution.
,QFRPPHQWVVRPHSHRSOHVDLGWKH\·GKDYHGUDZQWKHLUFRQFHDOHGKDQGJXQ BLACK BELT COMMUNICATIONS, LLC
and shot the man dead. That would have eliminated the threat, but it probably An Active Interest Media Publication
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IHHOFRPSHOOHGWRVKRRWDVROGLHUZKRZDVRQOHDYHIURP,UDTDQGREYLRXVO\ Toll Free: (800) 423-2874
intoxicated simply because he was arguing with his friend?” In CA (661) 257-4066
Some Facebook followers suggested alerting the driver. Good idea, but
KHZDVXQDEOHWRKHDUDQ\WKLQJ,NQRZEHFDXVH,URGHLQWKHVDPHYHKLFOH Newsstand Distribution
earlier, and it was annoyingly loud. For information about selling Black Belt magazine,
Other martial artists said they would have jumped on the man and disarmed contact BGiacalone@aimmedia.com.
KLP:HOOWKDWPLJKWKDYHZRUNHGEXWZKDWKDSSHQVZKHQRQHGULQNLQJ Back issues can be purchased from
EXGG\LVDWWDFNHGE\DWKLUGSDUW\",W·VYHU\OLNHO\WKHWZREXGGLHVZRXOGKDYH Palm Coast Data, (800) 266-4066
set aside their differences and ganged up on the outsider, and that could have
gotten ugly fast in a moving vehicle with a blade in play.
A few martial artists said they would have immediately front-kicked the
knife holder out of the speeding truck. That could easily have dumped him
onto the pavement. The likelihood of serious injury or death would have been
KLJK³ÀQHIRUDWHUURULVWEHQWRQEHKHDGLQJDQLQQRFHQWYLFWLPEXWQRWIRUD Efrem Zimbalist III
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Editor-in-Chief Kristy Kaus
VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH

12 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM


Loved the Michael Jai White Cover!
Yes, I loved seeing my favorite martial arts
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spread their self-defense systems. My
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Use Care When Interpreting Statistics
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Stay Aware, Stay Alive
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Black Belt Hall of Famers that drive home
the importance of the same self-defense
attribute: In the June/July 2014 issue,
Erynn Young summed up her article about
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September 2014 issue, John P. Riddle
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action star on the cover of the October/
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That picture of him holding the issue that
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Need More Stories on
Traditional Masters!
The article about hapkido master Bong
Soo Han in the October/November 2014
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We know
your risks.
Specialty insurance for
martial arts schools
martialartsinsurance.com
facebook.com/markelhealthfitness
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guilty of using excessive force 99 percent
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about that after my safety is ensured.
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up — no offense, dude.
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saw coming.
 TIMES MARTIAL ARTS NEWS YOU CAN USE. READ IT - KNOW IT - LIVE IT

Photo by Laurence Labat

Alain Moussi

16 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

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Kimura vs. Double Wrist Lock
Let’s get nitpicky today and discuss what to all appearances is the same submis-
VLRQZLWKDIHZGLƗHUHQWQDPHVDWWDFKHGWRLWVZRUOGRIKXUW
Y
ou might know it as the kimu-
ra. Or the double wrist lock
(DWL here on out). Or the re-
verse ude garami. Some call it
a key lock, even though it’s not.
We’ll make it the subject of today’s
musing to see that although the kimura
and the DWL may look like the same
submission, they have more than a
few distinctions to warrant the names.
First, a wee bit of history.
by Mark Hatmaker
More history: At the end of the 19th
century, there was lots of cross-pollina-
tion among martial artists, with West-
ern wrestlers making the sojourn to
the Kodokan in Japan to absorb some
of Jigoro Kano’s gentle art, as well as a
ˆƒ‹”—„‡”‘ˆϐ‹‡jujitsu men and ju-
doka traveling to Europe and the States
for similar purposes. These grappling
athletes were traveling to teach, to be
–ƒ—‰Š– ƒ† –‘ •…—ˆϐŽ‡ ‹ ƒ–…Š‡• –Šƒ–
Kimura
WITH THAT SAID, there are more
than a few tells, as our poker brethren
say, that will allow us to differentiate
whether what we’re seeing is, in fact,
a kimura or a DWL. Caveat: These tells
can bleed back and forth a bit between
judo/jujitsu and catch wrestling, so
keep in mind that we’re painting in
broad strokes here.
Ȉ Tell No. 1: Offender’s Elbow Posi-
tion. Typically, the kimura is executed
„› •‡––‹‰ –Š‡ ϐ‹‰—”‡ǦͶ ‰”‹’ ƒ† „”‹‰-
ing the elbows tight to the defender’s
body in a squeezing/pinning fashion.
The elbows are also more often than
not on the mat throughout. (The head-
side elbow may leave the mat, but the
hip-side elbow remains planted.)
I’M SURE that at this point, most peo-
ple are aware of the pivotal match be-
tween Helio Gracie and judoka Masa-
hiko Kimura. In that contest, the hugely
talented Kimura used the reverse ude
garami to such effect that the home-
country crowd of Brazil adopted his
surname for the hold.
22 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015
were akin to today’s mixed martial arts.
I bring up these two history lessons
to point out that cross-pollination
makes it mighty tough to disentangle
bragging rights for who knew what
when — as if such things really mat-
tered. All we really need to know is
how to understand and use this new
and improved technology.
–Š‡…ƒ–…Š˜ƒ”‹ƒ–ǡ‘…‡–Š‡ϐ‹‰—”‡ǦͶ
Photos Courtesy of Mark Hatmaker
‹• •‡–ǡ –Š‡ ‡Ž„‘™• ƒ”‡ ’Žƒ–‡† ϐ‹”Ž›
into/onto the defender’s ribs in a less-
than-friendly fashion — “Use the man,
not the mat,” as they say. If this spik-
ing is not done, the elbows are at least
snug to the defender’s body without be-
ing posted on the mat in order to keep
chest compression via the sprawl high.
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
 Ȉ Tell No. 2: Attacked Arm Angle. how you get there in both versions that Šƒ˜‡ƒ„‹ƒ•ǡ„—–ƒ•‹ŽŽ‡†‰”ƒ’’Ž‡”…ƒ
Often, the kimura is executed in a drag- can spell the difference. use either submission and still make
ging (paintbrush) manner that keeps –Šƒ–•Š‘—Ž†‡”•Š”‡†ƒ†’‘’Ǥ‘ˆˆ‡”–Š‹•
a 90-degree bend in the attacked arm. SUCH DISCUSSIONS inevitably lead to ‡••ƒ›•‘›‘—ǯŽŽ‘™–Šƒ––Š‡†‹ˆˆ‡”‡…‡
The paintbrush or slide drag on the mat the “which one is better?” query. Well, is more than wordplay and is actually
will see the attacked elbow rise from –Šƒ–†‡’‡†•‘™Š‘ǯ•‰‘–ƒŠ‘Ž†‘ˆ›‘—Ǥ rooted in technique.
the mat as the technique progresses.
The DWL hits a far more acute angle
in the elbow, often slamming/driving
the attacked hand into the armpit with
only a bit of rising from the elbow.
Ȉ Tell No. 3: Lifted or Pinned? This
is often the most telling tell. The kimu-
”ƒ‹•—•—ƒŽŽ›ϐ‹‹•Š‡†„›–ƒ‹‰–Š‡ƒ–-
tacked hand behind the back (hence
the elbow lift), and to accomplish this,
there must be a corresponding lift of
the attacked shoulder to get the arm
‹ ϐ‹ƒŽ ’‘•‹–‹‘Ǥ ˆ ›‘—ǯ”‡ —•‹‰ Žƒš
chest-to-chest pressure, this can result
in your being countered, but you often
can re-counter with a head-side leg
step-over to allow the far shoulder lift
without losing position.
The DWL strives to keep the far
shoulder pinned throughout via the
cross-body sprawl and by dint of the
acute angle of the attacked arm itself.
‡•’‹–‡–Š‡•‡–‡ŽŽ•ǡ–Š‡ϐ‹‹•Š‹‰…‘- Double Wrist Lock
…‡’–‹•–Š‡•ƒ‡‹–Š‡•—„‹••‹‘•Ǣ‹–ǯ•

Vunak Gets Emotional
If you’ve been a citizen of the martial arts world for any length of time, you
know that Paul Vunak has studied and taught some of the most formidable
self-defense systems on the planet, including jeet kune do, savate, Brazilian
jiu-jitsu and kino mutaiŘQRWWRPHQWLRQ)LOLSLQRNQLIHDQGVWLFNƘJKWLQJ
T
o many, however, the most fas-
cinating facet of this martial
arts master is that whenever
the subject of street effective-
by James Teller
“EVERYBODY THINKS–Šƒ–‹ƒϐ‹‰Š–ǡ
you want to have a magic button you
can press and killer instinct will come
out, followed by an amazing adrena-
important in self-defense,” Vunak says.
“I’ve done emotional training for 20
years. I learned that all your feelings
can be condensed into mad, sad, glad,
afraid, ashamed or hurt. Have you ever
™‘†‡”‡†™Š›ƒϐ‹‰Š–‡”‹‰Š–Šƒ˜‡ƒ
‰‘‘†ϐ‹‰Š––‘†ƒ›Ȅƒ†–Š‡•–‡’‹–‘
–Š‡”‹‰ƒ†Šƒ˜‡ƒŽ‘—•›ϐ‹‰Š––‘‘”-
row or next month or next year even
though it’s the same man and the
same skills?
Dz‡ˆ‘”‡Š‡Šƒ†–Šƒ–„ƒ†ϐ‹‰Š–ǡƒ›„‡
he was arguing with his wife. Maybe his
child was sick. Maybe his father was
dying. When big things like these are
going on in your life, the skill set you
bring to the table won’t be the same as
it otherwise would be in the ring or on
the street.”
That’s why it’s essential to learn
how to interpret your feelings and
differentiate them from each other
Ȅ ™Š‹Ž‡ ›‘—ǯ”‡ ‹ –Š‡ dojo. Why the
dojo? Because so much of what you
learn there transfers directly to life on
the outside, he says. “When you know
how to process your feelings in a spar-
ring match in the dojo, there’s a clarity
you bring to the moment. It helps you
keep a present mind and makes your
ϐ‹‰Š–‹‰„‡––‡”Ǥ
“It also makes you a better person be-
cause of the way it changes your behav-
ior everywhere you go.”
AFTER DEDICATING his career to
teaching the martial arts and the emo-
tional control that comes with training
people from all walks of life, Vunak has
arrived at somewhat of an unexpected
destination.
ness comes up, he doesn’t try to con-
vince anyone that the art is more im-
portant than the artist.
Instead, Vunak advocates the cultiva-
tion of the personal component of the
war machine: the mental, the physical
and the spiritual sides of the practitioner.
Š‡ ‘–‹‘ ‹• ”‡ϐŽ‡…–‡† ‹ –Š‡ ‘––‘ ‘ˆ
Progressive Fighting Systems, the orga-
nization he founded in 1986: Quiet mind,
dangerous body, compassionate soul.
When it comes to knock-down,
†”ƒ‰Ǧ‘—– •–”‡‡– ϐ‹‰Š–‹‰ǡ —ƒ ‘ˆ
course is a big believer in developing
the body, both its musculature and
the muscle memory needed to guide
its movements in times of stress. He’s
not such a big believer in unleashing
–Š‡ „‡ƒ•– ‹ ƒ ϐ‹‰Š–ǡ ƒ† ™Šƒ– Š‡ Šƒ•
to say about that popular concept may
come as a surprise.
24 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015
line surge,” Vunak says. “In reality, it’s
just the opposite.”
It would seem that the stereotype of
the wizened master who never lets any-
thing bother him in battle is spot on.
“In any encounter, the thing you’re al-
ways trying to do is stay calm and cool,”
he says. “When you learn to process
your feelings while a guy is punching
and kicking you, it’s easier to stay calm.
Then, if you have an argument with
your wife or boss, processing your feel-
ings and keeping control of your emo-
tions is a piece of cake.”
It’s part of the spiritual side of the
martial arts that everyone talks about
but few do enough to develop, he adds.
“AFTER THE PHYSICAL portion of
martial arts training, I take people
into the emotional part because it’s so
Dz •’‡– –Š‡ ϐ‹”•– ŠƒŽˆ ‘ˆ › Ž‹ˆ‡
–‡ƒ…Š‹‰ ‹ŽŽ‡”• Š‘™ –‘ ‹ŽŽ Ȅ –‘ „‡
honest, that’s what the military trains
to do,” he says. “And I’ve spent the
second half of my life working with
women, children, people over 60 and
disabled kids, and what I teach them
is the exact same art I teach the mili-
tary except for the ‘stress inoculation.’
‘™‡˜‡”ǡ ‹–ǯ• •‘ —…Š ‘”‡ ˆ—Žϐ‹ŽŽ‹‰
to teach an underdog.”
The martial arts can meet the needs
of such different demographics, he
says, because they contain centuries of
accumulated wisdom pertaining to the
mental, physical and spiritual facets of
Š‘–‘„›‹…—•–‡ƒ†
life. Anyone who’s not exploring that is
missing out.
For more information about Paul Vu-
ƒǡ˜‹•‹–ϔ‹‰Š–‹‰Ǥ‡–Ǥ
BLACKBELTMAG.COM

Pro Wrestling, Part 2:
It’s All About the Audience
At the New York Wrestling Connection on Long Island, Mondo showed us a
video and asked, “What was the story of that match?”
“T
he heel used the forearm
strike,” answered one of
the pro wrestlers.
Mondo agreed, then
added, “But the audience doesn’t know
that so you have to teach them.” He
explained that the heel, or bad guy,
should go for his signature move, then
get thwarted, then go for it again and
then get blocked. Finally, after several
attempts, he should land it — and com-
pletely destroy the baby face, or good
guy. That way, the story would be a lot
more exciting, he said.
WHEN IT WAS MY TURN to get in the
ring and take one of those “fake” fore-
arm strikes, I learned some lessons
they hadn’t taught me in MMA school.
Stockade hit me so hard I kissed the
canvas. It was like that scene in Rocky
III in which Rocky Balboa ights Thun-
derlips, The Ultimate Male.
Then Stockade picked me up by my
head and hit me again.
Back in the classroom, Mondo told us
that the baby face has to get trounced.
26 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015
E\$QWRQLR*UDFHƗR
The heel has to beat him for several
minutes until he’s almost dead. Dur-
ing the match in the video, after taking
a prolonged beating from the heel, the
baby face came back, did a lying leap
off the top rope and defeated the heel.
But Mondo said they didn’t sell it.
“If he can come back that strong after
getting beaten for 10 minutes, then the
beating was wasted,” Mondo said. What
the baby face should have done, he ex-
plained, was stagger to his feet and he-
roically, like the little engine that could,
just manage to pull off the win.
I was the baby face in my match with
Stockade, but I was too beat up to pull
off a win. Instead, I was trying to sell a
rematch. I would have liked to just kick
that angry giant in the jimmy, but one
of the basic rules of being a baby face
is that good guys don’t break rules. Al-
though the rules of pro wrestling are
almost never enforced, it’s only the bad
guys that break them.
IN MMA, the ighters all go in the cage
and just do what they need to do to win
in accordance with their own personal-
ity and training. But in pro wrestling,
in addition to coordinating with their
opponent — which would be suicide in
MMA — each pair of wrestlers needs to
be coordinated with other pairs, or the
audience will get bored from seeing the
same techniques over and over. Even
worse, it could screw up a storyline.
Example: On the tape we were watch-
ing, the action in the irst two matches
went out of the ring and onto the loor,
pulling in the audience. Mondo scolded
them. “If you do that in the irst two
matches, what can the headliners do?”
he asked.
It was the same for big moves, like
jumping off the top rope. The big moves
should come later in the show, when
there’s been some buildup. The head-
line match has to be the most exciting.
THE WRITERS FOR NYWC told me
that they plan the outcome of the
matches and usually plan some of the
moves — or, at least, certain restric-
tions for certain matches — to help
build the story. But pro wrestling is
not like movie ight scenes, in which
every single blow is choreographed.
“When you irst start out, you plan
everything A to Z,” Stockade said. “You
go out there, and some crowds want to
see everything you are doing, and some
just don’t want to see anything.”
MMA ighters may believe they’re
playing to the crowd, but they don’t
do it to the extent that pro wrestlers
do. Pro wrestling is a more interac-
tive experience, with the fans dictating
the pace and the action. “Like being a
stuntman or an improv actor, you listen
to the crowd and feed off the crowd be-
cause if you’re doing something and the
crowd isn’t into it, then you do some-
thing else,” Stockade continued. “And if
they react to it, you stick with that.”
A basic rule of wrestling, Stockade ex-
plained, is that if the spectators aren’t
booing the bad guy, they don’t care about
the good guy. “The audience plays a huge
part,” he said. “That’s the main reason
we do what we do — to entertain.”
Photo Courtesy of Antonio Graceffo
(To be continued in the February/
March 2015 issue.)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Antonio Graceffo
is a freelance writer based in Asia. To order
Warrior Odyssey, the book he wrote about
his travels, visit blackbeltmag.com.
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
Tigers
It’s not my intention to hurt anyone’s feelings or to make anyone angry. Nor do
I wish to belittle accomplishments or enthusiasm. However, if you’re a serious
karateka, \RX QHHG WR FRQVLGHU WKH HQRUPRXV GLƗHUHQFHV EHWZHHQ NDUDWH
pursued as a combat art and as a sport.
K
arate as a combat discipline
is a repository of remarkable,
layered and complex methods
and concepts. Far beyond the
physical techniques, the strategies of
good karate are sophisticated and, when
implemented correctly, brutally effective.
While some of these strategies may have
application in sport, most do not. That’s
because the goals of combat and sport
are not the same. While this may seem
obvious, often it’s not — particularly in
the mind of some modern practitioners.
IN TERMS OF KARATE as a combat
art, you are a predator. This will shock
some readers. We’re accustomed to
thinking of predators, particularly in
human form, as evil. Predators are
aggressive. Karate is “self-defense.”
We’re not supposed to be out search-
ing for prey. By “predator,” however, I
28 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015
by Dave Lowry
mean the mentality that’s generated
through the practice of karate or an-
other budo.
Sport is, one way or another, a perfor-
mance. The karateka who jerks to atten-
tion and roars “Kanku-dai!” to announce
his kata in a competition is, essentially,
performing. He may interpret this be-
havior as “showing strong spirit.” It is,
nevertheless, an affective behavior, a
display. Karateka in tournaments typi-
cally demonstrate this. In kata competi-
tions, maniacal screams and kabuki-like
scowls are practically mandatory.
Affective behaviors can be effective.
In baseball, for example, a batter who
steps out of the box at just the right
moment can disrupt the concentration
of the pitcher. In some ways, the heav-
ily loaded belt of a police of icer is an
affect. It looks intimidating and can
in luence those seeing it who might
otherwise be tempted to engage in a
crime. However, such displays rarely
do much in the face of a serious threat.
Think about how effective it is to adopt
a martial arts posture in front of a rob-
ber who’s pointing a gun at you.
COMPARE THIS affective behavior —
shouting and posturing — with that of a
classic predator. A tiger about to attack
does not roar. It does not make displays.
A tiger approaching its prey looks almost
casual. It’s relaxed. It’s completely ab-
sorbed in what’s going on, but there’s no
external demonstration of aggression.
The reasons for the tiger’s attack be-
havior — and the success it leads to —
are numerous. First, when you announce
your “strong spirit” to an opponent, you
provide him with information about you.
Giving an opponent information is al-
ways a bad idea. He can now ramp up his
own aggression or become more careful
and calculating based on what you’ve
shown him. The tiger shows nothing. No
fear, no aggression. Its prey gets no clues.
As important, the shouting and ex-
Photo by Rick Hustead
travagant display behavior of those in
a sporting arena require a tremendous
amount of energy and adrenaline. It’s
impossible to maintain that level for
long. This is the essential lesson in con-
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
 3|bŒÈ8´O8††bYŒ¼«tb¼Áœ¼ot|¼Œt´œbbY¬ÁŒbɜbO¼bY†ÊV
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fronting post-traumatic stress disor-
der. Soldiers forced to be “on the edge”
without being taught to calm down, to
release the energy once the threat of
combat is over, cannot always deal with
reality imposed by peaceful situations.
(Classical martial arts once used on the
battle ield by samurai often contain in-
tricate methods, chants and rituals de-
signed to deal with this stress.)
MANY YEARS AGO, I was at a judo shiai,
one in which the inal match was in-
tense. The two contestants had worked
their way through several opponents
over the day. Their victories were hard
won. Everyone could feel the excitement
for the inal, and it went to the last few
seconds before one young man made
a clean throw and won. Loud cheers
erupted. The winner was surrounded by
a crowd, clapping him on the back. Shortly
afterward, there was a brief awarding of
medals. The winner’s gold was looped
around his neck. He walked off the mat,
that goofy, relieved smile of happiness on
his face, still receiving congratulations.
His sensei appeared in the crowd. “Let’s
do randori,” the sensei said. Free practice.
“Now?” the guy asked.
“Now.”
It was the hardest judo practice I have
ever done. My body had already relaxed,
dumping the excess adrenaline I’d gener-
ated all day. My legs and arms felt illed
with jelly. It wasn’t a matter of being tired;
it was more that I’d geared myself up,
worked myself to a furious level of inten-
sity. Now that it was over, my mind told me
it was time to relax, to drop the intensity.
When I was called on to “get up to
ighting speed” unexpectedly, I was over-
whelmed. I was using a sporting model
of behavior. My sensei reminded me
with that post-shiai randori that judo is
not a sport; it’s a martial art. And one
must be expected to maintain not an
intense, focused concentration but a
relaxed, consistent level of awareness
that doesn’t luctuate wildly.
AGAIN, THIS IS NOT to diminish karate
as a sport. Rather, it’s to emphasize the
critical differences between the mind of
the athlete and the mind of the martial
artist. For the latter, performance is not
the standard. Performances have dif-
ferent goals, different applications. Re-
member that the natural realm of the
tiger is not in the circus ring. The na-
ture of the tiger is expressed in a very
different place.
 The Man
Called Shaolin
Watching Vitor Ribeiro teach a private
seminar for a small group of students
at the Amerikick Rockland martial
arts school in suburban New York, the
ƘUVWWKLQJ\RXŚUHOLNHO\WRQRWLFHLVKLV
attention to detail.
E\0DUN-DFREV

“O
nly grab as much of the
gi as you need,” he says,
changing a student’s grip
so he holds just the edge
of the opponent’s collar. “If you grab
too much, you may tire your hand when
you go for the choke.”
It’s this preoccupation with preci-
sion that’s made the man nicknamed
“Shaolin” a legend in Brazilian jiu-jitsu,
where he garnered four world cham-
pionships, three of which were in the
black-belt division.

RIBEIRO, 35, came along at the right

moment in jiu-jitsu history — he began
training in 1993, just as Royce Gracie
was exploding on the scene in the ear-
ly Ultimate Fighting Championships,
demonstrating his art’s effectiveness to
the world.
“I had done a little bit of muay Thai
and judo but had never trained that se-
riously,” he recalls. “Then when the UFC
started, a bunch of us kids used to get to-
gether in the park to hold our own ights.
I fought and lost to this guy who did luta
livre, which has some jiu-jitsu in it.”
The loss inspired the 14-year-old to
seek out jiu-jitsu instruction. Fortu-
nately, his Rio de Janeiro neighborhood
was home to leading instructor Andre
Pederneiras. Logging hours on the mat
every day, Ribeiro enjoyed a meteoric
rise in competitive jiu-jitsu. He won his
irst world championship as a purple
belt after just one and a half years of
training and gained his black belt at age
17 after just three and a half years.
“There wasn’t anything special about
Photo Courtesy of Vitor Ribeiro

me,” he says. “I wasn’t really strong or

really fast. I just had a lot of commit-
ment to training.”

WHILE RIBEIRO acknowledges the

technical advances that have been

30 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

made in jiu-jitsu and MMA since his
early days, he also believes certain ele-
ments of old-school training are supe-
rior to present-day methods.
“Now people can go on YouTube to
learn things,” he says. “Back then, we
had to do it by trial and error. We had
to do our homework on the mats, not
the computer. I think it forced us to be
more creative.”
Ribeiro’s commitment to homework
on the mats didn’t eclipse his playful
side, though. It was from his youthful
penchant for trying to impress his gym
mates by pretending to meditate in the
lotus position — like a Shaolin monk
— that he garnered his nickname. The
moniker was a fortuitous one, making
him instantly recognizable, particularly
in Japan where he was simply known as
“Vitor Shaolin.”
AFTER HIS THIRD straight win in the
black-belt division of the Brazilian Jiu-Jit-
su World Championship in 2001, Ribeiro
sought new challenges and began to de-
vote himself primarily to MMA. Peder-
neiras had already merged his team with
that of fellow coach Wendell Alexander
to form a new squad called Nova União.
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
Now known as one of the most for-
midable camps in MMA, with UFC
standouts like José Aldo and Renan
Barão to its credit, Nova União was
propelled to prominence in part be-
cause of Ribeiro. Much of the team’s
success, he says, stems from a willing-
ness to have ighters cross-train with
other styles. The team’s close relation-
ship with Marco Ruas’ vale tudo school
gave Nova União a leg up on much of
the competition when it came to strik-
ing, Ribeiro believes.
Nevertheless, it’s as a grappler that
Ribeiro is best-known. While some jiu-
jitsu champs never quite get the knack
of making their ground game perform
in MMA, Ribeiro always proved him-
self effective when it came to making
his jiu-jitsu work in the cage. Again, he
attributes his success to an obsession
with the details.
“My school always paid a lot of at-
tention to the fundamentals,” he says.
“Spending so much time on that helped
me a lot in my training.”
IT’S BEEN SIX YEARS since Ribeiro
transplanted all that attention to de-
tail and focus on the fundamentals to
DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT
the United States. That was when he
opened Vitor Shaolin Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
school in New York. The demand for in-
struction has been such that he recent-
ly partnered to open a second school,
called BrawlHouse, in New Jersey.
Amerikick Rockland owner Rafael
Melendez initially met Ribeiro shortly
after the Brazilian irst arrived — he
was looking to add some BJJ to his kick-
boxing and judo skills. “I knew he was
one of the best in the world,” Melendez
says. “But what struck me was what
a humble gentleman he was. A lot of
high-ranking masters are not that way,
but he just wants to teach people how
to be better martial artists.”
Ribeiro’s latest efforts to improve
people’s martial arts have led him into
the realm of of iciating. Having refer-
eed a number of ights in Brazil over
the years, he got licensed to of iciate
in New Jersey and recently worked his
irst UFC match in Atlantic City.
“The of iciating in the sport hasn’t
always been that good,” Ribeiro says. “I
think it’s important to get more people
with experience involved. I just want to
help all the ighters do a good job.”
31

Sit-Rep: Fight Sports in Japan
At the turn of the 20th century, Japan was the center of the world for MMA
and kickboxing.
T
he major Japanese TV net-
works aired PRIDE Fighting
Championships and K-1 regu-
larly in prime time, and they
were some of the biggest shows on
television. All the attention drew major
sponsorship and advertising dollars.
That meant big ight purses, which in
turn drew the best ighters in the world
to compete in arena- illing events. The
ight cards were almost always stacked
with entertaining matchups, and the
guys who fought in them became ce-
lebrities. The peak was in 2002, when
a combined PRIDE/K-1 production at
Tokyo National Stadium brought in
90,000 people with even more watch-
ing at home.
But soon it all came crashing down. By
2007 PRIDE was gone, and a few years
later, K-1 more or less disappeared.
HOW THAT HAPPENED is a compli-
cated story. The short version: The
big ight organizations lost their TV
deals and advertising revenue because
of a series of media reports associat-
ing them with organized crime. Then
PRIDE got bought out by the UFC, and
32 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015
by Keith Vargo
after some efforts at reviving the brand,
it closed down for good. Meanwhile,
K-1 went through some well-publicized
inancial troubles and a series of own-
ership changes. The promotion still ex-
ists and still puts on kickboxing compe-
titions, but they’re almost always held
in other countries and never shown on
Japanese television.
Because of the dissolution of the big
shows, many people think the ight
scene in Japan is dead. However, the de-
mand for ight sports still exists — it’s
just being met by smaller events. There
are plenty of promotions running pop-
ular kickboxing and MMA shows at
smaller venues. It may ly below most
people’s radar, but there’s still a vibrant
ight scene in Japan.
OF THE TWO KINDS of competitions,
kickboxing events are more abundant.
There are older kickboxing organiza-
tions that still put on shows regularly,
like the New Japan Kickboxing Federa-
tion, founded in 1996, and the Martial
Arts Japan Kickboxing Federation,
which has been operating for nearly 30
years. But newer promotions — like J-
Network, Rise, Rebels and Krush — are
vying for ight fans’ attention.
Of the older organizations, the Mar-
tial Arts Japan Kickboxing Federa-
tion is probably the most interesting.
Here, the English term “martial arts”
means something different from what
it means in English-speaking countries.
Pronounced “maashyaru aatsu” in Japa-
nese, it’s usually used to denote a kind
of kickboxing. In this case, it’s kickbox-
ing that arose from full-contact, bare-
knuckle karate ighting. But now the or-
ganization is partnered with a national
muay Thai group that, in turn, is part of
the World Boxing Council’s muay Thai
sanctioning body.
Of all the newer promotions, Krush is
most like K-1. It holds events in night-
club-size venues and halls, but its kick-
boxing matches are fought under K-1
rules and the shows retain a similar feel.
Consequently, Krush events have re-
tained a following of die-hard fans of K-1.
Shootboxing also continues to draw
crowds. It bills itself as “standing vale
tudo,” which means it’s like kickbox-
ing in which throws and standing sub-
mission holds also can win. But these
unusual rules are only part of what
keeps fans coming. The promotion
has developed a high-pro ile women’s
division and holds a one-day, eight-
woman championship tournament ev-
ery year. That event, called the Girls S-
Cup, brings in top female ighters from
around the world.
PLENTY OF MMA groups are keeping
their sport alive in Japan, as well. But
unlike kickboxing, they’re almost all
survivors of the boom era in the ight
sports. Some even predate the launch
of PRIDE and the UFC.
The oldest is Shooto, which has been
around since 1985. While it’s had its
share of troubles in the past few years,
Shooto still puts on some of the best
MMA shows in Japan. Recently, it re-
vived the Vale Tudo Japan. The ’90s in-
carnation of the series included tourna-
ments won by Rickson Gracie, which is
when he gained international fame. But
the current version of Vale Tudo Japan
is more like a modern MMA competi-
tion, and it’s partnering with the UFC to
develop tournaments and a TV series.
Other name promotions that still
hold regular MMA events are Pan-
crase and DEEP. Of the two, Pancrase
is probably the best-known because
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
 Just because the salad days of MMA and kickboxing are
Çb±Œ8œ8ŒV¼Yb´Œ®¼‰b8Œ¼|bot|¼´œ±¼´8±btŒb¡
The smaller events are still giving fans what they can’t get
8ŒÊ‰±bŒœ±‰b~¼‰b¼b†bÇ´Œ¡
it’s been around as long as the UFC or Satoru Kitaoka in action these days, nese ight scene. I could talk about
and contributed many ighters to early DEEP is where you go. other kickboxing promotions — In-
UFC events. Guys like Ken Shamrock, Of course there are other MMA pro- novation or Big Bang or Shin Nihon. I
Maurice Smith and Bas Rutten were motions running events. One is ZST, could pro ile even more MMA shows
all ighting in Pancrase before they a direct descendant of the original like HEAT or Grachan or the most re-
crossed over to compete in the UFC. RINGS organization. It still holds MMA cent newcomer, Tribe Tokyo Fight. But
These days, Pancrase still holds a full matches in which the closed guard isn’t you get the picture.
calendar of events, and male and fe- allowed and very little striking on the Just because the salad days of MMA
male ighters who are successful in ground is permitted. And there’s King- and kickboxing are over in Japan, it
them go on to other promotions. dom Ehrgeiz, which is a stiff-style pro- doesn’t mean the ight sports are gone.
DEEP, which was originally called wrestling organization that morphed The smaller events are still giving fans
Deep Impact, was one of the original into an MMA promotion 15 years ago what they can’t get anymore on prime-
feeder shows in Japanese MMA. Fight- but still retains pro-wrestling rules time television. And someday, when
ers who proved themselves there went for some of its matches. I’ve fought in kickboxing and MMA can step out from
on to compete in PRIDE, Bushido and matches for that promotion in which under the shadow cast by the scandals
other events. But DEEP has outlived “rope escapes” were allowed and “catch that plagued PRIDE and K-1, maybe
the big Japanese shows and become a points” were called. these small promotions will grow and
home for a lot of the talent from those make Japan the center of the ight
promotions. If you want to see top Jap- EVEN THOUGH THIS may seem like a world again.
anese ighters like Kazuhiro Nakamura lot, there’s more going on in the Japa-

Swiss Army Abs
Martial artists and sit-ups traditionally
have gone together like bodybuilders
and biceps curls.
by Mike Carlson, NASM-CPT, CFL-1
E
ven before physiologists could
explain why the muscles of the
midsection are so important
for generating force, martial
artists knew that the core is the “brains”
behind the coordination of movements
involving the upper and lower body.
Unfortunately, a slavish devotion to
the sit-up (or crunch) has prevailed.
While that type of spinal lexion is
good for developing the rectus abdomi-
nis, the core is composed of several
other muscles that permit a variety of
movement patterns such as twisting,
bending, leaning and stabilizing. For
instance, one of the most important
movements generated by the abdomi-
nals is rotation. Unfortunately, it’s also
one of the most overlooked in training.
“MARTIAL ARTISTS NEED TO be
able to rotate and rotate explosively,”
34 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015
says Brian Richardson, co-owner of
Dynamic Fitness in Temecula, Cali-
fornia, where he trains top UFC wel-
terweight Tarec Saffiedine as well as
other fighters from the Team Quest
MMA squad. “They need to work that
pattern and those muscles to react to
a kick or punch.”
Richardson claims that improv-
ing speed and power in the external
obliques, the muscles that drive torso
rotation, is the key to improving perfor-
mance in all manner of sports, whether
it’s throwing a punch or throwing a
baseball. However, training the exter-
nal obliques can be tricky. For example,
when standing, they move the upper
body from right to left and are the main
drivers when throwing a right cross.
However, when you’re on your back
and your hips are anchored to the loor
— imagine being in the guard while
grappling — they move your right hip
farther to the right. For that reason,
Richardson recommends that you per-
form both standing and supine rota-
tional exercises.
ANOTHER FACET to consider is rep
scheme. Traditionally, martial artists
have approached their training with
an admirable but misplaced “more is
better” mindset. The fact is, core mus-
cles are made of fast-twitch and slow-
twitch ibers and thus must be targeted
with heavy loads and low reps as well
as light weight and high reps. And un-
like bodybuilders, who want a narrow
waist and abdominals that are more
“show” than “go,” martial artists bene it
from the shock-absorbing properties of
thick, well-built abs.
The bottom line is, you need a well-
rounded abdominal training program
that encompasses multiple planes of
movement, full ranges of motion and
varying rep schemes. The following is a
short but effective workout Richardson
created to address all the variables and
prep you for any challenge.
ROTATION: You need two exercises to de-
velop rotational ability across two planes
of motion. The irst focuses on building
power, while the second enhances stabil-
ity and muscular endurance.
Ȉ Weighted Throw: Hold a heavy
medicine ball or slam ball at waist level
while standing about 5 feet away from a
stable wall. Point your left shoulder to-
ward the wall and your toes 90 degrees
away from it. With both hands under
the ball, pivot to your left on your right
foot and throw the ball into the wall as
hard as possible using a two-handed
scooping motion.
Sets/Reps: 2 sets of 25 reps on each side
Tempo: Repeat as quickly as possible
while maintaining good form.
Ȉ Lying Twist: Lie on your back with
your arms straight out to the sides, legs
straight up and toes pointed at the ceil-
ing. Your hips, your shoulder blades and
the back of your head should remain in
contact with the ground throughout the
exercise. Lower your legs to one side
until they lightly touch the ground. This
is your starting position. Take a breath
and tighten your abs. Slowly raise your
legs in an arcing motion across your
body, then lower them on the other side
until they lightly touch the ground.
Sets/Reps: 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Tempo: Take a full three seconds to
move from left to right. Spend another
three seconds going from right to left.
Advanced Tip: Keep your palms facing
up to promote a neutral posture.
FLEXION: While you shouldn’t over-
stimulate the rectus abdominis — the
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
 A body needs to do more than contract and
explode. Deceleration and control are vital
biomotor abilities for martial artists.
muscles that make that six-pack — your feet as high as possible toward your Ȉ Stir the Pot: Assume a kneeling
with countless crunches and sit-ups, head, maintaining total control the en- position with an exercise ball in front
you shouldn’t neglect them, either. A tire time. Once your thighs are parallel of you and place your forearms on the
better way to work that part of your to the loor, tilt your pelvis to move your ball. Come off your knees, onto the balls
core is with the hanging leg raise. “It’s a feet slightly forward and a little higher. of your feet and into a plank position
great movement for kicks,” Richardson Sets/Reps: 3 sets of 10-12 reps with your body forming a straight line
says. “With kicking motions, the lower Tempo: Take two seconds to raise your from head to heels. Your abs should be
muscle ibers in the abdominal wall legs and two seconds to lower them. braced, your glutes engaged and your
will really ire off, and there is a whole Advanced Tip: Hold a medicine ball or elbows under your shoulders while you
slew of other things going on synergis- light dumbbell between your feet. strive for neutral spine alignment. Initi-
tically. It really helps for explosiveness.” ate the exercise by slowly moving your
Ȉ Hanging Leg Raise With Posterior STABILITY: A body needs to do more forearms forward and then in circles
Tilt: Grasp an overhead bar with one than contract and explode. Decelera- for the prescribed time. Reverse the
hand and contract that lat muscle, then tion and control are vital biomotor abil- direction of the circles for the next set.
grab the bar with your other hand and ities for martial artists. If you can lock Sets/Reps: Aim to hold the plank for
tighten that lat, as well. Your lats and down your core and prevent excess 60 seconds.
shoulder girdle should be locked down, motion, you’ll more effectively trans- Tempo: four seconds for each circle
as opposed to being in a dead hang. From fer power from your trunk to your ex- Advanced Tip: Instead of performing
here, internally rotate your legs, point tremities. This turbocharged version of circles, try writing the alphabet with
your toes in and squeeze your thighs to- the classic plank forces you to maintain your forearms.
gether. With this built-up tension, raise dynamic stability for a full minute.

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 enter the dojo master ken

Enter the Mind of the Man Behind “Enter the Dojo”

Interview by Robert W. Young | Photography by Corey Sorensen

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Published on December 2, 2014

Getting to Know Matt Page and His Alter Ego Master Ken

READ ON
 I
F YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE WILDLY POPULAR ENTER THE
DOJO COMEDY SERIES, DO IT NOW. BEFORE YOU READ THIS
ARTICLE. GO TO YOUTUBE.COM/ENTERTHEDOJOSHOW. THAT’S
THE ONLY WAY YOU’LL BE ABLE TO PUT A FACE, A VOICE AND A
MOUSTACHE BEHIND THE WACKY WORDS THAT COME FROM THE
MARTIAL ARTIST KNOWN AS MASTER KEN.

Caution: You’re about to read comments would you like it if I called you “black
from a real martial artist (Matt Page) in- belt magazine”? It’s not only an insult;
–‡”•’‡”•‡†™‹–Š…‘‡–•ˆ”‘ƒϔ‹…–‹‘ƒŽ it weakens the word. The capitalization
character (Master Ken). To make it easier of not one, not two, but THREE letters
to distinguish the two, we’ve italicized the ‹–Š‡ƒ‡‘ˆ›•–”‡‡–ǦŽ‡–ŠƒŽϔ‹‰Š–‹‰
words of Master Ken. system lets people know how serious it
is. Speaking of serious: By the authority
When you’re vested in me as the creator of and 11th-
BLACK BELT: in character
as Master Ken, your moves remind
degree black belt in the most dangerous
martial art in the world — Ameri-Do-Te
me of kenpo. Do you come from a — I hereby demote you to white belt.
kenpo background?
› ϐ‹”•– •–›Ž‡ BLACK BELT: Did you learn ameri-do-te
MATT PAGE: ™ƒ• ‹ƒ™ƒ
kenpoƒ†kobudo.”‡…‡‹˜‡†›ϐ‹”•–Ǧ
†‡‰”‡‡ „Žƒ… „‡Ž– ˆ”‘ ‹…Š ‡ŽŽ‡–‹‡”
‹ͳͻͻ͸Ǥ‡™ƒ•ƒƒƒœ‹‰‹•–”—…–‘”
ƒ† ‹•–‹ŽŽ‡† †‹•…‹’Ž‹‡ ƒ† •–”—…–—”‡
from a master, or did you create it?
MASTER KEN: I wasted years of my life
studying pretty much every combative
system in the world. In kenpo, they’re
always slapping themselves. For every
‹ › Ž‹ˆ‡ ™Š‡  ”‡ƒŽŽ› ‡‡†‡† ‹–Ǥ ‹•
•…Š‘‘Ž ™ƒ• ˜‡”› –”ƒ†‹–‹‘ƒŽ ƒ† ‰ƒ˜‡
‡ ƒ •–”‘‰ ˆ‘—†ƒ–‹‘ ‘– ‘Ž› ‹
ƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–•ƒ•ƒ™ƒ›‘ˆ•‡ŽˆǦ†‡ˆ‡•‡„—–
ƒŽ•‘‹ƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–•ƒ•ƒ™ƒ›‘ˆŽ‹ˆ‡Ǥ
time a kenpo guy hits his opponent, he
hits himself three times — which is great
„‡…ƒ—•‡ ‹ˆ ›‘— ϔ‹‰Š– ƒ ‡’‘ „Žƒ… „‡Ž–
long enough, eventually he’ll kick his
own ass.
ˆ–‡” –Šƒ–  ‘˜‡† ƒ”‘—† ƒ Ž‘– ƒ† In krav maga, they don’t even use the
•ƒ’Ž‡† ˜ƒ”‹‘—• ƒ”–•ǣ aikido, „‘š‹‰ǡ belt system. How are they supposed to
•–‹… ϐ‹‰Š–‹‰ǡ ‡–…Ǥ Š‡  •‡––Ž‡† ‘ know who’s more advanced? All they do is
‡”‹…ƒ‡’‘ǡ•–—†›‹‰—†‡”‘› trade patches like a bunch of Girl Scouts.
ƒ† ”‹ƒ ‘––‡” ‹ ƒ–ƒ ‡ ƒ– ‘‡ ‘ˆ Tai chi is a martial art designed spe-

‡ˆˆ ’‡ƒƒǯ• ‡’‘ ͷǤͲ •…Š‘‘Ž•Ǥ ǯ† …‹ϔ‹…ƒŽŽ›ˆ‘”•‹••‹‡•ƒ†‘Ž†’‡‘’Ž‡Ǥ‘…‡
ƒŽ™ƒ›•™ƒ–‡†–‘Ž‡ƒ”–Š‡‹†‘ˆ‡Ǧ saw a tai chi instructor get beat up by a
’‘ ǯ† •‡‡ ‹ ‘˜‹‡• Ž‹‡ The Perfect mime. He got thrown into an imaginary
Weapon,•‘–Šƒ–™ƒ•‰”‡ƒ–ˆ—Ǥ wall and choked with an invisible rope.
‘”‡ ”‡…‡–Ž›ǡ ǯ˜‡ „‡‡ •–—†›‹‰ Each time I learned a new martial
”ƒœ‹Ž‹ƒ jiu-jitsu. Š‡”‡ ƒ”‡ •‘ ƒ› art, I could see a few moves that worked
•–›Ž‡•ǯ†Ž‹‡–‘•–—†›Ȅhapkido,—‰ Ȅ ™‹–Š › ‘™ •’‡…‹ƒŽ ‘†‹ϔ‹…ƒ–‹‘•ǡ
ˆ— Ȅ „—– ˆ‘” •‘‡ ”‡ƒ•‘ǡ ǯ ƒŽ™ƒ›•
1,420,365 †”ƒ™„ƒ…–‘•‘‡ˆ‘”‘ˆ‡’‘Ǥ
BLACK BELT: Master Ken, I know your
1,420,360 0 background is in Ameri-Do-Te, but
in the magazine, we normally don’t
use capital letters when we write the
names of martial arts. Are you cool
with us spelling the name of your art
‘ˆ…‘—”•‡Ȅ„—–ƒŽ•‘ˆ‘—†ϔŽƒ™•ƒ†
weaknesses everywhere. My style takes
the best parts of every other martial art
in the world with none of the weakness-
es. That’s why we like to say “Ameri-Do-
Te: Best of All, Worst of None.”
BLACK BELT: Do you have your own ken-
po school?
“ameri-do-te,” or is that an insult to MATT PAGE:ǯ˜‡‡˜‡””—›‘™•…Š‘‘ŽǤ
everything you stand for?  Šƒ˜‡ Š‡Ž’‡† –‡ƒ…Š ‹†•ǯ …Žƒ••‡• ƒ†
I notice you –Š‡ ‘……ƒ•‹‘ƒŽ ƒ†—Ž– …Žƒ•• ƒ– ƒ ˆ‡™
MASTER KEN: don’t have
a problem capitalizing Black Belt. How
•…Š‘‘Ž•ǡ„—–ǯ˜‡ƒŽ™ƒ›•–Š‘—‰Š–‘ˆ›Ǧ
•‡Žˆƒ’‡”’‡–—ƒŽ•–—†‡–Ǥ
 “My style takes the
best parts of every
other martial art in
the world with none
of the weaknesses.
That’s why we like
to say ‘Ameri-Do-
Te: Best of All,
Worst of None.’”
— Master Ken

Master Ken on Fitness

If you want to work out, go for it. Aerobics
classes masquerading as self-defense —
like cardio kickboxing — waste valuable
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38 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

BLACK BELT: What’s it like running the
school that teaches the most effec-
tive martial art in the world? Are
your competitors jealous? Hostile?
How come they’re not all out of
business?
MASTER KEN: The hardest part is getting
people past the initial shock of how ef-
fective our style is. I get people who
come in off the street and see us do our
patented “groin sparring,” where the
ϔ‹”•–•–—†‡––‘‰”ƒ„–Š‡‘–Š‡”•–—†‡–ǯ•
groin wins the match, and they just
•Šƒ‡–Š‡‹”Š‡ƒ†•ƒ†™ƒŽ‘—–ǤŠ‡›ǯ”‡
‡ˆˆ ’‡ƒǦ ƒ† ‰‘– —’ ƒ† ™ƒŽ‡† ‘—–Ǥ —–
too scared.
ƒ…‹‡Šƒƒ†”—…‡‡‡Ȅ–‘
BLACK BELT: How do you — and Master
Ken — come up with concepts like
“groin sparring”?
improving them. Like Italian food. So I
took the word “karate-do” and Ameri-
canized it to “Ameri-Do-Te.”
Ž•‘ǡŠƒ˜‹‰ƒƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”––Šƒ–„‡‰‹•
™‹–Š –Š‡ Ž‡––‡” Dzdz ƒ‡• —• ϔ‹”•– ‹ –Š‡
’Š‘‡„‘‘Ǥ
BLACK BELT: Who are some of the real
martial artists you look up to?
MATT PAGE: There are so many. From
ˆƒ‘—• ƒ”–‹ƒŽ ƒ”–‹•–• ™Š‘•‡ ϐ‹Ž•
drove my interest in the entertain-
ment business — Jean-Claude Van
ƒ‡ǡ –‡˜‡ ‡ƒ‰ƒŽǡ
ƒǡ
–Šƒ–ǯ•Ȅ›‘—…ƒǯ–’Ž‡ƒ•‡‡˜‡”›Ǧ
–Š‘•‡ ™Š‘•‡ „‘‘• ƒ† ‹–‡”˜‹‡™• ‹
ƒ‰ƒœ‹‡•‹•’‹”‡†‡–‘‡‡’–”ƒ‹Ǧ
‹‰ȄŽ‹‡†ƒ”‡”ǡ‹ŽŽDz—’‡”ˆ‘‘–dz
ƒŽŽƒ…‡ ƒ† ‘›…‡
MATT PAGE: Not me personally, but
Master Ken has received hundreds
of challenges, as well as some death
threats. Those come mainly from
’‡‘’Ž‡™Š‘†‘ǯ–”‡ƒŽ‹œ‡Š‡ǯ•ƒϐ‹…Ǧ
tional character. Most of those peo-
’Ž‡ •‘‘ ”‡ƒŽ‹œ‡ ™‡ǯ”‡ ‹††‹‰ǡ „—–
there are still a few who choose to
remain hurt or threatened by what
Ken says. I do a live show (master
‡Ž‹˜‡Ǥ…‘Ȍǡ ƒ† ‡˜‡ ƒ– › „‡•–
performances, I get reports after-
ward of people who were offended
body, I guess.
BLACK BELT: Have you ever had to de-
”ƒ…‹‡Ǥ –ǯ• „‡‡ fend the honor of your school or
MATT PAGE: After high school, I moved to totally surreal to meet some of these art in a ϐight? How did it turn out?
Southern California to become a movie people in person after admiring their MASTER KEN: Are you kidding? People
star. Being so naive, of course, I strug- ™‘”ˆ”‘ƒˆƒ”ƒŽŽ–Š‡•‡›‡ƒ”•Ǥ come in off the street and challenge
gled there. Each time I would move The biggest irony about Enter the me all the time. I offer them a chance
to a new neighborhood — which was Dojo‹•–Šƒ–’‹…‘–Š‡•–›Ž‡•ƒ†’‡‘Ǧ to sign the waiver that releases
often — I would go to the closest dojo ’Ž‡Ž‘˜‡–Š‡‘•–Ǥǯ˜‡•ƒ‹†•‘‡…”ƒœ› ‡ ˆ”‘ ƒ› ƒ† ƒŽŽ ”‡•’‘•‹„‹Ž‹–›
and sign up for classes. One place had things about Van Damme and Seagal, •Š‘—Ž†–Š‡›„‡‹ŽŽ‡†Ǥ–ǯ•ƒͺͶͶǦ’ƒ‰‡
a method of training they called “groin „—––Šƒ–ǯ•„‡…ƒ—•‡–Š‡›™‡”‡›ˆƒ˜‘”Ǧ document. No one has gotten past
sparring.” They said the groin was the ‹–‡ƒ…–‹‘•–ƒ”•‰”‘™‹‰—’Ǥ†ǯƒŽǦ –Š‡ϔ‹”•–ͻͶ•‹‰ƒ–—”‡•Ǥ—–™Š‡–Š‡›
only target that mattered in a street ™ƒ›•’‘‹‰ˆ—ƒ–‡’‘„‡…ƒ—•‡‹–ǯ• do, they will have signed their own
ϐ‹‰Š–ǡ •‘ –Š‡› †‹†ǯ– ˆ‘…—• ‘ ‹…• ‘”
punches to other parts of the body.
Š‘‡˜‡” ‰”ƒ„„‡† –Š‡‹” ‘’’‘‡–ǯ•
‰”‘‹ϐ‹”•–™‘Ǥ‹’Ž‡ǡ”‹‰Š–ǫ—––Š‡
ˆ‘”›ϐ‹”•–ƒ–…Šǡ–Š‡›ƒ†‡‡ϐ‹‰Š–
a woman. That was just one of many bi-
zarre experiences over the years.
–Š‡•–›Ž‡ǯ˜‡†‡†‹…ƒ–‡†•‘—…Š‘ˆ›
Ž‹ˆ‡–‘Ǥ‘‹ˆƒ•–‡”‡–ƒ‡•–Š‡–‹‡
–‘‰‘ƒˆ–‡”›‘—‘”›‘—”•–›Ž‡ǡ‹–ǯ•ƒ•‹‰
of affection.
BLACK BELT: Are there any martial arts
or martial artists you look up to?
death warrant.
BLACK BELT: When a person teaches
an art as deadly as yours, is it es-
sential to counsel students on
how not to wind up in jail?
MASTER KEN: „•‘Ž—–‡Ž›Ǥ ‘‡ ‘ˆ –Š‡
MASTER KEN: Asking me what other mar- ‘˜‡•ǯ˜‡‹˜‡–‡†•‹’Ž›…ƒ‘–„‡
BLACK BELT: Where did the name “ameri- tial arts I look up to is like asking me –ƒ—‰Š–ˆ‘”Ž‹ƒ„‹Ž‹–›”‡ƒ•‘•Ǥ ‘”‡šƒǦ
do-te” come from? to pick my favorite disease. I could tell ’Ž‡ǡ”‡…‡–Ž›…”‡ƒ–‡†ƒ‹‡•…ƒ’ƒ„Ž‡
MASTER KEN: Most civilians think the word ™Š‹…Š‘‡•ƒ”‡™‘”•‡–Šƒ‘–Š‡”•ǡ„—– Š‘Ž†™Š‡”‡›‘—–”ƒ’›‘—”‘’’‘‡–ǯ•
Dzƒ”ƒ–‡dz”‡’”‡•‡–•ƒŽŽƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–•Ǥ„‡Ǧ ™‘—Ž†ǯ–…Š‘‘•‡ƒ›‘ˆ–Š‡Ǥ arms and legs, then you sit on their
lieve that one day, my style of Ameri-Do- Š‡ƒ† ƒ† ”‡Ž‡ƒ•‡ ƒ Ž‡–ŠƒŽ „ƒ””ƒ‰‡
‡™‹ŽŽ”‡’Žƒ…‡ƒŽŽϔ‹‰Š–‹‰•›•–‡•ǡ•‘ BLACK BELT: Has anyone ever been so ‘ˆ ϔŽƒ–—Ž‡…‡ –‘ •—ˆˆ‘…ƒ–‡ –Š‡Ǥ –ǯ•
™ƒ–‡†‹––‘•‘—†•‹‹Žƒ”„—–†‹ˆˆ‡”‡–Ǥ upset at something Master Ken said …ƒŽŽ‡†–Š‡Dz‰ƒ•…Šƒ„‡”Ǥdz…ƒǯ–•‡†
America has a great history of taking that he — or she — challenged you …‹˜‹Ž‹ƒ• ‘—– ‹ ’—„Ž‹… ™‹–Š –Šƒ– ‹†
–Š‹‰• …”‡ƒ–‡† „› ‘–Š‡” …‘—–”‹‡• ƒ†
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
to a ϐight?
Master Ken on Bullying
The issue of bullying requires that we
teach kids self-defense. Where most
programs get it wrong is with “anti-
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against him, so why not take the posi-
tive aspects of bullying and use them
in self-defense?
‘ˆ‘™Ž‡†‰‡Ǥ–ǯ•Œ—•––‘‘†ƒ‰‡”‘—•Ǥ
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bullied. So we work on teaching kids how to
identify the bad kids and use the three prin-
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someone smaller than you. Two, outnumber
your opponent whenever possible. Three,
scatter before authorities arrive.
DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 39
 Years ago I took an invaluable class
called Introduction to Business Law at
the Central New Mexico Community Col-
lege, and my instructor, a one-legged
veteran named Jim Hooker, gave me
the most important piece of legal ad-
vice I’ve ever heard: “Dead men don’t
sue.” And he was right. Because a year
later, he died in a freak accident at a
meat-processing plant and ended up
being served as ground beef at three Al-
buquerque public schools. Nobody even
noticed until some cheerleader bit into a
sloppy Joe and broke her tooth on what
turned out to be a piece of his catheter.
But the point is he never pressed charges
because he was deceased at the time of
the accidental ingestion.
BLACK BELT: Where did the concept
for Master Ken and Enter the Dojo
come from?
MATT PAGE: In creating Master Ken, I
Master Ken on Breaking
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Master Ken on Weapons
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–‹…‡†ǣ ‘‡ ‹•–”—…–‘”•ǡ ‘ ƒ––‡” Master Ken on Tournaments
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–ƒŽ ‘–‡ ƒ† •ƒ›ǡ Dz‘‡†ƒ› ǯ ‰‘ƒ /DQFH$UPVWURQJ·VEORRG
†‘ •‘‡–Š‹‰ …”‡ƒ–‹˜‡ ™‹–Š ƒŽŽ –Š‹•Ǥdz
˜‡–—ƒŽŽ›ǡ  ˆ‘—† › ™ƒ› –‘ ‡™
‡š‹…‘ ƒ† ™‡– –‘ ‘ŽŽ‡‰‡ ‘ˆ ƒ–ƒ ™‹–Š †‡’”‡••‹‘ ƒ† ’‡‘’Ž‡ ˆ”‘ ƒŽŽ BLACK BELT: Do you have formal train-
‡ǡ‘™ƒ–ƒ ‡‹˜‡”•‹–›Ǥ…‡”‡Ǧ ™ƒŽ•‘ˆŽ‹ˆ‡™Š‘–Šƒ‡ˆ‘”ƒ‹‰ ing in acting?
…‡‹˜‡†›„ƒ…Š‡Ž‘”ǯ•†‡‰”‡‡‹‘˜‹‰Ǧ –Š‡ Žƒ—‰Š ƒ† Š‡Ž’‹‰ –Š‡ ˆ‘”‰‡– MATT PAGE:ǯ˜‡„‡‡–ƒ‹‰ƒ…–‹‰…Žƒ••‡•
‹ƒ‰‡ ƒ”–•ǡ  •ƒ™ –Šƒ– ‡˜‡”›‘‡ ™ƒ• –Š‡‹” –”‘—„Ž‡• ˆ‘” –Š‡ ‘‡–Ǥ Šƒ–ǯ• ƒ† ’‡”ˆ‘”‹‰ ‹ ’Žƒ›• •‹…‡  ™ƒ• ƒ
ƒ‹‰ –Š‡‹” ‘™ ‡„ •‡”‹‡•Ǥ – –Š‡ –Š‡‘•–”‡™ƒ”†‹‰–Š‹‰ǯ˜‡‡˜‡”‰‘–Ǧ ‹†Ǥ › ‹ϐŽ—‡…‡• ”ƒ‰‡ ˆ”‘ ‘Ž† ‡’‹Ǧ
–‹‡ǡ ǯ† „‡…‘‡ ‘„•‡••‡† ™‹–Š ‹…› –‡‘—–‘ˆ™Šƒ–†‘Ǥ •‘†‡•‘ˆSaturday Night Live–‘‘…—Ǧ

‡”˜ƒ‹•ǯ ‘”‹‰‹ƒŽ ˜‡”•‹‘ ‘ˆ Š‡ ˆϔ‹…‡ ‡–ƒ”‹‡•„›Š”‹•–‘’Š‡”

—‡•––‘‘”‡
‘–Š‡ǡƒ††‡…‹†‡†™ƒ–‡†–‘ BLACK BELT: You’ve appeared at the •‡”‹‘—•…‹‡ƒ–‹…™‘”•Ž‹‡–Š‡ϐ‹Ž•‘ˆ
–”›–Šƒ–„—–‹ƒ™‘”Ž†—†‡”•–‘‘†Ǥ‘ Martial Arts SuperShow in Las Ve- ‘„‡”–‡‡…‹•ǡƒ˜‹† ‹…Š‡”ǡ‡–…Ǥ—–
…Š‘•‡ƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–•Ǥ gas two years in a row. How did that ǯ˜‡Ž‘˜‡†…‘‡†‹…‘˜‹‡•ƒ†–‡Ž‡˜‹•‹‘
group of experienced, professional •Š‘™•ˆ‘”ƒ•Ž‘‰ƒ•…ƒ”‡‡„‡”Ǥ
BLACK BELT: What do you hope to ac- martial artists feel about the mes-
complish with Enter the Dojo? Is it sage you propagate? BLACK BELT: Do people ever recognize
pure entertainment? MASTER KEN: Š‡ ϔ‹”•– ›‡ƒ”ǡ  ™ƒ• Ž‹‡ ƒ you on the street? Would you like it
MATT PAGE: Š‡ ‰‘ƒŽ ‘™ ‹• ”‡ƒŽŽ› –Š‡ tsunami of truth that forced many so- if they did?
•ƒ‡ƒ•™Š‡™‡…”‡ƒ–‡†–Š‡ϐ‹”•–‡’‹Ǧ called “masters” to re-evaluate their MATT PAGE:”ƒ”‡Ž›‰‡–”‡…‘‰‹œ‡†ƒ‹Ž›
•‘†‡ǣ™ƒ––‘‡–‡”–ƒ‹’‡‘’Ž‡™Š‹Ž‡ training and, quite frankly, their lives. „‡…ƒ—•‡ ƒ•–‡” ‡ Ž‘‘• ƒ† •’‡ƒ•
ƒ‹‰ ƒ …‘‡–ƒ”› ‘ –Š‹‰• –Šƒ– I think that’s why they wouldn’t allow ƒ†‘˜‡••‘†‹ˆˆ‡”‡–Ž›Ǥǯ˜‡„‡‡–‘Ž†
ƒ”‡‹’‘”–ƒ––‘‡Ǥ–ǯ•‘–Œ—•–ƒ„‘—– me to perform at the opening ceremony  Ž‘‘ ͳͲ ›‡ƒ”• ‘Ž†‡” ™Š‡  ‰‡– ‹–‘
–Š‡ Œ‘‡•Ǣ ‹–ǯ• ƒ„‘—– ’‘‹–‹‰ ‘—– –Š‡ this year. They lost too much business …‘•–—‡ ƒ† ƒ‡—’ ƒ† ’—– ‘ –Š‡
…‘–”ƒ†‹…–‹‘•‹˜ƒ”‹‘—•–‡ƒ…Š‹‰•ƒ† on people closing their schools so they ˜‘‹…‡ǡƒ†–Šƒ–ǯ•ϐŽƒ––‡”‹‰ǤŠƒ˜‡‰”‡ƒ–
–Š‡…‘‡”…‹ƒŽ‹œƒ–‹‘ƒ†–Š‡‹••—‡‘ˆ could take up Ameri-Do-Te. I’ve made a ”‡•’‡…– ˆ‘” …Šƒ”ƒ…–‡” ƒ…–‘”• ™Š‘ …ƒ
–Š‡‘”› ˜•Ǥ ’”ƒ…–‹…‡ ‹ –Š‡ ƒ”–‹ƒŽ ƒ”–• lot of enemies, but then again, so did Na- †‹•ƒ’’‡ƒ”‹–‘ƒ”‘Ž‡Ǥǯ˜‡Šƒ†…‘˜‡”Ǧ
™‘”Ž†Ǥ—–™ƒ––‘ƒ††”‡••‹–ƒŽŽ™‹–Š poleon. And he was able to conquer most •ƒ–‹‘•™‹–Š’‡‘’Ž‡ƒ•‡ǡ–Š‡‰‘‡
Š—‘”Ǥǯ˜‡‰‘––‡‡ƒ‹Ž•ˆ”‘•‘Ž†‹‡”• of South America despite the fact that he —’–‘›Š‘–‡Ž”‘‘ƒ†…Šƒ‰‡†‘—–
™‹–Šǡƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–‹•–•™Š‘•–”—‰‰Ž‡ was shorter than a Shetland pony. ‘ˆ…‘•–—‡ǡƒ†ͳͷ‹—–‡•Žƒ–‡”ǡ–Šƒ–

40 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

same person will have the exact same conver-
sation with me all over again.
• ˆƒ” ƒ• ƒ‘›‹–› ‰‘‡•ǡ ƒ– ϐ‹”•–  ™ƒ•
”‡ƒŽŽ› …‘…‡”‡†ǡ ‡•’‡…‹ƒŽŽ› •‹…‡  ƒ‡ ƒ
•Š‘™ ™Š‡”‡  ȏ‹•—Ž–Ȑ –”ƒ‹‡† ϐ‹‰Š–‡”•Ǥ —–
“After Season One, I got to pitch
‘•–’‡‘’Ž‡‘™ǯ‹††‹‰ǡƒ†–Š‡”‡…-
‘‰‹–‹‘ǯ˜‡‰‘––‡ˆ”‘Enter the Dojo has the show to a few cable networks,
„‡‡™‘†‡”ˆ—ŽǤ

BLACK BELT: What’s the master plan for your

but nothing happened. That was
dojo? Expansion across the USA? Eventual
world conquest?
back when we had about 1 million
MASTER KEN: For starters. But why stop there? My
—Ž–‹ƒ–‡ ‰‘ƒŽ ‹• –‘ „‡ –Š‡ ϔ‹”•– ’‡”•‘ –‘ ‘’‡ channel views. Now we have 11
a dojo on the moon. Imagine how devastating
my techniques would be without the restriction
of gravity. You could kick an opponent and send
million and counting.”
him hurtling through space forever. I’d have to — Matt Page
hire someone to clean the bathrooms, though.

BLACK BELT: What’s in store for Enter the Dojo?

Any TV aspirations?
MATT PAGE:ˆ–‡”‡ƒ•‘‡ǡ‰‘––‘’‹–…Š–Š‡
•Š‘™ –‘ ƒ ˆ‡™ …ƒ„Ž‡ ‡–™‘”•ǡ „—– ‘–Š‹‰
Šƒ’’‡‡†ǤŠƒ–™ƒ•„ƒ…™Š‡™‡Šƒ†ƒ„‘—–
1 million channel views. Now we have 11
‹ŽŽ‹‘ ƒ† …‘—–‹‰ǡ ƒ†  ‰‡– ‹“—‹”‹‡• ƒ–
Ž‡ƒ•–‘…‡ƒ™‡‡ǡ„—–‘„‘†›•‡‡•–‘‘™
™Šƒ––‘†‘™‹–Š—•Ǥǯ˜‡‰‘––‡•‡˜‡”ƒŽ‘ˆˆ‡”•
–‘–ƒ‡–Š‡•Š‘™‘ˆˆ‘—”Šƒ†•ˆ‘”ˆ”‡‡Ǥ—–‹ˆ
•‘‡‘‡‹••‡”‹‘—•ƒ†™ƒ–•–‘•–‡’—’ƒ†
ˆ—†–Š‡•Š‘™ǡǯ†„‡ƒŽŽˆ‘”‹–ƒ•Ž‘‰ƒ•™‡
…ƒ ‡‡’ ƒ‹‰ ‹– –Š‡ ™ƒ› ™‡ ™ƒ–Ǥ —…-
‹Ž›ǡ™‹–Š–Š‡™ƒ›†‹•–”‹„—–‹‘‹•‘™ǡ™‡…ƒ
…‘–‹—‡ –‘ ‰‡– –Š‡ •Š‘™ ‘—– –‘ –Š‡ ƒ••‡•
–Š”‘—‰Š ‘——„‡ǡ –Š”‘—‰Š ƒ•–‡” ‡ ‹˜‡
ƒ†–Š”‘—‰Š‘—”‡”…Šƒ†‹•‡ǡƒ†‹–ǯ•‘‘—”
own terms.

BLACK BELT: Master Ken, before we ϐinish this

interview, is there anything else you’d like
to say to our readers?
MASTER KEN: My message is that martial arts
is about staying alive in the street. It’s not a
sport, and it’s not a hobby. If that’s what you
™ƒ–ǡ –ƒ‡ —’ ’‹‰’‘‰ ‘” …‘ŽŽ‡…– ϔ‹‰—”‹‡•Ǥ
And when I say “the street,” I don’t mean an ac-
tual street. I wish all the rapists and murderers
lived on the same street. If they did, I could tell
my students, “Hey … don’t go down that street.”
But life doesn’t work that way. So whether
›‘—ǯ”‡‹ƒ„ƒ”ǡ‹–Š‡‘ˆϔ‹…‡‘ˆ›‘—”’”‘…–‘Ž‘-
gist or in an actual street, you’re in “the street.”
It has been a pleasure to use this interview
to spread the word about the power of Ameri-
Do-Te. I look forward to the next issue of White
Belt magazine.

‘” ‘”‡ ‹ˆ‘”ƒ–‹‘ ƒ„‘—– ƒ•–‡” ‡ǡ

ameri-do-te and Enter the Dojo, visit enter
thedojoshow.com.

42 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

BLACKBELTMAG.COM DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 43
HOW TO MELD THE MECHANICS OF JEET KUNE DO, BOXING AND HSING-I
FOR MORE EFFECTIVE STRIKES

BY MIKE BLESCH < PHOTOS BY ANGELICO TOLENTINO, ANGELICOT.COM

S
omething has been lost in NO. 1:
the modern ighter’s quest FALLING STEP
for brilliance in every con- Sometimes referred
ceivable aspect of the mar- to as the “drop step,”
tial arts. Boxing on Monday. the falling step is the
Wrestling on Tuesday. Core condition- foundation of all strik-
ing on Thursday. Martial arts hobby- ing power. Famously
ists around the world now have train- described in Jack
ing ops formerly available only to the Dempsey’s Champion-
pros. Undoubtedly, this type of training ship Fighting (1950), it’s
breeds well-rounded and capable ight- a technique every mar-
ers. The average martial artist of today tial artist should already
is head and shoulders above his or her be familiar with. I’ll dis-
counterpart of decades past. cuss it brie ly because
That said, what if there was a single its mechanics relate to
missing element waiting to be (re)dis- every other method of
covered that could separate even high- power generation de-
level ighters from their peers — some- scribed here.
thing so neglected I dare call it a secret? 1. Assume a neutral
Prepare to have your striking tools stance with your feet
transformed from adequate to elite, shoulder-width apart
for that secret is about to be exposed. and your arms at your
It pertains to power generation, and it’s sides. You may prefer to
composed of several steps. take a comfortable ight-
ing stance instead: Your
feet should be staggered,
with no more than 18
inches between them.
1.
2. 2. Lift your lead foot
just enough to begin
falling into a long lead
step. Your foot should
come down lat on the
ground in time to keep
you from landing on
your face.
3. On a hard surface,
you should hear a loud
slap when your lead
foot makes contact with
the ground because the
step has all your body-
weight and the added
momentum of the “fall”
behind it.
Like any large move-
3. ment, the falling step
should be condensed
when necessary. Once
the mechanics of the
step are second na-
ture, you can apply it
as a short, explosive
movement in all your
straight punching. Vary
the length of the step
depending on the dis-
tance required to reach
the target. Work up to
applying the drop by
stepping in place — or
without stepping at all.

46 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

 NO. 2:
HEEL/TOE SWAY
This technique involves
shifting your weight
from the ball of your
lead foot to the heel of
your rear foot (and vice
versa) with a quick,
snapping motion. It
helps facilitate the
transfer of bodyweight
from front foot to rear
foot, which is needed
for powerful hooking
punches, but it also ap-
plies to straight punches.
1. Assume the afore-
mentioned ighting
stance. Raise the heel of
your rear foot an inch
1. so your weight is on the
ball of the foot. A good
ighting stance should
always have this as one
of its features for maxi-
mum forward explosion.
2. Snap your rear heel
to the ground while
raising the heel of your
lead foot an inch.
3. Without pausing,
perform the same
movement in reverse
by snapping your lead
heel back to the ground
while raising the heel
of your rear foot, which
returns you to the start-
3. ing position.
Steps 2 and 3 should
be done in one smooth
movement, causing your
bodyweight to sway
back and forth on the
balls of your feet.

2.

BLACKBELTMAG.COM DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 47

 NO. 4:
HIP TORQUE

·
AND CORE ROTATION
Power starts from the ground —
with footwork and leg drive — and
is transferred to the shoulders via
rotation of the hips. This is true for
both hooks and straight punches.
NO. 3: Described here is a medicine-ball
SUDDEN DROP
drill we use to illustrate and devel-
This type of movement
op hip torque in hooking punches:
will be very familiar to
1. Assume a neutral stance with your
the hsing-i practitioner.
feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a
I originally learned it
medicine ball in both hands. Have
from Jeremy Lynch of
a partner hold a focus mitt at head
the JKD Wednesday
height for a right hook punch. (Use a
Night Group. It was later
heavy bag if no partner is available.)
shown to me by Tim
2. Rotate your upper body counter-
Tackett, a second-gener-
clockwise while keeping your feet in
ation JKD instructor and
place. At full rotation, you should be
hsing-i black belt, dur-
able to hand the medicine ball to a
ing a demonstration of
person standing to your left.
power strikes. Although
3. Return to the start position in
I’m sure the technique
one smooth motion. Repeat the
is well-known to Black
counterclockwise rotation three
Belt readers, I rarely see
times. Don’t rotate farther than is
it used, especially when
comfortable.
combined with the heel/
4. On the fourth rotation, drop the
toe sway, in the delivery
medicine ball in midswing and
1. Assume a ighting
explode into the focus mitt with a
stance as described
right hook. Your upper body should
above.
feel like a stretched rubber band
2. Drop into a half-squat
being released.
position by pulling your
legs up toward your
midsection. It should 2. NO. 5:
feel as if your feet almost SHOULDER ROTATION
come off the ground for (NOT SHOWN)
a split second. Dempsey’s book contains an ex-
3. As quickly as pos- cellent description of the “whirl,”
sible, return to the on- which is the whipping action of one
guard position (to pre- shoulder moving forward and the
pare for the follow-up other backward.
attack). Don’t remain in During one of my irst lessons in
the half-squat position jeet kune do, I was given a slightly
any longer than it would different explanation: Imagine a
take to execute a lead chain connecting your left ist to
hook punch. your right. Every time you execute
Note that any descrip- a straight punch and then retract
tion of the sudden drop it, the retraction causes your oppo-
makes the movement site ist to be jerked forward into a
sound intricate and follow-up straight punch.
time-consuming. In re- This technique is especially useful
ality, it’s a short, quick for negative/positive strikes. Nega-
shift of bodyweight. tive refers to a light punch with no
real intention of penetrating the tar-
get. It allows recovery (and follow-
up) to happen much faster than with
a committed punch and can confuse
an opponent when the rhythm sud-
denly changes on the follow-up shot.
Positive would be a deep, penetrat-
1. 3. ing shot, which is naturally slower.
Think jab-cross with a o…n…e… two
cadence (slow/fast).
48 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM
· 1. 2. 3.

NO. 6:
POSTURE
This may be the most
dif icult aspect of power
striking to explain. Con-
sider a boxer’s posture.
Anatomically speaking,
it’s poor natural posture
with its curved spine,
forward-sagging shoul-
ders and tucked elbows
covering the ribs. The
critical aspect of the
boxing stance — or any
ighting stance, for that
matter — is what we call
the “2-percent tuck.” This
refers to the inward tuck
of the midsection to sup-
port all other elements of
the posture.
The discussion of
posture gets interesting
when we add elements
of hsing-i heavy hitting.
I’ve observed Tackett
teaching this (along with
the sudden drop) to large
groups of students who
were initially hitting with
relatively little power.
Within minutes of learn-
ing these principles, the
entire group was hitting
twice as hard. The tech-
nique was taught to Tack-
ett as the “downward
smash” and involves sink-
ing from the sternum into
the boxer’s posture and
dropping all your body-
weight onto your rear leg
to deliver a brutal down-
4. ward palm strike.

BLACKBELTMAG.COM DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 49

 1. 2.

NO. 7:
DOWNWARD SMASH
Practice with a partner holding
a focus mitt to the side of his
body with the elbow slightly
bent and the surface of the mitt
facing upward at a 45-degree
angle. The key is to make impact
on the target with an outward
thrust of the palm heel. For the
irst two steps, strike with the
rear hand. In Step 3, the lead
hand should be used.
1. Assume a comfortable ight-
ing position and line up with the
focus mitt one large step from
your partner. Imagine that your
hands are heavy and relaxed.
Raise both hands above your
head and step through with
3. your rear leg, changing leads.
Drop all your weight from your
sternum and bring the heel of
your palm down on the focus
mitt just as your foot lands.
2. Line up with the focus mitt
one large step from your part-
ner. Raise your striking hand
to head height while stepping
through with your rear foot and
bringing all your bodyweight
down onto the focus mitt us-
ing the same mechanics as de-
scribed in Step 1.
3. Line up with the focus mitt an
arm’s length from your partner.
Raise your striking hand 6 to 12
inches above the target. While
remaining stationary, strike with
the heel of your palm using only
sinking bodyweight.
You now have the body feel
required to execute a devastat-
ing palm hook.

50 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

 PRACTICAL APPLICATION:
1. 2.
PALM HOOK
This is a powerful close-range tool
that can be used from many differ-
ent positions. Maximum damage
is in licted by driving the full mass
of your body into the hook. Ide-
ally, the strike should penetrate
approximately 4 inches into the
target with an outward thrust of
the palm heel. To practice it, you’ll
need a partner to hold a focus mitt
at head height.
1. Assume a comfortable ighting
position and line up with the focus
mitt. Your forehead should be 6
to 8 inches from the edge of the
mitt. Align your striking hand with
the target, positioning it about 6
inches away. You should require
no more than 6 inches to generate
knockout power.
2. Apply the body mechanics
you’ve learned in the following
order: heel/toe sway, sudden drop,
hip torque, shoulder rotation,
outward thrust of the palm heel,
impact. The heel/toe sway initi-
ates the fast transfer of weight.
The sudden drop starts just before
your rear heel touches the ground.
Hip torque is activated next, driv-
ing the shoulder rotation. Hand
movement begins immediately
after the rotation of the shoulders.
3. It should feel as if your striking
hand is being dragged slightly be-
hind your body in a way similar to
a powerful round kick. Just before
impact, the palm heel is snapped
outward. There should be no per-
ceptible delay between any of the
actions. Everything should be ex-
ecuted in one smooth motion.
3. An alternate hand position for
the strike.
Recovery is an important factor
in the execution of the palm hook.
The second half of the heel/toe
sway (shifting bodyweight back
from the rear heel to a balanced
on-guard position with the rear
heel raised) will initiate recovery.
Quick counter-rotation of the hips
and shoulders will do the rest,
leaving you in position for any
number of follow-ups.

About the author: Mike Blesch is

co-founder of the Chinatown JKD As-
sociation and a member of the JKD
Wednesday Night Group. For more
information, visit JKDLessons.com.

BLACKBELTMAG.COM DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 51

 ZERO
TO

HOW KENJUTSU MASTER

DANA ABBOTT TRANSFORMED
3 MARTIAL ARTISTS WITH
LIMITED BLADE SKILLS INTO
EFFICIENT SWORDSMEN!
BY F L OY D B U R K | P H O T O G R A P H Y BY R O B E R T R E I F F

Want to jazz up your martial arts training

W while moving in a direction you may not

have explored? Phoenix-based kenjutsu
expert Dana Abbott says he can teach
virtually any martial artist the basics of
Japanese swordsmanship — including how to draw and
effectively use the weapon — during his fast and furious
three-day, six-step program.
To ind out how well that works, Black Belt sent me,
along with two martial arts colleagues, to Arizona for a
close encounter with Abbott and his toyama-ryu kenjutsu.
Once in town, we rented a three-bedroom condo — and
were surprised to discover that Abbott had planned our
irst lesson for 11 o’clock that night. It ran until 2 a.m. I
guess he wanted to make sure we got our money’s worth.
We trained hard for the next two days. The Black Belt
Hall of Famer chose not to focus on any rituals or tradi-
tional practices; he didn’t want anything to bog us down,
he said. Instead, he spent time helping us lose a few bad
habits we’d developed, then launched into his curriculum.

52 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

 Teacher
Bio
Dana Abbott has trained in the
Japanese sword arts for more
than 40 years, including post-
graduate kendo studies at Nihon
Taikiu Daigaku and 14 years
of iaido lessons in Yokohama,
Japan. He’s the owner of Samurai
Sports, a company he created to
perpetuate traditional Japanese
sword training. When he’s not
on the road teaching seminars,
Abbott sees to the needs of his
private students at home.
samuraispor ts.com

BLACKBELTMAG.COM DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 53

We all appreciated his attention to detail, even when it
entailed some constructive snarling. Sword
Bit of background: In case you aren’t familiar with Basics
the terminology, kenjutsu refers to a set of techniques
effected with a sword after it’s been drawn. The word These four compo-
comes from ken, meaning “sword,” and jutsu, meaning nents are manda-
“techniques.” Iaido is a sword art that encompasses tory for all who are
techniques done while drawing the sword. Although dif- pursuing mastery
ferent in emphasis, both include techniques done with of the Japanese
the sword drawn and both teach you how to draw the sword arts, Dana
sword. Abbott advised us not to worry too much about Abbott said.
it at this point. The key, he said, lies in the doing rather
than the naming. STANCE: “There
Regarding those aforementioned bad habits, Abbott are many, but most
didn’t mince words: “Most people hold the sword like begin and end with
it’s a baseball bat and move it around like an orangutan. the chudan (mid-
They puff out their chests, lex their muscles and grip dle) stance, which
the sword too hard. It makes sense because they have is the most realistic
only the movies as a guide. All this tension feels and in most situations,” came the compound act of
looks good. However, there’s a saying in kenjutsu: If it he said. walking and drawing. To do
feels good, you’re doing it wrong.” this, we performed the same
POSITIONING: draw while stepping forward.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT — 3 HOURS “It entails hav- It started in a short right-foot-
Abbott showed up at our front door at 11 p.m. with ing the tip of the forward stance. That entailed
a big bag of wooden swords. After rearranging the fur- sword point toward turning the front foot inward
niture to make room, he selected a short one for each of the throat in most so it was bladed and pointing
us. “We start with wooden swords,” he said. “Later, we’ll cases,” he said. the rear foot straight ahead.
go to metal. Mastery begins and ends with wood.” Next, we drew our sword while
We practiced gripping the sword, drawing the sword, FOOTWORK: “Walk taking three short steps for-
and then walking and drawing the sword. This would so you won’t be ward, which was followed by
prepare us to learn the “Miyamoto motor” and other seen,” Abbott said. four steps backward.
good stuff, he promised. “Everybody’s gait is This continued until our
different, so keep it teacher said good night. His
GRIPPING THE SWORD. To effect a basic. At full speed inal words were something
proper grip, Abbott said, we should start and power, footwork about getting up early to prac-
with the sword in our right hand and the must be intended to tice some more.
tip pointing forward directly in front maintain good bal- Upon re lection, we knew
of us. Think of gripping a hammer. Your ance and maneu- he’d just laid a solid founda-
index inger and thumb are loose, while verability.” tion. We could grip, draw, and
your other ingers are irm. “There’s walk and draw with acceptable
S t e p nothing magical about holding a sword,” STRIKING: “The precision. We could defend our-
he said. “The sword is a tool, so hold it Japanese are selves to a certain extent just
like one.” very good fisher- by maintaining that chudan
Once he could live with our grip, Abbott had us prac- men, golfers and sword position and moving our
tice drawing that same wooden sword with one hand. swordsmen,” he arms slightly forward, poking
We began with the weapon in our left hand with both said. “Most strikes an imaginary enemy with the
arms extended at our sides. The handle was up and the are very close tip of our blade. Very cool.
edge toward our palm — similar to holding the scab- to the swing of a
bard of a metal sword just below the handle. We moved club or the cast THURSDAY MORNING —
our hands forward until they met, forming a triangle, of a fishing line. 4 HOURS
then gripped the handle with our right hand and “drew” With every swing, We met Abbott at Scotts-
it by moving the weapon to the chudan (middle) posi- cast or strike, the dale Martial Arts Center at 10
tion. We placed our left hand at our side at belt height. trainee must seek o’clock. In the lobby, he handed
“Don’t bend your elbows or wrists, and don’t bring the to be correctly set each of us a long wooden sword
sword up‚” Abbott said. “Keep it below your waist. The up — meaning he’s and led us to a tatami mat. We
tip of the sword will be pointed at the opponent’s chest chambered and has bowed in, sat, bowed some more
or throat. Now return the sword by tilting it backward a focal point, proper as Abbott spoke Japanese for
until it meets your left hand. Take hold of it and place it angle and precise ive minutes while we tried to
back by your side.” trajectory — to follow along. Then he switched
After an hour and a half of drawing — and being connect with the to English, explaining that we
snarled at — we got a 10-minute water break. Then target.” just witnessed how kenjutsu

54 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

Tightening Up the Trainee
The progression Dana Abbott uses to tighten up a trainee’s kihon is as follows:
“I start with the hands. The trainee has to learn how to grip the sword before he can wield it properly. Second, I go to
his stance and adjust his feet to move in a smoother manner. Third, I blend the transitions of the hands and feet to execute
techniques as a unit. Fourth, I teach drills to keep the elbows down and the focal points more consistent in order to cast
the sword in an easy but effective manner.”

classes in Japan begin. We realized how lucky we were to
be able to understand every word from our instructor,
something that Westerners still struggle with when they
train in Asia. Although we were lucky about the language,
we weren’t so fortunate with respect to discipline: Abbott
had brought a shinai (bamboo sword) to drive home any
points he might need to emphasize.
JODAN, CASTING, THE MIYAMOTO
MOTOR AND HASSO. Abbott told us to
practice the same drill we’d done last night
but with a long sword and a two-hand grip.
With room to maneuver, we spent an hour
drawing and walking, drawing and walk-
ing. Then he taught us his art’s version of
S t e p the jodan (high) position and the act of
“casting” to the head. It began with the
sword in chudan, after which we bent our arms upward.
Just before our hands hit our forehead, we raised our
arms and squeezed our elbows together until they almost
blocked our view. It concluded with moving the sword
back until the handle was directly overhead, a few inches
above the scalp.
From there, we pretended the sword was a ishing
pole and started casting. That motion ended with our
arms extended and horizontal, at which point we’d have
struck our opponent in the head. Abbott then reset us to
chudan and had us work on three basic jodan casting cuts
for the next hour: downward from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock,
downward from 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock and downward from
11 o’clock to 5 o’clock.
Next was the Miyamoto motor, or “Mi motor” for
short. It’s a multidimensional training exercise Abbott
developed. “The Miyamoto motor establishes casting and
cutting patterns,” he said. “After you have a good under-
standing of the patterns, the technique will become more
consistent, which allows you to develop much faster due
to the repetition involved. Considering that a conven-
tional kata series might consist of 20 cuts performed in a
ive-minute period, the Mi motor offers an average of 35
cuts per minute. Practice makes perfect.”
Mi-motor drill No. is a 90-degree turn with cuts. The
cuts are from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock, 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock
and 11 o’clock to 5 o’clock. Starting in chudan, we faced
a corner of the room. We raised the sword to jodan, then
cast from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock. Returning to jodan, we
stepped to the left with our left foot, which turned us 90
degrees counterclockwise, then cast from 12 o’clock to 6
o’clock. Returning the sword to chudan, we stepped to the
right with our right foot, turning 90 degrees clockwise,
after which we cast from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock. This was
repeated while moving from corner to corner; then we’d
vary the cutting angle and start all over again.
Mi-motor drill No. 2 uses the same chambering and
cutting action but with 180- and 90-degree turns. The
cuts are done from a right stance.
Mi-motor drill No. 3 is the same as No. 2 but uses
180-degree and 135-degree turns. When you’ve done
them eight times, you should be back where you started.
Our next lesson revolved around the kenjutsu-style
hasso position. Very compact, it gives a nice feeling of pro-
tection. From chudan, we did the right hasso by squeezing
our elbows together and raising the sword handle to the
right side of our head with our left hand nearly touching
our face. The tip of the sword was pointed upward and to
the rear. Casting and other strikes can be done from this
position.
After a long period working the Mi-motor drills and

BLACKBELTMAG.COM DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 55

hasso, Abbott tested us individually to see how many cuts THE SWITCH TO METAL. Abbott handed
per minute we could perform. Two of us placed in the low each of us a short metal sword, and we
50s and the other in the mid 40s. It was amazing to esti- spent the next hour drawing and sheath-
mate how many quality cuts we could have executed in ing, drawing and walking, and then draw-
an hour, even if we went at half speed because of fatigue. ing, walking and sheathing. He taught a
At that point, we felt we’d gotten our money’s worth. If we couple of draw-and-cut combinations,
went home now, we’d have a solid base to work from. which we practiced until he called it a
S t e p day. We limped to dinner, then returned
to our condo. I iced my knees and right
THURSDAY EVENING — 4 HOURS
shoulder, but it was a good day. We didn’t stay up to chat
After a short break, Abbott led us into a room
like the night before.
equipped with a Century BOB, or Body Opponent Bag.
Giving each of us a shinai, he said, “Now that you’ve got-
ten better at handling the sword, you must begin hitting FRIDAY — 9 HOURS
targets.” With that, he lined us up for BOB drills.
LOW SWORD POSITIONING, STRIKES,
TARGET HITTING AND SPARRING STANCES AND MOVING. Abbott arrived
WITH THE MASTER. The irst drill was at 9:30 and said he planned to do most of
designed to increase our skill at executing the teaching at our condo. We began where
clean head shots. We began three steps we left off the night before: drawing, walk-
back from the BOB with our sword at ing and sheathing metal swords. Then we
chudan. We chambered the shinai at jodan switched to bokken, or long wooden swords,
while moving forward, then cast into the S t e p so Abbott could guide us through the geidan
S t e p dummy’s head.
(low) stance and waki (low side) stance.
The second drill was a ive-strike These were tough enough on their own; they were tougher
combo intended to enhance speed, timing and endurance. when cuts, thrusts and movements were added. We all bor-
We started three steps from the BOB with our sword at dered on frustration. I became so edgy I received a timeout.
chudan. After chambering at jodan while moving forward, As I thought about it, I knew why Abbott opted not to
we cast into the head. Without stopping, we raised the teach these low stances earlier: It would have thrown a
weapon to hasso, then used diagonal cuts to the neck and wet blanket on a fantastic day.
hands, which we simulated because BOB has no hands. Eventually, we started to catch on — in the after-
After the last strike, we smashed BOB in the chest with noon. At that point, Abbott said we’d earned some fun.
both hands. Our reward was a trip to his home dojo for some real
The third drill was created, I’m certain, to discipline re- cutting with real katana.
calcitrant trainees. Abbott stood us in front of the BOB and
told us to raise our sword to jodan. He then had us circle
the dummy clockwise while issuing rapid- ire strikes to
the head and neck. We continued to circle and strike until
he told us to stop.
A short break followed, then Abbott told us it was time
to spar. Using padded weapons and headgear, we faced off
one at a time. Eric, in his 40s, went irst. He used mostly
quick, direct attacks, but it wasn’t long before Abbott
began pummeling him with hasso strikes to the side of
the head.
Jim, the eldest in the group, was more tactical, going
sword against sword while looking for opportunities to
attack. He may have made contact once or twice, but Ab-
bott peppered him at will.
When it was my turn, I expected Abbott to make an
example out of me because he knew I was writing this
article. And sure enough, he did. Even though I tried hard,
he blasted me with one shot after another. But I loved every
minute of it.
“Sparring with a training partner is very important
if you want to understand how ‘real time’ works and the
variables presented by different people and their mind-
sets,” Abbott said. “The biggest drawback of sparring
is getting hit until you don’t [get hit]. Most people don’t
like getting hit, and this forces them to quit before they
become pro icient. Just remember: The more you spar,
the better you become in opponent interaction, speed, Author
timing, balance and overall pro iciency.” Floyd Burk

56 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

 CUTTING. As ordered, we Defense or Offense
arrived at Abbott’s hacienda
with a bunch of illed water Many people use the defensive approach to swordsmanship,
bottles. He placed one on but the sword is a very offensive weapon. Over the ages, sword
top of a wooden apparatus technique was developed to win on the battlefield. Using a de-
designed to hold objects for fensive approach, the sword cannot be used to its full capacity,
cutting. He set about describ- thus endangering the person wielding it.
S t e p ing and demonstrating basic — Dana Abbott
cuts done from chudan —
and then handed me the sword.
My irst two cuts were successful, but the
third sent the water bottle sailing across the
room, along with a chunk of wood from the
apparatus. Abbott’s words were consoling:
“Sword training seems to go this way. You do
the irst cut and then the second — and then
you get worse. That’s because you overthink
things. You can’t think about the last cut.”
Mentally recharged, we took turns cut-
ting, and soon everyone was soaked. When
we’d inished, Abbott’s wife arrived with
two trays of bottles in need of shredding.
By the time those were in pieces, we were
feeling good about ourselves. It turned out
to be a terri ic day.
In three short days, we’d gone from
zero to 60 in this Japanese sword art. We
went home and tried our cutting skills on
tatami mats, which we easily sliced and
diced. We had what we needed to return
to our dojo and practice with renewed
energy and enthusiasm. And that’s just
what Abbott had in mind when he created
his curriculum.

About
the
author
Floyd Burk is a San Diego-
based 10th-degree black
belt in karate with more
than 40 years of experi-
ence in the arts. He is also
senior adviser to Inde-
pendent Karate Schools of
America. iksa.com

BLACKBELTMAG.COM DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 57

 2014
Black
In the October/November
issue, we announced that
Michael Jai White is Black
Belt’s 2014 Man of the
Year. Here, we reveal the
RWKHUÀYHLQGXFWHHV
Belt Hall
+
of Fame
INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR
W
G.K. LEE
ith nearly a quarter of a
million members in this
nation, the Little Rock,
Arkansas-based Ameri-
can Taekwondo Association likely ranks
as the most powerful martial arts entity
in the United States. By extension, that
would make ATA chief master G.K. Lee
‘‡‘ˆ–Š‡‘•–‹ϐŽ—‡–‹ƒŽƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–•
instructors in the United States.
It’s the job of the eighth-degree black
belt, who’s part of the organization’s
master’s council and a founding mem-
ber, to help oversee the ATA and guide
its direction, both in the United States
and around the world. That entails
helping manage the instruction and
competition that takes place within
the 52-year-old association, which now
spans more than 5,400 instructors in
1,015 licensed schools.
A large part of what Lee does is de-
signed to preserve the past. “We are
proud of where taekwondo came from,”
he said. “It has worked for a very long
time, so we must respect that and carry
on its traditions. As instructors, we’re
teaching children and young adults to
respect others and their elders. We fo-
cus on discipline and doing the right
thing, not just how to injure someone.
Education is one of the most important
things about our tradition, and it helps
build students into upstanding citizens.”
Nevertheless, Lee and the rest of the
ATA acknowledge the need for what
they teach to be up to date. “As long as
we keep our traditions strong, we can
easily add to our curriculum and teach
traditional values in this ever-changing
world,” he said.
Attend any ATA tournament — the
largest one takes place every summer
in Little Rock and attracts 20,000 peo-
ple — and you’ll notice loads of senior
martial artists. Lee said it’s part of the
ATA’s mission to maintain the inter-
est of members of all ages. “By hav-
ing specialized programs for different
ages and ranks, the ATA is successful in
keeping students for a very long time,”
he said. “We have some of the greatest
instructors in the world, and they’re
wise enough to help their students
Ž‡ƒ”–Š‡•‡•’‡…‹ϐ‹…’”‘‰”ƒ•Ǥ‡’”‘-
vide a lifetime of guidance.”
As large as the scope of the ATA is,
Lee’s long-term goals are even larger. “I
want to help unite all traditional mar-
tial artists,” he said. “We don’t want to
just say, ‘ATA is No. 1.’ We want to work
with others to keep traditional martial
arts strong. Right now, there is no real
‘hero’ within the traditional martial
arts like Bruce Lee and Chuck Nor-
ris were. We can have a hero again by
working with each other and hosting
an event where all traditional styles are
welcome This would be a time when we
could evaluate each other and share the
camaraderie of competition.”
With G.K. Lee serving as chief master,
the American Taekwondo Association and
its student body are in capable hands, and
one day soon, everyone else in the tradi-
–‹‘ƒŽ ƒ”–• ƒ› „‡‡ϐ‹– ˆ”‘ Š‹• Ž‡ƒ†‡”-
ship. That’s why Black Belt is proud to
make him its 2014 Instructor of the Year.
— Robert W. Young
Photo by Peter Lueders

+
+
MMA FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
A
CHRIS WEIDMAN
lthough he has an MMA re-
sume that’s as laudable as
™‡ŽŽ ƒ• ƒ› ϐ‹‰Š–‡”ǯ• Ȅ ‹-
…Ž—†‹‰’‘••‡••‹‘‘ˆ–Š‡ 
•…Š‘‘Ž ƒ† ƒ ŽŽǦ‡”‹…ƒ ‹ …‘ŽŽ‡‰‡ǡ
™Š‡”‡Š‡™ƒ•ƒ’•›…ŠƒŒ‘”ǡ‡‹†ƒ
•™‹–…Š‡† –‘ ”ƒœ‹Ž‹ƒ jiu-jitsu, –”ƒ‹‹‰
ƒ– –Š‡ ‰› ‘’‡”ƒ–‡† „›   ˜‡–‡”ƒ
ƒ† ˆ‡ŽŽ‘™ ‡™ ‘”‡” ƒ–– ‡””ƒǤ ˆ-
–‡”™‹‹‰ƒ•Ž‡™‘ˆ•—„‹••‹‘Ǧ‰”ƒ’-
‹–‘” ‡Žˆ‘”– ‘ ‡…‡„‡” ͸ǡ ʹͲͳͶǡ „—–
ƒˆ”ƒ…–—”‡‹Š‹•Šƒ†Šƒ••‹†‡Ž‹‡†Š‹Ǥ
ˆ ‰”‡ƒ–‡” ‹’‘”–ƒ…‡ –Šƒ –Š‡ ‡š–
‡–”› ‹ ‡‹†ƒǯ•  ”‡…‘”† ƒ”‡
–™‘ ƒ…–• –Šƒ– ‡†‡ƒ”‡† Š‹ –‘ ƒ”–‹ƒŽ
ƒ”–‹•–•Ȅƒ†ƒ•–‘ƒ•–‡”•ǡ‹‰‡‡”ƒŽǤ
‹††Ž‡™‡‹‰Š–„‡Ž–Ȅ͵ͲǦ›‡ƒ”Ǧ‘Ž†Š”‹•
‡‹†ƒŒ—•–‹‰Š–‰‘†‘™‹Š‹•–‘”›
ˆ‘”ƒ•‹‰Ž‡†‡ˆ‡•‹˜‡ƒ…–ǣŽ‡‰Ǧ…Š‡…‹‰
†‡”•‘‹Ž˜ƒǯ•‹…™Š‡–Š‡”ƒœ‹Ž-
‹ƒˆƒ…‡†Š‹‹–Š‡ ͳ͸ͺǤŠ‡˜‹†‡‘
ƒ†’Š‘–‘•‘ˆ™Šƒ–‡•—‡†‘‡…‡-
’Ž‹‰ƒ–…Š‡•ƒ†ˆƒ‹Ž‹‰‹Š‹•„‹†ˆ‘”
–Š‡Ž›’‹…•ǡ‡‹†ƒƒ†‡–Š‡Œ—’
–‘ƒ†Šƒ•ǯ–Ž‘‘‡†„ƒ…Ǥ
Š‡ ϐ‹”•– ˆ”ƒ…Š‹•‡ ˆ‘” ™Š‹…Š Š‡
ˆ‘—‰Š–™ƒ•‹‰‘ˆ‘„ƒ–ǡ”—„›”‡-
‘™‡†ƒ•–‘ƒ•–’”‘‘–‡”‘—‡‰-
‘Ǥ ͳǣ  –Š‡ ƒˆ–‡”ƒ–Š ‘ˆ —””‹…ƒ‡
ƒ†›ǡ ™Š‹…Š †‡˜ƒ•–ƒ–‡† –Š‡ ”‡‰‹‘ ‹
…–‘„‡”ʹͲͳʹƒ†‡šƒ…–‡†ƒŠ‡ƒ˜›–‘ŽŽ
‘ ‡‹†ƒǯ• ‘™ Š‘‡ǡ –Š‡ ϐ‹‰Š–‡”
Photo Courtesy of Bad Boy/Photo by Lucas Noonan
˜‘Ž—–‡‡”‡† Š‹• –‹‡ –‘ ”ƒ‹•‡ ‘‡›
ˆ‘”ƒ†ƒ––‡†–‘–Š‡‡‡†•‘ˆŽ‘…ƒŽ•Ž‡ˆ–
„‡”ʹͺǡʹͲͳ͵Ȅ‹Ž˜ƒǯ•–‹„‹ƒƒ†ϐ‹„—Žƒ
•ƒ’’‡† ‘ ‹’ƒ…– Ȅ Šƒ˜‡ „‡‡ •‘
™‹†‡Ž› …‹”…—Žƒ–‡† ‘Ž‹‡ –Šƒ– ˆ‡™ …ƒ
ˆ‘”‰‡– –Š‡ ϐ‹‰Š– ‘” –Š‡ ϐ‹‰Š–‡” ™Š‘ ‡š-
‡…—–‡†–Šƒ–’‹…–—”‡Ǧ’‡”ˆ‡…–†‡ˆ‡•‡Ǥ
—– ‡‹†ƒ ‹• ™‘”–Š ”‡…‘‰‹œ‹‰
ˆ‘”—…Š‘”‡–ŠƒŒ—•––Šƒ––‡š–„‘‘
‹… †‡ˆ‡•‡Ǥ Š‡ ‡™ ‘”‡” ‘™• ƒ
ͳʹǦͲ”‡…‘”†ȋϐ‹˜‡‘…‘—–•ǡ–Š”‡‡•—„-
‹••‹‘• ƒ† ˆ‘—” Œ—†‰‡•ǯ †‡…‹•‹‘•ȌǤ
 •–ƒ–‡ ™”‡•–Ž‹‰ …Šƒ’‹‘ ‹ Š‹‰Š
60 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015
Ž‹ƒǤʹͲͳͲŠ‹•–Š‹”†ƒ–…Š„ƒ‰‰‡†
Š‹–Š‡‹††Ž‡™‡‹‰Š–„‡Ž–Ǥ
‡‹†ƒŽ‡˜‡Ž‡†—’–‘–Š‡ ‹ʹͲͳͳ
ƒ†‡’–‘™‹‹‰Ǥ‘‰–Š‡ϐ‹‰Š–‡”•
Š‡ǯ• †‡ˆ‡ƒ–‡† ƒ”‡ ‘ ƒ™Ž‘”ǡ ‡‹ƒ
ƒ‹ƒǡ›‘–‘ƒ…Š‹†ƒƒ†ǡ‘ˆ…‘—”•‡ǡ‹Ž˜ƒ
Ȅ –™‹…‡Ǥ ‡ ‘™ ”‡’”‡•‡–• –Š‡ ‡””ƒǦ
‘‰‘ ‹‰Š–‡ƒǤŠ‡”†‘‰Ǥ…‘”‡…‡–Ž›
”ƒ‡†‡‹†ƒƒ•–Š‡‘ǤͶ’‘—†Ǧˆ‘”Ǧ
’‘—†ϐ‹‰Š–‡”‹–Š‡™‘”Ž†Ǥ ‘”Š‹•‡š–
„‘—–ǡ ‡‹†ƒ ™ƒ• •…Š‡†—Ž‡† –‘ ˆƒ…‡
Š‘‡Ž‡••Ǥ‘Ǥʹǣ…–‘„‡”ͳ͸ǡʹͲͳͶǡ
Š‡ …ƒ‡ –‘ –Š‡ ƒ‹† ‘ˆ ƒ ͻͶǦ›‡ƒ”Ǧ‘Ž†
‡‹‰Š„‘”™Š‘ǯ†ˆƒŽŽ‡ƒ†…”ƒ…‡†Š‡”
Š‡ƒ†‘’‡‘ƒ–ƒ„Ž‡Ǥ‡‹†ƒ…ƒ””‹‡†
–Š‡™‘ƒ‹†‘‘”•ƒ†™‘”‡†–‘•–‡
–Š‡„Ž‘‘†ϐŽ‘™™Š‹Ž‡Š‡…ƒŽŽ‡†ͻͳͳǤ
‹–Š–Š‡Š‡ƒ”–‘ˆƒ–”—‡ƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–‹•–
ƒ†ǡƒ•ƒ„‘—•ǡƒ•’‘–Ž‡••”‡…‘”†ǡ
Š”‹• ‡‹†ƒ ‹• Black Belt’s ʹͲͳͶ
 ‹‰Š–‡”‘ˆ–Š‡‡ƒ”Ǥ
— S.D. Seong
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
 +
COMPETITOR OF THE YEAR

I
LEKA VIEIRA
t wouldn’t be inaccurate to liken the life of Leka Vie-
ira to a roller-coaster ride through Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Land. She began her athletic career as a handball play-
er, but then encountered an unexpected curve in the
form of a severe knee injury. Vieira took time off to recu-
perate, and by the time she was ready for action, she was
eyeing the martial arts. She had trouble deciding between
taekwondo and BJJ until a friend nudged her toward the art
of her homeland rather than the art of Korea.
Vieira’s schooling in jiu-jitsu commenced with lessons in
Rio de Janeiro from Aloisio Silva, who’d trained under Rob-
son Gracie. A diligent student with a predilection for ground
ϐ‹‰Š–‹‰ǡ‹‡‹”ƒ‡ƒ”‡†Š‡”„Ž—‡„‡Ž–‹•‹š‘–Š•ǤŠ‡™ƒ•
a roller-coaster car poised at the top of an incline, ready to
accelerate. By the time she reached maximum velocity, she’d
racked up a number of wins at regional jiu-jitsu tournaments.
Her promotion to black belt came from Mario Aiello and
Royler Gracie in 1998, and Vieira was still steamrolling the
competition. She struck gold at the 1999 World Champion-
ship, silver at the 2000 World Championship and gold again
at the 2001 Pan-American Championship. Later in 2001,
while she was in the United States to compete, Rigan Mach-
ado asked her to teach at his Southern California school,
and she accepted, but it didn’t slow her winning ways. She
claimed two more world titles and two more Pan-American
titles, as well as a silver medal at the Abu Dhabi Combat
Club Submission Wrestling World Championship in 2005.
Life in SoCal was not unlike life in Rio, Vieira said. “I was
going to the gym to train, going to the beach and going
home afterward, which was the same as in Brazil.”
Once settled, she set about honing her grappling skills
for her next competition. Then she hit another bump in the
road, one big enough to change the course of her life. Her
body started sending her messages that it needed a chance
to heal from accumulated injuries. “I hadn’t taken a break
from training and competing since I was 16,” she said. Viei-
ra listened to her body, and in the downtime that followed,
she got married and started a family.
Fortunately for her fans, she found it impossible to stay
away from the martial arts. Vieira returned to heavy-duty
training after a two-plus-year hiatus, and being the con-
summate competitor, she promptly set her sights on mak-
ing a comeback on the mat. Then another knee injury mani-
fested, forcing Vieira to put her plans on hold.
Fast-forward to mid-2014: Having ridden her roller
coaster to the top of the incline yet again, Vieira decided
•Š‡™ƒ•‹•—ˆϐ‹…‹‡–•Šƒ’‡–‘•Š‘‘–ˆ‘”ƒ‘–Š‡”™‘”Ž†Œ‹—Ǧ
jitsu title. She announced on social media that she was
gearing up for a comeback. “I decided to compete again in
early 2015 mostly as a personal challenge,” she said. “I’m
‘–•—”‡™Š‹…Š–‘—”ƒ‡–ǡ„—–‹–™‹ŽŽ†‡ϐ‹‹–‡Ž›„‡‹–Š‡
United States.”
Some might say it’s premature to induct Leka Vieira into
the Black BeltƒŽŽ‘ˆ ƒ‡„‡ˆ‘”‡•Š‡™‹•Š‡”ϐ‹”•–…‘‡-
Photo by Peter Lueders

„ƒ…ƒ–…Šǡ„—––Š‡•–ƒˆˆŠƒ•–Šƒ–—…Š…‘ϐ‹†‡…‡‹Š‡”
ability and her drive. Besides, even if she never wins an-
other tournament, the accomplishments of this 38-year-old
martial artist make her more than worthy of being Com-
petitor of the Year.
— J. Torres

BLACKBELTMAG.COM DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 61

+
SELFǧDEFENSE INSTRUCTOR
OF THE YEAR
†‹†ǯ–…‘‡—–‹Ž…Šƒ––‡†™‹–Š‡”Ǧ
•‘ ƒ– –”ƒ†‡ •Š‘™•ǡ •ƒ™ Š‹ ‹ ƒ…–‹‘
–Š‡ ‹˜‡”•‹–› ‘ˆ ‹•…‘•‹Ǥ Š‡”‡ǡ Š‡
‡ƒ”‡†ƒ„”‘™„‡Ž–‹kyokushinƒ†ƒ

T
ERNEST EMERSON †—”‹‰’Š‘–‘•Š‘‘–•ƒ†…‘‹••‹‘‡† „Žƒ…„‡Ž–‹shotokan.
Š‡ ϐ‹”•– –‹‡  ”ƒ ƒ…”‘•• –Š‡ Š‹ –‘ ™”‹–‡ ƒ‰ƒœ‹‡ ƒ”–‹…Ž‡•Ǥ ˜‡ Š‡ ›‘—‰ ƒ”–‹ƒŽ ƒ”–‹•– ϐ‹‰—”‡† –Šƒ–
Photo Courtesy of Emerson Knives

ƒ‡”‡•–‡”•‘™ƒ•‹ –Š‡ǡǯ†‘Ž›•…”ƒ–…Š‡†–Š‡•—”ˆƒ…‡Ǥ ™‹–Š”‡•’‡…––‘ϐ‹‰Š–‹‰ǡŠ‹•Œ—†‘ƒ†ƒǦ

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„‡Š‹† –Š‡ …—––‹‰ –‘‘Ž ™ƒ• ƒ Ž‹ˆ‡Ž‘‰ ‡ƒ—‰‡–‡†Š‹•‰”ƒ’’Ž‹‰•‹ŽŽ•™‹–Š ‡”•‘•ƒ‹†ǤDzˆ‘—†‘—–Š‘™„‹‰ƒ‰ƒ’
ƒ”–‹ƒŽ ƒ”–‹•– ƒ† ƒ ”‡•’‡…–‡† ‡†‰‡†Ǧ ™”‡•–Ž‹‰ ‹ Š‹‰Š •…Š‘‘Žǡ –Š‡ ƒ††‡† –Š‡”‡™ƒ•„‡–™‡‡™Šƒ––Š‘—‰Š–…‘—Ž†
™‡ƒ’‘ ‹•–”—…–‘”Ǥ Šƒ– ‘™Ž‡†‰‡ –Š‡ ‹…Ȁ’—…Š …‘’‘‡– ™Š‹Ž‡ ƒ– †‘ƒ†™Šƒ–…‘—Ž†”‡ƒŽŽ›†‘Ǥdz

62 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

 The opportunity to train in jeet kune
do was, in fact, the reason Emerson
went West, and he relished his time
with Inosanto and Bustillo. “Outside of
going to a boxing gym, it was the only
ˆ—ŽŽǦ…‘–ƒ…–ϐ‹‰Š–‹‰•…Š‘‘Ž‹–Š‡‰ƒ‡ǡdz
Emerson said. “If you walked into the
academy at that time, you might have
mistaken it for a boxing gym.”
 „‡‡ϐ‹– ‘ˆ „‡‹‰ ƒ •–—†‡– ƒ– –Š‡
kali school, Emerson said, was that the
proprietors often brought in outside in-
structors to share their knowledge. “On
any given day, you might be training
with Gene LeBell, a pro boxer, a college
wrestling coach, a savate guy, a wing
chun guy, Wally Jay or Chai Sirisute,” he
said. “All this was 20 years before the
mixed martial arts.”
Emerson began taking Brazilian jiu-
jitsu lessons from the Gracies in 1991.
“I’d been in a number of knock-down,
†”ƒ‰Ǧ‘—– ϐ‹‰Š–•ǡ ƒ† ƒŽŽ ‘ˆ –Š‡ ‡†‡†
up on the ground,” he said. “After I had
my free lesson at the Gracie Academy, I
was hooked.”
The average person would have
deemed the martial arts toolbox Emer-
•‘’‘••‡••‡†„›–Šƒ––‹‡ƒ••—ˆϐ‹…‹‡–
to cover all the bases, but he wasn’t sat-
‹•ϐ‹‡†Ǥ‹•‡š–‹••‹‘…‡–‡”‡†‘–Š‡
Western ways of combat. “As a weapons
designer and maker, I naturally had an
interest in the development of personal
weaponry,” he said. “I now have an ex-
tensive collection of Greek and Roman
weapons.”
Merging everything he’d learned while
throwing down in the dojo, conducting
ƒ’ƒ‡•‡ϐ‹‰Š–‹‰
research in the library, defending himself
on the street, and teaching on military
bases and in police academies around
the country, he gave birth to Emerson
Combat System. “My goal was to create
a methodology based on principles and
attributes more than individual tech-
niques,” he said. “Most instructors spend
a lifetime learning their art, and they
teach in a way that’s been developed to
present it to students who are involved in
long-term training. This doesn’t apply to
soldiers or law-enforcement personnel.
Photo Courtesy of Jason William McNeil
They have limited time to learn and even
less time to train, so everything must be
distilled to the essentials.”
For all he’s done to research self-de-
fense both past and present and pass
ƒŽ‘‰ Š‹• ϐ‹†‹‰• –‘ –Š‘•‡ ™Š‘ ‡‡†
them most, Black Belt is pleased to
make Ernest Emerson its 2014 Weap-
ons Instructor of the Year.
— Robert W. Young
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
+
WEAPONS INSTRUCTOR
OF THE YEAR
I
DON CUNNINGHAM
n 2002 Dr. Don Cunningham start-
ed teaching at Radford University
in Radford, Virginia. A true martial
scholar, he’s a career academic
who got his education via the GI Bill
after pulling combat duty in Vietnam. A
longtime student of judo, he was among
the few gaijin allowed to train in Japan’s
“Japanese-only” dojo in the 1970s and
’80s. As such, Cunningham takes pride
in having endured the brutal workouts
alongside his Asian brethren. It would
be accurate to say he earned his black
belt the hard way.
While in Japan, Cunningham became
fascinated with the traditional art of
taiho-jutsu (arresting techniques)
used by the country’s civilian police
during the Tokugawa shogunate. It
includes skills with the jutte (single
forked truncheon), tessen (iron fan)
and satsumasa (man catcher). Track-
ing down experts who knew how
to wield these weapons, as well as
authentic examples of the weapons
DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT
themselves, Cunningham was able to
become one of the world’s most highly
skilled masters of these almost extinct
implements and certainly the most
knowledgeable person outside Japan.
As soon as Cunningham, who was
the All Marine Corps judo champion
in 1971, determined that taiho-jutsu
could be brutally effective at subduing
and restraining an opponent — after
all, it was used by people tasked with
keeping the peace in the 19th century,
when nearly 10 percent of the popula-
tion was composed of armed, idle and
rowdy samurai — he became selective
about whom he taught and diligent
about teaching the art in its entirety.
At the same time, he labored to launch
an organization devoted to codifying
and propagating the system in the
United States and Europe so it could
be passed along properly on a larger
•…ƒŽ‡Ǥ ‡ ‡˜‡–—ƒŽŽ› ’—„Ž‹•Š‡† –Š”‡‡
books on the subject: Secret Weapons
of Jujutsu, Taiho-Jutsu: Law and Order
in the Age of the Samurai and Samurai
Weapons: Tools of the Warrior.
If you frequent North American mu-
seums and browse the displays of Asian
weaponry, there’s a good chance you’ve
„‡‡ϐ‹–‡† ˆ”‘ –Š‡ ‰‡‡”‘•‹–› ‘ˆ ‘
—‹‰ŠƒǤ‡ǯ••Šƒ”‡†Š‹•’‡”•‘ƒŽ
…‘ŽŽ‡…–‹‘‘ˆƒ–‹“—‡
implements with numerous museums
over the years.
I attended Radford University, the
same institution at which Cunningham
taught until his retirement, but gradu-
ated two years before he arrived. I met
him afterward but wish it had been
much earlier so I could have absorbed
more of his vast knowledge. I was
pleased to learn that he’d been select-
ed for induction in the Black BeltƒŽŽ
of Fame and happy to tell his story. No
one is more deserving of being named
2014 Weapons Instructor of the Year
than Dr. Don Cunningham.
— Jason William McNeil
63
FIGHT-
ENDERS
8 Targets You Should
Know How to Hit — Along
With Advice on the Best
Ways to Strike Each One!
BY SCOT CONWAY
SCENARIO 1: Myrna was walk-
ing from the trolley stop to her home
when she heard footsteps behind her.
She turned to look, and a man hit her
in the face, then ripped her blouse half
off her body. She kicked him in the
groin and then the head. He fell, and
she ran.
SCENARIO 2: Eric was at home
when he heard someone in the hall
of his apartment building, yelling and
kicking doors. He opened his door to
see what was going on, and the man
attacked. A snap kick to the groin
stunned the aggressor, and a follow-up
rendered him unconscious. The police
arrived and carted away the criminal.
Both Myrna and Eric used ight-
enders. A ight-ender is a technique
that ends the physical portion of a con-
lict. Violent criminals are rarely look-
ing for ights; instead, they’re looking
for victims. When they attack, most of
them have no intention of engaging in
an actual ight, which means a ight-
ender need not be a lethal technique.
Rather, it’s a move that stops the alter-
cation long enough for you to get away
or, if need be, inish him.
The stories I used to open this article
are real. Myrna was a 5-foot-2-inch
yellow belt when she was attacked.
There was no reason to stay and keep
ighting, so she ran. If she’d stayed,
it’s likely her beginner-level skills
wouldn’t have allowed her to prevail
in a head-to-head battle.
Eric was a black belt who had to con-
sider the safety of everyone else in his
complex. He could have stunned the
man, shoved him outside and left him
in the hall. But the man had already
tried to kick down doors, and Eric
knew he’d probably continue — and
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
possibly encounter a tenant who was
unable to handle him. He chose not to
let the man continue attacking people.
The martial artists used the same
ight-ender: a groin kick. When you
kick the groin, the pelvis pops back,
the knees come together, the hands
come down and the body starts to col-
lapse. Depending on how well you hit
the target and how much the criminal
feels the pain, recovery time will vary.
In most cases, however, you’ll have
time to choose your course of action.
SCENARIO 3: Lonnie was working
at a convenience store when a visitor
decided to become a shoplifter. Lonnie
intercepted the man, but rather than
surrender, the man attacked. Lonnie
protected himself and sent a hand
strike into his groin. The reaction was
textbook: pelvis, knee, hands, collapse.
The man dropped the item but recov-
ered in a few seconds and took off
running. Because he was no longer a
threat and had dropped what he was
trying to steal, Lonnie let him go.
Lonnie’s story reminds us that a
ight-ender doesn’t necessarily mean a
inishing move. When a criminal is in-
ished, he’s physically incapable of con-
tinuing his assault. Eric had knocked
the guy unconscious and stood near
him in case he woke up ready to ight
again. That guy was inished. Myrna
also had ended her ight. She did it
with two kicks: one to the groin and
one to the head. Her choice was to get
away. Getting away should be your de-
fault choice. The obligatory disclaim-
er: Get away unless there’s a good rea-
son to do otherwise. In Eric’s case, the
safety of others was at stake. That was
a good reason to do otherwise.
With that in mind, let’s look at eight
targets that can turn a variety of mar-
tial arts moves into ight-enders.
TARGET: GROIN
Reasons: When the groin is struck at
an upward angle, several things consis-
tently occur. The pelvis pops back, and
the knees come together and buckle,
at least a little. The hands come down,
DECEMBER 2014/ JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT
and the body starts to collapse, at least
a little. The chin tends to pop forward
irst, then the face drops. How much
this happens depends on how hard the
groin is hit and what condition he’s in.
If he’s intoxicated, there may be very
little pain. If damage is done, however,
his knees will not want to come apart,
which will impair his ability to pursue.
You can’t count on this being a inish-
ing move, but it may be suf icient to
end the ight.
Weapons: front kick, knee thrust,
rear heel kick, punch, palm strike,
ridgehand, hammer ist, chop
TARGET: LEGS
Reasons: A forward kick to the shin
can create one of two reactions. The
most common is that weight is in-
stantly taken off the kicked leg as the
balance shifts to the other. For at least
a moment, the attacker will be stand-
ing mostly on one leg. Alternatively,
the injured leg may collapse.
Attacks to the thigh are most effective
when you plan to get away because they
limit the person’s ability to give chase.
Unless the person is so intoxicated he
can’t feel pain, running with an injured
leg or shin will be excruciating.
Weapons: kicks that strike the shin,
knee or thigh using the ball of the foot;
knee thrusts that target the thigh;
muay Thai kicks to the thigh (Muay
Thai kicks must be aimed at the thigh,
not the knee or shin. Recall how An-
derson Silva broke his shin when his
kick slammed into Chris Weidman’s
lower leg in the UFC 168.)
A FIGHT-ENDER
DOESN’T
NECESSARILY
MEAN A
FINISHING MOVE.
65
TARGET: NOSE
Reasons: Hitting the nose causes
the eyes to water — whether the
person is on drugs or not. When that
happens, he can’t see as well. A vision-
impaired opponent is less able to de-
fend, less able to attack and less likely
to chase you if you run.
Of course, the nose can be broken.
No, the cartilage won’t go into the
brain and kill the person. For self-de-
fense, a broken nose has minimal ef-
fect. The effect such a shot has on the
vision is the ight-ender.
Weapons: punch, kick, palm strike,
knee thrust, elbow, head butt
TARGET: EYES
Reasons: Attacking the eyes can af-
fect vision more profoundly, which is
why doing so should be contemplat-
ed only in dire circumstances. Think
about the level of violence of most at-
tacks and consider how a jury is likely
to view your explanation of why you
shoved your ingers into someone’s
eyes. This is the reason an indirect at-
tack on the vision, effected by hitting
the nose, is preferred. Normal people
can understand hitting an attacker in
the face. Some movements that claw
at the eyes or punch at the eye socket
to cut the brow and cause bleeding
into the eyes can be effective and are
often understandable to a jury.
Weapons: ingers, objects that can
be thrown into the eyes (Think car-
bonated beverage if you’re in a bar or
restaurant or dirt if you’re outside.)
TARGET: TEMPLE
Reasons: The temple is often re-
garded as one of the “off buttons” on
the body. If it’s hit with focus and pow-
er, it can knock out an assailant. How-
ever, in the heat of battle, don’t count
on a KO. It’s more likely that a shot to
the temple will stun the person, which
means it can be a ight-ender.
Weapons: outside knuckle, back ist,
hammer ist, punch
THE TEMPLE IS OFTEN
REGARDED AS ONE OF THE “OFF
BUTTONS” ON THE BODY.
66 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/ JANUARY2015
TARGET: BASE OF THE SKULL ever, this is not the throat attack that I
Reasons: If the base of the skull is regard as a ight-ender.
exposed, it can be hit. Some arts use an The variation we’re interested in is
attack to the “brain stem,” aiming for an upward diagonal attack to either
the top of the neck. Remember that the side of the windpipe. The superior
neck bones are there to protect the spi- carotid triangle is found between the
nal column. The actual targets are just esophagus, jaw and sternocleidomas-
off the neck to the right or the left. toid (the muscle that runs from the
Strike at an upward angle toward the sternum to just below the ear). The
middle of the skull for maximum ef- strike moves at an upward angle into
fectiveness. Most people have a slight the triangle.
hollow just under the base of the skull
off-center from the neck; let it guide
your targeting. Seeing it is the prob-
lem. Hair, hats or anything else that
obscures your view of the skull makes
hitting the target a matter of experi-
ence — or guesswork. Don’t assume
you’ll get it exactly.
Weapons: punch, chop, hammer ist
TARGET: CHIN/JAW
Reasons: This is the proverbial “but-
ton” that even our grandparents knew
about. There are several angles at which
the chin can be hit to knock out or stun
an assailant. A straight shot directly into
the chin, a shot across the jaw (espe-
cially near the chin) and an upward shot
to the chin can get the job done. The ef-
fectiveness of this movement depends in
large part on the person being hit.
People with a glass jaw — mouth
breathers and those who have an over-
bite — are particularly susceptible.
Having clenched teeth limits the stun-
ning and knockout power of a chin or
jaw strike. An underbite also can make
some chin strikes less effective even
while it makes the teeth more vulner-
able to damage, but that doesn’t mesh
with our de inition of a ight-ender.
Weapons: punch, elbow, knee, kick,
head butt
TARGET: NECK
Reasons: A straight shot into the
throat is potentially lethal. Crush the
esophagus, and the person could die. A
technique like that is a inishing move
when lethal force is warranted. How-
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
 Weapons: chop or forearm blow executed
with moderate force THINK ABOUT THE LEVEL OF
TARGET: ANY VIOLENCE OF MOST ATTACKS AND
The aforementioned eight targets can be
exploited by nearly any martial artist. Many CONSIDER HOW A JURY IS LIKELY
styles teach students to use other vulnerable TO VIEW YOUR EXPLANATION OF
targets, as well. In truth, any good target can
serve as a ight-ender if it’s hit well enough to WHY YOU SHOVED YOUR FINGERS
allow you to escape without being pursued or
if it in licts enough damage to enable you to
INTO SOMEONE’S EYES.
follow up relatively unopposed.

BLACKBELTMAG.COM DECEMBER 2014/ JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 67

68 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM
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 BETTER BUSINESS

students or parents,” he said. “Those

can’t be bought; they have to be earned.”
Hahn explained that the area near his
•…Š‘‘Ž™ƒ•ϐ‹ŽŽ‡†™‹–Šƒ’ƒ”–‡–•ƒ†
condos, and that meant lots of poten-
tial students — assuming a connection
with some of them could be made. “If
you offer a really good training expe-
rience and people feel you are honest,
the word gets around,” he said. “You de-
velop a good reputation.
“If the word gets out that you take
advantage of people, that gets around,
too — even in the big city.”

BECAUSE OF THE LOGIC of Hahn’s

points, I peppered him with questions
until I had a list of the essentials for
running a martial arts school in a big
city. Put on paper, it looked like this:
Ȉ‡ϐŽ‡š‹„Ž‡•‡––‹‰–Š‡•–ƒ”––‹‡•ˆ‘”
your classes. That will make it easier
ˆ‘”„—•›…‹–›†™‡ŽŽ‡”•–‘ϐ‹–›‘—”Ž‡••‘•
into their schedules.
Ȉ‡–—’•Š‘’‹ƒ…‘˜‡‹‡–Ž‘…ƒ–‹‘Ǥ

Success BACK TO THE SUBJECT AT HAND:

—”‹‰ › ϐ‹”•– ˜‹•‹– –‘ ƒŠǯ• ’Žƒ…‡ǡ
Get as close as possible to where your
prospective students work and live —

in the City
I exited the subway in Lower Man- ™‹–Š‘—– ‡š…‡‡†‹‰ ›‘—” „—†‰‡–Ǥ ‡‹‰
hattan and proceeded to search for near a public-transportation hub is a
Š‹••…Š‘‘ŽǤŠ‡ϐ‹ƒŽŽ›ˆ‘—†‹–ǡ‡˜- big plus.
by Floyd Burk
I
n the heart of Manhattan, Andrew
Hahn operates a traditional tae-
kwondo school. Thirteen years ago,
Black Belt sent me there to write
several stories about his interpretation
of one-step drills and surprise-attack
counters. His school, International Mar-
tial Arts Center (imac-nyc.com), served
as the location for the interview.
While in Manhattan, I saw how suc-
cessful Hahn’s business was, and I felt
inspired to write about how he thrives
in a big-city environment, which is
”‘—†ǦϐŽ‘‘” •Š‘’• …ƒ …‘•– Š—-
something that eludes a lot of instruc-
tors. Witness how often martial artists
see their dreams shattered and life sav-
ings lost when they pit their teaching
skills against metropolitan America.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good time.
‘ ‘—– –‘ ™Š‡”‡ –Š‡ …‹–› Ȉ ‘ǯ– ˆ‘”‰‡– –Š‡ ‘•– ‹’‘”–ƒ–
Two months earlier, the 9/11 tragedy
had occurred, and the nation was still
mourning. Like everyone else in New
York, Hahn was distraught. In an effort
to aid the less fortunate, he’d opened
his doors to those in need of shelter
or just someone to listen. I didn’t think
about it at the time, but that very act
was one of the reasons for his success.
72 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015
erything was exactly as I’d imagined
on the inside. On the outside — well,
there was no outside. The school was
•‹–—ƒ–‡† ‘ –Š‡ •‡…‘† ϐŽ‘‘” ‘ˆ ƒ –ƒŽŽ
building. The only thing alerting me to
its presence was a sign next to a door
leading to a stairway that ended at the
2,000-square-foot facility.
› ϐ‹”•– –Š‘—‰Š– ™ƒ•ǡ ‘™ …‘—Ž†
a martial arts school survive here?
Where would the clients come from?
Wouldn’t prospective students just opt
for the ground-level martial arts acad-
emy I’d spotted nearby?
Dz
every health club that offers a martial
dreds of thousands of dollars a year
in rent, which means tuition has to be
very high,” Hahn said. “Upper levels,
while not cheap, are less. Use the sav-
ings on promotion and getting people
–‘ ϐ‹† ›‘—Ǥ
folks socialize and talk martial arts
ƒ†ϐ‹–‡••Ǥdz
I HAD TO ADMIT it made perfect sense.
And it was just the beginning of what I
was to learn from the master.
“Another thing is there’s no better
advertisement than word-of-mouth en-
†‘”•‡‡–•ƒ†”‡ˆ‡””ƒŽ•ˆ”‘•ƒ–‹•ϐ‹‡†
Ȉˆ›‘—Ž‹˜‡‹ƒ…—Ž–—”ƒŽŽ›†‹˜‡”•‡…‹–›ǡ
make an effort to build your knowl-
edge of the countries and languages of
the major ethnic groups. It will enable
them to more easily identify with you.
Ȉ–ƒ›—’–‘†ƒ–‡™‹–Š”‡•’‡…––‘Šƒ’-
penings around town. It will make it
easier for your clientele to relate to
you, and you never know when there
might be an opportunity to promote
your school.
Ȉ—ŽŽ‘—–ƒŽŽ–Š‡•–‘’•–‘ƒ‡›‘—”
school modern and presentable. Re-
member that you’re competing against
arts or self-defense class.
Ȉƒ‡•—”‡›‘—”‹•–”—…–‘”•ƒ”‡•—ˆ-
ϐ‹…‹‡–Ž›•‘’Š‹•–‹…ƒ–‡†–‘†‡ƒŽ™‹–Š„‹‰Ǧ
city folks. That includes the way they
speak and the way they dress.
rule of the martial arts, whether you’re
located in the heart of Manhattan or in
the middle of nowhere, and that is to
teach with passion and compassion.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Floyd Burk is se-
nior adviser to Independent Karate Schools of
America. For more information, visit iksa.com.
BLACKBELTMAG.COM
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 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT
Breaking
the Code
by S.D. Seong
M
ore than anything else, the
Internet is making it not
only possible but also con-
venient to learn new things
at home — or anywhere you happen to
be, provided you have your digital de-
vice handy. It took a while for the mar-
–‹ƒŽ ƒ”–• –‘ „‡‰‹ „‡‡ϐ‹–‹‰ ˆ”‘ –Š‹•
technology, but it’s going full throttle
now, and leading the charge is Martial
Codex.
The mission of Martial Codex is to
deliver to practitioners top-notch 3-D
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“Users can permanently purchase fully
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tial Codex.
“The lessons have been crafted not
only to teach the sequence of tech-
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lesson, or users can take control of the
74 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015
scene by slowing down time and chang-
ing the angle as they please.”
If you think this sounds like a high-
tech operation, you’re right. It’s taken
ƒ”–‹ƒŽ ‘†‡š ›‡ƒ”• –‘ ϐ‹‡Ǧ–—‡ ‹–•
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to the student. “The project went into
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Dz‡ϐ‹”•–•Š‘™‡†–Š‡‘†‡š–‘–Š‡’—„-
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Just covering the tech bases won’t
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tial artists for martial artists.
“I’ve been in the martial arts for 14
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of artistic detail in that school inspired
me to form the Codex project to study
movement in great detail.”
When it came to instructors, Martial
Codex didn’t cut any corners. “Guru
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The art is characterized by nonstop
ϐŽ‘™‹‰ ‘–‹‘ǡ ‘˜‡”™Š‡Ž‹‰ ’‘™‡”
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Does Martial Codex have plans to re-
cruit any other well-known masters?
Barbey won’t comment, but he says
right now his company is working to
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Reaching every art … is our life mission.
We’ll strike a balance between compet-
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Although Martial Codex was created
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Photos Courtesy of Martial Codex
and that the physical dojo is the ideal
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 The
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BLACKBELTMAG.COM DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 I BLACK BELT 81

 From
the
A rchives
Vol. 15, No. 9, $1
The 165th issue of Black Belt was
dated September 1977. It was 76
pages long and featured hapkido
and taekwondo master Mooryang
Choi on the cover.

ȈŠ‡’—„Ž‹•Š‡”•‘ˆBlack Belt”‡Ž‡ƒ•‡Best of Bruce Lee #2, Ȉ”Ǥ‹…Šƒ‡ŽǤ‘„ƒ…ǡƒ†‡Ž‡‰ƒ–‡–‘–Š‡ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ

™Š‹…Š‹•’”‹…‡†ƒ–̈́ͳǤͷͲǤŠ‡ƒ‰ƒœ‹‡ǯ•„‘‘Ǧ’”‘†—…‹‰
…‘—–‡”’ƒ”–—˜‡‹Ž•–Š‡–Š‹”†˜‘Ž—‡‘ˆBruce Lee’s Fight-
ing Method,™Š‹…Š•‡ŽŽ•ˆ‘”̈́ͷǤͷͲǤ
Ȉ”‘Ǧ‡…–”ƒ†•’ƒ””‹‰’ƒ†•ƒ”‡†‡˜‡Ž‘’‡†™‹–Š‹’—–
ˆ”‘”‡‘™‡†taekwondo•–›Ž‹•–—
‹ŽŽ
•’‘”–•Ǧ‡†‹…‹‡…‘‹––‡‡‘ˆ–Š‡ƒ–‡—”–ŠŽ‡–‹…
‹‘ƒ†ƒ‡„‡”‘ˆ–Š‡Š›•‹…‹ƒ•ǯƒ”–‹ƒŽ”–••Ǧ
•‘…‹ƒ–‹‘ǡŽƒ—…Š‡•ƒ•–—†›‘ˆ–Š‡‘•–…‘‘‹Œ—”‹‡•
‡š’‡”‹‡…‡†‹–Š‡ƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–•Ǥ
™‘Ǥ ȈƒŽ‡––‡”–Šƒ–•‡‡•…‘‹…ƒŽ‘™ǡƒ”‡ƒ†‡”™Š‘”‡Ǧ
Ȉ•–—†›…‘†—…–‡†„›–Š‡‡”‹…ƒ‘””‡…–‹˜‡Š‡”ƒ’› ˆ—•‡•–‘‰‹˜‡Š‹•ƒ‡™”‹–‡•ǣDz™ƒ•”‡ƒ†‹‰›‘—”ǥ
••‘…‹ƒ–‹‘‹†‹…ƒ–‡•–Šƒ–ƒ—…ƒ•‹ƒƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–‹•–•ƒ›
—‡ͳͻ͹͹‹••—‡Ǥˆ‘—†–Šƒ–‘‘‡”‡‡„‡”•”—…‡
‡š’‡”‹‡…‡‘”‡‡‡’”‘„Ž‡•–Šƒ•‹ƒ•„‡…ƒ—•‡‘ˆ ‡‡Ǥ”—…‡‡‡ˆƒ•ƒ”‡ˆƒ†‹‰ǤǥŠ‡”‡ƒ”‡Š‹•‘˜‹‡•ǫ
†‹ˆˆ‡”‡…‡•‹–Š‡’Š›•‹‘Ž‘‰‹…ƒŽ•–”—…–—”‡‘ˆ–Š‡Œ‘‹–Ǥ Š›†‘ǯ––Š‡›•Š‘™–Š‡˜‡”›—…Š‘™ǫdzŠ‘‡˜‡”
ȈDzǯ˜‡Šƒ†’‡‘’Ž‡ƒ•‡–‘–‡ƒ…Š–Š‡•‘‡–‡…Š‹“—‡• ›‘—ƒ”‡ǡŽ‡––‡”™”‹–‡”ǡ”‡•–ƒ••—”‡†–Šƒ––Š‡™‘”Ž†™‹ŽŽ
‘ˆ–ƒ‡™‘†‘•‘–Š‡›…ƒƒ††–‘ƒ‰‡‡”ƒŽƒŽŽǦƒ”‘—† ‡˜‡”ˆ‘”‰‡–”—…‡‡‡Ǥ
‘™Ž‡†‰‡–Š‡›Šƒ˜‡‹‘–Š‡”ƒ”–••—…Šƒ•—‰ˆ—‘” ȈŠ‡‡†‹–‘”•ƒ”‡•‡‡‹‰ƒ™ƒ˜‡‘ˆ‹–‡”‡•–‹‹…Šƒ‡ŽǤ
Œ—†‘ǡdz•ƒ›•‘‘”›ƒ‰Š‘‹ǡ–Š‡ƒ‘–Š‡…‘˜‡”ǤDz—–
•—‰‰‡•––Š‡›’‹…‘—–™Šƒ–‡˜‡”•’‘”––Š‡›Ž‹‡„‡•–ƒ†
„‡…‘‡’”‘ϐ‹…‹‡–‹‹–ǡˆ‘”ƒ‘–Š‡”•‹š‘–Š•‘ˆŽ‡ƒ”‹‰
–Š‡„‡‰‹‹‰•‘ˆ›‡–ƒ‘–Š‡”ƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–™‹ŽŽ„‡‘Ž›ƒ
™ƒ•–‡‘ˆ–‹‡ƒ†‘‡›Ǥdz
…Šƒ‹•ƒ†ǡ„›‡š–‡•‹‘ǡ–Š‡‘”‡ƒƒ”–‘ˆhwa rang
do,™Š‹…ŠŠ‡•–—†‹‡†Ǥ
Ȉ–Š‡‹•‹†‡ˆ”‘–…‘˜‡”ǣƒˆ—ŽŽǦ’ƒ‰‡ǡˆ—ŽŽǦ…‘Ž‘”ƒ†
ˆ‡ƒ–—”‹‰‹ŽŽƒŽŽƒ…‡‘†‡Ž‹‰gi’ƒ–•Ǥ–Š‡‹•‹†‡
„ƒ……‘˜‡”ǣƒˆ—ŽŽǦ’ƒ‰‡ǡˆ—ŽŽǦ…‘Ž‘”ƒ†ˆ‡ƒ–—”‹‰ƒ–—”Ǧ
Ȉ…Žƒ••‹ϐ‹‡†ƒ†Šƒ™•ƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–••–ƒ–‹‘‡”›Ǥƒ’Ž‡• Ž‡•‘‘†‡Ž‹‰ƒ‰‹Ǥ–ǯ•‹˜‡”•ƒŽƒ†”ƒ†‹‰‘Ǥ˜•Ǥ
™‹–Šaikido,Œ—†‘ƒ†ƒ”ƒ–‡†‡•‹‰•ƒ”‡ƒ˜ƒ‹Žƒ„Ž‡‘™Ǥ ‡–—”›ƒ”–‹ƒŽ”–•Ǥ‡ƒŽŽ‘™™Š‘™‘Ǥ
ȈDz›‘Ž†‹†‡ƒ•‘kumite™‡”‡…Šƒ‰‡†ǡdz•ƒ›•‹ƒ™ƒ Ȉ…‘’—–‡”’”‘‰”ƒ‡”‘—–Ž‹‡•ƒ†‹‰‹–ƒŽ•‹—Žƒ–‹‘
ƒ”ƒ–‡ƒ•–‡”Š‘•Š‹ƒ‰ƒ‹‡ǡ•’‡ƒ‹‰ƒ„‘—–Š‹•–”ƒ‹Ǧ –Šƒ–…ƒ†‡–‡”‹‡™Š‹…Šƒ”–‹ƒŽƒ”–‹•‘•–‡ˆˆ‡…–‹˜‡
‹‰–‹‡™‹–ŠŠ‘‹‘–‘„—ǤDz™ƒ•‹•’‹”‡†–‘…”‡ƒ–‡‡™ ˆ‘”•‡ŽˆǦ†‡ˆ‡•‡ǤƒŽŽ—•ǥ•‡’–‹…ƒŽǤ
‹†‡ƒ•„ƒ•‡†‘–Š‡‹•–”—…–‹‘‘ˆ–Š‹•–‡ƒ…Š‡”ǡ™Š‘Ž‡ƒ”‡†
—‹–‡–Š”‘—‰ŠŠ‹•‘™‡š’‡”‹‡…‡•‹ƒ…–—ƒŽϐ‹‰Š–•Ǥdz (Note: Back issues are not for sale.)

82 BLACK BELT I DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 BLACKBELTMAG.COM

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