This site explores the biomechanics, principles and philosophy of Traditional Karate as transmitted through the Funakoshi → Nishiyama → Rokah way of teaching. The essays reflect my personal understanding, tested through four decades of training and viewed through the lens of physics and movement science.
If you’re new, begin with the seven pieces below. They build on one another, from attitude through the body to force, speed and distance, but each stands on its own.
Begin here
Two short notes from the early days of this site, then five essays.
Nishiyama Sensei’s warning against the illusion of knowing, and why beginner’s mind isn’t just philosophy: it’s a training method.
Hard Training Makes Confidence, Confidence Allows for Stable Emotions
What does it mean to give your mind away in technique? The connection between whole-body commitment and mental clarity.
Karate from Inside – Why Philosophy Matters
There comes a moment when the corrections stop being about knees and hips and start being about attitude. What that shift means, where it comes from, and why it matters.
Karate from Inside – Posture: The Blueprint of Potential
Why we spend years correcting how we stand. Posture is where the body first meets pressure, and an old nervous-system reflex has to be retrained, from the head down to the feet.
Beyond Force and Energy: From Mechanics to Mastery
Force, power, energy, strength: these words are used interchangeably in the dojo, but they describe completely different physical phenomena. Understanding the difference changes everything.
Slow practice and fast practice are not the same movement at different speeds. They build different neural pathways and serve different purposes. In three parts: the problem, the solution, and the philosophy.
Distance, timing, rhythm and mind: the integrative concept that connects physical mechanics to strategic application. This is where training starts to come alive.
Go deeper
Karate from Inside
A series in the making, best read in order. After Philosophy and Posture:
The science series
What modern science is beginning to say about traditional training, in three essays:
Voices from the dojo
Two fellow karateka write about their own practice:
My Karate Journey – Nick Cromwell
Ways to Generate Power – Mario Kalli