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LOST GLORY
Author: Robert W. Young
In the old days, the Okinawan martial arts were all business, claims Los Angeles-based karate expert Isaac Florentine. The kicks were designed to break bones, and the punches were intended to relieve the enemy of consciousness with a single blow.
But that was then, and this is now. As karate’s popularity exploded, the art lost more than a bit of its potency, according to many insiders.
Although offering advice on recovering all that lost glory is beyond the scope of a single article, we do have sufficient space for Florentine, a lifelong student of the art and frequent visitor to dojo around the world, to outline the root of the problem and prescribe one remedy that promises to amplify the power of your kicks and punches. And that’s nothing to sneeze at. —Editor
Black Belt: Please begin by diagnosing the problem.
Isaac Florentine: Modern karate has shifted away from its original intention, which was to be an art of self-defense, and toward a spectator sport. Its techniques have changed to become more eye-pleasing. Its stances have become longer, deeper and unnatural. Its kata have become strings of choreographed moves instead of the textbooks of combat they once were. The destructive power of its punches and kicks has become a ballet-like game of tag.
BB: In the eyes of many, karate seems to have lost its effectiveness.
Florentine: The truth is, karate has lost its techniques. If you have proper technique, you don’t have to be in a deep stance to generate power. In fact, the opposite is true. Being in a high natural stance can increase your power, speed and ability to attack with combinations.
BB: Specifically, which techniques has it lost?
Florentine: One of the lost secrets is the double-twist principle. It’s found in all sports, including baseball and golf. It’s most often seen today in muay Thai. Although it’s neglected in many styles of karate, it served as the basis for shukokai and tani ha shitoryu.
It’s a natural principle you can discover by listening to what your body is telling you when you’re practicing drills.
BB: Where did the double twist originate?
Florentine: It’s said that karate’s roots were in China, its cradle in Okinawa and its refinement in Japan.
Therefore, we know that most of its principles were dissected and analyzed in Japan from the 1930s through the 1950s. That’s when some of its natural moves were systematized to elevate them to a higher level of efficiency.
BB: Why did shukokai and tani ha shito-ryu focus on the double twist when other arts neglected it?
Florentine: Shukokai had a scientific approach. Its founder, Chojiro Tani, was one of shito-ryu founder Kenwa Mabuni’s top students. In 1949 he started his own dojo, called Shukokai, or “the way for all.” Tani and two other top instructors, Fujiwara and Fujitani, engaged in research into the ways to develop power. They tried to find training methods to enhance the body’s movements. That led them to discover some principles that became the basis of shukokai. Back in 1952, this way of using bio-dynamic principles in karate was revolutionary.
Tani was an innovator. He modified traditional karate techniques to impart more speed and power. He was the first to coin the term “double hip” in reference to the torquing movement used to create greater ballistic force in an effort to achieve ikken hissatsu, or “one strike, one kill.” That concept, by the way, was imported to karate from Japanese swordsmanship.
BB: Please explain the double-twist principle.
Florentine: The basic ideas were based on weight transfer at maximum speed. For instance, to accelerate yourself, you have to be relaxed and mobile. Two principles that were developed were the “double-hip twist” and “kick shock.”
The stances became more natural, and the hands remained open to keep the muscles relaxed. When you create a double twist—a quick whiplike motion with your hips—it’s the hips that shoot out the punch. To transfer maximum weight into the punch or any other technique, the ball of your foot must push against the floor similar to the way sprinters use running blocks to launch themselves.
Using these principles correctly not only creates speed, but it also creates explosive, powerful techniques and a natural flow that leads to a variety of fluid fighting combinations involving punching, sweeping and kicking. That’s essential in free fighting.
BB: What exactly is doing the twisting?
Florentine: When you punch, your hand and arm are launched passively by your hip rotation. If you punch using just your arm muscles, you slow yourself down. But if you relax, your punch will strike like a whip. It will have explosive power because your hip is launching your fist. Only at the moment of impact do you tense your muscles. The idea is to create a ripple effect in the internal organs of your opponent. Your energy is sent into the target, not just at it.
BB: Do you move your hip first, then once it starts, let your arm follow?
Florentine: Think of the hip as the part of your body that is loading the hand and throwing it out.
BB: So it’s essential to keep your arm and shoulder loose.
Florentine: More than that—you have to keep your body loose. If you relax your body, your mind will also be relaxed and you can be more aware of your surroundings. And you can move more quickly.
BB: Is there a special stance you must assume before you can employ the double twist?
Florentine: No, you just have to be relaxed.
BB: It sounds like using the double twist requires more effort than punching and kicking the common way.
Florentine: After years of training, it becomes less and less visible. As my teacher, Tamas Weber, used to say, “It becomes more internal, but it is still there.”
BB: When did karate start veering away from teaching fighting methods such as the double-twist principle?
Florentine: Let’s say karate came to the United States in the ’50s and started to become popular in the early ’60s. Up to the mid-’70s, when the kung fu craze hit and movies started showcasing the martial arts, karate was still meant for fighting.
People who trained in it really wanted it for self-defense and fighting. Therefore, they worked to develop power and speed so they could be effective at fighting. Then in the late ’70s, everyone wanted to become a movie star. Kicks became higher, and flexibility went from being a means to an end to being a goal. Techniques became beautiful.
In the ’90s, people started saying, “Karate’s not effective at all.” But they were absolutely wrong because if you understand what you’re doing, it’s very effective.
BB: What’s the best way for a martial artist to start developing his double twist?
Florentine: The reverse punch is the best technique to begin with.
BB: Then, once you get that down, you can apply the principle to kicks and blocks and ...
Florentine: To everything. The movement becomes a part of you. It becomes very subtle and very fast.
BB: Earlier you mentioned Thai boxing. Is the double twist used during the execution of the muay Thai roundhouse?
Florentine: Exactly.
BB: Do you advise people to exaggerate the double twist in the beginning just so they can learn it properly, then try to make it internal?
Florentine: Yes, they should let it become fluid. The whole idea behind all those techniques, even the roundhouse kick, is to accelerate yourself. You’re trying to gain speed and momentum. With the roundhouse, the twist causes you to push against the ground, and from that push you get acceleration. That’s what gives you speed and fluidity. It’s exactly the opposite of what’s often called “rigid karate.”
BB: What are some of the other changes karateka can make to return to their art’s fighting roots?
Florentine: You have to understand the mechanism behind all your movements. The secret lies in knowing how to accelerate and how to transfer mass into your techniques.
To do that, you have to break them down and study them.
BB: Besides the two styles of karate you named, are there any others that preserve the old fighting principles?
Florentine: Every style, if it’s a real style that has been canonized with its own principles and parameters, can be good. Remember that style is the emphasis of some principles over others. It’s a different interpretation.
But they all come from the same roots in Okinawa. If one style was always superior, everyone would train in it. In reality, every art has its strong and weak points. More important is the school you train in.
If it’s a good school, it doesn’t matter what style you’re learning. ...
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