Karate STL

By Maya Angelou
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed

The almost complete lineage of Beikoku Shidokan Shorin-ryu:
Matsumura taught Itosu
Itosu taught Chibana and Gusukuma
Chibana taught Miyahira
Choki Motobu taught Miyahira
Gusukuma and Miyahira taught Iha

This is from the dojo of Akiyoshi Shiroma Sensei in Nishihara, Iha Sensei’s hometown.

We remember lha Sensei on the one year anniversary of his passing from this life. The greatness of a teacher can be measured not in the profit they brought to themselves, but in the legacy they left behind in the lives of others. The Shidokan family remains extremely strong one year on, and this is because Sensei's focus on friendship as the basis of learning has woven us together. We are like his bonsai- unique, fragile in parts, quirky, unpredictable, but also deeply rooted, resilient, pruned for growth, and unquestionably beautiful. May his spirit of martial friendship continue in the decades to come! Rest in peace, Sensei.

Kicking with the toes is common to Okinawan karate styles. Everyone’s toes are slightly different and some are more conducive to bearing the impact of a toe kick. Regardless, to develop the dexterity of the kick you can tap your toes against the floor when standing, against a wall, or on your makiwara. Using your toes to pick things up is also a good practice. Key points to work on are to have tight toes and a relaxed knee and hip, similar to punching with a tight fist but a relaxed shoulder. Before long you will feel comfortable kicking the bag and your partners this way.

In kata and partner work, as your kicking foot leaves the ground, keep the toes pointed toward the target and the bottom of the foot (in the case of mae geri) parallel to the floor. The ankle helps “flex” the power out. The use of metal geta (tetsu geta) helps develops the power of the ankle flex while increasing the toe strength through the gripping of the geta.