Ashihara and Enshin Karate

[massai]

Any body know of a dojo in Delaware that offers any of these styles of karate. The websites I checked offer very little information. What is the difference beteween Ashihara Karate and Enshin Karate? How do they differ from other Karate styles? And what are your views on both of them? I am definitely interested in knowing as much as possible and any input would be fine. Thanks.

[Cla68]

I study Enshin and I've been trying to find out myself the differences between Enshin and Ashihara. The answer I always get when I ask someone that question is, "There isn't much difference."

Since I'm familiar with Enshin in the mid-Atlantic area I can tell you that I'm fairly sure that there aren't any Enshin dojo in Delaware. The closest to you appears to be either the New Jersey dojo (http://www.enshinnewjersey.com/) or my dojo down here in Northern VA. By the way, the sensei for all the east-coast Enshin dojo were here in Falls Church this past weekend for the annual tournament that my dojo runs. Anyway, I checked the two Ashihara organization's websites and neither one appears to have dojo in the New Engand or mid-Atlantic areas. I understand that Ashihara split-up into two organizations a few years ago, Ashihara (New International Karate Organization) is based in Japan, and, Ashihara International is based in South Africa. Both have dojo in numerous countries.

I'm in the process of writing an entry for Wikipedia on Enshin that will go into detail on some of the techniques. But, I can synopsize them here...

Enshin (via Ashihara), "originated" with Kyokushin-kai so it has most of the same kicks, punches, and strikes as Kyokushin including elbows plus kicks to the lower legs (which I understand some styles don't do). Also, Enshin is "full-contact" like Kyokushin but, the same as in Kyokushin, punches to the face aren't allowed in kumite. One of the biggest differences between Enshin and many other karate styles, including Kyokushin, is the use of many grabs, sweeps, and throws. Many of them are taken from Judo techniques. The different strking and throwing techniques are applied in Enshin and Ashihara in a system called "The Sabaki Method." Applying Sabaki means to, as much as possible, avoid meeting the opponent's attack head-on (force with force), but instead to redirect his/her energy using a circular or pendulum motion of the body/feet and with the same energy to move to the opponent's "blind" spot and then counterattack from there with a strike, sweep, or throw to put him/her on the ground and thus end the confrontation.

As I mentioned previously, we just had our annual tournament this past weekend. Enshin tournaments traditionally welcome other styles to enter. We had competitors from Muay Thai, Kyokushin, Shotokan, and what appeared to be Wu Shu entered, among others. Thus, I was able to observe how Enshin's techniques "measured-up" against other styles. The result- very well. When applied correctly, Sabaki is a very powerful technique that can give a great advantage to someone who employs it effectively. However, it appears to me that it takes some time and experience to learn how to use it effectively against another experienced martial arts competitor (no matter what the style). Of course, the rules of our tournament favored the use of Sabaki techniques. But most other karate tournaments don't allow grabbing or throwing techniques to be used. At one point after my first match, I could hear the Muay Thai instructor talking to his students and he was counseling them on how to try to avoid or "neutralize" the Sabaki techniques that the Enshin competitors were using. Some of his students were able to avoid the Sabaki techniques they encountered and some of them weren't, it depended on the skill of the competitors and the flow of the fight.

By the way, I understand that Hap Ki Do fighters enter Sabaki tournaments sometimes and often do well because Hap Ki Do has many similar techniques to Enshin or Ashihara.

I hope this answers your questions somewhat.

[D Dempsey]

Charles,
I'm moving to the Falls Church area late this year and was actually looking at taking classes at the Enshin school there. Do you mind if I ask you some questions about the training?

[Cla68]

Sure, no problem. We can communicate over this thread or by PM or email (cla68@yahoo.com) whichever you're most comfortable with. I'm a beginner/"junior belt" (7th kyu) so I'm not qualified to give any instruction or advice on Enshin techniques. But, I'm more than happy to try and answer any questions you might have about our school, schedule, training activities, etc.

By the way, I notice that you're into BJJ also. There is a BJJ school here called Yamasaki Academy that I understand has a very good reputation. If it weren't for family demands I would probably be trying to train with them as well as in Enshin.

[massai]

Charles thanks for the info. I am definetly interested in studying Enshin and or Ashihara Karate, it is a pity there isnt any dojo in Delaware. Anyway I have a question on your kata training. In another thread they said that most of the kata is like shadow boxing. Is all the kata like this? And do you practice alot of kata training?

[Cla68]

I don't know about Ashihara, but Enshin doesn't have as many kata as other styles reportedly do. We have six total kata, one for each "color" of belt- white, blue, yellow, green, brown, black. I understand that each kata is supposed to teach Sabaki techniques appropriate to that level of experience. Each movement of each kata is designed to counter a specific, imagined attack from an opponent and follow-up with a Sabaki counter-attack. Therefore, each kata is considered to be a simulated confrontation in a multiple-attacker scenario utilizing Sabaki techniques to deal with each attack.

We go over the kata probably once every two weeks or so. When we test for advancement to the next color belt, we're usually asked to perform the kata for the belt that we're currently in. For example, if I test for yellow belt I can expect to be asked to perform the blue belt kata. We're expected to practice the kata on our own and when we go over them in class it's to correct any errors in our form or to teach us a kata that we haven't learned yet.

The Enshin grandmaster- Kancho Ninomiya, just released DVD's available for purchase over the honbu website showing how to do all of the Enshin kata plus how to incorporate Sabaki techniques into bag training. I purchased all the DVD's and plan to try to go ahead and learn all of the kata on my own.

[D Dempsey]

What I'm most interested in is how the class is structured. How much time to you spend on drills, bag work? That kind of stuff. Also since Enshin is a high contact style how much time do you spend on average doing hard sparring? There are actually a log of high quality BJJ schools in your area. The problem is that they're really expensive, else I'd probably train there. Instead I found a judo/sambo school with a very good instructor so I'll probably be training there instead. It's gonna depend on my finances.

[Cla68]

There are three Enshin dojo in my area (with a fourth to open soon) so their schedules may be different than the dojo I attend. The one I go to is the Falls Church/McLean location. The adult basic classes are Tues and Thurs from 7:40 to 9 p.m. and Sat 10 to 11 a.m. The adult advanced class (green belt or 4th kyu and above) is Wed 7:40 to 9 p.m.

The classes are usually structured like this:

- Brief opening ceremony
- Stretches and warm-up calisthenics
- 10-15 minutes of practicing basic strikes or kicks from several different practice stances (pigeon-toed, horseback, modified fighting stance, etc)
- Pair-off, receive instruction on a technique, then take turns executing the technique on each other while the instructor observes and corrects us. If it's a striking or kicking technique, then our partner will be holding pads. If the technique involves making contact directly to our partner's body, then we'll usually put-on shin-guards and/or light gloves. We'll then do the same thing with defenses or counters to that technique, variations of it, combinations involving that technique, etc. All of this for about 45-minutes.
- 10-15 minutes of push-ups, sit-ups, punching each other in the stomach and kicking each other in the thighs to strengthen our bodies.
- Closing ceremony and any final remarks from the instructor

- The bag training class is Saturdays at 9 a.m. This is my favorite class. We start out doing hand and kick combinations to the heavy bag. Then we'll usually take turns executing strikes and Sabaki techniques full-force to someone wearing full padding (chest guard, headgear, etc). We might then pair up and practice a sabaki technique with more contact or force than we usually do during the weekday classes. Then we'll usually finish with five to 10 minutes of kumite or "hard" sparring while wearing shin-guards and light gloves, trading opponents every minute. This is the time when we "put all together" what we learned during the week. Every once in awhile we'll do bag training and sparring (usually light to medium contact, depending on your partner) during the Tues & Thurs classes, but not that often I believe because new students are usually present at those sessions. If there's a tournament coming-up, then we'll do more bag training or sparring in weekday class.

- In preparation for this past week's tournament I was invited to attend the advanced adult class on Wed to help me prepare. It contains much heavier contact and drills in more advanced and difficult techniques. They also did twice as much heavy sparring. I could barely pick myself off the floor when it was over. I really look forward to regularly attending this class once I achieve the appropriate belt-level. Sometimes I'll go observe this class and take notes because I learn a lot just by doing that.

If you want or need extra training or kumite practice, the instructor or other students are usually willing to stay longer after class or come to the dojo on Friday or Saturday evenings when there aren't any regularly scheduled classes.

[D Dempsey]

There are three Enshin dojo in my area (with a fourth to open soon) so their schedules may be different than the dojo I attend. The one I go to is the Falls Church/McLean location. The adult basic classes are Tues and Thurs from 7:40 to 9 p.m. and Sat 10 to 11 a.m. The adult advanced class (green belt or 4th kyu and above) is Wed 7:40 to 9 p.m.

The classes are usually structured like this:

- Brief opening ceremony
- Stretches and warm-up calisthenics
- 10-15 minutes of practicing basic strikes or kicks from several different practice stances (pigeon-toed, horseback, modified fighting stance, etc)
- Pair-off, receive instruction on a technique, then take turns executing the technique on each other while the instructor observes and corrects us. If it's a striking or kicking technique, then our partner will be holding pads. If the technique involves making contact directly to our partner's body, then we'll usually put-on shin-guards and/or light gloves. We'll then do the same thing with defenses or counters to that technique, variations of it, combinations involving that technique, etc. All of this for about 45-minutes.
- 10-15 minutes of push-ups, sit-ups, punching each other in the stomach and kicking each other in the thighs to strengthen our bodies.
- Closing ceremony and any final remarks from the instructor

- The bag training class is Saturdays at 9 a.m. This is my favorite class. We start out doing hand and kick combinations to the heavy bag. Then we'll usually take turns executing strikes and Sabaki techniques full-force to someone wearing full padding (chest guard, headgear, etc). We might then pair up and practice a sabaki technique with more contact or force than we usually do during the weekday classes. Then we'll usually finish with five to 10 minutes of kumite or "hard" sparring while wearing shin-guards and light gloves, trading opponents every minute. This is the time when we "put all together" what we learned during the week. Every once in awhile we'll do bag training and sparring (usually light to medium contact, depending on your partner) during the Tues & Thurs classes, but not that often I believe because new students are usually present at those sessions. If there's a tournament coming-up, then we'll do more bag training or sparring in weekday class.

- In preparation for this past week's tournament I was invited to attend the advanced adult class on Wed to help me prepare. It contains much heavier contact and drills in more advanced and difficult techniques. They also did twice as much heavy sparring. I could barely pick myself off the floor when it was over. I really look forward to regularly attending this class once I achieve the appropriate belt-level. Sometimes I'll go observe this class and take notes because I learn a lot just by doing that.

If you want or need extra training or kumite practice, the instructor or other students are usually willing to stay longer after class or come to the dojo on Friday or Saturday evenings when there aren't any regularly scheduled classes.

Thanks for the information Charles. I'll definately be checking out your school when I move out there. It sounds like you guys have a pretty good program there.

[Cla68]

Thanks for the information Charles. I'll definately be checking out your school when I move out there. It sounds like you guys have a pretty good program there.

We look forward to seeing you at the dojo. Good luck with the move.