FISHER SHOTOKAN KARATE

JKA TECHNICAL MANUAL FOR INSTRUCTORS

By Sensei Malcolm Fisher, editing by Charles Rhodes

On October 1, 2008 the Technical division of the Japan Karate Associaion published in English a 45 page revised document titled TECHNICAL MANUAL FOR THE INSTRUCTOR. This document is available on the Internet World Wide Web. Sensei Malcolm Fisher's comment about this document is set out below.

COMMENT BY SENSEI MALCOLM FISHER:
I think that the JKA document titled TECHNICAL MANUAL FOR THE INSTRUCTOR published on October 1, 2008 deserves some attention on this web site. I believe that it confirms many points of my Fisher One Page. For example, it uses the term maximum speed and power, the components of energy production. It certainly never uses the word "optimum" when referring to the execution of any technique.

It is interesting that the JKA manual never mentions loading or unloading. There is no mention of the knee, elbow or, both knees unloading simultaneously. It does however refer to the foot and knee pointing forward. There is no mention of the way loading and unloading take place. It does not mention the four methods of movement but does allude to compress-slide. Other methods of movement are mentioned in a general way. In fact there is a lot of generalization in this manual and there is very little in the way of specifics on any individual topic. These generalizations effectively institutionalize world wide the current shallow understanding of individual techniques. Without specifics, dojo heads are given free reign to interpret as they will.

I think that if you study this manual you can see how the Fisher One Page provides all of the specifics that this manual lacks. Many elements of this technical manual are dancing around elements of the Fisher One Page but, without being as specific as the Fisher One Page is. There is clearly within the JKA no realization of the importance of a Root Definition, which defines what the JKA physically embodies. Instead they talk of Karate more as a character defining thing or image. Even in the dojo kun, the cerebral trumps the physical plane. The Fisher One Page's Root Definition provides a formula to physically explain Shotokan techniques in a very specific way. I felt that it was necessary to put into words who the JKA Instructor Program participants were in the 1980s and what we did. These generalizations have only become more pronounced and ingrained in the JKA since I left in the mid 1980s.

Without fully understanding the physical plane of Shotokan, one cannot attain the cerebral or spiritual level spoken of in the dojo kun. Perhaps the JKA's focus on the spiritual is because they have a physical plane that is unmatched outside of Japan due to the rigorous training schedules implemented in high school, university and the JKA Instructor Program.

This web page last updated March 26, 2012.