This is my first attempt at a diary. Please forgive transgressions.
I began Shotokan karate training in 1984.
Years of benign neglect left me crawling off of the dojo floor about twenty minutes into the warm ups during my first class, to collapse in a sweaty, overheated, and sick to the stomach heap of, gasping for air, flesh.
I showed up for the next class and I was smarter, it was better.
I really liked the art and remained a student and, eventually an instructor until November 2008 when a bus accident left me unable to continue.
There aren’t many pieces of equipment in a Shotokan dojo. There may be a stack of kicking pads in a corner but not a lot of anything else.
One piece of equipment that is prominent in most Shotokan dojos is the makiwara.
The makiwara is a board, usually a 4x4 split on the diagonal, with the wide end sunk into the ground or anchored to the floor. The thinner, springier foot or so top end is wrapped with straw or padding, covered with a piece of canvass which, may or may not, be wrapped with hemp rope. This surface is where you hit it.
It stands about four and a half feet tall.
The idea of training on the makiwara is to develop proper punching, striking and kicking techniques. This device allowed you to make hard contact but it also tested your stance, balance, rotation, tension and relaxation and how well you could connect your weapon (fist, foot, elbow etc.) to your technical basics.
The makiwara was a great training tool.
It stood there and took a beating. It didn’t hit back.
Kind of like my Democratic Party for a long time. The D’s logo could have been a makiwara.
So now I’m hearing the Romney/Ryan folks talk about the meanness and the Chicago Style politics of the Obama campaign.
Which brings me to the makiwara story below.
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