AKIHITO ISAKA, 8th Dan - Report on CSKA July 2004 Course

Report by Clare Worth; reprinted with permission from Shotokan Karate Magazine)

B/W photos by Clare Worth — colour photos by Stuart Needham
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I was invited to train in North Wales with sensei Akihito Isaka 8th Dan, whilst he was on a recent tour of KWF dojos in the UK, an unforgettable experience.

When Isaka sensei was 45, someone outside of karate told him that he was slow. He asked how he could improve and he was told to do slow-motion practice. From this encounter, sensei has for the last 17 years, made slow-motion training his personal study. Isaka sensei is now 62 years young.

Sensei Isaka told us that it wasn’t until his experience of slow-motion training at 45, that he wanted to teach. He wasn’t interested in instructing before, when he was in his 20’s and 30’s. But thankfully he now passes on this way of training, with total enthusiasm, for us all to benefit. Isaka sensei said his aim of this course was to show us the feelings of movement necessary before we do kihon, before basics, he said he would do this by teaching us exercises in slow-motion that allowed us to experience these feelings.

Sensei said that most people carry their weight on their heels, but to make best use of our centre of gravity we should have more weight on the balls of our feet. To do this, the head, hips and knees should be in line with the balls of the feet. This finding the best position of our centre of gravity was practiced first whilst stood in shizentai (natural stance). He moved around the dojo checking each student’s posture to ensure that we could all grasp this feeling of centre of gravity, correcting those who were bending at the waist and not keeping their spine straight. Isaka sensei said this feeling of centre of gravity was most important and should be concentrated on at all times, he said we should also focus on using our back muscles and our hips, this he said is where best movement comes from.

From this shizentai position, sensei instructed us to just bend the knees keeping the centre of gravity forward and maintaining a straight back. Keeping this posture he then asked us to slowly bring the right foot to the left foot (feet together). He instructed us to concentrate on our centre of gravity and use the hips to do this action smoothly, by ‘very slowly’ sliding your foot inwards keeping a strong contact with the floor, and keeping the pressure towards the front (ball) of the foot. Then, as slowly as possible move the right foot back to shizentai using the same method. Sensei said that we should learn to move our body without changing the height of our hips.  

The next exercise had us stood with our feet together (heisoku dachi) and knees bent. He said that heisoku dachi (feet-together stance) was the most important stance in karate. Sensei continually encouraged us to think about our centre of gravity and hips. He then instructed us to spin 90° (keeping our feet together and weight towards the balls of the feet). The 90° turns were done until we reached the front position and then we spun in the opposite direction (90° each spin). Isaka sensei emphasised that the spin should be initiated from the hips, as this will turn the body as ‘one’ and not be initiated from the upper body and arms.  

Building on from the previous exercises, we then practiced Kiba dachi. Starting in heisoku dachi (feet together) we spun 90° to our left, from this position Isaka sensei instructed us to then ease out (right foot) into kiba dachi, (using ‘exactly’ the same slow-motion, smooth action as before) and using the hips and the centre of gravity to dictate the movement and not just out with the leg and then make the stance. Sensei repeatedly told us to ‘control’ the transfer of weight into the stance, and move as slowly as possible.

From this kiba dachi position, you then spin forward on your right foot clockwise 90° (medium speed), bringing your feet together into heisoku dachi. He stressed that this should not be a pull or push action, but the feeling of, hip first-spin-go. This sequence was repeated moving forward across the dojo, each time alternating spinning 90° to the left or right from heisoku dachi, each time changing the leg that very slowly slides out and moves into kiba dachi. Then repeat the exercise moving backwards across the dojo. Isaka sensei showed us that the retreating spinning action from kiba dachi into heisoku dachi, should not be a heave-ho type of action but that our concentration should be on the use of our hips and centre of gravity to spin-go. He said that in karate, our head, shoulders, hips and legs should move together.

Kiba dachi practice was then replaced by kokutsu dachi, and in turn zenkutsu dachi using the same method. Throughout the class sensei reiterated that there were two important points essential for karate. One, was to make the best centre of gravity position, allowing us to use our hip and back muscles for big movements and the second for a perfect controlled feeling of our movements. He said that karate is not only hard and fast, but that we should be able to change our pace and power.

We partnered up, one person making zenkutsu dachi (in 90° hanmi), the other person assisting for safety. Keeping good hanmi position (body side-on) throughout the moves is vitally important:

1. Bend forward from your waist as if trying to take your chest between your knees, keeping a stable forward stance.

2. Bend backwards from your waist as if trying to take your trunk backwards between your stance (partner standing behind for safety reasons).

3. Bend forward from your waist, taking the side of your body towards your front knee (front arm inside your lead leg).

4. Bend backwards from your waist towards your back leg. All the time Isaka sensei asked us to concentrate on the feeling of trying to separate the hips. I think we all became very attentive of which muscles were being used around our hip joint.

Sensei Isaka was asked by host instructor John Barker what exercises could we do to help us use our back muscles more. Sensei then turned to the class and asked if we did push-ups and what muscles did we use doing them? The class replied, ‘arm and shoulder muscles’. Sensei then went to the corner of the dojo and delved into his box (a box we were told that travels everywhere with him). From the box he pulled out two small rubber mats, on to each mat he placed an iron geta (he informed us that he would usually use the small arc training aids when doing push-ups). With his hands on each iron geta Isaka sensei then executed a regular push-up for our confirmation.

Then, asking us to look, he placed his feet together and lowered his body to the floor, at the end of the upward motion (his hips kept low) sensei arched his upper/middle back towards the ceiling (imagine the arching position of a cat’s spine when it’s being threatened). He said many people don’t utilise their back muscles enough when punching. Sensei said that a lot of us could probably do many push ups (perhaps a hundred), but that, he said, was not necessary. He then preceded to do his push-up in slow-motion, (taking approximately 60 seconds from start to finish). Sensei said by doing such exercises in this slow, deliberate way, focussing on the muscles required, then maybe only a few repetitions were necessary. He then asked several students (me included) to try his push-up! The alienation and lack of using our back muscles in the push-up was very evident, also the lack of ability to keep the hips low as the rest of the body moved away from the floor was also very distinct.

Strapping the iron geta onto his feet (to ensure they were just an extension of his legs), sensei then performed mae geri, mawashi geri and yoko geri keage. His emphasis was on his hips delivering each kick and not only his kicking leg. Isaka sensei said that many people lean backwards when kicking (especially performing high kicks), when actually the bodyweight should be moving towards the kick.

Isaka sensei once again rummaged deep into his cardboard box. Smiling, he turned to the small group and introduced us to his friend. His friend being a long band of about twenty bicycle inner-tubes knotted together. Sensei then continued to double up the band of tubing and fix it to the wallbars. He then gave a brief demonstration of how most people train with elasticated bands or inner-tubes, showing how they attach the ends around their ankles or wrists. This Isaka sensei told us meant that they were training either their legs or arms only. Sensei then preceded to pull the end of the tubing up above his knee, from this positioning he said it allowed the hip, then leg to be trained. Using his ‘friend’ he went through the earlier sequences of training the three stances. He showed that it was necessary to have a slight slackness at the beginning of the movements, then create the tension in the band as you moved away from the wallbars and into the stances. Again the importance was placed on centre of gravity position, hip and back muscles and   movement in a slow, controlled manner. Our turn beckoned and we all found our places around the dojo with our own length of band. Sensei’s watchful eyes scanned the dojo, always on hand to assist, correct and encourage. His voice echoing with the words, hip-go, and instructing us that it‘s not hip-then-go or go-then-hip as we spun from each stance into heisoku dachi.

Next practice was yoko geri keage (side snap kick) from kiba dachi stance. Breaking down with a knee lift then trying to hold out the kick. Sensei insisted that a low kick was fine, but such details as correct foot positioning – toes pulled back, and our weight in the direction of the kick must be displayed. Mawashi geri was practiced in the same way. Mae geri however was performed from heisoku dachi (feet together). After taking off the tubing we went through all the techniques, the sensation of being liberated in our movement was very apparent.

The session ended with Isaka sensei taking us through some of his stretching exercises.

1. Kneeling down, elbows on the floor with arms crossed. From this position sensei asked us to focus on our hip area, again trying to get the feeling of separating our hips, moving them in opposite directions.

2. Sitting on the floor legs outstretched in front with toes back, he told us to try and lengthen each leg by just pushing from the hips.

3. Lie face down on the floor with your right arm outstretched (level with the shoulder). Using your left arm to push your body over, body rotating towards your right arm (keeping the right arm flat on the floor), you should be able to twist around enough so that your left foot is flat on the floor (left leg bent) and you are looking towards the ceiling.

4. Down on all fours, take your left leg over your right leg, crossing over your right knee, then sit back and upright holding this position, (as in the photo opposite) attempting to get the legs closely squeezed together. Sensei indicated to us that this stretch was the same feeling as kosa dachi. Stretches 3 and 4 were repeated with the opposite sides of the body.

Sensei Isaka’s method of slow-motion training and instruction heightened our awareness of ourselves. He continually asked us for our total concentration, feeling our body positions and which muscles we were using at any given time. He told us that it was important for each one of us to be able to control our muscles to the best of our potential. This, he continued, is also essential in all sports/activities, hockey, soccer, dancing, etc, and of course there is the control of your opponent in kumite, but the control of ourself is more important. Isaka sensei said that for 99.9% of us this is not easy, but we needed to study and understand which muscles are moving and how to check these positions.