Original Okinawa Karate Iha Dojo

09/25/2026

Iha Seikichi Sensei, Kihon Kata 1, which Chibana Sensei created to teach balanced stepping, hip motion and timing for the punch. It is based on the natural walking motion.

09/24/2026

Iha Sensei was a master of the reception of power and he taught us this feeling. The subtle shifting of the elbow when receiving a kick is achieved by having a dense yet relaxed arm that makes contact with the kick before it fully extends. As the power begins to pe*****te, the arm rotates and lines the elbow up with the half body centerline. This is not fishing around with your elbow or timing with your eyes. It can be done with the eyes closed. And we also don’t break our fingers. It is extremely effective in dissipating powerful kicks once the feeling of dense (but not rigid) rootedness is achieved in the body. Makiwara recoil practice also teaches this feeling. It is a type of uke muchimi.

Side note, in general, our style does not kick with the thrusting front kick as much as a snapping toe kick. But it’s very common at least to receive the thrusting front kick and side kick and very often you’re in positions where you’re not lined up with the other person and you just have the opportunity to take the sting off the kick and this works almost every time from all sorts of positions.

09/23/2026

Kusanku Sho, Beikoku Shidokan Shorin Ryu. Often people think they don’t have time to practice, but it only takes a minute to do one of the longer kata. In five minutes a day that is dozens of times a week and that is a very good beginning.

09/22/2026

Iha Sensei, Passai Sho.

09/20/2026

Here Iha Sensei and William Ford Sensei discuss Chibana Sensei. He wasn’t an intimidating man, but was always very polite, quick to smile, and soft spoken; not at all severe as some might assume a karate master to be. Iha Sensei would see him every other month or so for training, and at other events as well.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

09/18/2026

On Kaizen (or continual striving)

Iha Seikichi Sensei embodied kaizen like none other. He was always seeking to improve whether it was his karate, gardening, friendships, cooking, calligraphy, and so much more. Here is a video of him in his late 80s expressing this philosophy, along with the quote.

“Doing the best you can is most important; the best you can. That’s why when you’re getting old it’s most important to push yourself and fight against yourself and not fight against other people. Right? Then you will understand that kind of feeling when you’re over 80 or 85, about to how push yourself and how to be strong.”

09/17/2026

Depending on how it’s written out, muchimi can mean several things, including a whipping power or an adhesive, sticky feeling that lets you follow and manipulate your partner’s movement. Here Nakasone Koichi Sensei applies muchimi in the sticky sense to the reception of a kick. Without fighting against the kick, use a circular motion to meld and then off balance the kicker through a leg drag.

If you want to make a kata connection, Chinto would make sense and, if you are subtle enough, any time you retract a front kick.

09/16/2026

Iha Seikichi Sensei, Opening moves of Kusanku Dai, Okinawa. The rest is for you to finish.

Thanks to John Bono for sharing this.

09/15/2026

Motion comes not from the hand but from the body.