Harry Cook

Harry Cook - Interview with a Karate Master

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Cook sensei blends the old school with the new skillfully and in an original manner. He comes from the glory days of early JKA Shotokan but is well versed in various other styles, most particularly goju ryu. He is a prolific author and a well known contributor to various martial arts publications. His most recent book (at the time of writing) is A Precise History of Shotokan Karate.

In this interview Harry Cook discusses karate training for beginner students, kata and approaches to training.

* Harry Cook evaluates the balance of students first and foremost. He sees a beginner student as a black belt with bad habits, one of which is balance. Harry Cook sensei tries to remove the bad habits to reveal the black belt. One habit that needs to be developed is correct and improved balance.

* Beginner students should work on developing balance and flexibility. This is followed by the development of speed and the ability to deliver a fast technique without damaging your body.

* Train your body to deliver a punch as if your arm were a whip.

* Relaxation is another important characteristic to develop.

* Kata can be understood and interpreted at various levels. First kata exist as a repository of information. Through long training the techniques and concepts contained within the kata become natural.

Second, kata provide the student with an avenue of hard physical training. Furthermore, as a training and conditioning aid the kata can be made more challenging by, for example, reversing the techniques, starting from the final technique and working to the first or by carrying weights while performing the movements. (Take care not to damage your joints).

* The kata is not simply a collection of techniques, but different kata contain different concepts which can be discovered if they are interpreted correctly.

* Harry Cook explains that the term riai means to understand the reality of the situation.

* Although we think of kata as being a series of offensive and defensive movements practiced in strict sequence in Eastern martial arts, Western fighting arts utilized the same practice. For example, European pikemen were drilled repeatedly to fight together in formation while holding their ground. The increased use of more complex missile weaponry made massed formations redundant.

* Adapt the kata to circumstances.

* Use a video camera to tape yourself and play it back to improve your performance of a kata. Pick out what you are doing incorrectly and work on that in isolation from the rest of the movements of the kata.

* Another interesting training variation is to practice in water (pool or ocean).

* Have a training partner throw ping pong balls at you during kata practice and break your form to react in an appropriate manner.

* You need to be mindful of the difference between learning and being entertained.

* A fundamental difference between Eastern and Western approaches to learning is that in the East the student motivates the teacher to teach; in the West the teacher motivates the student to study.

* A martial art can help you find your weaknesses. It is up to you to be disciplined to correct those weaknesses. You are responsible for yourself.

* The good teacher can push a student to a new level of skill without bullying or humiliating them.

* Shotokan students have combined Eastern and Western training methods. A simple example is the use of a boxer's focus mitt. A less obvious example is the incorporation of knowledge from sports science. Bear in mind that that traditional martial arts are coming from a non-scientific epoch.

* Don't be stupid in your training. Listen to your body and think things through. Don't copy for the sake of copying.

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