One Karate Misconception I Discovered In China

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Thanks for your awesome questions! 🙏 If you haven’t seen my Chinese adventure yet, watch here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3TZmqCKqtyekLs

[@josephperkins4080]

Could you do a video on How incorporating Stuff from Kung fu into your karate improved your Karate?

[@jiokl7g9t6]

In order to be properly relaxed you're supposed to only use the minimal effort required within your core muscles ONLY to hold your posture. This includes relaxing the muscles around your pelvic bone. This relaxation results in the bone simpl hanging down from above. It is the fact that there's greater bone mass in the back rather than the front that causes it to tilt forward. This relaxation of the muscles is how the seating of the hips is meant to be done.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

jiokl7g9t6 Exactly! Previously I used to actively squeeze my glutes to achieve the pelvic tilt, this is a relaxed version that aligns your posture and helps tremendously. At least for me! 😄

[@thomasda3482]

@@KARATEbyJesse yo jesse, whats ur phone nr? i want to visit u

[@cryptoronin1338]

Ty for sharing your insight Sensei 🙏 . I once heard that the secret to internal power was squeezing your butthole and as strange as it sounds I can feel the truth that statement

[@granadosvm]

"Connect the dots and not just collect the dots..." True words of wisdom!

[@LanceAtlas]

Sounds like something from Sensei Ando from Happy Life Martial Arts

[@asamiyashin444]

To me that can also be said against scientism. Collecting "data" without any real knowledge.

[@sifuchin]

I'm a Chinese and a kungfu teacher, what you share here is absolute right, language is one of the main issue when passing down the marital art. This is also happen for some of the Chinese Kungfu that has been pass down through generations.

[@varanid9]

Good communications skills are important in any marriage.

[@tedwang7154]

As a PhD in Linguistics and a practitioner of Wing Chun and Xing Yi for more than 10 years, I really find your videos interesting!!! Especially the part about language and martial art.

[@maduroholdings]

Hsing i and wing chun really seem to go together well For me it seems wing chun helps me understand the alignments

[@Ibb_nsvg]

Hello, I'm a Fine Arts máster student and next year I'll begin my PhD thesis joining martial arts and arts. Would you happen to have any publication relating language and martial arts in a same manner as in this video? I would love to read it!

[@nyakorv]

Practicing Xing Yi for 4 years, started Wing Chun paralelly half a year ago. I really feel that this two styles complement each other very well for me.

[@klemmichard8916]

Linguistics? What field?

[@sgoldon3886]

Grande , José!@@Dubbios

[@adamduffield7782]

Well to answer the guys question about the origin of Taekwondo. It originates from shotokan karate. Taekwondo grand master General Choi Lee whilst he was in Japan in his younger years, trained under grand master Gichin Funakoshi and gained his black belt through him. When Choi Lee moved back to Korea he developed his own training regime focusing more on developing powerful kicks. When he joined the Korean military, climbed the ranks, and was appointed to train soldiers in unarmed combat. That's where Taekwondo comes from, it's more evident when you see the Taekwondo training as Taekwondo has the same parry/block/limb traps techniques that Shotokan Karate have, like gadan buri, age uke sota uke

[@jaymzx2587]

And remember to restomp the groin

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Always 😎

[@blockmasterscott]

I laughed hard!

[@bagofsoup8199]

Literally nobody at all: Jesse:WOW

[@KARATEbyJesse]

I’m easily impressed 🤪

[@MrCageCat]

Jesse strikes me as one of those people that gets hyped just because the sun is shining. Always super positive 🌞😁

[@Aboriginal_American_Hebrew]

@@MrCageCatthe kind of friends I deserve

[@subsonic9854]

That explanation of the kung fu mindset needing some understanding of the chinese language was so informative.

[@DrunkenDarwin]

I used to think kata were utter garbage but now I think it's indispensable after I learned taichi. It made me go back and rethink everything I learned from previous karate and muay thai experience. Forms teach you the formulas to problems. It's up to you to learn how to apply the formula. Martial arts aren't addition and subtraction it's algebra and physics.

[@jean4j_]

I personally love kata and forms. However one could wonder why not just practice techniques directly with a partner like they do in Judo or maybe in Krav Maga. What's your thoughts on this?

[@DrunkenDarwin]

@@jean4j_ It's just another way to practice while you have nobody around. Learning the forms properly teaches you a lot and really molds the techniques to your own frame. This is why after a while you develop your own style, in a sense, even though you learned the same moves. It helps drill fundamental things like relaxed readiness. If you really ponder the essence of the moves you start to discover where they flow into other moves naturally or expression changes depending on range. I never get tired of doing my taichi forms for this reason there's always a deeper level you can go.

[@cskok2097]

Hey Jesse Sensei~ I'm the FuZhou guy that dropped by last time and "So Pak Ling Beik" actually.... is "108" the number itself, nothing more AHAHAAHAHAH mind=blown!!!! Grateful to have you travel all the distance to bring us these valuable info

[@mathieudubois9970]

must be 一百零八手 really interesting

[@NightKnight252]

Oh Jesse! You shocked me by saying Dan Tian is basically the centre of gravity of human body! I’m a Chinese and I hear this word Dan Tian from Chinese martial arts all the time, and I didn’t realise scientifically it is actually the centre of gravity of human body and that’s how it works! Thanks for being this awareness to me!

[@WaywardPondering]

This video is near dear to my heart. One of my biggest issues was as a kid, memorizing a kata but having no clue why outside of it being a requirement to earn the next belt. As an adult, with wisdom and understanding I see how important and useful katas are. Jesse’s hard work and terrific videos have me energized to learn more about karate and martial arts.

[@EternalSilverDragon]

This idea of a single application being represented by similar movements across multiple kata... when I first watched this video I really liked it. Now, having applied this idea into into my training for a while, I believe it much more strongly.

[@ThallFather]

I love how epic the names are for the Kung fu postures. Tiger steals heart.

[@LucMarGui]

I'm a retired aikido practitioner that recently got one of your videos recommended by youtube and i'm absolutely loving your content. Keep up the excelente work.

[@joyburn]

The Jackie Chan "Mind-blown" meme was very accurate with the language translation/interpretation of bunkai/kata. I feel like I have learned so much just with that.

[@andywatson4872]

This is one of my favourite episodes! It speaks so well about the understanding of what a kata even is and applies to many other Japanese budo/bujutsu. Thank you so much for your hard work in producing these great episodes.

[@navyadham9082]

Just came back from karate training and was so happy to see ur video in my notifications

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Glad to hear! 😄

[@SenseiSantino]

I agree. By finding Karate's roots to China, you filled in the blanks for those of us Karateka that used to practice the Korean arts. I really enjoyed this series. Arigato gozaimashita.

[@triau7166]

Thank you, Jesse sensei. What I love most about your art is that you try to find the root , tradition but you also keep a great deal of focus on practical applications, which I believe is the direction that traditional martial art should move towards.

[@cavalier2097]

I really enjoyed this serie about finding the roots of karate in China. I hope you will continue this in future

[@kutrenuke]

This is amazing! Im so glad internet exists!

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Thanks! Me 2 😜

[@johangutierrezbaldeon7846]

@@KARATEbyJesse you are awesme, I speak Spanish but I totally understand your pronuntiation

[@TheBassManimal]

Jesse Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions, the Kung Fu/Karate connection is something that always interested me, I grew up learning Traditional Wing Chun, and it is my main style, but out of total interest and fun, I have been learning Shito Ryu Karate for the past year and will stay to earn my black belt and so far the amount of similarities to a suttle level even, that I have found is astounding. From the outside you would have never known how similar they are..

[@zywrxcodera1681]

The best Kung fu than all from China is only one "Wing Chun".

[@anselmocuadradohernandez1428]

Great Job Jesse, not only this one but all the recent videos you made!! Thanks and congratulations!!;

[@anthonyfong4922]

Hi Jesse, your viewers have really excellent questions and it really demonstrates how mature and broadminded your audiences are. Your answers and replies also shows your profound discipline and humility. I have seen other sites where people have lots of ego and opinions whereas you are very grounded and definitely very cultivated and wise.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

You flatter me! ☺️

[@adrianrambleson7852]

It seems like Chinese descriptions are more like mnemonics that help you remember better what all the moves are better than trying to remember a series of terms. Black tiger steals heart seems to imply the importance of the pull back hand more than just saying reverse punch.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Exactly!! 😄👍

[@MarcoRodrigues82]

Black tiger is a way for the chinese to say somebody is brave, corageous. A black tiger is so fearsome that it goes full on, with nothing holding back. So black tiger steals heart is to go straight on with a punch in the heart.

[@ozowen5961]

The names encapsulated many layers, in much the same way that at each stage of learning, a new meaning was brought to bear on the movements or totality of a kata, hyung or tao lu. The name carried the attitude that laid behind the technique, and that invoked a strategy. It is also likely that the name also had implications of relationships to other techniques that were thought to imply sequences of various levels of damage/ harm to the opponent.

[@steveg219]

Marco Seschi yes, and “the heart houses the mind” so it also tells you to have the strength of presence to overwhelm their state of mind

[@belalabusultan5911]

​@@MarcoRodrigues82 so it's (Savage heart ripper), I don't speak Chinese but I think the main issue is not language as much it is the differences between generations, you'll have some language barrier with your old folks, and have even greater barrier when you read documents written centuries ago, just compare Shakespeare to a modern American pop song for example... if you like my translation please give me other names and their explanations :)

[@Sui0Generis]

When you said "I could definitely go back", it brought a big smile on my face. I found the journey too short too.

[@maissthro3645]

The movement you mention with the hips is named "Gamaku". It goes along with another 2 principles: "Chinkuchi" and "Muchimi". Gamaku uses the internal muscles in the core to "lock" the hips in certain stances to offer a more stable posture, but if can be detrimental for other postures like the nekoashi-dachi. Chinkuchi shows the use of maximum damage potential with little effort that goes from the posture to the tip of the fingers, like a chain. The latter is mentioned by hanshi Higaonna Morio in his books and is the principle of "stickiness" of the technique for a proper use in self-defense. There is a lot of information in the net, just have to look for it cross-reffering and practicing to uncover the most useful and real part of it since as you point out the meaning is lost in translation.

[@chinonng6529]

and I found that muchimi is also greatly emphasised in Chinese Kung fu which means bringing force from the ground. Glad to know that karate keeps the essence of martial arts while developing seperately from Kungfu in this century.

[@behindthespotlight7983]

Wow. Now that you mention it when our sensei (Shotokan/Jiujitsu) brought over these 80-90 year old Masters from Japan (and this was mid 1980’s so some of these men could have been featured in your history video excerpts) When these men visited our dojo the first thing they did was show us some kata. If a kumite exhibition was provided that always happened after class. I remember a few occasions when unscheduled “guests” would show up at our dojo. Boxers. Other martial arts styles. They’d walk in right off the street. Never aggressively as I recall. We never allowed them beyond the foyer/office area unless they did a demonstration first. This now makes perfect sense given what you are explaining. And back in the mid-80’s there was no internet. We had Black Belt Magazine and later Kung Fu Magazine. Usually a few friends studying elsewhere. Not too different than the way knowledge was passed in 1925 Japan. It always bugged me that during my active years Black Belt was so Chinese and Korean centric in their articles. Issue after issue I would read cover to cover and think “Jeez our style has been around a thousand years. Can Japanese KARATE get some love too?” Oh well. Everyone was ninja crazy in 1983 🥷🏻Asian World of Martial Arts was all we talked about before and after classes.

[@WizardMindBarbarianBody]

Sensei Teruo Chinen was very interested in the Chinese roots of karate. His respect for kung-fu was obvious whenever he spoke about it. He referred to white crane style a lot. He was also fond of Judo.

[@Xannyphantom905]

Doubt it. The Japanese were a part of the cultural revolution and destruction of Kung fu schools. They tried to attack Shaolin too.

[@granadosvm]

I was taught by my karate teachers about this tilt of the hips from the very basic stands. When you are in hachi-dachi, naute, or however you call the standing in attention stance, you will notice it not just gives you a slightly better balance, but also make you place the knees in a slightly bent but still comfortable position. Now, here is the difference: If your instructor suddenly and without warning indicates adopting a fighting stance, or move, or kick when your posterior is sticking out like if you were modeling blue jeans and your knees are completely straight, it takes a lot longer to move. Probably a second and a half compare to when you are in naute with the correct posture. You can try it with your students to witness it by yourself.

[@josem.chaves5291]

As always, thank you for the excellent content, Sensei Jesse. I practice Shotokan (JKA) and I also study philosophy, and I appreciate how deep you get into the philosophical aspects of Karate. Thanks again and Cheers from Costa Rica.

[@silafuyang8675]

I am practicing Chinese kongfu (Wudang pai) and recently discovered your channel. I really like what you are doing. I have friends who are practicing Shotokan karate and through them, I am expanding my knowledge about karate. Chinese traditional katas, taolu, are much more complex, and each master teaches them very differently. In the end, after studying for years with several masters, you make your own version, including something from everybody, but usually one version you use as a base. Chinese traditional styles have no standards because there are not so many people practicing one style. There is also simplification of the forms going on at the moment, new taolu are created which are not so complicated and are easier to grasp. I personally, welcome them, they can popularize the style. However, if you want to go deeper, you need the originals.

[@jiokl7g9t6]

That sitting down / using the ass is usually termed 'seating the hips' in Chinese martial arts. Its about proper spinal alignment.

[@lail118]

I was about to say more or less the same thing...

[@sweynforkbeard8857]

If you want to achieve the correct posture for Chinese boxing, it's a great aid. Aligns and connects you perfectly.

[@kusazero]

Its almost in all Chinese martial arts "small" stance, especially prominent in wing chun

[@LunaticReason]

Wow my mind is blown! I am gonna bring this up with my Sifu. I've been having difficulty thinking of moves as one full set like Will demonstrated and I think it might be because I was raised learning the Western Alphabetic language. When I train I'm having to break down the forms piece by piece, letter by letter, movement by movement and then piecing them back together.

[@johnlenton5549]

I watched all of your Chinese adventures and found them interesting. Jesse, you talk about things being lost in translation and instructors not knowing the meaning of kata or bunkai, I know this happens because of the people that come into our dojo dissatisfied with their past style. In Chito-Ryo, we are told the meaning of everything, and the use of a technique varies with understanding and ability which changes as you become more senior. Often it is necessary to relearn technique especially basics because of understanding, which grows with the years of training. I also think it is important to choose a style that has links directly to its roots. Once again our current Soke Chitose is one generation removed from our founder O'Sensei Chitose, nothing has been lost with time.

[@bertoperez2007]

Much respects to you and your martial journey, as a student of martial arts, a practitioner of Chinese arts, i enjoyed all of your documentary, glad that you were able to have the awesome blessings of interacting with and taking in what they so willingly shared....keep it up

[@onlyhuman7420]

This was enlightening Jesse,thank you very much.So,essentially Karate is a hybrid style,or more accurately MMA,and that's a good thing because it is applicable to almost every self defense situation you might get in.Also interesting fact is that Seisho Aragaki,the famous teacher of many Karate greats like Higashionna,Kenwa,Chitose and Funakoshi,was a student of Wai Shinzan.Some sources claim that Wai Shinzan was a master of Xing Yi besides his skills in Monk fist,so it's an interesting notion and good starting point for exploring other styles of Gung Fu that influenced development of Karate.Seisho Aragaki was also a Chinese language interpreter and was appointed as the Okinawan official at Beijing court so his martial arts knowledge was vast.He taught katas Seisan,Unshu,Shisochin,Suparinpe,Sochin and Niseshi.Maybe he is a missing link between Gung fu and Karate in Okinawa because he taught almost every important Karate master from the golden age of Karate(19-th to early 20th century period) and was the only Okinawan that had an honour of demonstrating Karate before a Chinese ambassador visiting Okinawa.And that was back in 1867,some 20 years before the Naha Te pioneers went to China.At that event he demonstrated kata Seisan,Shisochin and Suparinpe.It would be really great for us Karate nerds,if sensei Jesse is willing to bring more light to the table regarding this whole matter with the master Aragaki.

[@goldmember3874]

Mr Enkamp, I am not into martial arts, but since I’ve founded your channel, I ve been really interested to watch your videos. Wish you the best from one of your many fans

[@sinistercr0347]

when you realize that the graceful karate stance is actually... a punch in da nut

[@RichardRohlin]

*laughs in Krav Maga*

[@nick4733]

Another scholarly and worthy study of our ancient fighting arts. Fighting styles are constantly evolving and it is fascinating to break down the barriers of misinterpretation and ancient thinking so that we can truly understand the arts we practice. So many thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences.

[@lockedflame1955]

Love the thorough, calm and focused answers Jesse. All the best

[@paulandthecoast2414]

Well Sh*t. Now I have to rethink absolutely everything I know about my martial arts. Excellent video. Thank you SO MUCH Jesse! Arigato Gozaimasu!!!

[@chadestioco]

I think this series has a niche appeal but immense cultural importance. The kind of thing National Geographic might want to pick up. You are even presenting your own conclusions, backed by your experiences, not just a rehash of something already covered elsewhere. Great work!

[@rabronin]

I just got back from a full day karate seminar where I picked up useful material for my training. It was great seeing your video come into my feed as I was relaxing after a hard but fun day. I got to add on to what I gained today :)

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Excellent! Keep training and learning 👍

[@tdmxross]

Thanks

[@bongkem2723]

omg !!!! 108 is the last "kata" in most chinese kungfu, you are lucky to see the original 108 !!! hope you already recorded that one. Back in the day, some sifus paid thousands of dollars worth (a fortune) to learn that 108 because they can open a school after mastering the 108 !!!

[@AlexGSalvador-cv9ln]

The "Parting The Horse's Mane" move in Tai Chi can be expressed as not only as karate double block but also as the open-hand move to break the arm shown in this video. Very instructive. Excellent video!

[@christopherblade5984]

Great video Jesse, keep it up. Absolutely fantastic to have all this in video. My deepest respects.

[@cjlogic6908]

This is hands down my most valuable KZbin subscription! 💪 Loving every video!

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Thank you! I strive to deliver meaningful content.

[@edsanjenis9416]

This is so good, I love the historical aspect of this video.

[@behindthespotlight7983]

This is so cool! The Naihanchi forms. The three Taikyoku’s? Those were the three that a white belt had to master to be advanced to yellow in our dojo. Then from yellow to orange it was three of the five Heian’s. These videos are bringing back some great memories from an otherwise stressful adolescence. My only negative about the years in Shotokan? After hundreds of trips to the dojo and daily practice at home (dedicated student) I was still getting beat up by street fighters 4 years into my studies. In fact my last badly lost fight was at age 14 and after that I abandoned Shotokan and although I’ve only been in 4 fights since then (dangerous line of work) I never allowed anyone to hurt me again. Frankly I learned more from friends teaching me Capoeira or Krav Maga one-steps in the park. Not bagging on Shotokan but whether it was our brown & black belts fighting full contact in San Jose or Oakland, or us intermediate ranks fighting limited points contact at tournaments; it seemed like we were long on history, meditation, one strike/one victory and long on getting our gentlemanly asses kicked. Still great memories though. Way better than high school football.

[@Spirittkdaus]

Great work Jesse Sensei. Well done on pulling back the curtain on the martial arts in a honest and respectful manor. I look forward to you next adventure.

[@mykulpierce]

11:30 The leg crossing reminds me of a boxing maneuver. Boxing legend Rocky Marciano uses a cross step for power generation in his gazelle punch.

[@waaagh3203]

I don't know what you mean by leg crossing, but Marciano's gazelle punch, or leaping left hook, used a shuffle step. His feet never crossed.

[@dlpasco]

This is really thought provoking. Thank you for sharing what you picked up and what your insights were.

[@themadrazorback2019]

I have chosen Karate! Love it. No apologies. We love our art.

[@AdobeCADman]

Thank you for exploring the roots of karate and the cultural translation of Chinese martial art by Japanese-Okinawan instructors of old.

[@dourden77]

Jesse, I love your channel so much!! Let me expand this execellent explanation in minute 6:20 about kung fu terminology. I would also add that this poetic names that chinese give to their forms are not indicating only movement, but also attitude. For example, "monkey steals peach" does not only describes a movement (legs in position A, waist in B, left arm in C, etc etc) but an attitude. You have to be a monkey, act as a monkey, that is stealing a peach. Literally. The attitude will change the way you execute the movement and your intention. The same with "black tiger steals heart". It is not only a description of the movement, but the attitude in how you execute it. You are a tiger, and you are stealing a heart... like a tiger, not like a monkey. It is a way to encapsulate a lot of information with metaphors. This is used also to describe simple punches or kicks. "Jet Kiu" (this is how I pronounce it as an spanish speaker) means "to slice with the forearm". It is also a methaphor that not only describes a movement, but an intention.

[@mastersheldon1920]

You speak the truth and as a practitioner and teacher of Shaolin I respected your work greatly!

[@tarkajedi3331]

Your discoveries about the roots of Karate enriches us all !!!! Thank you sir !!!!

[@Yamabushi37]

Excellent series, your study is really valuable, one of my teachers Hanshi Masayuki Shimabukuro (rip) had a saying: speaking its easy to do its difficult, doing its easy, true understanding its difficult, what I like most about the approach that presents us about karate is to seek true understanding, without fanaticism and with a wide and open vision, without fear of discovering reality, my respects, I would like at one time in my life to attend one of your seminars or visit your dojo, a great hug from Venezuela

[@akmaluddinsaid4104]

Excellent karate project and great achievement to reveal the history of Karate. Thank you so much.

[@Acrata49]

Greetings from Puerto Rico. Thanks for this job. The knowledge acquired is wonderful. Martial Arts are indebted with you.

[@urayo1]

Thank you for your time and effort Jesse. You brought me back to the teachings of the late "Grandmaster Reno Morales" ( Shinjitsu Jissen karate) NYC USA. GM Reno often mentioned what you have expressed on this video, namely " Expression" and or interpretation of technique. The idea was for the scholar of his system to understand that, information received and translated or interpreted usually adds personalization. The techniques must serve as our own expression yet do not deviate to far from the original teachings, so as to not loose yourself. However, GM Reno often would say " The art does not make the fighter, on the contrary "The fighter makes the Art through their interpretation" hence why there are so many systems that originated from the same source. In closing I would like to ask you to produce a video that makes the comparison and/or similarities in hand techniques, between Karate hand techniques and the Kung Fu style of Wing Chun. Many that read this comment and request would ask, where's the correlation but, I know you will bring the knowledge into the light. Blessings to you and your family, keep up the great work.

[@richardcos]

What is the difference between "blocking" and "receiving" attacks in terms of technique? The martial art style I have the most experience with taught you stop blows with brute force and muscle power. We were also taught to evade attacks and redirect the force of a blow, but the focus was on blocking attacks. I'm finding your videos very interesting and refreshingly positive. I stopped doing martial arts in the pre-internet age, partly because I believed I didn't have physical or mental capability to advance in ranks and partly because I didn't find a style or instructor I felt at home with. But I'm considering taking them up again at 46, because yourself and other KZbinrs have reminded me what martial arts are meant to be about: challenging and improving yourself, not earning belts and hurting people. So thanks.

[@jakebreaker]

Karate Nerd: "Why did this happen? Well, there are many reasons." Karate Dog: "[barks of martial arts wisdom]"

[@lizb9148]

So insightful! Never thought about it this way before and I understand what your saying! Just proves that no matter what belt you are, what style you come from, there is always so much more to learn. Great video sensei Jesse !

[@jayar2022]

You're so up to the point and comprehensive. Nice job well done!

[@terrootti]

I never practice Karate (I did western boxing and Capoeira) but I have a couple close friends who do. I've always admired this martial art and my favorite discpline of it always was the Kata. My friends and I couldn't tell why (you would think I would prefer kumite). I've been on a Karate-martial youtube bing lately (jesse, Sensei seth, Ramsey Dewey another paged specialized in Okinawan Karate that I forgot the name) and know I why I loved Kata. It's like with my very limited knowledge of martial arts in general, I somehow understood that Katas were more than meets the eye. I really enjoy watching this type of videos.

[@DerSuchtGamer]

Amazing video. It's fascinating that I always lern something (very much) new, when I watch your videos. Thank you very much Jesse!

[@iramiyahira8301]

I like. The way Jesse studies Chinese Okinawan And. Japanese. Mindsets Toward kungfu and. Karate He is. Very detailed in his Research... Jesse. Is truly A sensei..and. Master In my. Book... Very excellent. Study...

[@ronaldhuss8915]

Jesse sensei, if you can bare with me...I started tae kwan do in 1974 at 20 years old after numerous street fights as a boy. My Korean teacher allowed me to spar as a white belt after I learned the basics. I never went above white belt because it wasn't important to me. I found from an early age that street fights were much different than the dojo. The teacher was quite amused at a white belt beating brown and black belts. After that I trained in shorin kai and this sensei developed his own system called v- cat, that incorporated muy thai, and wing chun as well as shorin. This was meant for the street with many hours of sparring. The thing is, in all of this, no one ever explained the purpose of kata, but you and hanshi Mccarthy explained this act/ concept to where it now makes sense. I'm 66 years old now, and still train 5 days a week. I also trained in boxing for the last 4 years and have incorporated this as well. Thanks for opening my eyes to the truth of martial arts. I am grateful. Train hard, have fun and good luck.

[@felipeartefaria]

That talk about how language and the martial arts was mindblowing!! I trained about six years of Shaolin Kung Fu, then I tried Kyokushin and loved, but couldn't practice much, due to the pandemic. That about the languages unlocked so many things I couldn't quite elaborate before about the differences between the two arts!

[@buyungadil1]

Hi Jesse, I love your videos because, unlike others, you don't major in merely teaching people how to fight but the interesting history behind the different styles, the connection between them, the why's & how's & what's behind every move & style, etc.

[@maxventura7015]

Hi Jesse San! You know, this connection you look for between white crane kung fu and karate reminds me of a great Shotokan master who did the same and the result of the combination was amazing. His name is Sensei Tetsuhiko Asai who was also the direct instructor of Sensei Andre Bertel and not only of course. Now I know Shotokan is not exactly your cup of tea but I've seen you speaking with so many karate experts that I thought something like real ice cream lovers do not need to love all ice cream flavours but I'm sure they try all of them, at least once. Keep going, big boy!

[@jijibinoy1343]

Hi jesse , i just wanted to tell u about bhodhidharma.i am a south indian and bhodhidharma was also a south indian . Bhodhidharma travelled across the world to spread his martial called "kalari",it is a south indian martial art.he at last came to china and the chinese modified it into kung fu and later by the Japanese and formed "karate"

[@user-tl1bw4wp1c]

Karate was invented by the Ryukyuan, not the Japanese

[@chinonng6529]

Jesse, you are a great martial artist (I would say 'scholar' )who not just practise but also keen on investigating the techniques and roots of karate, which is very important in progressing your martial arts level(although you are a sensai already, you keep on learning and thinking!).You also spar and learn from other martial art styles and help spreading info to others through videos. Keep it up!

[@gw1357]

Phenomenal video. Legit cross-disciplinary scholarship -- martial arts, anthropology, linguistics, history. Really, really well done.

[@paulgoldsworthy5188]

Connect the dots, not collect the dots (apologies for the paraphrasing), absolutely beautiful statement and so powerful.

[@johnnywishbone932]

Jesse I love your life. You are doing what I always dreamed about as a young man. You rekindled my love for martial arts. Thank you for that gift!! ❤️🦶🏻👊🏽!! Merry Christmas!!

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Thank you!! Happy holidays 🎅🏻

[@gerardmenking5206]

I enjoyed watching your videos of your Chinese trip and even though I don't practice karate I must applaud you on your enthusiasm, commitment and demonstration of the style. Unlike many people that see a martial arts style as a single technique of multi style MMA fighting, I still appreciate it in its original art form. So we'll done on the videos. It looks like a lot of effort went into producing such professional finish. We'll done. 🥋🙏

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Thank you so much! It was a lot of work, but worth it 🙏

[@filiperodriguesaquin]

Kung fu nerd here. I mainly practice wing chun and it is really sad to see the same thing happening with a system that still uses the chinese language for its terminology. Just as an example, there is the Tan Sau concept, which means the Spreading Hand, like a knife spreading butter on a slice of bread. Its most common application would be to spread away the enemy's attack after intercepting it, almost as a wind after the bind in european medieval fencing. Still, every day I see lots and lots of wing chun practicioners executing it as a hard block. Excellent video as always, Jesse! Love your channel.

[@ty5186]

Fantastic breakdowns Jesse! Thank you for sharing your insight. Fascinating stuff.

[@nathanwatches]

One of the underrated Karate Channel here.

[@jean4j_]

I don't think his channel is underrated at all! Maybe Karate is these days 🤣

[@Tanja-Mayer-Ki-Training]

Thank you! Very helpful in many ways! Thanks also to all the questioners! All the best! Tanja

[@AlimpulosKali]

Thank you very much for this Jesse! This is very informative! More power to you!

[@carloc352]

Man, your video is extremely informative. Talking about this idea of minimalism in Kata’s, I remember having read somewhere that our very brain tries to forget as much as possible. It looks like evolution selects the minimum necessary set of information.

[@senshikarateclub5235]

Amazing and interesting experience, thank you for sharing with us! ( the cigarette in the practice was hilarious :D)

[@aagreenidge]

Hey Jesse,. Great series. As a former Kung Fu practitioner I would say the next series you could consider is the transition of kung if from China or Hong Kong to NYC. My grandmaster Take Wah Eng has a great history of his style. (Which many kung fu practitioners could say 🤓) the way his firms are structured are very different from what I've seen. Plus the understanding that Cantonese and Mandarin have a 'confrontationally' history. That's a while other series altogether.

[@Genryusan]

I feel empty after finishing the series man .. Thank you for this amazing content and for being my nerd sensei

[@KARATEbyJesse]

🙏

[@chrismcdaniel475]

It was great watching you visiting China and learning kung fu and learning karate roots.

[@newtonwanyoike9856]

Your diverse knowledge of karate always shock me you always leave me tounge tied l am not a karateka back her home it's expensive for me but watching you and the amazing videos you make you make me feel like a black belt practicioner thanks for those videos you make one day i know practice this Martial arts as you have influence me alot i never miss watching your videos so keep them coming

[@hierontatohtori8696]

Excellent stuff, thank you so much. The content reminded me of my instructor's (Karate, Wadō-ryū / Yiquan / Taiji) ideas and way of teaching back in 90's. I believe I am not too far off, if I say that he was kind in margin back then. Great to follow your channel, keep up the good work.

[@pabloszollosy3418]

Dear Jesse I like a lot your explanation about the origin of Karate, I train Karate Shotokan from JKA in Uruguay, excelent information Oss!!

[@willyjum]

"One bunkai has several expressions" is very meaningful. Ultimately, practitioners of any martial art should try to understand the theory/philosophy alongside their forms. Understanding the "why" will help with the "how."

[@navigatingel6104]

This is a FANTASTIC video on learning language and culture in general

[@YAUWAI8008]

try doing tennis, notice when transferring force in straight run up vs rotational recovering, what is the best in force transferring and what is adequate for striking and quick recovery, what is generated using your cg dantien and what it feels to use gravity in a serve. Then notice what can improve in cg in individual joints, including loading your racquet. How do you maintain optimal striking in a moving dynamic situation without feeling off centre vibration. After mastering this, you are the Mahaguru of karate and kunfu! 😇

[@healingworksyesjohnn]

Yes how can words easily describe how you achieve this? Is it from animals forms or kata?

[@kymaoracle7773]

You are a true Karate instructor. Keep up the good work.

[@glauciogonzales]

I learned an age / jodan uke at Heian Shodan in my small town, when I arrived in the capital almost every sensei said he was wrong. Then I was confused, I am very grateful for people like you to demonstrate that deep down everyone who seeks karate follows the same spirit.

[@nickamp3390]

I love karate. Been doing karate for 15 years now since I was 5. I just love it