San Dan Gi: Basic to Advanced

[@williamyoung2517]

I have watched this three times,, learned something each time. In many ways this is one of your best videos. Che sensei showed some very important concepts that are not always understood by karateka, no matter the belt level. Moving Uke off the center line, not trying to look like a picture in a book but adding life to your movements, understanding that the other person is can be moving with speed and purpose and you need to do likewise. The concept of spacing has of course been drilled into me from many Aikido sessions. But again is very important, key to winning based on your size and the technique you are using. don't be linear, move in every way possible! Zoe sensei you on screen comments were some of the best ever. Provides a good feel to the video. Brain should see if he can be a stunt double. Lastly, Che Sensei, yes this was a basics vireo but your experience made much more than that. I like to think of it a s a secrets of Karate video. Well done to all three of you.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Ah, thank you so much for this truly lovely comment, Sir Young! Taisa baki in Aikido also greatly assisted me in learning how to simply get out of the way with a minimum of effort and maximum speed - combined with the different benefits of the different karate stances, they dovetail so nicely together. I think one of my favourite phrases (and I can't remember where I heard it first) was that 'there are no secrets in karate' - the only answer is to train more. Train diligently and with curiosity and joy! I'm listening to Ché take the Saturday morning class while I type this, and his delight in working with new kids can be heard across the garden (and probably next door, his voice carries like a foghorn lol) - karate without joy is a chore, and that's never been the goal. Even Suparinpei, the last kata (the final boss kata lol) it starts with a super basic sanchin/chudan punch. At the end of the day, there are only so many ways to hit someone that actually work.

[@williamyoung2517]

Hello! As i have said before you must study the basics. Thats why I like Zoe senseis basic videos. It is my belief that under stress most of us will devolve to the use of basics in a self defense situation.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

It's like that saying - we don't rise to the level of our expectations: we fall to the level of our training. I do have more videos planned for this year - stay tuned! Always good to hear from you :)

[@mattt1974UK]

There's a lot of value in this video. Thanks for making it.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Ah, thank you so much for the kind words, Matt! We hope to make San Dan Gi more effective as a training exercise, and to make sure it doesn't get ignored as part of the syllabus 🙏

[@koshinryukempo3570]

Avé👐! Yet more stirling stuff from GRKC! So good to watch the sheer exuberant JOY Ché Sensei brings to training; too easy to forget that playfulness and enjoyment are key to learning, and avoiding injury and burn-out. I've always thought sandangi and it's variations train peripheral vision eye/hand coordination and reaction time; that it serves as entry level sensitivity training as a precursor to kakie; and, as force will 'search and destroy' the weakest links, that it is the perfect way to expose vulnerabilities in structure and root (the ground-path), a pressure test feedback loop if you will. Mark Hatmaker did a meta-analysis of KO statistics. Across all combat sports with striking, by far the largest percentage of knock-outs result from 3 strike combinations. Interesting, too, that clustering waza in sets of 3 when applying kaisai no genri to the Goju kaishu kata yields consistently valid bunkai. Despite the romantic Shaolin/Buddhist origin mythology, 'Do' (as in karate DO) is the Japanese phonetic for 'Dao/Tao' ala Daoism/Taoism (Wudang). In Daoism 3 represents Heaven (circle), Earth (square) and Humans (TRIangle), and the primary pictographs on which the I Ching hexagrams are based are TRIgram combinations of yin/yang lines... yin/yang, in/yo, soft/hard, go/ju... all binary complementarities, a quintessentially Daoist concept (perhaps a clue to a deeper meaning behind Miyagi's advice: "To understand goju, you need to say it backwards" i.e jugo....and to the common origins with goju's naha sibling uechiryu/pangai noon (half soft/half hard school). And, of course, two invariably implies three, the 3rd being the relational dynamic between the two. Wuji, liang yi, taiji... and from the 2 emerge 'the 10,000 things'. Richard Kim suggests both Higaonna and Miyagi Senseis had more than a passing exposure to Bagua Zhang (a Daoist system). Interesting, too, that Miyagi Sensei's personal crest is a representation of the yin/yang fish symbol, and that he took the name GoJu from the Bubishi's "Ho goju donto"... 'the cosmos is breathing hard and soft'... another axiomatic of Daoist metaphysics. Anyway, thanks Ché and Zoē Senseis (and Keanu deshi)for another inspiring and thought provoking contribution to the karate COMMONwealth... power to GRKC!

[@TRowland223]

This was a really interesting metaphysical link discussion that I did not expect to find here! As I get older, I love to explore more of the links between early martial arts and the philosophies that influenced them. Thanks for sharing!

[@koshinryukempo3570]

Thanks, TRowland223.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

We have a wonderful community of serious karate seniors in our comments, a gem on the internet! If you scroll through the comments on all our videos, there are some delightful treasure troves of knowledge freely given by our commentators, some of which have been training upwards of 50 years. We are truly lucky to have karate scholars following our little channel :)

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

One of my favourite sayings is "Be soft, but be ready", which is a more PG version of the phrase "do no harm, but take no crap". Being soft first (in movement and deflection) and hard on impact makes much more sense than hard to soft! I didn't know Miyagi sensei had said that, but truly that (and the rest of your amazing comment here!) is worth the hours of editing this video. And wow, now I'm going to go find Miyagi's family crest as well. We will definitely be calling him Keanu Deshi from now on! Sensei, this whole comment is a delight, and one we will treasure. I have read it several times and I feel nothing I can type can match the value and depth here, but I can at least offer my sincerest and warmest thanks for the time you invest in our little channel. Power to Koshin Ryu!

[@markostojanovic6973]

great info in this video! im not sure many have noticed, imho, the most important thing that was mentioned: why crossing hands when blocking! the idea of san dan gi and similar exercises is not strange to me, maybe thats why i find the crossing of hands more important and it was so nicely demonstrated.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

You are an astute viewer! Yes, the cross over is so important, and it's why we try to get the kids to touch their elbow on the outside, otherwise they just do windscreen wiper arms 🤣🤣🤣

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thank you for this really lovely comment, Marko!

[@arnerosenstock546]

What Enfield Sensei refers to as covering/protecting the center. Was the first basic I learned when stepping into the Goju-ryu path. Makes the crosstraining from Shuri-te based waza complicated. I have beginnings in systems derived from that line. I trained Shito-ryu for a time, in the dojo where I train kobudo, and it would drive Sensei nuts. Finally I said, with respect, across the years I've trained in Shobayashi-ryu, ChungDoKwan, JiDoKwan, Goju-ryu[Shobukan], and now this. I punch the way I punch, and block the way I block, I can show you video of 'skatyeight'different versions of Pinan Godan , and I'm going on 80. In this decade, my karate is my karate. We had a good laugh.

[@langz020]

The "off-brand Keanu Reeves" made my day :"D Glad to have you back Brian!

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

We should rent him out for parties 🤣

[@Suzannesaccani]

Thank you for your videos, really enjoying them.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thank you so much for your lovely comment, X! We are so grateful you take the time to watch our videos; we know there are many channels competing for your attention, and we're glad you chose to watch ours.

[@RabbiMichaelR]

Thanks so much for your videos and I've learned a lot from them!

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Ah, you are so welcome, Michael! Thank you for this lovely comment, and for taking the time to watch our videos. We know there are lots of karate channels out there, we're glad you spend time watching ours.

[@misheckmpiwachiwayo9765]

Thank you Sensei. It is a high level presentation for me. Thank you very much for the lesson.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

You are always so welcome, Sensei Misheck!

[@barbarba7]

5hank you to Sensei and Deshi... Good watch specially for 7s to be motivated to get back to the Dojo. Thank you Sensei Zoë. Brilliant work as always. Love always

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

We're looking forward to seeing you back in the dojo soon soon, Barbs!

[@user-fm7jq3zl4u]

Thank you for referencing Chinen sensei! He obviously effected you. As he did me!

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Every day, we try to do justice to his amazing teachings - he was so ahead of his time, and we hope that, wherever he is now, he looks upon our work and smiles :)

[@dunningkruger4863]

I realy appreciate these videos. As I live in canada I no longer have freedom of association with out showing proof of compliance

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

It's sad to hear how political karate is in other countries (and it is here too, especially the whole dissident bodies thing) - we should just be able to enjoy karate with like-minded people! So glad you appreciate the videos - it's worth all the hours we put into them :)

[@humphrehnkya9370]

Thank you teachers

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

You are so welcome!

[@matthews1082]

This is certainly a very very good video on San Dan Gi, and Sensei Che has covered almost every important aspect of this exercise, carefully progressing from beginner level San Dan Gi to quite an advanced level. Personally I think, if done properly Sandangi is very important to training in Randori/Kumite, BUT it entirely depends on the speed/power/flow of what's being called Sandangi. Unfortunately, the large majority of dojos (and their instructors) never pushed their students and the Sandangi system to it's maximum - hence they don't see how it's valuable. My advice is this: try doing this at Nearly the elbow-Strike distance, try having the opponent punch at maximum speed and power while stepping forward, THRICE, doing Jodan Nidan and Chudan (or add a groin kick into the mix) and gosh, it's so dangerous that it's fun - that's to say, if you have intercepted every one of 3 or 6 continuous punches, and not even gotten hit once, or have no difficulty in blocking or moving out of the way (at supposedly full speed and power at close range), then either your opponent's been soft on you, or you outclassed your opponent by at least 1 or 2, Dan, Lol. Anyway, SDG should be an incremental routine, meaning you up the ante as you progress in Karate - faster, closer, harder - The attacker side should try to step forward and punch with progressively more and more speed, while trying to introduce Shuriashi into the stepping to gain that extra inch, and he should apply full Kime into the punch. Like Sensei Che pointed out, the attacker should not worry about distancing, in fact he should close in as much as he can while maintaining a stable structure because it's the defender's job to move back, out of the way and stop at the right distance (ie, keep close enough to block and counter)..... Although again, this is subject to different interpretations of what is close enough. Like Sensei Che I found out years ago, that a strong effective block hinders and slows down the next attack, either by deflecting the attacker or distorting his posture (or simply cutting into his limb so hard he's stunned for a split second)..... yeah, maintaining a state of Kime so that your body is ready to take a punch (just in case a punch gets through) is also important, and blocking above the attacker's elbow is a must, and using one's own returning arm to parry the next punch is very orthodox and very effective. The defender should also consider applying some muchimi at the end of one's block - you see, most people will relax their arms after the punch has been delivered and blocked (getting ready to retract the arm so the other arm can punch), that's the split second moment (when doing SDG at max speed) when muchimi really pays off, I know a Senpai from decades ago who could make your SDG into Ichi-Dan-Gi because he blocks stuck and smothered (as his opponents tried to pull back their punching arm) so well the second punch couldn't be executed fluidly. Then of course, as Sensei Che mentioned, there are variations whereby the defender counter attacks in between the blocks, but if we leave that option as fluid, the defender must create his opening, and the attacker must try to not give that opening by virtue of the force and speed of the three attacks. Of course, while the defender has a whole bag of tricks to apply, the reverse is true - there's punching with Kime with the intent to cause the blocker's arm to bounce off, and truly drive the punch into the defender's body, there's Shuriashi to wrong-time the defender, etc. So at the end of the day it's a challenge between two practitioners, the object of one side, at the advanced level is to use all you know to attack and hit the other side (having already made known to the other side what you are about to do) and the object of the defender is to defend against a series of premeditated real attacks using everything one knows for defence.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

A diamond is a bit of coal that was under a lot of pressure - SDG is the great pressure testing of Goju Ryu, a crucible with simple rules and the power to forge karate students into stronger versions of themselves. Unfortunately, like you say it is so often taught/practiced at a superficial level that the true benefits don't come to the fore and it ends up just being a strictly formal exercise that the MMA bros laugh at. As always, thank you for this incredible mini-essay, for the time you take to s painstakingly watch and comment when there must surely be many, many demands on your time. Every hour I spend editing is richly rewarded by comments like this!

[@PhuTran-tt6st]

Thanks so much Sensei

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

You are most welcome! Thank you so much for watching and commenting 🙇🏻‍♀️

[@kelsenmdq6563]

EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️💖

[@pkoku3388]

Excelente Sensai me acordé de mis tiempos de adolecente cuando práctique karate y me encantaba los kumites

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

¡Puede ser una parte tan emocionante del viaje de karate! Esperamos que haya continuado su entrenamiento diligente. ¡Gracias por comentar y ver!

[@michaelspyrou1784]

perfect. fully agree.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Too kind, too kind! Thank you 🙇

[@Yeino]

You're absolutely right. And they also still exist and are teached in Meibukan Goju-ryu from Yagi family. Those are also trained through Uke and Yakusoku Kumite. True Goju-ryu schools cannot be changed, otherwise it's not Goju-ryu school anymore.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

It is our great honour to hear from a member of the venerable Meibukan dojo! There are some things that are so essentially Goju Ryu that to let them disappear is to fundamentally change, and cheapen, the art. Hojo undo, san dan gi, randori, bunkai, Sanchin and Tensho - all of this and more make up our beautiful art!

[@Yeino]

@@GojuRyuKarateCentre Yes. We still practice Kakie, Kote Kitae, Sanbon tsuki, Sanbon mae geri. Our Hojo Undo exercices are almost the same as in IOGKF : Nigiri game, Chiishi, Ishi sachi, Tetsu geta, Tetsuarei, Tekkan, Uki kago, Tan, Sonabako, Chikara ishi, Sachi ishi, Kongoken, Tou, Jari bako, Tan, Tetsuwa, Makiagi Kigu and Makiwara. To be honest, I dont keep few of those at home, and let those in the dojo. My wife would get mad with all this stuff making so much noise (I usually train Nigiri game with straight nozzle, so falls can occur). Next step is straight nozzle with oil... Those Hojo Undo exercices pair well with the basics, but younger people have their bone structure unfinished and still growing, so they're not using all of them before 16 years old by now. How are you training actually ?

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

That is such a comprehensive list of hojo undo implements and supplementary training exercises - a sign of a true Goju dojo! We are strict with what our teenagers use - no makiwara, for example. We don't want them to make mistakes and break their hands, and then permanently affect their growth plates. They do some chishi, definitely! We have very baby chishi (500g) for the children to use, and to get the hang of it. Our seniors love the kongokens, our heaviest one weighs about 30kg. Plus lots of kettlebells for ishi-sashi type training. (We have done two or three videos on hojo undo!) We also have steel pipe nigirigame, which are challenging in terms of width but not very pretty to look at. In my personal training (as Zoe the editor) I am spending a lot of time with my chishi (4kg) and trying to be better at makiwara. Thank you for the time you took to reply! Good luck with the nigirigame - it is our dream to bring some back home from Okinawa on one of our trips!

[@Yeino]

​@@GojuRyuKarateCentre I'm glad to hear that you train hard ! We don't have any light Chiishi like yours (2kg is our minimum), but it could be interesting to own few ones below, like 1kg or even 500g if we would like to initiate it with young teenagers. I take note of that and i'm going to look for that ! Concerning our seniors, we actually have a retired mason (74 years old) who can lift our loudest Kongoken (40kg) like it weighs nothing. He really is impressive. I have to admit i've not watched all of your videos yet, but i promise i will ! For my personal training at home, i left my Chiishi at the dojo, because i already own a mass hammer of 5kg for me working on my house. The handle is longer than traditional Chiishi, so i have to grab it shorter, but it does the job. It's also hard to balance because its shape is not circular, but i'm already used to it. I think it can be a good solution for an already trained practitioner that would just begin Karate and which wouldn't want to invest in something that could be too expensive for the very beginning. I make great use of old cat trees for the traditional Nigiri game replacement at home. They are also challenging in term of width, and don't have any nozzle, so it's entirely with the fingers strength (the thumbs had hurt a lot in the beginning). The interesting part for me was that it makes a lot less noise when falling on the ground ! It helps a lot when training in the evening and trying to awake nobody !! I've built my own Makiwara, after having learnt how to make a proper one during an internship at Kyudokan Shorin-ryu dojo in Naha, Okinawa. I've started my Karate life through Wado-ryu, so it looked an evidence to travel until its roots. I discovered Goju-ryu only several years after this. Well, i must say it's nearly the same as a purchased one, but i have the satisfaction of having made it with my own hands. Seeing the work done is really exhilarating and stimulating ! And i now combine Shorin-ryu and Goju-ryu for my Makiwara practice. I must admit that the main thing that i always bring back from Okinawa is several bottles of Awamori. Once, i've brought back Okinawaian Nunchaku (with laces instead of a chain), but i've bought almost all of my equipment on the web. Shame on me !!! I really appreciate being able to discuss with you about those little things. That's not an ordinary thing around me in my every day life, even at the dojo, so it's a great pleasure !!! Thank you for your time too. Your videos are well made and your channel gets cool content. I stay tuned ;)

[@lichsutimhieu4650]

sir, let's talk about traditional junbi undo exercises and its benefits

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

A wonderful idea! We will put it on our filming schedule 🙇

[@BLenz-114]

Are you at all familiar with "Kiso Kumite"? It's a kind of 2 step prearranged two-man exercise that we do but it seems like no one else does it. I'm in the Jinbukan Goju-Ryu, founded by Katsuyoshi Kanei. In each Kiso Kumite, the attacker throws 2 jodan level punches, stepping each time, and then the defender retaliates; then they reset and reverse direction, (ie the defender becomes the attacker). Then, the sequence repeats with chudan level strikes, and then again with gedan level strikes. THEN, the jodan, chudan, gedan sequence is done a second time, but with different retaliations. So a sequence of 6 patterns each done both directions. There are at least 5 of these sets, Kiso Kumite Ichi thru Go, each one with more advanced stances and retaliations. KK3 and above are primarily takedown retaliations. Anyway, I'm just always surprised that they aren't more widely known/practiced. It sounds like San Dan Gi (which I have never heard of before) is your version of that kind of exercise.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Hello! Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to write such an interesting and thoughtful response! Kiso kumite does sound a lot like San Dan gi - good concepts tend to be universal, discovered simultaneously by smart people apart from each other. It may be that both our founders of our different schools saw great value in these paired exercises, and taught them under different names. Same concept, great value! Thank you so much for watching and commenting, we really appreciate it 🙇🏻‍♀️

[@ChanduIrrinki]

Wonderful

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thank you so much! 🙇🏻‍♀️

[@terrysanders2817]

Hi Che, Always learn things from your videos. Today it was Davis' Law: "Davis's law is used in anatomy and physiology to describe how soft tissue models along imposed demands. It is the corollary to Wolff's law, which applies to osseous tissue. It is a physiological principle stating that soft tissue heal according to the manner in which they are mechanically stressed.] From Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%27s_law . Terry.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Not sure why YT only showed this comment now, but this is one of my favourite medical principles to reassure students that karate can make us stronger without long-term pain or damage, when done right.

[@arnerosenstock546]

The number 18 in Hebrew is the word 'Chai' which means 'life'. There's a thought for ya!!

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

And a beautiful symbol it is! And, incidentally, Zoë is the Greek for life as well! Thank you for dropping in from FB, and welcome to our online membership gang, Sir Rosenstock 🙏

[@arnerosenstock546]

@@GojuRyuKarateCentre Membership? It seemed like the logical thing to do at the time. BTW>>Can't think of a lovelier name for a child.

[@reginaldwelkin]

When you're doing paired training, are you aiming at your partner and them blocking or aiming slightly off to prevent injury? I bet your shoulder really feel that after awhile! Definitely redirecting your opponent's body is way better than the square movements you normally see. A quick step forward and you're on their dead side or back.

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Great question! When training, always aim exactly for your target, which forces your partner to block properly, otherwise bad habits develop. Brian does aim slightly off-target, but you'll see Ché always goes for the target and forces Brian to block correctly. San dan gi is killer on the shoulders! And after an hour of doing it, my forearms feel like mincemeat (but what a great feeling to train so hard!)

[@joseluistovar8676]

Excelent

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Arigato gozaimasu!

[@oldschoolkarate-5o]

nice drill 💪🏽🥸👍🏽

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Thank you so much!

[@Burvedys]

Nah. It was like this more than 100 years ago in Okinawa (as being in third generation of Goju-ryu, Che should know the story drinking whiskey with Ei'ichi): - Have you heard about kihon? - What's that? - It's a new trend from Japan. Makes 3K in one: kihon, kata, kumite. - Oh, we need it in our modern karate, too! - Well, let's make it up but call it like... sandan or whatever so it will sound like very ancient and original. - Why sandan? - Because sanchin, sanseru and so on. - All right then...

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Is it real Okinawan karate if it doesn't have a number in it? 🤔🤔🤔 Also, we hope you're feeling much better!

[@Burvedys]

@@GojuRyuKarateCentre : if we talk non-Arhat and all these Luohan-quan styles (like Shorin-ryu etc) but our crane Baihe-quan, it's about numbers usually (except Miyagi Chojun going poetic about gekisai, saifa, kururumfa and tensho while the latter was six hands or rokkishu so numbers, too). I think it's because when a system being developed for a street-use for a commoners (not monks and aristocrats), it's their environment of thugs and street market and petty traders there that made crane to develop in a way it did (and having 4 main styles that are called white but actually there is no white). These petty traders on street market or street corner used to use numbers because that's their trade to count money and goods etc. And while Uechi-ryu is still more close to that environment (think about Shushiwa being in a grey area between street thug and a snake oil dealer), in our Goju-ryu we still have same kata with same numbers in names from these times when a thug might come to racket such trader and he unexpectedly succumbs from unnoticed strike to a throat or "somehow slips and falls down" and that trader is gone in some side alley or missing in a market crowd. It's not about fancy fighting mano-y-mano with drunk or angry noblement in Shaolin style like on a king's palace floor so you must be practicing Shorin-ryu like Matsumura Sokon and his kin. It's a thung life of crane/Naha port/Goju and Uechi (ask Zoe about thug wives...). ;) P.S. and thank you for asking, as it seems I'm fine now but my GP wants to check me next week if his fancy machines and bloody blood tests show what I claim being fine also true, too. :)

[@thembiblose3319]

good

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Super!

[@jonasjpm1989]

👍👏👏

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

🙇🙇🙇

[@user-fm7jq3zl4u]

Are you on Facebook?

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Our dojo is, but you can also drop us a mail at dojo @ grkc1978.com :)

[@thembiblose3319]

how are you

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

All good, and you?

[@thembiblose3319]

hello

[@GojuRyuKarateCentre]

Hello, Senna!