The Relationship Between Kata Geiko and Seishin Tanren

What is seishin tanren?

How is kata geiko related to seishin tanren?

Seishin tanren means “to forge the spirit,” meaning that martial artists must have a focused mind and be calm under pressure. This comes from samurai training.

Traditional Japanese martial arts, as opposed to some martial sports, are concerned with living and dying, in that the samurai had to face the reality of death more than most people. In this respect, martial arts that evolved from samurai practices are similar to religion, which also deals with death.

Kata means “form,” as in the formal practice of prearranged techniques. It is universally used in traditional Japanese martial arts as a key method of training the mind and body.

To carry out kata geiko techniques in real combat, seishin tanren is needed. Without this capacity for calmness under pressure, no martial arts technique will work. The martial artist will freeze.

Read more about kata geiko and seishin tanren!

Join an authentic Japanese martial arts organization

The Shudokan Martial Arts Association promotes training based around the two central pillars of classical Japanese martial arts: kata geiko and seishin tanren. The use of handed-down kata helps our members, regardless of division, to forge their spirits to face the stress of combat and the uncertainties of life. In this way, folks in the SMAA learn to protect themselves, and live well, while they develop the spiritual strength needed to make a positive contribution to their communities and the world as a whole.

Contact us today to join a martial arts organization with high-ranking members around the world!

What is Kata Geiko?

What is kata geiko?

How is it used in martial arts training?

Kata means “form,” as in the formal practice of prearranged techniques. It is universally used in traditional Japanese martial arts as a key method of training the mind and body. Many martial arts enthusiasts have heard the term kata used in karate-do, where kata are often a series of predetermined solo techniques directed toward imagined opponents.

In some martial arts systems, students start by practicing handed down sequences of paired techniques, which are designed to internalize a principle (or principles). Once these principles are absorbed, advanced practitioners create personal variations, such as applying a throw or immobilization against a different attack than is found in the classical kata.

Kata-based practice is a time-honored, intelligent, and progressive way of building up skill in a martial art. The kata are taught in a specific sequence, allowing students to gradually and scientifically develop their abilities in a way that’s easily understood.

Learn more about kata geiko’s purpose!

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Interested in Japanese martial arts?

The Shudokan Martial Arts Association is open to all budo enthusiasts, martial artists or not!

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Movement in Budo

Wonder how martial artists move so quickly?

With such force?

Learning a Japanese martial art requires adherence to correct technique and an understanding of the correct technique requires attention to closely related things like posture, kinesiology and balance. Efficient body movement requires a degree of mastery of all of these.

Relaxation

Martial artists, like those engaged in most other physical activities, must learn to relax. Tension is your enemy. After developing the ability to do some basic techniques in a relaxed fashion, the techniques must be practiced thousands of times to imprint the movements into the body and the brain. But the practitioner must always be relaxed.

If you want to throw a good front punch, you must relax your upper body including the muscles in your face. If you remain tense, effective punching is nigh impossible. Your “punch,” if you can throw it at all, will inevitably be slow and weak.

Physics

Kinetic energy, or “moving energy,” in this case the energy you deliver to whatever you are punching, is directly proportional to the mass you can generate by the use of your body mass and directly proportional to the square of the velocity (speed) with which your hand strikes its target. Said in a slightly different way, the mass delivered is how much of your entire body mass you can recruit into your punch and deliver to your target. If you double the mass you deliver, you double the kinetic energy delivered to the target. In other words, if you increase the mass you deliver from one unit to two units, you increase the amount of kinetic energy delivered by a punch from one unit to two units. You double the kinetic energy delivered.

To learn more about the science behind budo, read here!

Advance your rank with SMAA: Martial arts certification

Want to put your skills to the test?

Receive rank certification as a full member of the Shudokan Martial Arts Association!  Test under an SMAA teacher or send us a video of your budo performance along with a membership application. SMAA offers separate divisions for karate, aikido, judo, traditional jujutsu, and iaido.

Rank today! Call us today at 734-720-0330 or contact us to learn more about martial arts certification.

Budo and the Body

 Did you know knowledge of anatomy, physiology, relaxation, and physics is essential for martial arts training?

Want to learn how martial artists stay safe?

Studying the Japanese martial arts is a physical and mental endeavor. We sometimes get so wrapped up in training in the dojo that we ignore basics such as anatomy, physiology, relaxation, and physics, each of which is essential to the development of high-level skills.

Anatomy

Learning the basic karate-do horizontal front punch illustrates the need for understanding at least a little anatomy. The knuckles of the index and middle fingers of the fisted hand, the part of the hand that transmits energy to the target, must move just a tiny bit to the outside just before impact with the target. This allows the alignment of these two knuckles and the metacarpals behind them with the radius and ulna in the forearm, thus enabling the delivery of the kinetic energy generated by your body mass and the punch’s velocity to the target. If these bones are not properly aligned, the punch will deliver less energy and be less effective. You will also be at increased risk of injuring your hand.

Correct Form

Physiology

Physiology is also important. Your muscles must have energy to function. If your muscles and liver are, due to fatigue, depleted of glycogen, a precursor of glucose that is the basic fuel of skeletal muscle and most other tissues, you simply cannot deliver an effective blow. You have heard of marathoners and triathletes who “hit the wall.” They “hit the wall” because their muscle and liver stores of glycogen were too low to sustain prolonged exercise. They may quit, or often they struggle to finish, sometimes collapsing either physically, mentally, or both during the struggle. Nausea, cramps, and mental disorientation can result. The same thing can happen to martial artists who do not understand the need to fuel their muscles. While martial artists are not generally thought of as endurance athletes, even moderate glycogen depletion with the resultant reduction in blood glucose levels can reduce mental acuity, reduce reaction time, reduce coordination, and decrease strength.

To see how relaxation and physics play a role in budo, visit our website!

Advance your rank with SMAA: Martial arts certification

Want to put your skills to the test?

Receive rank certification as a full member of the Shudokan Martial Arts Association!  Test under an SMAA teacher or send us a video of your budo performance along with a membership application. SMAA offers separate divisions for karate, aikido, judo, traditional jujutsu, and iaido.

Rank today! Call us today at 734-720-0330 or contact us to learn more about martial arts certification.

How to Find Time for Budo

Do you feel like you’re working all the time?

Are you making room in your schedule for martial arts?

Many martial artists struggle to find time to train. However, it’s important to keep your family and work duties in line first.

No income, no budo

Without a stable job and income, you really will have a hard time paying to train. You need to pay dues, room rent, buy new training gear when the old ones wear out, be able to pay for travel expenses to attend seminars and workshops, and pay for medical bills if you fall the wrong way or get hit in the head by a wayward stick. So you have to do your best at your job and secure a decent wage for a decent days’ work.

If you have enough extra time between your family and job responsibilities, you can enjoy budo as a pastime. With a supportive family and good job, doing budo is a plus, a way to keep yourself mentally and physically healthy, a way to engage in an activity that you enjoy with others who enjoy it with you, a way to develop bonds and friendships outside of family and work.

Read more about budo and family responsibilities.

Join an international martial arts association

Are you having trouble integrating your love for budo into your schedule?

Join a community of international martial artists who feel the same as you. SMAA offers separate divisions for karate, aikido, judo, traditional jujutsu, and iaido. As an associate member, you’ll receive a quarterly journal full of martial arts news and articles that may satisfy your budo desires.

Apply today! Call us today at 734-720-0330 or contact us to learn more about our international martial arts association.

Why Family Time is More Important than Training

 Are you a martial artist?

Are you struggling to find balance between family and budo?

Finding the time to train is a problem many martial artists have felt and will continue to feel. Even the samurai had to become bureaucrats, administrators, teachers and lawmakers, and they too struggled with balancing work, family and budo training.

Family responsibilities

If you can’t commit a reasonable amount of time to your training, then perhaps your life is full as it can be already, and you may have to forego it, at least for the time being. There is a hierarchy of values, and never let your love of martial arts eclipse the other responsibilities you have, or in the end you will be left with nothing. You have to put in adequate time for family, first, because without the support of your family, your life is meaningless. Whether family is just a spouse or significant partner, or ten kids, a wife and three ex-spouses who receive alimony, you have to shoulder the responsibility you took on, and spend the time and effort with family, and extended family, to make sure the family endures, and you as an individual in that family contributes your fair share. That is what being an adult is about. You no longer take everything. Now you have to give.

Read the full article here.

Join an international martial arts association

Are you having trouble integrating your love for budo into your schedule?

Join a community of international martial artists who feel the same as you. SMAA offers separate divisions for karate, aikido, judo, traditional jujutsu, and iaido. As an associate member, you’ll receive a quarterly journal full of martial arts news and articles that may satisfy your budo desires.

Apply today! Call us today at 734-720-0330 or contact us to learn more about our international martial arts association.

Ease Tournament Anxiety with Positivity

 Do you get nervous before tournaments?

Want to overcome those nerves?

Prepare with positivity! Positive thinking can increase your confidence and improve your performance.

PREPARING FOR DEMONSTRATIONS OR TOURNAMENTS

Adrenaline is one of the biggest obstacles to success in demonstrations, tournaments, or tests. Overcome by nerves, many of us begin to focus more on what not to do than on what we should do. Once the mind starts repeating "don't screw up, don't screw up," the most prominent mental image we end up with is one of screwing up. 

A better approach is to mentally rehearse the performance, visualizing ourselves executing each technique correctly, and imagining the satisfied feeling we will have once the routine is completed. Having mentally rehearsed our performance successfully many times before actually stepping onto the mat, we are much more likely to do well.

Another tip is to watch others. "Kengaku" means "visual study" in Japanese. It has two aspects: (1) to spot mistakes made by others in order to avoid them; and (2) to spot the areas where others excel, and to try to emulate them. The second aspect has unlimited potential to make us better!

See other ways positivity can help you in martial arts!

To read more martial arts related content, visit our website! SMAA Library (smaa-hq.com)

Grow with the Shudokan Martial Arts Association

You may become a better student, teacher, and performer with support from the SMAA. You’ll gain insight from our prestigious members in multiple countries and can earn reputable certificates of rank. We can answer your questions with credible historic Japanese martial arts knowledge and experience.

Call us today at 734-720-0330 or contact us via our website to join a positive martial arts association.