Koushinkan

04/26/2026

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I'm not a historian. I find however that understanding history is essential to understanding a whole host of other things. In my academic training history was considered a key part of the background needed to understand current social and cultural circumstances. Without this background it is very easy to make simple mistakes, or to fall victim to overly simplified or just plain false but popular narratives about all sorts of things....

I’m not a historian. I find however that understanding history is essential to understanding a whole host of other things. In my academic training history was considered a key part of the bac…

04/11/2026

Travels, Distance, and Connection

In April a few of my students and I had a fantastic trip to Okinawa and Japan. It is always tempting to find (create) a theme for a trip like this, especially when it went so well. I am not sure it really all fits, but, probably to no one’s surprise, the one that came up for me was friendship and connection....

In April a few of my students and I had a fantastic trip to Okinawa and Japan. It is always tempting to find (create) a theme for a trip like this, especially when it went so well. I am not sure it…

03/31/2026

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11/09/2025

What a teacher might not tell you is this:

The amount of solo training you put in (or don't) is often directly tied to how much class time is typically allocated to partner work.

A teacher can show you the method. They can correct your hands, your stance, your timing. They can guide your partner work. They can create a structured path. They can encourage you. They can explain why things are done the way they are. But they cannot move your body for you when you are alone.

Solo training is where your nervous system learns the language. It is where coordination settles in. It is where your joints, tendons, and breath begin to understand each other. It is where your balance becomes less fragile. It is where the art stops being something you do only when you are in front of someone and becomes something that lives in your body.

If you do your homework, you start to show up differently.

You begin to move with consistency. Your body knows the posture before you think it. You no longer have to waste mental energy on remembering the sequence of a form, or how to hold your center, or how to align your spine. You arrive with the basics installed, so your teacher can guide you deeper, instead of just trying to pull you back to neutral.

And when that happens, partner training is safer. Cleaner. More meaningful. Your movements are stable enough to make contact without collision. You can work closer. You can feel. You can adjust. You can learn at a higher level, because the foundation is real, not imagined.

This is the quiet truth of martial practice:

The hours you train when no one is watching determine the quality of the hours when someone is.

The most transformative parts of the art are not hidden. They are simply unglamorous. Repetition. Posture. Footwork. Breath. Balance. Attention. Again. And again. And again.

A teacher can open the door. Only you can walk in.

And the more you walk in, the more the art walks with you.

09/06/2025

I’ve written a couple of posts, here and here among others, about what I think actual research into the Japanese and Chinese martial arts entails. Things like cultural, linguistic, historical, and contextual background are not “added flavor”, or a nice bonus, but I believe absolutely necessary to do anything that can realistically be called “research”, as opposed to opinion, narrative, training methodology, or possibly ethnography....

I’ve written a couple of posts, here and here among others, about what I think actual research into the Japanese and Chinese martial arts entails. Things like cultural, linguistic, historical, and …

07/02/2025

A while back I wrote a little about what I see as a common misinterpretation of one of the Kempo Hakku in the Bubishi. The more esoteric, for want of a better term, common translation seems to me to be both a translation made without proper context and, when that context is returned, far less obtuse than it appears. I situated this critique within the context of common Fujianese martial vocabulary, in particular the White Crane systems this quanpu, the Bubishi, is said to be based on....

A while back I wrote a little about what I see as a common misinterpretation of one of the Kempo Hakku in the Bubishi. The more esoteric, for want of a better term, common translation seems to me t…

06/07/2025

Per Hjerppe, a friend, student, and long time dojo member, has sadly passed away. For those of your who remember him you understand what a loss this is. For those of you who don't, I wrote a short piece inspired by him a while back and have linked to it below. As Mike so clearly summarized, his Swedish Chuck Norris self has become a staple of our dojo lore. We forget sometimes who our teachers are and I hope I can continue to take the lessons Per taught me into my practice and my life through the years ahead.

My thoughts to go his family and friends at this dificult time and I wish them peace in their loss and joy in their memories.

A long-time student and friend is leaving the dojo this month. We’ve been training together for about 12 years and he and his wife are moving back to Sweden. He has been consistent, he trains…

03/22/2025

A few years back I made the acquaintance of Hayasaka Yoshifumi sensei. I was interested in meeting him because he was a close student of Matayoshi sensei’s in the 1970s and 80s, and had spent a lot of private time with him working on kobudo and elements of the family karate system (Kingai Ryu) and the Go Kenki crane system. Just before the pandemic I arranged to visit his dojo in Ibaraki prefecture and had a very nice couple of days doing karate and kobudo....

A few years back I made the acquaintance of Hayasaka Yoshifumi sensei. I was interested in meeting him because he was a close student of Matayoshi sensei’s in the 1970s and 80s, and had spent a lot…

03/09/2025

Not much really, or perhaps a lot? I don’t know, but a change here in the dojo is making me think about it. When Kimo sensei was here during what turned out to be his last visit, we got to talking about his legacy. It had come up before, but it seems timely in retrospect. He took care to tell me that he thought that his Kodokan would cease when he did....

Not much really, or perhaps a lot? I don’t know, but a change here in the dojo is making me think about it. When Kimo sensei was here during what turned out to be his last visit, we got to talking …

02/04/2025

I'm very happy to say congratulations to Zak Norman on his testing and promotion last night. I have never been particularly consistent about grading but I am trying to be better about it! With covid, changes in work, and new additions to the family it was a long road but again this was more a test for me and how I have been teaching, and an opportunity to focus on people's progress and current ability in comparison to where they were a few years ago. Anyway, Zak's test was was both enlightening and really encouraging. Good clean kata, strong understanding of the material, good mechanics. Of course I wouldn't be me if I didn't note that there is always more to be working on, but that is true for all of us. In short, I am proud of his continuing growth in skill and understanding and this promotion is long deserved.

Zachariah Norman, Shodan, Okinawa Kobudo

Omedetougozaimasu! Congratulations! Thank you for your continuing efforts in our practice, and for being an excellent training partner. I'm looking forward to training together this week, this year, and into the future. I'm also looking forward to the next time I take a good close look at our training and the improvement I know I will see.