What Do Shotokan Karate, Gojo Ryu, Judo, Aikido, Tai Chi and Western Boxing All Have in Common?

It's pretty simple when you think about it.

All of them are in search of a correct balance between relaxation and tension in the muscles during movement.

At the two ends of the spectrum are Tai Chi Chuan (closely followed by Aikido) and Gojo Ryu Karate.

Tai Chi and Aikido start with exercises designed to promote complete relaxation during the execution of martial techniques.

The first and fundamental kata of Goju Ryu, Sanchin, is performed with almost complete tension in all the muscles during the blocks and thrusts of the kata.

Now, for any movement at all to take place, there has to be SOME balance of tension and relation; complete rigor is found primarily in dead bodies, and seldom in live ones. Complete relaxation is found in bodies prepared with curare for surgery, and there's not much muscle tension in such bodies AT ALL, and they don't move around very well, either!

But the ability to execute an effective punch, kick, or throw is dependent on finding the proper balance. Too much tension, and the punch is wooden and slow. Inadequate rigor at the moment of impact, and the force doesn't penetrate the target.

As you study further in Tai Chi, you run into the Fast Set, which looks a lot more like an ordinary karate kata. As you progress in Goju Ryu Karate, you run into a syllabus of kata that are somewhat like those in Shotokan Karate.

In boxing, there are no kata, because they aren't needed; there are very few techniques in boxing, so no "memory device/databases" are needed there. But the same issue shows up: if a boxer is stiff, his jabs and hooks and straight punches are slow and ineffective. If a boxer can't stiffen his jab at the end of that punch, it accomplishes little.

Figuring out how to balance relaxation and tension is universal in martial arts; upon occasion, Sensei Kano would contest, and one of his opponents was remembered saying that playing judo with Kano was like fighting with an empty gi. But when Sensei Kano was ready to throw you, you felt it.

While Tai Chi is at one end of the spectrum, and Gojo Ryu Karate is at the other, all of the disciplines in martial arts share the same koan: how do you learn and teach the proper balance of stiffness and relaxation?

The answer, of course, is simple.

Very carefully, Grasshopper!

What I've been learning in my studies with Sensei Koyama is exactly the above. He is aware that he is able to transmit energy with blinding speed for one reason; he's utterly relaxed until he isn't.

And in another twenty years or so, I expect to be able to do some of the things that Sensei Koyama can do now, with a complete absence of effort.

Yeah, you're right. Another thirty years.

Okay, okay. Fifty.