Di Ichi

I have posted a video of Di Ichi from Latvia in the Asai Ryu Kata section of the blog. Kato Sensei taught me the first three Di kata nearly ten years ago. ( I believe there to be at least four in the series)

I have taught the first three, but I find the most useful to be the first one, Ichi. I regularly teach Di Ichi before Heian Shodan. Karateka are not assessed /graded on this kata but I feel it develops good form and especially with children, they get a sense of achievement in completing a kata.

As Shodan I recently brought Di Ichi back into my own personal training routine. I am trying to focus on my hips and stepping in a lower zenkutsu-dachi than normal (for me) and also trying to improve my gyaku zuki.

As with many Asai kata there are a few different versions of the katas name, "Di Ichi" ,Dia I Ken" of as the Sensei from Latvia writes it "Dai itsu Ken".

In some Asai kata you will also see a few subtle changes in the kata. Does this mean that the karateka has made a mistake? Probably not. Asai sensei would use kata to reinforce his teaching on the execution of a technique and would make alterations to the moves to assist students by emphasising a particular point.

My own view is that these kata were developed to improve kihon, so don't get too tied up on names or in the moves, but enjoy the kata and the development it brings, Osu!

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Sunday Training - 9th March 2008

This Sunday my theme of training was movement and turning, general rules of when to turn on the ball of the foot and when to turn on the heel. We also looked at examples of turning on a ball/heel combination.

We explored the need for use of the hips in movement and the transfer of weight to a position directly above the pivot point of the turns.

Most Karateka had few problems with 90 and 180 degree turns but 360 degree spins did cause problems for most, a little more work required I think?

We then went onto Kata the class divided into two groups side by side.

I taught the beginners Di-Ichi and the coloured belts Mawari-No-Kata, I believe the Di katas were devised by Asai Shihan and Mawari-No-Kata was devised as a training Kata by Koller Shihan, you can see the strong influences of Asai Shihan within the kata, in the turning and spinning movements.

I have always liked to teach Di-Ichi to beginners because it is straight forward with little to confuse them. I also like it because of the power that you can develop in stepping forward punching Gyaku-Zuki rather than Oi-Zuki, perhaps it is just my personal preference.

I found that by teaching the beginners one move one count and the coloured belts two punches to each count (except on turns) that the katas were the same length. Quite handy when you are teaching two kata at the same time to two groups. At least the first four moves of both Kata are the same.

I was trying to explain principles of movement rather than say this is how you do this move in this kata, I hope that it gave you all something to think about?

After the beginners had finished, I quickly ran through both Di-Ni and Di-San, two kata that I have not done for quite a while. Just a quick introduction to a couple of kata outside the normal grading kata but very useful in our development. I hope you enjoyed the departure from the norm?

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