Memoirs of a Grasshopper

Have you ever wondered what it'd be like to be impervious to pain? As a martial artist, it'd certainly have its perks. It's the ...

I'm frequently told that we should aim for moderation in all things but when I look to those exceptional people – the people I find trul...

Well, it's been a little quiet around here of late and one of my recent commentors pointed out that “writing is a discipline too"...

Building a chiishi is one of the first things I set about doing when I got back to Aus and since then I've had a few additional requests...

The chiishi (pictured above) is one of my favourite hojo undo training tools. It may not look like much, but don't let that fool you - y...

If you visit the Honbu dojo for some daytime training you may arrive to find the door closed and two rather large wooden clogs out the front...

In martial arts we spend a lot of our time trying to make the body fast however, self defence also requires training the senses. Sensei woul...

Just wanted to share a little home remedy recipe for black eyes courtesy of Kuramoto-Sensei. Hard boil one large egg (or two if you've h...

Most people are familiar with the dojo kun – the ethics or guiding principals for students of traditional dojos. Within IOGKF, the English v...

Karate Kenkyu Club (circa 1926). Left to right: Tokunori Senaha, Keiyo Madambashi, (two unknown), Chojun Miyagi, Seko Higa, (unknown), Sei...

Well I've finally settled back into life in Canberra and my knuckles have almost completely recovered from my last makawara session at t...

A little while ago I was asked to write a short article on Zen and Traditional Karate for the IOGKF newsletter. It's been up for a wh...

View of Naha from the Wall of Shuri Castle near Kozenji Temple . Well this is it. My last post before returning to Oz. The last year here ha...

It’s 1.00am here and I just got back from a little stroll around the city but it’ll probably still take another hour or so before my mind fu...

Men playing Go in Yogi Park, Naha I’m often told that we “must prepare for our old age now”. By Okinawan standards, that means most of us ha...

Every now and again Sensei tests us with one of those hard and unexpected sweat sessions. Tonight was one of those nights. After an hour of ...

Saturday nights at the honbu dojo have recently been made nights for individual training. Classes usually start at the regular time but we’r...

When I first visited the honbu dojo I was quite surprised at the almost shabby state of Sensei’s floor – a real patchwork quilt of potholes ...

On Tuesday April 28th An’ichi Miyagi Sensei passed away. The funeral was held on Thursday afternoon and was a beautiful service. In the fun...

Lately before training I've taken to spending 10-15 minutes watching YouTube videos of Sensei’s kata. Maybe a little obsessive of me I k...

Firstly, wow. Thanks to everyone who took the time to write me an email or comment on my last post. I had no idea there were so many of you ...

On the whole, I’ve received a lot of really positive feedback about Memoirs of a Grasshopper. But last night I received a particularly damni...

Well, I passed my grading. The honbu crew also did the dojo proud and I felt privileged to be able to grade with them. And, as you can see, ...

Ok. So we all talk to ourselves. Some of you might be thinking, “talk to myself? I don’t talk to myself. Do I talk to myself?” It’s ok. We ...

I have to admit; on occasion in sparring I’ve been guilty of throwing my limbs in the general direction of my partner’s head or torso in hop...

In my last post I talked about the ills of belt systems. But, here's the thing... Sensei recently asked me to sit for a grading and I’d ...

I still remember the first night I turned up at training in a crisp new karate gi. The thick canvas felt so bunchy and uncomfortable and my ...