This time, I will tell you 3 reasons why the black belts in the general course is Shura（修羅）.
First is the conclusion.
①Possesses offensive power that cannot be acquired in normal life. (armed force)
② Have to handle and suppress max attacks of the lower class. (technical ability)
③ Have strength not to break down even if hith against full contact attacks. (defense power)
I will explain them in order.
In addition, this time I’m assuming the school I belong to, but there are also stories that apply to full contact karate in general. Therefore, I hope that anyone who wants to start karate, who is aiming for a black belt, who is interested in sabaki-style karate, and anyone else can refer to it.
①Possesses offensive power that cannot be acquired in normal life. (armed force)
It takes at least two years for an inexperienced person to take the 1st Dan promotion examination. Of course, it depends on how often you practice. If you practice once a week, it will be difficult in two years. I wrote it as a guideline, but it’s not a story that you can become a black belt if you take time, and of course you can’t get a black belt if you don’t have the ability.
What I want to say here is that if you practice full-contact karate continuously for more than two years, your offensive power will definitely improve.
The specific content of the training consists of basics, movement, mitts, promised kumite, and kumite, but by combining these, you will be able to develop a suitable military strength. Refer to past articles for the benefits of each practice.
The specific content of the training consists of basic practice, moving pracrice, mitt practice, promised kumite, and kumite, but by combining these, you will be able to develop a suitable military strength. Refer to past articles for the benefits of each practice.
② You have to handle and suppress max attacks of the lower class. (technical ability)
At the 1st dan promotion examination, you will have to do ‘sabaki’ the lower ranks who atack full. Specifically, you will break down with low kicks, positioning, and throws. The attacking side will go all out with the intention of defeating it (I did too).
In my case, especially at first (when I was a brown belt), I wasn’t very good at it and was just guarding. I was kicked too much in the inner thigh and had a bruise. In order to become a first-dan (black belt), you must be able to ‘sabaki’ to some extent, even if it is not perfect, and this skill is directly linked to strength.
Another important thing is not to be knocked down by a lower class no matter what. “Knocked down ” here means that the upper body touches the floor due to loss of balance, not to mention KO. Strong lower body is key here. This is a little off topic, but ‘sabaki’ requires a strong lower body.
For lower body training, please refer to another article.
③ Have strength not to break down even if hith against full contact attacks. (defense power)
As in ② above, it would be nice to be able to do ’sabaki’ the lower class who attacks with all their might on the first or second strike, but of course there are times when things don’t go well. You may get strike, but you must not fall down. As you repeat this kind of training, you will become more resilient to blows. If you don’t have abdominal muscles, you may get a KO immediately, so I think that abs trainig are a must if you reach the brown belt.
The above is about muscle strength, but another important thing in terms of defense is the “judging technique”. If you can “judge” = “predict what kind of attack will come from the beginning”, you can avoid a clean hit by slightly shifting your body. This also applies to ’sabaki’ techniques, but as you accumulate kumite and sabaki, your ability to judge will increase dramatically.
Summary
This time, I wrote about the reason why the black belts in the general course is considered to be the Shura from the aspects of armed force, technical ability, and defence power that can be obtained from training.
Finally, “A black belt in a general course is the Shura” is a phrase often used when asked about the degree of difficulty of a black belt. In general, “Shura” refers to ”Ashura”, the god of war in Buddhism, but It’s an analogy from “The Land of Shura” in “Hokuto no Ken”.
When I was a white belt, this is the episode of when I took my first promotion examination. In the last evaluation item, Sabaki, black belts will gather and face the examinee. Seeing the strength of the black belt seniors at that time, I felt a “different world,” and at the same time, I strongly felt that I wanted to go to that side as well. “Different world” was expressed as “Shura”.
I would appreciate it if you could help me with the above.