fighting tradition. a history of ferocious resistance. but it s nothing like what you might think. not at all. i took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la la sha la la la la la sha la la la la sha la la la la la la anthony: this is okinawa, just south of mainland japan. for all the relative rigidity of the mainland, okinawa answers in its own unique way. don t eat the same thing each day. that s boring. there s even an okinawan term for it. chanpuru, something mixed. bits borrowed from all over served up for anyone to eat. but maybe you re more familiar with the name okinawa from this. as the setting for some of the most horrifyingly bloody battles of the second world war. how horrifying? for the allies there were more than 50,000 casualties with around 12,000 killed, or missing in action, over nearly three months of fighting.
anthony: what does it mean to be strong? it implies hardness, inflexibility. okinawa is a place with a fighting tradition. a history of ferocious resistance. but it s nothing like what you might think. not at all. i took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la la sha la la la la la sha la la la la sha la la la la la la anthony: this is okinawa, just south of mainland japan. for all the relative rigidity of the mainland, okinawa answers in its own unique way. don t eat the same thing each day. that s boring. there s even an okinawan term for it. chanpuru, something mixed. bits borrowed from all over served up for anyone to eat. but maybe you re more familiar with the name okinawa from this. as the setting for some of the most horrifyingly bloody battles of the second world war. how horrifying? for the allies there were more than
anthony: when most of us think of karate we think of striking exclusively. is that an accurate representation of what you re doing? james: the basis of okinawan karate is that it was used primarily as a defensive art. um, in other words, being able to, you know, control and subdue the opponent. usually, if you could, in a humane way, but then if you had to anthony: right. james: finish them then you had the ability to finish them. the striking is important but a lot of the technique is not about striking, it s about submission techniques. and some of that is to do with kyusho, so, attacking nerve points. and, uh, hokama sensei in particular is extremely skilled at, um, dealing with, uh, you know, bigger stronger, opponents. hokama: human engineering, very important. point, point, point, point, point, point, point, point, point. then this point attack with the fingers. no, no knuckle, open. anthony: a demonstration of hokama sensei s open hand kyusho technique becomes litt
think of karate we think of striking exclusively. is that an accurate representation of what you re doing? james: the basis of okinawan karate is that it was used primarily as a defensive art. um, in other words, being able to, you know, control and subdue the opponent. usually, if you could, in a humane way, but then if you had to anthony: right. james: finish them then you had the ability to finish them. the striking is important but a lot of the technique is not about striking, it s about submission techniques. and some of that is to do with kyusho, so, attacking nerve points. and, uh, hokama sensei in particular is extremely skilled at, um, dealing with, uh, you know, bigger stronger, opponents. hokama: human engineering, very important. point, point, point, point, point, point, point, point, point. then this point attack with the fingers.