Takayuki „TAK” Kubota – The Master of Inner and Outer Strength
Takayuki „TAK” Kubota – The Master of Inner and Outer Strength
By Jose Fraguas
Takayuki Kubota is one of the most famous and respected karate masters
in the United States. Born on September 20, 1934 on the Japanese island
of Kyushu, he demonstrated and performed his breathtaking strength and
conditioning exercises at Ed Parker’s Long Beach International Championships
in 1966.
Sensei Kubota has been acknowledged as the most active and innovative karate
instructor in the field of law enforcement techniques. Although his hair
has grayed some since his memorable Long Beach demonstration in the mid-60s,
he still leads his classes with the same intensity and dedication as he
did then. As famous for his work in motion pictures, as for his karate
expertise, his resume includes appearances in films such as the classic
Tora, Tora, Tora, and The Killer Elite.
Someone said once that if you threw all the top masters in the world
into one room and had them fight, Kubota would be the one who walked out.
Enough said.
Why do you have so many foreign students train in your Glendale dojo?
I guess it almost became a tradition. They are students of other
top instructors in different karate styles such as shotokan, goju ryu,
shito ryu, etcetera, in their own countries. I think they are attracted
by the versatility of what I teach. I honestly don’t know the main reason,
thought. The only thing I do is provide them with the best training and
welcome them. I believe in many ways this is great. You can find students
here from France, Italy, Hong Kong, Mexico, Korea, and more – it’s like
visiting the United Nations!
When did you start training?
During World Word Two, many Okinawans came to my home in Kyusho and
my family helped some of them. Two of these men were experts in to-de (it
was not called karate in Okinawa at that time) and taught to the townspeople
in return for their assistance. Their names were Terada and Tokunaga. When
I was only four years old, my father began to teach me the very basics
of karate do – kihon, kata and a lot of makiwara training. My training
was very hard; everything evolved around the number 500: 500 kicks, 500
punches, 500 stance changes, 500 hits to the makiwara, and 500 minutes
of kata. Everyday was very much the same. My father was teaching me karate
to fight to kill, not for self-improvement or sport but for war. We had
no gis to wear after the war, but it didnt matter, we just trained very,
very hard for real fighting. That is the way karate was taught in those
days. Later on, I moved onto Master Kanken Toyama’s dojo. Toyama Shihan
was a direct student of Yasutsune Itosu and Kanryo Higaonna.
Do you think all those students from other styles come to you in
order to overcome the flaws in their own systems?
I don’t know. It is true that some styles have weak points and when
the student reaches the black belt level he might see those so he decides
to go out and train in a different style. Some styles are very strong but
they are weak in defense. Other are very fast but lack stamina.
What happened when you moved to Tokyo?
I began teaching karate a couple of years after I got to Tokyo.
At that time there was Mikami of the Japan Karate Association and also
Fumio Demura of the shito ryu style. We used to help each other and visit
our respective dojos to teach and make technical exchanges. This was all
a long time ago, maybe 30 years back!
What style do you teach?
I teach gosoku ryu karate. I like to say that it may not look too classy
but it is very effective. I teach how to use power when power is the answer,
how to use speed when speed is the answer, and how to use evasion when
evasion has to be used. Neither one of those work all the time under all
circumstances. You need to have all the physical elements but also intelligence
in order to combine then efficiently.
Do you teach karate in the traditional way or have you made some
changes?
Of course I made changes. It is not that I have changed the basic techniques
but since I have studied different styles I understand their strong and
weak points. For instance, some karate styles are very good at offensive
maneuvers but they lack an extensive repertoire of defensive actions. In
gosoku ryu I have incorporated many different methods.
Your students are very successful in sport karate. Do you teach special
techniques for competition?
Yes I do, but they are successful because they train hard and put a
lot of time into it. What’s funny is that a lot of them are very good at
getting disqualified for attacking too hard. Competition techniques don’t
work in real life and in self-defense situation because the whole environment
is different – but being a professional instructor means giving people
what they want and need.
| Timeline1934- Born Kumamoto, Japan, Isle of Kyushu1939 – Began studying with bamboo yadi, judo, keibo-jutsu (baton), and makiwara. 1947 – Baton Instructor, Tokyo Police Dept. 1950-1959 - Instructor for U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marines in 1960-1963 – Taught pro-wrestling techniques at Haneda dojo. 1964 - Chief Referee at Ed Parkers International Championships 1965 – Moved IKA headquarters from Tokyo to Hollywood and began 1965-1971 – Opened IKA dojos in nine countries. Began teaching 1972-1977 – Taught FBI Defensive Tactics Instructors, Trained LAPD 1978 – Inaugural Kubota World Cup Karate Championships. 1979-Present – Ongoing seminars with police departments around 1993 – Opened dojo in Vietnam. 1994 – Received 10th dan, the highest attainable rank in Japanese Movies – To date Kubota has been featured in more than 280 movies |
So you try to give each student what they are looking for?
Yes. That’s why in my dojo you can see movie stars, film directors,
lawyers, undercover agents and even street fighters. I believe that a good
instructor has to be able to teach every component of his art at every
level. You can´t teach a child in the same way you teach an undercover
agent.
Do you think that different karate styles competing against each
other will lead karate to a modification of technique?
Eventually. They will have to analyze othersstyles and find their strong
and weak points to try overcome them. It will also affect kata performance,
since shotokan people might be doing shito ryu or roju ryu kata if the
kata their practitioners have selected for competition has its roots in
other ryu. Little by little the styles will be modified.
How do you train students for competition?
I take them to as many competitions as possible to match them against
different karate styles. I make them train, discover their weak points
while they are under pressure and correct them. This is what I call „closing
the gaps.” Eventually, as they get smarter, all these mistakes will fade
away, and they will become instinctive fighters. However, it is very different
to be a fighter than a competitor. You have to watch the students in the
artificial competition atmosphere. Then, after seeing the weak points they
expose during matches, we go back to the dojo and work on producing good
competition fighters.
Do you have any favorite techniques?
I like sweeping and counter-punching a lot, but really I dont prefer
any one technique. You need different techniques because people are different
- and you need to have tools to deal with different kinds of opponents.
This is the reason why it is so important to spar against many different
stylists.
Do you have any objection to sport karate?
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with competition. What I really
dislike is that it is very limiting as far as techniques are concerned.
And that is bad. I believe that there should be a lot of more techniques
and not only gyaku tsuki and mae geri. This is the reason for the poor
attendance at karate competition. What do the organizers expect when the
techniques are so boring?
Do you feel karate will go the same way as judo?
If we keep doing the things this way, for sure. A long time ago they
started to create rules for the judo until judo was not a martial art anymore.
To prevent this from happening to karate we must have a widening of techniques,
and not prohibit so many practical self-defense moves, like judo.
You shocked everybody at Ed Parker’s International Karate Championship
in 1966 when you beat your own hand with a sledgehammer.
I believe that in order to deliver or take a punch, the practitioner
has to be strong. I’ve always trained like this but I don’t push it on
anyone else. I will teach it if someone wants to learn, but a lot of it
is mental training, too.
How did you get involved with this kind of training?
My teacher told all the students that we must toughen our bodies and
make them strong so we could attack anyone. I remember we had no makiwara
at all, so we used rocks. I recall hitting one wrong and cutting my hand
pretty badly. My teacher came and did what he thought would help me the
most – he poured salt in the open cuts!
So you believe in makiwara training?
If you are in a real fight with a big opponent you have to be strong,
and you need a lot of power to be able to stop him properly. In the old
karate tradition you had to kill him before he killed you. I like that
kind of training. I teach two different styles of hitting the makiwara.
First you must hit it relaxed and focus on the surface – I call this the
„stopping style.” The next method is to carry the strike through. You must
make the entire body a weapon – even your toes!
What about your special hammer training?
I do special concrete training and hammer training ? I have done
this for a long time. I pound my hands, arms and shins with a two-pound
hammer – this makes you very strong! Back in Tokyo I was good friends,
in my younger days, with Mas Oyama and the famous pro-wrestler Rikadozan.
We used to train a lot on the makiwara. In fact, when Master Oyama published
his first book, he decided to use my picture – but only my hand. He didnt
want to use my face!
It has a lot to do with mental training?
Yes. I believe it is the best way to train. It makes you tough and
allows you to develop the true martial arts spirit. You have to overcome
pain and the fear and go beyond the physical. Of course, I use certain
criteria to decide whether or not I will teach a student these special
methods. They must toughen their bodies and the best way is through these
exercises.
How do you start the student into the program?
He starts out slowly and gradually builds up. After a year, the student
can punch the makiwara over 1,000 times without a problem. Of course, sometimes
we have injures. People don’t train like they should and make mistakes
such as hitting the object improperly and breaking their bones. Unfortunately,
it comes with the training. It happened to me many times.
Do you think these programs are beneficial to the average practitioner?
I don’t train so I can go to a tournament and do a show. I do it because
I want to train my body so I will be prepared for any confrontation. That’s
the philosophy of my style. You can hit me any where you want and it will
probably hurt you more than it does me. The program prepares you to take
on anything. At this point I can block a kendo stick with my forearm and
sustain no injury.
What is the most important factor in training students?
There’s no simple answer to that. It depends on the student. Some people
improve very fast, while others need more time to learn the same material.
There are guys that will never become good, but they really enjoy the training
because it improves their health and therefore their lives. The bottom
line is that you need a good teacher. But be careful, because a good karate
man may be not a good karate teacher.
How important is the length of time a person trains?
It is paramount. The student may have timing, speed, technique, et
cetera, but after few minutes against a good opponent technique goes out
the window. It’s only after over ten years of training, when a student’s
body has absorbed the techniques, and the mind is free to work instinctively
on fighting, rather than thinking about every move, that you can really
be a karate fighter. It takes ten years to produce a mature karate student.
What would be your message for all karate practitioners?
That they practice the art as a whole through kata, kumite and kihon.
Today, many people train kata and kumite as if they were two different
things. Actually, kumite starts with kata, and kata starts with kumite.
This mindset would vastly improve any students’ kumite. I don’t mean the
kind of kumite you see now, but the kumite using other techniques like
enpi (elbow) and hiza (knee).
But that’s very dangerous.
Everything is dangerous if you can’t control it. That’s why you have
to study kata for timing and control. Only if we do this will karate grow
and avoid the same pitfalls and fate as judo.
Do you like the way karate has developed in the West?
I really like the Japanese karate style, but I also understand that
different cultures have different ways of approaching the same subject.
It is impossible to regulate the whole karate world but it is not impossible
to teach respect to the students – respect and etiquette. Unfortunately,
many dojos in the West lack this. This should be preserved and passed down
for future generations. Without respect and etiquette, karate is just common
street brawling.
No related posts.
No related posts.