With or Without a Touch, You’re Still Going Down

This video shows Mitsusuke Harada, the head of Karate-Do Shotokai (KDS), and one of his senior students demonstrating their technique. In many cases they are unbalancing people with what appears to be the lightest of touches, and in some cases with no touch at all. I admire Harada-Sensei and his pedigree (he studied under Gichin Funakoshi and Shigeru Egami) and have read about him with interest. Like Sakamoto-Sensei he talks about “hakkei,” the production of explosive internal energy likened to “fajing” in tai chi. Still I am left wondering about the no-touch knockdowns. Perhaps they are possible. It’s also possible that the students were thrown down because they expected to be toppled. In any event, the jury is out.

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