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The Makiwara
The makiwara is probably the most misunderstood and incorrectly used piece of training equipment in a karate dojo today. Because of this, most modern karate practitioners don’t train hitting one. That may, in an indirect way, be a good thing. The damage to the hands and wrists that can result from improper use of the makiwara is often long lasting, and sometimes permanent.
However, the makiwara is also the primary tool for understanding and refining proper karate technique. In The Essence of Okinawan Karate-Do, Shoshin Nagamine states, "I do not know of any karate men who do not hit the makiwara." Itosu, Chibana, Motobu, Kyan, Miyagi, Funakoshi, Uechi, and Shimabuku all trained hitting the makiwara. Sherman Harrill trained hitting the makiwara. To fully understand and develop the striking techniques found in Isshin-ryu Karate, you must train with the makiwara. You cannot remove the makiwara from your training and still call what you do karate.
"Hitting the makiwara in a method reminiscent of a willow branch snapping in the wind, but holding the final point of contact as firmly as a piece of steel rod for a brief time, developed a type of focused strike easily recognized as the thrusting punch of karate-jutsu."
Choki Motobu (1871-1944)
Training with the makiwara must be approached with great respect. If all you are going to do with the makiwara is to hit it until your knuckles bleed, there is little value in even attempting makiwara training. If, however, you are taught how to hit the makiwara, when to hit the makiwara, and why you hit the makiwara; the makiwara will become as important to you in your training as your sensei.
Any student of karate who is seriously interested in developing real karate skill will need to spend many hours training with the makiwara and will over time become very intimate with it. You must learn to listen to your makiwara, because the sound the makiwara makes when being struck is important.
Many karate practitioners today do not realize that the same psychological and visualization techniques that are used by today’s top Olympic athletes have been used for centuries by generations of karate masters before them when training on the makiwara.
Makiwara training is not about your knuckles; that is like saying learning to play the guitar is all about building up calluses on your fingertips. Makiwara training is about strengthening your stance, understanding striking distance, developing proper focus, understanding body mechanics, and developing real striking power. It is through training with the makiwara that you will begin to develop Chinkuchi (body, mind, breath coordination). |
