From an interview by Graham Noble of Shotokan stylist Hirokazu Kanazawain Classical Fighting Arts #8 (the current issue):
GN: Is it useful for Shotokan people to learn Goju-ryu kata?
HK: I think so. The reason I can still do karate at seventy-three years old is because I do tai ch'i. Tai chi' is so different, extremely different from karate. In karate speed is important, but in tai ch'i youmust not use speed. Power is very important in karate, but in tai ch'i you must not use power; you must only move by intention, don't use muscle. Focus is very important in karate, but in tai ch'i you must not use focus; in tai ch'i before you can focus you are already starting the next movement.
[...]
Therefore it is also good to study other karate styles.
He also does a sort of ch'i-kung he developed from tai ch'i and Goju-ryu. He is primarily a Shotokan practitioner but has brought Shito-ryu's Seiunchin and Goju-ryu's Sepai into his organization's teaching. (It's unclear whether has borrowed other kata too.) He views it as bringing the more Chinese Naha-te tradition together with the more Okinawan Shuri-te tradition, he says.
What I find interesting is the bringing in of softer Goju aspects and of the tai ch'i connection. When I did Goju I was taught both Sanchin and Tensho. I was told that young people did the relatively hard Sanchin, but that for older people it was better to do the relatively soft Tensho. (Tensho was a favorite of mine, and I see some of it in the Wing Chun I am now learning.) In adding tai ch'i, it seems that he has taken that notion a step further to the truly soft tai ch'i. It's a great example of the Go-ju philosophy of mixing hard and soft elements in a complementary way.
GN: Is it useful for Shotokan people to learn Goju-ryu kata?
HK: I think so. The reason I can still do karate at seventy-three years old is because I do tai ch'i. Tai chi' is so different, extremely different from karate. In karate speed is important, but in tai ch'i youmust not use speed. Power is very important in karate, but in tai ch'i you must not use power; you must only move by intention, don't use muscle. Focus is very important in karate, but in tai ch'i you must not use focus; in tai ch'i before you can focus you are already starting the next movement.
[...]
Therefore it is also good to study other karate styles.
He also does a sort of ch'i-kung he developed from tai ch'i and Goju-ryu. He is primarily a Shotokan practitioner but has brought Shito-ryu's Seiunchin and Goju-ryu's Sepai into his organization's teaching. (It's unclear whether has borrowed other kata too.) He views it as bringing the more Chinese Naha-te tradition together with the more Okinawan Shuri-te tradition, he says.
What I find interesting is the bringing in of softer Goju aspects and of the tai ch'i connection. When I did Goju I was taught both Sanchin and Tensho. I was told that young people did the relatively hard Sanchin, but that for older people it was better to do the relatively soft Tensho. (Tensho was a favorite of mine, and I see some of it in the Wing Chun I am now learning.) In adding tai ch'i, it seems that he has taken that notion a step further to the truly soft tai ch'i. It's a great example of the Go-ju philosophy of mixing hard and soft elements in a complementary way.
) and so he knows the value of learning Goju Kata.
