Rainer Kummerfeldt

3. Dan Shito-Ryu


The way of Karate is characterized by 3 substantial emphases:

To have, to search, to let go

The beginner is driven by the idea of being strong or perhaps even invincible. Maybe he starts with Karate because he’d like to have fun doing physical exercises or to surround himself with an aura of something unusual by studying an exotic thing or simply to get acknowledgment.

The advanced student frees himself of these ideas and feels he has to work constantly without knowing where the way goes to at last. He is eager to become faster, more correct and nimble. He would like to learn the background and the meaning of Karate movements which seem to him mysterious and complex but after reaching certain maturity appear quite simple.

The mastership however is determined by letting go. The first expression of this is wearing a plain white suit getting rid of outwardness. The black belt is only used to hold the suit together and to support the abdomen. The technique is more determined by relaxation than by tension. The movements are rather allowed than forces. And finally, releasing is to be mentioned in the way how Japanese understand the word “Sutemi”.

I think, this is what the old masters meant when changing the meaning of Karate from the “art of the China hand“ into the “way of the empty hand“.

Rainer Kummerfeldt