Among other unusual things that I treasure that would not mean much to other people is this device I have built in my basement. It is called a makiwara. It is an old school karate training device. I thought a long time before building my own, in my little downstairs dojo. The first thing interesting about it is that the base is 1 and 1/4 inch thick Old Forest Pine. This Pine base is adhered to the concrete floor with drilled in lag bolts secured 3-inches into the floor. Holes denfield and secured with poured concrete. This harder than oak board is also glued with super heavy concrete glue to the floor and the wall. It is also lag bolted through the wall. Then there is a specially hard masonry cement covering the whole base and also attaching it to the concrete floor. On this very solid base, there is a personally designed spring system at the bottom, back of this device that allows it to come up in a slight outward angle and allows it to Spring forward, with hard contact. The harder the contact, the harder it Springs. This same inch and a quarter Old Forest Pine board is the center beam that comes up. An additional two by two of this Same Old Forest material is bolted to the back of the board to stiffen it. Mounted to the front is a cloth-covered pad securely attached by a composite wood board to the face of the beam. It is designed to mimic the resistance of a human torso. Which can spring back on impact. Training with this old school karate tool teaches rib braking power. This device can take my hardest kick or punch and spring it back at me. So only focused, accurate kicks and punches are effective. Yes the whole house sounds like it shakes when I hit it, but in reality the device itself absorbs the entire impact. The solid wood face makes a great striking surface 4 Palms, side of hand strikes and etcetera, to practice building the dexterity and toughness of these areas. Also pictured are the gnarled up hands that I have learned through years of breaks and striking exercises. Additionally, is what I am looks like when the first two knuckles have been trained to be super enlarged and hardened. Don’t worry. A lot of these old techniques, I do not require of my students. Unless of course they want to be #Shotokan black belts. I’m sure these methods seem extreme. And I guess they are. But I’ve been doing them for 45 years and even such tough marks of discipline have paid great Rewards. I am thankful for the gift that #Shotokan #karate has been to me in my life.Among other unusual things that I treasure that would not mean much to other people is this device I have built in my basement. It is called a makiwara. It is an old school karate training device. I thought a long time before building my own, in my little downstairs dojo. The first thing interesting about it is that the base is 1 and 1/4 inch thick, lightered, Old Forest Pine. This Pine base is adhered to the concrete floor with drilled in lag bolts secured 3-inches into the floor. Holes then filled and secured with poured concrete. This harder than oak board is also glued with super heavy concrete glue to the floor and the wall. It is also lag bolted through the wall. Then there is a specially hard masonry cement covering the whole base and also attaching it to the concrete floor. On this very solid base, there is a personally designed spring system at the bottom, built around a pressure treated 4×4 post bracing the back of this device. Attached to this are triangular cut, counterleafed 2×8’s that allow the face board to come up in a slight outward angle. This allows it to Spring forward, with hard contact. The harder the contact, the harder it Springs. The same kind of inch and a quarter Old Forest Pine board that the base is built around is also what the center beam that comes up is made out of. An additional two by two of this Same Old Forest material is bolted to the back of the board to stiffen it. Mounted to the front is a cloth-covered pad securely attached by a composite wood board to the face of the beam. It is designed to mimic the resistance of a human torso. Which can spring back on impact. Training with this old school karate tool teaches rib braking power. This device can take my hardest kick or punch and spring it back at me. So only focused, accurate kicks and punches are effective. Yes the whole house sounds like it shakes when I hit it, but in reality the device itself absorbs the entire impact. The solid wood face makes a great striking surface 4 Palms, side of hand strikes and etcetera, to practice building the dexterity and toughness of these areas. Also pictured are the gnarled up hands that I have learned through years of breaks and striking exercises. Additionally, is what I am looks like when the first two knuckles have been trained to be super enlarged and hardened. Don’t worry. A lot of these old techniques, I do not require of my students. Unless of course they want to be #Shotokan black belts. I’m sure these methods seem extreme. And I guess they are. But I’ve been doing them for 45 years and even such tough marks of discipline have paid great Rewards. I am thankful for the gift that #Shotokan #karate has been to me in my life.
