The Martial Arts Journal

Issue 9, May 2008

Soma Noma Oi The Soma Wild Horse Chase Part 1 by Michael Jay FREE ARTICLE

If you travel north from Tokyo, along the Pacific coast, you leave the great sprawl of the city for the rich, bright green of the rice fields and the misty blue mountains of the Tohoku area. This is the least developed part of the mainland, Honshu, with a character similar to that of Hokkaido, although less volcanic, and with fewer spectacular lakes.....more

Karate Kata by Allan Gill FREE ARTICLE

In this article I am looking to explain some applications for the opening movement of the Kata Heian Nidan. I chose this Kata as I felt that it was one that most Karate-ka would know at least one version of. I have also found that many Karate-ka focus on the more senior Kata when it comes to applications.....more

Urban Tactical Weapons Part 1 by Morné Swanepoel

Street violence, which can be directly related to the unlawful exercise of physical force, is a reality which all of us live with on a daily basis. Training to protect oneself for street confrontations is very intense and quite different from training for competitions, even the No holds barred competitions that are very popular today..... more

Self Defence for Women – Part 2 by Jeff Nash

Karate, to me, has always been the art of civilian self defence and everything I teach in the dojo has been aimed at developing an individual’s skill to protect them from assault. Therefore a natural adjunct to teaching karate seemed to be to run special self defence courses for women..... more

Fitness For Fighting? by De Matthew Mills

The world remains an uncertain place; perhaps more so than ever. The Martial Arts evolved as a form of self-preservation in just these circumstances. Fortunately it is a relatively safer place, with the threat of violence considerably diminished. We are threatened more by the .....more