Te the Healer
Part 3/3 Te is an endorphin based martial art, as opposed to an adrenaline-based one. Here’s why that’s a good thing: Te training has a similar effect on health and well-being as practicing yoga, with, quite literally, a standing shiatsu treatment thrown in. The constant stretching, rolling and pressure-point work found in Te practice aids our bodies to stay relaxed, open …
Te the Parent
Part 2/3 Te takes a rather parental approach to assailants, such that someone attacking out of anger (an adult having a tantrum), should ideally be controlled and calmed without serious damage (this obviously depends on both skill and threat levels). Te has ‘weapon-gathering’ methods, and treats weapons as ‘needing to be confiscated for safe-keeping’ (this is not to say that …
Te the Warrior.
Part 1/3 Okinawan Te is a highly incisive weapons art, and a superb empty-hand self-defence system. It is one of the few arts that were truly designed, at their core, with multiple, weapon-wielding, opponents in mind. Te encompasses the highest principles of the Zen based martial arts from mainland Japan and those of the ‘internal’ Chinese systems. It is also one …
The Hara
The hara is ‘the seat of the subconscious’, which deals with our survival instincts and procreative drives, and therefore some of our darker emotions. Referred to variously as the ‘id’, the ‘reptile-mind’, or by the yogi’s as the ‘kundalini’ (a great black serpent that dwells at the base of the spine), this part of us can be super-aggressive, utterly ruthless, and …
Okinawan Te, Karate & ‘Te’; The confusion.
‘Udun-di’ (Palace-hand’).also known as’Te’ (var’ ‘ti’ or ‘di’), literal translation ‘hand’ or ‘martial skills’. Okinawan Te started evolving somewhere after 600 ad. It was, and still is, the original, and premier, martial art of Okinawa, developed long before the Ryukyu Kingdoms (the Three Kingdoms) emerged, or the adoption of tode/karate. It is the sister art of mainland Japan’s iai-jutsu …
Kyusho & kyusho-jutsu
‘Kyusho’ is the martial term for pressure-points and ‘kyusho-jutsu’ means ‘pressure-point fighting’. In Te exercises pressure-point strikes are substituted for safety reasons with ‘feints’, but the pressure-points themselves are nevertheless used continuously in a less damaging way. For example, a firm, but compelling, ‘prodding’ or ‘kneading’ action with a thumb or knuckle, or a firm ‘shunt’ to the outside-leg with …
A Lexicon of Te
Te is taught very differently to many martial arts, focusing not on endlessly practising techniques by rote, but on grouping things together by principles and practice modes. This approach encourages trainees to reach for the principles behind techniques rather than for the techniques themselves. Te has relatively few quantifiable ‘techniques’ so you will not find lists and definitions of them …