Takeshin Karate
(Bamboo Spirit Empty Hand Way)
Takeshin Karate-do is a blocking, striking, kicking art, which emphasizes traditional kata (forms) with innovative applications and efficacy without brute force. It is a style of karate that is strongly based on Shotokan however it is influenced by other styles like Kamishin, Gojo, Shito and Uechi. Its basics and initial kata are like Shotokan's but its emphasis is not on hard, straight-line application but has a greater variety of energy use and application possiblities.
Its training method begins with Japanese based techniques and progress to touch upon Okinawan and Chinese concepts to form the basis of the art. It similarly progresses from straight to circular, from focused to fluid, from rigid to flexible and from formed to formless.
The Spirit of Bamboo suggests both strength and flexiblity, both hardness on the outside and softness on the inside, both the newness of natural growth, and the resiliency of the harvsted stalk, both beauty and utility.