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Kyoshi
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The history of Vital Point Striking
I am in the process of writing a new book that will cover the history of how the "modern Kyusho" came to be. Tracking its roots and tracking the past masters roots, trainings tools and their vital point charts. The Book is under progress  In my facebook-group https://www.facebook.com/groups/362824363846613/?fref=ts i share key findings, teasers, and much more. It is a closed group, just for members - everyone with interest will be allowed to join. Here is some of my prior "teasers": From the biography part of Itosu ‘Yasutsune’ Anko, 1831-1915 - Okinawa "On technique Gichin Funakoshi reports that Itosu could crush green bamboo stalk in his fists . Nagamine Shoshin reports, that one day Itosu destroyed his makiwara, he then changed to hitting the wall, with a sandal as padding – he ultimately destroyed the entire wall . Bruce D. Clayton writes: “Itosu didn’t “peck” his opponents with vital-point strikes, or subdue them with joint locks. He simply destroyed them in a fraction of a second . Although that seems to contradict what Chozo Nakama, a late students of Itosus, says. Nakama said that Itosu used his fore knuckle in his corkscrew punch and some of his intended targets were; the side of the chest, the front of the chest (directly below the nipple), the solar plexus, the tanden, a point at the back of the neck, a point between the eyebrows and a point just below the nose ." From the biography part of Seikichi Uehara Friend of Hohan Soken and Sparring Partner of Taika Seiyu Oyata "We know that Taika Seiyo used Seikichi Uehara as his main sparring partner, around 1969 and that Oyata compared what he had learnt from his masters to that of Ueharas Motobu Ryú . We also know that Uehara was a good friend of Soken, and probably trained with him on more than one occasion during the 60’ies . We must assume that Uehara had some explosion to vital points, either from Motobu or from Soken and Oyata or all of them. There are no signs though, that he stressed the use of them – other than for manipulation, such as in joint-locking techniques." "The meeting of Soken and Oyata?" "Although never reported, it should be fairly possible that Taika Oyata and Soken did meet, as Oyata used Seikichi as his main sparring partner, around 1969. Soken being a good friend of Seikichi, this seems plausible that they met, although this remains only speculations. One of Sokens senior students, Kuda Yuichi (1928-1999), is known to have studied under Oyata. Both Soken and Oyata appears in a 1967 picture from the Zen Okinawa Karate Kobudo Rengo Kai ." It is ofcourse a draft, and i will be happy to discuss and engage with those who are interested. Looking forward to your comments. All the book references have been lost in the copy paste but i can assure you that the information is well "documented" from prior works. Sincerely Nikolaj
Kyoshi
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From the Biography of Funakoshi: "In his book Karate-Do Kyohan, Funakoshi dedicates an entire chapter called Vital Points (Kyusho) of the Human Body. The chart includes 40 points in total, and is divided into “Causes of Death” and “Causes of Losing Consciousness” .  Interesting Funakoshi notes that the effectiveness of a blow is not solely due to the power of the blow itself. He explains that the effectiveness of the blow will vary according to the condition of the person at the moment, how he is struck and how well he is trained. Funakoshi goes on to explain that a well trained person, will be able to withstand a blow that an ordinarily person would not . It is clear that Funakoshi did not use or practice these effect, as he states directly in his work Karate-Do Kyohan: “ Since actual tests cannot be made in the classification of points into Cause of Death and Cause of Unconsciousness, knowledge transmitted through written notes and knowledge transmitted by word of mouth from the past have been used as the source ."