Kamae
As
a practitioner of the martial arts for over 40 years and
a student of Dan Smith’s for over 12 years, I would offer
my humble opinion on this subject.
IMHO,
the use of a Kamae or a posture has been around for a very
long time. The very early hunters and gatherers learned
postures of how to stand or crawl in order to eat. The very
ancient systems of Chinese Qigong, as well as other ancient
cultures, placed an emphasis on certain postures, along
with proper breathing and mental focus for increased health.
Whether you are learning the proper way of standing or moving
for health or for combat, the posture or kamae plays an
important part.
Posturing
or the use of kamae are used in the animal kingdom all the
time, and it would make since that martial arts systems
that have their roots on Shamanism would adapt this into
their arsenal. Two basic strategies that are used include
showing more strength than there really is or showing a
potential weakness where there really is none. Showing more
strength is seen in a blowfish that makes himself appear
larger to keep other animals from attacking or even here
in Colorado when you walk up on a mountain lion or bear
by making yourself appear as large as possible and slowly
walking away but never running. Showing an opening or opportunity
can be seen when a bird fakes a broken wing to pull a predator
away from her young or even in the drunken fist styles of
Chinese martial arts where the opponent gets overconfident
only to be hammered by a proficient attack. Either strategy
can be used to catch your opponent off guard as mentioned
in Sun Tzu’s Art of War or even the Japanese classic of
the Five Rings. .
These
postures can be used by an individual when he practices
his personal tactics of self defense like doing kata or
even in group tactics such as troop movements. We have known
for centuries how to show a weakness in order to bring in
the enemy from a certain direction only to attack from the
flank to eliminate the threat. We also know that showing
strength decreases the chance that an opponent will attack
in that specific area. This strategy is used throughout
classical Okinawan and Chinese forms.
Learning classical kata
includes training in many different areas and at different
levels. Learning the kicking and punching is only as good
as the footwork and body shifting that goes with it. Learning
how to predict the opponents next move through the use of
kamae and having the best response ready to go is a high level
tactic and IMHO, a very important part of classical martial
arts training.
