Waza

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Waza (literally: “skills or techniques”) is the Goshin-Jutsu term for simulation training. Waza are preplanned, prearranged defenses for specific attacks, which teach our bodies how to move, and our minds how to react. If individual techniques are the notes of your victory song, then waza are the scales which you must practice over and over to refine your fundamental playing skills.

Real attackers won’t follow a script, so you must train with the intention of developing a general fighting sense. This is why our waza are intentionally unnamed, presented in no particular order, and are to numerous for any one person to remember -- so they all blend together after a while. (This website's numbering scheme is entirely meaningless, and it should never be referred to; it is a necessary evil for website maintenance.). When bits of one waza seamlessly flow into another, you wind up doing the most appropriate response for a given situation, regardless of the attack or the attacker. At higher levels, waza can move away from the pre-arranged, and be performed against random attacks from random directions (free-form waza). When done correctly, free-form waza is natural as walking, and it is so smooth and effortless that it appears to be staged.

Considerations

When performing waza, it is critical to keep the following points in mind:

  • All techniques must be fully-controlled; meaning, they completely stop 1” (~2.5 cm) away from your opponent. Training partners are hard to come by, so you’ll need to make them last. Our critics claim that “pulling our punches” trains students how not to hit people, leading to failure at the crucial moment. However, making striking focus pads or heavy bags a regular part of your training will correct this problem.
  • We do not train to hit lightly. During waza, all techniques must be performed at full power, and directed at one of the opponent’s anatomical weak points with a “malicious intent”. There is no situation where hitting someone lightly makes sense; if the option not to incapacitate, maim, or kill an aggressor still exists, then that option must be pursued.
  • Masters are people who do simple things well, not the ones who do complicated or visually-stunning moves. The techniques performed in waza require the same attention to form as those in kata practice.
  • Most real altercations last less than five seconds. You must quickly eliminate the dangers facing you. Win or lose, it will be over soon. There is no time compute a solution; you must know the answer ahead of time. This why you must train waza to the point of becoming natural reactions.
  • Stay calm, relax -- and most importantly -- breathe. Panic assures defeat. Overcoming the reflexive panic or freezing when confronted with is the major hurdle in learning self-defense.
  • You must practice waza with partners of different sizes, heights, and genders. Victims do not choose their attackers. Students must know how to apply their techniques on anyone, and those techniques may require subtle modification to accommodate different body types. Waza gives students an opportunity to experience may different types of attackers.
  • Attackers must have malicious intent. Waza must simulate the intensity of a real attack to teach students to cope with the intensity of the situation.
  • A given waza can be applied to a variety of contexts. Twenty-six letters can be arranged into countless thoughts and ideas. Likewise, one waza can become 10,000 waza. For example, defenses against one-hand lapel grabs can easily be re-imagined as defenses against a groping pervert.
  • "Any empty-hand waza can stop any armed attack; you only need the confidence to do so." However, this requires true confidence, which is based on ironclad mastery of technique. Novice students tend to mistake arrogance for confidence, and think they are invincible, simply because they know a waza. This is why defenses against armed attackers are reserved for the advanced students; because by this time, students will have realized the inherent dangers of armed attacks, and won’t take them lightly.
  • Martial artists have tools, not answers. There are no universal solutions; every situation must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Flexibility is critical. We invite you to invent your own waza, to train your creativity and adaptability.
  • Self-defense is not a game; there are no points. The goal of self-defense is stopping attackers and removing yourself or others from danger -- not to kill, to punish, or to “teach someone a lesson.” We control our opponents through controlling ourselves. We defeat the fear of an attack through our preparation and training, which allows us to respond appropriately. To do this, we must train to defend ourselves against a variety of attacks, to provide us with different options in a variety of situations.
  • Karate ni sente nashi.

Novice waza

Novice Waza
001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010
011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020
021 022 023 024 025 026 027 028 029 030
031 032 033 034 035 036 037 038 039 040
041 042 043 044 045 046 047 048 049 050
051 052 053 054 055 056 057 058 059 060
061 062 063 064 065 066 067 068 069 070
071 072 073 074 075 076 077 078 079 080
081 082 083 084 085 086 087 088 089 090
091 092 093 094 095 096 097 098 099 100

Intermediate waza

Intermediate Waza
101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110
111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120
121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130
131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140
141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150

Advanced waza

Advanced Waza
151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160
161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170
171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180
181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190
191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200
201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210
211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220
221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230
231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240
241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250
251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260
261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270