Title:	GKR Basics
Publisher's site:	GKR Karate
Buy from:	Your local sensei
Price:	£14.50
Date:	2005
Running time:	59 minutes
Available formats:	DVD
Featuring	Gavin Samin and Nabil Fanous

GKR Basics

This DVD should be the first that any student purchases, but it should also be the most important one in your library, regardless of your grade or position. In fact, I'll go further and say that the higher your position as a sensei, the more often you should be referring to this DVD!

It covers the basics (kihon), and teaches stances, strikes, blocks, and kicks. It also explains how to bow and how to make a fist.

It’s narrated by Kancho, and demonstrated by Sensei Gavin Samin. As a 6 foot something 3^rd dan, Sensei Gavin has arguably the most elegant and precise basics in GKR, so he was the logical choice.

The DVD has been filmed in a white studio, and you would think that the white gi would blend into the background, but far from it. Skilful lighting ensures that Sensei Gavin stands out clearly from his surroundings, yet there’s absolutely nothing in the background to detract from his technique.

The narration has been studio dubbed over the top, and there’s a continuous, and at times, mildly irritating looped soundtrack of authentic-sounding Japanese music in the background.

The DVD has clearly been expertly scripted and choreographed, as Kancho’s words closely match the timing of Sensei Gavin’s actions.

One thing that struck me about some of the techniques, was a certain vagueness in the instruction. This is not a bad thing. In class, some techniques are over-taught, with precise angles, speeds and distances specified where they are not important. This DVD will hopefully restore all students to the essence of what is important, rather than obsessing about superficial peripheral details, or perhaps details which can only be felt internally by years of repetition. I only hope that it becomes compulsory viewing for all instructors and senior instructors too. Then maybe we can minimise the infuriating and frustrating occurrence where you get corrected 10 conflicting ways for the same thing at any seminar or grading you attend.

	Who'd have thought that a white gi against a white background would work so effectively?

Unfortunately, I got the feeling that in some cases, the producers stuck with what they’d always done, rather than thinking about whether or not this was the way that they wanted entire generations of GKR students to perform techniques.

The DVD is very professionally designed

Furthermore, and I think that this is completely unforgivable; old, incorrect naming conventions have been repeated, and new mistakes introduced. Every single one of the basic blocks is mistranslated, and many other techniques too. For instance, kokutso dachi has been mistranslated as “back leaning stance”. The literal translation (which is used by the rest of the martial arts world), is “back stance” and GKR’s misleading translation has prompted thousands of students to wrongly position their bodies in the stance, deriving their instruction from the name. Another one, which constantly leads students into incorrect technique, is “chudan tsuki”. This is translated on the DVD as “stomach level punch”, and as a result, that’s where most students initially punch. Even Kancho says on the DVD, that solar plexus level is the best target, and as chudan means “middle level” not stomach level, that would have been a better translation.

Equally irritating is the misspelling of the word “dachi” (stance), which mostly (but not always) appears on the DVD as “datchi”; and “seiken” (forefist) which is spelled “Sei Kan” on the DVD. Kan means complete, ken means fist – how was that missed with this long to prepare the DVDs? Even the pronunciation “ datch” instead of “datchee”, perpetuates habitual GKR linguistic quirks. This could have been an opportunity to gracefully establish the language and spellings correctly once and for all, but the situation has only been worsened.

Multiple angles makes it easier to understand how each technique should be performed

In the past Kancho has expressed the sentiment that we are here to learn karate, not Japanese, but if that’s the case, why include any Japanese at all? Furthermore, because Japanese is the global language of karate, learning the correct words and pronunciation enables GKR students to understand others and articulate themselves in non-GKR martial arts circles. I could go on and on about this point, ripping many terms to pieces, but you get the idea...

Returning to the demonstrations, each technique is carefully shown from multiple angles – usually front and side, with additional views, such as top-down and close-ups, shown where necessary. Where there is a need to expand upon details, slow motion or additional precise breakdowns are employed.

Many techniques are demonstrated against an opponent (the leg-tastic Sensei Nabil Fanous). It’s nice to see them so effectively placed into a combat context.

It’s interesting to see how many of the techniques vary to the way that we’ve learned them in our zone. For instance, haito is taught on the DVD with no hip rotation at all, whereas we learn a pronounced double hip rotation. In contrast, we put no hip work into our punches during the basics, yet the punches on the DVD have a very visible hip movement.

There are some techniques which - and you’ll have to forgive my arrogance (or ignorance) here - I simply don’t feel are demonstrated in the optimum manner. For instance, both shutos are shown striking the target at exact right-angles to the flat of the hand. This means that you’ll be striking with the metacarpal bone, rather than the thick pad of flesh further round towards the palm. This is both painful, and dangerous, especially as the proposed targets are also bones – the jaw or the temple – and we don’t do hand conditioning. Furthermore, it’s at odds with the GKR practice of never striking with the bones.

It's interesting to see the techniques in context

Even a simple punch is described as twisting three quarters to two thirds of the way to the target. This teaches poor form as the whole idea of the twisting is to add rotational velocity to the strike and to cause screwing damage to the target. Both of these only happen when the forearm is twisted right at the end of the punch.

Conclusion
The GKR Basics DVD is essential viewing for all GKR students. This new production is infinitely superior to the old videos in terms of studio quality, clarity, narration, camera-work, sound and video quality, scripting, and overall production. It’s extremely frustrating to see some old GKR habits and idiosyncrasies perpetuated, but to be honest, I’ve seen dozens of martial arts tutorial DVDs, and none of them comes close to the quality of this product.

Every martial arts video or DVD I’ve ever watched, be it Goju, Shotokan, Shito Ryu, Kobudo, Ju Jitsu, or others, has contained contentious statements, philosophies, techniques, or bunkai, so it’s no surprise to find that this is the same. Even allowing for the fact that the basics are exaggerated and overly formalised representations of functional techniques, some of the techniques are questionable. This simply goes to illustrate that even at master level, instructors never stop learning, and even the most experienced of them sometimes disagree about the optimal way to perform a technique.

I would have hoped that the basics – the very core of our style – would have been exhaustively considered so that every aspect has an unassailable raison d’etre, but if that is the case, those deeper meanings did not make it to the DVD.

Nevertheless, Sensei Gavin’s wonderful karate is an inspiration to watch, Kancho is a pleasure to listen to, and at least GKR has laid down the tenets of its beliefs once and for all for everyone to see.

I think that many experienced students will see this DVD as a general guide, rather than a literal blueprint to be followed to the millimetre. Perhaps for them, the greatest value will be that it prompts them to go away and think about their own technique in order to come up what works best for them. For lower grades, this DVD provides an invaluable reference to the techniques which form the basic GKR syllabus.

The GKR Basics DVD is not the be all and end all of GKR technique, rather it’s a clearly defined starting point.

Narration quality
Production quality
Plausibility					c
Usefulness
Entertainment
Overall score					c