Tetsuhiko Asai Video Archive
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Asai Kata Empi

Asai Kata Empi — Asai-Ryu kata performed by a student or follower of Tetsuhiko Asai. Preserved as part of the Asai karate video collection.

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Empi is one of Shotokan's most dynamic kata, and this recording shows it in the Asai interpretation, performed by a student of the school. Watch for the kata's signature moments: the fast turns, the leaps, and the sudden drop to the floor that gives Empi its character. The jumps must be launched without visible preparation, and the landings must arrive low, stable, and ready to strike. Notice the elbow techniques and close-range strikes that punctuate the kata — they are short, sharp, and driven by the hips. The rhythm of Empi changes constantly, and the performance should feel like a series of bursts rather than one steady pace. Comparing this student performance with Asai's own Empi is a useful exercise in seeing how the same form lives in different bodies.

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Tetsuhiko Asai was born on June 7, 1935, in Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku in Japan.  He began studying karate at the age of twelve, training at a dojo near his home. At high school he also practised judo and earned a second dan grade, so his early years were shaped by two martial arts at once. The combination of judo's throwing and grappling with karate's striking gave his later karate an unusual range.   After school he moved to Tokyo and studied at Takushoku University, where he became one of the leading members of the university karate club. He was a flexible, fast-moving fighter, and he developed a distinctive counter of his own: diving low beneath an opponent's kick and striking back before the opponent could recover. He called this movement the "submarine," and it made his name known across the karate world. The video below shows Asai in a kumite demonstration from 1987. Source: the official biography of Tetsuhiko Asai, International J...
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Asai karate video collection

http://master-karate.ru/video.html This video is devoted to Asai karate video collection. This video is part of the Asai kata collection, an archive of seminar and training footage connected with Tetsuhiko Asai's school of karate. Asai-Ryu is rooted in Shotokan and enriched with principles of Chinese White Crane kung fu, and the material collected here shows how that approach is taught and practised in the dojo. The collection is updated every week with further kata and seminar recordings. This video belongs to the Asai karate video collection, an archive of seminar and training footage connected with Tetsuhiko Asai's school of karate. The recordings in this collection show the same principles across many settings: basics, kata, kumite, and teaching, all performed with the relaxed power and precise timing that characterised Asai's karate. Watch each recording more than once — the first viewing gives the shape of the performance, and later viewings reveal the details of foo...

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