Have you ever noticed how dogs prepare for fighting? They play fight - working at about 1/2 to 3/4 speed by mutual consent (neither dog moves to full speed at any point, even though they could "cheat"). They "pull their punches" - their bites are not the kind that injure, even if the experience is quite "rough and tumble". And they flow continuously - they don't dart in and out.
Despite the fact that dogs never practice "hard and fast" I bet you have no doubt that dogs can fight very well indeed thanks to this "practice". Just because they "mouth" your hand without breaking your skin, you shoudn't doubt that they can do some serious damage faster than you can blink. If you've ever been attacked by a dog (and I have on 2 occasions) you'll know what I mean.
I believe that it is for this reason that continuously flowing sparring with light contact is not only useful, but essential in martial training. In our Academy, and in many goju kaiha, this type of sparring is called "randori" - a term taken from judo.
Randori allows you to experiment and put yourself in positions where you can learn. Depending on your favorite, tried and trusted techniques doesn't give you a chance to grow, no matter what discipline you practice.
Put another way, if you are always fearful or conservative, how can you do anything other than repeat your past successful movements? If you try something new it could mean a broken tooth, jaw, elbow, finger in they eye, etc.
In our Academy we have always believed in randori as an essential aid to training. It is not "real fighting" - it isn't intended to be. It occupies the same role as play dogfights - a chance to learn without injury. To learn about your strengths and weaknesses and develop new skills in a controlled environment.
Here is a video I compiled today of footage taken in previous years of our "randori" sparring:
The other crucial aspect to randori is that it insists that the sparring take place entirely within what I have called the "melee" range...
Interesting. "Randori" in the judo dojos where I've practiced has generally referred to free-style judo play, not any kind of taking-turns-you-throw-me-then-I'll-throw-you back and forth.
But this is half the fun of cross-training and learning about other styles. People use many of the same terms, but employ divergent interpretations. My karate school recently switched the terms "uchi uke" and "soto uke." Why? Go figure.
Anyway, thanks for the response.
I suppose the "free style" element of our randori corresponds with the "free style" element of judo. Also the "ju" in our randori is about as soft as the "ju" in "judo".
As to the "uchi" and "soto" thing - I think I understand why. "Inside/outside" block can refer to the inside/outside of your opponent or it can refer to the inside/outside of your forearm. What you choose as the defining element can cause the names to "swap".
Interesting. "Randori" in the judo dojos where I've practiced has generally referred to free-style judo play, not any kind of taking-turns-you-throw-me-then-I'll-throw-you back and forth.
But this is half the fun of cross-training and learning about other styles. People use many of the same terms, but employ divergent interpretations. My karate school recently switched the terms "uchi uke" and "soto uke." Why? Go figure.
This one's curious why you don't use the traditional term, "kumite." There is certainly nothing remotely "soft" about judo randori.
Hi Robin
There are 2 reasons why we use the term:
First - history. The term "kumite" ("an encounter with hands") is often taken to refer to the ippon shobu type non-contact fighting or, alternatively, contact fighting (admittedly it doesn't need to mean this). For some reason or other the term "randori" was appropriated by the IOGKF and our off-shoot in the late 60s or early 70s to describe the continuously flowing practice fighting method. In our school we now use the term "kumite" generically. Hence our syllabus specifies various kumite requirements: kihon (standing) kumite, ippon kumite, jiyu ippon kumite (semi-free style sparring), tuide (grappling), embu (demonstrations or 2 person forms), randori and many others.
Second - Unless I am mistaken, in judo the concept of "randori" has a "taking turns" element to it. This is actually the essence of karate randori as well, although not to the same extent. Keeping the flow going often involves giving up ground you have taken, thereby letting your partner back into the "game". Sometimes it involves leaving openings so your opponent can experiment.
You'll note that there is nothing all that "soft" about some of our randori shown on the video - it is often what IOGKF call "irikumi ju" (where "irikumi go" involves hard/full contact, albeit not to certain areas). However we see "flowing sparring" as a spectrum and find it hard to see where "randori" ends and "irikumi ju" begins.
