The Uechi Way
Uechi-Ryu is a close fighting system. This means that the Karateka gets close in to an attacker in order to 'tie them up'. This makes it hard for the attacker to engage in high kicks or long lunge attacks. The Uechi-Ryu system prefers instead to administer short, close range kicks and punches and encorporates a degree of grappling in order to subdue the opponant. The Karateka understands that in a real fight, they will get hit at some point. This is why so much of the students time is taken up with body conditioning in order to toughen up the body and to enable the student to get used to being punched and kicked so that if it happens for real it will not shock the student into submission.
Uechi-Ryu traditional 'close' sparring
Unlike many other forms of Martial Arts. Uechi-Ryu sparring is performed
at close quarters. The student will not stop moving but instead constantly
kicks, punches and blocks. Usually, there are no points to be scored
as in sport Karate but instead the students will constantly spar for
an alloted time and a winner is judged on merit and focus.
