Kyoshi Paul Enfield 8th Dan Masterclass

Article written by Andy Lovegrove 2nd kyu, a true scholar: teacher, education consultant, musician, pianist and a wonderful karateka. A true man of budo!

Andy Lovegrove and Kyoshi Paul Enfield

Andy Lovegrove and Kyoshi Paul Enfield

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Sensei Fernando M. Angulo (of Surrey Karate Academy) had the great pleasure to host and welcome an Internationally Renowned Karate Ka Celebrity, Sensei Paul Enfield, 8th Dan (just arrived from California) at the Riverbourne Health Club, in Chertsey, Surrey on Sunday 09.09.18 for a one off Karate Master Class Session.

It was an unexpected opportunity and one not to be missed! We were delighted that 16 karate kas could attend this Master Class at short notice. There were also several observers present in the Master Class Dojo at Riverbourne.
Sensei Paul Enfield presented a highly intellectual three hour Karate Master Class with a viva voce question and answer section during the interval.

The karate landscape coverage content was functional, meaningful and purposeful rather than any stylized approach to karate as seen in mainstream sports karate.

Sensei Enfield spoke about a karate ka’s technique can be irrelevant without getting the position of your adversary in the right place. Create the opportunities in order to apply your technique with the right position and angle. It was also about absorbing (receiving) and transforming the energy in a series of paired partner practical “Connector Drills” to work on the flow, and thus feel the opposite energy of your partner to create an opportunity and apply a technique.

Karate kas had to imagine real life scenarios (in the master class workshop) and that meant taking your opponent’s space by stepping into it with the feeling of contraction and expansion, and knowing how energy works by displacement of body structure.

Sensei Enfield had in effect painted a full canvas of a karate ka’s biomechanic technology in a karate landscape of real life situ with thick oils for us to go away and think about, to further develop our neural pathways. This was so evocative of our late, early nineteenth century English Romantic Landscape Painter, John Constable, being one of the first landscape artists in a time where landscapes were then regarded as a lower form of art than history or genre paintings. Though Constable knew then that his landscapes were real and functional and purposeful, just like our Karate Master Class Workshop!

John Constable said, “Painting is but another word for feeling”, and Sensei Paul Enfield certainly demonstrated what is meant by a karate ka’s state of feeling with his flash lightening “Ju Go Ju” (Soft Hard Soft) approach.

It was a real pleasure to attend this Karate Master Class, for each karate ka delegate only had to lift up their eyes to see a whole karate cinema of kaleidoscopic mirrors and rotating coloured pieces of glass!

Our sincere and grateful thanks are extended to Sensei Fernando M. Angulo (and Brad Candy) for initiating and organising this Master Class at such short notice. Fernando Angulo was indeed our most fortunate circumstance!

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