Karate: What Goes into this Great Sport

Gakuji Tozaki interviewed by Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata 2008-2010, Kochi 2018-2020)

This interview was conducted prior to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics postponement.

Gakuji Tozaki is a karateka who has competed at a high level for the United States. This transcript has been edited for clartiy and flow.

Gakuji Tozaki has a YouTube channel.

In the United States, we see sensei and instructors as coaches. It’s okay to talk to them normally. I talk to them when I want to. I ask them questions. When I don’t know something, I tell them I don’t know. I say things to make something clear because I don’t understand. But in Japan, it’s not really the same case. Especially in martial arts. If the instructor says something, you just do it. My instructor in the United States was kinda like that. As I became an adult, that slowly changed because my opinion mattered more as I became an adult. So I questioned my sensei in America.

But the difference between the Japanese martial arts environment and American sports environment was big. So, there’s a big difference between a shihan and a coach. It’s kind of disrespectful to talk to a shihan in the first place. To me, it’s kind of weird because when I don’t know something or I want to make something clear, I want to talk to them. In Japan, senseis and shihans are very prestigious and they’re really respected. I didn’t experience that hierarchy in the United States, so it was something that I had a hard time with. It’s everywhere in Japan. Even in school, when you have a senpai, you always have to call him senpai. On the other hand, in the States, that’s totally different. In Japan, I feel like it’s a whole working environment.

In Japan, you have to respect your sensei. You can’t talk to them as much. You don’t question, you just do. But in the States, we talk, we communicate, and we get to that goal in the fastest way possible. So that’s one of the hardest things that I have experienced. But other than that, Japan has really advanced sensei, they’re really knowledgeable.

As the tournament gets closer, I focus on the flow of the techniques. I focus on small details and things I can do really well. It kinda relates to how students approach exams. I’m a grad school student right now so once the test approaches, I don’t really try to cram things I don’t know. But I focus on things I know. That way, I feel like it’s more efficient to get points. I get points from things that I know.

It’s the same way for karate. I know that I’m more of a speed technique, cleanness accuracy guy. A lot of people praise me for how well my techniques are executed. So I focus on the sharpness, speed, and cleanness of the kata. I focus on the intensity and the application behind the kata. So when people are watching me, they really see what I do when I do the actual kata.

Good kata show the opponent basically. If you can see the opponent when the person is doing the kata, then you know that person is someone real. If you don’t see the opponent or if it’s just movement, there’s no meaning behind the technique, then that person doesn’t really get the whole point of the kata. I try to focus on the application portion of the kata and what I do really well at.

I don’t really go full-out when I practice. If I put 100% of my effort into training, it won’t come out during the fight or competition. What I focus on is the movements, how my body’s moving, how my body’s coordinating. I think karateka mostly focus on using their body like a whip—the more they harden, the techniques get weaker. Our body movement has to flow all together. When I practice, that's what I focus on—to coordinate my body as one.

Also, what I really focus on is the recovery portion. I think the worst thing you can do as an athlete is to not recover enough so that you can’t compete or practice the next day. Let’s say you teach someone to go 100% all the time. The fatigue level increases so much that it gets to the point where the athlete doesn’t improve at all. Even if you teach him a new skill they end up plateauing. But once they introduce recovery to the training, even if they don’t go back to 100%, they can get close to it, their level of learning increases. So that’s why I really try to focus on recovering as much as I can. That goes hand in hand with how I practice.

I think that was the beginning of what really fueled my passion as a karateka. Until 12, I only saw karateka in the United States. I had never crossed the ocean to compete with other athletes. So when I went to Japan, I really felt the big difference between the athletes there and how advanced they are. That really fueled my hunger to get better. I thought I was one of the best in the States, but when it came to Japan, that totally went away. I knew I had to get better. But it was a great experience overall.

I want to say this on behalf of all the athletes that are competing in the Olympics. It’s surreal because it’s amazing that it’s the first time karate is in the Olympics. And all our sensei and senpai were raised getting told that one day, karate would be in the Olympics. But it never appeared. Finally, in 2020, karate will make its debut, and it’s in Tokyo. So if I had the chance to compete, I’d be really excited. I feel like it would be great to be able to compete in the country where the sport you love was born. I think it will be an amazing experience for all the athletes who get to go and compete.

Very significant. Very, very significant. I really hope karate gets bigger. I hope karate fans promote the sport to make it more popular overall. There are a lot of karateka but it’s small compared to some others. I hope karate gets more popular, and I think that will lead to an increase in the level of athletes because there’s more competition obviously. As it becomes more popular, I hope the rules start to change so it becomes fairer to the athletes so that anyone has a chance to compete in the Olympics. I hope it gets to the point where it’s a sport that we see all the time on TV.

I actually think the favorite to win the gold is Ryo Kiyuna from Japan. What makes him the best is his strength, his speed, his application, his techniques are clean. Japan is very good at kata. So he’s already considered to be the guy that’s closest to gold in karate. He hasn’t lost in the Premier League like . . . ever. And then there’s Damian Quintero. He’s very strong, he’s very athletic. I don’t think his technique is the best. But he’s very athletic, so the referees like that.

Kiyuna went on to win gold in the men’s kata final. Quintero won silver.

I think the top two competitors are Kiyou Shimizu of Japan and Sandra Sanchez of Spain. I don’t know what will ultimately happen (in the Olympics). Last year (2019), Sandra Sanchez won more than Kiyou Shimizu in the Premier League. I think she won five or six versus Kiyou winning three. So I really don’t know what’s going to happen. Stats wise, it might be Sandra Sanchez. But again it’s in Japan. There’s obviously a home advantage (for Shimizu). Everyone in the crowd is probably going to be cheering for Kiyou. She’s not a bad athlete, either. I would say the percentage between their wins and losses would be 50-50. I really don’t know which one’s gonna win. Last Premier League in Tokyo (in Sept. 2019), Kiyou beat Sanchez. But every Premier League after that, Sanchez beat Kiyou. So we won’t really know what’s gonna happen.

Sanchez went on to beat Shimizu and claimed the first gold medal for women’s kata. She has also been recognised by the Guinness World Records for winning the most medals (35) in the Karate1 Premier League.

It’s really difficult to teach someone what the athletes are doing in kata. What I would recommend is to really think about what they’re doing, why are they executing this technique against their opponent. What I can ask them to do is to visualize the opponent. Another easy thing to see is their intensity. Which one looks more fierce? Their speed, their athleticism. Do you think they can move that fast? How athletic do you think they are? Look at how strong they’re moving. The easy stuff like that.

Gakuji Tozaki is an American karateka from San Diego. He has medaled in numerous international competitions, including this year’s Pan American Championships in Uruguay. Tozaki didn’t qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but he participated in the World Championships in Dubai in November 2021

Rashaad Jorden was a two-time JET—first in Yamagata Prefecture from 2008 to 2010, and in Kochi Prefecture from 2018 to 2020. During his JET experiences, he completed the Tokyo Marathon in 2010 and the Kochi Ryoma Marathon twice, 2019 and 2020. He also served as the Sports Editor for CONNECT from Sept. 2019 to July 2020.