Training for Technique

Now the young man on the roof assumed a low posture, holding the straw mat aloft against the raging wind. The stance he took was most impressive, for he stood as if astride a horse. Indeed, anyone who knew karate could readily have seen that the youth was taking the horse riding stance, the most stable of all karate stances, and that he was making use of the howling typhoon to refine his technique and to further strengthen both body and mind. The wind struck the mat and youth with full force, but he stood his ground and did not flinch.

This was Sensei Gichin Funakoshi, founder of modern day karate, who withstood a typhoon, to perfect his basic technique.