Uechiryu Karate 9th dan Takehiro Gaja
Gaja-sensei, a lovely Okinawan man in his late 60’s, who after years of conditioning, has become both the unstoppable force and the immovable object.
Uechiryu Karate 9th dan Takehiro Gaja
Uechiryu Karate is in my opinion the toughest of the karate styles. It is based around brutal conditioning of the body so that, if required, the person can endure heavy blows and then deal out a devastating response.
Uechiryu Karate 9th dan Takehiro Gaja
Conditioning fists, forearms and shins is done through striking punch bags, wooden boards and even concrete pillars. Gaja-sensei demonstrated his technique for conditioning fingertips. Fill a bucket with stones (or sand if you’re taking it easy) and then punch with an open hand deep into the bucket of stones.
Uechiryu Karate 9th dan Takehiro Gaja – Fingertip Conditioning
So why condition the fingers to such an extent? The answer is simple and brutal. Poking someone in the ribs is more effective if you can literally reach in through the rib cage and remove some of them.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 
The size of those rocks in the bucket is intimidating to anyone who – like myself, does this kind of training. If he hit you with his knife-hand that’d be all she wrote.
It’s a good job that those indestructible hands are attached to the nicest man you could possible meet 🙂