The Vitruvian Shotokan Karateka

Every martial art has "stances" and I would have to think that when most people imagine any martial art they picture a classic stance.  Heck, you can even purchase figurines showing various Tai Chi Chuan stances...which is a bit ironic since a practitioner of Tai Chi Chuan is supposed to always flow, never assuming any static posture. I think there is an important point to be made here: stances are not supposed to be static positions; they are merely transient conditions which the practitioner flows through. Shotokan Karate has the added element of "kime" where the practitioner locks down with snapping contraction at the completion of each technique.  One consideration here is the root source of the word "kime": it comes from the verb for "decision". That implies a tipping point where the practitioner makes a change of directions or actions: the practitioner does not actually freeze or stop: they merely finish one action and start the next....

 VITRUVIAN SHOTOKAN JUST THE BASICS As a very basic introduction to me and my concept here. I am an over-the-hill, dumpy white guy who still pretends to be athletic. I am closer to 60 than I want to be and I have been involved in martial arts since my early twenties. The majority of my time training has been in Shotokan style, and most of that was with the traditionalist ITKF.  I have a really good basic knowledge of Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan (great for training while injured), a year with Shorin Ryu and a few bizarre seminars with a Ninjutsu fanatic that introduced me to crazy Vietnam vets who like to play with knives. My concept was originally an illustrated manual of karate technique showing in detail the actions, the transitional movements and the bio-mechanics of the movements (what muscles do what and when).  I always thought that the skills of a great graphic artist would really help my efforts but, unfortunately, I have NO artistic ability beyond...