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Hey all, It was on this day, 24 years ago, that we launched this community. Last year, at this time, I opened up public testing for a new version of KarateForums.com on modern software. We were still on our (very) old software that eventually would have led to this community breaking and simply ceasing to exist. After months of testing (between the staff and member testing periods) and years of testing behind the scenes that I had completed with @Chrispian, we migrated to our new platform over an intense 4 days culminating in an opening on September 9, 2024. Over 8 months later, it's clear to me that our combined efforts were a big success. Our slowly breaking platform is no longer breaking and, in fact, updates to the latest version of our software have been installed multiple times, helping to ensure our platform remains online and secure. All the work that @Chrispian and the folks at Invision Community did (along with my annoying insistence, ha) to ensure that passwords would work paid off. Whether you registered in 2001 or 2021, your password worked when our new site launched. It has all worked so well, and I'm grateful for your help and support. 24 years is such a long-time, and with it, there are so many people that have made a mark on this community over the years. I'd like to extend a thanks to all the members who made amazing contributions since our migration. This includes @ashworth, @aurik, @Bradlee, @bushido_man96, @Chuck, @crash, @DarthPenguin, @Drew, @Fat Cobra, @Himokiri Karate, @JazzKicker, @KarateKen, @Luther unleashed, @Montana, @Nidan Melbourne, @pandaGIRL, @Revario, @RJCKarate, @ryanryu, @sensei8, @Spartacus Maximus, @Wado Heretic, @Wastelander, @Wayofaswede, @Zaine, and others! Thank you! I celebrated today by uploading an avatar for the first time in several years, since I tried to change my old Yankees logo into something else and realized avatars were 100% broken on the old site! On that note, I'll continue to bring enhancements (mostly small, occasionally bigger than that) to this community, but the main thing I wanted to do was to get us on modern software that would be up-to-date, because that will naturally introduce new features over time, too! My ability to do things here always rests on the time I can squirrel away from chasing my toddler and other pursuits. Thank you to everyone who has made KarateForums.com a special place to be and, if you're reading this, that's probably you! This also means that next year will mark 25 years! Which is a massive milestone. Which means we now need to think about ideas to celebrate that! Please feel free to let me know if you have any. Thanks again, Patrick

After six pages of discussion, I think it is clear that the proposal is full of risks. Injury, cost, retaining students, ect, and furthermore is very limited in what it teaches the students. The risks are much higher than the reward. I encourage the OP to reconsider this proposal, if that has not been done already.

First of all, welcome to the forum! You sure are coming out swinging with this subject! What you are proposing is essentially pre-Queensbury bareknuckle boxing, with the slight modification of not allowing punches to the head instead of it simply being uncommon due to the danger of injury. That's fine, but it's not karate. The way I see it, Shotokan and Kyokushin both significantly diminished the effective curriculum of karate by focusing almost exclusively on kicking and punching in their sparring, to begin with. You are then proposing to take one of those arts and strip it down even more so that it is just punching the body. At that point, you're just doing bareknuckle boxing. Everything that makes it karate is gone. You essentially admit that you understand this when you point out that it isn't a style of karate, and that it can be slapped onto any curriculum. I am in no way trying to offend you when I say this, but it sounds, to me, as if you DON'T actually want to train in or teach karate. Nothing in your post suggests, to me, that you actually value the art, as it is. You just value full-contact fighting, and you don't like how people are doing it. I'm afraid I will have to contradict your position on protective gear and the value of body-only sparring, as well. The fact of the matter is that protective gear allows for more consistent sparring without injury, at all levels of contact, whether you like it or not, and sparring without punches to the head develops very bad habits that will carry over into every form of fighting you try to do. As others have already mentioned, you will also have a hard time dealing with insurance as a full-contact school that uses no protective gear. I just don't see enough value in this methodology to outweigh the issues, and I certainly don't see why it should be attached to karate, at all.

OH MY GOSH... I just realized that if you look closely at the URL of this thread: https://karateforums.com/topic/52125-24-years-of-karateforumscom/ "52125" 5/21/2025. Today! That is wild! That number is simply an accumulating number that counts upward with each new topic posted here. I can't even begin to fathom the odds of that happening, like having the exact number of threads/topics here over 24 years to lead up to the day we turn 24 where the number of this topic matches the day we turn 24.

It's been a full year now without a drink. I promise this is the final update

CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE UPDATE: I saw my kidney doctor, Dr. Marwah Al-Khazaali, M.D., and she says that my last bloodwork shows that my numbers went down!! That means that I’m in between stage 3 and stage 2, which is great news!! My kidney doctor was very happy with my progress!! She wants to see me in 5 months!! She wants me to stay away from SALT!!!!! *NOTE: I’m sorry that I’m posting ALL of my different medical updates within my prostate cancer thread, and I know it might be quite confusing to follow, but I thought it might be best to post ALL of my medical updates here in this thread instead of starting new medical threads for each.

I have personally tossed around and dropped Kyokushin 1st, 2nd, and 5th Dans, while I was a 2st Dan, myself. These sorts of generalizations and style-vs-style claims don't hold up, and don't serve any real purpose.

You say "Always" but there is a flaw to your logic. Kyokushin in itself as a whole has their own specific rules when it comes to kumite in the dojo and for tournaments. In comparison to the "other" styles where they all often compete against one another with a unified ruleset. At tournaments here in Australia we have National All Styles (NAS); which all styles (including Kyokushin) compete under the same rules. And Kyokushin Fighters often are at a disadvantage when it comes to those bouts. Then we have Karate Australia; which operates under World Karate Federation (WKF) Rules. So no Kyokushin Dojos have joined or compete in those tournaments. So for your logic to work effectively; you would need fighters to fight on an even basis where the competitors can demonstrate their styles to their fullest. Which in my mind is close to the UFC. Now something I do when teaching, but with Adults with sufficient experience and their consent and forms signed stating that they didn't hold me, the club or the other participants liable for injury. Is to do rounds of sparring; but as close to realistic as possible so slaps, grabbing, pushing, shoving all that fun is ok. But to start our rounds we just bow to each other as a whole, and go. But we do also rounds with specific situations; but we don't give the "attackers" or "defenders" any guidelines on what to do. Just to either be a threat or stop the fight.

Thus far, you’ve received solid feedback to your OP question. Instead of providing more detailed information/explanatios to your enquirer, please allow me a more simplified answer… Whether a kata is or isn’t either “beginner” or “advanced”…one’s Governing Body makes that decision.

I consider ukemi to be one of the absolutely most important lessons I ever learned in martial arts. It literally saved my life once. About 15 years ago, I was visiting family near Aspen, CO. I was carrying a large box in both hands on an icy patch of ground. My feet slipped out from underneath me, and I went from vertical to horizontal in an instant. If I had not known instinctively to land flat on my back with my chin tucked firmly to my chest, I would likely not be here today.

Although I'm not looking to set concrete goals like above, my hope is to put more time into Aikido and BJJ. This will get easier when wrestling season is done. I do hope to test again in Aikido this year.

Key factors about Shindokan: 1) We never block an attack 2) We want to get behind our attackers 3) We want to be very close to our attacker 4) We don’t back up Today, I briefly want to address key factor #1: We never block an attack; we deflect said attack. Dai-Soke describes how we execute our Uke, deflection, in an interesting analysis. He says the Shindokan Deflection is similar to catching a football. A) Position Your Body Correctly!! Poor body position will greatly affect your effectiveness. Therefore, one’s focus should be towards improving your position. Your position should be facing directly towards your attacker. Why?? Shortest answer: Shortest path between two points is a straight line; anything else is unnecessary. B) Position Your Hands Correctly!! With your arms in front of you at a 45 degree angle network. Network for us means that your upper body and hands are in agreement. Whether you’re in a front facing, half-front facing, or side facing posture. In short, your position and hands should not be like you’re playing a game of Twister. C) Catch The Attack!! Hand usages are not arbitrary nor are they suggestions. Rather they’re directives towards to either accepting said deflection or seizing said attack. When deflecting, ones directing said attacking force where you want it to finish. Therefore you’re hands aide you to catch said attack. When thereafter, you seize the attack immediately either by with your hand(s) or your arm(s) or with your hand(s) and arm(s). Our strong desire is to not use our hands to seize said attack because a free hand is unlimited, while a engaged hand is limited; we hate to seize ourselves while we’re trying to seize said attacker. D) Tuck The Attack!! To control our attacker during a close range attack, we must tuck the attack like a football player would after they catch/receive the football. A football player doesn’t want that football to get away because if they do, either a incompletion or fumble will result. Well, once we deflect, we want to control, and to control we must tuck said attack into me, not away from me but making said attack a part of my body so my attacker doesn’t get away from me. All of those factors take minuscule amounts of time to execute. Our goal in any Uke for us is the setup that helps us to get behind our attacker. Shortly, I’ll briefly address key factor #2 about Shindokan: Getting Behind Our Attacker.

Thanks for the run-down. It's great to read. I do have a few things to offer. For one, you really aren't saying anything new here. There are people training out there that feel the same way. As you mentioned, you do have a small group of like-minded individuals training with you, and you find great enjoyment in that. I'd cling to that, and keep training otherwise just to keep training and learning. Keep an open mind; you might not like everything an instructor teaches, but he may teach something that you do like, and that can make the whole experience worthwhile. I've done Krav Maga training in the police combatives setting a few times. I found the training quite valuable, however, I'm not sure I'd want to train that way all the time. It's quite taxing on the body, but it is very beneficial training. However, we did not do any sparring in those settings, which I'm sure would be very different, and very beneficial. Have you had the opportunity to attend any of Iain Abernethey's seminars? It sounds to me like that kind of training approach would be right up your alley. If he ever comes close to my area, I'd like to attend one, even though I'm not even a Karate practitioner. You should look into Blauer Tactical Systems. Tony Blauer has spent years looking into the psychology of fear and fear management, and the physiology of self-defense. He's mainly in the Law Enforcement/Military circles, teaching defensive tactics, but his organization does have some general public offerings, like his "Be Your Own Bodyguard" seminars. You could move, that's an option. However, I don't think you'll necessarily find more interest by moving. What I would recommend is to keep training in the style you mentioned you chose, gain more rank, and then strike out on your own. Having some certified rank behind you will go a long way in lending you some credibility in establishing your own dojo. In the meantime, build your curriculum, write up handbook on it, and make a plan for delivering your system. Now, I would also mention this: you've mentioned that you have a small group of like-minded individuals you train with, and I'm just guessing that is a pretty small group. It's highly likely that you'll be appealing to a very limited group of people, so it could be likely that you never have more than a handful of students at any time. And that's ok. But if you find that you lose students due to your approach, you may consider some training options for those seeking a different experience. If you don't care about that, and you only wish to train others the way you want to train, just realize it may limit the students that come to you for training. This sounds a bit extreme. If you truly enjoy training, keep it going. If it bothers you so much that others don't want to do it your way, then I guess you'd have no choice but to quit to save yourself the mental anguish. I could have quit training at my TKD school some time ago because of several things I don't like about the training approaches, teaching to the tests, curriculum additions, and because we don't always approach things from my point of view. But if I do that, then I wouldn't get the opportunity to present things my way when I have the opportunity to teach. I'd rather bide my time and work my things in when I can. And by continuing to train, I stay in the loop and find new and different opportunities to improve myself or learn something new. I also realize that not everyone wants to train the way I train, and not everyone seeks out the same goals in training that I do. And I'm ok with that. I'm not going to pound the table to those who don't believe or want to do things my way. Instead of pounding the table, I'll sit at the table, take notes, write up articles, concepts, and syllabi, and move myself forward on my journey in the Martial Arts. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I hope this helps you out.

It sounds like your approach to the Pinans is the same as it was originally, for the youth. I agree with your assessment that if the applications can be found in other kata, then the redundancy just isn't necessary. I'm not a fan of curriculum for curriculum's sake.

Oh, it's definitely controversial. Some people get REALLY mad about it. My view, though, is similar to Yabu Kentsu, who said "if you have time to practice Pinan, practice Kusanku, instead," although there is also material from Passai and Chinto in the Pinan series. Basically, the Pinan kata were developed by Itosu for his school PE karate program, and while they do have valid and effective applications, almost all of those applications can be found in the older kata. Additionally, I've found that teaching the Pinan series and then teaching Kusanku, Passai, and Chinto actually makes it MORE difficult for students to learn the older kata, not less, as is often claimed. It takes a long time for them to be able to stop mixing up the kata, because there are such similar sequences. I don't have any issue with the concept of yakusoku kumite, but the way that most yakusoku kumite is designed is just bad. The distance is too large, the techniques are applied impractically, the attacks are unrealistic, etc.

My tried and true method: 1. Mix 1 part dish detergent (preferably clear, blue, green, or yellow. I worry about red "kool aid" looking stains from other colors) and 1 part peroxide. 2. Dip a toothbrush into the solution, and use the toothbrush to brush out as much of the stain as you can. 3. Put some baking soda on the wet area you just brushed, and rub it in with your finger. 4. Let it sit for an hour, clean the toothbrush. 5. Mix 1 part water and 1 part white vinegar. Also, have a separate cup of water and a cloth. 6. Dip the toothbrush into the vinegar solution and brush out the areas with the baking soda. You'll want to use the separate cup of water and a cloth to removed any baking soda from the bristles, as you don't want any baking soda to get into the vinegar solution. 7. Throw the gi into the washer. Every stain you can possibly imagine, I've removed with this method. Blood will take few washes after this to go away completely, but it still works.

I've been enjoying it immensely. It's can be hard to teach your children, especially at first. You're their parent, and kids have a hard time switching into that mode of learning rather than just being your child. Anyone with a child who was in school during lockdown can tell you this. However, it is very rewarding.

There are few things in martial arts practise that are as rewarding as the opportunity to share it with one’s own child. Generations ago it was much more common for parents skilled in something to actually pass it down and teach/train a son or daughter. The possibility of this is actually a great personal reason to keep practicing.

Been a while since I posted. So recent times, I got in to keto diets and surprisingly enough, its pretty darn good! Like I noticed use of carbs and fat is a moving target. If I carb up, I can go without carbs for few days and feel incredible if glycogen is full like having a dinner party but then I need to fill in my glycogen with carbs again. But I just noticed that this is a new dimension in to my karate training. Also I have been really working on my Himokiri Karate or should I say lots and lots of Nukite and I noticed its getting significantly better and actually training nukite really helps with accuracy in boxing and throwing punches straight down the pipe and the diet does help because you feel calm energy and I feel more of a relaxed/less excited and so I end up focused more on accuracy and laser focus strikes vs volume work. One important thing to mention is, I ease up on meat consumption. Still consume it but not in excess. I love to hear if any karateka has tried keto diets before? If so what did you eat? How did you feel? What did your karate turn in to?

My first student was my child. Unless you want a more philosophical answer, in which case I was my first student.

Here is an example of the wolf whistle. It got its name largely thanks to cartoons using the imagery of a wolf (sometimes having other cartoon animals morph into having wolf like features to do so) while whistling. I think it's less about wolf whistle being his biggest regret, and more about an acceptance of the past. I have things that are much larger and personal regrets than not knowing how to wolf whistle or roll my Rs. However, these regrets shaped me. Our regrets shape us all and it's up to us to find the positive lessons in those regrets. Regrets teach us about ourselves, they are the strongest way to understand who we are as a person. One of my biggest "regrets" was from when I was 14 years old and I became physically aggressive with my best friend's mom. The fallout of that taught me a lot about who I was, and how I wanted to shape myself going forward. If I could go back, I would change how I received that lesson, but I would not change what I learned. The situation actually brought me a lot closer to all involved parties after I got help with processing what it was that was going on with me internally. It also helped focus what I wanted out of martial arts.

I think to be a well trained martial artist of any type, you need to learn to fall- especially if you're a kicker! I started out with judo as a kid, and my first karate teacher was also a renowned Olympic Judo coach, so it's always been in my toolkit. But yeah, in TSD it wasn't covered much, either, and when I started Hapkido we did breakfalls, though with some differences.

It is my understanding that kata oyo, and the bunkai process by which you derive them, weren't taught all that much by Funakoshi Gichin, and which were almost entirely left behind by Funakoshi Gichin's son and his contemporaries, so that by the end of WW2 pretty much everyone doing Shotokan wasn't learning oyo or bunkai. After WW2, the Okinawans needed to rebuild, and teaching karate to the soldiers stationed there was one way to get the money for that, but many of those soldiers had friends stationed on mainland Japan learning Shotokan, and so that's the sort of karate they wanted to learn. At least some of the Okinawan instructors during that era stopped teaching kata application because their students simply weren't interested in it. They also tended to issue those soldiers yudansha grades between 1st and 3rd Dan during their tours of duty, with the expectation they would come back to Okinawa to continue their education, and that's probably where the "bunkai is for black belts" thing really came about. Most likely, those soldiers just didn't learn kata application while stationed on Okinawa, and only picked it up later, and so they assumed it was black belt material, or they made their students wait until black belt to learn it so they could market it as some sort of "secret knowledge." Now, personally, I think this is a terrible approach, even as an attempt at retaining students. We all know that most people who train in martial arts who make it past the first year will still end up quitting when they earn their black belt, and that happens regardless of where you stick the "secret knowledge" of your curriculum. All this ends up doing is producing a bunch of people who trained in karate long enough to earn a black belt who have no idea how to actually use the classical material of the art, which makes karate look watered down, outdated, and ineffective. On top of that, it is cheating the individual students out of valuable skills for self-defense! My late Sensei taught application right along side the kata, and I do so, as well. This has left just about every student we've ever had with not only a better understanding of the art, but more appreciation for it, and an awareness that there is more to karate than point fighting tournaments and Kyokushin.

I have attended plenty of seminars over the years (mainly BJJ ones) and usually i find the following things important : The level of the instructor delivering the session is important (eg i went to a couple of Rickson Gracie seminars which were superb and i signed up straight away based on who was teaching without even asking what the material to be covered was). He was also extremely personable when he delivered his seminars and genuinely cared that people were learning - i have never forgotten him asking a quite new white belt if he was ok with a technique, getting the usual mumbled "yeah it's fine" response and then calling the guy out and personally drilling it with him for 5min (both performing the technique so the student could feel what it felt like and being uke) until he was comfortable that the student was getting a handle on it. In most cases (after all most people aren't Rickson etc.) then the material to be covered is by far the most important thing to me. I don't attend every seminar that our BJJ school puts on (or my judo class) as while i know that the person teaching is infinitely more skilled than me and i would no doubt learn something, if it is something i don't think would be a good fit for me or something i would be able to use then i don't attend. e.g. i am reasonably large (6'4" and 105kg) so if the seminar is something on ultra flexible inversions and LW style BJJ then i am unlikely to attend, but the second i saw we had Jon Thomas teaching a Collar & Sleeve seminar (which was great!) i signed up instantly. Also what i think i would get from it in relation to the cost factors in - for me i am pretty new to judo so anything any good teacher shows me will be an improvement, i am not probably good enough to benefit from a seminar properly so it doesnt feel like a good use of money (though as i improve i am more likely to look into it over time) If it is someone who will be teaching regular seminars then it could also be good for the potential student body at the hosting school to have an input into what is being taught - that would definitely lead to a lot of buy in i think! Credentials are important too if someone isn't a famous name - eg if there are two black belts offering seminars in De La Riva and i have heard of neither of them but one of them is a black belt under the De La Riva lineage directly then i would opt for them - similarly a seminar on fundamentals of jiu jitsu and someone is under the Roger Gracie tree etc. etc.

NANI!!???? They CANNOT go 100 percent!!!! I train in sambo/judo and believe me, you cannot go 100 percent. In fact BJJ fighters get tons of injuries and ground fighting can be brutal because some people cant control themselves and spaz out big time trying to power through the next move. In judo and Sambo, you have to breakfall like a million reps for very long time and have EXCELLENT conditioning, you have to be very strong and flexible to endure all the turns, twist and high impact throws. This is not something you gain just walking to a grappling gym even if its a more of a lax ground style absent of big throws and takedowns. Also you can easily pull a muscle when you are defending submission attempts and getting suddenly reversed or countered in submission exchanges and scrambles. If you train with Japanese and Russians, they take conditioning VERY SERIOUSLY and are stringent with making sure students are well trained in the basics to keep themselves safe from the chaos of grappling and the intensity that comes with it. BJJ culture has a tendency to, how do I put this, glamorise what they are offering...

Obligatory: I am not a lawyer, and you must refer to the laws in your country/region/state/locality/etc, because they can be VERY different depending on where you are. Where I live, now, use of force in self-defense is justified if the victim sincerely believes there is a credible threat to their safety or the safety of someone else. This means that, in your hypothetical scenario, use of force is justified if you sincerely feel that your safety is threatened by the aggressive man invading your personal space. Generally, deadly force is only justified to stop grievous bodily harm or death, so it would not be appropriate to, for example, stab the aggressor in this scenario, unless they were larger/stronger, supported by a group, or had a weapon of their own, and you felt that your only way to stay alive was to end their life. You may have to testify to this in court. It's also important to bear in mind that, legality aside, maiming a person or ending their life with a weapon is VERY traumatic, and you will almost certainly need mental health services after the fact. As for the techniques or weapons you use, there is generally a force continuum that should be in place in your self-defense skill set to appropriately deal with threats, because if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and if all you have is a firearm, everything looks like a target. People like to say "there are no rules in the streets" and "better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6," but there ARE rules--they're called "laws"--and if you end up in prison, you didn't make it home safely, which is the whole point of self-defense. The force continuum that you use is going to vary based on your training, but for me, I like to group things as follows: Low-risk threats (verbally abusive, escalating speech, shoving, etc.) - Escape and evasion, or restraint using pins and joint locks Medium-risk threats (punches, kicks, headbutts, etc.) - Escape and evasion, or strikes, throws, joint dislocations, and strangleholds to disable/knock out attacker or deescalate threat level High-risk threats (significant physical disadvantage, group violence, weapons, etc.) - Escape and evasion, or purpose-built and improvised weapons, strikes, throws, joint dislocations, and strangleholds to potentially kill or disable/knock out attacker or deescalate threat level Now, escape and evasion isn't always possible, and sometimes even when it is possible, it may not be the best course of action, such as in the case of a home invasion where you need to protect your family from the threat. Additionally, everyone's lines between those levels of threats will vary, based on a number of factors, not the least of which will be physical characteristics and level of training. The more physically gifted you are, or more well-trained you are, the more intense a threat generally needs to be for you to consider it an escalation. Someone who is 5ft tall, 100lbs, with zero training, could see a threat as high-risk that someone who is 6ft tall, 200lbs, with 10 years of training would consider to be a low-risk threat. Of course, your level of awareness is also going to come into play, because someone with a heightened sense of awareness could notice a knife in someone's pocket, or someone circling to get behind them, raising the threat level to high, while someone with a lower level of awareness might completely miss those things and mistakenly believe that they are in a low-risk situation.

Statistically, the vast majority of male-on-male violence is made up of punches to the head, and I have seen many Kyokushin fighters struggle with defending head punches because of the emphasis on punching the body in their competitions, even though knees and kicks to the head are allowed. I expect this ruleset would have the same result.

I would add a little subtle comment to this; figure out how to train around minor injuries and not make things worse.

That’s quite presumptuous to indicate because, again, it’s the practitioner that one must face on the floor of battle and not the style itself. Imho.

Also, at the risk of sounding slightly rude (if it is then i apologise) can i ask what level you have gotten to in Kyokushin and / or Shotokan? I am much junior rank wise to a lot of the people on here (people don't usually make comments here based on rank which is refreshing) but some of the sentiments i am hearing are similar to ones i have heard before from newer students / members who have not trained enough to work out why some things are as they are. Sorry if this embarasses them but @Wastelander has multiple dan ranks in a variety of styles (including practical karate ones) and @bushido_man96 is a 5th dan in TKD plus works as a LEO (so will have real hands on experience of defence situations) and they both have laid out cogent points as to why body only striking as you espouse may not work for self defence. If you are equally as credentialled / skilled then fair enough but it is possible that this is a case of "you don't know what you don't know".

Thank you all. This is quite the honour to have been awarded this five times. It is humbling. Again, thank you all.

Your statement that "fist fighting was far more common than it is today" is most likely true, in a broad sense, but I don't agree with the proposal that this means karate is "supplementary training for 'the guy who can already fight.'" I'm not sure where you got that idea from, as I have only ever heard that from people who train in MMA and have little to no actual karate experience. I can't think of a single reputable instructor or historian of karate that has made such a claim, and if we are looking specifically at the history of Okinawa and the development of karate, this is simply not the case. The form of combat that the majority of Okinawan people had exposure to and training in was tegumi/muto, a folkstyle no-gi submission grappling sport, meaning that if karate were supplemental to anything, it would be the ability to grapple, largely on the ground. Untrained people certainly got into fist fights, but there was also a saying in Okinawa that went something along the lines of "if you see people fighting with closed fists, move along, but if they fight with open hands, watch and learn." Despite how it is presented in the modern day, karate is much less about punching than people realize. We must also bear in mind that karate was developed by nobility for three main purposes; self-defense, law enforcement, and security/bodyguard work. None of these contexts is really best served by learning how to fist fight, and the people involved in developing these arts were not the sort of men to get involved in fist fights, more often than not. COULD you use the sparring format you propose to teach students "the bare instinct of how to 'fight,' with more traditional karate techniques being taught along side it as...supplementary knowledge?" Honestly, I don't think so. What I DO think you would get out of it is the development of grit and the mindset of aggression, which are definitely beneficial for people who want to learn to fight, and I think that's really what you're getting at, but I think the skillset developed by the format is too limited to actually teach someone how to fight effectively. It also doesn't matter how many other techniques you teach if this is the only type of sparring you do, because if you never use the other techniques in sparring, you'll never develop the skill necessary to use them, so all you will ever use is body shots. I realize that I'm not telling you things that you want to hear, but I truly don't think you're going to get the benefits you're looking for out of the format you've proposed. There is no singular sparring method which is perfect for pressure testing karate, which is why my late Sensei and I employ a layered approach where we employ multiple different sparring formats to develop different skills and attributes, and to cover gaps left by the compromises and limitations of each format. I'm not saying that you shouldn't spar the way you've described, but it has some glaring flaws that need to be addressed by other forms of sparring. I also don't think removing protective gear is beneficial, at all. If you want extra conditioning, do body conditioning bareknuckle in controlled training exercises, as it is traditionally done. Wear protective gear for sparring, not just for insurance purposes, but because it increases the safety, health, and longevity of those involved without significantly reducing the effectiveness of the sparring.

There was one Okinawan teacher who got rid of yakuza types who attempted to intimidate him thinking he was an easily scared old man. They would not so subtly remind everyone that the building where the dojo was and many other parts of the neighborhood was their turf, and therefore owed them something. They often showed up acting arrogant, threatening and belligerent demanding recognition and « respect ». Instead of cowering in fear, the 9th dan 70 something sensei invited the yakuza in and showed them his personal makiwara, which was basically a piece of iron/steel sheet. After striking it a few dozen times with his hands and then with his toes(similar to sokusen kick in uechiryu), he asked if any of the yakuza characters wanted to have a go. One tried to look tough not to loose face, but visibly winced and very obviously could not continue beyond a couple of halfhearted punches. The sensei asked if anyone else wanted to try, but they all looked at each other, gave a sheepish bow and left. They never bothered him afterwards, even ignoring him if they saw him.

I am nowhere even close to a black belt, ...if I do get to that point I'd like to stick around and help other students, but we'll see.

There is something to be said about finding the right community. Great people with great attitudes in a great atmosphere goes a long way in keeping people around.

"It may seem difficult at first, but all things are difficult at first." --Miyamoto Musashi

Black belt ranks are a strange thing. On the one hand, in Japan/Okinawa, the Shodan rank isn't a big deal, since it just means you have learned the basics in your system, and it isn't uncommon to achieve it in 2-4 years. On the other hand, because of the way karate was introduced to the West, the importance of the Shodan rank was inflated, and the length of time to earn it was extended, so it was more common to have to train very hard, learn more material, and spend 5-8 years training to earn it. On the other-other hand, we have McDojos and belt mills cheapening the accomplishment of earning the Shodan rank to something you just pay for in advance, and we have Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu establishing the belief that a black belt means you have mastered the art and takes 10+ years to earn. That's a lot of very different perspectives on what a black belt rank means, and what it takes to earn. There is no universal standard across all arts, of course, but there also is no universal standard WITHIN any given art. Judo and BJJ usually use competition success as a fairly objective benchmark for their ranks, but outside of that, you're generally going to be seeing very different standards in every school, even among schools that do the same style, or which are part of the same organization. Any rank only has value within the school it is issued, and to a degree within the organization it is issued, but that's about it. Now, all that said, I personally do not like the idea of giving minors black belt ranks. Regardless of how Shodan is perceived in Japan/Okinawa, I am in the US, and the way we look at Shodan tends to be more akin to the way Sandan is seen in Japan/Okinawa. Plus, my late Sensei had the same requirements for his Shodans that the organization we were in had for GODAN, minus the minimum age and time-in-grade requirements, and it generally took an average of 8 strong years of training to earn a Shodan under him. He did issue junior black belt ranks a couple of times, but the youngest person my Sensei ever tested for a proper Shodan rank was 17, and that kid tested right alongside me, having to do the exact same test as a full-grown man in his mid-20s. I would say that it's pretty rare for a 17 year old to be able to do that, but it's possible, and I'm willing to make the exception here and there, but as a general rule, I prefer not to promote anyone under the age of 18 to Shodan. I want my students to have an adult level of understanding, skill, and maturity to go along with the rank.

It's cool when you get to meet people like that and you aren't disappointed.

thats exactly what I was trying to get at!! thanks! Clearly my brain went a different route when trying to explain it. hahaha

Agreed, and I think they may have reconsidered as they haven't responded to any posts for some time now. But I do hope they return, as it would be interesting to see what knowledge they have to share.

To put it in a simplified way, forms/kata that are considered beginner level in a system are the ones that introduce for the first time the most basic and essential skills and principles. The techniques and core elements in them are usually developed and expanded upon in all subsequent ones taught. Most of the time these forms are purposefully short, but the length or number of steps isn’t always an indicator or whether a kata is XYZ level. Some short kata are deceptively complex. Another trait the lower level kata share is that they are often the oldest or among the oldest in the system.

To make the punches count, you're going to want to hit the vital points that can cause the most damage possible, places like the solar plexus, the floating ribs, liver punches, kidney punches, etc. The more target areas that are available to attack, the more easily one can develop a strategy to open up the vital areas. However, when the target area is limited, like to the body only, then it becomes quite easy to cover those areas and defend them. I think then the exercise devolves into a slugfest of just trading body blows until someone falls down from exhaustion or injury.

In Uechi-Ryu, we have a saying, "All is in Sanchin", and as far as stances go, this is no exception. Almost all of our kata and drills are performed in Sanchin stance, and this stance is pretty basic yet subtle. You can tell someone "feet shoulder width apart, move one foot forward slightly, turn it in about 30-45 degrees." However, that is the beginning of Sanchin. There are quite a few subtleties that you only learn after practicing Sanchin kata for some time and having instructors test your stability. We perform kata almost exclusively in Sanchin, we perform our drills in Sanchin, and to a certain degree, we are expected to fight/spar in Sanchin. The other stances we utilize are all derived from Sanchin, and are used in specific situations for a specific purpose. We have a neko dachi (cat stance), which starts in Sanchin where you basically shift the weight to the back foot and lift the front foot up to rest on the toe (not the ball of the foot). This is frequently used prior to or immediately following a crane (e.g. shin) block. We also have a version of Zenkutsu dachi, where you start from Sanchin and use your rear leg to drive yourself forward, usually to do an elbow strike into an opponent's sternum. Where your foot naturally lands -- that's a Zenkutsu dachi. Finally, we have a low stance, nominally a shiko-dachi, which starts from a sanchin stance, and you slide your front foot forward and to the (out) side enough to drop your center of gravity such you're below your opponent's center of gravity, and an elbow strike will land right at your opponent's sternum. Again, these 3 other stances are transitional stances, and used for specific brief sequences. For the vast majority of our kata and drills, we live in Sanchin

agreed, i know many people who , out of choice, never tested beyond 1st degree, but have many years experience..i myself never tested beyond 2nd degree. yet have over 40 years in the martial arts.just saw no need to for myself. did i miss out on any training by not testing, no, not at all. testing for the most part is a visual sign of experience for lower belts. but not always an actual level of capability afterwards....

I would agree that complicated self-defense techniques are generally a bad idea, but it's pretty rare that I come across anyone in the practical karate sphere who teaches self-defense techniques that I would consider complicated. Certainly nothing more complicated than you'd find in any other martial art or combat sport, and some pretty complex things can be pulled off, even in high level competitions, by people who have trained appropriately. I would also add that the existence of Kyokushin's knockdown sparring method actually runs counter to your argument about continuous full-power strikes. Yes, they can wear down an opponent over time, but I've seen MANY Kyokushin matches where the continuous shots to the body didn't amount to anything. Full-power strikes to vulnerable targets work, but you're going to get WAY more mileage out of striking the neck and head than you are the body. I know that this originally said "Don't live in America," rather than "bad areas," but the fact of the matter is that your location has very little to do with the types of attacks you are likely to have to deal with in a self-defense situation, because human violence tends to be gendered and age-determinate, but otherwise quite consistent. Chokeholds and bear hugs are common attacks against children and women, especially, so maybe YOU don't need to worry about it all that much, but plenty of people do. Plus, there is simply no guarantee that a statistical anomaly won't happen to you, and you get put in a chokehold or bear hug. You don't get to choose what the attacker does. Plus, the "if you don't live in bad areas" argument can be made about self-defense as a whole, as avoiding high risk areas lowers your risk in general, but doesn't have any impact on the TYPE of attack you're likely to face. Making this argument basically weakens your points about training for self-defense, because if you "don't live in bad areas," your chances of even needing to punch someone go down just as much as your chances of needing to grapple someone. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this is very demonstrably false. A good punch only eliminates the need to be able to grapple if you drop the opponent with one shot before they get their hands on you. One-shot KOs against someone expecting violence (which someone attacking you will be) are rare, one-shot body KOs are even less likely, and self-defense situations don't always happen with you knowing where the attacker is and that they are going to attack you. Self-defense isn't a striking duel, like Kyokushin is. If someone attacks you, they don't have any reason to stand and bang, especially if they have any idea how to grapple someone, even without real training, and if you hit them hard, chances are they will not agree to your terms for the fight and let you keep hitting them. You wouldn't go into an MMA match as a pure striker and expect your opponent to have a kickboxing match with you, right? Same goes for self-defense. If both grappling and striking are possible, you NEED to be competent with both in order to be effective.

I have to avoid caffeine due to Meniere's disease. However, years ago I started struggling with fried or greasier foods and found out that I had Chron's disease. You might get with a gastroenterologist to see if you have developed Chron's or colitis.

Yes. My late Sensei made use of heavy bags, sometimes double-end bags, and plenty of strength and conditioning equipment. I don't currently have the ability to put up a hanging bag of any kind, but I do still make use of a lot of strength and conditioning equipment. I incorporate some degree of strength and conditioning at the beginning of my classes, just as my late Sensei did, but class time is mainly for actual martial arts training, so real dedicated S&C workouts are probably only once or twice a month. Students are expected to work on that on their own.

Absolutely. Culture of the school is just as important, if not more, than what you're learning. I would much rather go to a place that was welcoming and friendly than somewhere that had a reputation for good martial arts but bad attitudes.

I saw a screenshot of a post on Facebook and it got me thinking about Kumite, and how much some people struggle to adapt to how different some people fight especially when they are preparing for their Shodan. In my mind; this is sometimes something that I have noticed some clubs don't really teach or have people consider. For instance, I fight somewhat like a MMA Fighter; biding my time and making opportunities. Along with being a pain in the butt by fighting "Dirty" which a lot of people hate. But by "Dirty" I mean: low kicks, making the person look at my hands and then kick them again. Also annoyingly having a lot of "sticky hands" when I fight.

Me, well, I'm very aggressive while I press my opponent as I attack the legs, which is what is expected in Shindokan. Don't forget, our main goal at any given time is to get behind our opponent. "Dirty" fighting to me is an excuse because one hasn't matured in techniques, yet, which means that one's afraid. To me, there's no "Dirty" anything, Kumite or not, because in the game of surviving, anything is fair game. Adapt or fail, and I've never any desire to fail on or off any floor whatsoever. Refusal to fight dirty, whenever necessary, is a limitation that I can't abide to.‎ My focus both on and off the floor is to succeed at any cost because my survival depends on it. "The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus."~ Bruce Lee