Karate74

good idea. Yeah the only problem hurting him now is exposure. He is in a hall that literally has no exposure to traffic or people. He has done a great job so far and does have enough for 3 months worth capital. What we are doing at this point is creating flyers and trying to market the school. Will see how things go in 3 months.

The x block is to block a kick. As for the jump our sensei told us it could be to avoid a sweep or maybe even a staff/weapon.

A good friend of mine is opening a shotokan karate school. He is very well trained and a very good teacher. At this time he does host classes in a church that has a hall he pays rent for a few days out of the week. For the most part my friend has everything planned out on paper including cost, schedule and he found a location at a reasonable rate. My concern.....money issues. I am unable to pitch in financially but told him I would help out an way possible. As a friend I expressed my concern because he was not able to get a business loan and is depending on the student/ratio to earn money for the rent. The goal here is not to "get rich" off this but to have a good place to train and continue to pass on what was taught to us to anyone who wanted to learn about the style. I am curious on how some of you who own and run a school got started? Are there any suggestions I could pass along to my friend?

Hmm interesting topic. Does the school not have some type of record keeping for people that earn black belts? 20 years is a long lay off...but in order to start over did you forget most of the katas and what you learned? My personal opinion is this. As long as the school has some type of documentation (or if you do) that showed you achieved a black belt level you shouldn't have to start over. You should be placed in a low level black belt class or workout with the lower grades until you get "refreshed". Just my thoughts

I was reserved at first. I use to Kiai from my throat....boy my sensei picked up on that. Now I Kiai from the stomach and there is a difference. There is great purpose for the Kiai. Use it for your advantage. Kiai use to help me release worry and stress duing testing!!! So until then E-I-E!!!!!!!!!!!

It just sounds like the Sempai hasn't achieved a high teaching skill yet. That ability to teach is easy for some and for others...well teaching is a challenge. Talk with your sensei first and maybe he can put you in a different group before you decided just to quit.

Hi. Our school has taught the Heian Godan jump this way. After the low punch then the high punch (where you are basically standing straight up with one Fist high in the air..just before the jump). We do a high jump bringing both knees into the chest while our fists are at our waist. When we land, we land in a low x cross stance with are arms crossed in a x fashion. We Kiai when we land. We do our jump facing forward....I have seen lots of other schools do the jump and land to the side but ours is facing the front. Hope this helps....kind of hard to explain it lol.

Very good style. I started my martial arts study with Shotokan and I just returned back to it personally. I was very near my first dan when I left and decided to study Kung Fu. Let me tell you that Shotokan is a excellent, traditional, solid style of Karate. There is no guessing if what you are learning is "real" because the katas have not changed. So try it out and post any questions.