sensei8

I'm not a Raiders fan whatsoever, but my wife is very much so a Raiders fan. So, the Raiders for the very first-time help training camps that the public was invited to on August 14th and August 20th for FREE!! Every seat was first come first serve in levels 1 and 2, meaning that levels 3 and 4 were closed.

What fans had to do was get in line on the Raiders website. First time I got in line I was number 7,167. So, I bailed out!! I gave up any hopes of surprising my wife with tickets for any of the training camps. Then the Raiders informed fans that tickets were still available for FREE. BINGO...I was given 2 tickets for the August 20th training camp, and when I surprised my wife with those tickets, she was beside herself with glee.

This is my first time inside of the Allegiant Stadium, and I have to say...WOW...A billions dollar stadium is a sight to behold. Due to my being in a mobility scooter, my wife had to get ADA tickets in order to sit in the ADA sections. So, we ended uo in section 107; great seats!!

Level 1 was packed out, but Level 2 was quite empty with fans sprinkled here and there. Training Camp was scheduled for 6:30pm to 8:30pm, however, it started to our surprise at 5:30pm.

Raiderettes were out in all of their glory and beauty. There were NFL referees and a chain crew. Concessions were aplenty. The foot-long Neon Hot Dog costs $17, we had a regular foot-long hot dog which costs a mere $9. Quite a show!!

Let us not forget, the Raiders players and coaches and whomever else was on the field. I must say that how the Raiders conducted their training camps caused me to have a ton of respect for them in every way imaginable. If this is how they train all of the time, there's no way that the Raiders should end up where they find themselves end of season to end of season looking outside in for the playoffs. Unless the Raiders are their own worst enemy where they are strong in the first half and blown-up on the second half.

They spit up the field running drills after drills. Each segment ended by the clock given to said drills, and were named by PLAY and its number, i.e. PLAY 10. Some PLAYS only lasted only 30 seconds and others just 1 minute long. Every aspect of football was drilled over and over and over. QBs, Running Backs, Receivers, Special Teams, Offense, Defense, and all of the others not mentioned here. There were NO REST TIME at all. The Raiders drilled non-stop the whole time they were on the field, and that was 3 hours.

My wife and I had a blast of a time; one we will never ever forget. Enjoying one another and the atmosphere that surrounded us. Seeing many fans dressed out in their tribute to the Raiders, with some dressed in the most amazing cosplay attire.

What saddens me is that I'll never be able to attend any Raiders home games ever. Not that I want to begin with but to go to a Raiders home game with my wife would mean everything to her...and to me. 2 tickets in Level 3 section average costs are $700 plus parking plus food plus souvenirs: a Raiders baseball cap costs $50. That would be one very expensive game to watch live. No, I'll watch the Raiders ON TV!! Unfair for fans who love the Raiders but can't afford a ticket to watch them live.

Raiders VS the 49ers for their last pre-seasons game are this Friday at home.

Thank you to the Raiders and the Raiders Nation for allowing fans to watch their training camps live those 2 days for absolutely FREE!! Hopefully, this will become an annual thing at Allegiant Stadium because that's the only way I could ever afford it, plus, it was a BLAST, and my wife's happiness is everything to me, and to see the glow all over her face is priceless. She took a ton of photos, and I took a lot of pictures of her in front of iconic things, like the Torch, for example. We had a picture taken of us with the Raiders mascot, Raider Rusher.

Sorry for the long post!!

For my wife, and for my wife only, I say...GO RAIDERS!!

I too require no jewelry of any type, and this includes necklaces, with the exception of a wedding ring. Reasons being are that in my time I've seen my share of injuries caused because of the jewelry and necklaces. Better to be safe than sorry.

4 years since this topic was started by Journyman74, things with me have changed. Such as, I no longer have a dojo. For personal reasons, I've taken down both my current Dan rank and my Hanshi from my bedroom wall. They both are now tucked neatly inside the filing cabinet in my bedroom walk-in closet.

Is there any particular reason you've done that, Bob?

Like I said, personal reasons!! I’m not ashamed of them at all. I’m not ashamed of myself at all!! I don’t need them hanging up in my home. Like I said, personal reasons. Hopefully, I’ve still your respect.

4 years since this topic was started by Journyman74, things with me have changed. Such as, I no longer have a dojo. For personal reasons, I've taken down both my current Dan rank and my Hanshi from my bedroom wall. They both are now tucked neatly inside the filing cabinet in my bedroom walk-in closet.

Congrats, DarthPenguin; well deserved!!

Dana White has confirmed that he spoke with McGregor recently and that he wants to fight. When asked when Dana said "not this year."

What I've read lately is that the "...delay is due to a combination of factors, including a broken pinky toe and other personal matters."

Hopefully, he continues to train in order to keep the dust and rust off.

Your workout ethics are something to be very proud of, Brian. I know that I am proud of all that you've done; nothing to shake a stick out, that's for sure. Keep it up, Brian!!

With all of your workouts, DarthPenguin, I believe that you're no longer that unfit person. Your workout ethics are something to be proud of. Keep up working out.

I'm making this post prior to ready any other comments, so it's just my straight reaction.

Personally, any ultimatum like that rubs me the wrong way. Big red flag. There is definitely something they are trying to control here. And they are definitely exerting an inordinate amount of control over their members here. They sound like they are scared of something. I don't know what the wedge between the two organizations is, but it doesn't appear that the JTK has the same issues.

What I'd like to know is how they intend to find out who attended the seminar?

Big red flag for me.

My thoughts also. Are they afraid you'll switch to the other side?

Governing Bodies are always afraid of losing their members, aka, Student Body because they represent revenue. Loss of revenue is a body blow to any Governing Body no matter what they might say.

Imho!!

Keep up the good fight, Ken!!

Late response, but I am delighted to hear of your progress. I really value you and your contributions to this forum. I will continue to wish you the best and keep you in prayer as Ive known others in your situation and have had good success as a result of treatments.

Thank you so very much, Shojiko; it means everything to me!!

Take it as easy as possible and hang in there, Shojiko.

Seems quite straight forward and to the point. JKA members are to NOT participate in ANY JTK seminars and the like in any shape, way, and/or form. To do so will only bring forward discipline to the guilty JKA member, which might include termination of said JKA member for cause, as well.

If the JKA member values the JKA in its totality, then abide and obey the JKA directive.

If not, then the JKA member can do whatever they want to do without any concerns and/or reservations whatsoever.

The SKKA, the Governing Body for Shindokan that I was a member of forever and a day, NEVER interfered with the students right and desire to attend any outside training because the SKKA knew that no style of the MA is without flaws in its methodology/ideology. The SKKA might've not liked the students' choices for outside training, but they certainly never interfered and/or prohibited the students' rights. To do so as a Governing Body is contrived as being controlling over its members/Student Body. Not professional and not, well, cool.

The JKA has a history of expelling its members, whether they were for cause or not, the expulsions were the rights of the JKA to do so. For example...

Hidetaka Nishiyama: One of the founders of JKA, he broke away in 1974 to create the International Traditional Karate Federation (ITKF).

Shigeru Egami, Genshin Hironishi, and Tsutomu Ohshima: These senior karateka, connected with Gichin Funakoshi, formed their own organizations due to disagreements with the JKA. Just to name a few who were either expelled or left the JKA, which seem to be quite a lot.

There have also been more recent controversies, such as the expulsion of JKA from the Japan Karate Federation (JKF) in 2014, which was later deemed illegal and unreasonable by the Tokyo District Court.

Governing Bodies are the furthest thing from being perfect in any shape, way, and/or form!!

Imho!!

Great topic, Brian; thanks for sharing it. I've not read this specific book; might be worth the gander.

Many think that Aikido is ineffective, whereas I think that Aikido is another methodology/ideology that is effective, and imho, what's ineffective is not the style, but the practitioner.

My thoughts...

…you must see the movement of your partner’s center and deal not with his hand, but with the direction of his force.

This is akin to what's taught in basketball 101. In basketball, if the defender watches their opponents center, and not the hands, the defender can see everywhere the opponent is moving, thus, not being faked-out. Where the center of the opponent goes, so does the body.

Same thing applies to the MA. We concentrate primarily at the attackers' center, with the occasional glimpse here and there as mere visual checks. By concentrating at the attackers' center, one can see the whole picture, therefore, feints, for example, are easier decerned.

…without conflict, without impact, you must first connect with the attacking arm by joining it’s direction.

This seems to be one of Aikido's modus operandi. Allowing the force to continue without resisting it, therefore, using the attackers force against them. Like the saying goes..."Why fight it?!".

To me, it's akin to what we do in Shindokan. Allowing our attacker to move into our space of their own volition, of which, we turn their advance against them. For us, it aides us in getting behind our attacker, which IS our modus operandi.

Be aware of not only your center and your partner’s center, but also be aware of the center of the combination of the two.

For sure!! Without our combined centers being in concert with one another, there can be no awareness, and awareness of how both can, might, and/or will move in any given direction(s).

One can't move without the other detecting said movement(s) and/or any given intent. Bruce Lee speaks about just that, and to the immediate quote above...

“A good fight should be like a small play, but played seriously. A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Not thinking, yet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come. When the opponent expands, I contract. When he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, I do not hit. It hits all by itself.”~Bruce Lee

It's Bruce's quote, the two centers are in combination of one another. Who comes out the victor?? Perhaps then the combined centers brought the juxtaposed fight to light.

Imho!!

Wado Heretic, you should put together a binder of all this history! I'd take a copy of it!

Absolutely!! Information like what you provide is priceless.

To answer the question of experience with the system my answer must be only a little, and even then, by observation of demonstrations rather than training on the dojo floor. The formal, official history is that Ryūei-ryū is the heterodox, family system of the Nakaima family. Its reported history begins with Nakaima Norisato who studied martial arts for seven years in China under Ryu Ryu Ko. After completing his studies, but before returning to Okinawa in the 1870s, it is stated that Norisato also spent time collecting weapons, scrolls, and experiences across the Fujian, Canton, and Beijing areas. Norisato passed his knowledge onto his son Kenchu, who in turn passed these teachings onto his son Kenko.

Nakaima Kenko is the one who decided to teach his family’s knowledge to the public, and he did this in 1971 when he began teaching 20 teachers at the school where he was a janitor. Kenko appears to have in fact named the system out of a need to do so when he made it public.

My own teacher was somewhat derisive of this fact. When I brought up Ryūei-ryū once he did remark with veiled critique: “One week he was a janitor, now he is a karate teacher.”

That aside, we can study the kata of the system to determine the credibility of the official history:

• Niseishi/Nijushiho

• Sanseiryu

• Seisan

• Pāchū

• Heikū

• Paikū

• Ānan

• Ohan

Niseishi as a kata was also taught by Aragaki Seisho, another student of Ryu Ryu Ko. It is also found in Okinawa Kempo lineages originating with Sakiyama Kitoku, another student of Ryu Ryu Ko. All these versions of the kata are very similar except for some key differences in embusen. However, the general order and selection of techniques are similar. Interestingly, Chito-Ryu, a system greatly influenced by Aragaki as he was Chitose’s first teacher, teaches Niseishi as its second traditional kata after Seisan and Chitose’s various Kihon no Kata. In Okinawa Kempo it is part of the core 12 kata alongside the Pinangata, Naihanchigata, Seisan, Passai, and Kusanku. Similarly, Ryuei-Ryu appears to teach it as their first kata period. In Shi’to-Ryu it is usually the first Aragaki Kata learnt too. This suggests Niseishi may have been taught as a rudimentary kata by Ryu Ryu Ko as Okinawa Kempo, Chito-Ryu, Shi’to-Ryu, and Ryuei-Ryu all treat it as such. However, Niseishi more broadly speaking in Okinawan karate can almost always be traced back to Aragaki. Ryuei-Ryu and Okinawa Kempo are outliers, and other students of Ryu Ryu Ko do not appear to have included it in their approaches.

Sanseiryu exists in Shi’to-ryu, Goju-Ryu and To’on-Ryu, and it is highly probable if unarguable that it was taught by Higoanna Kanryo, another student of Ryu Ryu Ko. I have not had the opportunity to see the To’on-Ryu version, and the Goju-Ryu and Shi’to-Ryu versions are virtually identical, but the Ryuei-Ryu version is very much like the Goju-Ryu and Shi’to-Ryu versions. Interestingly, however, I have found no evidence of a Senseiryu attributed to Aragaki, nor does it appear to be practiced in Okinawa Kempo.

A version of Seisan exists in every system claiming a lineage from Ryu Ryu Ko via an Okinawan Student. The Ryuei-Ryu version is almost identical to the Goju-Ryu and Shi’to-Ryu versions, and it follows the Chinese Template also found in the To’on-Ryu and Uechi-Ryu versions.

Based on these three kata being largely common to proclaimed students of Ryu Ryu Ko we can conclude that Nakaima Norisato was likely a student of Ryu Ryu Ko. A problem is that Nakaima Kenko would not have had to leave Okinawa to learn these kata. He could have learnt Senseiryu and Seisan from studying Goju-Ryu, and the Ryuei-Ryu versions bear a striking resemblance to the Goju-Ryu versions as they include the characteristic Kansetsu Geri. Said Kansetsu Geri does not exist in other versions of Seisan Iam aware of, and as mentioned Sanseiryu appears essentially unique to Goju-Ryu outside of Ryuei-Ryu. Niseishi could easily have been learnt from any number of systems which practice it on Okinawa. These kata are also learnt relatively early, around Sankyu-Ikkyu/brown belt level, in most systems they are studied in. Thus, accessible to a relative novice. However, this is being a little conspiratorial minded, rather than sceptical, so I would prefer to give the benefit of the doubt that the similarities of the kata, and the common cause of the same kata being practiced, is that they indeed come from Ryu Ryu Ko.

The rest of the kata, however, do present another problem. They exist nowhere else outside of Ryuei-Ryu in the canon of Okinawan Karate Kata. The versions found in Shi’to-Ryu come from Ryuei-Ryu, and differ purely from adaptations for competition, and differences in fundamental principles leading to different execution of techniques. If we accept the official history, these kata are either part of the Nakaima family tradition that existed before Norisato, or Norisato developed them from his studies in China which were apart from his training with Ryu Ryu Ko. The problem is that Ockham’s razor invites another explanation that Nakaima Kenko has simply made them up. I personally do not think they look very Chinese. Most Chinese influenced kata tend to lack symmetry, use predominantly open hands, and flow between movements. However, the performances of said kata I have seen have largely been by WKF competitors during competition. Thus, could be modified from the original way to do them into a way preferred by judges. Plus, we do have other family traditions from Okinawa such as the aforementioned Kingai-Ryu, Kojo-Ryu, and Motobu UdunDi which have kata from outside the broader Okinawan Kata traditions of Shuri, Naha, and Tomari Te.

With regards to competition involvement and success it is predominantly by the efforts and success of Sakumoto Tsuguo. He is a three-time world champion in kata, a two-time winner of the World Games, and a two-time winner of the World Cup. He made his mark in 1987 when he performed Anan, a kata relatively unknown to anyone outside of Ryuei-Ryu, and introduced the Ryuei-Ryu kata to the world. Anan, Pechu, Paiku, Heiku, and Ohan have also since become popular competition Kata. It has been said that Nakaima Kenko disliked Sport Karate, and that he believed karate as Martial Art should be used for building one’s character. However, Sakumoto and other younger masters of the style which have outlived the late Nakaima, see the sport as an excellent tool for promoting karate and getting people interested in it. Sakumoto is one of the most sort out competition coaches in the world and has his hand in training most of Japan’s international competitors. His influence is essentially the answer to your question.

Another aside I heard from my teacher is that Sakumoto was a gymnast, and despite Nakaima’s apparent protestations, the word through the grapevine is that Sakumoto was permitted to compete because of his athletic ability, and Nakaima chose him specifically. This, I consider wholly hear say, but Ryuei-Ryu does have a mixed reputation.

With regards to Okinawan attitudes to Sport Karate there are trends. Which is to say, many older teachers share Nakaima Kenko’s thoughts, which is that karate is Budo, and should be trained to build character, and trained in a manner fitting actual fighting skills. However, the form this should take is also diverse. Some that this should be done by strict adherence to the hard training of the past, and others that tradition should be respected but fighting skills explored and evolved through kumite. You have some who live on the line, or in the middle ground, that Karate can be a life-time practice, but there is no harm in practicing the sport because karate as a sport and karate as budo are two different things and depending on where you are in life, you will want different things. Also, the pragmatic reasoning that the sport does attract people to Karate, and gives people goals in the short term, and this helps people get started. Finally, you do have people who are very much of the view that Karate is basically a sport and should be practiced as one. The third view is very much a minority in my experience, the second the majority when speaking to most teachers, and the first a handful of the older generation.

I hope this has been of help.

Solid post, Wado Heretic; very informative. Thank you for sharing.

I greatly appreciate you sharing how your dojang runs its Testing Cycle; very informative. Your Testing Cycles are NOT handled in a flyby fashion, but is integrity based throughout.

Sorry, I've no experience with the style in question.

As a Okinawan MAist, my Sensei and his Sensei didn't approve of tournaments whatsoever. However, what one does away from their watchful eyes, many of use participated on the weekends as much as we could. When my Sensei got wind of this, he wasn't happy but in time he allowed us just as long as we don't talk about it and as long as our techniques weren't becoming sour and as long as we don't bring that junk into our Kumite.

Eric Staal is signing a one-day contract to retire as a Carolina Hurricane. The team will retire his #12 during the regular season.

Good to hear.

I think the one-day contract in pro-sports are kind of cool. Maybe other businesses should try that...or maybe not.

It's strange to me that Cobra Kai is still allowed in the Sekai Taikai. This is supposed to be a very prestigious and select group of dojo's and Cobra Kai got in but since then their head sensei, Terry Silver, is gone, and their two competing students, Lee and Payne, both left the team. Yet they are competing with Tory who ran off instead of fighting for the tournament, and they are out of Korea instead of the USA. Maybe this will get explained in future episodes, seems like they are running out of ways to make it work so they just throw it together and hope you buy in. I am buying in, but it doesn't tie together the way it should.

Though I am very interested to learn about Miyagi's story with the tournament. I expect it will explain a lot about his strong feelings toward tournament competition.

Isn't Hollywood wonderful on how they create the possible out of the impossible and/or impracticable?!?

Seeing that Miyagi himself once competed in the Sekai Taikai, which might explain his dislike for competitions. Miyagi helped Daniel with the All-Valley Tournament and because of his dislike for competitions, Daniel sought out for outside training in KK3 with Silver. However, Miyagi trained Daniel for the All-Valley in KK3.

Congrats, wildbourgman; well deserved.

Patrick,

Don't you own several arcade machines at home??

Great story!! Thanks for sharing it, JazzKicker.

That was quite the dissertation, Wado Heretic. Very informative!

I agree quite wholeheartedly; very lucid and intelligent.

Welcome to KF, shurinahamaniac; glad that you're here!!

Thank you for your post, and for sharing your insights to how the JKA and the SKA approach their testing cycles.

I'd also like to encourage you to post at the KF "Introduce Yourself", which can be found under the "Community Center" tab.