sensei8

An awesome article, thank you for it...solid points all throughout!!

Starting the day with kata is like starting the day with a good breakfast; got to have it!! Stretching first, then hope on a stationary bike, then kata, ending up on the Wing Chun dummy.

Does anyone here think that it's done on purpose with malicious intent, more often or not?

Cocobolo Hardwood...Imho!!

First of all, good luck with your testing cycle!! Don't worry about bassai dai...let it take care of itself. Just execute it to the best of your ability, and that will be seen by the testing panel. Relax, breath, and don't sweat the small things!! You'll be fine!! You don't have to get a 100% grade to pass! So, if you mess up, dust it off, and forget about it...it happened...it's over...just let it go, and rock the house with your next technique and so on and so forth. As I've already stated, let it take care of itself. Let the testing cycle take care of itself, let the three K's take care of itself...just relax, breath, and perform to the best of your abilities. Let your Kime shine; it'll be seen by those who need to see it. Don't worry about the other testing candidates...worry about yourself, and in that, just don't worry. VISUALIZE...then execute!! You'll be excellent!

Solid post!! That should help FangPwnsAll7 out quite a lot!!

Failure, in anything, for the Samurai, wasn't an option. The results of a failure were fatal! In everything that they did, including training, there wasn't an equal, to them at least. Their loyalty to their master/lord was undeniable. Could I train Shindokan in the manner of which the Samurai trained? I believe that I have that within me to do so, but until I try, I might never know. Something for me to think about.

When the light finally turns on inside a student head that says..."Wow...I figured it out...yes" and you can see that in their face, and they can't wait to share it with you...a moment that can't ever be replaced! Btw, excellent thread, thank you for it!! I love those moments. I had it the other day with Suparenpei (the Goju version) with the spin kick (crescent Kick with a spin). And I high fived my instructor cause that one step has really annoyed me. Yes!! The magic thing about the aha moment is that, students don't own the rights to those moments. No. Us instructors STILL have our aha moments from time to time. Some instructors seem to be more guarded to let students see that, but, for me, I don't care who see's my aha moments. Funny thing, not all of my aha moments are MA related. For example, I put little stick-on signs on each and every door in my dojo...AND...at the Hombu the following... "PUSH" And... "PULL" On both sides of the door, including double doors. Before I did that, I'd incorrectly open any given door...that can be embarrassing! When I'd get lucky with a given door, you could see it on my face...aha!! But when I put the "push/pull" signs on...well...I went from aha, to, AHA, and I'm sure students could see that written all over my face...and not just at first, but I'm still like that. I know...Bob the dork!!

It's that which is within us that refuses to surrender; fight until the very end!!

All in all, I'm of the opinion that the lack of effectiveness of a style isn't the fault of the style, but of the practitioner!! Imho.

Great post!! If the USA was to say..."Sport Karate ONLY!!"...and if it became law...then I suppose I'd be doing sport karate, just so that I can do Karate. When in China....it's China's way or nothing at all. I feel for them!!

I concur with Wastelander and CredoTe!! Thanks for sharing the video with us!!

The term MA, to me, are just words. Words that don't seem to properly justify its intents. When I speak to my students about the MA, I tell them that the MA is nothing without the practitioner breathing life in its applied effectiveness. If the practitioner can't be effective, then I'd say that those two words would better serve the world as what they are...plain words. How one uses the words, "Martial Arts" is up to the individual. Sure, there's definitions from reliable sources and the like, and for the most, people accept those definitions as the gospel truth, and those sources lay those definitions out in plain and understandable words to explain what the "Martial Arts" is. Nonetheless, until the individual embraces the "MA" for themselves, then the definitions from abroad are going to have to suffice. I don't think that the word "universal" and the words MA can ever be in concert with one another; quite an oxymoron. We can hope, but, in my life time, I don't think that's even a possibility, well, for now. To many Chiefs, and not enough Indians, as the saying goes, especially in the MA. One side doesn't want to compromise, and one side doesn't want to surrender the little that they have. As long as humans have a say, the words, "Martial Arts" are just words with very little meaning beyond what one can find in a dictionary. Please, don't misunderstand me...I love the MA, but to me, the MA has to be effective for me to take notice. But in that, what I see as effectiveness, I don't automatically think about the words...Martial Arts.

Great to hear !!! Yes, great to hear!!

AWESOME points!!

I still just don't know. When there are rules and regulations and the like abound, politics aren't far away/behind. I pray I'm wrong!! Imho!!

As I understand it, in traditional Japanese budo there have been a number of ways to describe "attacker" and "defender" over time. Most Gendai arts today (Judo and Aikido for example) use "Tori" (short for torimi) and "Uke" (short for ukemi) to describe the one that accepts and the one that receives - and in that order. I know, basically the same thing..!! Because it is!!! Ultimately, the ones that accepts and manages the initial attack Tori(mi), turns the table on the bad guy who ends up "receiving it"... BIG TIME - thus - "Uke(mi)" Then in swordmanship you get "uchidachi" (stricking sword) and "uketachi" (receiving sword). Go back a bit further and you get "Teki" (lit Enemy) and "Ware" (lit your self). Point is, in pair work, attack and defence are one. And so are the mindsets - that's why the Japanese terminology is not so black and white. K. Solid post!!

Definitely. It's all about name recognition. It irks me so much to see a big, lighted "Karate" sign on some prominent store front, but once I investigate closely, it is an ATA (prominent McDojo in the US) or other TKD school or other such MA. Why do they do this? Because the public at large has no clue, but when they hear or see "karate", they think eastern martial arts. I wouldn't say that TKD and Karate have merged in large part in the US. Yes, there are many schools here that are a mix of TKD, Karate, and/or other arts. However, for the schools that are traditional MA, by and large they are their distinct art. They just like to confuse things by exploitation of the word "Karate", as you mention above. I agree that language / origins are important in understanding the background and concepts of a given art, and that applying terms like "Karate" to any empty-handed art can confound and befuddle original uses and intents of things! Solid post!!

Great article, thank you for it!! What gives us instructors the right to talk down to other MA styles to their students? NOTHING!! Imho, what's effective to one practitioner isn't always to another, and just because one doesn't agree with a styles methodology and/or ideology, doesn't mean that any given style isn't effective. I sincerely believe that the practitioner is what isn't effective for some reason(s) or not. But, exactly does our berating of another style to a student tell that student about us? That we're possibly insure, or that we're not complete in our totality as a MAist!?! I've heard all of my karate life from many karateka's how inferior TKD is! Well, I gave into that when I was young. Then, I met many TKD stylists on the open tournament floors and they gave me a what-for that I didn't like; effective. So much so, as a JBB, I enrolled into a TKD dojang in Burbank, CA under GM Young Ik Suh. Meeting him and training under him for 1 year, changed my opinion about TKD for the rest of my life. We judge often inappropriately because we don't want to understand that which is different from what we sincerely believe in; compassion, imho, misdirected in that type of regard. Imho!!

Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!! Btw, which style of Karate did you return to?

Well, "harai" and "barai" are the same word--when you put a word that starts with an "h" sound as a suffix to another word in Japanese, it becomes a "b" sound. Calling it "gedan-harai" is actually just incorrect pronunciation, as far as I'm aware (although I'm not a linguist). The word "uke" is short for "ukeru," which means "to receive." Most commonly, that gets translated as "block," though. If we translate "gedan-barai" and "gedan-harai-uke," one means "low level sweep" and the other means "low level sweep receiver." I've only ever seen these words used to describe what we commonly call a "low block." Absolutely... Great description... Intriguing to think if we stopped using the term "block" for uke and started using "receiver/reception" (i.e. low reception), I wonder if that would help clear up some confusion about the use of an uke? For the bold type above... For beginner students, I don't think their minds can wrap around and/or away from the word "block" as easily as those more experienced can. The beginner could if the word "block" is NEVER used in their dojo!

It was a late find for me, glad I did find it though!! Yeah, the length almost made me not watch it due to time constraints in my schedule for the day, but I did.

It's not surprising to me that these two styles stances are so opposite. Why? Stances are one of the easiest things to change to make a style its own. Each of its founders where INDIVIDUALS who had their OWN ideas!!

Good to hear, hopefully things will be as you expected, or better. Having said that, I do want to say that no matter what the governing body says and/or appears to be, politics will be there in some form or another, and if you're not part of the administration of the AMASA, you'll be subjected to their politics. They might not be there that you can see, but they're there, and when that ugly head rears, it can be disappointing in more ways than one. I've not seen nor ever heard of a MA governing body that's without any politics!! Hopefully, IMASA will be that exception!!

Absolutely... this is great advice. I also agree that the #1 spot in Pinan Shodan that people have trouble with is the simultaneous/sequential middle block + front kick + body position + shuto uke. I find that where most of my students goof it up is actually the transition into it from the move before (foot-down cat stance + middle punch). The tanden/body shift and foot placement usually gets skewed, which results in the entire waza becoming skewed and performed incorrectly. You know, I never really had that trouble, wasn't even aware it caused folks a lot of trouble. I have always seen people struggle to transition from the left side to the right in the opening sequences. Incorrect stepping during the turn throws a lot of people off their initial line when turning. As to the original question, break down individual stances and work them individually, checking your distance and consistency on each. Doing so will show that there are small variations, perhaps between left and right stances etc. Do them as long "walking" drills. For us, the transition in the opening sequence is probably #2 in terms of trouble for students. I agree with how you described it, though: it's the mawate from the left to the right that throws beginners off. To the bold type above...it's the turning transitions, imho, that befuddles the beginning student...good call CredoTe.