sensei8

First of all...Welcome to KF!! Secondly...Solid post; thank you for it!!

You limit you!! I limit myself!! Having said that, please visit your doctor asap and get professional help. Then, follow his/her advice to the letter!! Classes can be made up!! But your health is paramount over any MA, imho. Hang in there!!

In your opinion... What drives the high tuition costs? Overhead or inflation or greed? Please, choose the one answer that defines the question.

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!!

Solid post!! My MA journey is mine, not those who came before me. Glad to know my lineage, but what I produce as a MAist on the floor, well, I can't expect, nor can I wait, for those before me to validate my totality as a MAist.

Solid post and DITTO!! My parents aside, Karate has opened doors that had I not found karate and Dai-Soke, many doors would've been shut for good.

Was just watching some ISKA on ESPN and I've just got to say...sport karate isn't karate. Having said that, the "trick" divisions are what's the rage of the page, and have been so for such along time now. When I watched it today, I asked myself, what does that have to do with anything karate? Then I answered myself, for what they do, I can't. It's a division of its own, and I have to be more tolerant with the modern way sport karate has evolved. Now, I did get my fix when I saw the "Traditional" divisions. SOLID!! I'm still wondering what all of the very loud and long kiai's are all about, but, showmanship in the "trick" divisions was front and center. Your thoughts?!

Yes, by all means, CONGRATS for getting back to the mat/floor!! Nothing feels like home except being where you are. AWESOME!!

Yep and in Okinawa, having a belt means not using a rope to hold up trousers lol. Get the reference? Miyagi San: Karate Kid

MA withdraws are tough to get through at times, but when all is right...it's great. But, when things are not going right, it's a long and winding road. How to get through the day when the day use to consist of total MA immersion. Training by yourself at home is fine, but we MAists, we need to be around other MAists. Otherwise, what you're feeling, only gets worse. Keep searching for a dojo home; nothing can replace it, imho. Hang in there!!

Karate is everything to me!! It's all that I've ever been good at. It changed my life from nothing to something. My parents have said that they loved me, but when I look at the things that they did to me, I don't think they truly loved me. I felt unloved and unwanted, and many times, I wish I had never been born. My Sensei, Dai-Soke Yoshinobu Takahashi, showed me genuine interest in me and he loved me as a dad should. Had it not been for his nurturing love and training, I'm certain that I would've taken my life. It's not good to not be, and/or feel that one's own parents don't love me. I'm the baby of my family, and I've always felt that my parents loved my brother and sister much more than me. I was in the way! My dad referred to me once that I was a mistake!! I learned how to emerge myself in karate 24/7 because I fell in love with karate and I felt love from Dai-Soke as well as the "family" I had at the dojo. Karate changed my life for the better, and without karate, I'm an empty vessel. Dai-Soke was the potter; I was his clay!!

Lineage is important. However, it's only important within the style and/or governing body that you're part of. Lineage I suppose, for the most, can be subjective to the reader. It's a fine line!!

Referring, directly or non-directly, that kata/forms are like "swimming on dry land" sure doesn't sound respectful to me. Bruce called kata "useless". So, I took his meaning to be disrespectful when I very first read it, and these many years later, I still take it in a disrespectful tone. It's his opinion, but when millions have adopted his mindset because it was HIS opinion, it's theirs as well.

*Sandan (3rd Dan): Once a student has earned Sandan, that student has seen and practiced the whole teaching syllaabus. In the case of Karate, for example, a Sandan should know the three K's well enough to teach them effectively to students up to Shodan (1st Dan). *Yondan (4th Dan): Often, Nidan (2nd Dan) and Sandan students are actually the best teachers in the style because they can still remember what it was like to be a beginner, and they are still diligent about teaching the syllabus unchanged. Also, if a student is expected to assume the role of the CI by Sandan, then they had better have pretty extensive practice at it prior to that time. Therefore, students should be getting progressively more teaching responsibilities starting at about Sankyu (1st Brown), and Sandans may have been teaching long enough to have Shodan students. *Godan (5th Dan): At this level, one should have been teaching long enough to have produced at least one student of Sandan level. If one wishes to train/teach/advance beyond Godan, then at such time, a Nanadan/Shichidan (7th Dan) should have at least one Godan student, and a Kudan (9th Dan) should have at least one Nanadan/Shichidan student. Is this premise politically correct, in your opinion, enough to open up a dojo/dojang/school of the MA?

Cool. I still think it would be really cool if they allowed overall resistance from both under the supervision of the referee so that the competition didn't turn into a ordinary free-style sparring tournament. I do understand the intent of it all because if my defense/counter-attack is faster than my opponents reaction time, then I don't need to be concerned with my opponents resisting anything. I'm all about pushing that envelope and asking..."What if?"

I believe that depends on the person. Some have a higher learning curve, and in that, they can handle multiple MA without any difficulties. If you're a beginner in the MA, I'd be amiss if I didn't suggest that you stick with one or the other, but not both until you've more knowledge in one or the other. You'll get this from either style of the MA; one or the other. If the classes challenge you overall, your fitness, strength, and stamina will increase most favorably. But in all things, things take time. Over time, techniques will begin to become more natural to you; without thought, positive muscle memory will cause techniques to flow more naturally to you...over time. Questions directed to your instructor should lessen your confusion, but sometimes, that confusion is brought on by training in multiple MA at the same time. However, that confusion lessens with effective applied knowledge and experience. You determine what works best for you, and in that, you'll discard the ineffectiveness; you, and nobody else. That's fine, and at times it's admirable, but what you don't want to have happen is becoming burned-out before the fire deeply within you finally catches, thus burns brightly. So brightly that you can't be denied. 3 times a week is adequate for any level of the MA. Imho!! Hang in there and train hard!!

Thanks CredoTe, although 90% of my contributions were asking questions But without questions, how can one learn?!?

Have you ever wondered just how your sensei came up with this said formula?

Solid OP!! No. Imho, it's a defensive weapon. I'm attacked, I use the Kubotan to DEFEND myself. Injure? No! Encourage? Yes! I don't ever want to injure anybody, however, I'd love to encourage my attacker in a way that they'll understand. What the 7th Dan Shito-ryu Sensei stated per Manchester's law seems reasonable and decisive in its totality. Again, it's not the weapon, it's the individual who needs to be made accountable as to how they decide to use said weapon.

Solid post!! What you're speaking about in your first paragraph is right on the money. It's the stop-and-go to award points gets in the way of learning sparring distance and the like. Again, solid post!!

I wholeheartedly concur!!

No worries that's the truth Ditto!!

I've STILL not mastered FB, and I don't think I ever will. FB is the bane of my existence, well, computers in general hate me, including apps and the like. So, sorry, I'd be of no help. When you figure it out, please let me know where I've failed.

Imho... Sparring distance and how styles approach it is not the problem of said methodology/ideology. No! The problem lies within the practitioner and their failure to take accountability of their inability to execute it properly and effectively. The karateka hasn't "mastered" timing and distancing for whatever reason(s). Shotokan or Kyokushin practice and preach said sparring distance quite well, none better than the other, but that depends on whom one's asking. The beauty of the MA is that there are many training tools, and we should make ourselves effective in each and every single one. Again, imho!!

Thanks Sensei8 so much You're very welcome!!