sensei8

Chatter...Not allowed! Training...that's allowed! Keep the chatter outside and not ever on my floor! Can't stop chattering...go home and I'll let you know when you're allowed back on my floor.

Don't worry about the 3 you've listed as "bad" things because all of that will just get in the way of your training, and that's what you're there for...training!! As always, talk with your instructor about those things and afterward... TRAIN!!

Which one do YOU want to train in right this moment? I believe that that's pretty important in selecting one or the other. Wado is solid but so is Aikido; you'll have a solid base in both. Now the question is...which one do you think you'll pick? I don't think you'll go wrong with either. Hang in there...everything will be alright!!

Retreating while sparring is quite common, and it happens with all ranks, not just beginners and/or intermediate students, as well as advanced students, however, advanced students do it on purpose. I believe that your sabumnim is trying to teach you to find other ways to engage/disengage without retreating directly backwards. Angling to the side and/or towards the front is most preferred because those angles helps us set up and/or discover openings that would be missed while retreating directly backwards. Having said that, there's nothing greatly wrong about that tactic/plan except it's not preferred by any instructor UNLESS that's either the only place to retreat or your baiting them to advance into your zone, in which, heheheheeee, opportunities abound when you set them up. Now, if your retreating in such a way that you're creating opportunities for your opponent, well, that can only lead down a dangerous path and you'll get hit in such a way that you'll wish you tried a different tactic. Again, continue to spar per your instructors desires because I believe that he/she is trying to help you see other possibilities that will help you across the board. I know that TKD uses a turning around roundhouse, I know this because I use to get hit with the darn thing all the time when I was a JBB, and I learnt that darn kick when I learned TKD for 1 year while I was in high school. It's a great set-up kick that utilizes retreating to a science. Good luck with it and hang in there...you'll be fine!!

My reason is, well, dumb! Well it is! In our very first LiveStream here at KF, I told them that the computer picked my username, and that's not true!! Sorry!! Sensei8 refers to what I am...I'm a Sensei and I'm an Hachidan [8th Dan]. It felt like such aggrandizement on my part, so I've tried to play it down so it wasn't. I'm such a dork!! I wish I had a bag to put over my big fathead!!

Thank you!! I'm in good company than...huh?

Whenever I say that our student body is 10,000, plus/minus 5-10%, I'm referring not to my own personal dojo, no. I'm referring to the ENTIRE student body of EVERY Shindokan student throughout every single dojo that's affiliated with our Hombu, including the Hombu. Not just mine, but the totality of students across the entire network. My own dojo's student body is roughly 375, plus/minus 25%. If I had 10,000 students all to myself, WOW, I'd be rich. I've worked my butt off to get the 375 I have, but, boy oh boy, it took a lot of time to build.

LOL!! I'm not!!

Great advice and I thank you for it. I'm working on just that right now with our Legal team as well as with the Administrative Team, the Executive Team, and the Technical Team. I've my fingers CROSSED!!

Great points and advice. I'm not trying to butt heads with them, after all, I'm their boss; I'm Kaicho [President] of the Hombu/SKKA. They're just so insistent in their tactics and it seems like each year they find a new way to convince me. Again, if Dai-Soke was fine with it, then so should they, imho. You're not the first one to advice me in stepping down, and then return. I've even told them that I'll step down if there's a problem, but, they want me as Kaicho, and I was voted in. I've no ego to bruise because rank means nothing to me, and I've demonstrated that to the Hombu and the like for quite a long, long, long, long time. Give me a Kudan test that would've made Dai-Soke proud, and if I pass, then I'll accept Kudan but if I don't pass, then leave me alone. No, I won't fail on purpose, that's not in me. I don't know. I can't seem to win for losing or lose for winning.

I thought I made myself clear to them, but, they're mostly insistent. Your suggestion to amend the By-Laws is a great suggestion, one that I'll absolutely do. I'm due back to the Hombu the week before our annual testing cycle in June/July, and I'll bring it to their attention. Thanks for the advice!!

I'm very proud to be part of KF across the board!! AWESOME milestone to say the least!! Now, let's go for 1 Million posts...YEAH!!

10K ISN'T a high number!! To you, yes, but not to us/me.

You asked about Shindokan in totality...right? Well, with all of the Shindokan dojo's, including the Hombu, that's the number. Why are you so shocked? Besides, why does the totality of the student body have anything to do with the problem that I'm having with the Hombu? 10, 100, 1000, 10,000, 300,00...whatever...has no bearing on what's been happening.

In a lot of Japanese Gendai Budo, 9th dan is awared posthumously. Of course, there are many exceptions like Arakawa Toru, and Shiomitsu Masafumi (to name just some Wado guys). But, my bet is they couldn't give two hoots about it in the first place! Can you post the URL to your group's website Sensei8? K. Nope!! We've never had one, and at the rate that we're going, we'll probably never have one. Yes, we've tried to create one, but, there's a few things that we just don't agree on. Now!! Our Soke and our Dai-Soke, especially our Soke didn't want a website, and didn't believe in doing any type of advertisement at any level because he firmly believed in attracting the students that would make up his student body by only through word-of-mouth. Does having a website mean anything across the board? No!! My own dojo has over 375 students and I've no website because I've never seen any value to having one, and besides, I'm of the mindset of both my Soke and Dai-Soke. I can teach, and I don't need, nor do I want, a website because I've enough to manage as it is on a daily basis between my dojo and the Hombu Somewhere, and many times, I've answered that very question and I've explained it either here at KF and/or somewhere else through some other media types.

Over 10K

No one, and I mean no one can and/or will dictate and/or demand and/or choose my MA path...NO ONE!! Not a person, place, and/or thing, and this includes ANY governing body, ESPECIALLY my Hombu. Each and every year, since the passing of my Dai-Soke, the powers that be at the Hombu impatiently insist that I accept the rank of Kudan, 9th Dan, for the following reasons... 1) I'm the current Kaicho (President) 2) Our By-Laws, as they were written by our Soke, state... "The Kaicho [President] shall be the chief executive officer of the Shindokan Hombu and shall have general charge and control of all its business affairs and properties. He shall preside at all meetings of the Hombu. He/She shall have the power to appoint the Kancho [Vice-President], the General and Managing Secretary, and the Treasurer with the concurrence of the Regents and shall have the power to appoint all other managing administrators of equivalent rank of the Hombu. The Kaicho [President] shall sign and execute contracts and other written instruments in the name of the Hombu as authorized to do so by the Regents. He/She shall have the general powers and duties usually vested in the office of Kaicho [President] of a Hombu. The Kaicho [President] shall be ex officio member of all standing committees with right to vote. The Kaicho [President] shall annually make a report on the affairs of the Hombu at the end of the annual testing cycle, quarterly, and as well as the annual years end. The Kaicho [President] must and shall possess the rank befitting his/her position, and therefore, the given rank shall be no less than Kudan, and the rank must and shall not be Judan; the current Soke type." Those reasons are NOT acceptable to me. My Dai-Soke understood my reasons and he accepted them; however, the Hombu's current hierarchy are NOW, imho, behaving way beyond reason... 1) The Administrative Team 2) The Executive Team 3) The Regents My reasons for my continued refusal of Kudan... 1) ONLY my Dai-Soke can promote me; he's dead! 2) Professional and private reasons! I'm at the point that I've had enough, and it seems that each and every year the Hombu finds a new way to pitch their insistence to me. As well their intentions might or might not be...NO is NO!! If I have to, I'll resign before I accept Kudan. I don't want to, but, it's so frustrating when the Hombu continues to paint me in some corner while they find a new way to sell a Ford!! I need some suggestions that are outside of the Shindokan circle...Please!!

By all means...GOOD LUCK!!

Cool. That'd be fun. KF members meeting up; AWESOME!!

Interesting topic!! I'm of the camp that gives no credit and/or agreements that Sanchin and/or any other MA training and/or how the practitioner lived as to why they died; people die and that's all I know. There could be something to what is spoken about and/or what's written concerning these masters. But for now, people die and death isn't a respecter of persons.

But Kata does help/aide ones sparring. Movements, shifting, transitions, posture, and the like. If not, then when one spars it looks like a very disjointed attempt; sloppy without focus. Imho.

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry for your loss. A good Sensei is as much a part of your family as your immediate family, in many cases a father. I know you're doing right by him just by continuing on. Thank you for your very kind words...and sometimes...it's almost too much to even continue. But I do...somehow, and someway!!

No matter the practitioners style(s), believes, methodologies, ideologies, rank, title, knowledge, experience, background, and/or lineage; everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Yes, respect must be earned without any ambiguity. But way to often, we assume the roles of judge, jury, and executioner quite prematurely before all of the facts have been weighed. The totality of a MAists isn't, and shouldn't be, the same across the board because we're INDIVIDUALS born without the context of a MAist; therefore we must first learn, and the learning curve varies from MAist to MAist. Respect must be the same! What respect is shown to a 10th Dan must be also shown to a 10th Kyu. Why? We're MAists, however, we're humans first. Before a practitioner became an all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips in the MA, they were/are humans first!! Your thoughts!!

Love the tonfa, and I've quite a little collection of different types. A very effective little tool!!