sensei8

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!

WELCOME TO KF!!!!!!!!

I wholeheartedly agree here!! You'll be fine!! Work it in small segments to get all of its important elements done right. Hang in there!!

I believe that that's the exact reason as to why some modified it. I also believe that they modified it to attach their styles name and brand label to it. Any change hopefully were effective across the board and not just empty movements for the sake of being different from Nakamori Sensei. I've yet to see any modification come close to the crispness and effectiveness across the board to Kakamori Sensei. Hense, Nakamori Sensei's version is quite difficult...rhythm and the like are important.

For safety sake, I hope we don't see many of the quite devastating techniques of the martial arts in venues as Strikeforce, the UFC, and the like. Sometimes in my opinion, referees and the like don't intervene quite fast enough, and I understand why they wait, in the hopes that the fighter will be able to fight out of a doomed situation, but any delay to stop the fight can just add to some serious and fatal outcomes. It's a fine line to gamble with, imho.

To each of you who post in this thread/topic, I've an enormous amount of respect for each and everyone of you across the board for your dedication and determination to training seriously and to make an e-log record of your health, training, and fitness for all here at KF to see. And in that, you're able to trace back to see where you once were and to where you are now. OSU!!

It's a tough situation that you find yourself in, with you being a teen. Decisions, final ones that is, is left up to your mother and you're already aware of the given parameters of your situation. I trust you'll find the school of martial arts near enough for you to attend because of your desire, dedication, and determination to continue within the martial arts. I wish you much success in your search as well as in your martial arts journey. Sometimes, favorable solutions reveal themselves in the most unexpected ways...the martial arts is in you and you'll be just fine. Keep us informed, please.

Very nice videos there MP...I enjoyed them both...thanks for sharing them.

Sorry MP...I don't have any specific context, just a general question and then I hope that the KF members bring the thread more to a theme...sorry for the general context.

MP, Yeah...that girl with the bow/arrow was WOW. I'd hate to have to get in the way of her arrows...unless I had some wall between us. WOWWY!! Btw, thanks for that video.

Back peddling no more than 2-3 steps is acceptable for a Shindokan practitioner, but no more than that, because those 2-3 steps are going to be built into a Tai Sabaki movement, and in that, how it is going to be related to Ashi Sabaki and Te Sabaki as our Tuite unfolds. Trusting to move off line at any given angle takes quite a lot of many things, and nerve is one of them. Especially when ones not moving in any direction(s) until the very last second so as to force one opponent to commit to their attacking line(s). Creating cutting lines takes even more nerve and a lot of skill because not only is one waiting until the very last second, but ones cutting into the attack at a very close proximity to one opponents direction(s). I still believe in never back peddling and I won't unless it opens lines and the like to my advantage. In Shindokan, I want to occupy the space that my opponent surrendered willingly to me.

I know that you're trying to get a new perspective and all; I'd do the very same thing if it was me. I'm no doctor, nor do I even assume that I know much about being a doctor and all, and anything that I might say and/or any advice that I might offer, please take it even lesser than a grain of salt. Having said that, please consult with a doctor asap. Good luck!

Yet, I thought for sure that Dai-Soke would actually want to kill us when we trained lazily. He drove us so mercilessly not because he was mean spirited, but because he wanted us to recognize the frailty of our human spirit, and then to overcome its endless whining. After awhile, we did welcome both training and death equally, and we learned to appreciate it across the board because we weren't afraid of it. Classes were long, even at 10th kyu, but classes were even longer at Nanadan/Hachidan...3.5 hours long, even more so, we found ourselves unaware of the time; it slipped by faster than we could ever imagine. We wanted to be his sponge, and absorb each and everything that we could because we understood and recognized that we still had such a long, long journey ahead of us...an ever ending journey, and we welcomed it with baited breath. I will always love him and I will always miss him and I will always cherish him in every shape, way, and/or form.

Great points across the board everyone...great topic.

This is where scenario training comes in handy. Set up a situation where you don't know when your partner will attack you or with what.I concur...solid post!!

Solid post!!

Solid post!!

I very much agree with this. There's enough information in just one kata to allow for a ton of training. I would probably chose Kanku dai, Bassai Dai, or Unsu. I could also base an entire curriculum around those exclusively. Solid post!!

Great replies thus far...thank you all. Please feel free to add your own question(s).

Pertaining to the martial arts.... What makes you cry? What makes you smile? What makes you say "WOW"? What makes you pause? What makes you angry? What makes you laugh? What makes you think? What makes you try? What makes you surrender? What makes you respect? Please feel free to add your own questions to mine.

It's widely accepted that... "Discernment is a term used to describe the activity of determining the value and quality of a certain subject or event. Typically, it is used to describe the activity of going past the mere perception of something, to making detailed judgments about that thing. As a virtue, a discerning individual is considered to possess wisdom, and be of good judgement; especially so with regard to subject matter often overlooked by others." Could wisdom be part of knowledge? Knowledge/experience is considered by many MAists that rank is nothing without knowledge/experience, and in that, rank by itself is an empty shell. Value of ones knowledge must be valuable to those who are subjected to it, and in that, there must be quality of what's presented. Pertaining to the subject of the MA... *Does only a black belt have those abilities? *Does only a Sensei have those abilities? *Do only high ranking MAists have those abilities? *Do those under black belt have those abilities? How do you discern knowledge? Any thoughts?

How do you explain the varying Dan degrees of YOUR CORE STYLE to a layperson? ~Do you try to explain each separate Dan degree? ~Do you try to explain Dan degrees in groups...[1-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9, 10]? ~How much better is a 3rd Dan over a 2nd Dan, for example, or an 8th Dan over a 6/7th Dan? Sometimes, trying to explain the Dan degrees in a positive means is hard enough to explain it to other MAists of different core styles, and/or different dojo's, but can be pretty difficult to get a layperson to grasp the differences between Dan degrees. Any thoughts?

It's the 'excessive' back peddling that drives me batty. To me, 'excessive' back peddling is anything more than 2-3 steps backwards as an answer to any attack, imho. Many Shindokan counters to a blitz/lunge/clinch/etc violate the rules of many competition venues. Rules, for safety sake, negate effective techniques, and I respect the rules. However, arts are deemed inferior to others unfairly due to these rules, imho. "Many exponents/practitioners of varied MA have tried and failed repeatedly at many counters in many MMA events." I've heard/read that before. Please allow me to submit a plausible reason to consider...Yes, it's true, but it might've been attempted by those less experienced/less knowledgeable than those of the MMA fighters and the like. Rules favor some over others, imho.

...one counter against an overwhelming force? Whom defines it as an "Overwhelming force"? Imho, the one whom the overwhelming force is directed at. Do we face the overwhelming force with an equal overwhelming force of our own? Do we run away and hide from an overwhelming force, when the moment to flee reveals itself? Do we just accept the overwhelming force, and hope that all will be well at the end? I believe that each of us will have different answers, but, that's ok because we're different as individuals. Hopefully we know our limitations just as well as we know ourselves. When the battle is brought to you; what will you do? Any thoughts?

Technique(s) without practice returns to us empty/void. Not just any practice, but meaningful practice. "Have you been practicing?" I've asked this question of my students countless amount of times. I already know the answer to my question before I've even posed it because I can see their answer(s) from their movements, which are presented to me more as an exhibition than as an effective movement(s) of totality. Practice has its levels, and they vary across the board. Warm up, geared up, and thought up [discovery]. Yet, to not practice seriously can only invite defeat across the board. "Don't practice just to do the technique(s), but to bring 'it' to life. To show any marked improvement requires total self in each and every technique(s). Understand what it is that you're doing/learning/improving. That what you're engaged in is not to be taken lightly; now and forever." I continue to reach out to my students on a lesson of meaningful practice. For that brief moment, I believe that my students have purposefully forgotten why they must practice, and because I'm seeing a moment of lapse in their attention to every important detail, I sternly remind them that I'm seeing their hearts aren't on the floor and I require them to bring their heart and a earnest effort on my floor. If not, go home until you can show yourselves, your fellow students, our dojo, and myself that you're not here for just a season, but for a true reason. Don't practice empty technique(s)!! Any thoughts?