sensei8

The Shindokan belt ranking system is comprised of the following: White (Jukyu) White with black stripe (Kukyu) Yellow (Hachikyu) Orange (Nanakyu) Green (Rokyu) Blue (Gokyu) Purple (Yonkyu) Brown (Sankyu) Brown with white stripe (Nikyu) Brown with black stripe (Ikkyu) Black (Shodan - Judan)

Yes, good luck judjohns!

Believe it or not, I've not yet seen it. There are so many movies out to see and to choose from. Sooner or later I'll see it.

ABSOLUTELY!!

Man just loves to compete no matter the contest; whether it's an external or internal expression.

Hate is such a strong word; SCARED might be more on the money, imho, and I'm neither, I don't hate BJJ nor am I scared of it. Why? BJJ is just another effective form of the martial arts...wait...it's another PROVEN effective form of the martial arts. Everyone is another strong word. Everyone must include me, and I'm not threatened by BJJ, or any form of the martial arts at all. Therefore, not everyone is threatened by BJJ. BJJ is what it is, a proven effective form of the martial arts. These words, "Beat" and "Whatever", are strong words. Whatever means anything and everything. Confidence is one thing, but, over confidence is another! Is BJJ superior, no, not in my opinion. Why? "Unless a human being will have 3 arms and 4 legs, we will have a different form of fighting."~Bruce Lee. Therefore, unless a human being will have 3 arms and 4 legs, THAT style of the martial arts might beat whatever. To conclude to oneself that another form of the martial arts is superior to the style that 'I' practice, is to say that another form of the martial arts is superior to 'me'. That type of belief, imho, automatically traps oneself into including themselves as well. Styles aren't equal; hence the word "Style"! I don't concur with those who propagate...you defeat the practitioner, you defeat the style. Should a practitioner be defeated, then that practitioner alone was defeated; not the style. It's possible that that practitioners interpretation of their practiced style is different than that of the founder of said style.

Nothing ventured is nothing gained, as the saying goes. Cliff, it sounds like a viable venture to me. GO FOR IT! Define the "Lifetime Membership" in a little more detail, please!

You numbed your own foot and then cut into it?! WOW! You da' man! Sorry, I've no advice to help you with your problem, other than, go see a doctor asap before your original injury becomes a possible permanent one! You numbed your own foot and then cut into it?!

Absolutely! If you didn't purchase the equipment from me/my dojo, then don't expect me/my dojo to return it/exchange it for you. Why? Because I didn't sell it to you in the first place AND I don't work for that supplier, therefore, I'm not under any obligation to do so for any reason.

On the T-Shirt thingy...it's just a T-Shirt!!

I concur! MLB would have to make it not a choice, but a rule. If I remember right, the HANS device in NASCAR wasn't mandatory before 2001. Dale Earnhardt made it a choice of his to not wear the HANS device because it was uncomfortable for him, and Dale considered the device ineffective. Now, the HANS device IS mandatory.

Stop...stop...wait...please...you're killing me...wait until I get my bib on; I'm drolling all over myself reading all about all of these great combo's. Ok...I'm ready...hit me with more combo's!

Allow me to step very far away from the the rules and the regulations, and the Articles and the By-Laws that have been so deeply ingrained in me my entire life. I NEVER understood the true reasons, the real reasons, as to why the Shindokan Hombu, or, for that matter of fact, why any martial arts organization created, and still propagates, the Junior Black Belt. I was a JBB at the age of 13 and I couldn't earn a full fledged Yudansha and/or any additional ranks until I reached the age of 18 years old. I accepted the reasons of my Soke, and I accepted the reasons that my Dai-Soke was a proponent of. I've continued in the belief and in the practice of the JBB because of the who, what, where, when, how and the why of the Hombu. I was dumb as a sheep, who stands before his/her shearer's, so I never opened my mouth. I accepted it and I practiced it in totality. I've resented it and the implications that it assumed, as well as how it concluded about those under 18 years old; that included me. While I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I admit that, but I'm very far away from being a dull one. As the years went by, I was stuck in the mud for 5 long years with my JBB wrapped around my waist, proud; yet, as I think upon it, I felt that I had been regulated as a lesser of a person! I continued to learn new things; kihon, kata, and kumite, but I wasn't allowed to achieve rank. More importantly, I wasn't a full-fleged Yudansha, I was a junior, still forced to sit at the kids table, away from the adults...FOR 5 YEARS. I learned so much in those 5 years, that when I retested for my Yudansha, I was granted permission by my Dai-Soke to test for my Nidan 3 months later...and I passed with flying colors. At 13, 14, 15 ,16, and 17 years old I was seeing other kids and young men wearing full fledged Yudansha's and earning rank upon their obi's. I passed it off as though it was something that wasn't important to me. As a kid, it was important to me! I knew I wasn't an adult, and being an adult meant having and doing things that weren't meant to be for minors, and for some very good reasons. But as far as Shindokan Karate-do went, I could do that, and I could do it very well as a child. While I freely admit that our curriculum as a JBB wasn't as involved as the adult curriculum, I was still feeling very ostracized against because I wasn't an adult. As a JBB, I probably couldn't have defend myself against an adult that's hell-bent on doing me great bodily harm. Thanks for reminding me of this day after day. Thanks for giving me the preception that Shindokan only works for adults. Thanks for making sure that I ate all of my veggies. Thanks for not trusting me enough to put in practice, all that our Dai-Soke taught us. Or was what he was teaching us only for adults? No, Shindokan was for whomever tasted it, and found that it was good. Should a child be given a black belt? Well...Do bears live in the woods? YOU'RE DARN SKIPPY THEY DO! YES!! The martial arts isn't for adults only!

You're certainly more than welcome!

Should an instructor go against the rules/regualtions/by-laws of the Headquarters?

If I understand your question correctly, here's an answer from someone who is NOT an expert. When you have a name in English and have it embroidered in Japanese, the embroiderer usually converts it to katakana (as opposed to hiragana or kanji). Katakana is phonetic, meaning the characters represent sounds, like in English. I believe katakana is primarily for foreign words. There isn't a one-to-one relationship between Japanese sounds and English sounds, so there's some art to translating. If you have a way you want it written, definitely send it to the embroiderer. If not, the translator will sound out the English word and find Japanese sounds that match as closely as he can. For those who care, hiragana is phonetic writing for Japanese words, and kanji is more pictographic, meaning the characters look like the thing the represent. For example, I think the kanji for river, kawa, is a set of three wavy lines that look something like a river. The word for forest, hayashi, looks like two trees. Being pictographic, kanji characters are typically more complex than hiragana and katakana characters. I suppose a persons name could be translated into kanji, but that's not how it's usually done. My wife's name, Linda, means something like "pretty one". There's probably a Japanese word that means pretty much the same thing and there might be a kanji for it. She could use it, but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing this. Usually, people will just say it sounds like "Lee-nu-dah" or something and use the katakana for those sounds or whatever they think sounds closest. On the other hand, I suppose someone might translate Ohio River Karate Club using the kanji for River Karate Club and the katakana for Ohio. I hope this helps answer your question, or at least provides useful info for somebody. A very solid post! BTW, Eosin NOW does COLORED BELTS, not just black belts!

I've no doubt whatsoever that you'll do great and that you'll pass! Good luck and let us know how it goes. Remember, RELAX!!!!!

Yeah, It's right there... Well, I stand corrected. I sure did MISREAD that whole thing. That's what I get for staying up all night. Thanks for correcting my error and steering GaryMo on the correct path. I owe you one! GaryMo, I'm sorry for that error; it won't happen again. Also, forget what I said in my first post, follow Derwentbob's post! I'm going to go find me a bag big enough to put over my head!

Oh, my bad. You didn't want to know if this was a karate kata or not. You wanted to know who this was in the video...sorry.... Here ya' go... http://www.tribal-fusion.biz/ChloeBruce.html

First let me welcome you to KF! You're half correct. They're BOTH TO the outside! They both start from the inside, and then they both end on the outside, Chudan-Uchi travels upward to it's final completion, and Gedan Barai travels downward to it's final completion, therefore, Chudan-Uchi-Uke Gedan Barai utilizes simultaneously outside blocks.

Yeah, that's about as clear as one can get.

I like this idea, im sure some schools probably do it too I hear this arguement a lot, so lets toy with it a while. How will the test be different? Is the curriculum different for the under-aged jr black belt? If not, then I take issue with it. "Sorry, kid, but you're just not old enough to be a 'real' black belt. So what we'll do is wait until you turn 16, and you can do that jr black belt test all over again, and then, you will be a 'real' black belt. How does that sound?" I think that sounds like an instructor working a student over for more testing fees. And even if one doesn't charge testing fees, what has really been accomplished here. Its like the driving restrictions they put on kids when they start getting their license. Most of the time, the restrictions are just foolish. So, should an member of law enforcement ignore/violate the rules/regulations/law that make up the driving restrictions for kids? If the law says that a kid is to have an adult licensed driver with them while their driving, for example, and an officer of the law see's that a kid is driving without an adult in the car, possibly that officer should disregard the rules/regulations/law because that officer thinks that the rules/regulations/law is foolish? Aahhhh...no, I don't think so. No matter how foolish one might think a rule/regulation may or may not be of any said martial arts organization; it's their law, and I believe that that should be respected.

I'm now living back in Owasso, OK, a part of Tulsa County!

Nope, no Judo!

What's the exact problem your having with Heian Nidan? You should feel honored that you're being graded by Shihan Takahashi!