Toptomcat

On review of other sources, Wikipedia was wrong on that. It's straight through, with some reports of a short break at 50- which is as impressive as hell.

The explanation I have seen is that accomplishing it requires an extreme of fighting spirit not present or capable of being instilled in many of those otherwise physically qualified for high rank. I don't think that there's an explicit rank limit involved, though I can't imagine someone who's obviously unready for any reason, including a lack of adequate training, being permitted to attempt it.

I think it was initially positioned as a requirement for attaining mid-high dan rank in the early days of Kyokushin, but became strictly voluntary pretty fast.

As I said in your other thread, go Kyokushin. They have an excellent reputation, and the number of dubious claims made on the Zen-Shin club's Web site makes me suspicious of them.

Wikipedia says they're typically two-minute rounds separated by one-minute rest periods, which makes for a five-hour experience in all. Assuming you don't cut any of them short by knockout, that is.

Regularly washing it like any other item of clothing has always worked for me.

Times for achieving black belt vary widely, because there is no one, universal standard for black belt- each school and style sets its own guidelines. It is by no means a universal standard of quality like a professional certification or college degree, though many people have that impression. Age affects focus, muscular strength, speed, and coordination, among other things. Your son's age will affect his ability to earn a black belt to the degree that your karate dojo views these qualities as requisite for a black belt. Try not to focus overmuch on the gaining of belts, which are essentially arbitrary and inexact indicators of how much progress has been made: focus instead on motivating your son to achieve excellence in karate regardless of the color of the belt on his waist.

What exactly do you mean by 'movement-centric'?

Do you actually have a diagnosis of a deviated septum as a result of sparring with overzealous training partners, or are you merely worried about it? You're unlikely to have gotten one unless the force with which your sparring partners are going at you with is also regularly giving you black eyes and bloody noses, dizzying you and taking your legs away from you. If it is, then yes, they're going too hard and you should speak with your teacher. If it isn't, then they are controlling their force well even if you are hurt and thrown off by their head punches. Learning to distinguish between being hurt- when the impact of a shot has you in pain, but nothing's physically disabling you otherwise- and being *injured*- when accumulated damage is physically preventing you from fighting as you should- is a key skill in practical martial arts.

A cursory Googling reveals scattered online sources that corroborate this- but, oddly, none of them appear on Web sites directly associated with Kyokushin. I'd love to hear from an authority on this, it's pretty interesting if true.

There is a fairly universal consensus not only in Shotokan but throughout the various karate styles that the best way to pivot is on the ball of the foot, not the heel. I won't say that there isn't a style out there that takes it as the proper way, but I will say that literally every time I've encountered it it has been because the instructor has been misinformed about the right way to do things. An orthodox Shotokan mawashi geri definitely pivots on the ball of the foot. How are you intended to be moving around your target for the first foot sweep/pivot technique? It occurs to me that if executed a certain way it could bear a resemblance to aikido footwork, which focuses a great deal on pivoting around uke. And I've drills for moving around in kiba daichi justified not as a practicality but as an exercise for the legs.

Well, define 'full-contact'. What are your sparring rules, and what sort of gear do you use? You aren't going balls-to-the-wall barefisted, are you? There are definitely ways to train face strikes without undue risk of injury, but proper gear is a must for that.

If I were playing judo with a high-ranking Russian politician of any sort, let alone Putin, I know I'd let them win. Making them unhappy isn't the best thing for your health or your liberty.

...does this looks as silly as it sounds?

This isn't really a hypothetical question, is it?

I've never heard of that before. Where did you learn that from? He did have 4th dan in judo, and the close association of Daito-ryu with the early roots of judo means that if you were training judo around the 30s-40s pioneering era when Oyama was training it, you were training Daito-ryu to some degree as well.

You have to consider that the best terrain to defend yourself on is not necessarily the terrain on which you fight best, because your opponent has to deal with the same environmental conditions you do. If you know to deal with an environmental difficulty better than your opponent does, you're at a net advantage relative to your opponent even if you yourself aren't fighting as well as you can in absolute terms. If you know exactly what to do on wet concrete- take a wide, stable stance, eschew kicks for punches, rely on weaving and blocking for defense over steps and evasion, pull guard if things get to the clinch rather than trying to get a sweep or throw- then you might actually want to move from dry blacktop to wet concrete.

It also depends on the field of competitors. Just because a tournament is open doesn't mean it's particularly large.

They're calling it 'The Kung Fu Kid' in China.

Tonydee is a man who knows what he's talking about.

'Chrome and fern?'

Really! You learn something every day. My local Meibukan guys are pretty adamant about not sparring. Thanks for keeping me from misleading this guy, Kuma.

Self-defense is not what either of those two styles is best at due to their lack of aliveness in training, unless you've found a very good school.

They do not spar, at all- which means that while it may work well from a fitness perspective, it is unlikely to confer practical ability in self-defense. If that matches what you want to get out of your karate training, then go for it.

These guys look good.