Killer Miller

I would definately do JKA again. I am an athlete in other sports, also a perfectionist so-to-speak, and I liked karate for the art of perfection. My goal was never self defense - although this would be a by-product of it. The exact mechanics of JKA Shotokan was the most structured I had seen. It helped my other sports tremendously. I think it is an awesome and well supported art for what it is. It also provides a basic mechanics foundation that is very rare to find and obtain elseware. Could JKA delve into other realtime applications? Sure. But that's not really what the JKA is all about. Yes I'm happy with what I learned and would definately do it again. Does this mean I get a second life to do it all over again? - Killer -

Don't get me wrong Shotochem, I still think JKA is worth it and the best overall out there. But even as good as it is, the world-wide standard is severely lacking. And it gets even worse with many of the other arts out there. The problem is too many organizations that want to be the "one" to represent karate and what it stands for. Therefore, we will never have a uniform standard. - Killer -

I agree with you Jiffy. The overall instructor standard is quite low overall. However, I feel it is still bette than most... I also agree with Rob that a graduate level should be good enough as well. Generally, anything past Sandan is all political. Sandan is considered the Instructor's graduate level. Perhaps to Godan, but anything after that becomes stature and not a progression of ability. - Killer -

Rob, I'm not sure that I share the same view that you do on this subject. True that JKA (aka Shotokan) is a modern version of other arts - which nobody is disputing that fact. But the key word here is "modernizing" Karate. It was intended to be toned down from the original arts from the start. JKA's mission was to expand Karate world-wide - which included a more diverse culture of participants and as another venue to expand the art was to have the art excepted as a sport (such as the olympics). The difficult part of this mission was to maintain the traditional essence of the art, but provide a structured and technical corriculum that was excepted by the general populas and governments. So at basic levels of the art, it is a lot of repetition for technical perfection - from the Japanese eyes, this meant to do what I say and not what I do. After you pass Shodan (Black Belt), then the initiation begins - especially if you are Gaijin. Then it is repetition 1,000 times each, "ooops" type of bruises, etc. But after you give them a little of their own medicin back to them, and they start to respect you a bit, then you get into more of the practical applications of the art and start learning some of the old school stuff. But even then, the primary focus is still for competition - in hopes to make it into the olympics (which nobody has yet to officially achieve). Noing this goal of JKA, fighting is not a real issue in the real world. However, at higher levels, and depending on the instructor I immagine, more of the old school samurai philosophies are introduced and taught. Now, Nishiyama when he taught. He would not teach kata bunkai while doing kata. Although, his activities for that day would be concepts, and timing training concepts, that he would be focusing on kata for that day. So in a sense, he did teach bunkai, but not directly spell it out when you were doing your kata - except to say to apply it while you are doing kata. But he wanted it to be naturally applied to your kata. As another example, when Shirai taught kata, he was more technical in kata perfection of technique. Also, when Oishi taught, he was more real application oriented in a competition sense of kata. Etc. Even within the JKA, the training concepts and interpretation varies quite a bit. And yet one of the most structured arts around. So the argument of it just looking pretty, I don't feel is an accurate assement of the art considering the true premise of the art. Also, there are very few that stick with it long enough that can take the JKA art to a practical level to use it in every day defense - which I've seen lots of JKA get their buts kicked too, but I would not have considered them very good in the first place either. But the ones that have stuck with it, and have achieved the higher levels, I've seen plenty of street examples of severe and quick resolutions to an altercation. But everything we present here can also be applied to any other fighting art. Until you are actually in war or self defense of some type, you will never know what you are made of under those circumstances. JKA, Goju or whatever has no meaning or value in this area until you know what your mental state really is in that venue or situation. I understood this and didn't mind the "repetitious" or "pretty" techniques early on in training. But this training truly helped develop a base structure that allowed myself, and most others, to become quite efficient later on - which is also the method to the JKA madness... So I feel it's a good thing. - Killer -

What Jiffy says is true. But I wanted to add that at this level, each instructor will have a different interpretation of the taught Bunkai, technique, and timing of these Katas. In this case, and at this particular level, I would generally suggest going with the bunkai, technique, and timing that your instructor is interpreting for you to learn for now. Once you better understand the art, then you will naturally expand to your own intrepretation of the bunkai and timing... - Killer -

Wasn't Stan in the movie years ago, "kill or be killed?" I believe that was stan - plus a coupl of others that I can't remember the name of. Those were some great karate flicks - and a bit in the Spaghetti western style. - Killer - Thanks. The link below details the list of Shotokan 6th dans and higher in the Western World. Nice to see the large number of South Africans in the list across the Shotokan affiliations. http://www.shotokanworld.com/htmls/DanRankings.htm

I know you think you have learned the kata. However, you have not truly perfected it yet and you haven't learned how to savor and enjoy the kata. You have to get into the kata deeply and "visualize" various battles (so-to-speak) to mentally apply all applications of kata technique, timing, breathing, and variations of its use. You may have learned and perfected the "outside" movements of the kata. But you don't truly learn the "inside" movements of the kata until you do this. This is a life time of learning, not over night. So if you are bored, you have not explored the true "inside" aspects of kata. - Killer -

Hey, great to have ya Karate_Dad. You guys down in S.A. have some great Karate-Ka down there. Welcome! - Killer -

Nice review NinjaNurse... It's great to see an honest review of actual reading content and not hype in order to be polite. Thanks, - Killer -

A definate apology is in order regardless... - Killer -

I might want to note Jaymac, for those not familiar with Kanku Dai, that the Jump kick in Kanku Dai is really not the "flying" type of jump kick. When doing the jump kick in Kanku Dai, when the one foot comes up for the kick, the other foot immediately switches down to the floor. This is completely different than flying in the air while kicking. - Killer -

Trust me, the last thing you would want to do with me would be a flying kick - the landing would be quite rough and we don't use mats either... Flying kicks actually don't have much use or effective ness. They are slow and take valuable time away from "reactive" responses. If you were to train with some of the Karate-ka I trained with, you get about 0.60" of an inch off the floor before you hit the ground with your demise... If you are lucky enough to catch someone from the blind back side, and you were to have enough time for a running start to carry your momentum, I "might" re-consider my position on the use of this technique. However, I would not ever take that chance even under those circumstances. - Killer -

In traditional Karate (Shotokan) we do not teach or learn flying type of Jump kicks. Our concept is that "one" foot is always in contact with the floor/ground... - Killer -

In Shotokan we work on three basic principles - Sen (Before oponent's attack), Sen-no-sen (As oponent attacks), Sen-go-no-sen (After oponent attacks). The technique used is not important bacauase there are too many that you can use. What is critical is to learn Breathing Timing and the Three concepts above. All the rest will come naturally... - Killer -

Thanks, He actually turned out to be a great person and a really good friend. He was just COCKY at first and just needed some guidence and direction in life at the time... - Killer -

Getting more "Mean," so-to-speak, is NOT the thing to do. However, to visualize a true fighting or self defense when you train is "the thing to do..." The rest comes with practise. When you "think" mean or aggressive, it naturally tightens up your shoulders and upper body muscles. This constricts the blood flow to your brain and does not let you think clearly or if at all - as well as not allowing you to relax in the first place. This also prevents you from utilizing your sub-concous memmory responses for a given action in return. It all has to be a natural reaction from hours/weeks/years of training that writes your responses into muscle memmory - the need to visualize your actions... Fuel for thought! - Killer -

Tips on writing articles - and I've done a lot of writing in my day: 1. Quiet 2. JUST TYPE...! What ever comes to mind, just put it down. 3. Re-Read it and see if it makes sense, add what you forgot to add, etc. 4. Condense the article down into readable bites - insert paragraph breakes, add pagargraph titles if necessary. Get rid of uneccessary adjatives and what nots... 5. Spell check. 6. Have someone else read it for content. 7. Make corrections. 8. Publish the article. This formula will never fail you. If you worry too much about what you are going to write, you will NEVER write it. Writing is kind of like the zen mind dumping concept. Just type and let your thoughts flow... You can fix everything else later on. - Killer -

You must work for Toyota. They are big on the Kaizen concept... - Killer -

Who's your instructor - I wonder if I know him? I trained with Nishiyama for 17 years. - Killer -

For examples of Keage, look at the Kanazawa kata videos: - 7th move in Heian Nidan. - 5th and 7th moves in Heian Yondan. - 9th, 23 and 25th moves in Kanku-dai. - 7th move in Bassai-sho - 15th and 16th move in Sochin. For Kekomi examples: - 19th move in Bassai-dai. - 17th move in Bassai-sho. - 10th and 12th move in Nijushiho. Note: Kanazawa moves his heel a little in these kicks, but technically they are not supposed to move at all. However, I think he has paid his dues to move them a little if he choses to do so. For the most part, I never did when I was competing - but sometimes I did too. There are plenty of other examples I haven't mentioned, but these are the main examples. - Killer -

The JKA kick... When you plant your foot for the kick (except mawashi geri), it's like stepping onto fly paper. The foot does not move at all! Your leg/foot becomes part of the floor. This is for starting speed generated for the kick, stability of your stance, allowing the equal and oposite force to go from your target, through your body, to the floor, back through your body to target, retraction from your kick, and finally allowing you the ability to eigther bring your foot back to the ground or quickly change stance if need be. This will not happen at all if your foot moves in the slightest... When thrusting out for kekomi, you bring your knee up like doing Mae Geri (front snap) with the supporting knee bent over the front toe and the foot facing the same direction - but looking to the direction of your target. Then with exhale or kiai, you thrust out in one relaxed and smooth motion to your target and apply kime (total body muscle contraction) for a split second at the focal point or point of impact. Then immediately relax and bring your leg/knee back to your mae geri like position and then down to the ground. There are slight variations of this where you might change direction or stance when bring your foot down, but the key points are knee up, out, and back to up position - the foot will naturally do the rest for you. - Killer -

There have always been different theroies on that concept Angela. Most pivot the foot in order to get height from their kick. I don't know if you are JKA or not, but the JKA concept is that any kick that is not one motion (which pivoting becomes two motions), and causes your vertical axis to change, is ineffective for maximum speed, timing, stability, and recovery of the kick. When the axis changes, meaning causing you to lean in the slightest and the kick becoming over waist high, your balance becomes off-centered from your foot. It becomes a simple task at this point to drive through the oponent, with a little eye blockage in the process, and the oponent goes down without effort... Also, to recover from that kick, you have to lean your axis back straight prior to carrying out another action - which again allows instability and vulnerability in your attack. The JKA method is that "every" action is not only to be executed with maximum speed and power, but with maximum stability and also the ability to recover or change direction of technique execution at all times from any position immediately. So as the general rule, you never kick over waist height with kekomi. The exception to the rule is if you have become tone and limber enough to effectively exceed the waist height rule. The specific rule is that you never change your vertical axis and do not pivot your supporting foot in the process. When sparring with world class karate-ka, as in referring to many of the JKA international team members, everything happens so quick and so powerful that any secondary movements lets you end up with incomplete, ineffective, instable techniques and typically the result is you being hurt or on the floor in the process. Lastly, what I'm going to refer to as non-international level of technique, these concepts are not considered because the typical level of sparring partners are not at the proficiency level to where these concepts are critical in nature. However, if you compare international level of competition with the everyday level of fighting or self defense, body movement, timing, speed, and stability are very similar if not the same - meaning that there is no extra time for "secondary body actions." - Killer - If you do not pivot your foot in kekomi you will not be able to stick your hips in effectively and the kick will have no power. If you pivot on the ball of the foot you drive power INTO the kick. Pivoting your foot in kekomi is a necessity if you want a powerful kick and you do not want to tear all the ligaments around your knee.

The only kick in Shotokan that you are supposed to pivot your foot with is Mawashi geri. All other kicks, once you plant your foot for the kick, it doesn't move at all - including yoko geri keage. Pivoting your foot is when you lose your driving speed and force of the kick and also lose your solid connection to the ground. This pivoting of the foot also becomes a "1" "2" action and slows your technique timing from going straight from point A to point B and also the recovery timing as well. Bottom line, do not pivot once you plant - except for mawashi geri... - Killer -

I like armanox's answer. So... Tokaido, Black with sweat, blood (Their's, not mine) , and white poking through in some areas, and a Size 5. - Killer -

You are correct. The supporting leg is always bent. This allows your weight of your body to be centered and distributed over the center of the foot for stability. - Killer - Doesn't the supporting leg have to bent slightly to get that 'bounce' feeling when your snapping out the kicking leg?