Wa-No-Michi

Well unfortunately it's the way of things and has been for a long time. As Killer mentions, a lot has to do with the transmission of karate into a western culture. Scant comfort I know, but Karate (and its styles within) is not on it's own here, as other arts like Aikido and Jujutsu go through exactly the same thing. In the most part though, I believe it is to do with the almighty dollar, and these people wanting their own piece of the pie. This in it's self though is not a wholly western thing. Its human nature at the end of the day That said, you have to strike a balance between training with a small (un-affiliated) group and a larger / national body. Standardisation of training does not mean a lot to many people, but I would like to think that I could take my karate to any Wado club around the world and find we were talking the same language. People like tg would argue what does it matter as long as the club you train at teaches you everything you want out of your training and I agree, but perhaps international arts like Shotokan are different in this respect.

A remarkably well informed and articulate man. Very impressed. He likes his ground work - clearly.

I dropped in a one word response earlier as I had to shoot out the door to go and teach, but as JAKEHE3078 has acknowledged; power in kata manifests its self through the realisation of Kime. Kime - literally means to channel power into a focused point. (Ki = energy, me = eye). The principle being that at the point of impact (be that punch, block or kick) your body should strong, ie your muscles are braced for impact (tension) for the short period of time it takes the technique to travel through the target. The key to making your techniques powerful is honing the timing on your kime. Remaining totally relaxed through as much of the technique as possible, then adding a snap of muscle tension at the end of the technique (squeezing that dough out of your fist at the point of impact). It is said that the more you master karate, the smaller (but sharper) your kime becomes. As others have mentioned a good way to embed this is through striking a static object With a boxers punch bag, it is very tempting to slug at the bag and over push punches. A makiwawra (or similar) on the other hand, is more about delivering good timing and correct bio-mechanical structure). But Makiwara training should be done under supervision to start with, so be careful about this. But you don't always need to hit something to develop good Kime. As Joe said you should ask your instructor, he / she is passing comment about your lack of power, you should ask him for tips on how to improve it.

Kime.

Hi Hwa Rang Warrior, Your bio states you are from NEPA - Is that an acronym for the state name / area that you live in?

In Traditional Japanese Budo, its is often the case that a Dojo is given its name by the head (or very senior) instructor "Ryu-ha" to which it belongs. Often these names are given when the Sensei has visited a group and has experienced the "feel" of the dojo and named it appropriately. Typically, Japanese dojo names reflect the ideologies of "do" . Fortitude Self Improvement Education Spirit Mind Heart Etc And usually the names awarded to the dojo are compounds of such principles. A former fellow student from my Wado group, is now head of the New Zealand Wado-kai and his Dojo was named "Yoshin Wadokan". It translates to "Hall of Cultivation of the Mind and Heart, through the Study of Peace and Harmony". Alternatively you could create your Dojo name by prefixing the "style" of MA you will be teaching with the name of the town the Dojo will be in. Job done

Toward the end of his life, Otsuka sensei was recorded as stating that Wado was not finished. Not that he was suggesting that it was incomplete IMO, but rather it would be the students that trained within the system that would evolve and consequently the artform would develop with them. This as very typical of the Japanese principle of "Shu-Ha-Ri" which are best explained as the stages of learning / progression / evolution, within a student and the system itself. I wonder whether the late masters would have actually approved of us keeping things too traditional, or whether they would be somewhat cynical of groups that hang on to tradition for traditions sake.

Hi, I don't know whether this helps, but if its training in Japan you were after, you could look at see whether you could be accepted on an internship. I know of a Wado Karate one that the Shiramizu University offer every year. In exchange for teaching English as a foreign language to the students of the university, the intern is trained by the coach of the Shiramizu Karate Club (Takamasa Arakawa) who is a coach to the Japan National Squad. I Know its not Kyokushin, but maybe there are other High Schools / Unis that offer this with Kyokushin as their style. Anyway here is their blog for their internship. http://japankarateintern.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-interns-louise-erica.html Just an Idea

Yes, the "traditional" Japanese diet is among the healthiest in the world. Having said that, a few of the old Japanese sensei that I train with, do have a penchant for the odd cigarette (or 40) a day, and a bottle of whiskey. That said, they are still alive, and very active... How do they do that? Must be their diet and training I guess.

..........and I'd hate to be the OLDEST !! Don't worry, I dont think you are

Like Bushido_man I favor my right side forward (or "Goofy" as it is sometimes called). I do try to balance it out in my training, but as tg suggests; under pressure you will instinctively resort to what feels strongest anyway, so fighting in left would only be transitional for me. Interestingly, a lot of Japanese budo has evolved with techniques performed with a heavy bias toward right stance. Although (I believe) you should always train your pair work in both stances, certainly in wado ryu, many such kata are only "officially" performed with the defender in right. I think this is probably to do with the sword connection, and thus making for easy transference to weaponless combat as required. Nearly all kenjutsu is initiated in right. After all, it did appear as there was no such thing as a left handed person in traditional Japanese budo!!

Yep, Still alive and very much kicking and I am past the 40 mark.

I would ask your instructor. Trying to give tips on such things is often misleading. You have to be able to see a person in the stance they are having trouble with, before you can pass comment. Also different styles will use different terminology / approaches. Some styles refer to back stance as a stance where the majority of the weight is supported on the back foot (but spine is vertical), whilst others will refer to these as cat stances. In Japanese these are typically referred to as "Nekoashi-dachi" or "kōkutsu-dachi" Alternatively, some refer to back stances as stances where you would lean (your spine) backward (away from the attack), again with majority of weight on back foot. These are also often referred to as "kōkutsu-dachi". In addition, some styles emphasise that for good form in kihon, the front heel should be off the floor, others keep it on the floor. There are also varying degrees of cat stances (nekoashi) from the point of view of leg/weight distribution and the hip position to front. 1. Shomen - hips forward facing - AKA short cat stance (20/80 weight dist) 2. Hanmi - Hips half (ie 45deg) - (30/70 weight dist) 3. Ma-Hanmi - Hips more than half - AKA long cat stance (40/60 weight dist). So you need to understand your schools requirements and then chat your problems through with your sensei I would suggest.

I teach it that way because my teacher taught me that way...I think we all do this, just in this case it involves the uniform instead of how the kata is done. I am a bit confused . Can you explain the last part of your sentence, as I am struggling to understand "how the kata is done."

I came across this a couple of weeks ago and wondered why these ladies BB's had a white stripe through them. Thanks for clarifying this. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YXWUdvsUpm0&feature=related

I guess so but that's a really weird reason to do it. Isn't it?

What University are you at BB?

I think you have that right Joe, maybe its because many participating have grown up in a karate background, (and thus with the kata pedagogy), but just can't seem to understand its immediate purpose or value (me included). It's a complex one to chew over, and maybe because in some ways Kata embodies the movement/thought processes required in order to facilitate the "shu-ha-ri" of things. I don't know, I am not there yet, but will continue to enjoy the journey.

Actually Joe, my post was somewhat rhetorical. I am in no way qualified to pose such questions; mainly because I don't know the question/answer myself. I have my thoughts, and glad to share them with you chaps, but when it comes to trying to measure the effectiveness of kata in its "empirical" sense, I would probably chose to bow out.

So, would it be safe to say that training in Kata is what makes karate karate as opposed to kickboxing? Are there deeper mental processes and values attached to Kata? Perhaps this isn't the best board to ask such a question, as I don't think there are many traditional karate-ka here anyway. Maybe we should put it to a vote? and then we will all know once and for all whether we are wasting our time doing it...or not

I would say that you should add "Classical" to your list. IE from a karate / jujutsu perspective, the Koryu arts of Japan / Okinawa from which the traditional ways that we know of today were spawned. I think that is a great idea- you might not be able to to call a new karate system 'classical' per se, but you could still refer to it as traditional in that it has a particular method of training and philosophy. Unfortunate CMA is already taken (Chinese martial arts ) KMA - Koryu Martial Art? Well sounds better than OSMA - Old School Martial Art

I think that here in the UK there may be legal restrictions on under 18 taking a class. I know that my insurers do not cover anyone under the age of 18 (could even be 21 now I come to think of it). So if under 18's are taking a class, they may not be covered insurance wise.

No probs

It's what us trad guys would refer to as renraku-waza or "relayed" technique. Your work should always incorporate such flows, as without it your training would cease to be "live". As for the particular techniques you mention John, I cant say that as a karate-ka I am very well practiced in them (although I do train them in sorts with my Daito group).

That's impressive. You can never doubt the influence that Kano's art had on the post war world.