Traymond

To be honest, I think the whole "belt getting filthy and turning to black" is just a myth. Especially given the emphasis on hygeine in Eastern culture and in your typical dojo. My style uses striped belts. Always has, ever since it was "created". Is that not traditional? To me stripes make a lot more sense than having a greater number of coloured belts. Korean Culture and Japanese culture are to different things. Koreans have earned themselves the nickname (Atleast with TKD) the pretty art, They are always neat and clean how ever Karate at its fullest and in depth training is dirty and rugged. I have trained under students of Matayoshi Shinpo, and Taira Shinken. They have passed down the knowledge of their arts to their students, and then on. It is true when the belt began it was white, and then it turned to a filthy dirty color ( brownish black). Of course Green, and blue would never be the case. Alot of older hombu dojos originated on the beaches and in the woodland areas.

I always wanted to go to illinois particularly chicago's china town...

I love sweats from K mart...they are the best to work out in.

Hmmm I can understand back in the older days it may have taken time for the brown to get so dirty that it would turn black, but why do some styles have two or three blue belts? And why is their some styles that have striped belts?...I think those are far from being traditional.

I like Versace, and RocaWear...Big difference in styles I know, haha.

On a side note...whats the reason for the multitude of styles that use two blue belts and three brown belts?

So what state is everyone located at? Im in Michigan, but I am originally from New York, but I have done MA training in different states such as , California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Kentucky.

The influences are in my mind fighting to get out, I pride myself tho on being able to keep them inside my mind only...until I freestyle then my style gets mixed.

And lets not forget Abbe Kenshiro Docho....dan level achieved in kendo at an early teen year,

And if you are able to do all that in an extremely small time would you say that it would be ok to waive the time restraints?

yes I forgot to add that kyu members must pay 50 dollars every year to hold membership with the organization, Dan members must pay 100 dollars a year to continue to be members....unless your on the board of directors or on the testing board...

Haha yeah, just so you dont end up looking like a idiot...haha. I can see myself now being the laughing stock of the dojo doing something like that.

When I test people I like to see how long they can go and how they can hold up. So When I test people I like to do it straight for five minutes - Ten minutes depending on rank and I like to see if they can score first on lower ranks or not.

In a certain style I was in shuto we held all the fingers tight with the thumb tucked down. But in Shuto Uke we Keep the fingers relaxed and the thumb tight (Why I have no clue, but thats the way I was taught). Some styles will have you do it with your fingers spread apart, this takes alot of mastery over the techniques so that you dont break a finger though.

Corrupt boards? That's tough especially if your rank only means something to your styles' organization! Man...that's rough! The testing board should never be the same people over and over...this is wrong and takes away from the validity of the test as well as the intergrity of the test. Our By-Laws work like this concerning the make-up of our Testing Boards... *Dai-Soke (Judan) *Kaicho (Hachidan) *Kancho (Hachidan) *Board Of Regents (12 appointed Dan ranks of Godan and higher) *Director(s) of Testing/Grading (4 Shichidan's) *Director(s) of Technical Review (4 Hachidan's) *Dojo Chief Instructor (Sandan and higher) (Sandan Chief Instructor must have a sponsoring Kyoshi until Sandan reaches Godan) So you can see the many possibilites of the different testing boards that we can assembly at any given time. Our testing fees are as follows: Kyu = $25 Dan = $50 (FREE at my Dojo because I'm trying to help my students off-set the economic downturn anyway that I can!) $100/$300 for testing is too high, imho. Why? Is just a test, not a down payment on a car/house. I've challenged my Hombu as to $50 being way to much for a Dan testing; all testings should be, imho, $25 period! A new belt is bought and a new cert is awarded. That's not worth $100/$300, imho! What about time for the testing board? Big deal, that's part of teaching the students. Our boards receive no monies for being on a testing board! It's a priviledge and an honor to be on a testing board, it's not a right. My organization only wants whats best for the organization they coould care less about the people in it. They just want to fill their pockets as well as they can...instead of an organization the people at my school and my teachers school call the organization a franchise instead. We do it behind my teachers back of course he would not have anything to do with talking bad about them...So we have come to some what agreement. I test them for hi and they learn from him. They are not completely recognized by the organization/franchise anymore though. And the testing board I speak of is far from being that uniformed, the people on the board are like third dans...

I disagree here. Studying a Martial Art, in my opinion, is about learning to defend oneself. Ideally, character traits are put in place at home, at the church, and instilled from society in general, and should not be the goal of a Martial Arts instructor. With that said, everyone has a different goal. If these are things that one wants to pursue in the Martial Arts, then that is fine. However, I don't think that it is right to insist that all practitioners be in it for these reasons, and that if they seek other goals, that they cannot be considered Martial Artists. Aren't Mixed Martial Artists still Martial Artists? With all of the styles that you have practiced over the years, wouldn't you consider yourself a Mixed Stylist? I agree with Bushido on the first part, because when you break down the term Martial its another word for Military. What you do in the dojo is different from what you learn at home...your parents or guardians should give you your morals, your martial arts training should just compliment that. And I consider myself a mixed stylist fighter, but when im practicing a certain style I do that style completely the way it was taught to me I never incorporate anything into it, unless I am practicing shinchuurou te, my mixed style I have created.

You got charged 300 bucks to test from Blue top purple belt? No that was the fee for my first black belt (dan) testing. But even still - $300 is a lot of money - to me anyway ! Oh haha...that what ours is because we have to pay each person that is testing a hundred dollars...its crazy....just to get your black belt... Did you have to go to all the organizations parties and get to gethers to become eligible for shodan?

BUt then you do not just become a martial artist then you tend to become a mixed martial artist (nothing wrong with that either ) But what i was trying to ask in the most basic of wording would be. if you go to a open tournament would you keep everything the way your teacher showed you or would you do what you thot more comfortable.?

You got charged 300 bucks to test from Blue top purple belt?

Because it is the american way of wanting things...hot and ready and out the door...in my dojo I only guarantee that the door is always open...

Lets take the okaku kata for instance done by Matayoshi Shinko. It has to be done exactly the same. What I am referring to by localization of the movements is that when you master something and are able to teach it, you can then try to change things up a bit, whether it is done intentionally or not, it still will be done no matter what. As with age the neko ashi Dachi can not be done as low and elegant as it has been done before unless you eat right and watch your body correctly, which alot of practitioners dont. If you would have read the full text on what I said you would have understood that I was disregarding any attempts to bring honor to the teacher into this discussion about localization because it is a touchy subject because everyone thinks their aspect of honor is right and everyone elses is wrong. I dont really care what aspect you may have. Back to the okaku kata this kata is so traditional that once at an okinawan open I went to I seen a girl do the okaku kata 'wrong', by stepping out to quick once and she got extremely low results. This cannot be localized unless you plan on never showing a traditional okinawan judge or karate practitioner. I began speaking about how things change from practitioner to practitioner such as student to teacher, how students tend to mimic their instructor because thats the only base of information they know. I do all the techniques the way my instructors show me them because they know more then me and they always will. When my students have questions I gladly refer them to my instructors, because they have the right to answer the question their way, because to me their are a soke of the style.

Alright, you say smart, im sure the testing board you may have is ok...but what about the more corrupt ones...like mine per say...but How can the testing board be with the same three people over and over and over? That does not add validity. I speak from only my perspective and no one elses. I know how my testing board is run I dont know about yours. What about the people that grade you on things that aren't even martial arts related. They deducted ten points on a test because a punch was located at a stomach shot of my level, and not of theirs. So in my own experiences I have no respect for testing boards. At a tournament a board of judges is different, at a testing I completely disagree with using them. Im in martial arts because I like it, not because I have money to throw around with people who I deem not worthy of receiving it. I understand that these people do this for a living, but its not right to charge someone that much money to just test from blue to purple belt. A hundred bux for the testing fee plus you have to pay transportation and other expenses...and it wasn't even a dan testing...

There were many times that I went into the Dojo and threw down with people and with my self because of the bad times I was having...at the time it was big but now I look at it, it was so minor and trivial that it should have never bothered me (high school life, teenager stuff...problems with the girls, etc etc). And I would end up hurting myself more then I was doing good. One time I hit the leather heavy bag so hard I sprained my wrist and busted a knuckle, after that my teacher told me to go home and not come back till I was ready to leave my problems outside of the dojo like the garbage it is (The reason he told me to leave is because I was a high brown at the time and he would not have one of his senior students acting that way). So I did leave and when I did come back I was better. Im not sure how I began to leave my problems outside of the dojo, but I know the way my teacher handled me had alot to do with it. I understand now that he was probably one of the better teachers I had, soft and gentle but deadly in his own right. He never had one day where he was mad in the dojo, but outside, he swore like a sailor and kept an attitude with people around him who he did not agree with. But not once did I ever see him talk about anything other than martial arts in the dojo.

its a process known as localization, when you venture from your teacher you tend to loosen things up a bit. But what I am speaking of is, are you going to do what you feel more comfortable doing such as a differant stance, or would you do it the same as the way your teacher showed it to you?

Ok but if you go to an open tournament, would you do it the way he does it or the way you "think" it should be done?...and this is with a disregard for honor (we will over look the fact that it may dishonor the teacher if the technique is done differently).