Traymond

Yes as I said, as christians we must defend ourselves or we are also defying the bible. So we should practice it. I mean in okinawan karate it has alot of shinto practices and buddhist concepts, but the scriptures of god also say to respect all religions and ways of life.

Yeah, but its probably extremely rare to find a master at it, in the states...im sure you prolly could find one, but what are the odds.

Haha all very true, but what if your doing it at a higher level. Though, some martial artists are watering their art down, and if they prefer to wear baggier pants, or a longer keikogi or jacket, than the knee placement can be misguided. Cause I prefer to wear a pant size bigger, no real reason , but its still harder to find the knee placement, at a distance.

Things I did wrong in the past have no relevance now, only the facts that were taken upon me that made me better now, is what truly matters. In the US, it is an assault only if you wish to press charges. If you wish not to, then the authorities cannot do anything, and yes my parents were fully aware of it. My teacher was Korean, living in the states, and even today we still go to korea together to practice with his teacher. My instructor did what he had to do, to show me the importance of pain, and the mindset of mushin, no mind. He taught me that no matter what a person does to you, you have to be able to prevail through it. I do not think of those years as my golden years, but they paved the road for me to walk to the golden years. I am not saying that I would do this to my students, but I will not be hold a soft attitude towards them either. I believe in the okinawan concept of grinding my students down, till they realize that the picture is bigger than just learning martial arts. your reliving, traditions past down to differant students from instructors, and back then they were a matter of life and death, and I instill that training with them. Elightened or not, that has nothing to do with your teaching methods, you can be like the zen master Bankei, and control people without controlling them. And still be able to teach, but yet you can be like Sun tzi, and show them the path with war, and still teach them the same principles that bankei could have taught. Both are meant for differant types of people but in the end, the ending is like. tea. Green, black, red, they are all just tea boiled and steeped the same way. Some may taste bitter than others, but they are all still tea.

I dont think you should be lenient. Kids start martial arts at an early age all the time, and you have to be strong with them, because they like to play around, so you need to be able to control them and let them know whose boss. The parents will thank you in the long run. When i first started in TKD, my instructor use to paddle me on the rear end with a wooden paddle, whenever he saw me goofing around and that was at age five. At thirteen, if I did something wrong he would beat me. It turned me into someone that I am now. Which I am proud of. I am not saying that they should be that tough, but still..they should be stronger then most instructors are now.

Double promotions. Do you like the dbl cheeseburger better than the single? Does it fill you up more?. yes it does. Even if you double test, you still need to know what to do. And your instructor will not let you pass the belts if you dont know what you need to know.

Some people may say no because you may hurt your body,. like some Christians will not even play football because you have to use your body for contact. but as a Christian you should also be able to defend yourself, and to be able to better your body. So yes, we should do it.

Unless its attached to a chain. Or some sort of rope. But the least practical I would have to say, in which one that I WOULD NEVER USE to defend my self. it would have to be.... claymore. They are alot heavier than the katana, but for non bladed it would have to be.... Chisai Kun. Cause you need to get close. but for overall... it would have to be the Pundao...i mean who the heck would be able to use that in a real fight, and who would be able to carry it around all the time haha.

I prefer for like in Kali, to keep 1-2 inches away so if you have to butt them with the end, you can really jab it into them. And it allows for a more of a "flowish" movement.

martialartsmart.com maybe?

is that seiunchin? and Im confused on the seiunchins. Are the stances suppose to be kiba dachi's or Shiko Dachi's?

Whats your opinion on somebody wearing a longer belt so it looks like your stance is deeper?. Im completely against it. but I like the way the longer belts hang...so im really half and half I spose.

It does hurt at first, but its like when someone hits you in a pressure point it hurts, but you feel lighter afterwards. And pretty tingly all day. When done correctly, it can knock a cold out, make you less tired and even more fertile in some cases.

My friend had that game...it froze his computer everytime he tried to launch it. But its funny how Baek doo san in tekken, is a real hyung, haha.

Yes thats how they are exactly, as well. And then their are four 45 degree angles movements, resulting in knife hand blocks,?

Hmmm. So pinan is just probably the japanese term for peaceful, what ever to that effect?. Because I know all the pinans and heians, and the movements are the same, I was just wondering if anyone had any difficulties differentiating between the two. Because I know in Pinan 2 and heian nidan their are three high rising blocks (jo dan age uke, if you prefer). But in Pinan 2 they are strikes, and in heian nidan they are just meant to be blocks.

Ahhh ok. So heian means, peaceful mind, what does pinan truly mean?

I have met kids that are 15 and under who taught classes better than adults who are 30 and up, who are we to decide whether or not the person is capable of teaching because of his age. We learn from others and we teach, thats because we do not just teach the art, we share the art so that we can better understand it with each other. If its an ego that got hurt, that you can over come that, but if its just that you dont like his teaching method or who he is with what rank he has, than the problem has to do with you respecting your sensei's actions, if he chose to honor his nidan student by allowing him to teach the class, you should honor his wishes as well.

it teached you humility and respect. And it will humble you as well. I would listen to him just as I would listen to a 45 year old nidan.

The answer in my opinion is. A quick way to black belt, is just like not evening earning one. Thats like saying, is their a quick and easy way out of college?...their is not one. All good black belts will take atleast 2 yrs at the most. And thats very rare. Usually they are like 4 yrs and up. unless your really gung ho, but then....you lose the correct path and what your really doing it for.

So, they are about the same, the movements are the same, the only thing that truly differs is the bunkai... who else agrees with me on this?

Yeah, I tried that, and most of the things that come up for the movies are just like whats on youtube or metacafe, and they are not really good for trying to learn a kata correctly. Like Im looking for something that shows back and front view. And that helps explain the bunkai as well, but im not really stressing the bunkai that much, because I also like to interpret that myself as well. BUt thank you and I will look again with the search engine.

We throw a new years party to symbolize that we are growing year by year with the martial arts. And we invite other schools for a small tournament, and then we share our katas for about three to four hours doing differant katas, and learning new ones.

Do you know of any sites where I can get a good look at some of the other uechi ryu kata's like better than youtube and metacafe. Thanks in advance.

Sanchin Gojushiohosho Karumpa kururunfa konchiwa my long list would be all pinan and heian katas (since they are similar) Gojushioho sho and Dai Geki Sai Hangetsu Tekki Shodan and nidan Sanchin (goju and uechi version) sanseiryu sansei suprarinpei ( i need to learn it first though, haha) bassai dai koryu beak doo bassai (TKD)