Kruczek

I think a ranks meaning is in the name on the certificate. If Harvard gives you a diploma it is nothing more than a paper saying "Harvard has tested and believes such and such knows his/her stuff." So if we take that concept and apply it to karate. Your certificate says "Such and such is qualified to be this rank by his instructor." Now when I ask people and they say Sensei 2nd Dan made me a 1st Dan and he is also my cousin...I give it little to no meaning. I tested for my 1st Dan in front of a panel including a 9th Degree, but again, my belt only means that my 9th Degree instructor believes I should be a black belt. If his word meant nothing than that belt would mean nothing as well. That is my thoughts - Your rank, alone, is only as good as the sensei who gave it to you.

Well I am not sure how to treat this. At our school we have Brown Belt, Brown with a White Stripe, and Brown with a Black Stripe. In the old days when it was stricter I had seen people go from 2nd Kyu to Black Belt after holding it for a long time. I guess I would be wrong in saying all 1st Kyus should wait a year. I was looking at it from the perspective of my current dojo who, in my opinion, promotes people too fast so there is never a long wait for that 2nd Kyu to 1st Kyu promotion. I would not object to that promotion if it was my decision, but ideally a student would learn stuff, test for a belt, learn stuff, test for a belt, get to 1st Kyu, take everything in for a year while learning to teach, and then test for Shodan.

I agree many people will be dishonest in order to be nice, I have seen this happen to adult teachers as well. A quick way to prevent this is to have your students work one night by themselves and have them ask for help when they need it. If you watch who they go to, you can tell who is effectively teaching and more importantly if they refuse to ask the younger black belts you can get your answer without having to ask.

I think some of the best advice I can give you is. Don't worry about it. A white belt who knows all of the curriculum better than a black belt will ultimately have more respect from other students and teachers alike. A black belt can take anywhere from 1 year (unusual) to 8 years (extreme). Again though the black belt who took 8 years tends to know his stuff a lot better than the guy who got his in 1, even though they are the same rank. Outside of your school - people will judge you on what you know, not your rank. There is always more to learn. I believe it was Shoshine Nagime (Matsubayshi Ryu) who even at the age of 80 something (with 60 years of training behind him) said he still felt like he had more to learn. Good luck though - from you said - you will excel greatly!

I think one of the things many schools have lost over the years is body conditioning. Or at least the emphasis on it has been lost. I also think that without proper technique any and all strength and size is meaningless. I a tall strong fighter who can't judge distance (technique) will miss with a lot of power. Whereas a small guy who can hit a bigger guy in the throat with accuracy and less power will win. The two are important but mean very little when you compare them to technique.

But how do we test this BEFORE the adults leave lol? You mentioned the adults may feel they will be shunned if they say they wish to have adult teachers. Perhaps an anonymous poll? Classic suggestion box style?

Well let me add to this. It does translate Gojushiho #2. BUT - There is absolutely no resemblance to the original. No moves the even look related, the pattern the moves make is entirely different. Thank you for the input though.

Thought this best wrote as a help wanted ad . We have a few katas that are school has been teaching since I joined ten years ago, but the names seem, wrong. They are not spoke of on the internet or in books and makes me wonder if someone got confused along the ways. The first in Gojushiho Dai Ni. We also teach Gojushiho, which is preformed as a typical Shorin Ryu Gojushiho. There are some minor difference in the Shotokan version, but it is clearly the standard kata. Now, Dai Ni on the other hand. It features few sequences where you punch Jodan (high), Chudan (middle), and then Geidan (low). After the Geidan punch you grab the back of the leg and Teisho (palm strike) Geidan again. There is a part where you punch high middle low, step back to neko ashi dachi (cat stance) and make and "X" with your hands then you step forward punch high middle low, grab the leg, palm strike, then you shuffle back to neko ashi dachi and use an augmented back fist followed by a punch with the same hand. I know this is very hard to picture, but if anyone thinks they might know something even remotely similar please let me know so I can improve my search. I intend on filming our katas while I am on break so that I wont have to describe them, but for now this is all I can do. Second Kata: Hakatsuru We teach a kata called Hakatsuru (Crane). It looks similar to: Our version is slightly shorter, but clearly related and ends with Downward augmented bird peck, that - as the story goes - requires you to make a bird noise instead of a Kiah I am told that Yamashita Sensei taught this kata in the way we do it, is it possible this is a variation or someone forgot something when they tried to pass it on? Again any information is appreciated. Thanks

I think there are two times when this is appropriate. 1) If they are a white belt who has experience from another similar style. I helped train a 5th degree black belt in TKD in a Shorin-Ryu class. To no surprise, he learned how to punch faster than the other white belts... So when we tested him for his 9th Kyu, he had all of the requirements for his 8th Kyu learned because he learned more kata when the rest were learning to punch and kick. 2) We had a student train, train, train, and miss his test. He came back, trained, trained, trained, missed his test. Well by the third time he had learned everything for the next belt AND the belt after that. For a 7th Kyu to 5th Kyu...not a big deal. Now, I believe that ALL 1st Kyu should hold their rank for about a year before Shodan, if nothing else, as a test of commitment.

A good person puts his students first, which means making sure you don't make a 9 year old cry. A good teacher has to put the karate first and try his best to make the 9 year old understand he is improving, but still needs work. I think this is where putting stripes of electrical tape on the tips of the belt to show progress should be used. If you see the child improving in kicking for example, but not punching you can give him a stripe to show that he is progressing towards his next belt, but not destroy rank structure. So for example if you test a child and he knows the sequence to kata but can't do it at an adequate speed or his moves are sloppy, you could give him two stripes (with a maximum of 3) to show he is almost there. He feels better because he is promoted, no one else feels like the belts are meaningless because you are giving them to kids who aren't up to par. A child old enough to think "o the stripes are just to humor me" doesn't need to be given them anyway. A junior blackbelt should NEVER be given leeway on a test. If he/she does not know it to the same degree as an adult blackbelt how could they ever be expected to show someone else the correct way? If they are not to teach until they are an adult anyway then that is one more reason they should remain a brown belt until they ARE ready to show others. Just my 2 cents and my apologizes if I repeated myself, it is late.

Speaking as someone who taught adults at the age of 14, I think that an age of 15 with the possibility of exceptions should be set. I spoke with many of the adults I taught and openly said that if any way they felt cheated by having a "kid" teach them I would go work out on my own, and everyone of them said they were more than happy to have my help. So you can't assume that kids = problems. On the other hand we had other "kids" teach...and...it was a nightmare. Katas were taught wrong, people became annoyed, and worst discipline became a thing of the past. You have to judge it case-by-case, but a limit at atleast 15 is a good place to start. To be a black belt you have to be a teacher, to be a teacher you have to be able to attract and keep students while still teaching the curriculum. With that being said...why not just ask the adults?

Hello Everyone, My name is Theodore Kruczek and I, like everyone else posting in this section, am new. A little about me. I am currently 18 years old and attending a prep school to go into the United States Air Force Academy next year. I have been studying karate actively for the last 10 years. I began training in 1998 in Elkhart Indiana under Teru Hendry as part of Yamashita Shorin-Ryu. In 2003 the school split and I remained with Senseis Brice Hosterman and Richard Hooven, still under Yamashita Shorin-Ryu. In 2004 I tested in front of Yamashita Sensei and received my Black Belt. I remained as an assistant instructor for four years, in which time the school left Yamashita Shorin-Ryu to be part of Shorinkan Shorin-Ryu with the instruction of Kyoshi Eddie Bethea. I have trained in Tae Kwon Do to recieve my 6th Kyu and took classes in Uechi Ryu, but requested not to have any official rank in that style. I also have been studying the concepts of Russian Systema through various videos. In addition to Karate, I began training in Matayoshi-Yamashita Kobudo in 1999. Due to lack of weapons instructors rank was never formalized. Regardless I continued to practice and learn more and more from various seminars, books, and youtube videos. I recently taught my own classes in weapons to a few students emphasizing on Bunkai rather than Kata and practicing in pairs with contact. Enough about me, I am here to expand my knowledge on the different variations of all the classical katas, as well to fill in the history to some of our katas that are clearly misnamed (Gojushiho Dai Ni and Heian Nidan). If anyone would like to chitchat about karate or exchange information my email should be publicly available. I am a huge fan of Gichin Funakoshi's philosophies on karate and its future.