Sparkey

I really like knowing my lineage, because then, when I read about particular people I can directly tie it into my knowlege base. I can take my Karate lineage back to Chotoku Kyan and My Kobudo Lineage back to Sekeichi Odo. Karate: Chotokyu Kyan Zenryo Shimabakuro Zenpo Shimabakuro Jeff Nagata John Taylor Jim Craig ME!! Kobudo: Sensei Seikichi Odo Nick Flores Gonzalo Flores Jim Craig ME!! I wonder if anyone will ever include ME in THEIR lineage??!!

I made my Sensei a pair of Tonfa and a set of Nunchaku for Christmas. Lucky sensei! The best set I've ever made.

I don't really know anything about Capoiera, but I just had to say that the times I've watch this fighting art/dance I was absolutely facinated. I'm not acrobatic at all and I don't think I could get anywhere near good at it, but huge KUDOS to you for going for it. I think it's beautiful and for SURE I wouldn't want to get caught on the business end of Copoieraists foot!

My school has a separate sparring class once a week for an hour where we have mouth guards, shin pads, hand pads, cups etc...and we do light to mid contact. We don't keep points or anything. During class we usually only do light contact tag, about every week or so. When we don't gear up, we only use backs of hands and bottoms of feet to specified targets--usually shoulders, knot on the obi, legs below the knees and the top of the head. During "tag" anything more than a touch is considered poor form. It's mostly practice targeting and getting out of the way. But it's all good fun.

Boy oh boy....books have been written...! Well, I'll give a very BASIC explaination. The scholars can expand on it more. Because of trade routes, the Okinawans learned many of the empty hand fighting techniques from China and made their own systems according to where they lived on the islands and who they trained with. Then the Japanese learned from the Okinawans and Shotokan was formed from Japanese based Karate systems. Crude and short explaination, I know...but again, books have been written....

I'm a Speech Language Pathologist! I do early intervention speech and language with special Ed. kids ages 3-5 years old. I like my job, but the little monkeys can get to be handfull at times!

At our dojo we do both empty-hand and Kobudo. Both are required for rank. So the kata we learn are: KARATE Naihanchi Shodan, Nidan, Sandan Pinan Shodan, Nidan, Sandan, Yondan, Godan Seisan Wansu Ananku Passai-do Passai-gua Gojushiho Wanshin Chinto Kusanku Hakutsuru Ichiban, Niban Uechi-Ryu Sanchin And then for KOBUDO we have: Shihonuke Sakugawa no kun bojitsu Choun no kun Tokumine no kun Matayoshi Shinpo no tonfa shodan Ushi Komesu no nunchaku sho Matayoshi Shinpo no tonfa nidan Agena nunchaku Hamahiga no tonfa Agena no sai Suis no kun ichiban Kyan Chotoku no sai Nicho kama: Shodan, nidan Ko bo Bo-tinbe Bo-bo Bo-tonfa Bo-sai Bo-kama Tsuken aku cho no eiku ti Nago Nakamura no sai Of course not ALL of them are required for black belt, we have leave room to grow! You can see the specific rank requirements if you want: http://www.westsidemartialarts.com/curriculum Good question! I like to see what other people are learning.

My dojo's colors are black, red and tan. We have those colors on the sign out front and also on the building's exterior colors. We managed to work them into the website, too. Then sensei used them on the business cards. Boy, that seems a bit over kill doesn't it? As far as gi colors, though, we only wear white gi's and black t-shirts with the dojo logo if we want.

Hey hey, Good news. I know Sensei Taylor personally and I have to say he is one of the most knowlegable martial artists I have met. He teaches classes out of the dojo that I train at. You might want to have a look at that one, too. https://www.westsideshorinryu.com. Sensei Taylor is going to move from Westside Shorinryu and start as the head dude at a Shito-ryu dojo in Beaverton which is need of a head Sensei since their own one had to move south. He just started teaching privately so he currently has VERY small classes, but once he moves to the new dojo, things will pick up for him. He has a sense of humor that is VERY dry and sometimes he sounds like he's angry or mad or something, but it's his way of teasing. Once you get used to that--he's fine. He has worked quite a bit with Patrick McCarthy. As far as being "legit" he's a teacher that is using some space in someone elses dojo for a while--until he starts at the new school. I know for SURE he's not running a McDojo. Oh no--You will WORK for every belt rank and you will have your stuff down, that's for sure. He teaches using a lot of two person flow drills, learning Bunkai and then applying the Bunkai to the Kata, rather than learning a Kata and then applying the Bunkai. He uses many of the priciples of the Bubishi to teach Kata. He's not into flash, but rather practicality and usefulness of technique. If you give him an email or a call or whatever I'm sure he'd be happy to meet you. Also, stop by at Westside and check out our classes, too! Where ever you choose to train, good luck with everything. And welcome to Portland, it's a great town. send me a private email if you have more Q's

Hey there, I train Shorin Ryu in Portland, OR with Jim Craig at Westside Martial Arts. He's from the Chotoko Kyan Lineage of Shorin-ryu. You can have a look at his website https://www.westsidemartialarts.com Stop by and visit, it's pretty kickback there, so if you want to try a class or just watch, no big deal. HOpe your move goes well, LK

Check this site out. They have a few songs listed: http://www.capoeiraregional.com/songs.html Good Luck!

I just saw this thread, or I would have replied earlier. My Sensei made a video of Pinan 1-3. I think he did a really nice job of it, myself. You can have a look here: http://www.westsideshorinryu.com/videos Good luck!

Hey Monkeygirl, I didn't go to the Doc after the initial injury, but I'm going to go now. I have an appointment with an accupuncturist, but I'm also going to go to my Western Med. guy because if there is any tearing he's going to need to be in on it, also. I'm hoping it's just strain...hope hope hope.... -LK

Boy did I do a number on myself this time. Last Wednesday I was kicking a heavy bag and due to bad timing and poor distancing I ended up jamming my knee really good. I might have done a mild hyperextention as well. It didn't hurt TOO bad right after it happend but the next morning...OH MOMMY my knee hurt!! I couldn't straighten it all the way and I couldn't bend it all the way. I kept it on ice and elevated and rested and stayed away from class. Sunday I did mild exercise on the eliptical strider machine and some weights. Today (Tuesday) I thought I was ready to go back to class. Well, I was wrong. One little twist and my knee twisted out collpased and boy that REALLY hurt. Has something like this happened to you? I didn't rip anything but I have a sense of instability laterally and any twisting really hurts. How long did it take you to get going with classes again? I'm thinking I'm going to have to wait out 2 or 3 weeks this time. Oh man, I'm so disappointed. Anyone have a messed up knee story to share with me? I need some comiseration right now. LK

5 Kyu Shorin-ryu Karate.

FUDDS?? I get it, as in Elmer Fudd! Be vewy vewy quiet..wew hunting wabbits! heee heee!! LK

Ummmm, don't hit yourself on the head with the sticks! I've only played a little bit with Escrima sticks, and I think it's really fun. It is pretty easy to give your fingers or your head a good whack, though. Have fun! LK

Guys that do Karate ROCK!! Except if they have some mysogonistic idea that since they study Karate that they are now experts on everything and think that since you're a girl you don't know how to do things like work a power drill and weld stuff. Well, then there's this one guy who trains at my dojo and he's such a dork about karate. I mean he's ALWAYS trying to correct everyone and acts like he's the #1 know it all about everything. But then again, he would be that way even if he didn't train Karate. He's just a dork, reguardless and Karate is not going to fix that. But then there's another guy who trains at my dojo and he's so quiet and sweet and nice but I probably wouldn't even pay any attention to him if I didn't meet him at the dojo. But Karate gives us a common ground to start from and we learned about other common things after that. I sure like Karate guys better than I do golf guys or bowling guys (NOT that I DON't like golf guys or bowling guys...a good guy is a good guy after all!!) A handsome man in a White gi....YIKES!! lk

Here's a funny thing that happened to me today. My husband and I were out for Sushi for lunch at a strip mall. I noticed a fairly new dojo (dojang??) had opened up near by, so after we ate, we walked by to see what the deal was. I'm always curious about the 'competition' to the dojo that I learn at (I study Shorin-ryu at a pretty small, non-commercial place). So I asked the sensei at the dojo, "What style of Karate do you teach?" expecting an answer like 'Shotokan' or 'Shito-ryu' or whatever. His answer was that they teach Tai Kwan Do. That since TKD was empty hand that it was a form of Karate. What do you think about his answer? I'm thinking that he's sort of right, but that if he's teaching TKD he should say that on his sign on the wall.

Oh yeah, nothing is quite as funny as clocking myself in the side of the head with the Tunfa BWAaaaa haaaaa!!! It's true, though, it's pretty funny. I do laugh at myself, the kind when you laugh, and say "ow, ow, ow, ow, ow" at the same time.

Hi gang, Thanks for all your input! The conference has been over for a while, and I actually did OK. My sensei starts us early on Kobudo, it's true. He doesn't let the young people under the age of 18 use the Kamas, and they have to be over some age to try the sai. I'm a 'big kid' at age 32, but I have no need to try anything other than Bo and tunfa right now. Anyway, you can read how my experience went at the conference here http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=5585 I had a really good time and am dilegently practicing what I've learned!

My Sensei has a big sign on the wall of the dojo that reads, "BEND YOUR KNEES!!". He was giving a couple of the students a hard time because they ALWAYS are needing reminding to bend their knees while in kibadatchi, especially. So, sort of as a joke, Sensei pointed to the sign and said, "Do you not understand what this says?". Then, he gave our class the assignment to go and see how many different languages we can make signs in that say "BEND YOUR KNEES!!". So far I have Spanish, French, Zulu, Afrikaans, and German. Can any of you help me out with some different languages?

Hi everyone! Remember I was worried about going to this Kobudo Seminar? ( http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=5483 )? Well, I went on Saturday and learned 2 new katas! I learned Suis Nokun Niban (a bo Kata) and Matayoshi Chinpo Notunfa Nidan (a Tunfa Kata). The seminar was by Nick Flores who was taught by Master Odo for many years in Okinawa. I was so worried about going, but something really, really cool happened! The first thing we were to do was line up according to rank and follow along with the kata the best we could (we did the bo kata first). Nick Sensei walked around and the students that were having difficulty he pulled them out and put them in a group. Then he watched the people he pulled out and saw those of us that were having a particularly hard time. He had black belt students matched up with some of those students. But me, I was having the hardest time of ALL the other students (I've only been training in Karate since November!). He pulled me aside special and basically he taught me all by myself! I was so poorly skilled that I got special attention and it was so great! He was so kind and patient and went small step by small step so I learned both kata really well. I'm not GOOD at them yet, but I can remember all the steps and perform them with good technique. I had never even touched the tunfa before Saturday and now, I can do a whole kata! It's pretty cool. I'm really glad I went and I appreaciate the replies to the message I posted previously that encouraged me to go. It was super advice. My next deal is that I'm going to do my first test for my stripe on February 18th. I've got LOTS of time to practice!

Hey, thanks for your votes of confidence. I still am feeling a bit aprehensive, but I feel encouraged. All of your thumbs up have helped. I will take a possitive attitude with me and give myself the luxury of being a beginner. I keep having to tell myself "I'm not SUPPOSED to know how to do that...!". And I will laugh at myself and I love the advice that if I only learn ONE thing, I'll have not wasted my time. I will certainly let you know how it goes. I'm feeling scared and excited at the same time. BTW the seminar is with someone from Texas named "Nick Flores". Does anyone know who that is? Thanks bunches!

Hi all, I'm a pretty fresh beginner. I've been training in Shorin-ryu since the end of October. So far, I think I'm doing OK. My sensei says for a beginner, and an adult who hasn't been too terribly athletic up to this point, I'm doing pretty good. But I'm aftraid I bit off a little more than I can chew with what's coming up this weekend. We're having a guest teacher come and do a Kobudo seminar at our Dojo- 6 hours each day on Saturday and Sunday. I've learned one Bo Kata already and I'm working on another one, and that's my extent of knowing about weapons. Both Senseis at my Dojo are telling me that I'll be fine, that the guest teacher will take things slow and teach step by step. I heard there will be other beginners there and that made me feel more confidant, so I signed up for one day. The problem came when today, I was talking to one of the upper level students. She told me that sometimes the guest teacher will really rush through the steps and then expect that everyone will just be able to follow along (which they tell us is the "traditional way of teaching in Okinawa). I know I can't do that at the level I'm at right now and the thought of 6 hours of absolute frustration is really shaking me up. I'm wondering if I should make up some dumb excuse and try to get out of it and have the money credited to my dojo account OR if I should just suck it up and do my best to have a possitive experience. What do you all think?