kcconnor

Does anyone have any insight into the plight of Shotokan Karate politics over the last 20 years? I started training back in 1990 under Shotokan, a traditional Japanese Karate school. I was 12 years old when I started. My parents moved when I was 15 (obviously I moved too) and I shifted to a slightly different school... an Okinawan one known as Shudokan. Still descended from one of the original Okinawan masters, Itosu. Same techniques, same and similar kata, just different focus on the order of learning and different politics. Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan ("Shoto" was his pen name when writing poetry) was always a very politically astute man. I got my Shodan (1st degree black belt) in 1995. I lived and breathed Karate. I was in the dojo perhaps 30-35 hours a week, either training or as an assistant instructor. I competed in tournaments and did very well... I was one of the dojo-rats that was one of the ones to beat just about anywhere. When I was done with high school and went to college, I was lucky enough to have 4 other classmates my freshman year that were all passionate and skilled martial artists. Judo, Ju-jutsu, Tae Kwon Do, Shao Lin Kung Fu... we all saw eye to eye and approached the student union about starting a martial arts club on campus. For four years the 5 of us ran our own little micro-dojos. The group fell apart when we all graduated... evidently it was extremely odd to have that many senior martial artists in a freshman class, and no more came to replace us. Such is life. When I graduated, I moved to Texas initially. I found yet another Karate school to train in there... but I couldn't find Shotokan or Shudokan. Instead, I found Shitoryu. Still Okinawan and traditional, same techniques and same or similar kata. Life was good, but I moved to Arizona after a few months. In AZ, I briefly found a Shotokan school but I couldn't afford it as my budget was quite small as a school district IT lackey. A few years went by, I got a decent job in the private sector that paid well. I moved to a different part of town and found an Eishinryu school. Okinawan and traditional, same techniques and same or similar kata. After about 3 months I had a tragedy at work that sucked about 100 hours a week for a couple months and karate had to stop. A couple months ago I started training again. I moved yet again, I have a new job that isn't likely to sideswipe me with drama, and the finances are good. Found a new Shotokan school. I've been training for 3 months now. I'm frustrated. I'm really angry tonight. Our dojo was invited to do a demonstration for the Matsuri festival. I participated in the demonstration with several other students. Afterwards, we adults all went off to the beer garden to shoot the breeze and relax. I met some other shotokan people in Arizona there, one of which was a 6th degree black belt who had been training for over 30 years. There's a training camp coming up with a visiting instructor from Japan (Master Yaguchi), and I asked if he would be attending. He said he would be kicked out of his organization for attending. But, my dojo is shotokan and has been expressly invited to this training camp. This shocked me... Shotokan is Shotokan, to me. I respect all the other karate varieties I've ever seen in my studies: Shotokan, Shudokan, Shitoryu, Eishinryu... they are all inherently Okinawan and descend from either Naha or Shuri on that little group of islands. Frankly, it's a pretty inbred little culture and any attempt to divorce one form of karate from another is a function of Taisho period politics and/or SCAP occupation policies towards Japan's warrior traditions in the 1950's. When I was in the more "heterogenous" environment in Washington, mixed with shudokan/shitoryu and many other karate factions, we all went to each others' training camps and tournaments. No big deal, everyone learned and got along. I didn't get argumentative, but I did try to poke for more information on this. It was absolutely not forthcoming... and I got a lot of "just because." I don't care for that answer, because I have made in depth studies into martial arts history in Japan during Meiji/Taisho/Showa and SCAP. I know the drama involved with that time period, and it doesn't involve anything going on here. I'm a student of Japanese History (my BA) and a martial artist of 16 years... karate will be something I do for the rest of my life. There's something going on inside of Shotokan that no one will tell me about. It all seems to focus around rank tests and acknowledgement of being part of an organization. This concerns me because someday, 20 years from now or so, I'd really like to open my own school. They say the best way to turn a large fortune into a small fortune is to open a karate school, but I love the art and the practitioners. (Extremely) long story made short, I riled up this 6th degree black belt with my questions. He was several beers into the wind and I was carrying 3 myself, but mid-question he just cut me off and said "I don't have to answer questions like this from someone of your rank" and stormed off. I keep playing it back in my head and I just don't see anything I did wrong. But, there is some sort of political wind at work here, and it has the potential to affect me if I stay aligned with the Shotokan folks. I've angered somebody that is likely to be present for my further rank exams, even though he isn't in my dojo or affiliated with my dojo... I'm still trying to disect exactly how he relates to my school and is called shotokan but would be politically penalized for showing up for Yaguchi's training camp. I'm thinking of looking for something not-Shotokan at this point. I think Funakoshi inherently screwed up giving karate to the Japanese. Should have left it in Okinawa. The other smaller schools aren't nearly as political or baby-ish with political intrigue, it seems. So, that's my rant and my life story with regards to karate. Turned very long winded, but I'm frustrated today. Thanks for reading if you happened to make it to the end.

Well, I ended up trying a hybrid patch/darning technique. I started off trying to darn it, but the material is just too tightly woven together. The needle made larger holes than I liked and it would have taken about 18 miles of thread to darn/weave the half inch square hole closed. I took a piece of a trashed gi top and cut a patch from it instead, and made a running stitch on the inside of the jacket. I then created a weave pattern on the outside of the jacket where the hole was. This is intended to halt the fraying of the existing hole. I then darned the weave into the frayed ends of the hole as well as into the patch below. While the result is not quite professional, it is certainly presentable. I think it will hold up... this is my only gi until my new Juka Silver and my Tokon arrive in the next week. It worked fine for class last night and I don't think the washing machine will cause it too much damage.

Okay, what gives with Karate politics over the last 15-20 years? I started my studies at age 12 in Minnesota, in a Shotokan school. I joined the ASKF because it "was the thing to do" and required of students who tested for rank. I got up to 4th Kyu and my parents moved when I was 15, to Washington. In Washington, there was no Shotokan in the little town we were in. There was Shudokan, though, and I got my Shodan there in high school. I trained in college, moved around a bunch after graduating, finding all sorts of schools to train in (Shitoryu, Gojuryu, Shorinryu, more Shotokan) until I find myself today at age 30 re-enrolled in a Shotokan school I like. But: I'm really concerned about some things. Seriously, what can be THAT toxic between instructors that factions grow up and different shotokan federations develop as a result? What gets so bad that instructors peel off from one association and join another? Because this junk is affecting my training. And I don't like that. I remember my instructor in Minnesota actually teaching bunkai for kata. It was immensely useful for learning to properly execute the techniques of the kata, rather than merely waving your hands around in the air. When I moved to Washington and changed styles to shudokan, bunkai was still a focus. Now that I am back in shotokan, my current instructor (who knows my instructor from Minnesota) does not appear to emphasize bunkai at all. Add to that the confusion of going from Shotokan to Shudokan (and the change in technique application and minor variations in kata), then a reciprocal change back from Shudokan to Shotokan.... I really need bunkai to re-understand the intricacies of my Heian/Tekki/Bassai kata. I've been told that this de-emphasis on bunkai is a function of different factions of shotokan karate. Is this true? My current dojo is a member of ISKF. Please help. I don't want to make waves and be rude, but I am absolutely dumbfounded by the unapplied arm-waving going on with kata, the attempts by my new instructor to correct my technique without applying it, and the discovery of factional infighting in Shotokan.

Currently 4 days a week, Mon-Thurs, for 1 hour. Saturdays are available too, but I've had my weekends booked to aggressively recently to take advantage of it.

Karatefighter: Rarely is there a community completely devoid of an experienced martial artist. I don't mean to suggest that there is a martial arts school just down the street from city hall that you've been failing to see... But there is probably a black belt of some traditional art in your town. It might be possible to locate such a person. A lot of WWII, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans studied Karate. A lot. I can't emphasize that enough. The history of martial arts in America owes much to veterans of those wars on all sides of those conflicts. If you are intent on a private study of traditional karate or other available martial art, I would suggest finding your local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post, Elks Club, Rotary Club or Masonic Fraternity. The VFW would by far be the best place to start. The WWII vets are getting quite old to be instructing anyone in Karate, and the Korean war vets are also getting up there as well. But they may be able to direct you to other veterans who have been stationed in Japan or Okinawa during peacetime, who have made their own study of Karate or other arts. If you find someone willing to train you, you most likely won't be able to test for rank... but it doesn't sound like you're concerned with that. But it might get you started down the road you want to travel.

New to martial arts forums, but been involved in karate for quite some time. I've been through a few gis, from cheap lightweights to mid-grade centuries to nicer gis like Juka and Tokaido. While an inexpensive gi may not be worthwhile to repair to some folks, the nicer manufacturers seem worthwhile to attempt a repair. I've got a Juka Gold gi that is developing a hole in the actual fabric itself, in the small of the back. I'd like to repair this as soon as possible rather than allow it to develop even worse. Gi's are expensive! Problem is... I have no idea what is an appropriate way to mend the hole. It's not on a seam at all, it's in the small of the back right in the middle of the fabric, and about half the size of a dime at this point. To mend it, do you use a patch? If so, do you put the patch inside or outside of the jacket? Or do you just stitch it together with white thread, without a patch?