Shizentai

Taikyoku Shodan Heian Shodan Heian Nidan Heian Sandan Heian Yondan Heian Godan Empi Jion Tekki Shodan Tekki Nidan Bassai Dai Bassai Sho Kanku Dai Kanku Sho Sort-of know: Gojushiho Dai Gojushiho Sho Nijushiho Wankan Sochin Gankaku Unsu Still working at it... but 26 seems so far away! ..I should really learn hangetsu come to think of it. I think that was supposed to have been one of the first 15. @_@ whoops!

goodness! His Instructor was the founder of the world's 3rd largest Wado organization? Too cool! It must be a great class! My sensei too was the student of the founder of our organization (the JKA). Though he is growing older, you'd never know it from the training he gives. There is something truly grand about the kind of advise that comes from a lifetime of experience... and for that matter, the type of highly-tuned techniques that allow a 77-year-old man to swiftly escort a strapping 20-year-old to the floor. What's more so, he always treats his pupils with respect, equality and a very good sense of humor. He expects great things from all of us, regardless of our shortcomings in life. It's hard to say I respect any other one person more. I always wondered how it happened in the universe that someone like me would randomly stumble into the dojo of someone like that. Over the past decade of training under him I still haven't yet figured it out. So to make a long story short, I'm basically right there on the same page with you.

ah HA! I thought so! Thanks sensei8 and Montana!

Sorry for the confusion. The technique I am talking about is actually in that kata twice. @pers: Thanks for the cool video! He is pretty fantastic isn't he!? My senpai used to tell me stories). Anyway In that video of Yahara Sensei the move I am talking about is performed once at 0:22 (facing towards the camera), and again at 0:30 (facing away). It is in back stance and in both cases the right arm does a forearm block while the left is doing a downward block. I was just wondering what other bunkai people may have found for this move other than the obvious upper block and downward block. Thanks for your responses! I'll have to try the wrist-release with a partner next time I get to the dojo!

My Sensei always told us that there is not just one correct bunkai for any given kata, but rather that each karateka should do his/her own research as to how these movements that we train again and again can be adapted and used. That being said, I'm still feeling unsure about the application of the quintessential waza of kanku sho. You know the one. If you ever see a picture of someone doing kanku sho, their body is in this position. Well, if not then here is Nakayama Sensei doing it on the cover of a Best Karate book. Anyway, aside from just being a simultaneous forearm block and downward block, I was wondering if there is an application of catching a kick as well. This is just my own intuition that I'm working with here, but has anyone else found this application to be a possibility?

I also know of several JKA affiliated summer camps in the US if you're interested (though you don't need to be JKA to participate).

I have a long and skinny bathroom with mirrors on perpendicular walls, so I always like to do my tekki kata there. As for the rest of my kata... well, I happen to work at a place with a large indoor Japanese garden. Some days I must clean it and observe visitors walking through it for hours on end to make sure no one falls in the koi pond and what not. Whenever no one is around though, I go over to this one spot where I can't be seen through the windows and practice the whole time. Sometimes I practice doing adaptations of kata (like kanku-sho) with a detached broom handle as my bo. It's really quite nice with koto music being played in the background. haha! Haha! It's so true! At some point I began to open doors with my knee in pre-front-thrust-kick position. The doors around my work place are really heavy and my hands are often busy, so it's very convenient. Also, on my way to and from my car/work every day I practice jumps while keeping my head level and without losing hold of my lunch and paperwork as I cross several chain-encircled parking lots in my normal short cut route. This has earned me a bit of mockery from my coworkers though... you see, one day I was feeling tired and tried to slowly step over one of the waist-high chains. I lost my footing and ended up covered in spagetti sauce.

Personally, my bruises never stopped or even diminished at all. ...Of course, I have a blood disorder so I guess that's a little different. That and some senpai of mine like to take a striking block to my punches if my technique gets sloppy from time to time. My advise: Explain the bruises to your co-workers and friends right away. It sounds random I know, but it's a lot less awkward than having someone call a social worker to talk to you about violence in the home =_=

Well, according to the special features on the dvd, none of the actors knew any karate before the filming of the movie (except maybe some cobra-kai kids did, they were a little foggy on that). The choreographer was Pat E. Johnson who trained American Tang Soo Do under Chuck Norris. He was the one who trained everyone for the film, including Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio. From my weak understanding of Korean martial arts I believe there is some sort of shotokan influence in Tang Soo Do, so maybe that accounts for the "shotokan-esque" nature of it that you guys were talking about? Now, dvd special features info aside, Pat Morita's stunt double was Fumio Demura who is a Shitoryu; and kobudo master. So that accounts for the more traditional Okinawan karate moments spliced in the movie, especially when seen from afar (Miyagi on a post doing waza, Miyagi taking down skeleton-clad cobra-kai, etc.). As for the Crane kick, that was added by the writer, Robert Mark Kamen, who studied some form of undisclosed ryu of American Karate then a more traditional type. Maybe it could have been Goju, who knows? I sadly wasn't able to rustle up that info. Although as ichigotora pointed out, that would tie in with the fact that "Miyagi" is the surname of Chōjun Miyagi, the founder of Goju-ryu. Also supporting ichigotora's suspicion is the "kara-te" point. I have heard some people credit Chōjun Miyagi as being the single person to change kanji of karate from "Chinese hand" to "empty hand." In one of the films Mr. Miyagi makes reference to his ancestor being the man to make this historic kanji switch, so that makes me think pretty sure that the goju thing is not a coincidence. So basically, I'd say: story = Gojuryu choreography = Tang Soo Do (Shotokan-esque looking) Mr. Miyagi's stunts = Shitoryu

I think that the meaning of "warrior" compared to "fighter" is neither mutually exclusive nor necessarily synonymous. The key difference in my opinion is a sense of purpose when facing a threatening situation. We all know the scenario of a warrior who has a noble purpose when fighting (protecting oneself, one's family, comrades). Still, if a person is able to beat one hundred opponents in the street but does it for no reason or for superficial ones (money, fame, revenge), then in my book he is a fighter but not a warrior. However, if when faced with a violent situation a person can end the conflict peacefully without harm coming to anyone, then while he is not a fighter, I would consider him the greatest warrior of all. Granted, this doesn't really coincide with the Japanese Waring-states era definition of "warrior" Still, I have been in a few close calls before. This is probably owing to where I live, and the increased likelihood of small females like myself being targeted by people desperate for money or drunk men wandering around where they shouldn't at night. Win or lose, fights are not noble. They are pathetic and sad, and tear you up inside. On the other hand, having the confidence to talk one's attacker away from doing something terrible, though I've only ever been able to do it once, is something I would gladly train the rest of my life to perfect. That is all I know.

If any kick can cause hip pain, I would believe it'd be side trust kick. I've heard it said that most traditional Okinawan ryu don't use that kick because of its high impact on the hip joint. ...I was also told that side kicks were added into the mix later on when karate migrated to mainland Japan under the influence of other martial arts. History aside, I've known four different people who said they felt pain while training side kick, but trained it just the same despite this. All ended up having hip-replacements years later. It seems to me that if training cold is causing you pain, you should definitely warm up before practicing that kick at home or otherwise. In time I think it will become easier. trying to get the form just right in terms of your body should help. Just be sure not to take signs of hip injury too lightly.

I think every form of sparring has its drawbacks, those little things that make it unrealistic in one way or another. But it is necessity that they must. Otherwise it wouldn't be called "sparring," it'd be called "murder." So it's silly to bicker over one or the other being better.

That sounds rough. I've never gotten in trouble for sweeping before, but I have gotten sparring partners who are not happy when a small female gets the better of their technique (especially when a person comes in like that... it's like all of their energy is being handed to you on a silver platter). I too have gotten half-hearted advise afterwards that sounds questionable, almost like my senpai was making excuses for himself/herself. I find the best solution is to ask the senpai in question directly. Ask him as respectfully as possible why he believes that sweeping in general is dangerous. Explain the concerns that you expressed in this post. Ask him if he or someone he knew was injured by you or anyone else's sweep. Then listen carefully to everything he says. That way, if he was just trying to tell you what to do for the sake of establishing a pecking order, then he won't have a good reason and you'll know for sure. But also, in the off chance that he actually has some really good specific reason or experience he never explained to you, then you can take the opportunity to learn something.

words to live by IMO... I agree, for rules of common courtesy inside and outside the dojo this is a perfect rule of thumb. Although I find it a little worrisome to think of using that as general "words to live by." After all, in history isn't that kind of thinking how witch trials, racism, religious persecution and other forms of mass hysteria were perpetuated? ...not to dampen the mood or anything. I'm just saying that as nice as it would be to turn off our brains and follow each other's actions all the time, I believe there is some merit to thinking about the ultimate meaning and consequences of what we do, especially if we are conforming our actions to others'. I really like this.

I think that even if a child has more karate experience than you do, you should not have to call him/her senpai because you have more life experience. You are their senpai in life.

This a very interesting topic, and it points out something my senpai (lol) noticed a while ago: that there is a BIG difference between "senpai" in the East and "senpai" in the West. First let me explain. In Japan "senpai" is someone who has more experience than you, not necessarily someone who out-ranks you or holds a higher position. Furthermore, this is a term and an idea used in business situations, high school and college as well, not just karate and other martial arts. So basically, in Japan if you started training karate the day after someone else, then he is your senpai. It doesn't matter if you have more natural talent or passed higher tests, a senpai has undergone more training than you, and thus is there to give you advice should you seek it. Meanwhile, at the dojo where I train in the US, we use "senpai" labels according to rank (like most of you here). I sometimes hear our longest-training members calling a younger go-dan "senpai." I guess it's to give respect to the rank, which is all good, don't get me wrong. It just kind-of rubs me the wrong way somehow. Personally though, I'm rather partial to Japanese way of thinking about this (even though my dojo does it the western way. Why? Well first of all, it decreases the problem of a young person holding a nidan and thinking he/she is better than an older person who has trained for years but remains a shodan. Also, an unexperienced but talented person may rise faster in the ranks, but he often can't give as good advice as a person who has had more time to lean from his mistakes. The last part is just my opinion though, so do take it with a grain of salt.

In the kanji for these kata quite literally "dai" means "big" and "sho" means "small" (not to be confused with tekki shodan where the "sho" means "first") I've heard some big sensei interpret this big-vs-small concept as reference to differences in size of motion in the kata (which seems to make sense with Kanazawa sensei's way of labeling them). However, I hear my sensei and a few other big names say that it isn't the size of the motion, but the wide vs. small applications of the technique that the name is referring to (which would make sense the other way). It makes no difference to me what you call a kata, but it's fun to think about efficacy and size of motion when training it imo.

Personally, I find kanku-dai to be the hardest kata. When I train kata I have to train with weights (sensei's orders). T_T Doing Kanku-dai three times at full speed and I'm so whipped I can't get through the rest of my senteigata.

I like wankan too! I'd have to say that my favorite is kanku-sho though. I feel like the contrast of fast and slow in that kata is very natural and easy to pick up.

My sensei is 5'2" and he won the All Japan Karate Championships twice, so I'd say it's quite possible for someone your size to do very well. After all, isn't that the whole point of karate (Giving people the ability to overcome a physically greater opponent with technique)? If karate used a method where only big and tall people could succeed, it wouldn't be much of an art imo.

Thanks Tony! I just got home and was about to quote it directly when you beat me to the punch! ^_^

When asked about why he split from JKA in an interview for a book called Karate Masters (ISBN-10: 1933901225 ISBN-13: 978-1933901220), Kanazawa responded with his account of the last event in what I'm sure was years of conflict. I highly recommend reading the book, as I can't quote it directly (since I'm about 500 miles away from my bookshelf atm). Though as I recall he said something about decling a position. Apparently JKA headquarters appointed him to a position in another country, but Kanazawa declined the appointment in written form. JKA read the letter and thought he was resigning the organization, not the position. They wrote him back saying that they were very sorry to hear he was leaving the JKA. According to Kanazawa, he kind-of just took the misscommunication in stride and made his own organization after that.

Yay! Thank you so much! This is something I've thought about a lot. In fact, it's kind of what hooked me on training karate for the long haul. When I first began training I was rather small and weak health-wise (though admittedly, I still sorta am ). Add to that my being a 14-year-old girl at the time, and pretty much no soccer coach or dance instructor would let me do much, or expect much of me for that matter. When I tried karate for the first time I was amazed to see that my sensei had the same high expectations of me that he did of his other students. That simple feeling of equality, that in the dojo, the world is as it should be... that is something that I appreciate a lot.

Is it a department of two by any chance? Eleven

Actually, my department only has one man (lol, poor guy!). In general it's a male dominated field, but I don't see it so much these days.