Shizentai

Hi Blueturtle! I knew someone who has a shotokan dojo not to far from Ann Arbor. The instructor is a very kind person with very good technique. His daughter cleanly beat me at collegiate nationals kumite too. I haven't run into their group in a while, but very nice people. I don't have the phone number, but the address is as follows: JKA Michigan Kushin Kai 25804 Lockmoor Lane Novi, MI 48374 Chief Instructor Hiroshi Nemoto Good luck!

In the summers, I work in the tropics with a field crew. It can be challenging for me to train, as none of them train MA and they're usually exhausted from all of the lifting and hiking we have to do. So I'm pretty much on my own. I like to take time in the morning when my assistants are sleeping to do kata by myself, and kihon as well, but it's not the same as having a partner to train with. Although, in terms of conditioning I'm usually better off when I come home. For recreation this year I climbed 50+ foot trees and a couple of volcanoes, so that's a pretty good workout on top of every day physical stuff, on a mostly vegetarian diet (since the meat store is an extra hour hike away)

Solid post! Indeed! Great post! Since women and contact seem to be at the heart of this discussion, let me give a female's perspective as well. I frankly don't see how it harms your son to just take it easy on this woman. Is it that his confidence was hurt by the tone of her lecture? If she had never asked him to take it easy on her beforehand but was scolding him afterwards, then yes, this seems over-the-top. However, if she did and he didn't listen to her, then I think the lecture may have been warranted. Perhaps I can understand a little bit if she was directing him to NEVER hit hard, since you don't want him to form a habit of pulling punches. To say "don't spar with this woman anymore" seems a bit extreme though, and it may cause your son to miss out. Perhaps he can learn both hard and gentle techniques. Maybe he can gain from learning both the "in" and "yo," and be kinder to his opponent in the process. This being said, I myself do not like to tell someone aloud if they are hitting me too hard. This is my PERSONAL preference, and there are three reasons for this: 1. If I'm getting hit at all, it's bad in my mind, because if that person had a knife I'd be in trouble hard or soft. In general, if we have bowed and my opponent sneaks one in on me, then it's my fault. This is true of how I view MYSELF however. It is not how I view other people, who have the right to choose how hard they want to train. By being hard on myself and kind to others, I am working towards improving character. I believe this to be an essential part of martial arts. 2. I myself am built rather like AdamKralic's son. Being rather shrimpy, if I tell someone in my dojo to take it easy on me, they will do it without hesitation (this is important!), but from then on I am like a breakable vase in my partner's mind, and I miss out on effective training when everyone is treating me gently. Instead, I try to fix my technique quickly and keep people's expectations of me as high as I can, because it helps me to motivate myself to improve. 3. As a martial artist, I often find that showing my opponent is more effective than lecturing them about many topics. When someone gives me too much of their energy while punching during training, I like to use it to send them flying away every third block or so. Soon they stop throwing themselves at me and rethink their strategy. Another example: If a fighter stronger than I am starts bashing my shins instead of diverting my energy, then I gladly act as a mirror and do the same back to them (though they don't know what they're signing up for with that because I am VERY bony). Amazingly, a shin-bashing opponent will often start blocking the way they'd like to be blocked themselves when I do this. Once again, this is my PERSONAL preference, and it is what works best for me. I will fight hard if people go hard with me, but when they don't there's simply no need. If I feel I am dominating an opponent, I use the type of karate that allows me to expend as little energy as is necessary to remain in control. I don't just bash them. This is common courtesy among various martial arts and sports alike. It is also good fighting strategy for conserving one's energy. FURTHERMORE, this way of fighting is something that I learned from ELDERLY people. If I never sparred them, and if I never got scolded by them from time to time, I never would have been able to capitalize on their years of experience in building up my karate.

I tried to resist commenting in this thread, as I think most of the important points have long ago been made. However... ...the difference between these two quotes is why I believe the sport side of karate should always take a back-seat, why I ultimately hope that karate is never in the olympics. For me it's not the technique differences, nor is it the politics, nor the awareness it raises about the art. For me it is the difference of mindset.

Why did I choose my martial art? Because my friend's mom researched the different schools in the area and chose the most reputable organization, who happened to teach shotokan karate, and that had a dojo next door to my high school. As a goofy 14-year-old I didn't really see why I shouldn't just train at the McDojo by my house. I'm glad that my friend's parents took an interest, otherwise I would probably never have stayed with it over the years. I feel like when these threads start, people are expecting an answer like: "well, I thought this style suited me in particular because of my attributes x, y and z, and the martial art's attributes of a, b and c" In reality, for most people, it's actually more like: "there are two dojos where I live, I picked the one that seemed to be a better fit for me. They taught style Q."

My question for you is this: What happens when you try to kick trough the block of an experienced opponent (your sensei, or a big senpai)? Does this kicking-through-the-block thing still work out for you? For me, the answer to this question would determine how I trained my kicks, not just the habits of a few inexperienced people.

What's good enough for Lyoto Machida is good enough for me. Can't we all just get along? I hope the USA team gets to fight Brazil again at the JKA Shoto cup. I look forward to more epic stories.

Indeed, lots of good advice. I'd just like to add one more idea, and that is the notion that your technique is not the only thing that grws with training. That you can see your weak points means that your perception of your own body movement is growing as well. Don't let it get you down, because I personally think it is a good sign. Most karateka can tell you that a person's confidence in their own technique naturally fluctuates like this: http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w576/kmbaudier/1_zps92c8c8e4.jpg But, really, as a beginner, your technique is likely sill improving, you're just suddlenly seeing how much more improvement there is room for. To think about it graphically, the _ curve represents the actual "effectiveness" of your technique over time, while the * curve is your ability to perceive the effectiveness of your technique over time. I personally feel like a lot of people experience this: http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w576/kmbaudier/2_zps6dd9bb57.jpg Point X is where folks get really nervous, but it can be a crucial point of accelerated improvement if you keep at it. Knowing where you'd like to go, and where you are currently is a huge, and humbling, part of the process.

I was talking to someone at my dojo the other day when I realized that as of this year, I have been training Karate for half of my life, as it's been 14 years since I started at the awkward age of 14 years old. Judo is much less impressive, having only done it for three months now, that'd be 1/112 of my life. This got me wondering about all of you guys on the forums. So what are your fractions? How much of your life have you been training martial arts? How much of your life have you spent studying your different styles?

Prehapse it's just my school? I'll double check, but Id like the idea of being able to throw more hand techniques to the head, makes it more realistic. I will say this, sometimes when we have more beginner competitors, I've heard judges tell both sides to use basic techniques. Could it possibly be a case of this?

As a modern Shotokan competitior, I have never fought in a tournament with these particular rules. My impression is that both JKA and ISKF allow the following hand strikes to the head: - yoko-uraken (side backfist) - tatte-uraken (verticle backfist) - gyakuzuki (reverse punch) - haito uchi (ridge hand strike) - shuto (I don't know this in English, it's just shuto to me) - oi-zuki (stepping in punch) - kizami zuki (jab) Those in bold I notice are very popular Bold and underlined denotes able to generate relatively more power mechanically, so more likely to score a point (hence popularity) Often a weaker technique can be used as a distraction or lead into a more powerful follow-up technique. I don't know if I could compete in a tournament where I was outright not allowed to use my front hand for striking.

Sorry for the confusion about which technique you were referring to. I don't think that is not an outright downward block, so much as an across-the-body cover and preparation before doing uchi uke (forearm block from the inside going out). Here is a video of another karate style where they emphasize this heavily. Imagine if you will a quick abbreviated version of this: I trained in Mikami sensei's dojo in New Orleans for over a decade. This quick right-hand-coming-across-to-cover is how I learned bassai dai while a brown belt training there. Although many minor things are slightly different between kata in Japanese JKA and in our group, this one I believe is the same. Anyway, it sounds like you've already made peace with this technique, but I hope that was at least somewhat informative. Will you be testing under Mikami sensei's group or another? Maybe I'll run into you at summer training camp this June? Perhaps nationals come this Fall? I'm trying to get up the courage to test for judging & instructor then as well.

Hi WBM, Yes, what you see in that video you referenced is fairly standard, at least in JKA. I wouldn't call what he's doing a downward block though. It is more of a scooping block. You can catch someone's kick and throw them using that technique. That's why we bring the right hand back up after it goes down into the block/scoop. See this video, showing what I'm talking about from Kanazawa sensei's group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lknA_D1Tt8s Though like Sensei8 said, there can be many interpretations for a single kata technique. So you're from Louisiana and are talking about JKA shotokan. Are you JKAAF (Mikami sensei's group) by any chance?

I've only ever had one serious karate injury: one punch to the abdomen during my nidan exam that resulted in 3 epigastric hernias. My track record outside of the dojo is a lot worse though: broken nose from fainting in church, fractured wrist from a bike accident, mild concussion from tripping on a fiberglass character in an amusement park, etc. I'm a lot less clumsy since I started training 14 years ago.

These are the kata as I learned them. The rank corresponds to what I was expected to be working on at that time (before ascending to the next rank). In the 14 years since I was a white belt, I've noticed that they've started teaching kids kihon kata to go from 10kyu to 9kyu in my hometown dojo. 9kyu - Heian Shodan 8kyu - Heian Nidan 7kyu - Heian Sandan 6kyu - Heian Yondan 5kyu - Heian Godan 4kyu - Tekki Shodan 3kyu-1kyu - Bassai-dai 1dan - Jion, Enpi, Kanku-dai, Tekki Nidan 2dan - Hangetsu, Gankaku, Jitte All ranks must know all of their past kata as well as current. 1dan and above are expected to have a tokui-gata to perform as well, typically any non-tekki and non-heian kata, in other words one of the following: Jion, Enpi, Kanku-dai, Hangetsu, Gankaku, Jitte, Bassai sho, Kanku sho, Chinte, Jiin, Meikyo, Wankan, Nijushiho, Gojushiho-sho, Gojushiho-dai, Sochin or Unsu.

Friday night I walked into the dojo and saw that someone had put my name up on the Nafuda kake (the board with names and ranks). I thought to myself, ah, It's so nice to be welcomed in this new honbu where I have been training. I've only been here about a year, and I know they don't just add people right away, as the board only gets updated once in a very long while. Yes, It felt good to see my name up there with everyone else's .... until I realized that they had put my name under sho-kyu. I guess I forgot to show them my shodan certificate in their organization from 2005. hahaha, whoops. I guess I'm officially a whitebelt again. Anyway, do you guys use nafuda kake in your dojo? How often do you update yours?

It used to be that I was concerned with what I could get out of my MA experience. I wanted to become strong. I wanted to be special. I wanted to not lose at things anymore. ...but goals like that have an expiration date, something I find unfitting to constitute the entirety of a martial artist's journey. Now I feel like the only thing I really want to do is watch. I want to be an observer of the great people and places and events that I have the pleasure of experiencing. I want to watch it all, and digest it, and then I want use what I've seen to share this experience with others. Maybe one day I'll be a full sensei, but I don't know if that's really my style. for right now I have reached my goal. Now I enjoy being the substitute, the senpai. It's true, I am the reflection of others, yet never have I been more myself.

At age 17 I decided to train with the little kids' class at my dojo for fun. Of course that was the day when my pants string broke, sending my pants down around my ankles when I was asked to kicked the bag in front of everyone.

"tessen" means "iron fan" "gunbai" is what gyoji use in sumo tournaments. I think those are usually wooden. It sounds like you got it right to me. However, I've seen tessen demos done by male and female practitioners.

Well, in the US we say "gi," but in Japan they say "dou-gi" as in the same "dou" of karate"-do" Two. Well, is this supposed to be "tsuki" meaning "punch"? "kage tsuke" is interesting... it sounds like "shadow pickle" in Japanese lol

I don't know about that. Wrestling can be just as dangerous as striking arts practiced in children. Imo, I'd consider it more so, if for no other reason than society takes it more lightly. For instance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choking_game I've known more kids in my childhood that were injured wrestling with each other than doing pretty much anything else. Are you referring to a fight on the playground with another kid or an adult who would do them harm? I once heard a bujinkan practitioner argue that the best method for protecting young children from adult assailants is to teach them very good running and hiding skills. All of this being said, I never trained martial arts as a kid. I started when I was 14 and it was my idea to do so, not my parents'. I've often wondered if I would have stuck with it as long as I did if someone else were making me do it. I've seen kids who grew up in martial arts go though times where they themselves had to question their motivations as they became adults. 14 I think was best for me. Before then I wouldn't have known why I need it. Even if I would have had enough concentration and self restraint, I didn't have motivation to do it until then. Is that right for everyone? I seriously doubt it. Case by case is best I think, but perhaps I think this for slightly different reasons than other people.

Thank you I'm not sure entirely how the selection process goes, but I will be prepared to perform all heians, tekki shodan, bassai dai, kanku sho, enpi and jion. If I make it past there I will be doing bassai sho as my tokui, with kanku sho as alternate. Although, I love both of those kata so much that I waver about which one will be first choice. I think I will decide when I see who the judges are. Some folks like to do kanku sho in a newer version than I train, which I can also perform just fine, but it's hard to make every judge happy at once with that kata, so I am favoring using it as backup.

I have been thinking a lot about things lately and thought I'd share. This is somewhat a sequel to my old thread from about 6 months ago: http://www.karateforums.com/putting-back-on-my-white-belt-vt44085.html The moist air hung cool, not cold that night. Though you wouldn't know it by how many layers people wore as they scooted by on the street. To me it's the perfect weather for training. Perhaps my time time in the blustery north changed me more than I knew. As I leaned on a makiwara I could see the mirrors already beginning to fog at the edges from the beginners' class that now arose from seiza. Yellow and orange belts whom I'd never met walked past with a smile and left the floor. As they departed I fondly approached the same corner where I had stood once twelve years ago as an awkward teenage purple-belt watching the rest of the class train jion. Just as I sat down to stretch my senpai appeared out of nowhere. I hurriedly rose to greet her, but before my lips even parted she spoke. "So, you're on the list." I felt the blood drain from my face as I stood stammering. "You're not at the top, way down at the bottom, but you're there. What are you going to do about it?" Despite the gravity of the situation, all I could think to say was "I'll do it of course." ...and here I thought visiting home for the holidays would be relaxing. It's been one year and four months since I moved away. On top of that it was almost a full two years since my surgery caused me to stop competing altogether. Since I was out of town I had been training with another organization, but not with the level of seriousness I had before. How could I be on that list? Why was I selected for kata? I thought I always did better in kumite. How many medals did I get in 2011 and 2012? I can't even remember. I guess it was enough. All I know is that in eleven days I will enter a room with six other women to decide which of us will be on the US team competing in Tokyo this October. Admittedly, over the past few months I had begun to take a rather relaxed attitude towards my training. Putting personal goals aside, I had tried to remain inconspicuous in my new dojo. I guess without realizing it I've slipped into the mindset that I will never be as good as I used to be. Without senpai that knew what to expect of me it was easy for me to take this path. It's been just over a month since I found out, but it feels like an eternity. The training, the anxiety, the restless dreams of forgetting to wear my gi pants. Last week I arose every morning at 5am to train the annual kangeiko at my new dojo followed by individual training, then shower food and work. In the elevator I think of kata. At home I watch kata. It's become a rather comforting routine for me. It's all that I can do, and I want to do all that I can. At first it was hard filming myself. It was sobering to see how I moved when I was cold, how I messed up when I thought too much. Even just the silence of a camera seemed enough to crush my spirit. Then, bit by bit things began to change. I remembered how to think less and move more. Instead of minute points I found myself concentrating on feelings and emptiness. Tomorrow like days past I will wake before the sun to tie my old blackbelt. Like me it is free of labels or organization names. Like me it carries with it no sign of rank other than being a bit worn around the edges. For all my sensei have given me over the years, here is my chance to give back. I want to show my best kata to the judges as an expression of gratitude for this tremendous honor. Tomorrow, like every day this month, will be my real test.

I don't have experience with other styles personally, but I've seen these trends in ISKF, WKF and JKA, so it may not be as rare as you'd think. I'm sure physical and mental demands of competition must vary with style, rules and participants, which would logically cause this peak age to fluctuate in either direction. This is keeping in mind that tournament performance is but one gross measure of aptitude. There is much more that can be learned from an instructor, and from a martial art, than that which wins tournaments. I think most of us agree on that. I just mean to show that even in this one measure, one in which you'd assume youth would dominate, that is not really the case. For instance Taniyama Takuka's Tourament record started at age 27, though he didn't get 1st place at a national or international competition until age 30, and he continued to win, taking 1st place at the All-Japan in Kumite and kata in various competitions until at age 42. Here's a video from that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDjgivUYkxc In truth, even though I am only 27 myself, I'd be disapointed if it were any other way. A martial art is supposed to impart extra protection, to aid a person in overcoming a stronger opponent. That is the success of our species, that we can use mind and spirit to overcome so much that physicality alone cannot. That's how I want to train and live the rest of my life, as a martial artist that is first and foremost a human being.

My sensei said something very poignant on this matter to me once years ago. If you look at a bunch of competitors, at least in my organization (JKA), you'll see that the people winning the championships both in kumite and especially kata are seldom below their thirties or late 20's at the very lowest (many are even in their 40s). Anyone over the age of 18 is allowed to participate, everyone is obviously considered on an individual basis in a competition, but still you see this trend. My sensei argued that this is because when looking at a karate-ka's performance over time, there are two important curves to consider: the physical peak, and the mental peak. Given a full life of training most people are at their physically strongest somewhere from 17 to 24 or so (thus most Olympians being so very young). However, with age one's experience level and mental incorporation of this experience into their karate can continue to increase. Where a karate-ka is most technically proficient and actually physically able to use techniques effectively is a combination of both of these two functions. Around 35 or so a person is still fairly strong, but what's more so, in the 10-15 years of training since their physical peak, they have learned so much through experience, even just on the level of how bodies move, that this increase offsets their decrease in physical stamina and strength. After 45-50 or so, the body decreases a bit more rapidly, but if the mind continues to improve enough, one's karate can accommodate. People who have done this in my opinion are the ones that have cracked the code. They are the ones I would like to train under. Most young masters will simply not have had to deal with the experience of a declining body yet, and may or may not rely too heavily on their heightened physical state to achieve good results. So it's not that their not good, just not experienced. I think that in a system where rank reflects technical ability in the art fairly well, rank will then naturally follow this trend where most high-level promotions (whatever they may be for your organization) happen from 30 up, depending on a person's special case of course. Sometimes people think too much about strength and misunderstand that this trend of 35-45 peak is artificial, but really, there are just other factors to consider, even just on a performance level alone. This is not even mentioning contribution to the art or responsibilities to students or research or whatever else have you.