Shizentai

Thanks guys! I like to write, so that mean's a lot to me. A novel seems very different from the comic books and poetry I'm used to writing. This was mostly kind-of a "spirit-moved-me" type situation, but I'll see if I can keep it up.

Hi Justice! Yes, I moved to the east coast to try to get a PhD (=_= long road ahead though). I've been pretty busy with moving and proposals and teaching and what not, but I'm finally starting to get settled into a new state of normal now. I'm still missing New Orleans a fair bit though. How have you been?

I didn't know what time it started so I arrived at quarter to six o'clock figuring that is the earliest most could reasonably arrive from work. No one was there but the door was open, so I entered and sat with no shoes in a chair near the edge of the floor. The expansive room smelled of pinesol and old wood and was silent save the scuffles and passing conversations from people on the street. On the wall were several photos of my old sensei and my new sensei standing together in groups of other people. Five, ten, twenty minutes passed as I sat alone. It was a strange way to come to know a place. I began to wonder if it was safe to leave the dojo open like that. I began to wonder if there was a person in this neighborhood who would dare to break into a karate school. I went over in my mind what I would do in the drastically unlikely event that someone did come in and decide to rob the place while I was the only one sitting there in the corner, with a letter I couldn't read in my hand, and a gi with two belts in my bag. Then all at once in the far corner of the room I saw a grey-haired man enter and shuffle into the office across the training area from me. No sooner did I rise to my feet than did a senpai enter right behind me. After introductions, I was escorted downstairs to the locker room where I donned my favorite training gi and examined the two belts I brought with me. Two surgeries, eight months, and a 1300 mile move later, I felt as though my black belt had better wait for another day. As I tied my white belt, I was surprised to see that for the first time it fit just right. Either in my illness or in my recent attempts to feed myself on a graduate student's budget I must have lost more weight than I realized. Dressed all in white, free of labels or expectations I ascended the steps to the training floor. For a moment I felt pure and new... Upon seeing me enter another senpai promptly pulled me into the utility closet to prepare rags for cleaning the floor. Through the ringing out of rags, the scrubbing, getting pulled into place and being chastised for hesitations and errors in formality, I knew that wearing a white belt was the right choice. In life, I have found that the best way I can get respect from others is to give it first. Soon my senpai would come to know me, but first I want to belong here, in this hall where people shout, where I am a floor washer, where I get advice freely given to me, where I can be part of something bigger than myself. After kihon we were asked to perform our tokui kata while facing a large set of mirrors. Despite my inadequacies, in a white belt my kanku sho never looked so good.

Funakoshi Gichin > Nakayama Masatoshi > Mikami Takayuki > Me So 3rd generation I guess? Although now that I've moved away from my home dojo ( ;_; >sniffle<) hopefully one day I can also say that I'm second gen: Funakoshi Gichin > Teruyuki Okazaki > future me btw, I feel like we've had this thread before several times.

I know exactly what you're talking about. This year I've undergone two different surgeries spaced exactly three months apart, which effectively has taken me out of any kind of serious training for half a year. Folks on this site helped me out a lot with advise, so I know you'll get a bunch from others soon. Let me share with you some things that I found worked best for me: 1. Going to the dojo to watch I would have never thought I could tolerate just sitting there and watching my friends having a good tough class, but believe it or not, I enjoyed it! Nothing's worse for me than being stuck inside with an injury, plus I learned a lot from having time for silent observation. It was also nice if for no other reason than to see my karate family. 2. Rest rest rest Don't come back before you are healed! I am a walking poster child for this. What should have been a 6-week healing process ended up being 6 months because I went back to training too soon and ripped a big hole in my abdomen right next to my incision site =_= Your training will go much better if you follow the doctor's orders. 3. Baby Steps Don't be afraid to take it easy for a while when you do come back to training. Right now I am focusing on building up my core strength again, and laying off the high-flexibility snappy techniques. Spending some time with a medicine ball at the gym too. Maybe stretching or yoga might be good for you (?) I'd say ask the doctor as well.

Agreed. I have seen a 450lb purple-belt jump over the top of my head as if he were a bird in flight. I myself have never been that size, so my understanding of people's situation as such is very limited. However, to say that one is unable to do karate because they are big is, I am sure, not true. Is it easier to do when you are fit? Probably, but we all have our own personal battles, some you can see, some you can't detect with a judgmental cursory glance around a room. On another unrelated note, these ads at the top of the page are so weird:

YES! Oh my gosh! My sensei here in the states left Japan in 1960 to bring karate to the USA. So naturally, when I go to train with other members of the JKA in Japan, their techniques look totally different to me. In particular (and this is going to sound strange), when executing the same technique there is a discrepancy as to which direction the hips rotate. My sensei says in the same direction as the technique, Japanese JKA says opposite. It's an extremely basic thing to be so different, and it's maddening when your mind is trying to do both at once and you end up doing nothing right. Regarding that matter though, I think that more ways to do the same technique are just like having more weapons in your arsenal. I recommend you research bunkai of both new and old and keep them both well trained. Then in the future, it should be easy to switch back and forth. Ossu!

I've been kicked in the groin before, but if you don't get hit exactly at a certain angle it's no worse than any other delicate part of the body. I've really only had two super bad groin hits to be honest: once via wayward hockey puck in gym, and also once when I was a kid I fell off of a roof onto a porch railing. The hockey puck hurt like the dickens for a good long while, but the railing... good lord! ;_; I couldn't move, talk, inhale... it was unfortunate to say the least. Although I did not experience the accompanying nausea like I see many guys having, so I imagine I got off easy there.

In my dojo, our sensei has a favorite exercise in which the most senior students perform something in the middle of the floor, then he asks the other students, especially lower ranks to give them advice. After hearing responses from everyone, sensei will tell us his opinions and which critique was closest to what he thought, then he'll pick other students and do the same. The rank of the person getting pulled out varies, but it's always a blackbelt. With lower ranks, he tends to help them out more directly himself. I can only guess this is to keep us all humble, especially as we advance.

While translating I often encounter a related conundrum. Because of my experience with this I am inclined to believe this is more of a miscommunication than a matter of conflicting philosophies. Here in the States for some reason, when people say the word "hips" we think of the pelvis, a fixed, not-moving piece of bone. However, when I hear a Japanese instructor talking in Japanese, they use words that are referring to the hip joint, not the pelvis at all. In other words, I don't think anyone here is trying to say that the hip bone (that is, the top of your pelvis that pokes out on the side) generates much of anything. However, by looking at the socket joint of the hip itself (that is, the system of muscles tendons and ligaments that surround the meeting of the two bones), we can see that that is a network which is anything but immobile. In Japanese, they use words like "open" or "close" the hip. In English, we use words like, "turn" or "twist." I do believe this is a limitation of our language, not of the underlying principles. They are not analogous structures. English just uses the same words for both

Geez, I have to be honest, I have no idea how many I actually own. Probably about 8 to 10. Although most of them are in various states of distrpair and are used mostly for patching other gis, there are 5 that I still wear from time to time: 2 KI Intl. Mugens - for day-to-day training in the heat 1 Tokon Heavyweight - for training in the cold 1 Yamaga middleweight - my nicest "dress gi" for when I judge or test 1 KI economy line - for outdoor training, since it's already full of grass stains and is cheap as all get out to replace Most of my gis are either American brands or are too large anyway, so after I wash them I don't mind tossing them in the drier. The one exception is the Yamaga. Because I bought it in Japan where fabrics are even less pre-shrunk than here, I hang-dry that one. In terms of folding, I either favor judo-style or an adaptation I made up where instead of rolling I fold thrice and sinch tightly with a belt. As for storage, I have a drawer just for tops and another drawer just for bottoms. I roll each article with the label facing up so that I can see which is which. I found this is the best way for me to make sure I don't show up to the dojo in a hurry with only half of my gi .

Or maybe people are just scared off by the creepy typos on their website: Starting at age 3 children will be taught the precursers to killing in social settings? I know they probably meant "pre-skills," but really, if you have the time to use incorrect punctuation around a made up word, you'd think they'd have time to check that it was the right word.

All I know is, everyone in my dojo says the same thing as most of you guys until an instructor comes from Japan to teach a seminar, then they all come knocking down my door wanting me to translate for them. If it weren't important, then why do they need my help? Call it "unnecessary" if you want, but I have been able to travel the world training thanks to basic karate-related language. Think of it as a passport. Is it necessary? Maybe not for everyone. But does that mean that it is useless? Definitely not! Agreed

I think it should all come down to this: Who do you learn from and who do you want to learn from? If your instructor speaks only English and all of the people who you would like to learn from for the rest of your life speak only English, then I say don't bother with the Japanese/Okinawan terms. However, if you would like to learn from anyone else in the world, I highly recommend learning the traditional Okinawan/Japanese terms. Don't forget, in karate that is the international language, not English. By just taking a little time to learn the names of some basic techniques, you multiply ten-fold what you can gain from instructors the world over, be they someone you train with on vacation in France, or even someone who might be a Japanese guest instructor here in the US.

That's cool! I'm moving to Philly this year and will be training at Okazaki Sensei's dojo for a few years. I'm really excited, but it's gonna be interesting going back and forth between JKA and ISKF. Last time I saw Okazaki sensei back a few years ago they were one in the same. I'm glad you enjoyed his camp. Maybe next year I'll go and see you too!

The simple fact that being gay can be lumped in the same category as substance abuse makes me dislike the term "alternative lifestyle" even more. There are several people in my dojo who are gay. They are all great people and happen to be excellent karateka to boot. One of my favorite things about karate is that the dojo has always been a constant safe-haven when life gets hard. Nothing matters there but training. Besides, I should think that kids growing up dealing with the fears of coming out as homosexual probably appreciate seeing a confident adult role-model who happens to also be a member of the gay community.

"I hear you're a black belt. So can you kick my butt then? I bet you can't take me. Come on, let's find out" misconception: The above is appropriate for a man to say in casual conversation. truth: THIS IS INAPPROPRIATE and IRRITATING!!! Usually I don't even dignify this sort of comment with a response, but sadly, saying nothing doesn't seem to get rid of guys like that either. The worst part is that deep down, I wish I could kick everyone's butt who ever considered saying such a thing to a lady... ESPECIALLY when I'm dressed up nice at dinner or something. I mean really!!

Without the hips... A punch is just an arm. Without the hips... A kick is just a leg. >Hips are the link between stance and any waza. By using the hips to connect the two we can use our entire bodies to execute a technique as opposed to just isolated groups of muscles.

I remember being a wimpy 15-year-old yellow belt. I had only been training in the adult advanced class for about two months when I got really sick and ended up missing a whole week of training because of a severe allergic reaction I had to a medicine I was taking. When I came back to the dojo I was really worried, we had been working on basic sparing combinations a lot and I had brought myself nearly to tears in frustration before my time off. Much to my disappointment, in my absence we had changed over from sparring drills to full out free sparing. First I had to spar a brown belt woman who beat me easily without even moving at full speed. Next I had to spar a green belt that easily won as well. Then, of course, I had to spar my beginners' class sensei, a san-dan who was all muscle and weighed about twice my 100lb self. If I was expecting some sort of kind-treatment I knew I wasn't getting it from him. As I waited to hear "hajime," something odd came over me. It was almost as if I had reached my threshold for negative thoughts and my natural reaction was to feel and think nothing at all. The fight lasted a split second. As he barreled in with oizuki, instinctively I turned into a deeply-planted hip throw, sending him flying over my body and onto the floor on the other side, where he hit with a thud. Before I knew what happened, I had already stopped the punch my free hand had launched centimeters from his temple and the entire dojo was looking at us. I had never performed or seen a hip-throw... just felt it. It was the first time I had ever even felt better than deficient at any form of training. After that, no matter how bothersome training might get, I was eager to push myself to that point again, where nothing bothers me any more, where I can be at my best. OSSU!

Agreed! Hey, as I said, nothing serious yet. Just waay to much time to think about the future is all. So far here is my "rigorous training schedule" 1 week after surgery: 10 hr sleeping 30 min gentle stretching 30 min walk outside 8 hr sitting up or standing with good posture while reading or doing chores 1 hr walking outside 4hrs lying on my back while watching the Olympics Goals accomplished this week: -sitting -standing -walking -breathing normally (believe it or not, this was the hardest one for me) As you can see, I am definitely resting up. Today I did do some basic beginner yoga to help stretch out my stiff neck and shoulders, a repercussion of taking an active body and confining it to a bed for several days.

Well, the surgery went well. I was supposed to take pain medicine, which I didn't, but other than that I've been complying to the doctor's instructions. It looks like step one for recovery training this week will be focused on trying to recover my posture. Because all the muscles damaged were those used for stabilizing, I am focusing on standing sitting and walking with shoulders back, chest out and head held high. ...strange as it sounds, this is hard as heck. Hahaha! It's going to be a long road.

Thanks for the support everyone. I have to say I am feeling a little stir crazy already, and my surgery isn't until Monday. The good news is, if it's anything like my recovery from the last surgery, then once I'm feeling good enough to walk around easily my legs will most likely be less affected than my upper body. I bet that the first exercises I can do might be slow lower-body work. perhaps lots of slow holding stance training or some gentle squats. I've always disliked this kind of training, so perhaps it's a good chance for me to work on my weak points. I figure from there, perhaps a month or so out (depending on how I feel), I'll go back to slow motion heian kata. I've learned the hard way that snapping anything at all is a deal-breaker, so I plan to avoid that entirely for the near future.

I just got some bad news, that I will have to undergo another round of surgery to repair somewhat of a hole in the muscle layer of my solar plexus that keeps getting torn open. I know right? It's got to be one of the most inconvenient locations for a karateka to have a birth defect. Anyway, the first time around I did exactly what the doctor said, no heavy lifting, no training for two months, I came back slowly, I avoided getting hit in the gut, etc. ...and yet it still didn't help. Four months later, as soon as I start using my core muscles for regular stuff like blocking and punching, I'm back to square one and am being prepped for another more invasive surgery. I don't really know what to do. I want to protect my health, but I also want to protect my training as well. I can't just train like a wimp the rest of my life and hope I don't rip out the stitches. It's a delicate balance, I know, but being that this is my second chance to do this, I'd like to do it right. Here is my question to all of you: Have you ever had to recover from a serious injury/sickness while training. If so, what advise would you give to others who might be experiencing the same thing?

I was going to say that! I know the moves, I know the timing, but somehow that kata just isn't there for me. Maybe one day it will be, but not anytime soon I wager. I really like sochin too, but I am such a string bean that people just laugh when I do it. Nothing's worse that practicing a new kata and eliciting a laugh.

nothing on my gi... that's how I roll.