Himokiri Karate

Although I train in Korean Karate, I mostly have done boxing and have had many trainers and to many other gyms. Anyways in the past year, I was with a trainer who preached loyalty community and compassion. But recently he stopped giving personal training + only tending to his "favorite" athletes while others are kind of just stuck in the gym just hitting the bag or they can spar or do their own thing. Of course in my eyes, that is a horrible thing. The talented gets more treatment and the less talented gets to be a cannon fodder. Because of that, I left the gym and I left with a very sour taste in my mouth. All this preaching about being a "Real boxing gym" and not a studio or a business and yet they ran it like one, they were even in to the whole woke thing with the whole "no straight males allowed at 7 am" type policy. Anyways I will stop because this is beginning to be a rant. But my question is, have you been to a dojo or have you witnessed a sensei behave in such a blatantly contradictory manner? Keep in mind that this guy I am talking about is a super nice guy in terms of interaction. Never yells, never screams, always is calm and relaxed. But his actions are to me happen to be very malevolent and pretty cruel. As someone who trained in various forms of karate before settling down to Korean Karate, I can say that I have NEVER witnessed such a thing before. So I am kind of curios if this is behavior has been replicated in the karate community?

I am not well versed with Kung Fu, are you saying the guy in the video is fake? I wish I could contribute but I do not have familiarity with kung fu systems to determine the legitimacy of this video. The gentlemen in the video reminds me of Jack S and despite Jacks reputation, Jack had some serious pop!

Thank you so much and what an honor and rollercoaster this year was! A bit of a confession if you will. Most years I trained in boxing and dabbled in judo/sambo. As a kid I did a bit of Shotokan, in 2014 I did a bit of kyokushin. But I must be honest, last spring I went hard and jumped in extremely deep in to Tang Soo Do/Taekwondo or Korean karate training as well as learning the culture, history and what it all meant and where it came from and the brutality of Korean war. The book Inside U also inspired me and so did Karate Kid/Cobra Kai series. I have had bad experience with the culture of boxing and yet I am MADLY IN LOVE with boxing techniques. This contrast has created a contradiction and indecisiveness in my actions and convictions until I found the ultimate super dojang that taught something that was beyond intense and truly life changing and of course very brutal. This forced me to really become a better raw foodist, learn deep sleep and truly dive in to the world of meditation and recovery so I can meet the demands of training. This Korean Karate training is off the record and done in private. Yet it has changed me and my cardio is incomparable to former times being in being good shape and I have trained in almost every single style and training modalities. The Future: For me, I have taken all the karate training and I am combining it with my boxing techniques. This is what karate has meant to me. It has provided a home, culture that welcomes my boxing technique. The stance of Korean Karate is the "home" where my boxing skills can reside in. The dojo/dojang is a place to learn communication skills, professionalism and even business. To understand not everyone needs immediate fighting technique but rather folks need their minds to engage in tasks in order to learn to problem solve on smaller levels so they build their confidence up. Problem with combat sporting coaches is, if you are not a champion, then you are person of no value and I greatly resent that. Martial arts and sports should be about problem solving that requires the ability to adapt and adopt different temperaments. The dojo/dojang is the lab that allows ideas, styles and creativity to prosper and opportunities are given to students to teach and express their intelligence through how they interpret the techniques and skills they learn. Thank you again for this recognition and it means a lot since I have been a member since 2009 but this year was truly the year that my body/mind and soul was immersed in karate. TANG SOO!

In Karate and yoga is easy to make friends. In boxing, my personal experience is that you will find many false friends and enemies. Reason is, Karate is a pursuit of self-mastery, attainment of skills, becoming a person who has propensity for logical thinking and deductive reasoning because the moves that you are learning requires concentration and continuous effort for improvement. Also my style being Korean Karate tends to favor kicks and so I have to make sure I am resting, stretching and strengthening for health and longevity purposes since I am playing the long game. Boxing was my main passion in my 20s, sadly, I met so many horrible human beings that it made me jaded. Maybe its the promise of money, fame and glory that attracts practitioners that may not be the most virtuous individuals. In boxing, I have only met one truly great human being. In boxing and fighting you here the classical "this guy is trying to take food out of my families mouth" line that many subscribe to. Because of that I find boxing to be a danger zone and not a place to make friends. That being said, boxing techniques are magical and breathtaking. It truly is a never ending art that can never be fully mastered and its a beautiful science to learn. Main problem is the culture surrounding it. The actual art is fantastic to learn. Hence my attraction towards karate was the value. Its not about becoming a famous fighter but its more about mastery and attaining new techniques and even uncovering lost secrets of ancient martial arts through meditation and exercising in creative ways to uncover new moves. When you do that, the rest will come to you. Because of this, I noticed people in karate circles are easier to befriend because they have this healthy outlook towards self-mastery. This leads to friendship because you improving is not going to diminish me in any shape or form and vice versa. We are in this together! TANG SOO!

If I have to break down the mechanism of Yoga, I would do so as static exercise meets breathwork in a unique synergetic ways that are somewhat magical. I have heard of a Korean Martial Arts called Hwa Rang Do and they incorporate a methodology that is similar to static holds + breath work. I mean at the end of the day, the human body cant tell the difference between yin Kung Fu and Yoga. Rather the body simply understands that both have similar properties in terms of physical, mental and spirit benefit ( not spiritual) Spirit benefit meaning that it subtly makes you feel more...renewed. Its difficult to explain and I am still in this wild ride that I have yet to be able to formulate the correct thoughts to explain it. Before I respond I have to give a disclaimer of being in a state of overly enthusiastic. Similar to how new vegans tell the world that they are vegan. Right now I have returned to that yogi state which I experienced just before the covid lockdowns. Now disclaimer aside, I wouldn't compare it to Pilates or mixing different stuff. I would say its more of different dimensions coming together. Best example I can give is: HTML= physical practice, this can be your Asana ( postures/pure physical) martial arts stretching, crossfit, bodybuilding, boxing, wrestling and martial arts as well etc... Basically at the end of the day, you are working with the physical dimension of the human potential. HTML and human exercises are great in variation. Tons of excercise= tons of html codes and tags. CSS=Breathwork, just like how there is different exercise, There is different codes for different coloring and design. There is many styles of breath that requires different inhalation, holds and exhalation. Much like different css bring different shades of reds. Javascript= spirit and meditation Of course breathwork can be meditation but meditation like JavaScript is very dynamic and multi-dimensional. From my understanding, Yoga gave birth to Kung Fu. The warrior 1, 2, 3 and tree pose are eerie similar to the blossom pole training + horse stance. Though Kung Fu presents it in a different flavor. Anyways, not to get off-topic. But to me, yoga is beyond physical. That and as I type this, I could be way off. Who knows, when I re-read this post years later, I might want to revise a lot of what I said. But I feel that human potential and our ability to unlock its full capacity comes from either yoga and martial arts in respect to the teachers that we have in modern times. Who knows maybe there was some truth to esoteric druids and sages but I can say that I have seen some serious miracles with yoga and the results and sensations go beyond training hard. Forgive the rambling but I just feel like there is something extremely important about yoga. Like there is a sub-set that can take your abilities to a whole new life. Its as if there is lost treasure in the attic and we just have to find the light switch to see where our inner treasure lies. By treasure I don't mean super powers but the ability to overcome trauma and not be haunted by bad memories. Sharper mind, healthier outlook or just the novel sensation when you had as a kid when everything felt brighter and more optimistic.

I have become a yoga addict this past 2 weeks. By that I mean taking 2 to 3 classes a day. I find that my body moves better, more quicker, less stiffer and taking time off from Karate/boxing has renewed my passion but without the cost of diminishing my cardio and technique like any other times of taking time off in which you feel mentally fresh but your body slows down. Anyways, I want to get in to specific, so the warrior 2 and 3 have significantly improvement my side stance. As you know, in Korean Karate/TSD/TKD, the stance is very side ways, you make yourself a small target. These stances have allowed me to be able to have a more sturdy foundation on my supporting legs. My hip movement has improved significantly because of all the spine work which makes the body move much better. You are always twisting mindfully with breath and cautiously which allows you to develop self awareness of your own range of motion. Slowly you end up gaining a new range of mobility. Overall, all these leg bending, balancing exercises serve to build strength and stability in legs. One thing worth mentioning is, in the beginning, there is a diminishing effect in performance because the body is getting used to the new training regimen. Once you get pass this hump, you are going to enjoy getting the benefits. Its like how in the beginning of karate, you are worse than being untrained because you are just becoming aware of your own flaws which comes with insecurities and abandoning the notion that you are not the big bad wolf sort of speak. In yoga, not being good at it in the beginning can really make you feel bad but you realize its like becoming a white belt again and you will come out of it with new set of physical attributes that aids you in your karate skills or you might find that you recover better. I like to hear from you what you think about Yoga. Namaste

This is a...Alright I did yoga today, I can control my temper! Look, I have nothing against Trump. I consider myself apolitical. My problem is, if you just hand out belts, it undermines those who worked hard, sweat hard, their continuous effort to get something that requires exertion of effort. Mind you, I wouldn't mind if there is a guy who gets a black belt in judo because he wrestled. But we are talking about a person who never threw a kick in his entire life. With my Taekwondo/Tang Soo Do instructor, we have replaced forms with non-stop plyometrics to develop higher jump and more explosive steps and footwork. The level of effort it requires has me dig deep down like I have to visualize my life is in danger. I feel proud of my performance. I am not even in the ranking system because I am half TKD/TSD. But now I believe I too should also get a belt. Not because it makes me better but because if I were to teach, its good to say I got a belt wrapped around my waist. Plus I would be far more legitimate. I am so at loss for words that the only thing I can say is....ASSSAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I had no idea who Tiger was. Steve Fox is my guy. I also liked Dragunov when I was on my sambo kick. But for sure, Tekken has tons of Karateka. I like Hworang as well. There is a martial arts after him. I love his comedic interaction with Steve. You got Boxer and Taekwondo tag team. I like that, I like that! Baek is a bit tragic and his story hits me in the feels and so I avoid him. Real life is already bleak and tragic enough, I do not need Baek adding to it. Though from what I learned from Korean culture is that, life isn't just happiness and sunshine. Its good, no point buying false hope and hollywood happy ending. I know your a Taekwondo guy and there is a character in Fatal Fury that I love named Kim Kahwan. Great character and taught many characters Taekwondo. He even taught a Freddy Kruger type character Taekwondo as a way to reform him and other criminals like him so they don't pray on the innocent. In fatal Fury, there is a Korean team with TONS of Taekwondo fighters. I wish we could have seen Tang Soo Do... Lars Alexander has great Karate. Though it looks like Shorinji Kempo, he is listed as a karateka and it makes sense since he has Mishima blood running in his veins. Kazuya has precise and accurate moves. Simple, effective with great counters.

You need to play Tekken and Fatal Fury my friend Tons of Karateka, I mean loaded with so many karateka that its not even funny. The Mishima family, Lars who is the love child of Heihachi. Not to mention fatal fury has their Kyokushin base. Baki has Doppo Who is Oyama and his ShinShinkai karate is Kyokushin. Himokiri karate also comes from Baki. While Himokiri karate is a deadly style, the character turned out to be a jobber sadly. In these old school martial arts games I have noticed more and more karate characters. Even Virtue fighter has a Kyokushin fighter. Fighter in the wind was a karateka based on Oyama and he even had a bit of taekkyon in him. Of course the two deadliest karate fighters of fiction are from a series called HSDK. Shio Sakaki, a drunken, angry, violent karate master who has a heart of gold. He is one of the good guys but he unintentionally comes of as a villain and is one of the mentors to a shy but good natured protagonist who is a positive influence on him. He has a rival aka Akira Hongo who was aligned with the bad guys but ironically has a heroic characteristic to him. Both have an incredible dynamic to them despite both being supporting character. They always end up stealing the scenes from more relevant characters because they have a very complicated past with one another. Two karateka who are fan favorites and extremely popular among HSDK fans. TANG SOO!

Few years ago I made a "favorite fictional karate styles" and now I am wondering who is your favorite fictional karateka? Although for me himokiri-karate is a favorite style there has only been two characters who used it. They both were alright but lacked depth. It was himokiri that was scary! That being said, my favorite Karateka is someone I presume is going to be my favorite very soon. He is going to be the very dark version of Mr. Miyagi. The master of Captain Turner, John Kreese and Terry Silver. I believe this man is going to be Master Kim Sung Yung of South Korea. There is a talk that this man grew up in Japanese ruled Korea and as a result he developed a merciless attitude that was passed on to Turner, Kreese and Silver. No idea if he is going to appear in season 4 of CK but there has always been talks of the legendary Master Kim Sung Yung who is the most ruthless and merciless master with a terror inducing Tang Soo Do/Karate skills. If never appears then its going to be Terry Silver for me as the number 1 choice. Maybe a terrible person but one of the greatest friends you can ever hope to have in your whole life. I love and respect his gratitude. Many to think but these are my top two favorites. Terry is number 1 .

As someone who has trained in boxing, kung fu and sambo, I am vibing hard ( new youth slang) with everything mentioned. Boxing training for me was pretty much my 20s in a nutshell. If you got footwork, you got good footwork, if you got a good jab then that is what you got. In boxing, people count the specific weapons you are carrying. Some trainers label you as a primary and secondary fighter. Maybe your primary weapon is your in-fighting and some boxers are good at long range fighting. This is how things are measured in boxing. However we do have a problem: While boxing is incentivized by the offerings of fame, money and glory. Karate is not. That and human beings love the idea of validation and attaining a sense of achievement. Belt systems offer that sensation. It also allows the teachers making ends meet. My personal love for Karate came from the fact that the training really enhances boxing techniques. That and the structure, the names of the move and ranking gives the art an organized appearance that allows you to see what you need to work on. One problem with boxing is, guys show up in the gym and start wailing on the bag. The students neglect developing awareness of side-stance, squared up stance and even stances that are pertained for exercising the body as oppose to just combat. Hence its more than just a belt. But belt gets people to the door but real skills will keep the students.

Has there been any schools or dojangs that teach taekkyon as a primary style in your country? This is the original style of Koreans as is subak. I assume people would love to learn other Korean martial arts aside from Taekwondo.

Just black belt alone for me is enough. I train in Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo without a ranking system. We do endless amount of cardio and conditioning to the point that I lose the notion of who I am in state of fatigue. For business purposes, its good to have a black belt. A black belt with strong technique and power= good enough to get students walk through the door. I will say as a casual that, I never cared if someone was 3rd dan or 7th dan. It was more like "how good of a black belt is he?" That was all the talk. After black belt, we only cared about their technique, special moves and physical attributes and fighting skills. That being said, this is just my perspective. For all I know, people might care a great deal about Dans and not to mention it might denote seniority of ones lifelong endeavor in the style of karate. Either way for me, I got one foot in boxing and so I personally am not in to ranks nor would I have a high opinion of someone due to Dans. Character for me is far more important.

I have been reading the responses and all of them are great and I really enjoyed reading them. I believe that this might be the true reason to teach Koreans. The idea was not to do them a favor but to make them follow their ways. Similar to making someone be part of your religion or faith. You may not like the person but their support and effort towards your ideals do work well to serve your own cause. I believe this is where Tang Soo Do comes in. You have frustrated Korean Karatekas being used as punching bags or perhaps being held back in rank or not being taught as much as the Japanese students. From there, few of them picked up Taekkyon and the story of that one Korean Martial artist who jumped over the wall of China, learned Kung Fu and added to his Karate and Taekkyon to create Tang Soo Do. Of course Tang Soo Do means China Hand which was the original definition of Karate. TANG SOO!

So I am a bit confused with the specific reason as to why the Japanese taught the Koreans Karate. The reason is, they came as conquerors of Korea. They had disdain for the Koreans and treated them badly like slaves. Yet they also taught them Karate. I am curios to know as to which Japanese Karateka decided to teach the Koreans Karate which gave birth to one of the origins of Tang Soo Do. My curiosity is that how Koreans mentioned how awful and evil the Japanese were. If that is the case, why would someone who deems an ethnic group inferior and potential enemy teach them Karate? I searched but I could never find any specific reason as to what made the Japanese want to teach Koreans Karate. Historically speaking, the Chinese banned Kung Fu because they were worried about an empowered citizens that may challenge them. The British Colonies would shoot and cripple any South east martial artist because they did not want the people to gain spirit and vigor through martial arts. Often times, those who hold power wish to maintain power and not empower others. Hence the logic of teaching Koreans Karate is very strange. Its even more strange because it gave birth to Tang Soo Do which is a Korean Karate mixed with Taekkyon and a very rare style of Kung Fu. Its a combination that is extremely powerful and even the sporty version of it in Taekwondo is still very potent and great way of developing physicality. So now I am curios to know if anyone knows which karateka decided to teach Koreans Karate and what was the reason behind it?

I think there is a blind spot in style vs style arguments. I feel that the blind spot is training method and the teacher you have. I have recently fused my Tang Soo Do/Karate with Taekwondo. For almost all my life I had a negative impression of TKD because early on I was exposed to bad TKD teachers. But I started training in TKD less than a year ago. One was the fact that the Tang Soo Do that I love is becoming somewhat obsolete. Another thing was that I wanted to overcome my prejudice of what was a bad TKD in my early child hood. In that, I found one of the GREATEST teachers in martial arts who is a TKD guy. He is also 11 years younger than me but his mind, maturity and IQ makes him truly incredible. This brings me to training method. My TKD training is BRUTAL! Its not fun, on my way I have to meditate and work on my breath. I do not feel like a gym bro ready to crush weights. The training is extremely cardio heavy and tons of body conditioning as well as being pushed to my absolute limits only to go beyond it. Even Hot Yoga feels like a cool breeze. In boxing I was taught to not waste energy and pace myself. Now I just wanna go BERSERK and see when fatigue hits. Everything said here is a result of the training methods of my current teacher. Other rival Dojangs promise belts and career opportunities. Our place prepares you for war. You get to a point that you do not care about belts at all. There is no black belt club, there is no belt acceleration program. Tons of dynamic and plyometrics. Had I gone to a different TKD school, I would have been trained differently and I would have been a DIFFERENT martial artist. One thing to add is, the founder of our Dojang is a relatively on the upper echelons of South Korean military. My boxing and Karate/TSD has evolved because of this particular TKD teachers methods. The moves are still the typical WT techniques taught everywhere. But the way I am learning is making all the difference in the world. So regardless if its Aikido, Sambo, Judo, Boxing, kickboxing, Karate, Kung Fu ,Jujitsu or Shootfighting. The teacher you end up with ends up changing the course of your destiny for better or for worse regardless of style. To add to Sensei8 post, so while its true that its up to the practitioner to determine the effectiveness of the art, its also up to the teacher to explain how their teaching is making them effective students of the art since some practitioners may not know how credible what they are learning is.

Just to give you context, I have studied various forms of martial arts but I claim Korean Karate (TSD/TKD) as my main style of Karate. So with that in mind, I hear tons of karate discussion. One that is reoccurring is if Karate is complete or incomplete. The talk stems from Chinese Kung Fu masters not revealing a certain secrets to the Okinawans. The Okinawans also held back on teaching the Japanese because of Japan invading Okinawans. That attitude has also been echoed in the Japanese Karate culture. The logic is that if a teacher teaches the student his full skillset, then student will open their rival dojo which threatens the lively hood of the sensei. So my question comes for all of you who have practiced Japanese/Okinawan karate. Is it true that there are missing moves in the original karate? Also what is the true definition of complete karate? Going back to Korean Karate. Our history is somewhat established. We are more of a fusion karate and with different Tang Soo Do/Karate substyles. But I have always been fascinated with the karate of China/Okinawa/Japan. These three cultures have always had a very interesting relationship with one another which made me curios about the whole complete vs incomplete karate.

That sounds like it will be a fun experience! Please, keep us posted on what you learn, and how you transition your training into MMA.Thank you and for a start this is where I am so far: - Just did second vaccine shot, felt awful, recovered and just now I am doing my medicals for amateur kickboxing and MMA. Regarding training, my primary style is going to be boxing and Korean Karate blended together. Aside from that I train in sambo for majority of my training. My instructor was 5th degree black belt in judo but stopped training because he mentioned that they keep taking the moves out and that sambo looks closer to original judo. Now in regards to blending boxing and Karate, here is the challenge: I like to stand very side-ways and this makes me vulnerable to low kicks, to overcome it, I have to develop beyond exceptional foot speed and reflexes with moving the lead leg. My Taekwondo teacher and I work on it so that my Boxing and Tang Soo Do/Karate is becoming much quicker .Another thing with side way is, with my sambo teacher, I work on using hip throws for reversals in case if I get my lead leg grabbed. Of course everything I said sounds good and technically correct but now I have to develop the cardio and level-headedness to deal with the intensity that gets thrown at me.

Guys, I have decided to use my Karate skills in MMA. I am training at an MMA gym. What I lack in belt I will make up for with fight experience

Bushido_man96, I hit the quote button but it doesn't work. To address few things, the cardio training is tied to the technique. We have technique days in which we go slow to get the mechanic down. Cardio day is blasting the techniques in rapid succession. Its the type of cardio training that revolves around pressure fighting. Regarding his rank, when I met him, I had no idea who he was. I thought I was going to work with the master of the school. Afterwards he came with loose attire and 12 years younger than me, although I look super young and I know young looking people tend to get scrutinized in any knowledge based profession. But after the conclusion of the session, I felt like this was going to work. He turned out to be one of the best teachers that I have ever had. I have known him for 4 months and two weeks ago I found out his rank. That and one thing to mention is, he has high IQ in general and I realized that to an extent, IQ is a genetic thing because I know way too many people who are adults and older that do not have high level IQ. What I mean by IQ is that he is extremely aware of body mechanics, he has the ability to correctly deduce that I am relying on certain type of muscle and for example, he found out that I had flexible ankles but toe had to be strengthened. The result of his nuanced training allowed me to gain significant gains in my physical attribute which I took to my boxing and grappling due to greater range of flexibility and more dynamic explosive movement which is the nature of Korean karate. Regarding strength equipment, I hear you on that. For muscle building, I would go to a regular gym. But weights in a boxing and taekwondo gym is done in spirit of achieving a very specific physical attribute as oppose to doing a regular weight workout. Although boxing gyms have open gym hours and some have decent enough weight areas. But I agree with you, I used to be at a boxing gym that made us to endless pushups and burpees. I found a better trainer who has produced high level boxers and many local champions. He focuses on offense, defense, counter-punching, pressure fighting, footwork training for specific evasion and then...session is over! As human beings, we only have so much time in a day. This is where productivity comes in to play. Great trainers give purposeful exercises so that the student can achieve their objective in the field of their interest in order to feel fulfilled in terms of learning things they love and find meaning in.

My instructor is 12 years younger than me and he is a 3rd degree black belt in Taekwondo. I chose to have him become my mentor because of his maturity and wisdom. He said the same thing to me. To him, a belt is something that no longer has value. To him, its the quality of technique and the effort it takes to achieve the best techniques. He is also a fighter and so his emphasis is on developing cardio to an unparalleled levels. He is very heavy on cardio training because cardio is a wins fights. Aside from that, I really like the fact that he explores every nook and cranny of technique and muscle functionality for better kicks. He knows my experience is in boxing and sambo outside of Karate( Tang Soo Do and Kyokushin). So he is very much in to "no belt" martial arts because his pet peeve is parents and students that want to become a black belt meanwhile to him, it serves as a distraction from learning the real potent moves. That being said, there is an uncomfortable side to running a business. As martial artist, we just want to share our love, experience and the cultivation of our effort that is our martial arts to our community. Sadly, there is the business side of martial arts that must be tended to. Problem is, belts pay your bills. My sambo instructor who is a 3rd degree judo black belt uttered these sentiments as well. (he broke off from judo due to rule change) One problem is, non belt martial arts tend to be Thai kickboxing and boxing as well as Kung Fu. I cannot speak about you guys but in our town, muay thai scene is tied to gangs but again, this may be an isolated thing in our province. Boxing tends to attract folks who come from broken homes. A boxing trainer in my town means you have to be a psychologist and boxing attracts fighters who tend to be very difficult to deal with on many levels. As far as Kung Fu goes, in the 90s and early 2000s, we had a kung fu "Grandmaster" who scammed a bunch of people and taught them really bad kung fu. This led to public distrust and few years later, MMA became popular and Kung Fu ended up getting a bad rep. Well said! Like anything and everything, the novelty wears off and when that happens, that is when true passion comes to the forefront of ones continuation in the martial arts. Many great martial artist I know tend to have a specific move or combination as their focus of interest and not so much belt or ranking. Me and my teacher had a talk about jumping in with a lead roundhouse kick and then spin kick about landing forward as a follow up move. I mean these type of talks are the essence of martial arts as oppose to belts and ranks. Also, we talk about various aspects of Tang Soo Do, Taekwondo and Kyokushin. Taekwondo is great for long range, Tang Soo Do is excellent for mid-range fighting and Kyokushin is king of infighting. Not saying we are right or it is right, but this is the type of talk we have after training. This is what gets us riled up. Amazingly enough, despite being a Taekwondo man, my instructor has great interest in grappling and boxing. He is 3rd to degree black belt but he is interested if punches come from hips while the feet are stationary or rotation of legs. I discuss wide stance and how it is ideal for hip punches like a Karate/Tang Soo Do reverse punch. While narrow stance, you can really turn the foot as well because they are closer to each other. Anyways not to ramble off but it is so fun to talk about these things. The difference between Korean Karate and Japanese Karate as well as of course the original karate which is Okinawan karate. I wish to have a dojo/dojang fusion that teaches karate without the belt. I also love to encourage tournament fighting but in my town, you have to have an official title unless it is Kyokushin. This I need to double check. But that is the thing, belts and rankings does pay the belt and being business minded is very important for survival of a martial arts school.

I train in Korean Karate. Now the thing is, recently, our Dojang is training more in the karate ruleset and less in Taekwondo. There is a drift towards beltless karate. The reason is, the colored belts in modern times seem to have been sullied by the whole black belt reputation. Now please understand that you all are very deep in the martial arts and to be specific karate. For you karatekas, karate is not part of your life but it is life itself. Our teacher feels that it maybe time to abandon the belt system unless its for kids having the need to work towards a goal. (carrot on the stick) Honestly, training is so brutal that at this point. Its so cardio heavy, its jump, kick, plank position, hold and everything is being timed. Rest breaks are being reduced while work rate during interval is increasing. Static training is getting tougher due to holding the kicks. My point is, everything I mentioned is everything I think about and that means...I do not think about belts and rankings due to the ardent but difficult training sessions. In a way, I love every second of it. The cardio level is off the chart because of everything mentioned + bouncing all the time. Keep in mind that I train in boxing and sambo which are two prominent MMA styles and combat heavy. Yet the Korean Karate is super challenging. But here is the problem here... I am loving my training despite it being difficult. Its the opposite of fast food in a sense that I feel terrible when its happening but afterwards I feel like 3 million dollars. My curiosity pertains to the future. Our style is a mix of Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do and Kyokushin and here is the thing: If I want to teach this style, would a lack of belt and rank hinder me from running the business side of my future dojo? Keep in mind our style is a fusion of Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo yes, but is also very Kyokushin heavy and master Oyama apparently had Taekkyon experience or incorporated some of the moves because of him being ethnically Korean and him being in the Korean community during difficult times of divide as he was growing up. For this reason, I call our style Korean Karate as oppose to just Tang Soo Do or Taekwondo. This is my history and history is being made every training session that is intensively cardio heavy. Being successful as a martial artist transcends fighting and physical ability but its also winning from a cultural perspective of offering an art form with its own set of beliefs. My question to each and everyone of you is, are there enough karate interest that allows students to try karate without the attainment of belts to any degree being an objective of karate? One thing to clear up, mentioned Oyama sensei was important because heritage and roots is very important to us. The difficulties of being different tends to shape our character for better and worse. For Master Oyama it was for the better and we can teach it to our students that life difficulty can come from being judged by your ethnic background and yet you do not need to let that define you and that is a life lesson worth teaching and Master Oyama is a shinning example of overcoming prejudice during difficult times.

It is so very strange. Some Tang Soo Do styles ( or sects maybe) have a style that is extremely similar to ITF taekwondo. Some even are more of an acrobatic version of Kyokushin Karate. On YouTube, it looks like shotokan. In fact online Tang Soo Do looks very much like Shotokan. This is why its confusing, Pat Johnson who worked on karate kid and trained the cobra kai and its style concept teaches in real life. His Tang Soo Do looks like the old school western kickboxing with smaller gloves like the MMA. Of course, there is not any form of shotokan school that likes to bounce around in their traditional training. Sport karate being the exception which of course is its own entity. This got me wondering, breaking down Tang Soo Do= Taekkyon/kung fu and karate. What percent is which. Also is it possible that, with passing of time, there are new Tang Soo Do schools that incorporate Kyokushin with Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo since the founder of kyokushin was Korean by birth? You are correct, I worded badly. I meant that Taekkyon is ancient which happens to be a part of Tang Soo Do but Tang Soo Do I believe was a style that was pioneered in Korea-Japan and renamed Taekwondo to separate themselves from the Japanese and Chinese identity. Its funny but I am beginning to see that even within a particular sub-style of karate, an emergence of new styles or new methods. Some forms of hybridization is beginning to emerge between Tang Soo Do, kyokushin and Taekwondo which all have its roots in Korea. In the fighter in the wind, the founder of Kyokushin is supposed to be well versed in a little bit of Taekkyon and Kung fu. Not sure if this was accurate or not.

Before we start, this is not so much a Tang Soo Do thread but rather, how Japanese karate shaped Korean martial arts. A bit of a background, Tang Soo Do is ancient Korean martial arts mixed with Northern Kung Fu and mixed with Karate from Japan. That being said, one VERY important thing to note is...there is 9 styles of Tang Soo Do and some looked exactly like karate. My question is, what specific technique and ideas of Japanese Karate was passed on to the Korean martial arts of modern times?

In a nutshell... 1950|Shindokan Saitou-ryu; founded by Fuyuhiko Saitou, Soke, Judan 1956|Soke, and his student, Yoshinobu Takahashi, Godan, move to the USA from Nanjo, Okinawa 1957|Shindokan Hombu established in Canoga Park, CA *Soke forms Shindokan’s governing body; Shindokan Karate and Kobudo Association (SKKA) *Yoshinobu Takahashi Sensei is selected by Soke to be Kaicho[President] of the Shindokan Hombu Choshu Saitou (1865 - 1962) (Okinawa-te*) (This is the father of Soke Saitou) (*Choshu Saitou's Okinawa-te Instructor is unknown) Fuyuhiko Saitou (1917 - 2008) (Shindokan** founder; Shindokan was founded in 1950.) (**His instructors were, his father, Choshu Saitou, this is the Okinawa-te side of Shindokan, and Shigekazu Ishikawa, this is the Shuri-te side of Shindokan) Shindokan was birthed/founded in the village of Tamagusuku located in the Shimajiri District, and as part of a merge in 2006, that area is now known as the city of Nanjo. Soke's life and MA experiences provided for the groundings of Shindokan's methodology, ideology, as well as its philosophies can be credit to his father, I suppose. After all, his father was his primary MA instructor and quite a lot of influences and directions from his father. I love this type of history. To follow up, I have noticed something that I really admire about you and your philosophy. That is "Proof is on the floor" Is Shindokan in a way similar to Kyokushin? Is it part combat, part life lessons for a better sound of mind? Are you guys also related to Shidōkan style karate? There is an old thread I re-read every now and then about Himokiri Karate, you mentioned that its very important for an art to work. You compared it to a life raft, doesn't matter what it said, as long as it saves your life, then that is all that matters. I have also seen different logos for Shindokan, I want to know much more but no wiki. The only club is in a different province as there is none in my town.