Spodo Komodo

Yes I did read all your posts, just because someone has world class students does not mean that he can make me into one. I practice martial arts for the arts side rather than the martial side so all of that kind of stuff is irrelevant to me. The accumulation of titles and other distractions does not necessarily make someone able to help me develop in a way suitable for me. I suppose it is a cultural thing, I came to the martial arts from a Zen background whereas your art is from a Brazilian background, where showmanship and titles seem to be key to reputation.

Personally I would be wary of lots of marketing and a seemingly accomplished instructor. If I genuinely got on with the guy and he looked like a good teacher then OK but I would choose a newbie instructor who can teach over some World Champion* with shiny leaflets who couldn't. *It's that Jim Carrey sketch that makes me wary of World Champions...

If it's just to the first few lessons then I would think that most instructors would be fairly lenient as long as you swapped it for their patch within a few weeks. The places I have trained have all been fairly cool about it as long as it is not done week in week out or worn for a grading or anywhere else that photographs might be taken. If in doubt ask the sensei, (s)he's the guy you would be upsetting!

Done, but it wasn't very satisfying, do we boast about our fractures, dislocations and amputations here? Only kidding - one broken pinky for me, reverse punch met a reverse punch when we both thought we were attacking...

There is a heapload of Wado Ryu stuff on YouTube and I would guess that there is some Kyokushin on there as well so you could take a peek at some videos and see what you like. I would still say that going to watch or participate in a class at each school is the best way though.

I saw the aftermath of a battle between some Iraqui's and Turks in Nottingham a few years ago. It was hilarious, there were broken Battle Orders cheapo "katanas" everywhere. Some of the most seriously wounded had fractures from being battered by the tinplate saya after the owner had waved his sword enthusiastically and the blade had flown off into the distance. These "decorative use only" swords being used to intimidate and in a very few cases wound (where people have the wherewithall to fit a new tsuka and mekugi-peg) have been all the reason MPs needed to remove swords from sale or use.

Look...it's not good for my image so don't spread it around...I happen to love reading Jane Eyre. Other than that I enjoy anything by P.G.Wodehouse.

That seems to be a purely American custom, most places in Europe would see that as being either symbolic of cutting the friendship or giving bad luck. My Japanese Iaido teacher hated the idea of giving anything less than a top-quality hand forged katana as it either symbolised the order to commit suicide (small knives) or that the recipient was only deserving of a "toy" sword, an insult in either case. He much preferred a good bottle of single malt Whisky...

I wear a plain old white gi most of the time. Where I train, dan grades are allowed to wear black gi if they so choose. When I got my black belt I ordered a matching black gi with lots of gold kanji embroidered on it. At the time I thought it was the pinnacle of sartorial elegance but now it just makes me cringe and it is gathering dust along with my embroidered belts. Plain white gi plain black belt for me.

As far as I am concerned you can stand and verbally abuse me as long as you like, I used to be a secondary school teacher so I'm used to it Making an aggressive move is different though, throwing clenched fists or trying to grab will be met by an evasive movement to begin with and a strike of some kind if it is repeated. Oddly enough nobody has ever got the hint that I don't want to play from evading a punch or grab. They always seem to try again so maybe it is a redundant strategy but it gives me peace of mind and may go some way to show that I am not the aggressor if it ever goes to the law.

I love Naihanchi as it is the kata that I have spent the most time practising and I have the body shape to make it look fairly good (I always think you need to be short and powerful to really look rooted in this kata). I also spend a lot of time with Chinto and Bassai, in fact I love all the Wado kata apart from the dreaded Kushanku. Kushanku took me so long to learn that I learned to loathe it before I learned to love it.

I don't much mind about what is around the page as long as it loads in a reasonable time and I can read the messages easily. I find advertising to be far less of an indicator of a board "going bad" than a degeneration in the behaviour of it's participants. Some of the boards I have frequented in the past you would think companies would be ashamed of being associated with them. It's quite nice here so I don't mind the odd advert.

I have a problem with this. I am a Grand Master Keeper of the Secret Ninja Death Touch (just send £500 and you could be too). My video looks like I am buying a pound of grapes but in effect the grocer is slowly dying from internal cell damage caused by the proficient use of my art. He is not likely to clog it until after the deadline so can I get my a deferred validation, about 60 years should do it...

I used to enjoy climbing but it is limited to the odd Peak District scramble when no one is looking these days. I walk, I watch wildlife and I like to spend days looking for ancient stone circles (there are hundreds around here). I used to be a Scout leader but now I just go along to teach navigation and outdoor skills when needed or if they need a tame Buddhist for their badge work. Most of my time is spent studying with the Open University where I am aiming to complete a BA in Classics in the next couple of years (I already have a BSc in Maths and am hoping to go on to another BSc in Astrophysics if possible). I don't watch TV and rarely listen to music but I do enjoy writing poetry, reading and listening to the radio. The remainder of my time is split between trying to lose weight (a hobby in itself) and Chappism (look for The Chap Magazine on the net for more info on that one).

But we all know that Bart joined the dojo in the mall and quit after the introduction to the first lesson. He went on to learn how to fake the death touch from a video game. Tis a slur on the good name of karate! Oh yeah...well...I was only eight!

It all depends on the style and the school. When we have had students move from Shotokan into Wado they have generally started a belt or two lower to give them a chance to catch up as they have usually been out of karate for a year or two. Some schools do make you start back at a white belt, either because they have very strict grading principles, the two styles are very different (stances, kata, terminology etc.), to stop other students from having a crack at the new kid or just because the instructor wants the income from grading fees (not likely to happen in any reputable school). I am looking to go from Wado to Shotokan and from what I have read the change isn't all that much - stances are deeper, there is less Ju Jitsu influence and some of the kata are slightly different. There would probably be more of a change to another style such as Goju-ryu or Shito-ryu but I have never practised enough of either to make a seriously informed comment. Just be aware that dropping into another style in a brown belt or so and really not knowing the syllabus or techniques of the style all that well might cause some resentment in students that have really struggled to get to that level themselves. It is something you will need to discuss with your future instructor.

I'm just north of Derby. I was travelling into Nottingham, Sheffield and Derby for martial arts classes but then someone said there was a good Shotokan club that meets within walking distance of where I live. Just goes to show that you can't find everything on the interweb, sometimes it pays to actually go to the leisure centre and read the posters!

Cheers Barry, I am looking forward to seeing how many differences there are between the two styles. One thing I am apprehensive about is the depth of stances, I have spent a lot of time snapping into stances at the typically shorter Wado length - it will feel rather odd for a while I'm sure.

Well that is part of the problem, I want to be able to spend some time with a good teacher learning to kick properly again with a graunchy knee rather than spend most of my time teaching Pinan Nidan to kids. I enjoy teaching but until I am back to a reasonable standard myself I don't feel that I should be showing others. When you get your body involuntarily re-shaped by a moving car it can really screw up your technique but sitting here waiting until I lose two stones and my knee mends will mean I will still be sat here the day I die. I need to get out and train but build up slowly. I suppose I will sign up for the Shotokan class after Easter (Tai Chi gradings at the moment) and see how it goes.

I have been away from Karate for a while and have suffered some injuries in the intervening years which mean that I need to start slowly and work my way back up to a reasonable standard again. I have been dreading going back to my old club where I could not live up to the standard of a shodan any more so I have been thinking of starting again in a new style. The more I think about it the more attractive it becomes, broadening my experience, learning to be a beginner again, learning a few new techniques and kata, losing any arrogance I may have picked up on the way and making new friends. There is a local club that is affiliated to the Amateur Shotokan Karate Association run by Ben Brown (5th Dan I think) overseen by the English Karate Federation. I have done a quick net trawl and nothing unpleasant has turned up so it seems to be OK. Does anyone have any experience of any of these organisations? Cheers Bob

In an ideal world a karate school should be free but in the real world there are lots of things that need to be paid for. $1750pcm is what you would pay (in the UK at least) for top-end tennis club subscription or a golf club membership but at both of these you also get the country club style facilities (bars, restaurants, dinners etc.). I would pay no more than around £5 ($6-$7 ish) per hour of instruction for general classes, substantially more only for workshops or small group tuition with someone really worth it. The most I pay at present is £5 for a 1.5 hour lesson (just under $5 per hour according to Google) and the teacher makes a full-time living at that. Lock-in contracts and things like that make sense for the teacher (smoothing revenue streams) but not to someone just starting in the martial arts or returning after a long time away. Flexibility can give you peace of mind as much as anything, if you have made a mistake you can walk away but you also know that the teacher either has a massive turnover of students (which would be obvious even to a new guy) or is good enough to retain students long enough to make them worthwhile (from a financial point of view).

This is really difficult as there are so many variables, different scenarios favour different weapons but assuming an unarmoured opponent with no firearms and not having to think about post-croakage concealment etc. then... A) Which weapon would do the most damage to an opponent? The poison darts from a blowgun tend to make people very dead very quickly given the right poison. B) Which weapon would do the less damage to an opponent? I have sparred with wooden swords a lot, bokken for Iaido tachi and wasters for western swordsmanship drills. They tend to hurt but not do any lasting damage past the odd cracked finger. C) Which weapon would be the easiest to learn? Crossbow, the original point and shoot, made so that any dimwit peasant could be turned into something approximating an archer. D) Which weapon would be the hardest to learn? Probably something that takes a degree of coordination and rhythm like the chain whip. With weapons like that you spend a lot of time training just to be able to be marginally more lethal to your opponent than yourself. E) Which weapon could be made the fastest with what's lying around on the ground? Sticks are good, I could use a lot of Jodo techniques with things that are just lying around my study. F) Which weapon do you like the most? Being an Iaidoka Iam tempted to say Katana but for sheer enjoyment of messing around twiddling, twirling, poking and pounding I would have to say that the Sai are my weapon of choice. I even have a pair of plastic ones to play with at the office. G) Which weapon do you like the least? I don't like anything that is over-elaborate so probably something like the Wind and Fire Wheels. I could probably hack myself to death before harming my opponent with those things. You realise that posting a list like this on a martial arts forum is like taking a wine list to an AA meeting...

Sure does, I would love to see what you do with the spinning backfist, I don't know anyone locally who gets any mileage out it and I am always wary of using it myself.

Oops, sorry, using jargon again. Karateka just means a karate player or student (ka meaning man/person type of thing) a Judo player is a Judoka and an Iaido person is an Iaidoka. Some schools do add a red belt before yellow these days, it varies from place to place.

As I said elsewhere my fighting is unbalanced towards close range stuff and this has definitely come from keeping to what I could do well rather than developing what I was lacking. It is taking me a lot of effort now to make up for my lack of effort early on so if you have the ability and drive to push your own development now then strive on heedfully as they say.