Kirves

What are the differences between K1 and Pride?

I wouldn't bother my sensei about such issues, I'd rather talk to the wife, that's where I see the problem. I'm no expert, but sounds to me like she is quite insecure about your relationship if normal sport activities under a controlled dojo environment are not allowed.

Taikyoku ichi, it is a very basic kata but a new one to be.

My opinion is that the styles are never mature. Times change, people change, laws change, and so on. People like to do their thing and this shapes their teachings. Change is inevitable. That's my opinion.

Most of the styles are already mixed! Originally one kata was one style. Then karateka learned several kata when they met the different masters. Usually they learned from masters living nearby and so local styles like Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te came to be and each style contained several kata. And now these styles have been mixed into ryu-ha like Shorin-ryu and Goju-ryu. And now the ryu-ha have been mixed for nearly a century. Isshin-ryu is a mixture of Shorin-ryu and Goju-ryu. Kyokushinkai is a mixture of Shotokan and Goju-ryu. And now different arts have been mixed into the ryu-ha, like Wado-ryu mixes Shotokan karate with Japanese jujutsu.

I like to watch K1 on Eurosport.

Yeah, as if chatting. Seems that not very many have voted yet.

Well, okay I sorta forgot that there are also people who don't do karate, reading this too - forgot that this wasn't the karate forum where you don't have to explain everything about karate as if to an outsider.

Both are used as elbow locks (or breaks) in many bunkai. I was just giving examples of bunkai that used reverse punches appropriately.

Some styles choose a belt color order based on some zen metaphors (like Kyokushin for example).

Karate styles are known as "ryu" and they are usually named, like Shorin-ryu, Shorinji-ryu, Goju-ryu, Wado-ryu, Uechi-ryu, Isshin-ryu and so on. Not all are named a ryu, but kan or kai, like Shotokan Karate or Kyokushinkai Karate. Then of course there are several modern styles that often call themselves "Freestyle Karate" and things like that.

It all depends, if the fight stays in punching and kicking range, karate helps, if it goes to close-quarter grappling or ground, then judo helps more. Best option would be to study both and mix them as needed.

Geesh... I'd rather roll around with women than other men.

bobcatsmw: What karate styles are there available to you?

Some karatestyles do throws (either the old Okinawan styles which haven't forgotten the throws, or the modern styles like Wado-ryu which re-introduced them after they had been forgotten). Karate usually uses a lot less throws or joint manipulations compared to judo. Both offer excellent self-defence methods.

Sure, go through enough of big hairy western wrestlers and you may fing a guy who would've been at least equal match to Oyama. But what separates Oyama from them is how he affected karate and budo.

Lots of people flocked to visit and issue challenges at his dojo because his dojo was known to be the toughest karate dojo around. These people were often foreigners and usually from other arts. They issued challenges, which was quite common back then (no death matches, just challenge matches). It was common that first the visitor had to fight a brown belt. If he beat the brown belt, then a black belt. If he beat him too, then Mas would take the challenge. There are a couple of stories where a big western man has come in and whooped the brown belt's rear end big time and Mas would come fight right on instead of sending another black belt student. John Bluming is one of the most well known people who went there like that. He was a judo and karate champ and became a long time student of Oyama, until broke away from Kyokushinkai because of politics. Oyama is also known for defending karate's honor against thai boxers. Thai boxers often challenged the karate organizations and all the karateka sent to the tournaments lost. Soon no karate dojo was willing to send any more fighters to the thai boxer challenges and Mas Oyama decided to go. He defeated the current thai champ at the time and "restored karate's honor" which was important back then.

Yes, but it is historically obvious that karate on Okinawa, toudi that is, was studied purely for self defence purposes.

For wing chun, punch the "wing chun bean bag" for punching power. It is the wing chun equivalent of karate makiwara.

In most dojos I've been to there's been some kind of info booklet.

Sure some armies have. Never guestioned that. Even some highschools have. Read the questions before answering. Good eye you've got. I've dropped several people with a reverse punch. After I do a shoto-uke (an elbow lock) or uchi-uke (another elbow lock) a reverse punch to their unprotected neck or throat is usually all that is needed as they are unprotected targets. Where would you punch in those situations (assuming you know the positions the enemy is after a good soto-uke or uchi-uke or gedan-barai) if not for the unprotected throat/neck areas Do is zen and hated competition. Do has no tournaments, it has enlightenment in zen. Then there is the previous karate-jutsu and the later gendai karate (tournament stuff).

Okay, I'll express it as asked for. But remember, I was only asked for an opinion. Aikido: yes, O'Sensei Ueshiba stressed it many times in his teachings that Aikido's first principle is to be an applicaple martial art - one that works. Some people today with their Ki-Aikido styles may disagree, but as a non-aikidoka I will trust the word of Ueshiba. Judo: yes again, look for Kodokan Judo kata (the Judo founded by Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo as we know [judo was first founded by Kan'emon and that is why Kano insisted on calling his art Kodokan Judo instead of just Judo] ). If you look for the actual Kodokan Judo kata (the art instead of the sport methods) you see a lot of striking as Kano insisted on keeping it realistic enough for self-defence. Competition was one thing and self defence another, for him at least. Muay Thai: I won't even address this one. It is too complicated. First of all, it began as a martial art. Then it became a sport. You see this as not having any grappling defences and son on. But, the training methods are so effective that Muay Thai is a very effective (and simple enough even for military forces!) to teach, that it easily passes by as a martial art. There, now I have expressed my opinion as requested.

Yyeah, a sparring match or a witnessed match in a modern country with laws against wilful killing, are not comparable with something like feudal Japan where people were allowed to kill bystanders for exercise...

There are two types of jujutsu - modern and classical. They are often very, very different (most modern styles don't even derive from classical styles, many of them are just mixtures of judo/karate). And technically, as well as philosophically the two are very different. The classical styles are known as "koryu jujutsu" or "koryu bujutsu" and the modern styles are known as "gendai jujutsu". When you evaluate your jujutsu options, you need to find out to which category the school belongs to so you can evaluate it appropriately. Great info on koryu stuff can be found in the articles of http://www.koryu.com/ the gendai arts usually have their own pages each school. There is no one site about all modern jujutsu styles that I know of.

Yes I can offend myself, thank you very much. All it takes is one look in the mirror! Aikido doesn't teach attack tactics and that is a weakness. But if you learn how to lure the opponent into touching you... It's another story!