Wastelander

I have just looked at a map of okinawa and japan and they are 1000 of miles apart! how can karate be influenced by okinawa or china? japan is closer to korea and russia. i would say tkd is more likely influence of karate. as for russia i don't know want they do. pink As JR mentioned, Taekwondo came (very directly) from Shotokan karate, so the timeline doesn't fit for it to have influenced the development of karate on Okinawa. It's important to remember that Okinawa's primary function for centuries was a trading nation--their economy was primarily powered by trade with China, Indochina/Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan, etc. After the Satsuma takeover in 1609, it became an especially important trading port for Japan, which instated its isolationist policies at that point, but did not apply them to the islands. Also, do not forget that when most people say "Okinawa," they are actually referring to the entire Ryukyu Island Chain, which stretches from the Southern tip of mainland japan down to Taiwan. That leaves a lot of places to stop your ships along the way, if need be, although only about 30-40 of the islands out of over 100 are habitable. Okinawa was a veritable melting pot of Asian cultures from at least the 1400's to the Meiji Restoration in the late 1800's.

Welcome to the forum! I know some karate guys in your neck of the woods

Welcome to the forum!

Sounds like a good start!

As Spartacus says, the quantity of kata you know is unimportant, and the order you learn them in isn't necessarily important, either. Sure, you can say that some easier kata build up to more complicated kata, but I would argue that in the time it takes you to work your way through those easier kata and get to the complicated ones, you could have just started with the complicated ones and gotten better at them over time. To answer your question, though, my dojo teaches NO kata after Shodan. We are required to be able to perform every kata in the system in order to test for Shodan. The black belt ranks are for the bunkai (breakdown/analysis) of the kata, refinement of technique and mechanics, and development of a personal approach to karate.

Kenpo/Kempo is a very generic term, so it's hard to compare. Ed Parker's Kenpo, Oyata Seiyu's Ryukyu Kempo, and So Doshin's Shorinji Kempo, for example, are very specific systems, but they are using the Kenpo/Kempo name as a descriptor. Much like "kung fu," or "karate," it is very vague, and many styles can be said to be Kenpo/Kempo. Even karate can be given that name, as Motobu Choki once did.

Welcome to the forum, and have fun!

Karate is an amalgamation of native Okinawan ti'gwa, Siamese boxing, likely various other Indochinese arts, Japanese jujutsu and weapons arts, and various (mostly Southern) Chinese arts. The White Crane connection is, in my view, strongly overstated. There are certainly some styles on Okinawa that were directly influenced by White Crane, specifically, but none that I know of that can truly be said to have evolved directly from it. A lot of the supposed White Crane influences actually came from Whooping Crane, if they came from Crane systems at all.

Some people choose to name everything, while others choose the more vague "like this" approach. Shotokan is notorious for having very specific names for every technique/posture and variant of a technique/posture. Kyokushin, or at least your Kyokushin sensei, may not have the same approach. In Shorin-Ryu, we use the "like this" approach a lot--meaning, "move like this," "stand like this," turn like this," etc. More instructions than names.

You can either cut a 1/4" piece out of the middle of the handle, drill a pin hole in each remaining half of the handle and epoxy it back together, or wrap something around that gap between your hand and the knob at the end of the handle.

Yep, just cut the end off the 19.5" tonfa, and sand it smooth

My list is also a somewhat shorter one: Kevin Skoien - Morton, IL - 2006-2007 (Shuri-Ryu, Kobudo) Joey Johnston - Morton, IL - 2007-2008 (Shuri-Ryu, Judo, Kobudo, Shinkage-Ryu Iaijutsu) Joseph Walker - Peoria, IL - 2006-2008 (Shuri-Ryu, Judo, Kobudo, Shinkage-Ryu Iaijutsu) Ramon Rivera - Mesa, AZ - 2008 (Judo) Adrian Rivera - Mesa, AZ - 2008-2010 (Judo) Richard Poage - Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ - 2010-Present (Shorin-Ryu Shorinkan) Ulf Karlsson - Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ and via Internet - 2014-Present (KishimotoDi) By the way, Shizentai, are you still here in Phoenix? We should meet up one of these days!

We don't use them all that frequently, but they can definitely come in handy. Lately, we've actually just been using dry erase markers on the mirrors

It can be compromised based on the ideal of "perfect" for the style, and still be functional, based on the build of the karateka. Personally, I am MUCH more concerned with function than style purity/perfection. Indeed, I am not the only one, as even Nakazato Minoru Sensei accepts such variances in the style, as it should fit the practitioner. He once said, when someone asked him about a small variance between how two of the senior Okinawans did a technique: "Little things not so important. Big picture important." Just a difference in approach.

We don't have kokutsu-dachi in Shorinkan, although it is part of KishimotoDi--the back foot is pointed to the 45, rather than straight to the side as you describe, however. That being said, I am hardly an authority on that stance, in particular. From a general perspective, I would say that foot placement/alignment is very important...to a point. People like to say that humans are all built the same way, so the body works the same way, but that's not the case. People have bones of different lengths, joints aligned at different angles, varying degrees of flexibility, etc. With that in mind, I tend to reject the rigid "this foot must be pointed at this exact angle, as measured along this line" approach. If the feet are aligned in such a way that they accomplish what the stance is intended to do, and not compromising structure, then it is a successful stance. This will almost always mean that the feet are generally pointed where they should be, of course, but there are going to be degrees of variance, and that's okay if the stance isn't compromised, at least from my perspective. As far as shiko-dachi's name, "shiko" is the name of the stomping (done from that stance) that sumo rikishi do at the corners of the dohyo before a match.

I'm looking forward to meeting Smith Sensei, in person, when he moves out here--we've interacted online for a number of years, but never actually met. Unfortunately, I know that does leave you in a bit of a tough situation. If you're up to it, I would keep the program going on Tuesday nights, even if you can't do Thursdays, so there is at least something, and if things change with your schedule you could add Thursdays back. That said, I would ALSO still check out the Uechi-Ryu dojo, so that you can advance your karate, even if it means you take a different road going forward.

I don't see why age should stop you from opening your dojo again. As you said, the rank isn't really important. Additionally, even if you were to stop teaching some years down the road, before you had a Godan ranked student to take things over, you will still have made an impact on a good number of people. You will have given them training and experience they may otherwise never have had. That's worth it, in my opinion.

Hello, everyone! This morning, I posted a very short video clip on social media showing first the basic arm motions of gedan-barai/uke (low level sweep/receiver/"block") without any power generation, then gedan-barai/uke done with what we would typically call "reverse hip thrust," and finally the technique powered the usual way. I exaggerated and slowed down the motions to highlight the mechanics, but normally they would be done in a much more fluid manner. https://www.instagram.com/p/BUrn3jjlDPq/ The reason I'm bringing this up here on KF is to get some input, because I was surprised at the number of responses that suggested people couldn't see the purpose of the "reverse" version. I know that it is not the way people are generally taught when they first learn kihon, but I didn't think it was that obscure. Is this something that most people do not practice?

DWx is correct, and it's a very useful feature! I do have some basic kata on my YouTube channel that are in both slow motion and normal teaching speed, though I don't know which kata you are looking for in particular

I use the makiwara pretty regularly, and still keep my knuckles from looking gnarly. I do bruise, of course, but in my experience most people don't bring it up. I also don't keep my training private, so I'm pretty open about it if they do.

Thank you for all the work you put in here on the forums, Danielle!

How would a new student tell real from fake? They won't, unless the "fake" is clearly fake from the perspective of the average person with common sense. The "no touch" stuff, for example. It takes experience to be able to see the other problems

Thank you for all that you have done for the forum, Heidi! I look forward to seeing you around the forum as a VIP member, and wish you the best of luck with everything you have going on!

Not being a person who wears skirts and dresses, I do not know the answer to this, but are there skirts and dresses that are cut differently, which would allow you to continue the use of the techniques you are accustomed to? If not, then perhaps modifications could be made to existing ones? Aside from that, the only thing I could think of would be a style switch to something more suitable to your clothing.

Welcome to the forum! Everything is Naihanchi, and all is Sanchin, so you're in good hands with those kata