Wastelander

Nishiuchi Sensei has a few videos on YouTube that are pretty good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_ILTyfjyc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDA5kacuvRc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6QbRgi4wO8

Grabs? joint locks? Low kicks? Why doesn't anyone do tournaments like that!?!?! Well, knockdown styles allow low kicks, and some allow limited grabbing. Then there's Daido Juku, which is basically MMA in a gi with headgear. Those kinds of tournaments are just not very popular here in the US, at least from what I've seen. I suppose part of it could simply be that people don't like that level of contact, but I don't think that's the whole story. The types of tournaments we mostly see, today, are evolutions of the sport fighting that the Japanese (largely Shotokan) karate styles did when karate was being spread to America. It was what people recognized, so that is what became popular. The knockdown styles came later, after that was already established, and MMA came even later than that. Now, joint locks are a bit tricky, because it's just difficult to do standing joint locks without injuring your opponent. You can see some of it in the pushing hands competitions of Chen Tai Chi, along with a variety of throws and sweeps. Honestly, I would really like to put together a kakedameshi competition, which would be something like those pushing hands competitions, but with striking and kicking allowed. I rather doubt I would get much participation, though.

I used a bit of a mid-length stance, because my opponent was a wrestler and I didn't want to be too high. That said, the adrenaline dump I experienced really messed up my depth perception, and I got hit and taken down, and then punched a lot--I didn't do much striking, at all. I only landed three strikes in that fight; a leg kick that just barely caught him with the toes, a short shot behind the ear on the ground, and the roundhouse kick to the head that knocked him out. I certainly had plans to hit with fast, relaxed strikes, rather than go for power, but it didn't work out that way.

I believe that, aside from the sword and stick methods (I believe walking stick fighting was very common in Ireland), martial arts from that area tended to be rather like Pankration--sort of a boxing/wrestling hybrid with a few submission holds, but with only a little kicking. I could certainly be wrong, but even so, that seems like a fairly reasonable guess for most regions. Looking at old illustrations of fighting from all over the world, from Egypt to Greece to China, much of the same material appears over and over. I suppose you could take a bit of a kali approach with the stick methods, though, and make it so that the same movements work for the stick and the empty hands.

Well, I can say that MMA gloves are firmer and smaller, and in comparison to boxing gloves, I would say that MMA gloves feel like a *thud* while boxing gloves feel like a *thump*, if that makes any sense? The amount of force transferred is almost the same, from the measurements I've seen, although it feels different. Of course, the adrenaline dump in competition meant that I didn't really feel the punches in my MMA fight all that much--they just felt like sudden pressure, really. I didn't get knocked out in my fight, but I did get hit a lot, and saw stars. I did knock out my opponent, but it was with a single strike, and from what I understand, you don't really notice being knocked out. You just suddenly wake up on the floor. I can say that being knocked around and dazed is kind of sickening, but not really all that painful during the fight (again, adrenaline). As far as fighting style goes, don't let your build keep you from fighting like a Shotokan guy. If that's the way you want to fight, you might be able to make it happen, if you work at it.

Of course not--I'm the last person to steer someone away from old-school Okinawan karate!

Exactly. Competitive sport karate is a very specialized thing--especially when it's point kumite. It is modeled after kendo competition, and designed to be done at very long distance, with an emphasis on speed, clean engagement/disengagement, and the "one strike, one kill" concept that was adopted from Japanese swordsmanship (the same one you find in judo, in the form of the ippon). In contrast, old-school karate is actually a rather close-range system of fighting, and involves a lot of grabbing, low kicking, and joint locks, which aren't usually allowed in point kumite, and even if they were, they kind of require a fight to last beyond a single blow, which doesn't happen in point kumite because they reset after each landed blow. To be successful, you have to train specifically for that long range and speed, and to use only scoring techniques, but some of the skills you develop through old-school karate can certainly translate into the sport realm. It has some definite value in helping you develop the ability to close the gap between you and an attacker, and picking up body language and telegraphed attacks. Outside of that, though, there is much more to learn in the old methods, which provide a lifetime of study. I also happen to believe that the old methods are better for self defense, if trained properly.

I started training in Shuri-Ryu in 2006 at the age of 18, and continued for the next 4 years, although the last 2 years were entirely at home, because I had moved out of state. I can still perform most of the kata I learned in Shuri-Ryu, although I've altered some. I don't remember most of the partner drills. I started in Shorin-Ryu (Kobayashi) in 2010, and I have been training in it ever since, having earned my black belt last summer. During the two years I was practicing my Shuri-Ryu at home, I did a lot of studying and research online and in books, and discovered that Shuri-Ryu didn't really have what I was looking for. I started looking around and found my current dojo, and I saw the kind of karate I was looking for, so I made the jump I started learning a little KishimotoDi in 2014, through discussions and video exchanges online with one of the few instructors of that rare system. He flew out here for a few weeks to teach at our dojo, and during that time he gave me corrections and taught kata and applications. We still have discussions and video exchanges that are quite helpful, and I still practice those kata and applications. The next time he comes out, I'm supposed to learn the next kata in the system. After that, there is only one kata left.

I like it quite a bit, and do some conditioning to allow me to use it. I started off just hitting a maize bag with it, and tapping it on solid surfaces throughout the day. I've also added hitting my wallet, which works well as a conditioning tool for small-surface strikes, and sometimes I do planks or push-ups on Phoenix eye fists, as well.

Ah, right. Kenshin-kan is Kise Fusei Sensei's system, is it not? Yes, that wouldn't really be geared toward tournaments, from what I've seen. Even so, it wouldn't hurt to ask the Sensei at your dojo about it, because a lot of instructors have varied backgrounds, and they may be able to help prepare for a tournament, anyway. If not, then yes, it may be beneficial to find a local dojo that does tournament-specific classes, and ask to come to those every now and then. I would say your son probably won't be as good at it as the people who constantly train for it, but his training will have more depth.

Welcome to the forum!

Well, I found these listings: https://texaskaratedo.wordpress.com/events/ I don't know if there is a regular circuit in your area, but there do seem to be plenty of tournaments in Texas, generally. The vast majority of karate tournaments will have both kumite and kata, so you don't need to try to find kumite-specific tournaments. As far as organizations go, I'm familiar with WKF, USKA, ISSKA, USANKF, all of which (except USKA) have events in that listing. If you're ever curious about the organization an event is part of, you can always contact the people running the event and ask them.

It was actually a mawashi-geri, not a hiza-geri, but thank you! If you watch the full-length video of my fight, you'll see that people keep coming up and asking me questions, and I keep pointing to my foot. They were asking what I hit him with, because knees to the head were illegal. I knew I hit him with the bony part where the ankle and foot meet, but we were at such an angle that the spectators and cameras couldn't tell. Some people said it was a knee to the head, some saw that it was a kick, and some thought I dropped him with a kick to the body, depending on where they were watching from. It took a while before they finally went frame-by-frame through an alternate video camera that they saw what happened. In that video, if you break it down, you can see that when my foot makes contact, the shadow of his arm is on my calf, so my knee is clearly past his head.

Welcome to the forum!

First of all, welcome back to karate, and welcome to the forum! I'm guessing Pacific Sports is an Australian brand? I haven't heard of them, and have no experience with their gi. I can say, however, that I'm quite happy with my 16oz Ronin! Just don't bleach it, and it holds up well.

Your situation is certainly a frustrating one, but take heart in knowing that you became aware of a problem, and have taken steps to fix it! You may not have the same rank you once held, but you do still possess the knowledge and skills gained during that time. This is something you can really build on! I have to say, as part of Chibana's lineage through Nakazato Shugoro, I have seen some of the same things you have. Out of Chibana's senior students, there are huge differences in the knowledge they have passed on, and how they pass it on. That said, there are definitely people within every system who know and can teach you what you seek, and there are people within every system who do not, and cannot. Be glad you found someone who does and can!

For the most part, no one knows who created the older kata. Even some of the newer kata are in question. There has long been a legend that "Bushi" Matsumura created Passai, supposedly to record techniques for guarding the king. This cannot be true, however, because "Bushi" Tachimura was also a student of "Tode" Sakugawa, and said that he learned Passai from his teacher, along with Naihanchi and Kusanku. At this point, all we can say is that those three kata were taught, together, as far back as that. Before that, we don't know. I am familiar with Mr. Clayton's work, although I haven't read it, myself. Those I know who have read it found it to be interesting, but said that he bases his theories on legends rather than documented facts and historical evidence. I would have to read it to make my own judgement, of course.

Right now, I'm 6'1" tall and around 195lbs, with about 17% body fat. I can do 10 pull-ups without stopping, unweighted, and 5 or 6 with a 30lb vest. Of course, this varies day to day, but that's my average. Honestly, I urge you to not worry about the number on the scale, or even the body fat percentage. Your weight is not really an accurate reflection of how you look (or should feel about yourself), and unless you go to a professional facility with a water tank, any scale or sensor with a body fat option is going to have a fairly wide margin for error. If you are wanting to look more fit and muscular, go by how you look, not by numbers.

Happy birthday to KF! Congratulations and thanks to you, Patrick, for providing such a great forum!

Kata are changed for a great many reasons, but rarely to "get back to its roots," at least not on a large scale. Admittedly, in my system we do have the left hand (and thumb) wrapped around the outside of the right fist at the beginning. That said, other old/older versions of the kata hold the hands more like the "cupped hands" Buddhist meditative posture, and others hold them flat and open with the back of one hand in the palm of the other, like Naihanchi. Neither of those resembles holding a sword. For what it's worth, Funakoshi coined the Bassai name, and its associated kanji characters, because it sounded like the Okinawan name (Patsai/Passai) and had a poetic meaning. The Okinawans write Patsai/Passai in kana (パッサイ) which have no meanings except to represent sounds. This means that we actually have no idea what the kata was originally for, if we're trying to go by its name. It's certainly possible that the word "Passai" meant something in Uchinaguchi, but even the Okinawans who still speak it don't seem to know what it would have meant. It also could very well have been a name, like Kusanku. Unfortunately, unless someone discovers a lost text written by Sakugawa, we may never know. Looking at the kata from the perspective of a bodyguard is all well and good for expanding your approach, though.

Welcome to the forum, sultaanpk! I'm afraid there are many different "world championships" for karate, because there are many different styles, organizations, and rulesets. We would really need to know that information before we could work on figuring out dates.

I do think that practicing empty hand kata with weapons can certainly be an interesting and enlightening experience. Indeed, some weapons (tekko, tonfa, sai, etc.) are excellent force multipliers that can be used with the same techniques the kata is teaching empty handed. There are also occasional movements in kata that could possibly be seen as references to the use of a concealed weapon, such as a hairpin or small knife. That said, I've never been sold on the "empty hand kata are secretly weapons kata" idea. Even after the Japanese Satsuma conquered the Ryukyu islands in the 1600's, they left the Okinawan nobility to continue their role of policing and defending the islands. They also continued managing their trade and envoy ships traveling to and from China (which was the reason Japan largely left them alone), and they had to protect those ships from Wokou (pirates). We know that Okinawan weapons systems, including sword and spear systems, were passed down through Okinawan nobility and military for these purposes. They simply had no reason to hide weapons systems within empty hand kata, at least not beyond a quick "by the way, if you have a hairpin, you can stab them here" movement or two.

Honestly, from talking to non-martial-arts people, I've found that they generally don't even know there are different levels of black belt. Even if they see that someone is described as an "X Degree Black Belt," they don't understand what that means, or how it's any different from "black belt." What tends to catch people's eye more is how many black belts someone has, rather than how high a level of black belt they are. Of course, we all know that neither a high level black belt, nor a bunch of black belts, mean that someone is a good instructor. Calling an instructor's organization or teacher can help, somewhat, because you can at least confirm some information about training history, knowledge, etc. Even then, though, you have to trust other people whom you can't confirm the credibility of. The organization might have some actual documents that could help, but that will usually be in the form of certifications, or "hall of fame" entries. You can pay to have a background check done, if the organization/teacher doesn't do them, but that is limited to criminal history, and doesn't vouch for skill or knowledge. Competition records for the instructor and their students can be a good guide, if you're looking for competition, but that's about it. People really have to go on trust, for the most part.

I think it's a neat idea! Thanks! This is my Sensei, Richard Poage, competing at a recent tournament with Kusanku Dai: This is his Sensei, Eddie Bethea, competing with the same kata at a tournament about 15 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1KntGGXuSo His Sensei, Nakazato Shugoro, demonstrating the same kata for an event on Okinawa: His Sensei, Chibana Chosin, demonstrating the same kata for a student in his back yard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t4eKs8Qhno

Congratulations, and welcome to the forum!