Wastelander

Thanks! I'm glad I could share something insightful! Interesting thoughts on Chibana. He most certainly picked up knowledge from his contemporaries, but he clearly had a great deal of respect for his primary teacher (Itosu), since he insisted on only teaching his kata, with the exception of Tawada Passai. Even then, he was specifically told to teach it by Itosu. I'm sure Chibana knew more than he taught, which is actually sad, when you think about it--who knows what was lost when he passed!? Indeed, he didn't teach any kobudo, but when asked, he could demonstrate saijutsu and bojutsu. To be fair, though, those largely use the same concepts as Ti .

I used "receiving" as a bit of a catch-all, there, but yes, I did mean "deflections," in this particular case. We do receive more along the lines of what you are thinking, as well, I believe, but that wasn't the purpose of this video and these drills. That said, it doesn't take much to change these drills into drills that receive in that fashion (if we're thinking of the same things). My knee certainly didn't do me any favors in the stationary stance, but it gave me trouble in the stepping, as well. Quick weight-shifts and turns are a problem, still, as is driving into the ground for power.

You should absolutely talk with this person, and ask them to go lighter. I will admit that I have been the guy hitting too hard in sparring, but only because I didn't know it was too hard for the person I was sparring. I try my best to judge how hard they want to be hit, based on how they hit me, but I don't always get it right. Of course, there are also accidents, but those can be forgiven. A quick "can we go lighter?" can work wonders.

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Hello, everyone, I've had basic blocking drills on my mind, over the past few months, and wanted to put together something on the subject. This video shows a set of drills for uke-waza (receiving techniques) that I like much better than the head-on stationary drills, or head-on/walk-back-and-forth dynamic drills that are so common in karate these days. They are still very basic, and intended to work the "receiving" application of these movements in isolation--no strikes, no grabs, etc.--the only difference is that the angles have been changed to reflect concepts found in kata. I'm afraid it isn't my best presentation. I injured my knee pretty pretty badly a couple months ago, and it still causes problems with stances, stepping, and kicking. In addition, I also tried to make my movements look as "formal" and "proper" as I could for the general karate public, which makes it look very clunky. Normally, we do this kind of thing with a much softer, open-handed approach, but that is harder to see clearly in video, sometimes. Still, I hope that the video still conveys what I intended! Any thoughts on these kinds of drills? Do you work anything similar? Are there different drills that you prefer?

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Welcome to the forum!

To the bold type above... How so, Noah?? Well, from what my Sensei and I understand, the Renshi belt was invented by the Goju-Kai on mainland Japan, and was never an Okinawan trend. At some point in the Shorinkan's history, though, someone brought that belt from mainland Japan back to the West. As others have mentioned in this thread, it isn't worn on Okinawa (at least, not in the Shorinkan), but it is worn all over the rest of the world. It's a bit strange to have one bought for and given to you on Okinawa, where it would not be worn.

For kids, we have Beginner (first 3 kyu ranks) and Intermediate (next 3 kyu ranks) classes, although most of the Intermediate students still attend the Beginner classes. For teens and adults, we have "All Rank" classes and Advanced (brown and black belt) classes. Truth be told, I have never been to an Advanced class, but my Sensei doesn't think that's a problem, since I work on my higher level kata on my own (which we don't always get to in All Rank classes) and during drills and kata bunkai, he gives more information to the more advanced students.

Kenpo/kempo is an umbrella term, kind of like karate and kung fu, although it has narrowed in scope pretty significantly since World War 2. These days, you generally have Chinese Kenpo, Okinawan Kenpo, Shorinji Kenpo, and American Kenpo. Each of these are going to have different styles, and histories, so you'll have to find out more about the school in your area before you can really learn about where it came from. As far as training goes, you'll have to stop in and watch/try some classes to see if it's something you'll want to do. I will say that it's probably pretty significantly different from Shotokan.

Having started training in karate under a hachidan who only wears a plain black belt unless it is a formal event, I completely understand the feeling that it is for showing off. My Sensei actually wanted to keep wearing the plain black belt--and he switches back to it if we record videos to be posted publicly--but he respects his Sensei enough to do as he asked and wear the Renshi belt the rest of the time. The fact that he was told to do this while he was in Okinawa, at the honbu dojo, makes it even more odd-feeling.

Why transition to shiko dachi before sprawling? I have no trouble sprawling from a medium height stance, and there usually isn't much time to lose. The shiko dachi I was taught wasn't a particularly nimble position for sprawling. My wrestling is pretty awful though, so I may be missing something here. I'm not sure if Davis is using it the same way I do, but I certainly incorporate shiko-dachi as part of my takedown defense. It's just a different approach to takedown defense than sprawling--more like sumo than wrestling. Lyoto Machida uses it a lot, actually. You can sprawl from there, of course, if you need to.

Ties are definitely the first thing to go, if you are doing much grappling--there is a reason that judogi and BJJ kimonos don't have ties to begin with! Personally, I just cut them off from the get-go. I did keep the ties on my formal dogi, since I only really wear it for seminars and belt tests, and the ties are reinforced so they can handle that much wear and tear. At least, they have so far.

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I'm right-handed, but I spend about 75% of my sparring time in a Southpaw stance. There are pros and cons to everything, but I would say that people fighting from a left-handed stance generally have an advantage over people fighting from a right-handed stance. That advantage being that there are more right-handed people than left, so both people will have more experience fighting against right-handed people than left-handed people. Personally, I find that fighting from an open stance like that really opens up my strikes, in general. You just have more space to work.

Thanks for sharing, Leigh. I've seen this application from a few people, including Iain, so I'm familiar with the idea. I do want to point out that this technique would actually be legal in MMA competition, as the wrist is not considered a "small joint"--that rules only covers fingers and toes. The real trick is that gloves and wraps make wrist locks pretty much impossible! Personally, I don't like to use this lock as an application for the opening of Passai, because the mechanics don't feel right to me. I do use it in other kata, but not here. There are two applications I generally prefer, and they are both a little more Ti-inspired than that. Of course, my Passai Dai is not the same as your Bassai Dai--my Passai Sho would actually be closer.

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I'm in IT--have been for about 12 years, now--and currently an "Energy Systems Analyst," which is a fancy way of saying that I am basically the help desk for computers that control lighting and HVAC systems.

Thanks, everyone!

I will say that, technically, the word "bunkai" means "to separate and analyze." It is more commonly used to mean "kata applications," which isn't accurate, but hey, we aren't native Japanese speakers, right? From what I understand, if you ask most old Okinawan masters for kata bunkai, they will ask which section of which kata, and then break down exactly how and when every muscle and joint moves in that sequence. If you're looking at bunkai in that fashion, then "how to move" is EXACTLY what it is teaching. If we're looking at bunkai from the Western perspective of being kata applications, it does seem that people often get caught up focusing on what the opponent is doing, which can be a bit of a hindrance. The concepts being applied by both parties are more important than the specific techniques being used by either party. In that regard, bunkai can teach you "how to move," I suppose, but "how to move," in this case, should still be within the context of self defense and fighting.

I'm not a "weapons guy," but I find myself strangely interested in the mae sun sawk (wooden arm shields) of Siam/Thailand. They are the ancestors of what eventually became the Okinawan tonfa, and can even be seen in Hokama Sensei's Okinawan Karate History Museum. There are many different styles, but the ones in the Museum are basically heavy round tonfa that have ropes to tie them onto the forearms, with an extra handle to act as a handguard. My Sensei has a bigger interest in weapons than I do, and with his recent birthday and belt promotion, I decided to make him a pair. My woodworking skills are pretty poor, but I think they came out okay, all things considered. At this stage, they are basically just heavy round tonfa: http://s21.postimg.org/resirrc2f/11173323_1594811257428094_5093106604360184379_n.jpg Now, tonfa with a handguard: http://s21.postimg.org/rq9z4isif/11014633_1594811267428093_4796485270016800873_n.jpg The handle and handguard pinned in place, and the holes drilled for the forearm ropes: http://s21.postimg.org/jolqmm9qv/11048744_1594811284094758_6977764894444985214_n.jpg All finished, with the excess wood from the handle, guard, and pegs ground off, everything sanded smooth, and painted, with the tied forearm ropes: http://s21.postimg.org/3p3332dp3/11125189_1594811300761423_174736905038284635_n.jpg I presented them to my Sensei at the dojo, last night, and he was very pleased with them. Several other people were very excited about them, as well .

I recently posted about my Sensei being promoted to Godan, and now that he has gotten back from Okinawa, I've been able to hear all kinds of great stories about his trip. Something interesting came up, though, that I was curious to get feedback on from others here on KF--that is the subject of "Renshi belts." For those who don't know, these are belts that are split down the middle with red on one side, and white on the other, like this one: http://www.kataaro.com/Products/Renshi-Belt__4939.aspx Different styles and organizations give the title of Renshi at different ranks, if they use it at all, and it isn't always connected to dan ranks. In our organization, though, the Renshi title is given to Godan and Rokudan instructors. That means my Sensei is now a Renshi. Most Renshi in our organization do not wear the above "Renshi belts," but some do. Interestingly, my Sensei's Sensei told him (and a Rokudan from our dojo) to wear Renshi belts instead of their regular black belts. It's a bit of a strange adjustment, but they agreed to do it. We know of quite a few Nanadan and Hachidan who don't wear their kohaku-obi (the "candy cane" belts used along with Kyoshi titles) for anything but formal events, so after the belts break in, that might be the route they take. My question is; does your style/organization/dojo use different colored belts after black belt? When are they used? Do they denote ranks, titles, or both?

I think that most proponents of practical karate are familiar with Motobu Choki, but for those who are not, he was born in 1870 as the third son of a branch of the Okinawan royal family. Being the third son, he was not taught his family's system of udundi (palace hand), although he spied on his father and oldest brother's training, and picked up some material from his brother. His noble birth did come with connections, however, and he was able to train with several Okinawan masters of karate, although he frustrated several of them with his tendency to go to the docks and get into fights to test his karate. One of the masters he trained with was Matsumora Kosaku, which has led many people to say that Motobu's karate was actually Tumaidi (Tomari-te). Recently, the Motobu-Ryu organization on Okinawa published an article on this topic, and Okinawan martial arts researcher, Andreas Quast, just published an English translation of that article. I thought some here might find it interesting. http://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=4123