Wastelander

Welcome to the forum!

I don't know where you live in the UK, but John Titchen teaches practical karate based on Shotokan in the Wycombe area. http://www.d-a-r-t.org.uk/dart-classes.html You might also see about schools that art affiliated with Iain Abernethy, Peter Consterdine, or Geoff Thompson. They are all well known for having practical approaches to karate, but I think they run private schools, so you may have to find schools run by their students.

Thanks, CredoTe! As I mentioned, I'm still tweaking the drill and will probably end up recording another video when I am more satisfied with it, but for now this works well enough.

I appreciate the details, CredoTe! Since I practice a different branch of Shorin-Ryu, I didn't want to delve too deeply into details that I wasn't sure of. Your explanation is great!

As someone who converted to Shorin-Ryu (Kobayashi) from a style heavily influenced by Japanese karate, and someone who currently trains with a Shotokan yudansha converting to Shorin-Ryu, I might be able to provide a little insight. The stances are not as low, and most of the places your kata have kokutsu-dachi, Shorin-Ryu uses neko-ashi-dachi, so that is a bit of a difficult transition to make. After stances, I would say power generation is the next biggest problem. Japanese styles tend to be very hard styles that put a lot of power into everything, but Shorin-Ryu is softer and has more emphasis on fluidity.

I classified myself as "leggy," by which I assume you mean kicking a lot? I throw a lot of leg kicks and body kicks of various types, and the occasional head kick. I don't really do any flashy ones, Van Damme style, though.

Thanks, guys! I ended up having some time after class last night to upload the video of the full renzoku bunkai drill. As I mentioned, I'm still tweaking it, so it's a bit rough and there are a couple things I would like to change. It does cover an application for every movement in the kata, and any individual application can be taken out and drilled separately. The drill is really just intended to be a flow drill that covers the entire kata, but it is also semi-live in that there are several sections where the uke can attack with either side or from odd angles, and they can resist or block as they see fit. It isn't a fully live drill, of course, since tori and uke are working specific techniques, but I think it's a decent introduction to the idea. Ideally, I see this drill as being an "entry level" partner drill that can become more and more live as you get more comfortable with the techniques. When I've done it with people who don't know the drill, they sometimes respond in unusual ways and I can just about always find an application from another section of the drill. Continuing from the first video, we have the attacker breaking free of the lock or withstanding the strikes to the head and firing back with a punch from their free hand. This is a section where I'm looking into changing the attack, but it will take some experimentation. Right now, I'm thinking that uke grabbing the punching arm to control it might fit better. Tori responds by blocking, then twisting the arm into hiji dori garami (elbow grip lock--that's what we call it, anyway) and striking kyusho targets in the cervical plexus or side of the neck/head. From there, should uke break free from the lock we transition into a hammerfist across the jaw, which also serves to jam any punch from uke's free hand (whether it's coming or not). I didn't do a very good job of showing that in the video--we've been beating up on Brent (my uke) a lot lately and I didn't want to keep knocking his head around, so I ended up leaving it out. From there, if there is contact with the uke's punching arm we roll it over into a cross-body armbar (shown in the video). If the uke didn't throw a punch, I do the same motion as a hammerfist to the side of the head/neck in conjunction with a sweep (not shown in the video). If uke escapes the lock and stands up, tori pulls them off balance and then grabs or strikes the neck/head to throw uke over tori's leg. The pull to disrupt balance is very judo/jujutsu/aikido-ish, and isn't absolutely necessary to making it work, but I wanted to include the concept. The pulling motion can also be used to deflect a punch or grab downward away from the face. The throw, itself, is really hard to match up precisely with the kata when you're being nice to your partner--the arms end up much lower. When I've done this full-speed it matches up perfectly, but the fall is pretty rough. The arm coming across the body the way it does also serves to jam any punch uke might throw.

"The karate that has been introduced to Tokyo is actually a single part of a larger whole. The fact that those who have learned karate in Tokyo think that it consists only of hand strikes and kicks, and that throws and joint locks are only a part of jujutsu or judo can only be attributed to their lack of awareness on this art. While it can be said that this is an unavoidable situation because only a small part of karate was introduced, this is very regretful from the point of view of the popularization of karate. Those people who are truly thinking of the future of karate should not keep a closed mind and limit themselves to learning only an empty shell, but should strive to study the complete art." - Mabuni Kenwa, founder of Shito-Ryu "Karate, as it is transmitted, changes every few years. This is a common phenomenon. It happens because a teacher must continue to learn and adds his personality to the teachings. There is an old Okinawan martial arts saying that states that Karate is much like a pond. In order for the pond to live, it must have infusions. It must have streams that feed the pond and replenish it. If this is not done then the pond becomes stagnant and dies." - Chibana Chosin, founder of Shorin-Ryu "There is no kamae in a Karate kata, except for the beginning and end of the kata. Everything else is transition and application." - Chibana Chosin, founder of Shorin-Ryu "Karate IS the first strike!" - Motobu Choki, karate master and street fighter “Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, develop your own way by trial and error." - Motobu Choki, karate master and street fighter "Understand the old to learn the new." ("On Ko Chi Shin") - Okinawan proverb "Copy, adapt, transcend." ("Shu Ha Ri") - Okinawan proverb

Congratulations!

The "Library" thread is probably the best resource we have for books on martial arts that the members of our forum recommend. I will throw out there that, out of all the books I've read, Bill Hayes' book My Journey With The Grandmaster is probably the most energizing! It really gets you amped up to research and train! With a serious injury, you'll have to pour all that energy into the research

I've been addicted for over 7 years, with no intention of coming clean! I currently train in Shorin-Ryu karate with Sensei Richard Poage at Peaceful Warrior Martial Arts in Scottsdale, AZ.

Hello everyone, At the request of a friend of mine, I spent a little time last weekend recording my Naihanchi kata. Since it is a common kata that most of us likely share, and one that I feel is of great importance, I figured I would share the video here. I'm certainly no expert, and there are plenty of mistakes for me to work on--it's amazing how many problems you find when you watch yourself on video . Still, I think this is a fairly accurate representation of where I am with my karate. I had a couple minutes after class this Saturday before I had to head home to help my wife around the house, so I recorded a quick-and-dirty demo of a broken-down bunkai drill I like for the beginning of Naihanchi Shodan. I would have preferred better angles, close-ups of some parts, more detailed demonstrations, better lighting, etc., but I did what I could with the time I had. I really appreciate Brent, one of our intermediate teen students, for letting me beat up on him . As always, there are many applications that could work for any given movement, so these are not the only applications we use for Naihanchi and they certainly aren't the only ones out there! The scenario starts with someone grabbing you and threatening you. The first movements of the kata are used a pre-emptive strike in this drill, where you grab your attacker's head and strike it--in the demonstration, I simply punch the face, but you could backfist the nose or use small-surface strikes like ippon-ken on kyusho targets. From there, I lever the head down into a knee strike, and shovel kick the attacker's knee. The second part of the drill is when you have failed to pre-empt your attacker and they let go of you with one hand to start punching. You deflect and trap the punch beneath your arm and use that hand to slap the back of their head while elbowing them in the face. Just like the first technique, the strike (elbow, in this case) can be thrown as many times as necessary, although I only did it once in the demo. The third part of the drill is when you have done one of the first two (I only demonstrate this off of the second part of the drill in the video, though) and your attacker blocks and clinches with you to prevent you from hitting them more. From there, you grapple with your opponent (normally I like doing this randori-style, but didn't for the video) until they try to make space to start hitting you again, at which point you drag their pushing arm across your body into hiji osae gatame (elbow press lock). That lock can be used to control the attacker, dislocate the joint, or simply bring their head level down, and then you can follow up with hammerfists or punches to the head/neck. This drill can be worked into just about any self defense drill, because often when people start getting hit and don't like it, but also don't want to quit fighting, they will grab onto you and start wrestling with you. From that same situation, I have other drills from Naihanchi, but this was the only one I had time to record. I hope it is clear enough for you guys to see where I'm going with it, though! Eventually, I would like to record other applications that can be used for a variety of other scenarios.

When I dislocated my knee, I used an adjustable ACE brand brace with steel spring supports on the sides. After a while, I switched to a plain neoprene sleeve until I could get back to training without one.

With the turning back kick, I find that people have a tendency to try to spin (hence many calling it a "spinning back kicK". When someone who is good at it executes the technique, it looks as though they are simply spinning in place and snapping out the kick. When you break it down, though, what is typically happening is that they turn to face the opposite direction, then fire the kick, then complete the turn so they face the front again. A good way to break it down is this: from your fighting stance pivot 180 degrees into a cat stance facing away from your target, then fire your now-leading leg behind you with a back kick, then turn your body the rest of the way around so you are facing the front again. If you try to go straight into a spin, it's very difficult, but I have found that breaking it down like this is very helpful. Once you have a feel for it, you can build up speed.

Welcome to the forums! In addition to searching "tuite" as sensei8 suggests, you can also search "tuidi" which is the Okinawan pronunciation of the same word, or "torite" which is the Japanese pronunciation of the same word. "Karamidi" refers to some very similar concepts. "Kansetsu-waza" is the Japanese word for joint locks and is commonly used to describe joint locks in jujutsu and judo. Unfortunately, since there are so many types and ways of joint locking, it would be impossible for us (or anyone else, really) to list and diagram them all!

First of all, welcome to the forum! As far as your question goes, I have never used that gi, but I have seen it at a tournament or two. In my opinion, it isn't worth the money. It's only a 10oz. gi, which is considered a "middleweight" uniform, but it costs over $100 because it has two tops. The tops are nothing special, except they have a pocket for an MP3 player, and the pants tie like sweat pants do. They are meant for demonstrations and kata. A middleweight uniform from just about any manufacturer will be just as good, and cost less.

Good video Wastelander... BTW, so I take it your branch of Shorin-ryu is Shobayashi-ryu (the term used to designate between the line from Matsumura and the line continued by Chosin Chibana and his decendents)? Kobayashi-Ryu, actually--Nakazato Sensei was a student of Chibana Sensei, and carried on his teachings. As far as pacing goes, our "standard" pace is relatively slow, and I often have to force myself to slow down because I tend to move at application speed. Here is a video I recorded of myself running Naihanchi Shodan at our standard pace--it's much less impressive than Nakazato Sensei's demonstration, and I have a lot to fix, but it gives you the idea of how our count typically goes:

Young people think speed is impressive, therefore they run kata very quickly. The pace should be natural for you and for the applications you practice. The head of my system doesn't do his kata all that quickly, and it works out fine for him: Could slower kata mean lower scores in competition? Possibly, if you have younger judges, or people who just like to see speed. If your body mechanics are correct, your technique is clean, and your focus is strong, you should be fine.

I can still train with my instructor every time I go to the dojo, but I also take the time to learn from the other students at the dojo, and I cross-train with others whenever I can. My sensei's instructor is about 2000 miles away, though, so they do not get to train together very often. This means that he does what he can to make the most of their training time, but he also tries to get time training with other students of his instructor. In addition, he is constantly researching, practicing on his own, and learning from his students as a good sensei should

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you are getting some good, hard training! The more you work your impact conditioning, the less you will bruise over time, but severe bruising is pretty normal at first. If you search for "kote kitae," "ude tanren," or "tai tanren" you will get some good information on impact conditioning. Some people also find that liniments like Dit Da Jow or Namman Muay can help speed up the healing process of bruises. If you have any specific questions, feel free to pop into the General or Karate subforums and ask away!

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying your training! Yamesu has given you some solid advice with regard to training at home--right now, you haven't trained enough to self-correct, so it's best to focus on just one or two specific things you worked on in class that day, or the day before if you remember it. If you want to hit things at home, which I encourage, you should make sure you have received proper instruction on how to hit things at the dojo. You can practice the proper movements in the air, but until you start actually hitting things, you won't be very good at hitting things, if that makes sense? Once you are comfortable with impact training on bags or pads at the dojo, you should be able to do it at home. You can sometimes find bags or pads for very cheap on craigslist, or you can make your own. If those aren't options for you, then you can always ask one of your senpai (senior students) at the dojo if you can borrow pads from them for a few days at a time. I have, at one time or another, loaned out gear to kohai (junior students), and borrowed gear from my sensei--it's usually something we martial artists are readily willing to do for each other, if we know the person borrowing the gear is dedicated and responsible.

That's great! Tai Chi is wonderful for maintaining the body and mind

Thanks for sharing!

Arnica gel is something that has been recommended to me, along with Witch Hazel and various Dit Da Jow formulas, but I have never tried them. I hate Tiger Balm--it burns, stinks, and doesn't help me at all! What I currently use is a liniment called Fighter Fix that comes from Thailand, and I find that it works well for clearing up most bruising and speeding the healing process of lumps. The massaging is definitely beneficial, since it breaks up the pooling of blood that is the bruise, but I feel that massaging alone has not been as beneficial to me as massaging with liniment.

There isn't really anything to add--everyone has covered it pretty well! Beginners cannot learn basics from a book or videos, and not all schools that have "McDojo" tendencies have bad instruction. I will say that more advanced practitioners can actually pick up new skills from books and videos, provided they have a skill base to work from and a partner to work with. These should be used as extra resources for exploring new ideas, or variations on things you currently do.